Lord of the Rings

My little brother, Huy, got married a couple weeks back and Nick was one of the ring bearers. You should have seen him at the rehearsal. On his first attempt, he went stomping down the aisle, pleased as pie w/ himself. The good mood was dampened only because someone dare suggest that he stand in line w/ the groomsmen once he reached the alter. In case you didn't know, he has an aversion to standing in line. His second march down the aisle was more of a mad shuffling. Pretty funny, wish I had taken a video of both.

How did he do? Not too shabby considering he was up really late the night before, was up early, did not get to eat lunch and had to wear a monkey suit. Trust us, he complained loudly and often. But when the big moment came, he was clutch. He took his time strolling down the aisle, soaking in the fact that everyone was looking at him. We were pretty proud of our little man. His cousin, also named Nicholas, was a ring bearer too, but walked w/ older his sister, Megan. Check out in the video how he's trying to hold her hand, and she keeps slapping it away. Cracked me up!

The ceremony was beautiful and the reception lots of fun. Nick had his eyes on the groom's cake the entire time. It was a Transformer cake surrounded by cupcakes. He was half asleep, but somehow managed to down 2 cupcakes. With the sugar rush, he shook it on the dance floor. I wish had a video of it. When I get it, I'll post it.


Congratulations to Huy and his beautiful new bride, Shannon! We love you guys and will miss you!

Boys Trip

Did I promise I'd post in a couple of days? I meant at least a couple of weeks. I've got a good excuse and she's coming this week. Anyway, thanks for being patient. You'll need it in the next few weeks. Although I'm going to have Scott post a few entries for me just to satisfy the natives.

A few weeks back, Scott and Nick took a road trip to TX to see his parents. I was too far along for a 9hr trip. Doc said not a good idea, so I was left at home all by my little lonesome. The boys have been on a few road trips before, but none this long. It started off well. Twenty minutes into the trip, I received a call from Scott. In the background I could hear Nick arguing about something (his all time fave thing to do right now). An apparent misunderstanding. His daddy was trying to teach him all the major towns they'd be going through on their way to Magi/Grandad. He was not having it. They were just going to "Amawillwoe" and that was that. Scott also thought it was a good idea to give Nick some chocolate. A glance in the rearview a few minutes later revealed a chocolate covered mess. Of course they had to pull over to clean up. I think they pulled over twice in the first 20 minutes. They made it just fine w/ just a few additional roadside pit stops, if you get my drift. Nick likes to wait until the very last possible second to announce he needs to go potty.

I had 4 whole days to rest and relax before hitting the homestretch. It was nice, but the evenings were awful lonely w/out them. I did want to thank my brothers, who were kind enough to feed, entertain, and tote me around. I especially appreciate the feeding part. And thanks to Heidi and her husband, Jason, for taking pity on me and letting me hang out w/ them. They were sweet enough to help me w/ my nursery crafts, too.

Overall, a great trip for everyone. I was bummed I couldn't make the trip to see Scott's family (miss you guys!), but I got some much needed rest. I was more than ready to see my boys when Sunday rolled around. I told Scott no more road trips w/out me. He said no problem.

Promise...

I will have an update in the next couple of days of Scott and Nick's trip to Hereford and his stint as a ring bearer (Nick's that is). Oooh, and the nursery is almost done, too!

First Day of Preschool

Today was our little man's first day of preschool. He has been pretty excited about it since orientation last week. We found out this morning the reason he was so stoked was because they had ice cream during orientation and he assumed he'd be getting more ice cream today, naturally. We had to break the news to him that there wouldn't be any ice cream and it was downhill from there. Just kidding, sort of. The complaining stopped once we actually arrived. He didn't even say bye to us really.

The only iffy moment came when we went to pick him up. We made the mistake of sticking our heads in for him to see us, but then we had to wait for each kid to leave one at a time. He would walk over to the half door with quivery lips and welled up eyes calling out for us. It was pretty pitiful. When we got in the car, I asked if he wanted a Happy Meal, and he said, "no, I want a sad meal." Cue the violins.

Based on what he told us in the car, he had fun but the one thing he did not like... standing in line. Apparently the teacher had to gently nudge him along after recess. He did not appreciate that and told us that he was going to argue tomorrow. Other than the standing in line issue (which he stated clear over and over), he enjoyed himself, especially painting. He told us he wore a blue jacket to paint which I'm assuming is a smock. We'll see how tomorrow goes. One day down, 15 more years to go. Keep your fingers crossed.

End of Summer Recap

Hi. I'm back for a "comprehensive" update. I realize mostly family reads this blog and you know much of what's going on day to day, so sorry nothing really new, but it needs to be recorded before it gets away from me. I've been really terrible about that, but the last few weeks have been rough. We'll just leave it at that.

There are so many things going on as we close out summer and several big events coming up in the next few weeks. Nick starts preschool tomorrow! *sniff**sniff* My little brother, Huy, is getting hitched in a couple and Biscuit is arriving in less than 6 weeks.

Some of these may not be in chronological order, but I'll keep putting it off if I have to mess w/ that. Shall we?

**Biscuit**
Poor girl, my whole family calls her that. I'm sure she'll pay Nicholas back ten fold. We had a 3D ultrasound about a month ago, but haven't been able to load them since we had no scanner. Much thanks to the Kaisers for helping us out in that dept! So here are a couple of pictures of her. You can see she's contemplating ways to torture us in the first picture. The second picture is a bit distorted, but it's of her playing with her foot. She was doing that during the entire ultrasound. How cute is that?

Don't believe I mentioned it before, but we have decided against actually naming her Biscuit and are going with Abigail. We'll probably just call her Abby. Now if we can just decide on a Vietnamese name.

We are so excited about her arrival. I am doubly excited not to be used as a punching bag by her. I didn't think it was possible, but she moves more than Nick did. She hates it when I sleep on my right side and lets me know it. Scott is working on the nursery right now. I'll post pictures as soon as it's done.


**Hotel, Motel, Holiday Inn...**
We went to Dallas a couple weeks back and stayed in a hotel for a few days. It was Nick's first time and he loved it. He would alternate between calling it the hotel and the "trip house." I think he loved the fact that his grandparents and aunts and uncles were just a few doors away. He had every one's room number memorized the first night. Getting to swim and staying up late probably didn't hurt either.
Here he is in his own bed. Neither Scott nor I wanted to sleep w/ him. He's a
kicker.
That evening's entertainment. Can you tell he doesn't get much attention?

Kissing up to his Grandad and Uncle Bo

**Charles E. Fromage**
My brother, Huy, and his fiance, Shannon, took Nicholas for a night out on the town at Chuck E Cheese. They will be moving to Michigan at the end of the month and was trying to work in some quality time. Nick was so excited, he could hardly contain himself. We will be sad when they move. Nick never mentions one without the other. Thanks for the fun night!

**Betty Crocker Makes an Appearance**
Nick and I had a hankering for cake the other day and decided to bake one. He's getting pretty good at helping me around the kitchen. Next to letters, numbers and painting, it's his favorite thing. Scott was home from work so I asked him to help me frost the cake. I was mostly hoping he would keep Nick out of my hair so I could finish cooking dinner. It was Scott's first time frosting a cake, and I will have to say I was very impressed. Nicholas "helped" by licking the frosting off of his own spatula. Don't worry, his spatula didn't actually touch the cake, though he did attempt to dip it in the frosting jar for to refill a couple of times.

**Last Game of the Season**
We went to our last Natural's game last Monday. Well, I thought it was the last game, just found out they made the playoffs. Woohoo. It's been a great season and we looking forward to many more games next summer.

The Kaisers. Not sure where Haley is, probably busy harassing the the visiting team. Thanks for joining us. It was fun!

For the record, I only had a hot dog, hamburger, fries, cotton candy and hot chocolate.

Finally, what would an update be without a picture of my little man painting? I practically have to strip him naked nowadays when he paints. He usually takes the fingerpainting one step further and paints his whole body. This typically signals the end of his painting session.

The kid is obsessed w/ colors and mixing them to make new ones. There is a song about the colors of the rainbow called "Roy G. Biv" from They Might Be Giants. He sings this song incessantly. He is a bit put out by the fact that there is no purple in the rainbow and decided to change violet to purple in the song on his own.

Whew! I think that's it. His first day of preschool is tomorrow so I'll have pictures and an update very soon.

Our Little Terror

After a nap the other day, Nick got his long promised chocolate cupcake. I snapped several quick pictures. One in particular made us laugh. For some reason, the other image came to mind.

Natural Alarm Clock

We taught Nicholas a while back how to tell time on the digital clock. I regret it almost every morning. He will come in and announce that it's time to wake up.

Nick: "Mommy, what time is it? Time to get up."
Me: "It's not time to get up yet. Mommy's not getting up until 7."
Nick: (after looking at the clock) "You have 16 more minutes."
Nick: (after a minute) "You have 15 more minutes."
Nick: (after another minute) "You have 14 more minutes."

This goes on until I can't take any more and get up, which is usually before 7.

Night, Night...

No real update here. I'm trying to figure out the scanner right now. I'll have an update in a couple of days.

Just a few pictures we took before bed tonight.

Our Favorite Pastime

If you know my husband, you know that he is a baseball nut. And that's a bit of an understatement. Since we've had Nick, Scott has been anxiously awaiting the moment he could take Nick to his first baseball game. We got a new minor league team last year, the Naturals. So Scott thought he'd take Nick to his first official ballgame last July. They lasted only a couple of innings, w/ very little baseball watching to be had. Nicholas did get his first taste of cotton candy. I was so very happy I was not there to clean up the mess.

First baseball game last July

All decked out courtesy of daddy after the first game this year

Well, we tried again this year, and Nick loves going to the games. It's such a beautiful ballpark, super family friendly, and kids get in free. There are big bouncy things and a playground for the kids. My favorite night is Monday night with dollar dogs, a light crowd and great seating. Throw a few friends in the mix and it doesn't get any better than that. Scott loves the giveaways. We've managed to hit a couple of them. A particular favorite was the mini bat giveaway. Much to Scott's chagrin we were only able to snag 2 of these highly desirable objects. The versatility of these bats, decoratively speaking, is mind boggling. That's why it's still sitting in a corner of our office.

We are undecided on a place of honor for this wonderful work of art.

One of our favorite moments from the games this year included Scott snagging a foul ball. He only had to knock over a couple of kids and an old man, all that while holding Nick. To be fair though, that old guy was pretty agile. But our favorite moment has been Nick running the bases. Every Sunday after the game, they allow the kids to run the bases. He absolutely loves this. The first time he ran the bases, he ran the opposite direction. It was so awesome to watch. Although he's gotten hang of it, we still get a kick out of watching him do it. It's just one of the best things ever.