Easter Weekend Fun

We had a fun-filled, slightly exhausting, and routine-disturbing weekend, but it was a blast!! And we got a taste of how much fun it is to have a grandma and grandpa so close!

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The weekend of fun started out with a Bees game on Friday night! Nolan loved the Bee. And of course he kept up with his new tradition of wandering the stadium looking for Angels symbols. He found ones I didn't even notice this time!

It was a little chilly so we had to bundle up a bit. Everyone wanted to hold Bran-man. How cute is he?! Plus he provided an extra layer of warmth for the holdee ☺

We love going to the games that have fireworks at the end. The Bees always put on a good show! Unfortunately, Nolan decided the fireworks were too loud and was scared of them (even though he loved them before!). Oh well, Branson enjoyed them! 

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Saturday afternoon we met Gm and Gp Bailey in Heber and rode the Heber Creeper Easter Train!

This is Nolan avoiding the camera. Stinker.

I was holding Branson in the carrier on my lap and the lighting was so perfect I just had to snap some pics. Because he was strapped to me they are close up, but I think they're perfect! Look at that cuteness!! ♥

Looking out the window. I didn't get a picture of it, but the Easter Bunny came on the train and danced and gave all of the kids an Easter egg with a treat inside. I have to say though that I was slightly disappointed. I've always heard about how beautiful the ride on the train was so I guess I had pictured in my head that it took you through the mountains more. In reality it pretty much just took you through the town :(. Oh well, still a fun time!

Justin just taught Nolan about thumb wars. "1,2,3,4 I declare a thumb war. Thumbs back...ready...ATTACK!!" Except they just tickle rather than actually thumb war. Anyway, Nolan loves it!!

After the train ride Nolan wanted to check all of the doors on a sitting train to see if they opened. 

I love trains so I was pretty excited too!

They also had a cute little petting zoo. N wasn't too interested before the train ride, but aftewards he was all about it. How cute is that little pig?!

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Sunday morning the boys woke up to a few treats from the Easter bunny ♥

Then after church we headed down to Gm and Gp Bailey's new house. Grandpa set up a great little egg hunt for Nolan. Wait, did I say little? Silly me, I think grandpa had a good time and stuffed and hid a lot of eggs! hehe

Nolan loved it and that's the only audience he needs to please amiright?

Look at all those eggs! He might get a bit of a rude awakening when he participates in a larger hunt and has to compete for the eggs. I'm slightly worried about how he'll take that. Oh well, it will be good for him haha. 

Watching the Penguins win in the playoffs

After a super tasty dinner we headed to the park, then did some sidewalk chalk. Here are just some of the words Nolan recognizes and knows how to spell. And he adds more every day! I swear we don't push him, he just loves letters and words!!

Gm and Gp Bailey are Comin' to Town

Well, it's official.

Grandpa and Grandma Bailey have bought a home and are moving to Utah!

It's a little strange to know we'll have family so close. I think Justin and I are super used to being on our own so it will be a bit of an adjustment to remember that they are so close and to extend invitations, etc. That being said, we're really excited! Not to mention we wouldn't mind dumping the kids off on them every once in a while *wink *wink ☺ They found a beautiful home in Highland that has a perfect little wall cutout with a mini-sized door and window that, needless to say, Nolan LOVES! I hope they are happy with their choice to move here and am excited for all of the memories we will make.

I was talking to Doug about how strange it is to think that this new home will be the only one our kids will know. They obviously don't know their home in Woodinville, and won't remember their Livermore home. When they think of Gm and Gp Bailey's house, it will be this new home in Highland. Crazy to think about!

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At Mo-bettah's before going to check out Gm and Gp's new house!

Nolan absolutely LOVED having so much room to run around. For days afterward he talked about going to "Gm and Gp's new house."

I sure love these cute boys and am so lucky to be their mom!

I like this cute boy too (with his mine me).

Taking in their new digs ☺

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

Nolan got this Baseball ABCs book for Christmas from Aunt Brianna. At first he didn't seem all that into it, but he's really started loving it lately. Obviously he loves the ABCs and he's been getting more into baseball so it's a perfect combination. Like with most things he usually starts out watching us point things out and tell him what they are. You can just see his little brain working and learning. It never takes long before he's learned enough to start pointing things out himself and asking what the unfamiliar pictures are. He's definitely a quick study ☺

One cute thing he's been doing lately is whenever we read the baseball book at bedtime and he gets to the 'H' page he has to go outside of our door and look at the awesome doormat we got from Preston and Devin for Christmas that looks like a home plate. He compares it to the picture in his book and says, "H-O-M-E. Home!" Only then can we resume the bedtime routine haha.

So anyway, partly because we'd talked about going before, but mostly because Nolan has been so into this book lately, we decided to go to the BYU vs Utah baseball game at the Bee's stadium last night. We thought it would be fun to show him some of the real life things he's been reading about in his book and he did not disappoint with his excitement!

I think his best reaction was when we gave him his ticket. He excitedly shouted, "a ticket! My ticket!!" The guy at the box office couldn't help but smile at him ☺

Book in hand, looking at the real life diamond!

He's been a stinker about pictures lately so I had to sneak all of these pics. Hence why he's never looking at the camera.

I took a picture of the field and sky combination at several different points during the evening because it was just so beautiful each time!

After going out to the corridor to get some food with daddy he wanted to go back out a bit later with mom to look for Angel's symbols (the Bees are the farm team for the Angels). Here he is, book in hand, searching...

...and he found one! He was pretty excited. 

As a side note, I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little nervous that he might latch onto the Angels symbol and - like another weirdo I know, ahem, Justin - stick with that team for life and turn his back on the teams he should like (aka the Giants and Mariners) We'll do our best to make sure it doesn't happen ☺ When going through his book he knows mommy's favorite team is the Giants and daddy's is the Mariners so I think we're off to a good start.

While we were wandering around one of the ushers asked Nolan what he was doing. I told him we were looking for Angel's symbols and Nolan held out his book to him and pointed to the symbol. I think the guy was pretty amused so he said, "you know what? I'm going to be a nice Ute fan and do something nice for a BYU fan." Then he held out his hand to Nolan and revealed a baseball for Nolan to take! Nolan was SO excited to be given his own baseball. He was just beaming ♥ I wish Justin could have seen his reaction.

I wish I could have gotten a picture of him with his new ball, but, stinker.

Trying to keep warm. 

When we went to Jeanni's to pick up the boys and told her we were going to the ball game she offered to keep Branson with her for a couple more hours while we took Nolan. After some deliberation we decided to take her up on the offer and we were so glad we did because it was freezing! I would have been so worried about B that I might not have enjoyed it as much. Plus it was nice to be able to have some special time with Nolan. Thanks Jeanni! Nolan was a little worried about Branson though and kept asking if we were going to go back to Jeanni's to pick him up ♥

I think daddy is pretty excited about Nolan's new love of and knowledge of baseball!

Little B is 4 months old!

Is it possible that Branson is already 4 months old?! He has been such a light to our family that it's hard to remember what it was like before he was with us!

He can officially start eating baby food now! He's keeps trying to roll over onto his belly, but doesn't quite know how to get that arm out from underneath him yet. He's really good at tummy time and lifts his head super high. We can almost hold him without supporting his head. He'll be really good and then all of the sudden his head will flop back, but he's getting so close! He's also just recently gotten much better at grabbing things and holding onto them. He got a new bumbo-like seat and he absolutely loves sitting up like a big boy! He still spits up and drools a lot (oey), usually choosing to spit up the second we put him in his car seat or bumbo. Seriously, we could have burped him for an hour straight before putting him in the seat. Nothing. Put him in, waterfall. He still has quite a bit of hair, but a lot has rubbed off as well. He actually has this funny little ring around his entire head, which is so weird to me because it's a thin line, not a huge spot like you would expect if he rubbed off the hair or something?? He loves attention. If you're smiling at him he's happy as a clam and smiling back, but turn your head to focus on something else for a second? He's upset. Silly boy!

He is currently teasing us when it comes to sleep. Sometimes he'll sleep all the way through the night and other nights he'll wake up famished and downing an entire bottle at 4am. Oey. I also think we have a binky problem. We tried really hard from the beginning to put him down without a binky so he'd learn how to fall asleep without it, and he's been really good with that. The problem was/is the middle of the night when I'm so tired that I'd put the binky in his mouth, hoping he'd just fall back asleep rather than needing a bottle. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't and I'd eventually have to get up. But I think it created a problem now where when he wakes up in the middle of the night he needs his binky to fall back asleep, which stinks because we don't want to have to get up any time it falls out of his mouth. It still only happens maybe once or twice a night, but still.

So anyway, even though he's still interrupting our sleep we love him more than we know how to express! ♥

Here's his 4 month pic and collage

Outtakes

Nolan is always trying to get Branson to laugh ♥ He's pretty successful most of the time too!! 

Giving Branson some hugs. Nolan has been talking lately about how he and Branson are going to play "when Branson gets bigger." Melt my heart. 

So even though Nolan is constantly being reminded that Branson is still little and can't do all of the things Nolan would probably like him to, he still doesn't always seem to get it and is still trying to figure out just how much he can play with Branson. Plus, he's probably just being 2 and testing boundaries ☺ Once I was working at the kitchen table and Branson was in his rocker next to me. Nolan came into the kitchen and was trying to climb up into the rocker on top of Branson! (Preston asked me before Warren was born if I thought those rockers might tip if older siblings were hanging on it. Well, I can tell him now, it's not. That thing held up great haha!). Anyway, Branson started crying and Nolan got in a bit of trouble, but all was forgiven when Nolan came back into the room with his beloved blanket and handed it to Branson to comfort him. Awww.

Don't you just want to squish him?!!

Oh ya, he has this little birth mark on his back that I don't think we noticed for at least 2 months haha!

He always holds our hands and I love every second of it.

Little sleeping angel

I think Branson is in there somewhere!

Daddy trying to get him to roll over

B in his new big boy seat!

We love you Bran Bran!