Christmas 2011

Shhhhh......today is April 5th....Good Friday....and I am just now getting around to posting our Christmas 2011 pictures.....SO much has been going on ever since....ever since...well March of 2009.....and there are no signs of it slowing down anytime soon. We have a day trip to Austin planned for next weekend. Nicholas (as well as Lisa and I) will get to meet his cousin Sarah for the first time. She was born the day after we were named Nicholas' parents....so his Gotcha Day is April 13th and Sarah's birthday is April 14th. Kinda cool.....

Checking out how Santa will get into the house tonight

Telling us the path Santa will be taking..

Proudly displaying his offerings for the one we call "Santa".

A closer look shows the cookies he baked with Mommy and note he wrote with Daddy
and of course the milk in the Frosty straw cup.

"I can't believe Santa didn't finish all of the cookies!"

Mommy turned the milk into chocolate milk so Nicholas could finish of the cookies
to start Christmas morning off in style!

...and now the putting together of the new toys!

Schnapps the Elf!

Sabian the Elf!

ONE more present! The big one.....close your eyes...this is going to be so great!!

A helmet and a basket?? What are these for??

Here it is!! Your new bike!!!.......this bike was unfortunately broken 23 minutes later causing Daddy to take it back to Wal-Mart and then go to Target to get a brand new Schwinn bike with training wheels....LONG story LONGER.....the boy was too scared to stay on the bike with training wheels without having a 'Death-Grip' on Mommy or Daddy's arm....After a few tries we decided not to force the issue and have placed the bike in the garage until he is ready....

Pumpkin Patch 2011

Our annual trip to the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch!
Nicholas usually starts asking to go in July.

C3PO, R2D2 and the Boy

Moments after arriving he was taken to Pumpkin Patch Prison.
After serving 4 and half minutes he was released.

Find the boy!

Do you see him now?

Just a boy singing in a Pumpkin Patch...

The climbing of the first giant slide begins...

A view from the top.

Sliding down is the best part!

Climbing giant slide number two.

Here he goes again!

On the hay ride with Daddy. (photo by Mommy)

MORE climbing! He tried this last year, but gave up.

But this year will be different....

Success!

Something new to try this year....the merry-go-round with a bunch of other kiddos.

He loves to spin. I see him riding the Tea Cups at Disneyland one day....
While Daddy watches.

Another new adventure....going into the wooden Wigwam..

Almost time to go......time to pick out a small pumpkin to take home....
That one is way too big!

But this one is just right....

Happy Halloween Little Dude....

HIP HIP HOOOOOORAY!

As I write this entry it is just 2 hours and 26 minutes away from Lisa's birthday! Today she received an early birthday present when her Oncologist told her that her PET Scan was negative....meaning she is currently Cancer-Free!!!

Tomorrow is my final vacation day of the year.

Today was my second to last vacation day. I brought the boy to school and then took Lisa to her Oncologist appointment after letting her sleep in until 9:21 am. After her appointment we celebrated by going grocery shopping! We then went home and made lunch. Soon after that, it was time for me to pick up Nicholas at school. Once we got home he and I walked to the park closest to our house and went looking for bugs. We found and captured one cricket, one giraffe beetle, one moth and one click beetle! Nicholas also ran around and tried to play football and frisbee with some other kiddos....then went home and had pizza for dinner.


And now for some pictures!

(Pictures were loading VERY slowly today, so I did not post as many as I wanted)

This was the first year we have been able to take Nicholas trick or treating. We went to about a dozen houses before he asked me to pick up and take him home... As for the costume...he was supposed to be a Ghost. Lisa made a classic Ghost costume by cutting three holes in a sheet, but Nicholas did not like the way it felt on his face, so she made one of the holes big enough to slip over his head. This transformed him into a cross between a Choir Boy and a very young Priest. Luckily his cuteness and enthusiasm helped him rake in the candy! As this first picture shows, a lot of folks here in Lantana didn't feel like answering their doors so they just placed a large bowl of candy on their porch for little ghosts and goblins to help themselves.

Here he is going to the next house. At several houses Nicholas decided to walk right in and make himself at home. He even said to one neighbor, "What's that smell?"
To which he replied, "That's our dinner!"

Getting ready to say, "Trick or Treat!"

Here is the boy awaiting his gift from the Tooth Fairy for losing his second tooth.

And the wait was worth it! It's a double bucket digger!!!

So much going on.....

WOW...where to begin? I can't believe it is already November 2, 2011.

As I write this, Nicholas is sleeping (10:39 pm) and has no idea that he is NOT going to school tomorrow. Instead, he and I are getting Flu Shots and then he is going to the dentist to get two crowns put on his upper and lower 12 year old molars because he apparently grinds his teeth and has damaged both of them. What a way to spend a vacation day! But that is tomorrow...

Over the past few months Lisa has had WAY too many Dr. appointments and medical procedures....and she has a few more planned for this month. After she had her lens replaced in her right eye around September 14th, her recovery was not going as planned....so her Dr. suggested she go to a retina specialist immediately....she did and lo and behold...she had a detached retina. Why? No one really knows. What they did know is that she needed to have it fixed, fast. One week later she was having another surgery...and she is still recovering. A day or two after the procedure she looked and felt like she was punched in the eye. That's when she came up with idea of marketing t-shirts saying, "My husband does NOT beat me...I just had retina surgery.

Lisa has two more procedures scheduled to be done before she can be declared Cancer Free! She had a mole that was a stage one Melanoma removed from her back and two lymph nodes from under her arms removed on July 1st and has had a few more smaller moles removed as well. In August she had the eye surgery and then discovered the detached retina....quite a year....We are already working on her New Year's resolution of No Surgeries in 2012!!!

And now for Nicholas' latest adventure!

On Thursday, October 27th Nicholas tells Lisa and I.... "I paid my token," while pointing at his nose. We asked him to repeat what he had said so we could be sure....and he did.... So I asked him, "Was the token this big?" while making a circle with my index finger and thumb about the size of a half dollar. To which he replied, "Yes." So I told him that the token couldn't be in his nose because it wouldn't fit........Friday, October 28th, no mention of token. Saturday, October 29th, no mention of token. Then on Sunday, October 30th, at 4:00pm, after we had finished carving pumpkins, the following conversation takes place:

Nicholas: How do I get it out?

Lisa: Get what out?

Nicholas: The token.

Lisa: What token??

Nicholas: This one. (pointing at his nose)

So Lisa gets a flashlight and tells him to lean his head back. Lisa then says to me, "Uh Honey? You better take a look at this." And what did we see? Something green and plastic lodged in the right nostril of our little boy! I tried to extract it with some tweezers, but it was clear that we needed professional help. Off to the Rapid Med center! We rolled by at 4:17 pm and they close at 4:30 pm. During our 45 minute wait Nicholas was telling everybody and anybody, "No shots, I don't want shots today!" Once the Doc took a peak up his honker, it was time to get it out! He return with two nurses and pair of forceps. Lisa held Nicholas' head, the two nurses draped themselves across his mid section and I had held his feet down. From my vantage point I was able to see the Doc's arm slowly moving towards me and then I heard him say, "Wow, that took a lot of work to get that in there!" What was it? A green plastic token, the size of a nickel, but a lot thinner. Where did it come from? Apparently his teacher's desk. Why did he do it? Apparently another boy in his class, who shall remain nameless whose name rhymes with flyin', told him he had to pay his token in his nose.

The moral of the story? When your child tells you they paid their token in their nose, get out the flashlight and take a look immediately!

And now for some pictures...

I am not really sure how this picture came about, but I really like it....

Before Lisa's lens implant surgery we were talking about how much Nicholas loves medical stuff and how he got to take home a stethoscope and blood pressure cuff from his surgery. Before we left we were given a bag full of hospital goodies for Nicholas to play with!
Thank you Baylor Outpatient Surgery Center....

Nicholas got his very own gown and eye patch, just like Mommy's!

The camera loves him!

That roll of medical tape lasted about 8 minutes...

"Hi. I'm Nicholas. I Doctor. I give you shots to feel better"

"Doctor Datooya, please report to the O.R., Doctor Datooya, please report to the O.R."

What are they teaching at that school??

Since the middle of last week, his first week of Kindergarten, Nicholas has been repeating things and telling us about things that have gone on in the classroom....a truly amazing time for Lisa and I. We are witnessing the blossoming of our little boy right before our eyes. I really wish I could go and observe him in class one day, but as Lisa found out, that is not the best idea.... Lisa volunteered to be one of the Room Mothers for his class. She went to the school yesterday and as soon she was spotted, he proceeded to clamp down on her leg so she couldn't 'get away.'

"I want to keep you. I want you to stay in class," he said while constricting Mommy's leg.
As his teacher slowly peeled him off of her leg,
Lisa offered to get some "frozen ice cream yogurt" after school.

Today he said to me, "You're famous." To which I replied, "You think I am famous?" Then he said, "I want to famous artist.....someday." I of course gave the proper parent answer of, "You can be anything you want!" :-)


Nicholas, you continue to brighten our lives each and everyday. Your Mother and I promise to always keep you safe, happy and healthy. We love you so very, very much and look forward to walking by your side as you grow older.

Kindergarten!!!

Monday, August 22, 2011

This is the day Nicholas began his academic career! Apparently, he was not the only child starting school that day since there was a lot more traffic than usual. I had a vacation day from work so Lisa and I could drop him off and pick him up together. Our transfer was approved for him to attend Stephens Elementary so we no longer qualify for bus service. This means Lisa, who has SO much free time, now gets to take the boy to and from school each day. Since we still have not been able to move closer to his school, this is about a 25 minute trip each way.....and right now it is well over 100 degrees in the afternoon so waiting to pick him up shall be a steamy situation for a little while.....but we think it is all worth it because this is the best place for our son to be able to flourish. Due to the traffic conditions, we arrived too late to drop him off at the normal spot. Instead we had to park, and walk him into class. Since all the other kids in his class were already seated, we just stopped at the door of the classroom and off he went....never turned back..

We immediately went back to the car and did some adult things...you know....went to get the car inspected, went grocery shopping and then went to lunch! The car ride was strangely quite, as was the house the couple of hours before we left to pick him up. When we first walked into the restaurant (Blue Goose Cafe, Highland Village, TX) we saw a group of ten parents who obviously also had children who started school that day. They were all drinking heavily and talking about their kids. One gentleman, with a Margarita in hand big enough to choke a horse said with a slurred and choppy cadence, "Emma...is totally a visual learner and her brother, uh, uh, Brennen, Brandon isn't." Hopefully they sobered up before 2:50 pm.

It was now time to retrieve the Boy.

The picking up process is quite elaborate.

When you register your child for school you are given a number placard for your car. (It hangs from your rear view mirror) This number must be visible by the time your car has made it through the long, long line of cars that snakes around the back of the school and crosses in front of the cafeteria. Each afternoon, the cafeteria is transformed into a transportation waiting area. As your car creeps towards the front, a man speaks your number into his walkie-talkie. His counterpart on the inside relays the number to the massive team of volunteers. When a child's number is up (that doesn't sound too good) they are escorted out of the building and into (hopefully) the correct car so they may begin their journey home. As we got up to the front, we did not see Nicholas. So we waited and waited. The assistant to the walkie-talkie dude, who does not yet have his own device, yelled our number to the volunteers. Still no Nicholas. When the other volunteers noticed the line of cars had come to a complete stop (not a good sign) they yelled at us, "What's your number?" We yelled back. They gave us a waive and 26 seconds later, our dangerously cute little boy who had just conquered his first day of Kindergarten came bounding out of the cafeteria and got into our car. Day one complete. Only 13 more years to go....

Day two...

Lisa arrived in plenty of time to participate in the normal dropping of process. As she pulled in front of the school she saw five orange cones on the sidewalk. Standing behind each cone was a ready, willing and able 5th grader wearing some kind of official sash. These kids are there to help the little kids get to their classrooms. When the volunteer approached the door where Nicholas was climbing out of his car seat, Lisa noticed she was not much taller than our Boy. The dear sweet little volunteer girl said to Nicholas, "You're big." Lisa made sure to say very loudly, "Make sure she takes you to Mrs. Maplestone's KINDERGARTEN class." The last thing she heard the girl say after taking Nicholas by the hand was, "Let's go buddy.." Since we never received a phone call about him not being in class, we figured he got to the right room!

As I write this, the boy is sleeping and has completed three days of Kindergarten. We have noticed that he has already begun to repeat things he is hearing and experiencing at school....thankfully he is only hearing 'Kindergarten things' so far.

He has said..... "Voices off!" "That was great. Let's do it again!" "I don't like when he blows the whistle." (P.E. teacher is our guess)

He has also sung bits and pieces of some songs...once we get all the lyrics down, we will share them with you.

Here are the only pictures I was able to get on his historic first day...

The only thing worse than your parents waking you up at 6:30 AM
is when your Dad has a camera!

Wake up sleepy head!!

Dressed and ready to go!

Buckling his seat-belt all by himself!

SCHOOL TODAY!

I managed to snap this shot while we were rushing down the hallway towards his room.

Since his whole class was already seated I did not want to freak them out by bursting into the room with a camera flashing at them, so I settled for this fine picture of his classroom door.

FINALLY he emerges from the holding area!

Almost to the car...just a little further...

Moments away from getting into the car!

A very special bowl of ice cream for a very special little boy!
We love you lots and lots Nicholas....