Birthdays!

My little boys are now 5 and 7! I can hardly believe it. What a great blessing they are. They challenge us daily with their witty questions, their great amount of energy and, at times, their willfulness. It all adds up to being daily sanctified by the Lord who must love us a lot to have blessed us so greatly. Thankfully, He gives the grace to (hopefully) answer questions well, keep up with the activity and discipline in love.

We had a birthday party for the boys on Friday, September 24th ... right between their actual birthdays of the 20th (Jackson) and the 26th (Lincoln). It was a Mario Kart themed party and the kids had a blast playing Wii with their friends and family. We are blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives. Thank you to everyone who attended! You are a gift to the Nichols family.

First Day of School

I have a 1st grader and a Kindergartener. I can't believe that I have them at the same time! It was quite unexpected to have Jackson entering Kindergarten this year. We pretty much decided the day before school started. It had been nagging at me all summer--whether I should have him start or not. He wasn't going to go to preschool, I was just going to teach him at home. Selfishly keeping him with me for one more year. But I started thinking--he already knows what I planned on going over with him this year. And Cornerstone Christian School has 1/2 day Kindergarten. So, I expressed my concerns to Jeff on Friday and he thought we should check into it. We met his potential teacher Saturday at the school orientation we were attending because Lincoln is a 1st grader and set up an evaluation for him on Monday. All the while I was thinking..."maybe he won't be ready..." But of course, he was! He passed his evaluation with flying colors. The next day he began his first day of Kindergarten...a full year earlier than I had expected! He still looks so small, yet he acted like such a big boy.

Lincoln was excited for 1st grade. He'd met his teacher in July when he came to Cornerstone for his evaluation and he really liked her. He has two buddies from church in his class, which I think helped him not be nervous. He marched right into class all by himself since Lola and I were walking Jackson into his class. He found his desk himself, unloaded his backpack and was sitting happily by the time we came in to see him. What a big boy! So handsome sitting there.

I sure do miss them when they're gone and boy so does Lola! But I know they are in a great place! So blessed by God opening this door for us and giving us the opportunity to send our children to this fantastic school. Prayers for a great school year for my little men are appreciated!

Lola Marie is Three!

Yes, its true, my BABY IS 3! I can't believe it! Its gone by so fast. What a blessing and a gift she has been. Praise the Lord for giving her to us. Praise the Lord that she is healthy. Praise the Lord that she is so loving and sweet. And praise the Lord that she is stubborn, because it is sanctifying for her mommy and daddy. :)

On Saturday we had a birthday party for Lola-girl. We are blessed by so many family and friends that love Lola and our family and came to celebrate and shower her with love. We love all of you.

Summer!

As I write this, Lincoln will be starting school in two weeks. I cannot believe summer is almost over! Its been a few weeks since I've blogged and we've actually done a lot of fun stuff. Unfortunately, I didn't even take pictures of everything. But here's a sample of what we've done in July...

We went to a cabin in Truckee from July 9-11. It was fun! What a blessing to get to go to the moutains and admire God's beautiful creation. (An even bigger blessing...we got to stay in a gorgeous cabin instead of a tent.) :)

On July 14th I took the kids to meet their sweet new baby cousin, Joshua Phelps. What a cutie! They all three loved holding him and loving him. They also enjoyed playing with their cousins. They get along so well!

The week of July 19th the kids, my mom (Manamana) and I went to Irvine to visit my Aunt Linda and cousin Miles. We spent the week there enjoying the ocean and the awesome cool weather! Jackets in July are awesome.

At the end of the trip we stopped at my Aunt Brenda's for a short visit. Here's a pic of all of us, Meghan, Jackie, Brenda, me, Lola, Mom, Jackson and Lincoln.

We've also had gymnastics for the kids, tons of swimming, a visit from friends who live in Simi Valley, and lots of lazy days at home enjoying not having to go anywhere. Summer is awesome and its almost over! Thank you Lord for a beautiful (not too hot) summer where we got to enjoy eachother everyday.

Messy, messy, fun!

One of the joys (or headaches--depending on the day) of being a mommy is coming up with fun, stimulating and time-consuming things to do with my kiddos. Today it was finger painting in the front yard! It lasted about a 1/2 hour, which, for my kids, is a pretty good run on a project. It did require a bath afterward, but was well worth the mess! Thank the Lord for washable paint!

Independence Day.

Happy July 4th! As per usual, the Nichols were busy, but had a blast. Breakfast at Grandpa and Manamana Bouterie's, swimming at the great grandparents' Harris' house, naptime at home, dinner, waterslide and water balloons at the Uncle and Aunt Roane's and finally fireworks and Grandpa and Grandma Nichols. Whew! Busy is the way we like it!

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to Jeffrey Nichols, the blessing God has given us. Thank you Jeff for striving to fight your sin daily by relying on the Holy Spirit. You encourage me to do the same. I praise God every day for chosing to save you (and me) and teaching us daily how to be better spouses and parents. I love you!

Rewind...June 10th

Lincoln's school put on an abridged version of the musical "Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat". The Kindergarteners were part of the chorus. Lincoln is in the front row, second from the left.

Here's that cute boy in his costume after the show.

Since Lincoln had been singing the songs for weeks and had basically taught the whole misical to Jackson in the weeks prior, we thought Jackson would enjoy seeing why his brother had taught him these silly songs. Afterward, we went to Mirabelle's for dessert. Its fun to go have a treat once in a while. Grandpa and Grandma Nichols came to see Lincoln's performance and Grandpa and Grandma Bouterie did as well and joined us for dessert!

Silly Lincoln has decided that its funny to ruin pictures with goofy faces. Hopefully we'll be able to remember how cute he was at 6 1/2 without the help of photos. :) Here we are with Lincoln and his crazy face...but missing our cute Lola.