Practice Pays Off

Ok, make sure to read the previous post and watch its video so that you are ready of this one. Elijah's practice has payed off! Instead of jumping in his bed, now he's jumping off the small table. :) Yeah... we definitely let boys be boys... they are great climbers and jumpers... which is bad for us now... but we're ok with that. :) Elijah was only 16 months old when this was taken... Noah is such a great example for him! lol.

Practice Practice

Elijah asked to be put in his bed... I actually caught him free-climbing from the outside and then he asked me to get in. So I put him in and he just started jumping all around... I guess this was just practice for his next stunt. Oh, and Erin told me that he wasn't saying "up" but rather "help." And since this I've heard both... and this is definitely "help." :)

Christmas Time... And a Special Tree

Because of "Trouble #2," and his wonderful ability to get into anything and everything... like markers; we decided to do something different for Christmas.
An Upside Down Christmas Tree! This sucker is impossible to water and a bit tricky to put presents under... Yeah, I'm just kidding... It is fake... no real tree for us this year... Which is kind of sad because we usually go up to Apple Hill to cut one down. So no apple fritters or apple pies or cider from Apple Hill yet! We'll have to make a trip here pretty soon so that we can get our yearly fix. Erin made a tree skirt and wired all the branches not to fold. Yep, those fake trees when held upside down love to fold... so we had to get creative to keep them all out.

Noah did a fantastic job decorating the tree. He's standing on the stool so that he can reach up high. Eli can only reach the bottom 2-3 ornaments, so we'll see how this goes!

We wish all of our friends and family the best for this Christmas season!! Merry Christmas!

Love, The Nartker's (Justin, Erin, Noah, and Elijah)

Leaves Are Falling

The leaves are falling, and our trees are growing big enough that we have to rake up leaves... And what else do you do with a big pile of leave? That is right... so after a bunch of jumping in the leafs, Noah dragged mom into the pile with him.

"The Tagging Obsession Continues"... But ends with Justin

(from Jenni Springer's Blog)
My sister Jenni “Tagged” me… but I’m doing this because Jenni wants me too… I really don’t have time for this… but here it goes.

Jenni’s Rules (I’m not going to change them):
1) Post rules on your blog
2)Answer the six "8" items
3)Let each person know they've been tagged by leaving them a comment – NOPE, it dies with me, I hope the rest of your people keep it going, cause it’s done with me. :) Sorry, but this one is for you Jenni…

8 Favorite TV shows:
-Modern Marvels
-The Office
-Hogan’s Heroes
-Erin and I would sit down and watch Grey’s Anatomy before what’s her name “experimented,” we’re both done with that one now.
-SWAT Cats with Noah
-ESPN News (1 hour of it before I hit the hay)
-Seinfeld
-Can’t beat the Justice League Unlimited

8 Things I did yesterday:
-Worked at Placer County Recycles Day
-Helped clean the Lincoln Chapel
-Worked on my group project for CE 101
-Ran around Fry’s with Erin, Becky and cousin Dennis
-Shared an appetizer platter at Mel’s with Erin
-I drove... a lot
-Found out that the Mexico City Temple was being rededicated
-Wished that I was done with school

8 Things I look forward to:
-Being done with school
-Date night with my cutie
-Reading books with Noah and Elijah
-Sleeping
-Escaping on a bike ride with Josh, Jason and Dad or Noah
-Going to Italy with Erin, Becky, and cousin Dennis
-Working for the City of Rocklin (scary, but true, I love my job)
-Catching up with friends

8 Favorite Restaurants:
- PF Chang’s
-In & Out (gotta go “animal style”)
-Carmelita’s
-Carver’s (went out of buisness!!!! AHHHHH!)
-This little mom & pop shop in Cero Navia, Chile… completos & churazcos!
-Claim Jumper
-Peppers (in Pacific Grove, CA… I love that place!)
-There is a new restaurant in Rocklin, an Italian restaurant… on the corner of Pacific Street and… Cedar Street? I think it is called Rubino’s

8 Things on my wish list:
-I’d like to get a couple of acres and build
-Return to Chile (last time I went with Erin for a week… WAY not long enough)
-Get done with school… scary enough, I’ll probably go and get my masters degree
-Have time to bike across the great old US of A with my brothers
-Learn to Salsa… Erin wants to go soo bad… but I’m pretty horrible
-Have time to go on a bunch of field trips with my kids when they are in school
-A Nintendo Wii (seriously should just turn in my gym membership and get one! :)
-My boss has this great idea about doing a century bike ride each month for a year… I think that I’d like to do that with him… sounds fun.

8 people to tag:
-Pretty sure that I’m not passing this along… well, I might throw this at Erin’s family… Nah… I’m done… Back to family stuff, pretty sure people come to this blog-thing to check up on the kids and see what Erin’s up to… I’m definitely the minority guy blogger around when it comes to family blogs.

I promise that the next blog will be about something other than me! :)

Disneyland Trip

We went with Erin's family to the happiest place on earth this week! We left late Tuesday with Brent and his family and met Jana and Becky and their families along with Grandma & Grandpa Bigelow Wednesday morning. Elijah didn't want to go to sleep so Erin and I were only running on 4 hours of sleep our first day there!! Fun fun fun! It was nice to get away from work and school for just a couple of days. Noah really had so much fun. He LOVED all of the roller-coasters! Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain Railroad... Splash Mountain, not so much. :)

Here you can see Noah holding up his sign trying to get chosen to participate in the Jedi training... He did get chosen... but wasn't quite ready to try this without dad, maybe next year. Erin asked Dennis to take some pictures, he randomly started taking pictures... When I asked Erin about all of these random pictures she had to explain, here is 1 of 6 that he took. Alexah did Eli's hair... We always get our picture taken here in California Adventure... 1st time it was just Erin and I... the next one had Noah... and now we've got Elijah here with us.

Trick or Treat!!

As usual the neighborhood of grandma Bigelow was bombarded by the little Nartker Family. Noah and Eli were both so excited to go door to door and get candy. Look, can't even get them to look at the camera! They are both focused on the next door.

Erin and Becky found this little costume... It sure fits him well considering that it was made for the K-9 type... :) haha! Yep, look at the next picture and you can see how big the ear holes are, because this is a doggy costume! I was so confused when I saw this on him... "Hey Erin, what is whith the ears?" Becky and Erin had a good little laugh before they were able to tell me about that one.

Here you can see the ear holes that I was talking about!

This is Alexah, Eli, Noah, Ian, Josh, and Addison.

Eli was up knocking the door even before Erin was ready. The other video didn't come out so good, but we would ask Eli if we wanted to go and get some candy, he would nod his head, we'd put him down and tell him which door to go to, then with those short little legs of his he would sprint all the way to the front door and push the rest of his cousins out of the way. :) We had a lot of fun.

Noah for Spider-Man

The results of this years election for Halloween costume are back folks, and Noah Nartker beats out Mom by a landslide!! Mom folds and bought Noah the much desired Spider-Man costume. Most of you out there know that the Bigelow girls are known for super creative costumes. They get it from their mom Lynn who is extremely artistic. So it looks like those talents will have to be used dressing Elijah up into something different and creative... because it won't be this little web-slinger!
So Noah will be one of 1 million other Spider-Men out there this season! :) He was so excited when Erin and I brought this costume home for him... had to put it on right away!

The Pumpkin Patch

This was Elijah's 1st year to the pumpkin patch, and he's already trying to get the huge pumpkins that he can't even pick up.

But after trying and trying he found one that was just right... Ask Erin what happened to the perfect pumpkin, because it wasn't brought home. :)

Erin told Noah to sit down and hold his pumpkin

so that she could take a picture,

so he held on to the stem and then sat on it. :) He is such a cute kid.

And a trip to the pumpkin patch wouldn't be the same without a train ride.
Look at Noah, just chillin' on the train.

Walking in the Rain

We just got some much needed rain, and Noah wanted to use his

green rain boots, so the boys and I all went out on a little

walk around the block and to the mail box.

Noah sure loves his rain boots! :) Puddles are no match for him now!

Night Rider

I usually don't get home until late at night when it is dark, so Noah and I have started riding around the block for just a little bit.
Blurry, but at least you can see Noah's lights for our night ride.
Sweet ride Noah!

Eli has been laughing so much, but this deep big boy laugh that makes the rest of us laugh.
Erin won't be happy that this picture was posted, but hey, maybe she should start doing the blog then! :) I love her so much. She is such a great mother to our two little energy balls... They run around all day with endless energy, and when I'm at work and school all day, she really has her hands full. Thanks for your love and support baby!

Trouble at the SF Zoo

If this picture doesn't show someone getting caught in the act, then I don't know what does! The kids (aka cousins) took Noah, Eli, and Erin with them to the San Francisco Zoo. Everyone had a lot of fun, I mean, how could it not be fun when you have more people to get into trouble with you?



Noah, Alexah, Alec, Addison, and Eli

Happy Birthday Eli - July 28th (Yes... This IS late!)

I love that we sing to this kid twice... but since we don't get the reaction that we want, everyone just quits! Hahaha!! You can hear Noah singing his "woo's" if you pay attention... these kids are SO CUTE! They definately get that from their mom! I just wish it didn't take me this long to update our family blog. Anyway, I love this video, Happy Birthday Bug!

5 Generations

Sweet Grandma (my great grandmother), Grandma Suzann, my Mom... Dawn, me, and my 2 beautiful boys (Eli and Noah) sat down for an awesome five generation picture. Sweet Grandma flew in from Hawaii (yep, she had to leave paradise) and we caught Grandma Suzann before she headed off to Mexico for another one of her adventures. Come on... how many people can sit 5 generations down for something like this? :)

My sister Jenni and her family were back east and were not able to make it, but everone else was there. My mom's sister Lisa and her family even made the long 7 minute drive from their house to Jason's to be with us! :) I'm not even going to try naming everyone in this one... it is a little past 2am... and I'm just not in the mood. :)

My Dad and his boys... Josh, Jason , and myself.

Top Left to Right: Teri (Josh's wife), Melody (Jason's wife). Bottom Left to Right: Erin (Oh I love you so MUCH!!), Grandma Suzann (my mom's mom... the crazy traveling adventurer)

Family Pictures

Noah and Eli did so well considering that we just did family pictures on my side the day before (those will be coming soon). The Bigelow side is really growing fast. Families from left to right are our little family, Raul & Jana and their son Josh, Erin's mom and dad, Beck and Dennis and their kids Ian, Taran, and Alexah, then Brent and Shay's kids Alec and Addison.

Lowes Delivery Truck vs. Cervelo Soloist

So May is bike month... visit www.mayisbikemonth.com. Anyway, so I have been riding to work on my beautiful new Cervelo Soloist bike every day except Monday & Wednesday when I'm at school. On Friday morning I was on East Lincoln Parkway crossing over Twelve Bridges when a Lowe's delivery truck decided to turn right, right in front of me... No blinkers, no warning, just right into me. I'm ok... had a great scare, but the beloved bike is done with. I was considering NOT sharing this experience with Erin... nothing happened to me, and I don't want her to worry about me, but as fate would have it my sister-in-law pulled up to see if I was ok... :) So my brother Josh came and picked me up and took me home. While telling Erin about the scary experience Noah woke up and so I told him that I got into an accident with a truck. He looked at me... thought just a second and then said, "awh man, that is freakin' unbelievable!" :) We couldn't help but laugh... at the same time it looks like dad has to watch what he says while he is driving! Anyway, it is good to be in one piece, and be with the family... I just hope that Lowe's gets my bike replaced... more to come on that.

Jason & Mel

We love having family live so close to us. Jason and Melody came up for dinner and to give Noah and I haircuts... Eli just loved playing with little Evelyn while Dallin and Noah played outside.

Every time I look at Evelyn I imagine their blog from Easter Sunday... she is in a cute little dress and the caption reads "For those of you who always wondered what Jason would look like in a dress." :) If you haven't seen it click on the link to their page and just scroll down... :)

No Time To Rest

These kids go go go go all the time. Noah fell asleep while playing on the couch... he fought off napping for as long as he could before it caught up to him.

Elijah is getting very fast, he will follow you wherever you go... I went outside to fix a sprinkler and when I turned around to head back into the house someone was blow-fishing the glass door. I grabbed the camera but I couldn't capture anything like the first ones he did.

Family Bath Time

Noah and Eli love bath time. Eli thinks that everything that big brother does is so cool and so funny. Noah loves to use the bath colors to change the water... Eli loves to play with whatever Noah has at that moment. Poor Noah isn't very good at sharing yet. :)

Big Blue!

When Erin was little she was nick-named "Big Blue." We have a cute little picture of her when she was really little with these beautiful big blue eyes... Now we have our own little Big Blue. :)

Any time we get out the camera to take a picture of this kid, he charges! It is hard to get a picture that is in focus because he's moving so fast and so often. We love our little Eli!

Gone Fishin'

Wednesday afternoon Noah went with Erin, Aunt Becky, Cousin Ian, and Ian's Grandma and Grandpa Phillips out to the Nash's pond to do some fishing. I'm glad Erin had the camera ready because I guess this kid lost interest in about 15 seconds. He took off to play with the geese and the puppy... At the end of the trip Noah sighed... and said "Mom... that was a good day of fishing." :)

Happy Easter

Noah is getting better and better at coloring Easter Eggs. This year everyone made eggs and brought them over to Grandma and Grandpa Bigelow's house for a big egg hunt.

Our little Big Blue, crawling all over, sitting up, pulling himself up on everything, and now trying to let go... hmmmm... I'm not sure that I'm ready for this, just like Noah, it is going by WAY too fast.

Easter pictures of the boys at Grandma and Grandpa Bigelow's house.