Scrabble Trunk

A repeat customer asked me to paint a trunk that use to belong to a Great Aunt.  The Aunt loved Scrabble so I wanted to incorporate that in someway. 

The trunk had a lot of great details carved out of the front.  They really popped once they were painted. 

If you are interested in getting something custom painted, visit www.swirlsandstripes.com for details and pricing. 

Nola's birthday

Nola was so excited for her birthday.  For the last few weeks she's been asking how far away her birthday is. When she woke up on her big day she asked where the guests were.  Apparently she had decided that we were going to have a fancy party at our house, but she never told me that.  We had something else in mind, but before we left for Lincoln I took a picture of her pretending to sleep and realized it looked a lot like the first picture I ever took of her.

A brand new Nola and a 4 year old Nola

I wanted to keep Nola's birthday more low-key this year.  Last year, we had a party at home for family and friends and when she turned 2 she got 2 parties!  For her actual birthday we rented a room at Champions.  We asked Robert's family to join us.  We ate pizza and played games.  Nola also got to climb around in the play maze.  

I reused some decoration from my sister's bridal shower and we picked up some cupcakes on the way into town.

She was pretty excited about all of the presents, especially the Little Charmers dolls.

She had a blast and it was so easy- just what I was looking for.  

We got home in the late afternoon and gave Nola her birthday present.  I'm trying to stock up on dress-up clothes because I have a cute little wardrobe that will be replacing her dresser once we get around to doing the nursery.  She liked the wedding dress I found online. 

Before she went to bed she laid out her birthday loot.  

 She is one very loved little girl!

Four

Nola is four.  I'm not sure how that happened and I don't really want to talk about it.

When you write these birthday posts I feel like you're supposed to know details, like what percentile she's in for height and weight, but I have no idea.  I think she's tall?  And that reminds me that I need to call the doctor to schedule her check-up.

She loves cats and her extreme fear of dogs has waviered a bit.  She's finally gotten use to the neighbors dogs (they're small) and will run after them yelling "stay still so I can pet you!"  They don't listen.

She's still a great sleeper... once she's asleep.  She still takes naps at daycare but we don't have her nap on the weekend.  On days she takes naps she'll stay up in her room much later than any four year old should.  She also hasn't worn pajamas in a few months.  I think she's warm-blooded.

She loves water, whether it's a pool or the bathtub.  She likes to fill the tub up and recreate scenes from The Little Mermaid using loofahs.  I'm always Ursula.  

She's had a lot of favorites, but the few that have stuck around are Disney Princesses, Build-a-Bear and My Little Pony.  She's trying to collect all of the ponies from Build-a-Bear and has very good reason for needed each one.  The ponies she does have get in fights (or "have attitude") and normally the only solution is to get another pony to even things out.

Her favorite princess, and Halloween costume, is Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) but I think that's just because she likes pink. She's definitely a girly girl, she likes me to paint her nails but isn't a big fan of getting her hair done.  She's kind of obsessed with weddings and still talks about Aunt Jessica and Uncle John's wedding.  She was a flower girl and constantly surprises me with what she remembers. 

Her only non-ladylike habit is the "toot gun".  It's a darling game her father taught her where she bends over, pulls down her pants, and yells "toot gun, toot gun!!!"  If she catches you at the right time it might even include a real toot.  It's not fun to wake up to but much better than Robert's rendition. 

She's very affectionate and tells us she loves us often.  She'll cuddle if she wants something or is sick, which isn't that often.  I take advantage of that sometimes :)

She likes to play school with me and her stuffed animals.  Most of our school day is filled with music class.  If Robert and I are busy she is normally content playing in her room by herself.  After a while we'll hear, "Nobody wants to play with me!!" and we know our time is up.

 

She's pretty excited to be a big sister and has embraced the fact that it's a boy.  Her name suggestions have gone from Joey to Bing Bong to some name she made up that I don't know how to spell.  I've told her that the baby is coming after her birthday so I think she's expecting to meet him tomorrow.

She's goofy and fun and has a lot of energy.  Her big personality is easy to spot, even in pictures.  She's just such a joy to be around and I'm so happy that I get to watch her grow up!

Happy Birthday Nola Jane! 

Kansas City

My sister and her husband live in Pittsburgh and are on a mission to visit all of the ballparks in the US.  They decided to fly to St. Louis to see a game then drive to Kansas CIty to see another.  We couldn't pass up the opportunity to see them while they were so close, so the whole family spent the weekend together in one of my favorite cities! 

We got to Kansas City Friday night and were the first one's there.  Boca, Gramcy, and Kyle arrived the next morning and after going to lunch we hit the park.

'We all ended up going down that slide.

Once the rest of the family got there we met my grandparents and headed to the stadium to tailgate.

Robert, Nola, and I were the only ones who didn't have tickets to the game.  Because of softball, we weren't sure if we were going to be able to make is so we didn't buy tickets.  The rest of the crew headed in for the game and the three of us hung around and enjoyed the leftover food weather.  

We were lucky we did because about 10 minutes after the game started a man parked near us and as he walked by asked if we wanted tickets.  Crazy right?!?  We took them and headed for the gates!  We ended up sitting next to my family because they had empty seats near them.

FA and Nola

Siblings! 

My dad took Nola to the bathroom and came back with ice cream.  She said she would share it with him but when they got back she wanted to share it with Robert.  Sorry Boca!

Enjoying the attention of her Uncles! 

Nola did really well at the game.  She switched laps a lot but overall she wasn't a big distraction to the people around us.  It was fun!

 The next day we met my other Grandparents for a brunch/birthday celebration for my dad.  Here's the whole group- thank you selfie stick!

The girls went shopping afterwards and Nola was in a MOOD!  She was tired, grumpy, and had to walk because I forgot the stroller.  She was about to have a meltdown when suddenly she saw a lady carrying a Build-a-Bear bag.  Build-a-Bear is her FAVORITE.  She instantly grabbed my hand and said, "Mom, that lady has a Build-a-Bear bag!"  I was so surprised that she recognized the bag, and knew that meant there was a Build-a-Bear near by.  Her near meltdown turned into her best behavior.  She was so patient as we stopped at a few stores before heading into the "best shop ever".

Nola is a pro at Build-a-Bear.  She knew exactly what she wanted and went through the steps quickly.  She loves those ponies! 

We all went to dinner that night with my Aunt and cousin. We sat on the patio which was a perfect spot to watch the blood moon.  It was a great way to end a very fun weekend! 

Last day of summer

I totally forgot to blog about our last day of summer adventures!  The last few years we've taken Nola on a little adventure on the last day of my summer break (check out our previous trips here and here).  This year we went to Chuck E. Cheese per Nola's request.  

I've seen several commercials about Chuck E. Cheese cleaning up their act, making the place more "mom friendly" and I have to say, I was pretty impressed.  The pizza was delicious, the tables and games were clean, and even though there were some parties going on it never felt uncomfortably crowded.  

I can't believe she's big enough to put tickets in the counting machine.  I also can't believe how inaccurate the machine is...  Luckily, the lady behind the counter bumped her up a few tickets so she could get a better prize.

We were afraid she would put up a fight when it was time to leave, but Chuck E. Cheese came out to greet the children and that sent her straight for the door.  She hates people dressed up as animals.

Then we stopped for ice cream and ran a few errands.

One place we stopped at was the jewelry store to get my ring cleaned.  When I told Nola what we were doing she wanted to get the ring she just won at Chuck E. Cheese cleaned too.  The lady was really nice about it and shined it up for her.  It was cute. 

We wore her out!  Fun day!