Good weather brings good times... and a grandpa!

Where the last couple of weeks have been relatively calm at the Nutt House we found that this past week did a good job at keeping all of us Nutts on our toes. 

Sunday was the Super Bowl and for the first year since we’ve been married it wasn’t something we were anxious to watch, hosted a party for or any of the sort.  Since the game was held here in Phoenix it was sort of strange, but honestly, looking back, I didn’t mind it.  Fortunately for us, since the game was held in Phoenix Brent’s company got Monday off work as a floating holiday.  *This reminded me of Baton Rouge and Mardi Gras, the Super Bowl (whether hosted there or not) and many other occasions*  Anyway, we chose to take advantage of having our big Nutt home with us and went on a nice long bike ride Monday.  The weather has been perfect and we would have been crazy not to take advantage of it.  So, with Kara in the lead and Kaden and I in the rear our Nutt-y family took off.  Kara is getting close to being ready for her training wheels to be moved up a bit and Kaden is getting the hang of pedaling.  In fact, if the pathway has a bit of a decline to it, he can go without being pushed.  Now, if he just had blinders to give him tunnel vision he’d be all ready to go on his own (he has a tendency to look everywhere but where he’s heading and where his head turns the handle bars follow suite.)

We continued our family day Monday night with FHE at one of our new favorite parks, Tumbleweed, where we met a cousin of Brent’s along with her kids for dinner and some playtime.  This park has turned into quite the family favorite and getting to spend time with family members while there – double bonus!  Watching Kara continuously ride down the zip line that I know I’d both enjoy but be terrified of was thrilling.  Though, my favorite part of the night was when Kaden took my hand to play with him.  We ran back and forth from the little play house where we’d gobble up pretend chicken nuggets, fish sticks, and the last time shark to going in the school bus or fire truck.  The tiny glimpse this experience gave me into the world of Kaden was fascinating, exciting, and with all the wonder of Neverland.  I felt as though with him, right then, I could stay young forever.

Not just one, but two zipline loving riders!

One of the new year resolutions of the Nutt House has been to update and keep journals (mine journal is this blog, if that is not evident by the more frequent updates this year).  Well, to develop the habit in Kara and Kaden they each have a journal of their own now and once a week we sit down with each of them and help them write in their journals.  We go through the events of the week and they describe what they did, how they felt, etc.  To hear how our little Nutt’s describe their activities is enjoyable.  Kara eagerly wants to do the writing in her journal so not only are we establishing this good behavior but practicing her writing skills.  (bonus parental points for us there!)

Where the weather has been so good Wednesday the kiddos and I played hooky from our responsibilities and ventured to the other side of South Mountain where we did some sightseeing, hiking, and exploring.  We couldn’t go to the top where the communication towers are because of construction but still had a lot of fun.  When we spotted a squirrel the excitement from both Kara and Kaden was almost equal to that of when they’ve seen deer or bears.  Our Nutt-y family has been camping and been outdoors, though not as much as I would like and taking time out of our day to day routine to spend some quality outdoor time was priceless.  Kara and Kaden slid down the bigger rocks bringing back childhood memories of my own.  I mean, is it possible to be a child and not slide down big rocks?  We did some hiking with ample reassurances along the way that if we did not step on or touch a cactus then we would not end up with cactus needles stuck into our attire.  I am equally grateful for the prompting and for acting upon it to let the chores wait and enjoy the time with the kids. 

I know they won’t be little forever and finding/making time to enjoy the moments of their childhood is incredibly important to me. 

A quick bragging moment, if you don’t mind….

After I looked through Kara’s papers from school Thursday I discovered she can now write the entire alphabet!!!  I knew she was close, but to get it all by herself... Woot! Woot!!

Saturday was a busy day for the Nutt House, backing up to Friday night my dad, aka Grandpa came to see us for a very short, very fast trip.  He was bringing down an old record player/stereo that I want to refurbish and get up and working again along with a new dining room table.  Anyway, excitement was a buzz and last minute grandpa preparations were to be made.  Lucky for grandpa and fortunately for us, Saturday was also the day of Kara’s first big dance competition.  With a required arrival time of 6:50 A.M. Saturday morning Friday night was an early night for our little Nutt’s.  After yawning my way through a shower I heard noises in the front room and upon investigation I found not just one but two little Nutt’s up playing with Grandpa.   It wasn’t even 5:30 yet!!  They didn’t even wake up this early for Santa Claus!!  Be it early, they were up and just as elated as they would be on Christmas morning to see Grandpa there at our house.  After some, frantic preparations we were ready by 6:15 to head to the dance competition.  What a world we’ve gotten ourselves into!  With crazy early mornings, enormous dance costume bags, and crazy rules like no photos or videos during the competition (whatever!).  All the craziness aside, Kara had a blast and my heart was bursting with pride as once again I cried proud happy tears as I watched my little girl once again amaze me with her talents.  After a whole 2 minutes on stage we were done and home by 8 am with a whole day of grandpa time ahead of us. 

with THE famous Itsy-Bitsy Spider

After  moving in the new furniture and moving the out old, along with some impromptu but needed sprinkler fixing we had some game playing time with Grandpa and Kara’s favorite part – Grandpa make up time.  My dad is such a good sport to indulge a little girl who looks up to and idolizes her grandpa (reminds me of how I still look at my grandpa’s though they’ve past away and how I continue to look at my own dad).  To make sure the little and big Nutt’s had the energy to make it through the long day and to continue on a Valentine’s tradition going back to my grandparents giant Valentine sugar cookies with our  names on it were left as gifts from grandpa.  (I remember getting these every year from my grandparents and when they stopped doing this, my parents picked up the tradition each and every year). 

Yes, they are about as big as their heads!

After some cries this morning at the fact that Grandpa had gone back home we muddled our way through our morning routine and ventured off to church, the 4 tired Nutt’s that we were.  Now, an early bed has and does await each and every Nutt in our Nutt House.  We are grateful for the week we’ve had and are blessed for each event we’ve experienced.  After a good night’s sleep we are on to our next Nutt-y adventures!