Summer Fun

Jaden playing in the sand!

Getting Dirty!

Drooling...

Let's just dump it all over me!

Yeah, didn't taste so great...

Grandpa to the rescue! (Auntie Cole just took pictures...thanks!)

Mmmm, water!

And a little update from me....

I'm on the upswing of my mono! My symptoms are pretty much gone and now I'm just tired. I'm back at work full time this week and was hoping to get some work outs in too, but I'm pretty ready for a nap by the end of the work day. I'm very thankful this hasn't been worse.

And much cause for celebration...
-Happy 3rd Anniversary Stacey & Perry!
-Happy 30th Anniversary Mom & Dad!
-Happy 24th Birthday Marc!
-Congratulations to the newlyweds, Andrew & Lindsey!
-My cousins Jessica and Casey are both expecting their first babies in the next couple of months and Mike & Missy are expecting again!

Just Kidding! I don't have allergies...

I spent a fantastic weekend in Longview working on a house for Habitat for Humanity with other young adults from the Seattle Archdiocese. It was a fun group, I met a lot of new people, and had a great time working on the house. It was just the dose of service I needed and I hope to do some more in the near future.

Unfortunately over the weekend my "allergies"/symptoms continued to worsen and because people could actually see my gland bulging out of my neck, I decided I would give in an go to the doctor. I don't have allergies, I don't have strep....

I have mono! :(

Seriously!? Who gets mono at 25!? That's what I thought, but apparently the most common age range to get mono is 15-25. Darn youth! And sure enough, facial swelling IS a symptom. It had at one point been brought up that maybe mono is what I had, but my saving grace was the lack of explanation of my huge eyes. That didn't really work out for me - bummer!

So what have I been doing today? Sleeping. I plan to be doing a lot more of that in the near future. If you could say some prayers for me, that would be absolutely wonderful. I have already discovered (or so I think) possible plans/reasons why God may be allowing me to have mono. He's brilliant really! I'll probably need the prayers mostly to take care of myself and not think, "Oh I can do it. It's not a big deal. I'll be fine." So if you could ask Our Blessed Mother to help me not be so hard-headed, I would really appreciate it. Thank you!!

Also, a little shout out to my mom - Happy 55th Birthday!! I love you!!

PS If you or anyone you know has mono, I'd love to know where I got this from!

The Worst Birthday Present EVER!!

Earlier this month I turned 25 and little did I know I was in store for a really crappy present that was a coming a couple of weeks late. Allergies!?! Who knew that you could suddenly develop/get/have allergies!? Well, apparently a lot of people, but not me!!

For a week and a half I have had swollen eyes that sometimes hurt and ONE swollen gland. Other symptoms that come and go are congestion, scratchy throat, and eye junk (that's the official term). I think the absolute worst part is the extreme exhaustion - something else I did NOT know about allergies. I almost fell asleep yesterday playing "cars" with Felix. Who does that!? Many blessings to those of you who have had allergies your whole life. Man, I give it up to you! I finally caved Tuesday night and got some medicine. Let's hope it helps!

I know life could be worse and I don't mean to complain, although upon further reflection, I've probably been complaining way too much. It should probably be noted in this confession that when I said I "got some medicine," I really asked Marc to go to the store to get it for me. :) Glad I have such a nice boyfriend. Mostly, I'm blogging about this because A) Let's face it, I'm not so great at blogging and it gave me something to say and B) I'm totally caught off guard and appalled that you can just GET allergies one day when you are 25! Seriously!?

To end on a happy note, my good friend Josh (affectionately called Josheewa after my cousin Josh) is now married. I couldn't be happier for him and absolutely adore his wife Katie. I'm pretty excited that they are finally married. Here are a few pictures....

Josh & Katie - ADORABLE and HAPPY

Angie & Me

Marc & Me

PS The Blue Angels are flying overhead and that makes me happy! Also, I'm glad that at 4, as opposed to 3, Veronica is no longer deathly afraid of them. I did enjoy her calling all other airplanes "Green Angels" for awhile though - those were the quiet ones. :)

Summer, Summer!

It's SUNNY today! :) That makes for a very happy Nichole. It's really nice to start getting out a little bit more with all of the kids I take care of. For those of you who have lost count, there are 4 families I regularly nanny for - totaling 6 kids...7 in January! (That leaves out all of the other weekend and fill-in babysitting.) And of course, if you are freaking out, I usually have 1 or 2 at a time...but sometimes up to 4, which is actually a LOT of fun.

Anyways, I went to the "Starbucks Park" today or, as Veronica calls it, the "Spiderweb Park." It's actually the Powell Barnett Park, but who wants to call it that? That's no fun! It was pretty great hanging out there, playing on toys, having a picnic, and watching all of the kids interact. Veronica can now climb to the top of the "spiderweb" and Madeline made friends with a cute little girl who kept stealing her hat. My favorite quote from the trip was from a little boy on the "spiderweb" playing with his friend. He kept jumping up and down making the whole thing jiggle and his friend wasn't too thrilled and thought he might fall. So the little jumper kid said, "You can't fall! You have stronger feet than me AND you have a ninja turtle costume!" It should be noted that this child was not wearing the costume at the time, which to me, made it all the funnier. And the cute moment of the day goes to Madeline who fell asleep in the stroller on the way home. :) Way to go, Maddy! That's what I like to see!

I don't really have much else to tell you about. I'm just happy it's sunny! If anyone wants to bring their kiddos over for a play date....or if anyone with out kids just wants to come hang out with me and my wee ones...let me know! There are tons of parks around here and as it warms up, we'll be hitting up all of the ones with "water features." And PS when did everything at parks start becoming all professional sounding? Water features, play structures, seriously!? What ever happened to "big toys" and other such silly, simple names? But enough of that, you should come play with us!

Hope you all get to enjoy the sun today!

Coming back...

I've been wanting to come back to the blog for a bit now, but it seems like as time goes by, it gets a little more built up. What are you supposed to write about after so long? So naturally, I felt like the perfect new entry after months should be about hooping.


A few weeks ago, I was at Golden Gardens (or something like that...??) in Ballard for a BBQ with friends to celebrate Kaija's Birthday (Happy Birthday!!). There was a large group of middle-aged adults near us with the biggest hula hoops I have ever seen in my life! My initial response was: "Seriously!? Is this some kind of club!? Weird people in Seattle..." Well, as you all know, I should be counted as one of the weirdos and so, of course, by the end of the night, I too was hooping!

As it would turn out, it was some woman's birthday party (Happy Birthday....lady?) and hula hoops were the party favors! She brought everything to make them. Unlike the picture above, they all had really cool colors and decorations. Ok, pretty much they used electrical tape, but they looked sweet! Monica, clearly braver than I am, just went over and asked about what was going on and before we knew it, she came back with a hula hoop! I think about 5 of us ended up with them. So nice of the other party to share!

A few things you should all know:
1. There is a website. Of course. Why wouldn't there be!? It will teach you how to make your own hula hoop and anything else you want to know about hooping. You can even start your own club! :)
2. You, too, can hula hoop! I have never in my life been able to keep a hula hoop up - unless you count that quick second from the time I let it go and it falls to the ground. These hoops - super easy! As it would turn out, weighting them with water instead of stupid little beads to make fun noises for the kiddies helps keep it up. Alright!
3. Hooping can hurt. Now I've actually seen work out hula hoops before. I also thought those were ridiculous. Now I see where it kind of makes sense. I should start giving people a little bit more benefit of the doubt apparently. Anyways, I'm thinking, "Alright, so the heavier it is, the better the work out is going to be." I'm not really planning to work out with this thing, but why not burn a few extra calories in play, right? Well I still don't really know what the best weight for the hula hoops is, but I do know that I filled mine almost as full as it could be with water! And oh man, I had bruises the next day! A little cushioning around my hoop would have definitely been a good thing.
4. Hula Hooping - not just for standing around. Not only did we see who could last the longest, but we also had races. That's right! We hooped AND we ran!

In the end, hula hooping is kind of fun! And next time I'm at the beach watching people be ridiculous, I hopefully am not going to be such a negative nancy judgmental face! ...unless you are the guy who is scary and pretending (or maybe not pretending) to cast spells in our fire..then I'll go ahead and get someone to kick you out of my fire area again...but that's a story for another time. :)

Joy!!

I love December. I love Advent. I love Christmas. I love joy!

And last night seemed to be the kick off of all the parties to come this season. I was bummed I wasn't able to get up to Bellingham for the Xavier Feast, but I had a ton of fun at my sister's 3rd Annual Fondue Party! And the snow - LOVE IT! I wasn't really sure if I was ready for the snow to come, but once it was here in all it's beauty how could I not appreciate it!? (ok, maybe I would be less appreciative in the roads were icy, ect...but you know what I mean!!)

Here is my favorite picture from last night w/ Aliscia, Stacey, and Karen:



Merry Christmas to you all and God bless!!

Hi! Sorry!

As it would turn out, I'm a horrible blogger. I don't even know if there is a point to me posting as I'm sure anyone who may have checked this before has given up on me. So sorry. The good news is I know that none of your lives revolved around my blog, so you most likely do not hate me for my absence. :)

Now I feel as though I'm required to update you on everything that's been going on in my life, but um, I think that's just too much. So how about some bullet points and a few pictures!?

-Life is good. Praise the Lord!
-I'm a little sick at the moment though. :(
-A prayer request: Baby Carrie (a friend's niece) just born on the 12th has Neonatal Hemochromatosis, a rare liver disease. Please pray for her and her family!
-Thanksgiving was wonderful! I spent time with my family - best dinner we've had yet! - and with my second family, the D'Angelo's. Good times all around and I am very thankful for all of my family and friends.
-I saw the movie Bella - so good. You should all go see it!!

How's that for bullet points? Lame? I know. I'm tired and should be in bed. But pictures are more fun anyways!

Let's go back to Halloween and share a few of my favorites:

First, the nephews... LP as Blade

Jaden as a lion..ROAR! (First Halloween!!)

and trick or treating w/ a few of the kiddos I nanny for - Veronica, Eleanor, and Madeline

Next, meet my boyfriend. I just did! His name is Andrew:

And here's a couple from the Marine Corps Ball!

And to prove he smiles and because it's my favorite, one more...