Easter Celebrations

I don't really know what happened to the month of March, it flew by so quickly! We have been busy with school, work and life with an active little boy. Nathan amazes us each day with all that he is doing. He is learning to speak so well, he can certainly express his opinions and ideas.

The weekend of Easter we went up to Rochester for a little getaway. We stayed one night in a hotel with pool- Nathan loved that. He hadn't been swimming for a long time and really enjoyed swimming around in his intertube. He got pretty brave and would jump in the water to Daddy's arms.

Saturday morning we went to the Strong Museum of Play, it was a great place for kids. We went with the Price's whose son McKay is Nathan's little buddy; I think they had a great time together. Nathan loved the trains - both to ride and to play with. There was a Sesame Street set complete with video setup so you could see yourself on TV, also a taxi with Elmo and Cookie Monster in the back seat (picture on left with McKay). Nathan liked giving them rides. There were all kinds of airplanes and cars to drive, sand boxes, boats to steer and toys to play with. My favorite part of the day was the butterfly garden. There were hundreds of beautiful butterflies flying around us and the garden itself was beautiful as well. Needless to say, Nathan slept the whole way home. It was a lot closer than we thought, just 20 min. from Palmyra, so just about a 2 hr drive for us.

Easter morning Nathan got a few treats in his easter basket, but the Easter Bunny came during nap time that afternoon and hid eggs all over the house. Nathan had to open each egg as he went to see what was inside. After a yummy dinner, Nathan enjoyed eating his chocolate bunny- he wanted to wear Daddy's goggles while eating- it was pretty funny (see video below)!

In Honor of More Masculinity Coming

Now that we know another boy is coming to our family and in honor of warmer weather we wanted to post this video of Nathan and all the things he got to "drive" last summer. While these are pictures and videos of him driving actual things, we have learned that almost anything, from a piece of bread to a cookie to a rock can be a great car or train. You may recognize the background music from one of Nathan's favorite movies - Cars.

It's a Little Brother for Nathan!!!

Thanks to all those who voted on our poll ... turns out the majority was incorrect in thinking that Nathan would have a little sister ... we went up to Syracuse yesterday and had an ultrasound done and we discovered that we are having another boy! We are really excited and Nathan seems excited too and says he will share his cars and trains with him (which is great, since he doesn't always like to share)! We had a girl's name picked out, so of course, we are having a boy, so now we've got some work to do to pick out a boy's name. It is all very exciting! Now that we know, it just seems right that we are having a boy and Nathan will have a little brother.

February Happenings

We can't believe February is nearly over! Although we are certainly ready for some warmer weather with recent temps in the single digits some days and a good snow storm on Tuesday night. Nathan has insisted on going outside to play in the snow everyday since the storm and has enjoyed sledding and making snowmen.

Earlier this month during the week of Valentine's Day we all enjoyed decorating (Nathan would say more like eating) a 'House of Love' gingerbread house. I think the ratio was 3:1 for Nathan (i.e. three pieces in the mouth to every one on the house). We love the way he likes to help us make things - especially edible ones! The Saturday before Valentine's Day, the Yosts watched Nathan and Elizabeth and I enjoyed a wonderful dining experience at ZaZa's in Ithaca. ZaZa's is an Italian restaurant in downtown Ithaca and we loved the peaceful atmosphere, the warm, fresh bread and the gnocchi prepared just right.

Besides keeping us on our toes, Nathan likes to bite his toes (nails). I took a shot of him in action and I must admit his flexibility is enviable. Last Saturday we had a fun family outing to the Cornell basketball game. The Big Red came through with a big win over Brown at Newman Arena. The win kept Cornell undefeated in the Ivy League. Newman Arena seats about 4,500 people, so I was a little skeptical at first (being more accustomed to the 22,000 seat Marriot Center in Provo), but the crowd was rockin' and it made for a great atmosphere. Go Big Red!

Speaking of basketball, we recently got Nathan a little nerf basketball hoop and he enjoys putting the ball through the hoop. I had to put the Cougar fight song on while Nathan was playing and he loved marching around with the music and making a few baskets ... anyway, check out the video below that transitions from the Marriot Center in Provo to our pseudo-Marriot Center in Groton:

Quote of the Day

"Maybe I will apply for some jobs today."

So maybe I was just tired, but when Scott said that was what he wanted to do today, that just struck me as funny- 'cause its only a big step in his career!!

Captain Underpants

So we have been talking about using the potty for awhile, but I guess just haven't really jumped into to the full-time training yet! I can think of several reasons why:

• Nathan does not care if his diaper is soaked and to his knees,


• I am not consistent in taking him to the potty during the day,


• and I keep telling myself, "well, he's only 2."

Sometimes he will sit on the potty and we'll read stories, then he puts some TP in and says he is done, and promptly asks for Smarties. We have had to work on the idea that he doesn't get candy just for sitting on the potty.

He has the fun Thomas the Tank Engine and Lightening McQueen underwear, and sometimes likes to wear it even if its over his jammies! It makes me think of the books my brother Erik read about a Captain Underpants. (when he was younger!!) After wearing his underwear to bed, he was all set on wearing it the next day, so maybe he is thinking more about actually using to potty for more than a place to sit during story time. We have yet to see.....

Nephites in New York

For Family night this week, Scott put together a lesson on the scriptures - specifically the Book of Mormon. After looking at some pictures of paintings of different scenes in the Book of Mormon, Scott and Nathan got together, clad with ties for headbands and wooden train tracks for swords, while trying to obtain the yellow construction paper "gold plates."

Nathan really enjoyed getting to act out the scriptures and it seems to have stuck with him ... at least for a week. He had fun being Nephi and saying, "I will go!" Also, enjoyed 'getting' daddy, who was playing the part of Laban ('getting' involved hitting daddy in the side with the wooden sword, we didn't think it necessary go any further) and then putting on his sweater and going to get the plates.

It was a family night where there were Nephites in New York!

PICTURES BELOW (Nathan enjoying chocolate ice cream; Nathan and Dad):