Six years of Nolan

Here are pics of Nolan from each of the past six years. We didn't have a digital camera when he was a newborn, so I started when he was a baby. Ahhh, lots of memories.

It's hard to remember such chubbiness on Nolan. I think this photo doesn't even do his chubbiness any justice. He was such a heavy baby.

I've forgotten how adorable he was as a toddler. He is 1 1/2 here.

Nolan at 2 1/2. I can barely remember this age. Since Amelia was a baby I must have forgotten it due to sleep exhaustion.

Nolan at 3 1/2. See......he's always been a SandMan. Shovels in both hands for extra digging power.

Four and a half and looking much like the Nolan he is today, just a smaller version.

Nolan at 5 1/2. Hands full of worms and eyes full of excitement and wonder. I have loved all of the ages, his fifth year seemed especially fun. He became more curious, and a bit more adventurous for his cautious self. This year was fun because he learned and changed a lot. He learned to read and became more independent and explorative.

Well, here's Nolan now. Six years old and missing two teeth. He seems huge compared to even just a couple of years ago. He is more amazing everyday, and I love spending every one with him. I can't wait for all the rest of the years to come.

Nolan is 6!!!

Eating cake and ice cream. Yum!

Nick sitting on Dottie's lap and shoving his face....a commom scene. He is known as the mooch. He eats anything he sees. No matter whose food it is, he thinks he needs and deserves it.

Nolan reading his birthday card. He is the shrimp. Caleb, front left, is the same age. Isaac, to his right, is only one year older.

Pinatas are always entertaining. Fortunately we had no injuries. Only a few close calls too!

The birthday setup and decor are mostly Dale's design.

Dale's banner and donkey creation.

Isaac playing pin the tale on the Donkey.

Amelia trying to find the Donkey. You'll notice Amelia is the only little lady at the party. In our townhomes there are about 12 boys and only 2 girls.

Here is the farm scene cake. Nolan seemed very happy with it.....best I could do.

Catching Minnows

Here are a bunch of pictures from today. Nolan went out with his net to catch minnows and the others followed.

Nick and Nolan are pointing to the tiny fish they see. They put salt water, sand, and grass in a wheel barrow for the minnows.

They are all working on making a nice aquarium.

Nolan says you have to act fast to catch them.

Must have caught something to bring back to the wheel barrow.

Amelia's attempt.

Nick is ready to do some serious digging. He sure looks old lately. More like 2 than a year and a half. Our neighbors and friends have recently said how big and old he has gotten. He has been saying one or two new words a day. Some of his favorites are beach, mine, teeth, ice and hi. Some of his new ones are rice, more, butter, ball, bowl. It's pretty cute!

~B

Bayside Tigers

This is usally what it looks like when we do school. Nolan does his work to my left, Amelia traces letters and numbers on my right, and Nick sits right in the middle of the table. Nick usually get ahold of a pencil, crayon or math manipulative to keep him occupied.

We decided to call our homeschool Bayside Academy. If people ask where Nolan goes to school, I can choose the long version and go into explaining why and how we homeschool, or I can choose the short version saying he goes to a small private school--Bayside Academy. He is wearing his Bayside Tigers pin.

I keep his work in three ring binders, and Dale made cover sheets for us. You can see the tiger mascot in this picture. I'm guessing most of our friends remember the original Bayside(High School) It works out well since we actually live Bayside!

~B

Finally.................SPRING

Well, it looks as if the worst of winter is behind us.

Since it was so warm this weekend, we decided to go swimming.

It's good to see he hasn't forgotten how to swim. Everybody had a lot of fun!

~B