Jumping, Playing, Aging and More

Another week has come and gone for the Nutt House.  A week full of the same ol’ same ol’ with a few Nutt-y instances sprinkled in for some good memory moments. 

Our week started with a glimpse into Kaden’s future as he dressed up like his 100-year-old self for the 100^th day of school on Monday.  I was somewhat apprehensive about his costume and if it would work out okay but as the final touches were applied, I saw my sweet baby boy age into a 100-year-old man.  His look was perfect and I could not help smiling at him!  In my completely biased opinion, he was THE best 100-year-old in kindergarten that day.  Even his teacher had to do a double take and some of his classmates couldn’t recognize him.  He pulled off a fantastic look that I am so proud of!

Seriously my favorite old man EVER!!!

Our week of course brought the standard Nutt House activities including (but not limited to) dance, Jiu Jitsu, piano, bike riding, creation creating, playdates, trampoline time and much more.  We are so grateful that our Nutt-y lives allow us to participate in each of the activities that we do!  We do not take for granted these seemingly mundane blessings and opportunities and I pray that we never do.

Poor lil guy had rope burns from holding on so tight

Her teacher and mentor for so long now offering
more tips and pointers how to improve upon
her already amazing skill set

Yeah, he kind of loves this sport

Kaden has started to enjoy taking selfies, especially with others 

My heart...  I love how well they can play together
*I even smile under the exasperation when they tease each other.  They share so much love it is remarkable!

Kara had her own standout moment at school this week when she was chosen to co-present the morning announcements at school.  Ever since Kara found out, she has been beyond excited and once she received her script has been practicing and practicing to make sure she got it just right.  I am happy to say, our very own Fancy Nancy nailed it!  She spoke clearly, smiled and oh yeah… danced on the morning announcements, something I did not believe she’d actually do.  I am very surprised and proud of her!  Kara has been evolving lately and I am intrigued to see who she becomes.

Our little announcer girl

Saturday brought the Nutt House our big-ticket item, our main event for the week.  We have been counting down for a couple weeks now the opening of an indoor play place, Urban Air and the grand opening came Saturday.  Urban Air advertised that the first 100 people would receive free jump passes for a year so our amazing tall Nutt (who had to be at work until after 10pm the night before) got up before dawn to sit in line outside of Urban Air starting at 5:30 in the morning.  After hearing that our original plan for the kiddos and I coming a few hours later, say 8-8:30 wasn’t going to work as they were counting bodies in the line and if I wasn’t there Brent could only get 1 free pass our plans were turned upside down.  Frantically, at 6 am I started getting myself ready along with packing some food for sleeping kiddos, warm clothing and blankets and with a now awake lil’ miss at the all too early hour of 6:30 am we started packing the car to head out.  Kaden woke up much earlier than he should have as I was trying to quietly get him some clothes, which I clearly failed miserably at.  By now it was close to 7 and with awake kiddos and a prepared car (minus the 10 minutes I spent scrambling to find my keys which had gone MIA only to find out hours later were hidden safely in a pocket of my purse that I KNOW was checked at least a dozen times) we took off to meet up with Brent (thank heavens for spare keys!).  Once we arrived, the kiddos waited in the car with the iPad for company while I went to join Brent in the cold line for the still almost 2-hour wait.  Fortunately, the time went by fairly quickly and soon enough Urban Air opened their doors.  Oh my!  What a place!  I had looked up pictures and videos from other locations to get a sense of what we’d be walking into, but I was still amazed at what I saw.  I was envisioning another play place that was geared toward younger ages but I was wrong.  There were a couple activities that Kaden was too short to even attempt and Kara was just barely there and while she could go on them – the rope course and sky coaster, she doesn’t yet have the height to make these activities easy.  These limitations did not stop the Nutt House from having a terrific time though.  After a look around the little Nutts determined the obstacle course area – a sort of Ninja Warrior course area was the place to start.  Oh my!  What fun they had!  It was obvious though that the Nutt House needs to watch us a bit more American Ninja Warrior to help the kiddos gain a greater understanding of how to work the obstacles they were presented with.  After the obstacle course area the kiddos enjoyed an area called the “tube area” full of objects to climb on, around, slide down, etc. as this was in close proximity to the rope course Kara was eager to give that a go.  A downhearted Kaden who was too short to go on the rope course continued to play in the tube area while Kara proceeded to maneuver around about our heads.  To say I was nervous for her would be the understatement of the year, especially when her safety line kept getting stuck preventing her from moving to a new area.  Fortunately, some bigger folks helped her get her line unstuck and with mom turning away several times Kara made her way through successfully and was ready for the next activity.  Next up for Kara was the sky coaster, because, why do something on the ground that will not give mom a heart attack when we can be flying through the sky, above mom’s head while she holds her breath in nervous anticipation during the entire ride?!?!?  Of course, Kara completed this with an ear-to-ear smile and was ready for the next injury-defying activity.  This is again, another example of how she is evolving... a year ago – she would have avoided both of these activities, as she would have been too afraid.  Is it bad that I am wondering if this newfound bravery is a good thing or not?  Just kidding, kind of…  Next up the kiddos both took advantage of the skills they have gained climbing the rock wall leading to Kaden’s bed to climb the several climbing walls Urban Air had to offer before transitioning to other activities.  It is hopefully evident that the Nutt House had a great time and will go back sooner rather than later to start utilizing our yearlong free jump passes!

While waiting in line Kara found a friend from school,
they proceeded to play hand games with each other while waiting
then kept running into each other and playing together once inside Urban Air
*I don't think Brent found my jokes about her having a boyfriend too funny

My little Ninjaette

Go Ninja boy, go!

Serious, anxiety attacks for me!

So much braver than her momma!

Checking out his skills in the tube area

Always, always keep climbing and reaching for the stars lil' man

My grey hair count grew exponentially this day

This brought me back to the old school Gladiator days!

I love how this little monkey will always try anything and everything!

And she wondered why her shoulders and upper abs hurt today...

The dodgeball ninja

Saturday also brought another monumental event… an actual date night for Brent and I!  After repeated issues the previous night with trying to have a date (his getting stuck at work until after 10 being just one of them) it was so nice to get some time together.  We didn’t do anything fancy or all too exciting.  In fact, we tried a newer place for dinner before just driving around the valley and talking.  Not the “hey are you going to make it to this place” or “I need you to do this” or “let me know tell you what’s going with the kids” kind of talking but actual adult conversation, the kind spouses need to be able to have and let me tell you… it was heavenly!

Our Nutt-y week wrapped up today with the whole Nutt-y family pitching in to make breakfast, a perk to the later church time I suppose… more family time in the mornings.  At church, Kara gave a talk in Primary followed by me teaching in Relief Society (eeek!), the first time for my new calling since being released from the Primary Presidency.  After church, we were blessed to share our evening with some good friends before calling it a night.

Mickey Mouse waffles and fresh squeezed orange juice...  my kind of breakfast!

This was a good week for the Nutt House and I cannot wait to see what this next week will hold in store for us!