Fall Fun!

It's been a busy couple months! Here's a quick update....

Nick - August 13th, day before his 3rd birthday.

A.C. Gilbert House in Salem. We met my college roommate and her youngest son there for a couple hours of play. Can't wait to go back! They had so many fun things to do. A bubble room, giant forts, giant rocking chairs and more!

Early September I took Emily, Staci and Nick to build-a-bear. Love that place!

Staci with her Panda "Sweetheart".
Emily with her bunny "Sparkles".
Nick and his bear, "Charles Putton". He named him all by himself!
September 11 was the Shrewsberry Renaissance Faire in Kings Valley. I love this event, so many people are dressed up and in character. It's just a fun way to spend a day!

Merlin gave Nick a wand. So far he's turned me into a spider, caterpillar, ant, and his favorite - a lady bug. Nick is an aphid and I try to chase him to eat him. We are silly!
The jousting.

And of course, we can't go anywhere without our ice cream fix.

September 24th Nick decided he was done with diapers. He wore a couple at nap time or bedtime for the first week and that's been it. No more diapers! He's a boxer briefs kinda guy :).
October 2nd we hosted the Monroe Family Reunion. We celebrated Gene and Josie's 50th wedding anniversary which was October 1st. All 4 kids and all 4 grand kids were there!
Aunt Shelli teaching Nick how to read music. She sent him a violin the next week and we start lessons November 1st!
Monroe Family playing Bridge..
Nick trying to play his cards right...
Nick and his laptop and his favorite toy "special outlet". He loves home depot and anything with a plug. This has been an obsession since June. When asked what he's going to be when he grows up he says, "an electrical engineer".
Just being silly.
Recent Nick quotes:

- Nick found a plastic cover for his outlet so it resembled our outlet outside. When he figured this out he exclaimed "This is awesome!"

- Nick had a nightmare during naptime and it was really vivid when he woke up. He still remembers it to this day. It was a giant pink and green ladybug with a stinger and it was trying to sting him. When I went in his room because he sounded upset and was calling me, he had his hands closed tightly and said he caught a bug and he was kicking it so it wouldn't sting me. He talked about it intensely for about 10 minutes! When I asked him how big it was, he stretched out his arms as far and they would go and he said "really really big".

- Nick recently had his 3 year check-up with Dr. Wong. He's in the 99% for height and 47% for weight. He had a flu shot and another injection that day. He cried, of course. But when the nurse left the room he asked, "Why did the waitress hurt me?". Then he refused to walk the rest of the day because he was wounded and wouldn't put any weight on that leg. He actually crawled from the living room to the kitchen instead of walking. I don't think he cared for us laughing at him, but it was too funny not to!

- Nick calls the roof of his mouth "the ceiling". And his throat "the drain".

- He called me in his room at the beginning of nap time because he had dropped Piglet on the floor. I went in and said "you can get out of bed, pick up piglet and get back in bed". Nick replied "No I can't, because I'm cozy. So I called you to do it."

- Last night after we put him into bed, Nick had a conversation with Piglet. He would speak in his normal voice and say "It's bedtime now piglet, and we can't get out of bed until the clock turns green." Then he'd talk in a funny Piglet voice "Oh really? That's neat". Back to normal voice "Yeah, it is and when we get up we can play with radish and balloons and other stuff". Piglet voice "That sounds fun". He conversation went on for about 5 minutes. I was cracking up!