Is this surprising?

Noah is drawn to the open dishwasher like a moth to a flame. Not surprisingly, he figured out how to climb onto the door a couple of days ago.

Joy to the world!

Making a special treat for Santa at the annual cookie decorating party. Heading off to church on Christmas Eve.

Noah wasn't much into taking pictures Christmas Eve.


We've been busy the past couple of days! We went to a cookie decorating party Sunday night, and we all had lots of fun. Then on Monday Luke, my mom, and I went to the family Christmas Eve service at church, and then Gary & Noah came with us to another regular service at 5:00. Luke was SO excited about Christmas and had fun putting out cookies and milk for Santa and special food for the reindeer. I always like having my mom here on Christmas morning, so that made it special for me. Noah had no interest in opening any presents, which meant Luke got to do double duty. His favorite presents were the two transformers G-mommy and G-daddy gave him. He also really liked the Spiderman Web-blaster my mom gave him. I got a new MP3 player, and the best part is it's pink! We spent the rest of the day playing with new toys and enjoying being with one another. I hope all my friends and family had a merry Christmas!

Hooray - a transformer!

How big is Noah?

Here are the official 1-year stats for the peanut:

-length: 29 1/2 inches (50%)
-weight: 19 lbs., 5.5 oz (7% - that's right, as in 1-2-3-4-5-6-7)
-head: 18 inches (50%)

Birthday boy

As far as first birthdays go, Noah's was a success. He really didn't want to open his presents, but luckily we have a present-happy four-year-old who lives here and was quite eager to help. Noah did, however, LOVE his cake. My friend Donna once again made the cakes, and Noah's smash cake was adorable. I knew he'd dive right in (unlike Luke who didn't even want to touch it), and true to form, he did. Once he got a taste of that yummy icing, he ate with gusto. When he finally decided he was done, he signed "all done" (which he does by shaking his hands), and he flung cake and icing all over the place. He got some new toys that Luke has thoroughly enjoyed playing with. Maybe one day Noah will, too.

"Whew! This is a lot of work!"

"Happy Birthday, dear Noah!"

One

A year ago today I was lying in a recovery room, calling all my friends and family to tell them that Baby Noah had been born. And now, a year later, we have a birthday boy! I just can't believe that he's a year old. We're having a small party later this afternoon, so I'll post more pictures later, but I wanted to get the official 1-year picture posted.

Christmas Show and Tell

Luke's school Christmas program was yesterday, and this year was a big improvement over last year for him. You may recall that last year Luke refused to wear his angel costume, and by the end of the program (which is all of 20 minutes) he was sitting down, putting his foot behind his head. This year he actually sang all the songs and did the motions. He was originally supposed to be Joseph, but during one of the practices, he decided he didn't want to do it, mainly because the costume made him "really sweaty." He's obviously not destined to be in the lime light, but that's OK. If he had been Joseph, he wouldn't have gotten to sing the songs and ring his bell during the last song which he really enjoyed.

Hmmmm . . .

Here's what I found when I went in to check on Luke last night. He is absolutely sound asleep.

Scary Claus

I took the boys to see Santa yesterday. Noah DID NOT like him. I put him on Santa's lap and backed away so they could take a picture. Noah turned around, took one look at Santa, and got a panic-stricken look on his face. Then came the silent scream; I think he was too horrified to make any noise. Oh well, this was basically the reaction I expected from him.

Lesson learned

Up until yesterday, I let Noah play with our cordless phone. I know I probably shouldn't have, but it entertains him for quite a while, and I guess I was being lazy yesterday. I will not be letting him play with the phone anymore. After playing with it yesterday afternoon for a few minutes, he put it down and crawled away. I checked to see that it wasn't on, and a minute later it rang. The caller ID said "City of McKinney" (can you see where this is going?) and a woman said, "Someone at this residence just called 9-1-1. Is everything OK?" I was completely confused, and when I professed my innocence, she repeated that someone - "it sounded like a child" she said - had dialed 9-1-1. I confessed that my baby had been playing with the phone, and after answering a string of questions, I quickly hung up, extremely embarrassed. If I hadn't answered the phone, the police would have come, and then I would have been mortified. I'm SO glad I answered it! The phone is no longer one of Noah's toys.

Crazy baby

Noah has been kicked out of the infant nursery at church and into the next older nursery. Apparently he was trying to climb into some car seats with other babies in them and was in general . . . well . . . he was Noah. In all fairness to him, the nursery he's in is supposed to be for babies who aren't crawling yet, but the girls who work in this one said he could stay until he started bothering the other babies (I guess climbing into a car seat with another baby--who was probably sleeping--could be seen as a bother.) So next Sunday it's off to the nursery for crawlers and new walkers. I'm sure he'll have no problem holding his own in there.

Funny

"Look at my crazy hair!"

Gobble, gobble

We had a quiet Thanksgiving yesterday with just the four of us. I cooked our traditional meal (although I outsourced the turkey this year) and it was all very tasty, if I do say so myself. Neither Luke nor Noah ate much of the meal, but they both loved the pumpkin pie (go figure!)
Luke made place cards for everyone.
The only thing Noah ate was a couple of crescent rolls.

I got elfed!

For a holiday giggle, go to http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9567399416.

(Un)Happy 11 months

Noah DOES NOT like to lie on his back and be still, so the picture this month is less than ideal, but oh well. A few fun facts about Noah:

-He still only has one tooth. The other bottom front tooth may be coming in, but it hasn't made an appearance yet. I think he'll be singing "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" this year.

-He continues to get into EVERYTHING. If he can reach it on a table, he'll pull it off. The other morning he figured out he could reach the placemats on our kitchen table and pulled one off - there was a cup of orange juice on that placemat, so it came crashing down on him.

-Riding in the car is not one of his favorite activities. He's OK while we're moving, but as soon as we stop (during carpool, at a red light, in traffic), he starts to fuss. I don't see any long car trips in our immediate future.

He is cute, cute, cute!

Thanksgiving feast

Several of the 4's classes had their Thanksgiving feast on Thursday. What a treat! Two classes (including Luke's) were Indians, and two classes were pilgrims. The costumes Luke's class made were really cute, and Luke actually wore the whole thing. What a difference a year makes. The necklace is made from pasta they dyed and strung on yarn. There are two paper feathers that tell what they're thankful for - Luke apparently is thankful for Gary and me and for Noah's tooth. Luke ate all of his lunch but was most excited about the turkey-shaped cookie.

Trashy

Noah's latest stop on his path of destruction. I just wish I had gotten a picture of him pulling a plate out of it today after lunch.

Biker dude

Last weekend Gary taught Luke to ride his bike without training wheels. It's the coolest thing to see him zipping down the street on just two wheels! Several neighbors came out to watch him and were pretty amazed that he has basically mastered two wheels at only four. I'm pretty impressed, too. Gary was determined that he could get it and convinced Luke to keep trying. Gary was right and Luke got it! I only have video of it, but as soon as I snap some pictures I'll post them.

Sign of the times

I've been teaching baby signs to Noah, and although I wasn't sure if he'd ever pick them up, he has started to use a few. Just like with Luke, he has taken the sign I do and made it his own. He claps his hands to sign "more" (he's done this at snack/meal time and when I was blowing bubbles yesterday); he flaps his arms to sign "all done"; he points to his mouth to sign either "eat" or "drink". Luke didn't do his first sign till about 11 months, and Noah's been signing for a week or two now. And people thought he wouldn't be smart!

The joker

Luke heard a joke on TV last week and has told it to us about 75 times in the past two days. Here it is:


Why do birds fly south for the winter?

Because it's too far to walk!


I see a career in comedy in his future!

Full of hot air

We see hot air balloons around here all the time, and sometimes, like one day last week, they're right above our house. I couldn't resist taking a few pictures.
I stood in the backyard to take the pictures. That's our swingset in the foreground.
That's our fence and the house behind us.

Amen!

Trick or Treat!

It's Spiderman and his sidekick, Spiderboy!

Soccer finale

Luke's last soccer game was Saturday. Needless to say, the Power Rangers lost yet another game. Their record for this season is 0-8. I really think Luke learned a good deal about soccer and improved quite a bit over the course of the season. He wants to play again in the spring, as does his whole team, and their coach is coming back, too. Hopefully they'll all keep improving next year and we'll win a game or two.

Thanks to the politically correct world we live in where we have to bolster every child's self-esteem, everyone gets a trophy at the end of the season. It's a big trophy with a soccer dude on top. It would be more fitting for our team if there was a boy lying down in the grass or holding hands and jumping around with another boy. These were the things that occurred most often during our games.

The cupcakes were a big hit!

Mischief

This was one of Luke's favorite activities, too.

My punkins

Last Saturday we made our annual visit to the pumpkin patch. It's an actual pumpkin patch where the pumpkins really grow, not a place where they've brought pumpkins in from somewhere else. They have cows, longhorns, sheep, and goats that you can feed, a hayride, and, of course, pumpkins for sale.

Noah was not at all afraid of the animals.

Noah enjoyed his first hayride.

Field trip

On Tuesday several of the 4's classes went on a field trip to Pumpkins on the Prairie at Grace UMC in Frisco. It was a great day! There were several stations including crafts, science, and math. Luke really enjoyed all the activities, especially the science station, and I had fun being with him.

They made pumpkin plates at the craft station.
At the science station the kids got to touch the inside of a pumpkin and guessed whether several different size pumpkins would sink or float (they all floated!)
After hearing a story about a girl who picked a perfect pumpkin, each of the kids got to pick their perfect pumpkin.
The Frog class