The Wonder Years

#1

2010-09-20T15:19:00.003-05:00

Oh, my, it just seems so hard to believe that soccer season is here once again. What's even harder to believe is that Luke has been playing soccer for 4 years. Each year he improves, and each year I enjoy watching him more and more. He is by no means the fastest boy on his team, but he's pretty good in his own right. He's a good defender, and he loves playing (which really is the point, isn't it?) He has gotten pretty good at sliding to kick the ball, and even though they're not allowed to do that at this age, it's hard to discourage him from doing something he's good at (and that he'll be allowed to do next season.) He is ultra-competitive when it comes to playing the Wii or playing a board game, but that competitiveness hasn't translated to the soccer field. So when he does show a little gumption and aggressiveness on the field, I'm reluctant to squash it.

OK. The cutest soccer player. Ever. I mean, really. How can you top that?

See #7 (that super-cute #1 is throwing him the ball)? He is good. Really good. Going-to-be-snapped-up-by-a-select-team good. I love watching him play. He has amazing natural talent, and it doesn't hurt that his dad played soccer. I imagine he came out of the womb kicking a ball. Luke readily admits that Kenneth is the best player on the team. He claims the #2 spot for himself.

Here is a soccer side note. I'm not sure if I've ever shared this, but if I have, I think it's funny enough to share again. Up until four years ago, my husband called soccer a "communist sport". He is a die-hard football fan and has never been keen on soccer. Having a son who plays soccer has helped him change his tune a little bit. He even watched the World Cup this summer and got REALLY into it. Just thought I'd let y'all know.

Noah's "first" day of preschool

2010-09-08T09:38:00.002-05:00

OK, so I know my two loyal readers have been anxiously waiting for me to post the second day of school pictures. Here they are. They aren't good. We were having a good morning until Noah got mad at me because I had to finish getting ready and couldn't play with him. So, when it was time to take pictures, he wasn't really in a picture-taking mood.

Yesterday's pictures were so much better. I got one of him playing with his friends in the classroom and another of him picking out his name tag and putting it on the wall where it goes. At least he's sort of smiling in the one in front of his cubby. I guess this will make for a funny story one day...

Oops!

2010-09-07T16:31:00.002-05:00

So....the littlest guy in my house started preschool today. He was very excited, and, needless to say, so was I. It's not that I don't enjoy spending time with him., because I do. It's just that, as I may have mentioned at some point, I am a much better Mommy when I have the chance to miss my children. I didn't get to miss them much this summer. I enjoyed my alone time today, but I surely did miss him today.

I was a good Mommy and took pictures of him before we left this morning and then again at school. I was trying to download them and somehow ended up deleting all the pictures on my memory card, including the ones I took this morning. Waaaa! My plan is to take some tomorrow and then post them. Don't tell anyone they're not actually from today.

Sigh

2010-09-02T15:52:00.004-05:00

OK, so I'm thinking blogging just may not be for me. I really have the best intentions to update more regularly, but I don't and then I get so far behind that the thought of catching up is overwhelming. So I don't, and then I get even farther behind. And more overwhlemed. I really don't want to give up my blog, but I don't have another answer. I guess for now I'll just post things when I can and will have to give myself a little grace in the mean time.

I survived the summer. And when I say survive, I really mean survive. We did have a lot of fun this summer, and in retrospect, it doesn't seem that bad, but man alive, we had some rough days. Days when no one wanted to share or get along. Days when the fighting and screaming started at 7:15. Days when we were stuck inside and almost went stir-crazy. But there were fun times mixed in.

We spent two weeks in South Carolina. It was great to see family as it always is, but I really enjoyed our week in Columbia. I got to see some of the super folks I used to teach with, and I got to spend a few hours with my friend Ellen. I'm a regular reader of her blog, and I told her that being in her house and meeting her children made me feel like I had stepped into a story I had been reading. It was a special morning.

Luke and Ellen's son Drew...they became fast friends.

The two weeks were ended with my 20th high school reunion. What a blast! Thank goodness for Facebook or I wouldn't have recognized several people I graduated with. But as a whole, I'd have to say that TL Hanna's Class of 1990 still looks pretty darn good!

A few of my fabulous classmates

There have been birthdays...Luke turned 7 and I turned...well, I graduated 20 years ago, so you do the math! Luke celebrated several times -- once with my in-laws in Columbia, on his actual birthday with my family in Greenville, and again at his party when we got home. I only celebrated once, but I had a good day on my birthday.

One of Luke's many birthday celebrations.

Decorations courtesy of Gary

Now it's September, Luke is in second grade, and Noah starts preschool on Tuesday. The college football season officially starts tonight (go Gamecocks!), soccer starts next Saturday, and before we know it Halloween, and then Thanksgiving, and then Christmas will be here. Maybe when Noah starts back to school and I have a little more quiet time around the house I'll be better about updating this silly little blog. Don't hold your breath, but I really will try.

It's July already?!?

2010-07-10T14:58:00.005-05:00

Well once again I'm so far behind on my blog that I don't have any idea how I can catch up. April seems like a long time ago, and I can't believe it's been that long since I posted anything. I wish I could find a personal assistant who would blog for me...any takers?

I'm sitting here on a rainy Saturday afternoon listening to my boys play together...nicely. This rarely happens. I try to enjoy these quiet moments when they do happen because all too quickly there will be noise and fighting and mischief and chaos. We have survived 5 weeks of summer. Some days are fun and good and enjoyable. Others are not. I've tried to structure our days a bit so there's time for all of us to play together, time for the boys to play by themselves, and a little bit of rest time sprinkled in for good measure. We have done some crafts, run lots of errands, been to the pool quite a bit, enjoyed our week at VBC, been to the splash pad, wrestled, played the Wii, made forts, played in the sprinkler, been to the library almost weekly, been to a waterpark and a hotel, laughed, cried, and relaxed.

What else? Luke lost another bottom tooth and his other front tooth and is an official snaggle-tooth now. Noah is completely potty-trained, even at night. Luke finished first grade with flying colors. I am planning Luke's 7th birthday party and beginning to think about packing for our trip to South Carolina. My camera broke and I got a BRIGHT PINK one to replace it. We bought brand new, real-live adult bedroom furniture. Our refrigerator is on its last legs. *Sigh*
I guess that's all for now. Hopefully I'll post something again before the end of the summer, but don't be surprised if I don't.

Bluebonnets

2010-04-23T14:22:00.003-05:00

Bluebonnets are one of my favorite things about Texas.Here are my two absolute favorite things about Texas.

Scattered

2010-04-22T11:47:00.002-05:00

Despite the title of my last post, I'm not a big fan of change. It doesn't really matter, though, because change, it it a-comin'. Since I was pregnant with Noah, Gary and I have planned to have the boys eventually share a room (that was assuming Noah was a boy which, in fact, he is.) Now that Noah is in his toddler bed, the next step is to move Noah into Luke's room and to turn Noah's room into a play/scrap room. Sounds easy, right? Not so much. I spent several days last week going through the 10+ boxes of teacher stuff I brought with us when we moved here. They were in the closet in Noah's room, and it was essential to pare them down if we are to use that room in a different way. It was a blast to look at all the things I saved, but I now have enough distance from teaching that I was also able to see that much of what I kept I didn't need. So I whittled the 10 boxes down to 5. Hooray for me!

After we got Noah in the toddler bed, I put his crib and changing table on Craig's List. Last night a couple expecting their first baby came and bought them. I have no dresser to put Noah's clothes in, so they're on the floor in his room, and all the toys that were previously under the crib and, therefore, mostly unnoticeable, are in a pile in his room. I knew I couldn't live like this for long. Luke happens to be home sick from school today. He's running a low-grade fever, so he's not so sick that he needs my constant care and attention which freed me up to do something else. So I decided to use this forced stay-at-home day to be productive. I went through the toys in Noah's room and got rid of a lot and put the others in the toy chest in Luke's room (after cleaning it out first.) I sorted through most of Luke's closet and some bins with miscellaneous toys. I have a large pile of toys and books to take to the church for the nursery there, and I threw a lot of other stuff away. I love throwing stuff away!

I guess I'm just rambling now. The point is that I feel like it is now possible to turn Noah's room into a play room. The best part, for me anyway, is that I'm going to get a desk to put in there that I can scrapbook on. Any time I want. Without having all my stuff scattered all over the dining room. My very own little spot in this house dominated by boys and boy stuff. I will post pictures when the transformation is complete. Stay tuned!

Ch-ch-changes

2010-04-19T12:34:00.002-05:00

My wee one is growing up. Fast. OK, so I know this is just a toddler bed, but it's not a crib! For some unknown reason, I was anxious to get Luke out of the crib and into this bed before he even turned 3. With Noah, I decided to wait at long as possible. I thought he would eventually try to crawl out of the crib and that would be what forced me to make the switch, but amazingly enough, he never tried to climb out. But now that he's basically potty trained (hallelujah and thank the Lord!!), he needs to be able to get up to go potty. So last Thursday we put this bed together and put him in it. He was very excited about sleeping in his new big boy bed. It took him a while to get to sleep the first night, and there have been a few times he has gotten up when he wasn't really supposed to, but over all it's going well. I'm pretty sure he'll never take a nap again, but he is still resting for an hour or so each afternoon in his room.

The whole potty thing has finally clicked with him, and he will even go by himself most of the time. I am no longer obsessed with if he's had an accident or if he will even get on the potty, and it's such a relief. He even used a public bathroom this weekend. He has been terrified of public bathrooms for about a year, so I knew this would be a difficult hurdle, but he told me on Saturday that he had to go to the bathroom, and he used the potty in Ikea of all places. Hopefully that means if we're out and he has to go he will. Whew! I wasn't sure I'd survive this round of potty training, but it looks like I just might make it after all!

Whew!

2010-03-30T12:57:00.005-05:00

What a month it's been! Here are the highlights (and lowlights):

-Say hello to my little snaggle-tooth!
-Luke & Gary are in a group called Adventure Guides through the YMCA. They go camping a couple of times a year and do other activities including a derby car race.

This year they built a shark car. Pretty cool, huh?

Luke was so intense when he was lining his car up to race. It paid off!
Luke place 6th out of about 40 cars!

-Our spring break was March 15-19, and my plan was to do some hardcore potty training. Noah's been going on the potty for well over a year, but he was still in pull-ups and only used the potty when he felt like it. I bought underwear, a treat for the end of each day that he stayed dry, and steeled my nerves. Then he started throwing up on Friday evening. Amazingly he was better on Saturday and actually stayed dry all weekend. That changed on Monday when he had several accidents. Each day was a struggle, especially since I felt pretty yucky most of the week. He had accidents most every day, and by Saturday, I was at the end of my rope. I felt like after a week we had made no progress. Eloise, one of Noah's very special friends had her 3rd birthday party on Saturday, and I told him if he had an accident we'd have to leave (he had already had one that morning.) Sure enough, 30 minutes after we got there, he had an accident. I hated to make him leave, and we both cried the whole way home, but I felt like I had to backup what I said. Without getting too graphic, I finally realized the reason he was having pee-pee accidents is because he was extremely backed up on the other end. So after much coaxing, a bunch of Miralax, and one suppository, we got over that hurdle. Things aren't perfect, but they're going pretty well. My next hurdle will be getting him to go potty in a public restroom. Wish me luck!

-It snowed. On the first day of spring. We got 5 more inches. On the first day of spring. Did I mention it snowed on the first day of spring?

-I guess that's about all. It's finally starting to warm up this week so hopefully I'll be able to post some outside pictures that don't involve snow. Happy spring!

Noah-speak

2010-02-21T15:13:00.002-06:00

A couple of weeks ago Noah came home from school and told me his friend Nick had "hody mody" in his lunch box. I asked him what he meant, and he told me the same thing again. I tried to figure out what "hody mody" was and asked yet again. Then Noah started talking to me like I was either deaf or foreign. He said very loudly and very slowly, "NICK'S LUNCHBOX." This went on for a while, and then I just gave up. Later that evening when Nick's mom Laurie, Nick, and his brother Ethan were over for dinner, I asked Laurie what Nick had in his lunch that day. She rattled off a list of things, and Nick exclaimed, "Holy moly!" Noah heard him say that at lunch when he opened his lunch box, and he thought "holy moly" was what he was eating. We all got a good chuckle out of it and have talked about it several times. Hody mody!

Happy heart day

2010-02-19T15:25:00.002-06:00

(This is a side note and not in keeping with a post about Valentine's Day, but I'm quite frustrated with this blog right now because it won't let me change the order of my pictures. So, this doesn't look how I want it to look, but I'm just going with it.)

My two boys (plus one extra) enjoying heart-shaped pancakes.

Noah didn't take a nap on Sunday and was very crabby by the time dinner rolled around. I think that's pretty evident in this picture.

Happier times during the afternoon.

Notice Gary's unbridled enthusiasm for all things Valentine's. The pink Snuggie is nice, too, isn't it?

Boy stuff

2010-02-19T15:18:00.004-06:00

Luke had his first sleep-over Saturday night. Clayson is a friend from church and school and also is on Luke's basketball team. This will not surprise anyone who has a boy, but they spent most of the evening wrestling. And wrestling. And wrestling. Good times!

Winter wonderland

2010-02-19T15:11:00.003-06:00

We got 7 inches of snow last week. In Texas. The weathermen were predicting about an inch. They were kinda wrong. Even though I'm really ready for spring, I have to admit it was beautiful. I've never seen that much snow at once! The boys had a great time playing with all the neighborhood kids.

Having Canadian neighbors is a great thing because they let us borrow their real live snow shovel.
We also got to use their real live sled (instead of a swim ring or a piece of cardboard!)

Hoop dreams

2010-02-19T15:04:00.005-06:00

Luke is playing basketball through the Y again this year, and Gary is coaching. What a difference a year makes! Most of the boys are able to actually dribble this year, and they score at least 20 points a game. We scored that many last year, but it was only because they got one point for hitting the rim. It's so much fun to watch!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T09:01:00.002-06:00

I read this in my devotional this morning and thought it was a great way to start the new year:

"We want you to be blessed with joys deeper than any sadness, gratitude happier than any regrets, hopes brighter than the shadows of any discouragement, and the vitality to make of every day what God on Christmas Day made for all days."

Happy New Year!

Looking back

2009-12-31T19:00:00.009-06:00

I've been thinking about some of the highlights of the past year today. There are too many to list, but here are the ones that come to mind.

-I've watched Noah change from a two-year-old who barely talks to a very chatty three-year-old. Our conversations throughout the day are many and, more often than not, lengthy. Although I sometimes wish for a little peace and quiet, I enjoy the way he rambles on (and on and on!)

-My sweet Luke became a first grader this year. He was born to go to school and, according to his teacher, is a model student. He loves going to the library every week and usually checks out books about animals or bugs.

-My honey and I celebrated 10 years of wedded bliss on June 19! It's hard to believe we've already been married 10 years! The first 10 years have been filled with, among other things, a move half-way across the country and two lively boys. Who knows what the next 10 will bring!

-I had a great scrapbooking weekend at Pine Cove back in January and even got a bonus weekend with my friend Adriane. She and I got a hotel suite in Frisco in August and spent the whole weekend scrapbooking, watching TV, and reading books. It was fun and relaxing and we're hoping to go again in 2010.-I coordinated our church's second annual bazaar, and it was an even bigger success than last year's. I had a blast planning it and watching it come together. I'm already thinking about ways to improve next year's bazaar.

It seems the older I get the quicker the years pass by. 2009 is almost in the books, but there are lots of great things on the horizon in 2010...another scrapbooking weekend in January,

my 20th high school reunion, another trip back to South Carolina to see friends and family, and, I'm sure, lots of surprises. Happy New Year!

My Thanksgiving Prayer

2009-11-26T08:42:00.002-06:00

Dear Heavenly Father,

I have:
-a husband who loves me, is a wonderful father, and is a hard worker. Thank you.
-two boys who have brought joy, laughter, and fulfillment into my life. Thank you.
-a mother who loves me unconditionally and who is my favorite person to shop with. Thank you.
-a sister who despite time and distance will always be one of the happiest parts of my childhood. Thank you.
-a Nana who is one of my favorite people and who will always think of me as her "Bitsy". Thank you.
-a friend who will do anything for me and who totally gets me. Thank you.
-a church who has strengthened my faith, given me great friends, and has encouraged me to serve others. Thank you.
-blessings beyond measure. Thank you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Recovering

2009-10-14T12:37:00.002-05:00

On Monday Noah had his tonsils and adenoids removed. I know this is considered a "routine" procedure, but there's nothing routine about sending your child off to surgery. I've heard this can be life-changing, so I was hoping we'd made the right decision. When our doctor came to talk to us after the surgery, he told us Noah's adenoids had been blocking about 90% of the back of his airway and that his tonsils were extremely large for a child his age. I felt so relieved to know that we had indeed made the right decision. They kept Noah in the hospital overnight for observation, and he chose to have his Daddy stay with him. I felt a little guilty about going home Monday night, but I figured I've logged enough night-time hours with both boys that it was OK for me to sit this one out. Between the IV alarm going off and both of them sleeping in a twin bed, they didn't get much sleep on Monday night.

Today is Wednesday. Noah had a rough morning, but he perked up around 10:30 and actually ate a good bit of lunch. The most amazing part is listening to him breathe out of his nose. The breathing will only get better as the swelling goes down, another indication that this was the best decision for him. So, we'll muddle through the next couple days as best we can and will look forward to a new and improved Noah in the days to come.

My boys

2009-10-14T12:35:00.003-05:00

Headed off to Home Depot to build something with their Daddy.

Fun run

2009-10-14T12:14:00.002-05:00

About a month ago Luke told me he wanted to participate in a 1-mile fun run that his teachers talked about in P.E. I was really surprised he wanted to do it. Luke is not usually a fan of anything that takes effort and energy to do, but since he wanted to, I signed us up. It was pretty chilly the morning of the race, but we bundled up and headed out at 7:15.

Warming up before our big race!

Luke is also not a fan of being cold.

He asked SEVERAl times how much longer we had to go. The whole thing only took about 20 minutes, but you would have thought we were running a marathon.

Finished at last!

Sing, sing out loud

2009-10-09T18:20:00.002-05:00

Say what?

2009-08-26T12:49:00.003-05:00

I think I've shared recently that Noah's vocabulary has increased exponentially in the past couple of months. He is talking and talking and talking and talking. It's hard for me to believe that I was ever worried about his speech. So, here are a few recent conversation snippets:

-"Guess what Mommy? I love you!" (This melts my heart every time he says it.)
-"I love my Mommy." (The heart-melting goes with this one, too.)
-"Mommy my friend." (More heart-melting.)
-More often than not when you ask him to do something like brush his teeth or put his shoes on, he'll say, "I already did" whether or not he actually has. As Gary said, we're going to have to watch this one. But I love that he uses the word "already".
-When Luke did something for Noah a couple of weeks ago, he said, "I 'preciate that, Bubba."

There are many more, but this gives you a glimpse into everyday life around here.

First grade

2009-08-26T09:20:00.003-05:00

My baby is in first grade! He was so excited when he

woke up Monday morning. He has a

wonderful teacher who is sweet and kind, and I know it's going to be a great year for him.

Birthday bash

2009-08-26T09:09:00.003-05:00

I recently celebrated my 37th birthday, and two of my sweet friends threw me a party. The theme was "Hollywood Glamour", and the invitation said to dress as your favorite movie star. To be honest, I wasn't all that excited about dressing up at first. I thought and thought about it and finally decided not to dress up. But then, while searching for costumes online one last time, I came across the idea to dress as Britney Spears. Not the cute "Hit Me Baby One More Time" Britney, the trashy, walking in gas station bathrooms barefooted Britney. I was sold. I already had most of the things I needed (I'm still not sure if this is a good thing), and was able to find the rest pretty easily. I am so glad I decided to dress up because it was a hoot! There were lots of other great costumes, too, and I think everyone had a good time (I know I did!)

Miley, Britney, & Sandra Dee

Tori Spelling, the Playboy Bunny, Miley, Britney, Angelina, & Sandra Dee with Hef
Phil Mickelson (Gary's sad attempt at dressing up), Brad Pitt, Hef, Billy Ray, Joaquin Phoenix, and Dean McDermott (Tori Spelling's hubby)

Look how cute my cake is!

Noah sings the ABC's

2009-08-11T15:40:00.002-05:00

It's been too long

2009-08-04T22:33:00.004-05:00

I had no idea it had been almost two months since I've posted anything new. Yesterday it was my 10th anniversary, and now we're 3 weeks away from starting another school year. We went on vacation for two weeks (and had a great time), and now we're living the lazy days of summer. Life is chugging along.

I sometimes think about giving up this blog. I won't, though, because of my most faithful reader, my Nana. I know there are 1 or 2 others out there who stop by to read it from time to time, but my Nana loves it too much for me to stop altogether. When I get this far behind, it's sometimes overwhelming for me to get caught up, so I think I'll just start with the most recent past.

Luke turned 6 last Thursday. 6? 6! I just can't believe it. He'll be in first grade this year. We have taken our first foray into the world of hand-held video games with the Nintendo DSi. He LOVES it. I must admit I've played a few times, but I think kids his age are born with a natural ability to figure out video games. He's a whiz, and I'm quite the novice. His other newest passion is chess. Again, he's a whiz and I'm whatever is below novice status. He beat me today in ten minutes flat. Geez, that kid is smart.

Noah is 2 1/2. Boy, is he ever! He started asking, "Why?" last week, and I thought to myself, "Really? Really? Are we there already?" He is still such a hoot and is talking up a storm. Yesterday at lunch he said, "Mommy, I want more pretzels and more oranges." Just as clear as day. It's good.

Just so no one forgets how absolutely adorable my boys are . . .

Our first decade

2009-06-12T16:23:00.004-05:00

Today is our 10th anniversary. It's hard to believe it's been 10 years since we got married! About 30 minutes from right now I was getting ready to walk down the aisle to start the rest of my life. I'm thankful to have such a wonderful husband who is loving and kind and has turned out to be a fantastic father (not that I ever had any doubts!)

Here are a few pictures from June 12, 1999.

Hannah was 4 and Katie & Lauren were almost 7. They're so little here and are such pretty, grown-up girls now.

A pre-church miracle!

2009-05-31T13:07:00.004-05:00

You'd think it would be easy to leave at 9:15 for church when we're all up by about 7:00, but for some reason we're usually rushing to get out the door. Today we were actually ready a little early, so I took the opportunity to take a few pictures.

Recent life

2009-05-25T16:51:00.003-05:00

A few recent pictures of my boys . . . This is one of my all-time favorite pictures of Luke & Noah.

Arrrrrgh, matey! Mother's Day
Gary & Luke went on an Adverture Guides campout last weekend. Friday was beautiful, but a cold front blew in about 3:00 Saturday morning, and they had to come home early because the day was a washout. This picture is from Friday, before the deluge.

Luke was up till about 11:30 Friday night and didn't sleep well, so he was exhausted on Saturday.

Sandra and Baby Allison

2009-05-25T16:45:00.002-05:00

I helped throw a shower for my friend Sandra a couple of weeks ago. It was really nice, and I think Sandra enjoyed herself. These pictures are out of order because I couldn't rearrange them for some reason.My friend Adriane made this tutu to go with a really cute onesie I gave Sandra. I can't wait to see Allison in it!

The guests of honor

My friend Denise made this cake - isn't it the cutest cake ever? Man, I have some talented friends!

Yikes!

2009-05-03T13:16:00.003-05:00

It seems as though we are under a severe thunderstorm warning every other day around here, but we experienced something brand new last night. About 7:30 we were in the middle of a second round of thunderstorms; there was plenty of thunder and lightning, but nothing nearly as severe as some of the storms I've seen here. Gary was in Noah's room reading books to him, and Luke and I were in the living room watching TV when I heard the loudest, closest crack of thunder I've ever heard and saw a bright flash of light. Luke & I ran to the front of the house to try to figure out what happened. Gary said he thought lightning might have hit the house. We soon discovered it hadn't, thank goodness, but our neighbors told us they saw the bolt that nearly hit the house. Regardless of what the lightning hit, it did some damage. Here's a list of the things in our house that are no longer working and where they are located in our house:

-Internet & phone (OK, these are working now, but it's only because the AT&T guy just left about 30 minutes ago, but the lightning fried the modem last night): Gary's office
-the printer in Gary's office
-one of our garage door openers (OK, this is working now, too, but it was out for a while)
-the HVAC system
-the base to our cordless phone that was in our living room (the lamp that was plugged into the same outlet, however, is fine)
-DVD player in our living room (the TV and satellite dish that are plugged into the same power strip are undamaged)
-the Wii in our living room

Even though we could potentially have to spend thousands of dollars to fix/replace these items, I'm so thankful that we're not having to replace our entire house. I think we got very lucky that the house didn't get struck. I told Luke this morning that our neighbor saw the bolt that nearly hit us and that God was watching out for us because the house didn't get hit, and he said it was because God put a force-field around our house. I agree.

We were all on edge last night, and neither one of the boys fell asleep until nearly 9:00. Gary is pretty stressed today, trying to figure out ways to fix some of this stuff, and I'm still trying to understand why some things got damaged when others didn't (I'm sure I'll never figure this one out!) I'm just glad I still have a roof over my head and a working computer!

Slacker

2009-05-01T09:59:00.004-05:00

I have become a blog slacker. I have the best intentions to update it more frequently, but inevitably it gets pushed to the bottom of my to-do list every day. So, I'm finally taking the time to give an update on us.

-Noah is quite the chatterbug lately. He is saying new words all the time, and many of the words he's been saying for a while he now says more clearly. A few exceptions to this are "vacuum" (which sounds like "mamu"); "ice cream" (there is no way I can explain how he says this word - it's bizarre!); "music" (which sounds like "hehaw"); and "basketball" (which sounds like "badudu").

-Noah is a very polite little boy. He says "bless you" when anyone sneezes, says "excuse me" when air of any sort comes out of his body", says "thank you" when you give him something, and uses "please" most of the time. It's really charming.
-Speaking of charm, Noah oozes charm and personality.
-Last week at school Luke's teacher chose him to be the line leader for the entire week. Apparently this is quite an honor.
-Luke also received the Tribes Award for his class for the month of April. This award is given to the student who consistently shows respect and is a good example. Way to go, Luke!!
-Luke's soccer team won their game last week! This is only the second game they've won over the past two years. Luke scored 4 goals. He's developed into a really good little soccer player.

Luke getting recognition at Friday Live for receiving the Tribes Award.

Mimi

2009-04-10T13:46:00.003-05:00

My mom spent the last week with us, and we had a great visit. Noah was, for the most part, really friendly with her. We both figured he wouldn't want much to do with her because he's so very two right now, but he must have said 100 times, "Hold you, Mimi." He loved playing with her and having her read books to him. Luke woke her up every morning to play a game with him, and he even got in bed with her a couple of times. It was a nice break for me to have her here. We all miss her and can't wait to see her this summer!

Tooth #2

2009-04-10T13:42:00.002-05:00

Luke lost his second tooth on Monday! He lost it at school during PE, and his teacher gave him a little tooth-shaped box to keep the tooth in. I prepared him for the fact that the tooth fairy doesn't bring as much money for second teeth as for first, so he wasn't disappointed when he only found a dollar in the morning. He looks really cute with both bottom teeth missing.

1-2-3

2009-03-31T13:07:00.003-05:00

What's missing?

2009-03-26T14:30:00.002-05:00

Luke lost his first tooth this morning! He's has a loose tooth for about 3 weeks, and this weekend, another was loose. It's this second loose tooth that actually fell out today. It was barely hanging on, and I've been trying to pull it out for the last 2 days, but Luke wouldn't let me. This morning I went out to get the paper, and when I came back in, Luke was holding his tooth and said, "It just came out!" He was eating his vitamins and chewed with his front teeth, and his tooth came out. This it Twinkle Toof, a special box to hold the tooth. Luke will put the box under his pillow tonight (and expects to get $5 - that's the going rate for a first tooth!!)
Can you tell how very excited he is to have lost a tooth??

Spring break

2009-03-23T16:15:00.004-05:00

We went down to San Antonio on Thursday for a little spring break trip. It was a whirlwind, complete with sleeping issues and a full-on five-and-a-half-year-old meltdown, but overall we had a good time.

On the riverwalk in San Antonio.
Noah slurped up the last of his ice cream. When it comes to sweets, both of my boys take after me.
Feeding the dolphins at Sea World.

Waiting for the Shamu show "Believe" to start.

Back on the riverwalk on Friday night.
For those of you who don't remember, Gary has a cousin Micajah Autry who fought and died at the Alamo. If Gary had gotten his way, we would have named Noah Micajah. Or Autry. I had to say no.
Remember the Alamo!

Luke's inner gorilla came out an hour or so after dinner. He had a super-mega meltdown at the hotel. He was so tired from being up till after 10:00 the night before, that he just lost it about 7:15 Friday night. He was drawing but was very frustrated that nothing was turning out like he wanted. He was screaming and crumpling paper up, and when I told him to do something else, he said, "But you told me to draw!" Then he decided he needed some tape and kept screaming, "I need tape!" I kept telling him he needed to calm down, to which he replied, "I can't calm down! I need some help!" He did indeed need some help! He eventually calmed down and was asleep by about 7:45. It was a rough evening, but I can laugh about it now.

Here's another gem from Luke:

-"Did you know that dolphins only have teeth on the bottom . . . and the top?" He said these words, verbatim, on the way back to the hotel from Sea World. There have been lots of times that he's started a sentence with "Did you know" followed by something interesting he's learned at school. This wasn't one of those times.

Because he can

2009-03-12T08:51:00.003-05:00

Noah's latest trick.

The tag in this hat says 12-24 months. Luke wore it when he was 6 months old. Noah's wearing it at 2. Does that clearly show the difference in the size of their heads?

Eavesdropping

2009-03-12T08:47:00.003-05:00

Last night when Luke was talking to Gary on the phone, I think Gary asked Luke to guess where he was. Luke didn't know, and Gary must have told him to guess a state. Luke said, "I know lots of states. South Carolina, Texas, Australia." The child can do simple multiplication, but he thinks Australia is a state. Calculus is in his future, but not the geography bee.

Spring soccer

2009-03-08T21:16:00.002-05:00

Luke's first soccer game was yesterday. In the past, his team has not done that well. In fact, the last game of last season was their first win. Whatever momentum they had at the end of the season carried over into yesterday's game. The game was a tie, and they played really well. I am so proud of the progress Luke has made. He's really good at defense, and he's starting to get the hang of the game.

Even though it was about 74, it was really windy and pretty chilly. I'm glad I keep a blanket in the van. We spent most of the fourth quarter like this.

A boy of many talents

2009-03-06T14:52:00.003-06:00

Luke first did this activity on his field trip a couple of weeks ago. You can tell he planned this structure - it's not just a bunch of marshmallows randomly stuck to toothpicks. This is a really good example of the way his mind works.

Luke's team ended the season 5-3, and while he was by no means a basketball super-star by the end, he had definitely made some improvements. Gary really enjoyed coaching the boys. I'm pretty sure their favorite part of the season was getting a trophy after the last game.

Seen and heard

2009-03-06T14:35:00.003-06:00

I've had concerns for a while about whether Noah is delayed in his speech. I now know he is not. He seems to say something new every day, and he's gotten really good at putting two and three words together. Here are a few things we hear frequently around our house:

-"big blue blankie"
-"ow hurt eye" (or ear or something else . . . I think he's going to be a hypochondriac)
-"Hi, Bubba/Daddy/Mommy!"
-"ma-mu (vacuum) Daddy" (yes, my husband does indeed do the vacuuming)
-"more nandy" (candy)
-"nandy mouf" (mouth)
-"nandy nandy nandy" (are you seeing a pattern here?)
-"big potty/truck/chair"

He says lots of other phrases, too. It's still funny to hear him say more than one word at a time because he just started doing it about a month ago.

Just to make sure everyone remembers how wacky Noah is, here are a few recent pictures. I'll have to pull this picture out when we do a yearbook dedication page for Noah his senior year.

Oh, my!

2009-02-21T15:31:00.003-06:00

We are a full-service house.

Is he the cutest child ever?

I told y'all everyone loved this pillow.

Luke's school had an African-themed fine arts night last week. Everyone had a piece of artwork displayed; for the kindergarten, it was a self-portrait. I think Luke got his jaw-line just right.

Museum of Nature and Science

2009-02-21T15:25:00.004-06:00

Yesterday the kindergarten classes at Luke's school went on a field trip to the Museum of Nature & Science. It was a really neat place, similar to Edventure in Columbia. The kids were well-behaved and seemed to enjoy the day.Making a toothpick & marshmallow structure.
Giant bubbles. Look at Luke's face.

Clayson, Landon, Ben, Alex, Mathew, Joel, & Luke

For Nana

2009-02-09T19:56:00.003-06:00

Nana, everyone loves the pillow you gave Gary for Christmas, even Molly. Thanks!

Cutie patooties

2009-02-05T14:42:00.004-06:00

How cute are they?!?

Poor baby. He's been sick this week, and I think it's clear by the look on his face just how rotten he felt yesterday. Thankfully, he's feeling much better today.

Making progress

2009-02-05T14:32:00.003-06:00

I know you're not supposed to compare your children to each other, but it's really hard not to, especially when the first one was above average at everything. At this age Luke was talking in 4-5 word sentences. Noah still just says one word at a time. Sometimes it's the same word over and over (and over and over), and sometimes he'll randomly say an assortment of words in close proximity to each other, but not in a sentence. For example, on any given day in my house you might hear, "pee-pee . . . pee-pee . . . pee-pee" (you get the idea) or something like, "Mimi . . . . . . shoe . . . . . puppy . . . . . .shash (trash) . . . . . Wo-wa (Noah)". So, to hear Noah put any two words together has been music to my ears.

About a week ago he was leaving with Gary to run some errands and on the way out the door he said clear as a bell, "Bye, Mommy." I was thrilled! He now says, "Bye, Mommy" (or Daddy, or Bubba) on a regular basis and has also added, "Hi, Mommy" (or Daddy or Bubba) as well. This afternoon when I finally let him have his pacie before naptime, he grabbed it and said, "My fafy (pacie)". It' s such a two-year-old thing to say, but it's still amazing for me to hear!

Playing catch-up . . . again!

2009-01-26T20:10:00.005-06:00

It's been quite a while since I've posted anything new. I didn't intentionally take a break, but my blog is often the last thing on my to-do list. So, here's what are the highlights of what's been going on.

1. Luke is playing basketball, and Gary is coaching his team. They've played 3 games and have won all of them! Luke even made a basket last Saturday! It's nice to be on a winning team for a change.

2. Noah continues to be a nut.

3. We've done some more fizzy-foamy experiments.

4. We've spent some time at a creek that's close to our neighborhood. I discovered how much boys love to throw rocks and sticks into water.

Hoop dreams

2009-01-05T10:56:00.003-06:00

Last Friday Luke & Gary drove down to Waco to see the Gamecocks play Baylor in basketball. While we ended the '08 football season on a rather sour note, it seems there might be a glimmer of hope for the basketball season. The boys said it was an exciting game that came down to the final seconds, and Carolina won!As you can see by the stands, there weren't many people at the game so Gary & Luke got to sit about 15 rows off the floor.
After the game Luke walked onto the court.
On the way home, Gary kept trying to get a picture of Luke watching his movie. Most of the time, Luke caught him taking the picture.
This time Luke was too engrossed in The Empire Strikes Back to notice Gary snapping a quick photo.
Luke got Gary good the last time he took a picture!

Funny boy

2009-01-05T10:54:00.001-06:00

Nice comb-over.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-05T10:35:00.004-06:00

We had our annual pajama party at our house for New Year's Eve. It's so nice to hang out at home in comfy clothes and not have to worry about being on the road. Man, I've gotten old!
Benny & Luke partying it up!
The big boys had a really good time.
You can see my fabulous decorations in the background. We really do it up big!

Even Molly had fun playing Guitar Hero. Can you guess who put this on her?

Merry Christmas!

2009-01-02T20:11:00.003-06:00

Again, I couldn't move these pictures, so they're out of order. Luke got a Fizzy Foamy Science kit and loved doing some of the experiments. My mom obviously enjoyed them, too.
Santa put this microphone in Noah's stocking, and it was a hit!

Our favorite thing by far was Mario Kart. We're all addicted.

These are a few of Noah's favorite things . . . an ATV, an umbrella, and a cup of cereal.

Christmas Eve

2009-01-02T20:04:00.004-06:00

Here are a few pictures from Christmas Eve. For some reason I wasn't able to move them, so they're out of order. Luke leaving food for the reindeer.
The boys in their new Christmas PJ's

My mom & me before leaving for church

All my boys & me

How funny is this picture?

Well, here we are

2008-12-21T14:28:00.004-06:00

That's right, we're officially in the terrible twos, although I think Noah actually got a head start on this stage in his life. His birthday was lots of fun. He enjoyed opening presents this year and has had fun playing with his new toys (so has Luke). We had some friends over for cake & ice cream Thursday night; it was wild but fun. He had his two-year check-up on Friday: he weighed 26.6 pounds which is the 34%. That's a big jump from the 15% at his 18-month check-up! He's 35 inches tall (57%).

As far as the whole terrible twos thing goes, here's a snippet from our life this morning. Noah was supposed to be eating a waffle, but he was just eating syrup. I asked him to eat his waffle, and he looked at me and said, "No." I said, "Excuse me, what did you say?" To which he repeated, as clear as day, "No." Hmm . . . so that's the direction we're taking. Nice.

Here are a few pictures from his big day.

He hasn't quite mastered holding up just two fingers.

Happy birthday, Noah!

My favorite things

2008-12-15T14:06:00.003-06:00

In honor of my friend Ellen who came up with the idea for this blog, I present some of my favorite things.This ornament has been on our Christmas tree for as long as I can remember. I don't know where it came from, but it's one of my favorites, and I'm so glad I inherited it. I always put it on the front of the tree so when I'm looking at the ornaments I can find it and think about my mom and Nana and the wonderful Christmases we had when I was young.
Another little gem I inherited. We also have Woodstock, Linus, Charlie Brown, & Schroeder. Again, I don't know where these came from, but they've been a part of Christmas since I was little.

I love my stocking because my Nana made it when I was little, and I use it every year. I also love Santa's pink mittens.

Boys, boys, boys

2008-12-13T13:20:00.003-06:00

This has become one of my boys' favorite things to do. Luke gets a pillow for Noah to lie on, and then he covers him with a blanket. Noah will stay like this for quite a while. It's the only time during the day that he's actually still.

Welcome to Chumley's Dueling Pianos Bar!

I found Noah like this during his nap last week.

I took the blankie off his head, and he immediately went to the classic booty-in-the-air position

Elfred

2008-12-13T13:02:00.002-06:00

Here are a few of Elfred's recent hangouts:On the light above our kitchen tableLuke took this picture
This is by far my favorite, and I have to give credit to Gary because he's the one who put him there.

One day this week I put the elf in Luke's room. Luke told me he was a little afraid when he woke up and saw the elf looking at him, but he apparently got over it. He loves to tell his friends next door where the elf is every morning, and anyone who comes over is immediately ushered to Elfred's current spot. About a week ago, Luke decided he wanted a Rubik's cube, and he walked right over to Elfred and told him. I think Elfred got the word to Santa because Luke is indeed getting a Rubik's cube for Christmas.

I was telling my sister last week about our elf, and she told me about some people at her church who also have an elf, but their elf is bad. He "tells" the parents to do destructive things like dismantle their Christmas tree, and the parents do it. When the children wake up each morning, they see whatever bad thing the elf has done overnight. This is very weird. To me the whole point of the elf is to get your kids to behave better, not become more destructive. I'm not sure what kind of crazy parents would take down their Christmas tree, but rest assured, if Elfred ever does something like that, he'll be out on his tiny, squishy behind before you can say, "Bad elf".

Starfish Christmas party

2008-12-10T15:16:00.004-06:00

Yesterday was the Christmas "party" for Noah's Mother's Day Out class. There wasn't much to it. They had cookies, and we were supposed to sing Jingle Bells, but none of them were much interested in singing. As soon as I got there, Noah wanted to go, so I spent 20 minutes standing around holding him. Oh well . . . I expected as much!It cracks me up when they're all sitting at this table.
This is Noah's girlfriend, Charlotte. Almost every day at lunch, he holds her sippy cup for her so she can drink it. He used to do the same thing in the infant nursery when he was about a year old. He would ignore all the other babies, but he would take snacks to her and try to give her his cup to drink. They are in l-o-v-e.

Crazy weather

2008-12-09T20:01:00.002-06:00

Here is a summary of our weather for the past 24 hours:

-yesterday's high - 74
-severe thunderstorms last night--including the tornado siren going off at 11:15
-today's high - 65 . . . the high was at about 9:00 this morning
-temperature at 5:00 p.m. - 37
-sleet at 7:00

Scary ol' St. Nicholas

2008-12-08T19:55:00.004-06:00

The boys went to see Santa on Saturday, and this is pretty much what I expected.

The Elf on the Shelf

2008-12-04T16:12:00.002-06:00

We started a new Christmas tradition this year. Saturday night Luke & I read a book called The Elf on the Shelf. The book tells about an elf who shows up and watches the children. He then reports back to Santa all that he saw, both good and bad. He comes back every day, and then when Santa comes Christmas Eve, he goes back to live with him until the next year. There are rules to follow if an elf comes to visit: the first time you find him you have to name him; you can't touch him or else his magic might go away; you can talk to him and tell him what you want for Christmas, but he can't talk back.

Well, lo and behold, the day after we read the book, we had our very own elf! Luke was SO excited when he found the elf. He decided to name him Elfred, and he looks for him every morning. He had a lot of questions when he first saw the elf and said that he looked hard like a doll. Gary and I explained that he looked that way because he had to sit so still when children were around. Later he told me he thought he saw the elf blink and breathe. He stood in the kitchen out of the elf's line of sight trying to catch him moving. He also noticed this morning that even though he's in a new spot every day he's sitting in the same position. I told him it was because that was the most comfortable way for him to sit.

Sunday afternoon he was outside playing with our neighbors and he said to them, "You won't believe it! We have an elf in our house!" Then he brought them in to show them. Each time they went outside I turned the elf so he was facing a different direction. When they'd come back in they would run to see if he had moved and were thrilled to find that he had.

While I love the idea of the elf, I didn't realize I'd have to spin such a yarn in order to answer all of Luke's questions! He has, however, bought the whole thing, kit and caboodle, but I'm afraid he's going to figure out sooner rather than later that the elf isn't real (ditto for Santa.) So, I'm enjoying this year of complete and utter belief.

Luke's TV debut

2008-12-02T21:38:00.002-06:00

Jason Witten, a tight end with the Cowboys, came to Luke's school today. Luke is in the video portion they showed on the news tonight. He's only in it for about 2 seconds, so don't blink or you might miss him!
http://www.nbcdfw.com/sports/football/Dallas-Witten-Heads-to-School.html

One more month

2008-11-19T22:03:00.004-06:00

That's right, in one month Noah will turn two. I know this is a common sentiment among parents when they consider how quickly their children are growing, but I just can't believe it. It truly seems impossible that two years ago we were anxiously awaiting his arrival, and now I'm buying presents for his second birthday. Here's the good, the bad, and the ugly about this wild child who has turned our lives upside-down but has brought us such joy.

-He hits. A lot. It's not fun. Whenever he's frustrated, his first response is to hit whomever--or whatever--is closest. Usually it's me, but Luke has had his share, too. I think it's a combination of Noah's small vocabulary and the fact that there is someone around who frustrates him quite a bit. Luke avoided this stage mostly because he was the first child I think. I have no real strategy to deal with this behavior other than time-outs. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

-Speaking of his vocabulary, I made the effort to count how many words he has, and it's over 50. I was a little concerned that he didn't have many words, but after making a list, I think he's where he needs to be. He's not really putting words together, but when you have an older brother who's willing to talk on your behalf, why make the effort?

-He's still resisting naps. He was in his crib for two hours today just making noise. He doesn't cry or get upset, he just throws all his toys out of his crib, and recently he's started to take off his socks and pants. Last week he took off his diaper, too. Luckily I discovered his partial nakedness before there was anything to clean up.

-And speaking of taking off his pants, he pulls them down all the time. Any time we see a bathroom, he says, "pee-pee" and tries to pull his pants down. I offer to take him in and let him sit on the potty, but he doesn't want to. I can't quite figure this one out. This afternoon he walked around the house with his pants around his ankles. He's a nut.

The next time there's a Noah update, he'll be two!

Catching up before I get behind again

2008-11-17T15:28:00.004-06:00

OK, I know I've been remiss yet again in updating my blog, but I have had quite a full plate the past couple of weeks. Last summer, God placed a large task on my heart, and I decided to step out in faith and do my best to answer his call. The children's ministries at our church is fabulous, but despite a large, mostly well-to-do congregation, we struggle funding our larger programs like VBC. At the end of this summer's Bible camp, the idea of hosting a holiday bazaar as a fundraiser for VBC came to me, and soon after that I started to put the wheels in motion.

Our church in Columbia hosted a similar event every year, so I called a friend who used to chair the bazaar to get ideas from her. She encouraged me to put this event on, and with the help of our children's team at church, the idea of a bazaar became a reality. I know that this was God's idea, and I was merely his hands and feet. I could never have pulled this off on my own!

The bazaar was last Saturday, and it was a huge success. Most of the vendors assumed we had been holding a bazaar for several years because most everything ran so smoothly. We had 55 vendors, and over 250 people came to shop. Each vendor donated an item for our raffle booth, and the ticket sales totaled over $350. We also had a frozen foods booth; church members made meals and froze them, and we sold them. We sold every last item that was donated and earned $750! In total, we made about $6000 for the children's programs at church.

I am so blown away by this whole experience. While I had many people helping me, there were two people in particular who helped make the bazaar such a success, and I couldn't have done it without Amy who was in charge of advertising and Laurie who organized the frozen foods booth. They are awesome and really put their spiritual gifts to work in a big way. I was never really nervous about how it would turn out; I knew it would be a success, but I didn't know it would be this big of a success. I really think that God was glorified through this event, and I know we'll put the money we earned to good use.

Bella Cosa Texas (I bought myself a little treat from her!)

One of our many fabulous jewelry vendors

The Uppercase Living booth

Some of my happy helpers!

Halloween

2008-11-04T08:44:00.003-06:00

The boys really had fun trick-or-treating. Noah wasn't too sure about it at first, but he soon got the hang of it. And he actually wore his hat!

Noah would eat a piece of candy for a while, but as soon as he got more, he'd want to throw the one he was eating away and get a new piece.

"Luke, I am your father."

This is one of our neighbors. He cut a hole in a table for his head, and he also cut a hole underneath the pumpkin so he could stick his hand out to give candy to the kids. It was very clever.

Halloween preview

2008-10-27T13:33:00.004-05:00

The cutest cowboy ever (sans hat, of course) and Luke Skywalker.

Big Orange Pumpkin Farm

2008-10-25T20:35:00.005-05:00

We made our annual trek to the pumpkin patch today, and I had high hope for us to have a really fun time. A few of us did, but the smallest person in our house was quite umimpressed with everything but the animals. He didn't want to ride the tractor train, he didn't want to take pictures with the pumpkins, he didn't want to do the hay ride, he didn't want to climb on an old, red truck to take pictures, and he didn't want to eat a hot dog for lunch. He DID NOT have fun.
One of the only pictures I got with Noah and an actual pumpkin. He looks thrilled, doesn't he?

Oops!

2008-10-25T20:30:00.002-05:00

Yesterday morning I was cleaning the house, and Noah was supposed to be watching his favorite video. He wandered into the bathroom as I was cleaning it, and I really didn't pay much attention to what he was doing. A few minutes later, Gary came out of his office and called me into the living room. He found Noah sitting in a chair, watching his video, with a bottle of Scope. He was holding the top like a cup and was pretty much drenched with Scope. There were two large blue spots on the carpet, too. I smelled his breath to try to figure out if he drank any of it or just poured it out. Gary called poison control just to be safe, but they assured us that if he had ingested a large amount he would have started throwing up. There was never any throwing up or other ill effects, thank goodness, and I even got the Scope out of the carpet. We never called poison control with Luke. It's really no big surprise we've already called with Noah. I just wish I had gotten a picture of him sitting there with the bottle in one hand and the top in the other. I'm still wondering how he got the darn thing open.

Soccer blues

2008-10-23T20:03:00.004-05:00

Only two more games to suffer through before this season is over. That's right, I said suffer. Luke's cumulative three-season record is 0-21. They have never won a game. They haven't even come close this season. Gary & I can't quite figure out what the deal is with his team, but it's gotten pretty frustrating, even for Luke who is usually happy with just getting a snack after the game. He told me a few days ago, "Mommy, we never win. I wonder if we'll ever win a game." It made me sad. I know it's not all about winning, but I think it should be a little bit about winning. Everyone needs to feel successful at some point. Otherwise whatever you're doing just becomes a beat-down. So, we'll stick it out for two more games and then regroup for the spring. I took a few pictures last week, mostly during practice (the team is much better during practice than games.)

Surprise! It's a post about Noah!

2008-10-23T19:58:00.002-05:00

I realize I cut Noah's head off in this picture, but I was really trying to get his snazzy sock/flip-flop combo.
New kicks . . . it's a good thing, too. The hand-me-down shoes he was wearing were 1 1/2 sizes too small. Oops.

There's not much cuter than a boy in overalls.

Clifford's costume

2008-10-23T19:50:00.004-05:00

And it begins . . . Luke's first real homework assignment was to make a Halloween costume for a paper version of Clifford the Big Red Dog. He decided he wanted Clifford to be a pumpkin; I made it happen. The costume is made out of a styrofoam ball, felt, pipe cleaners, and construction paper for the leaves. Gary's first reaction was, "It doesn't look like Luke made it". The directions did say that it was a family project and, come on, how is a five-year-old going to make a costume? Luke was actually very instrumental in the whole process: he cut out Clifford, helped me glue the felt on, cut out the leaves, and stuck the stem in Clifford's hat. It was a group effort, and a darn good one, I think.

Talk the talk

2008-10-09T14:52:00.002-05:00

Noah's vocabulary is once again on the rise. After several months with very few new words, he has suddenly started saying (or attempting to say) some new words. I've translated them from Noah to English so you'll all understand:

-"ba-pa" = backpack
-"bum-bu-bu" or "bum-bu-bu-bu" = bumblebee
-"na-na-na" = lemondae

OK, so it's not that impressive, and you really have to spend all day with him like I do to be able to make sense out of his utterings, but it's progress.

One other note about Noah - he is a candy fiend just like his brother and me. I have a Halloween candy jar with candy corns in it. I personally could eat candy corns till I vomit, so I'm in the jar on and off throughout the day. If it's not an appropriate time to eat candy or I think Noah's had enough, I have to take the top off the jar very, very quietly, because if he even thinks he hears me opening the jar, he'll run out and point to it so he can get his fair share. As Gary once said about Noah, "That boy definitely came out of your body."

It's about time

2008-10-06T13:31:00.003-05:00

I know I've been a little slack with my blog lately. I'm currently addicted to Facebook, so when I get quiet computer time, I tend to go there instead, and my blog has suffered for it. So to appease all three of my readers, here are a few new pictures.

Noah did this one day last week while I was drying my hair. I looked up and there was my little Flashdancer.
That's Luke under there (like you didn't already know that.)
One of the only pictures I took while my mom was here for a week. We had a great visit!

Just a swingin'

2008-09-19T14:17:00.002-05:00

Can you imagine what Gary's thinking?
Wheeeee!

What's Noah been up to?

2008-09-15T15:27:00.006-05:00

Besides being an extremely stylish dresser, here are a few of Noah's latest accomplishments.

-He can carry on a VERY limited conversation. It goes like this:
"How's your oatmeal?" "Goo." (meaning "good") That's it.

-He loves to read, but he's at the stage where we are forced to read the same books over and over and over and over. His favorites are Big Dig, Ten Little Ladybugs, Goodnight Sweet Butterflies, and Snappy Jungle.

-Every now and then he won't go right to sleep at nap time. I'll go in there if he's sitting up and tell him to lie down, and he'll just fall onto the crib mattress and lie very still. It's pretty funny.

-He has a book with pictures of us in it, and he loves to look at it and point to everyone and say who they are.

-He loves putting on our shoes and walking around in them (in case you hadn't already figured that out!)

-He's getting pretty good at animal sounds. The ones he always gets right are cow, dog, bird, sheep, and monkey. When you ask him what a lion says, for some reason he always says, "teet teet."

-Every animal he sees is a puppy.

-Whenever we drive into the Market Street parking lot (a local grocery store), he says, "Cookie."

-Noah will be 21 months old on Sept. 18. Before I know it, he'll be turning two!

More than anything, he makes all of us laugh. He loves his Bubba and looks forward to him coming home from school every day. He's my itty-bitty joy-boy!

The artist currently known as Noah

2008-09-12T14:02:00.002-05:00

Take me out to the ballgame

2008-09-07T20:34:00.004-05:00

Luke & Noah gave Rangers tickets to Gary for Father's Day. Today Luke & Gary went to the game (Noah, of course, wasn't actually invited.) The Rangers lost big time to the Red Sox and it was very hot, but they still had a good time.

Kindergarten

2008-08-27T09:46:00.003-05:00

Luke started kindergarten on Monday. He was so excited that he was up and dressed at 6:55, and then he counted down the minutes till we left. I only shed a few tears as I was leaving him (I didn't shed any the next day!) He had a great first day!
Standing outside his school, Bennett Elementary

Luke and his sweet friend Ashlynn (she's in his Sunday school class)
Can you tell from the ear-to-ear grin how very excited he is?!?

Girlfriends

2008-08-26T13:39:00.003-05:00

Last weekend several girls from my bible study went to San Antonio to the Living Proof Live conference. This is the third year I've heard Beth Moore speak, and I think it was the best yet. The music was phenomenal - I love Travis Cottrell! The theme for the weekend focused on Psalm 16: 5-6:

"Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.

The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance."

I am always amazed at how inspired Beth is when she speaks. It's incredible how she weaves together verses from both the old and new testaments to help make her point. The idea that has stayed with me the most is that not only will I receive an inheritance from God, I am part of His inheritance.

Jeanie, Adriane, Laurie, Shannon, Sandra, Becky, Gretchen, Charlotte, me, Wendy

Because the seats aren't reserved, you have to get in line REALLY early if you want to be anywhere near the stage. We were in line at 6:30 Saturday morning (the doors opened at 7:30 and the conference started at 8:30.) We would have been there even earlier except it was raining, and none of us is that die-hard. Is that the sunrise in the background? I believe it is . . . hence the need for big ol' coffees.

About 30 minutes after we got to the convention center, we looked to the left and saw the most beautiful rainbow. If that isn't a sign, I don't know what is!

Dinner at Casa Rio on the Riverwalk.

The solution to all my problems

2008-08-20T15:16:00.003-05:00

Don't call CPS. I promise I didn't put Noah in there. He climbed in all on his own while we were across the street letting my neighbor's dog out. If you have to call CPS, call them because I asked my 5-year-old to walk back across the street to get my camera so I could take a picture of his brother in a dog kennel. He obviously made it over and back safely as is evidenced by the pictures.
Noah stayed in here for about 10 minutes, opening and closing the door. Would it be wrong to get Molly's kennel out?
Luke is probably thinking, "My life would be so much better if we had a kennel."
I haven't gotten the kennel out . . . yet.

Happy birthday to me!

2008-08-20T15:13:00.002-05:00

That's right, I turned another year older last Saturday. I am now closer to 40 than I am to 30. Yikes! I had a really good day . . . lunch with my boys, a pedicure all by myself, and dinner with my biggest boy.

Funny boys

2008-08-12T18:15:00.002-05:00

Green rainboots go with anything . . . or with nothing!

Luke was sweaty, and when he took his shirt off, his hair stayed like this.

Wii rock!

2008-08-07T11:40:00.003-05:00

We love the Wii! Gary is still undefeated in boxing, refusing to let either 10-year-old Ben or 16-year-old Alex beat him, and I've become a pro bowler. Wii are awesome!

Yesterday

2008-08-07T11:32:00.002-05:00

Luke was giving his Webkinz a ride when Noah decided to hope on board. As you can see, they both thought this was great fun.

Noah has shown no interest in the TV, but when Luke & I were watching some home movies of him when he was Noah's age, Noah was riveted. So yesterday I decided to let him watch Toddler Tunes, a low-budget video of the Cedarmont Kids singing various children's songs. He loved it! Hallelujah! Maybe I can actually get him to sit still for 20 or 30 minutes each day.

A slight break

2008-08-07T11:28:00.002-05:00

We are right in the the middle of a swelteringly hot Texas summer. Yesterday was the first break from the heat, with a high of only about 90. We've had over 20 days of 100+ heat, and until yesterday the streak of 100+ days was over 10. We topped out at 107 last weekend. It's too hot to even go to the pool when the temperature is 107. I try not to complain about the heat because I'd rather it be hot than cold, but this is a little much, even for me!

5

2008-07-31T22:03:00.005-05:00

Luke turned five yesterday. I know every parent must feel this way, but I just can't believe he's 5! Where has the time gone? Aahhhh, the yearly picture! I remembered at about 8:30 last night that I hadn't taken his picture, so I had to do it in his "pj's" (i.e., his underwear.) You gotta love a little boy in tighty-whities!

Hooray! A Wii! Gary and I are pretty excited to have one, too.
Star Wars guys from Aunt Cari, Uncle Cam, Hannah, Benjamin, & Ethan
We went to McDonald's for lunch and got a tour of the kitchen. The kids got ice cream after the tour.

Dinner at Macaroni GrillLuke wasn't sure what to think about being serenaded with the Italian version of "Happy Birthday".

Another cake and yet another rendition of "Happy Birthday".

Playing the Wii!!

Happy Birthday, my sweet boy!

Testing

2008-07-24T14:57:00.003-05:00

I got a new camera today! My old one was on its last legs. In order to take more than one picture, you had to take a picture, turn the camera off, turn it back on, and take another picture. Not exactly convenient. So, I did a little research and got a Canon PowerShot ELPH. It's so tiny! It has lots of settings I'll probably never use, and even though reading instruction manuals isn't my strong suit, I'm going to try to learn how to use it. I took a few pictures of one of my favorite models a little while ago.

I took this picture using the Macro setting which allows you to get extreme closeups. You gotta love a boy with that many freckles!

More beach pictures

2008-07-23T08:32:00.002-05:00

We played putt-putt while we were at the beach; this was Luke's first time playing. I know it may seem strange that Luke has never played putt-putt before, but there are two very good reasons. 1) There are no putt-putt courses near us. 2) Noah.
Alex, our resident golf pro.
The boys hard at work on another sand castle.
I buried Luke in a big ol' hole. He thought it was hilarious (I did, too!)
Overall the trip was really fun. The weather was great, the hotel had a fun water park and a couple of pools, and our good friends were with us. It sure is nice to be home, though!

Vacation pictures

2008-07-23T08:17:00.005-05:00

We just got back from our annual summer trek to South Carolina. We stayed with Gary's parents for a few days before heading down to the beach.

G-Mommy, Katie, Brittany, Lauren, G-Daddy

Grayson, Luke, & Noah

On Tuesday we left for Myrtle Beach. We usually go to Edisto, but this year our friends the Nelsons came with us, and we thought Myrtle would be fun for the kids. Luke & Ben had a great time playing with each other. They spent hours working on sand castles every day.

Noah had fun playing on the beach, but his two favorite activities were . . .

. . . eating and . . .

throwing away trash.
Wednesday we ate at The Sea Captain's House. Luke's favorite part was climbing on the rocks behind the restaurant.

Our family pictures on the beach didn't turn out very well (thanks mostly to my camera which is dying), but this one of Gary & me is pretty good.

Welcome, Baby Lane!

2008-07-14T18:18:00.003-05:00

My friend Heather had her second baby this morning, and I am lucky enough to be in Columbia to meet him! He arrived at 7:25, weighed 7 lbs., 14 oz., and was 20 inches long. Mother and baby are doing just fine; actually, mother's doing great now that she's no longer pregnant! She was due last Friday and was really, really ready for him to come on out. Happy birthday, Lane!

Buddies

2008-07-09T21:48:00.002-05:00

Recently Noah has been sitting on Luke's lap when they're playing. Luke thinks it's great since Noah usually doesn't want to be all that close to him. Today, as you can see, it went from sitting on Luke to lying on Luke.

Happy 4th of July!

2008-07-04T18:24:00.003-05:00

My boys!

More VBC pictures

2008-06-28T15:57:00.002-05:00

My BFF
My friend Sandra made this adorable decoration. She used all the names of the kids in the nursery during VBC to make a "Periodic Table of the Deliveries". It was so cute!

BIG FISH

2008-06-28T15:42:00.004-05:00

My friend Adriane and I started a new VBC program for rising 5th & 6th graders this year. I have never had so much fun during the week of VBC as I had this past week! Most of the kids had a really good time, too, and we got many positive comments from our adult volunteers.The week's Bible points were:

-Jesus gives us the power to be thankful.

-Jesus gives us the power to help others.

-Jesus gives us the power to be brave.

-Jesus gives us the power to live forever.

-Jesus gives us the power to tell others about God.

On Monday each crew had to walk across the floor stepping only on paper plates. Each time they took a step, they had to say someone or something they were thankful for.

The BIG FISH made 40 blankets to donate to an organization called Project Linus.

The BIG FISH tested their bravery by running through a course while trying to avoid being hit with splash balls.

These are the items we collected so we could put together care packages for soldiers stationed overseas. We did some fun activities on Friday. This is donut-on-a-string - it's pretty self-explanatory.

One of our living sculptures.
Our final activity was an obstacle course. Each BIG FISH had a limitation assigned to them - they couldn't use their arms, their legs, their mouth, or their eyes. They had to help each other through the course, after putting on a bag of clothes (including a wig and a boa - it was pretty funny.)

Stringbean

2008-06-26T19:56:00.002-05:00

Noah had his 18-month check-up today. Here are his stats:

-weight: 23 lbs., 6 oz - 15% (that's a jump from 7% at his year check-up)
-length: 33 1/2 inches - 85% (he has grown 5 inches in the past 6 months!)
-his little peanut head is still spot-on average

He DID NOT enjoy this visit to the doctor, and he screamed through the entire exam. The anger and indignation faded quickly, however; he was completely calm two minutes after we walked out of the room. He is built like me, and from what I understand, he acts like I did at this age. Aahhhh, the circle of life.

A wing and a prayer

2008-06-23T20:01:00.002-05:00

For the past few months, this pink flamingo has been making his way among my and two of my neighbors' houses. He'll show up for birthday parties, or just because he needs to get some fresh air. Saturday morning he planted himself in our yard. The paper taped to him is a boarding pass for Barney Rubble - obviously Barney had a few too many the night before. Although no one has actually 'fessed up, I believe we have our Canadian neighbors across the street to thank for this yard art. Ahhh, foreigners can be so funny!

Bath boys

2008-06-23T20:00:00.000-05:00

There's nothing better than the smell of clean babes!

Our trip to Greenville

2008-06-18T15:02:00.003-05:00

We had a really good time in South Carolina. I haven't seen my sister and her kids in a year, and I couldn't believe how big they had gotten. My niece Hannah is almost as tall as I am, and she's beautiful. Luke had a great time playing with his cousins Ben and Ethan and even spent the night at Cari's house twice. We also celebrated my mom's birthday.

The luau princess
Hanging out with Aunt Cari
Four generations gathered to celebrate Mimi's birthday
The Wii is so much fun!!
Ahhhh . . . the joys of boys!

Word up!

2008-06-18T12:20:00.001-05:00

While we were in Greenville last week, Noah's vocabulary tripled! When we left he was saying "Daddy" (very fitting that he said this for the first time right before Father's Day!) Now he also says "cracker", "cookie", and "thank you". He said "Mommy" once, but he won't say it again. I think he can say a lot more than he does; he's just making us wait for new words. I'm just so glad to know he can say actual words, not just "uh-oh" and "hi-yah".

Today

2008-06-18T12:17:00.002-05:00

Noah is 18 months old today, and it's also the 5-year anniversary of the day we closed on our house in Texas. I can't believe it's been 5 years since we moved out here. I never thought I'd love living out here as much as I do. It's such a wonderful place to raise a family. If only we could pick Texas up and move it closer to South Carolina!