Who's Who?

Here's a little game I like to play called Who's Who?! The top one is Hope , and the second is me at age 3.

Rock Band Photos (as promised)

Rock Band has become an official tradition with Uncle Sam. Hope tried her hand at the microphone. She was a star, of course.




Apparently she was not good enough for the band, so daddy turned her mic off. This is the moment she realized her mic wasn't working...

Isn't that so sad?

Noah was the stage manager. He can't believe what he's just seen!

The babies and Uncle Sam

Today was the first football game of the season for the Hogs. Here's Hope's best "Go Hogs" cheer. (We have YEARS to work on her form, right?! That bent wrist is killing the cheerleader in me!)

Can you believe Noah is 4 months old?

I cannot believe it. 4 months is not a newborn for sure. I am having a hard time adjusting to that. This week my friends at work said that it was time to move Noah out of the bassinet. I am not ready for that! He is getting pretty close to being head to toe in there though. Noah is capable of sleeping through the night, he just would rather spend time with mommy at 2 am (and 3 and 4 sometimes too!) His 4 month appointment isn't until the 10th, so I will add stats then. Noah loves his hands. They are always either in his mouth, or he is just staring at them. I still swaddle him at night, but most nights he wiggles his hands up to his mouth somehow. Then he gets kind of frantic and I have to wrap him up again. I don't swaddle him during the day any more. Just at night. He is still not a big fan of tummy time, but is getting better. He recognizes me and John and Hope and Mimi and Ms. Kim (one of his sweet teachers.) He grins so big when he first sees one of us. He is very smiley now. He usually grins so big that one eye closes! Really cute. His hair has thinned out quite a bit, but it's still there! I think it is a little lighter now too.

On his 4 month birthday today he decided to surprise me with an explosion of a diaper. Mom and I were out shopping, and it just so happened that he made his mess right outside of the Children's Place. So, I of course HAD to buy him an outfit to change into. Ha. Any excuse to pick out baby clothes is a good one for me.

Uncle Sam is here from St. Louis, so we enjoyed some time with him. Hope talked Sam into playing "Hide and Go and Seek" at least 50 times today. Sam and John are running in a race tomorrow. They are both pretty competitive, so it should be interesting. I will have to get some pictures tomorrow. I am sure there will be Guitar Hero/ Rock Band pictures to post. I am learning the drums now! I know, I am such a geek.Don't knock it till you've tried it!

Thank you to everyone who voted for Noah in the photo contest. He won his round, now it's on to the finals! I will be sure to post detail about when the final round happens, so stay tuned!

* Now you can watch Noah grow and the bear shrink on the right hand side of the blog!

Watch Hope Go For The Gold In The 2020 Olympic Games

Tonight was our second gymnastics night. Hope has been asking if it was Wednesday yet since last weeks lesson. We bought her a new leotard today, and I learned a very important lesson. Gymnastics leotards are about twice as much as dance leotard. Isn't that crazy. So, we bought a dance one for now. She can get a gymnastics one as a special treat sometime. Maybe when she gets to move up to the next class or something.

The boy enjoyed watching Lulu at gymnastics too. He liked all the attention from all the girls at the gym too. He has become such a flirt!

Back By Popular Demand

The Cowgirl Hope pictures. The story behind them is that I wanted to take some pictures of Hope dressed up in her cowgirl gear to document our move to Texas in August of 2006. I love these pictures. Grandma Sharon saw the one I put up last night and wanted to see some more. Here you go Grandma Sharon (I emailed them to you as well!) She is 19 months old in these pictures. I remember bribing her for these pictures. My mom and dad were inside the house and she wanted to go inside and have fruit snacks (she called them treats!) Bless her heart, it was probably 100 degrees in Texas on that August day!

14 Days. But Who's Counting?

WE ARE!!!

Rossaroo leaves that place in 14 days...

In an email today, Ross said those words "14 days, but who's counting." Ross, I can assure you I know of 14 people who are counting the days (actually, probably 15!)

Here are a few pictures of from some of our last family gatherings before Ross was deployed. Ross hasn't even met Noah yet!

Happy Birthday to Uncle Vince

Look who won't go to sleep! At 8 o'clock every night, Noah crashes. No matter where we are, he is out. Not always for the night, sometimes he will wake up for one more feeding before I go to bed around 10, but still, at 8, he's out. Not so tonight. We went to celebrate my MUCH OLDER brother's birthday at Pl@ytime Pizza tonight. I am not sure if you have been there or not, but it is insane. I described it to a friend this week as being like Chuck E Cheese on steroids. I think everyone had a fun time, especially the older cousins. I wish I had taken my camera just to get a picture of Riley's grin when she walked in and looked around at the huge space. (And also to take a picture of Vince eating salad. Not pretty.) Hope and Clara wanted to play black light mini golf. Golf is probably not the sport for them. They should stick to Gymnastics and Soccer! It was brutal. When we came out of the mini golf room, my mom had Noah's stroller parked by a Vegas looking machine with spinning lights and he was going crazy kicking his legs and talking! It was really funny. Maybe I SHOULD take him with me to Vegas next month.

Oh, and going backwards, when I took Noah out of his car seat at my mom's house before we left, Noah gave Wade the biggest smile and laugh. I said "Wade, he's been wondering where the other boys were." Wade said "Well I had to wait 10 years!" Wade, of course was the only grandson until Noah's arrival!

Anyway, we had a good time with most of our family. We were missing Wes, John, Lisa and Ross. (14 days till Ross heads home! Woo Hoo!) We got home a little late, and the schedule is out the window. I tried putting Noah down, but he was just talking and smiling, and wiggling out of the swaddling, so he came to hang out with his mommy for a while. Happy to report that he has finally given in and gone to sleep. His teachers will most likely not be pleased with me tomorrow!

Has Hope Gotten a Bad Wrap?

I have been feeling bad lately because I don't think I talk about the good things that Hope does! Yes, she is a handful, and yes, she says some of the funniest things ever, and yes, she can try her mommy's patience! But there is a lot more to my girl.

Hope loves life. Every second of it.

She loves the people in her life. She tells us all several times a day that she loves us (sometimes even to the moon and back!) She gives the best hugs and kisses you could ever get, and she seems to know just when someone needs one. She loves nothing more than when we are all together. The more people the better. If our extended family could just live in one big house together, she would be thrilled.

She loves going and doing things in her world. She is always up for adventure and just goes and goes and goes. To say she is busy, is an understatement. She can find fun in any situation.

She also loves God. She is a very spiritual child. If you have ever wanted to see what "childlike faith" is, spend some time with Hope and you will get a glimpse. I learn from her daily. She prays a lot, and reminds me to stop and pray too. After our prayers at night time, sometimes I will still hear her talking to God long after I have left. I won't share what her prayers are, because they are hers, but I will say that I love the way she talks to God, and I think many of us could learn from her. She talks to Him like she talks to her daddy, and most prayers begin with, "Hey God."

She is also super smart. It really is scary sometimes the things that she knows. I know everyone always thinks their kids are smart, but I don't think it's just me! :-) She can read, and count and lots of "book smart" things, but she also can just figure things out. I don't know how to explain it. Maybe that's because I am not so smart! She could probably explain it for me! She can also remember things that happened so long ago.

She is a very happy child, and I could not be more proud of her. I would trade any part of her, even the craziness! Life with Hope will never be boring!

Rainy Day + Runny Noses = No School

I had big plans for today. Plans for just me. Not particularly fun things, but things that need to get done. My mom was going to pick up the kids from my house this morning and take them to school. I was going to clean the house, list some stuff on ebay and etsy, go join the gym, get Microsoft Money set up on my laptop. I was just going to knock it all out in one day by myself. It was not meant to be! Noah did not sleep well last night, then both babies woke up with runny noses. I decided I would keep Noah home with me. I then went to change Noah's diaper and looked out the window. It was absolutely pouring down rain. I decided I didn't want to send Hope out in the nasty weather, so I called Mimi and cancelled the "get it done day" I had planned. I did get some things taken care of, but not like I had planned.

We did have fun together around the house. I have been placing rattles and things in Noah's hand for weeks now, but today he finally noticed! It was so fun to watch him figure the rattle out.

Hope was to have her first Gymnastics class tonight, and was concerned when I told her that we weren't going to school. She was afraid that meant she wasn't going to gymnastics either. I told her we were still going, but not until the 1st number on the clock said 5. At this point it said 8. She proceeded to check the clock approximately every 3 minutes for the rest of the day. I also told her she could put on her leotard when the 1st number on the clock said 4. So from then on she told me every time there was a number 4 anywhere on the clock. I would say, "but is it the first number" and she would sigh and say "No." I talked her into a nap after explaining that she needed some energy for gymnastics. That was a several minute conversation about what energy is. When she woke up she checked the clock again and it said 3. She asked oh so sweetly if she could put her leotard on then and I gave in.

She was so good at gymnastics. She listened to everything her teacher said, sat on her spot when it wasn't her turn, and was really good at doing the skills. Several times she said "Teacher, I am at gymnastics!" She was so happy to finally get the chance again. We tried Gymnastics last year but she was wild and crazy and wouldn't listen to the teacher and I was so stressed watching her not doing what she was supposed to do. She has been asking non stop for weeks if she could go (and with all the Olympic stuff this week it has really put her over the edge!) So, after a long discussion about how we behave in gymnastics we gave it another try. I am so glad we did. I think she is finally ready to really take lessons. She was the leotard inspector at gymnastics. She showed everyone in her class the sparkles on hers and would point out the ones who didn't have sparkles. She also told everyone that hers was white pink (light pink) and so soft. She is a fashion girl. (On another side note, I was digging through my purse looking for gum before we went in, and Hope actually asked me to put lipstick on. Not on her, but on me! Boy, she's got the wrong mama! I rarely wear makeup and it already drives her crazy.What will she think of me when she's a teenager?! I did put a little on just for her and she thanked me and told me I was "so fashion.")

I didn't take pictures tonight, but I snapped a few of her still in her leotard right before bed.

We Loooooove Brian and Terri Kinder

If you were to spend the day with our family, chances are you would hear a Brian Kinder song or two sometime throughout the day. We have loved his songs for a long time, I was a fan before Hope was even born! He has silly catchy songs that spark a child's imagination.

I am not sure if I am allowed to say exactly what I want to say about what special thing Hope got to do yesterday, but let's just say.... if Brian Kinder were to come out with ,say, a DVD of Christmas songs in 2009, you would want to buy that DVD to see Hope on there! I said if!

Brian and Terri are always so sweet to Hope. We got to see them on both Sunday and Monday, so today after school Hope asked if we were going back to see them.

If you aren't familiar with Brian and Terri, go to www.kindersongs.com to learn more and to order his CD's. If you want to see one of our favorite songs, go to www.youtube.com and type in Brian Kinder. Choose "Blinking Lights." It's a good chuckle for moms and dads too. I bet you $5.00 if you listen to the whole song you will start singing it at some random time in the next 24 hours!

First Day of School

We thought the bib was appropriate!
Today was a big day. Noah started school, and Hope was promoted to a new big girl class. Hope was so excited to go to her new class because it has a reading loft. Noah has been going to work with me at the church since he was six weeks old. I have been absolutely dreading this day. I mean sick to my stomach dreading it. But, it really was okay. I really like his teachers, and in case you don't know, the director of his school just happens to be Mimi herself. Oh yeah, and I am only a parking lot away. Oh, and I only work 2.5 days a week. See, not so bad. I think we will all be just fine!

Tea Party 2

Hope's very best little friend had a tea party birthday just like Clara had a few months ago. It was so fun to back again. Hope was determined even before we got there that she was going to wear the exact same dress she wore at Clara's. And she did! There are probably 60 dresses to choose from, and she wanted the same one. She did opt for a different style hat this go 'round. I have some really cute pictures of her and her friends, but I don't really know the parents well enough to know if they would be okay with me posting the pictures, so here are just a couple of Hope. She put on so much lipstick, that she wore it down to nothing! Really! She loved every second of LJ's party.

The Noahawk

Happy 39th Anniversary Mimi and Papa Paul

You would think I would have a picture of my parents here...oops. Here are 3 of their 6 favorite subjects though. These are of the girls at Shogun tonight. It is 100% our favorite place to eat here. Hope has always been terrified of the fire. Tonight was no exception, except that she was better once the cook left the table.

Noah's First Swim

We were invited to swim with Clay and Nicole yesterday at Clay's house. It was a great opportunity to get Noah into the pool for the first time. He was unsure about it for a few seconds, but then he did really well! Nicole took several pictures for me. I am loving the ones with Clay watching Noah because you can tell he was loving being around Noah. Clay was not exactly loving Hope, however! He thinks 3 year olds are pretty annoying! I did gently remind him that I remember when he was 3 years old and his brothers were kidda thinking the same about him! I think the combo of her being 3 AND her being a girl was just too much! He was interested in what Noah was doing, and had several suggestions for me on what Noah needed (usually burping or tapping.) It was so fun to hang out with Clay and Nicole. Thanks for the invite!

And a little fun fact: Hope's first swim was also in Clay's pool. AND Nicole was there to take pictures of her too!

And yes, Hope is wearing a leotard because her mommy forgot to pack her swimsuit. Oops.