a year...

(well technically he won't be one till tomorrow but I had to get this up today so I can post about his big birthday party tomorrow)

Tough decisions...

11.01.2010

Myles had the day off from preschool. We had a tough decision to make. We could either stay home all day and clean and do laundry {or any one of the other 1,000,000 things I have to do} or we could drive into the city and go to the zoo. We decided to go to the zoo. It was a spectacular day. We made the right choice.

Can I just say how much I love living here? You know what our total cost to go to the zoo was? $0.00. That's right. It's free.

Halloween...

Scary. Sweet. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Lots of candy. Trunk~or ~Treat. Next day crankiness. Candy wrappers everywhere. Till next year...

What a year...

The past few days I have really be reflecting a lot on our lives this past year. It has been a crazy one. One year ago Matt left for Afghanistan. I was pregnant and heartbroken. I still cannot look at the pictures from the day he left without crying. So let me just review... In the past 365 days my husband left for a deployment. I gave birth to a pretty amazing little boy. I survive (only because of my mom) 7 months and five kids. We had a joyous reunion with Matt. We had a harder time acclimating to our new "normal" than we expected. We moved half way across the country. Matt started a new job that requires him to be gone way to much. We are having a hard time adjusting to our new "normal". I wish that in all of my reflecting that I could say that I survived this last year and am a stronger person because of it. I am not sure that is true. I had a lot of moments where I wasn't on my best. A lot of things I probably would have done differently. But I learned... No time like now to change things.

11 months

11 months have just flown by. I cannot believe that in just a month we will be celebrating this little guy's first birthday. He is so much fun and we all just adore him. He is growing so much everyday. He is exploring and learning new tricks all the time. Noah is seriously the happiest baby I have ever met. I have people stopping me all the time just to tell me what a radiant, happy little man he is. He makes friends instantly. He will flirt and laugh and wave. He loves kisses and gives the best hugs. This past month he got 4 new teeth! He is learning to eat table food. He loves to drink from his sippy and we have to be very watchful because he loves to steal Myles' sippy cup (with chocolate milk).

His hair is getting darker and really getting some curls. Love it!

First Day of Preschool

Despite the look of pure anxiousness on his face, he was so excited to start preschool. We really wanted him to go to some sort of preschool this year even though he will probably not be going to Kindergarten next year. So we looked all over town for a program for him. I visited several but when I walked into this school I knew it was the one. It is in a little Lutheran church about 4 miles from our house. Myles is in the Brown Bear class. There are ten kids, five boys, five girls and two teachers. All of the staff are so wonderful and they just adore these kids. He has been going for a couple of weeks now and just LOVES LOVES LOVES it. We are so excited to watch him grown and learn new things.

Alligator Tears and Snot.

Look past those alligator tears and snotty nose and what do you see?

TEEFERS!!

First tooth 9.19.2010

Second tooth 9.22.2010

Third tooth 10.8.2010

Fourth tooth 10.13.2010

We know how to party!

So James had a birthday. Who do you think was most excited about this? Myles. You see, he just had one and completely understands how important this day can be in a boy's life. He was even more excited when he heard that we were having football players over for dinner. We had the O-line over for a big dinner with all the fixins. Myles was right next to James all night long (he didn't want to miss a thing) And I am sure James appreciated this...

(notice the black chair next to James? notice the little brother?)

I am not even kidding when I say that these were some BIG boys.

(that ate A LOT of food)

(Again with the little brother)

This picture above just cracks me up. Matt looks so... much shorter...

After all the boys left we had opened gifts.
Here is Myles explaining what it is to James.

The boys and their snuggies from Grandma and Grandpa. They seriously LOVE these things.

17...

How is it possible?

It seems like only yesterday that I brought this babe home from the hospital. He made me a mother.

He changed my life forever.

I had never known a love like this before.

Happy 17th Birthday James!
I hope all your wishes come true.

I know for sure that your birthday wish of a new car is not going to come true, but all your other wishes, I hope those do come true.

Name and a blessing...

Noah's Blessing

7.17.2010

Noah was blessed when we were in Utah visiting our family and friends. I wanted to make him a special little outfit to wear for his blessing. Many hours, blood, sweat, tears and a few swear words went into this project. But in the end I was so pleased with the results. I love this little man so much. I am so glad I could make this for him.

10 months

Mr. Noah Bug is ten months old already. Amazing. He is such a little man. Just some facts about him.

~Loves to eat baby food but not crazy about table food.

~ Follows Myles' around and wants to do everything he does.

~ Loves to sit in my lap and listen to stories.

~ Loves to swing.

~ Loves strangers, especially women.

~Just got his first two teeth.

~Cruises, crawls, scoots his way around everywhere and gets into EVERYTHING.

(his hair is starting to curl. so excited to see how this turns out)

Stats

20 lbs 4 oz.

28 inches long.

(that puts him at 50th percentile for both height and weight)

First Day of School...

September 7th.

First day of school in our new town.

Nervous. Apprehensive.Excited.

Jessie's first year in the High School.

Liam's first year in Junior High.

Since the older kids are in school our days are filled with playing in parks, picnics, bugs, cuddling and a few naps.