An Egg Crackin' Good Time

Last Thursday we had the Keller family over to dye eggs and cookout since the weather was so nice!  Nolan had a lot of fun dying eggs!  He was so articulate in how he maneuvered the egg tongs, so there was minimal mess.  To be safe I did strip him down to his diaper though.  Nolan kept putting all of his eggs in the green dye.  I managed to put his name on one egg, but he kept dipping it in the green dye over and over, so by the end of the night it had several cracks, but looked pretty cool.

 Carter fell asleep before we began dying eggs, so I made an egg for him!

Like I said, there was no mess!  Thanks to Tiffany for bringing the splat mat!  The kiddos had a good time dying eggs.  Maddie was a pro and helped Nolan and Grant out.

Showin' Some Skin

This evening I took some adorable pictures of my boys!  I started out taking pictures of Carter, but Nolan thought it looked like fun too.  Nolan removed his clothes and diaper before I could blink.  He crawled up next to Carter and gave him a big hug!  It was the one and only picture I was able to take of them both, but it is ADORABLE!!

Carter is sitting up by himself for longer periods of time.  I cannot believe how big he is becoming!  I saw this teddy bear picture on Pinterest and I wanted to recreate it with Carter.

Tiffany once again busted out her mad embroidering skills and made an Easter basket liner for Carter.  It is adorable and I decided to put Carter in his basket for some pictures.  He was a little snug, but the basket didn't break and neither did Carter. :)

Both Nolan and Carter are super excited to color Easter eggs....... Bill and I will be attempting this feat on Friday.  Stayed tuned for Easter egg dying pictures.

From Baseballs to Snowballs

Spring has sprung in Illinois!  In like a lion, out like a lamb took full meaning this weekend!  Saturday was in the 50's, so Bill took Nolan outside to teach him the basics of baseball.  Nolan enjoyed watching Bill pitch the baseball as he stood there with the bat in his hands ready to swing.  Nolan wanted Bill to hold the bat, so Nolan could pitch the ball to daddy.  What a fun time they had outside!  Nolan doesn't quite have the concept down, but he was having a blast with Bill!

Fast forward to Sunday, this morning we awoke to snowflakes falling.  Even this evening there were still flurries falling on the 6 inches of snow already on the ground.  Nolan and I had a lot of fun out in the snow today.  We built a snowman, went sledding around the yard, made snow angels, and slid down the slide.  What a busy and fun afternoon!!  The snow was perfect for making a snowman!  When I asked Nolan what we wanted to name the snowman he said, "Snowman." How original.

After we finished making "snowman" Nolan wanted to take a ride around the yard on his sled.  I'm not going to lie it was hard work running around pulling him, but after a track was made we zoomed around the yard a lot faster the other times we took a ride.

Nolan went down the slide over and over again.  He loved sliding down and landing in the big pile of snow at the bottom of the slide.  He would yell, "I stuck mama, help me!!"  I think Nolan's favorite part about being outside was eating the snow.  He kept licking everything in sight that had snow on it!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Carter celebrated his first St. Patty's Day in style thanks to Aunt Sheri and cousin Mike.  This Christmas each member of the Purcell family received green t-shirts with a four leaf clover on the front and our last name on the back.  I had no clue Purcell was Irish!

Since finding out Purcell is Irish, I did some research online and I came up with the following:

The name Purcell is an occupational surname.  Occupational surnames were derived from a word describing the actual job done by the original name bearer.  The surname Purcell came from a common occupational name for a swineherd.  The surname Purcell is derived from the Norman-French word porcel, which in turn comes from the Latin word porcus, which means pig or piglet.

The Purcell Motto:  Aut vincam aut periam
Motto Translation: Either conquer or perish

We had fun taking pictures with our shirts on!  Nolan even cooperated for a few.  Carter on the other hand loves the camera, so he has several more pictures.  Plus it's his first St. Patrick's Day so I had to take few extra of Carter.

 our attempt at a picture of the back of our shirts!

Happy St. Patrick's Day from the Pig Family! :)

A Weekend of Birthday Bashes

Last weekend we made a trip back home to celebrate great grandpa Tub's birthday and great grandma Melva's birthday!  What a fun weekend we had.  Nolan had fun playing with his cousins, Carter went on his first Kubota ride, and mommy and daddy had fun seeing their relatives.  I cannot believe I didn't have one picture taken of the birthday boy/girl!  I'm starting to slack in the photo department.

Our first stop was Friday night at the Chesser household to celebrate grandpa Tub's birthday!  We ate delicious pizza and of course the dessert was AMAZING.  Nolan devoured the chocolate cake.  Carter had fun being passed around and snuggling with everyone.

Saturday Papa T and I took Carter on his very first Kubota ride!  Carter met the cows and pigs.  Papa was already trying to put Carter to work shoveling pig poop or "pee ewe mud" as Nolan calls it.  Carter didn't show too much emotion, but I'm sure when he is older he will be begging for rides on the Bota.

Saturday afternoon we ventured to the Beeler farm to celebrate grandma Melva's birthday.  Once again, we ate way too much.  Nolan had a lot of fun helping Bill "work" on a temperature thing for Uncle Joe's dip tank.  Nolan loves to tinker on different things.  I think we may have another engineer in the family...

 I can see the wheels turning in his head....

 ....poor cow!

What a fun weekend we had!  Everyone couldn't believe how much Carter has grown since Christmas and how much Nolan is now talking.  The census still stands that our boys are perfect in every way!

Rollin' with the Homies

Carter is now rolling over from his back to his belly!  He first accomplished this magnificent milestone on March 7th, but I could never catch him in action.  I would lay him down on his back on the floor, leave the room, and I would come back into the room where he would be smiling up at me from his belly.  Silly boy!

After many attempts at trying to capture Carter rolling over, I decided to lay the camera on the fireplace and leave the room.  It took a few minutes, but he decided to roll over and I caught him in action!

Carter is now a pro at rolling over.  He will change the direction he wants to be facing or roll to get from one side of the room to the other.  Also, while he lays on his belly he is starting to bring his legs underneath him.  I see crawling in the near future. 

Carter loves to lay next to Nolan and play with his big brother.  I laid Carter on his play mat this morning and walked into the kitchen, the next thing I hear is Nolan laughing hysterically and calling out Carter's name.  Carter had rolled over and was playing with Nolan's hair.  It melted my heart.  These boys are going to be such great friends!