Nolan Lately

Quotes from Nolan:

• "Whatya doin' daddy?"
• "Bless you mommy" (when I blow my nose haha)
• "I don't want to!"
• "ugga mugga!" (from Daniel Tiger)
• "I go a Costco a pizza" (also, while at Costco he saw a Roku and wanted it in the cart with him the whole time)
• "Wow. Amaaaazing!" 
• "Be right back!" (his favorite game lately is to tell us he'll be right back, go wave his hand over the garbage can to open it, then run in the living room. Then repeat to turn it off)
• "Bye McDonald's! See you after fimming!"
• "What da happened?"
• "Here you go daddy."
• "Get outta here!" (sometimes with a push to get you out of a room, or hiding spot, or chair that he wants or to move your hands off of something he wants)
• "Turn it down NOW!" (this one was hilarious. He likes to turn the volume way up using the remote so Justin and I have to say "Nolan, turn it DOWN!" quite often. One day he was watching TV while I was talking to my parents in the kitchen when in comes Nolan saying, "turn it down, NOW!" hahaha)
• "Be safe! Drive Safe!" (when daddy leaves for work)
• "No way, Jose!"
• "Yuck daddy!!" (when daddy sticks out his tongue and threatens to lick him)
• "Wake up!!" (if you pretend to snore)
• "Uh oh, spaghettios!"
• "Oh my dosh, mommy."

Other Nolan-isms:

• He loves to "sing" and it's the cutest thing ever. Whenever the theme song of one of his shows comes on (especially TWW ☺) he'll start singing to it. Even if there are no words, he'll kind of hum/sing. And we'll often hear him singing in the back seat of the car (but only if he doesn't think we're listening). Maybe he'll have a beautiful singing voice? 
• He loves getting us tissues from toilet paper, but gets annoyed when it doesn't rip straight.
• We help him say prayers, but he always has quite a bit to add on his own -- "Thank you for ipads, thank you for Super Why, and The West Wing, and play-doh" etc. 
• Whenever he sings the Itsy bitsy spider song, he starts by rubbing his fingers together, then throws out his hands for the "wash the spider out" part. It's pretty much adorable.
• In the morning when he's watching Super Why while we get ready he'll sometimes pout a bit and point to the seat next to him and tell us he wants us to sit and watch with him. I might be late getting to work sometimes, but how can I resist that?!!
• He loves nursery and can't wait to go. Whenever a song starts playing in sacrament meeting he assumes it's the closing song and excitedly turns to Justin or I and says, "time to go to nursery!" This Sunday was the primary program, lots of songs, and he asked if it was time to go to nursery after each and every one ☺
• Justin and Nolan have had some epic remote battles lately. Nolan would say, "I take da remote away!" and run away from Justin who chases him while Nolan screams and tries to hide it under his bum or something.
• The kid has some pretty good negotiating skills already. One time in the car on the way home he said from the back seat, "I watch a west fing two times." "I watch a west fing free times." So we conceded, "Ok you can watch two times." To which he responded, "I watch west fing two times and the fox say." (What Does the Fox Say? video). "Haha ok Nolan, I guess you can do that. West Wing 2 times, Fox say 1 time." Then, after a few seconds of silence, "I watch daniel tiger and super why." hahaha. He's playing us!
• Speaking of negotiating - One time we were sitting on the couch and I said, "how many times are you going to watch The West Wing?" He put all of his fingers up and said, "two times." so I grabbed the remote and said, "ok two times," and he interrupted, pointed one finger at me and stated, "but I press play." ☺

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 He loves the library and recently got his very own library card!

Too cool 

It's no secret that Nolan LOVES french fries, and he now knows all of the places that have fries haha #embarrassing. If we pass In n Out or McDonald's he always yells "fies!!" And even yells "waffle fies" whenever he sees a Chic fil A ☺

Anyway, back to these pictures. He loves In n Out shakes too and is super cute about sharing. He usually takes a sip, then slides it over to Justin and says, "daddy's turn." Then slides it over to me and says, "mommy's turn." Then "Nolan's turn!" as he takes a sip. But as you can see from the third picture, if daddy takes a little too long during his turn (typical) Nolan has to step in and confiscate it.

"rink a dink a doo, I love...Nolan" ☺

Using goggles at swim class. Adorable! He goes back and forth on whether he likes them or not though.

One of his favorite books, Moo, Baa, LaLaLa

Lately when Justin is in the shower the following exchange happens about 10 times: knock, knock, knock. "Who is it?" "NOLAN!" "Nolan who?" "Nolan Douglas Bailey!"

Jeanni taught him to say "I'm Batman" in a deep voice ☺

 Nolan helping us make a pizza!

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What a good daddy.

He has a cute routine these days where after prayers he gives me a hug, high five, and bones, then lists off a bunch of books that he wants in bed with him to 'read' and Justin lines them up just so for him. After the books are lined up and he gets in bed we ask him what song he wants us to sing and, to avoid having to choose just one, he rattles off three in a row, "pacapacapaca families iachildofgod" (Popcorn Popping, Families Can Be Together Forever, I Am a Child of God)

Also, he's been sleeping in his toddler bed now for about a month and a half and has only gotten out of bed once or twice! What?! I know. It's amazing. He still figures out ways to stall though. Often after he's been in bed for a bit he'll call for us and when we go in and ask him what he needs he looks around saying, "um, um, uh...Mr. Puppy" or some other thing he's just decided that he needs ☺ BUT he doesn't get out of bed so we're counting our blessings haha.

Battle of the baby - MLB style

Fun with the Washburns and Millers at softball

Helping mom do some shopping at Trader Joe's.

 Sometimes I'm not sure which one of them is having more fun in the toy aisle ♥

 For Justin's birthday I bought a Groupon for an archery lesson, but couldn't get into a class the weekend of his birthday. So I finally got my act together and signed us up! It was a blast. We shot a regular bow (forget the name) and this compound bow, which was super fun.

Pretty good!!

Justin loves crunching leaves and this apple didn't fall far from the tree. After church on a windy day Nolan found this pile of leaves next to our car and just had to play in them!

Look at the difference between last year and this year! Wow! He's always been super cute, but now he's just getting so handsome and big #cryinginmycorner.

Sending Nolan a picture while on a lunch date downtown.

After Halloween we decided it was time for a tablet detox for this little guy. It's not even like he uses it all the time - not even close. We have specific times of the day that he is allowed to use the tablet, but it's like it just seemed to always be on his mind because he was always asking about it. I'm having nightmares picturing him as a teenager so it was time to step in haha. So phase 1 has been a tablet detox and phase 2 is a West Wing detox. He's surviving, barely ☺

And last, a text conversation with my family from last week. I love them ☺♥

Halloween and Other Fall Fun

I have been SO excited for fall this year and couldn't wait to see the colored leaves, light my pumpkin candle, feel the crisp cool air, and cuddle up under blankets. I love fall and only wish it lasted longer!!

Pumpkin Patch

First up for fall activities...a pumpkin patch! There was one right behind the Holladay Lions Rec Center (where Nolan has swimming class) so for the sake of ease, we just went there. It proved to be a great decision because we had the place pretty much to ourselves!

Family pic on a tractor

Silly Nolan

Searching for the perfect pumpkin.

Showing us a Nolan sized pumpkin

Nolan always wanted to pick up the big pumpkins. He would start to lift one and then proclaim, "it heavy!" He got some help from daddy with this one and was pretty proud ♥

Oh hey, here's a cute pic I found of a little Justin at a pumpkin patch with his dad! ♥

We got a dad pumpkin, a mom pumpkin, and little ones for Nolan and baby brother. Every time we walk up the stairs for the last month Nolan says, "Oooh, puhnkins!" Then reaches down and picks up one of the little ones, admires it, then puts it down ♥

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Neighborhood Trunk or Treat

We tried and tried to find a solid royal blue hoodie and sweatpants for a DIY cookie monster costume, but to no avail. So what's the most obvious backup costume choice for this silly almost 2 year old? President Bartlet from The West Wing of course! ☺ Complete with his very own Secret Service detail.

It really was a perfect costume for him because he literally tells everyone he talks to that he watches The West Wing anyway. Why not play it up?? It was a big hit and everyone thought he was absolutely adorable, even if he was a bit shy and cranky that night.

The president shaking hands with his constituents ☺

Nolan loved dancing to the music they had playing (not sure at all where he got that from!)

Nolan and his favorite guys - Dakota, Dan, and Austin Hobbs. Seriously though, these three are so sweet to him (and maybe spoil him too much hehe).

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Toddler Time and Trick or Treating on Temple Square

All dressed up for Toddler Time

Family Search hosted a Trick or Treating event so on that day I headed home early, picked up our cutie, then drove back downtown. First we stopped at daddy's office to show Nolan off (success, he was adorable haha), and then headed to my office at the JSMB.

He was a bit over dressing up in his suit so luckily I had a backup plan that was normal looking enough to trick him into thinking he wasn't actually dressing up #momwin. Calvin and Hobbes! I mean, it was perfect last year, and I spent so much time on that Hobbes doll, why not get another use out of it?!

Look at this kid, talk about a cushy trick or treating experience. Pushed around in a stroller, candy bucket hanging on the stroller. All he had to do was look cute, put out his hand for candy, and reach over to put it in his bucket ☺

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Halloween Night

We were a little worried that he might be a little Halloween-ed out, but decided we just had to take him out on the actual night of Halloween for his first real, door to door, Trick or Treating experience.

First stop, Jeanni's house of course!

Well, we worried for nothing. He did great, was adorable, and loved it!! He knocked on most doors himself and said "trick or treat" without being prompted! At the beginning of the night we thought maybe we'd take him to 5 houses or so, but we ended up being out for 2 hours!

All the neighbors were gushing over how cute he was. Sister Boyer couldn't get enough of him!

At one point we stopped at the Rasch house and as Bro. Rasch was giving Nolan candy he noticed me holding my "Bartlet for President" sign. He must have not really known who Nolan was supposed to be because at seeing my sign said, "Bartlet for President? Well, guess what I'm watching right now?!" Then he reached over and grabbed his phone, on which he had been watching The West Wing haha! He showed it to Nolan who got excited and held his phone for a few seconds.

Well, after that house Nolan assumed every house was playing The West Wing and sometimes just walked right in hahaha. Here he is at the Bonhams, just before marching inside. Of course everyone was like, "Oh he can come in!" hahaha.

Patiently waiting at the Hinckley's door.

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Annual Harry Potter Party at the Menloves

For the past several years, Drew and Elizabeth Menlove throw a HUGE Harry Potter party at their house (also huge ☺). They do an absolutely incredible job with the decorating and always raise money for a good cause at the same time.

Kind of hard to see, but this is the 'great hall' with all the house banners.

The entrance to the great hall

One table of decorations. They had Honeydukes, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, Flourish and Blots, Gringotts Bank, and on and on. They seriously thought of everything! They even had a thestral out front!

The closet under the stairs

Photo prop ☺ We brought a couple of wands I have for our 'costumes' and taught Nolan a couple of spells. He was actually pretty cute with it and would stretch out his arm and say the spell...until he discovered that maybe the better use for them was sword fighting. It was all downhill from there haha.

This one was just SO handsome of Nolan

Towards the end of the night they had a big 'wizarding duel' in the backyard! (and in case you were wondering, that's a play house in the background! so fun!)

It was a blast, just like last year!!

A Halloween message from Nolan: