Things have been very busy around here since I last posted for me and my schooling goals -- dissertation finishing and preparing for the defense. This past week, we had a combination of snow and cold temperatures that resulted in cancelled classes for the boys' preschool AND the two universities were my husband and I work, respectively.
Chaos is ruling, but it's a good kind of chaos.
My little buddy turned 2 years old yesterday! We celebrated by having lasagna dinner for around 22 (my mom's side of the family, Hal's parents, and Luke's godfather's family). He got lots of presents (including a sandbox) and really enjoyed his cake, which he has been asking for for days.
Nathan is so sweet. He's talking more and more and he loves to run, climb, and jump. He and his big brother have such fun together (most of the time). Nathan is a finicky eater -- we never know if he's going to eat everything or nothing on his plate. He especially likes anything sweet, bread, hot dogs, cheese, raisins, and pizza (what terrible nutrition). We work on veggies and fruits, but he has always been very stubborn about food. If he doesn't want it, he's not going to eat it (and the reverse is true -- there is no quicker way to get a crying/tantrum than to take away something he wants to eat).
He loves lions and making animal noises. He enjoys Sesame Street, Thomas the Tank Engine, and he gets excited when he sees airplanes. He gives hugs and kisses a lot and really enjoys seeing Gammy (my mom) and "The Pa" (my dad).
He likes his book Moon Mater the best, but he loves to read and sing, especially before bed. He enjoys the bathtub and loves to say "potty," particularly when his big brother leaves a table at a restaurant to go to the potty. He likes to draw and dance and is just a joy.
We went to Puerto Rico from Dec 19-23 to take part in my brother's wedding. We were so pleased to be able to go (and I was asked to do a reading -- in English, thank goodness, as I have no Spanish). In a complete surprise, my mom's entire family was able to come (there are about 23 of us), and we also had family friends, an aunt and uncle from my dad's side of the family, and several of my brother's friends make the trip.
As you can imagine, we took some pictures. :)
This was the boys' first flight. They were actually wonderful on the flight. Nathan had a hard time before takeoff on the flight from Atlanta to PR, but once he fell asleep and had about an hour-long nap, he did great. Otherwise, we had them watch movies the whole time. Thank goodness for technology. Luke also got to sit in the cockpit! I'll have to find that picture -- Hal took it on his phone.
The first night in PR, we surprised Sylvia with an impromptu shower. This is a picture of Sylvia (in the middle, between my sister and I), and all the girl cousins except for Laura, who was randomly missing at this moment. (She did this so much that it became a running joke to yell "Where's Laura?!" randomly and she got a shirt on Christmas that said "Where's Laura?")
Nathan's first time on the beach! He loved it!!! :) Luke also had a great time. The waves were ROUGH so we didn't do too much oceaning, but we did get to do a bit.
Sylvia's beautiful church during the rehearsal!
In Puerto Rico, it is customary to do a rehearsal, but not a rehearsal dinner. My parents threw a big dinner anyway, and worked with a friend of Sylvia's to make a custom Rupp Arena cake! We also had a flash mob for Sylvia at the rehearsal -- she had posted something on Facebook a couple of months ago about a flashmob and said something about people being welcome to do something like that at the wedding. So my mom wrote a song to the tune of "We Wish you a Merry Christmas" called "We wish you a happy wedding." And my aunts, cousins, and I all got different verses. (Hal and I sang "Your family and friends came from near and from far/to see you get married and drink at the bar" -- and all the guys chimed in to yell "DRINK AT THE BAR!" with us.) It was a hoot. Also, Donnie wore his dress blues to the rehearsal, which was really special.
At the rehearsal dinner on the balcony looking over the ocean!
Me and my buddy at the rehearsal dinner.
Luke was all about talking to uncle Donnie before we got in the bus to go to the wedding.
We cleaned up!
Post wedding happy couple!
My parents with Nathan post wedding. The priest gave Nathan and Luke big blow pop suckers before church. Which Nathan LOVED. And drooled all over.
My mom (called Gammy by the boys) and Nathan dancing in the bus before going to the reception.
Bus Selfie!
Nathan and Hal bonded a lot the last two weeks.
Luke and his new aunt!
He was a MANIAC dancing. A maniac. He even tried to go get the microphone to sing at one point. He was breakdancing and everything. Out. of. control.
Sylvia and my cousin Kaysie. Notice anything different? This is Sylvia's SECOND WEDDING DRESS!
Cake
My cousin Kayla brought Santa hats.
Me and Donnie.
Sisters!
Our little fox doesn't say much, but he really enjoyed collecting candy during trick or treat in the rain tonight!
Luke recycled his costume from last year because who wouldn't want to be a rocket ship two years in a row?! Cheaper for me!!!
One day I'll get a picture of them together that looks nice. Obviously not today.
A week or so ago, Nathan backed up while getting ready to go down our slide and fell about 4.5 feet from our swing set. I was standing at the ladder. I do not know how he was not hurt -- he landed on his shoulders/back/neck region. I seriously thought that maybe I shouldn't move him and just call 911. But, he was fine except that he bit his lip. Seriously, there is no reason that he was fine. It was awful. I called the pediatrician but by the time they called me back he was acting like his normal self. So much to be thankful for.
Our swing set was the previous homeowner's and it was very old and unsafe and we had been meaning to take it down. But we didn't and just were watching to make sure the boys were safe on it. Well, that night I pulled the slide off with my bare hands and also broke the ladder rungs so they couldn't climb up to the platform. The whole swing set is now dismantled.
These kids, I swear.
Tonight, Luke, who is recovering from a cold, went to school today, and didn't nap, asked to go to bed at 7:30. Yikes. Nathan cried for an hour when he woke up from his nap (teeth and cold) and was mad when Hal put him to bed. I can't wait to see how they are tomorrow.
But then there are these moments. This picture makes me so happy. I looked up from checking email yesterday (my birthday!) and these two were like this. What a great birthday present. 
And here's Luke on the first day of school:
I have no idea what happened to make Luke so anti-birthday this year. Was it the fireworks on "America's Birthday?" Was it that Nathan got all messy on his birthday? We have no idea. He was super upset about his birthday, though. He burst into tears the other night when I sang "Happy Birthday" to him! I did not think that the birthday hating started at age 3.
Due to major protests when we mentioned his birthday, we ended up having a "baseball party" or a "party for no reason."
Instead of singing "Happy Birthday," we sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." Could he look more glum about it?
BUT! He loved presents. He got all sorts of things, and especially love his automatic pitcher.
(He also got that bengals jersey. He is sleeping in it.)
We celebrated with family. I was proud of my photo collage I did for him today: 
