Just A Swingin

Would you believe that this sweet baby could bite 4 friends at school? In 1 day? Believe it.

Rhinestone Cowgirl

To all my friends in Texas, I guess it's true what they say... You can take the girl out of Texas, but you can't take Texas out of the girl! Today was Cowboy Day at Hope's new school. To say Hope was excited would be the understatement of the year. She could not sleep last night because she was so excited. She woke up and immediately got her outfit on. She apologized to Noah because he didn't get to wear Cowboy boots to school today. She was more than happy to let me take some pictures of her this morning.

I was planning on selling this outfit on ebay as soon as cowboy day was over. However, she has stated about 10 times that this is her favorite outfit ever and told me thank you for buying it for her several times as well, so I am not sure we can paart with it. I just can't imagine any other time she would wear it. She wants to be Tinkerbelle for Halloween (and I secretly want her to be Tinkerbelle as well... do NOT tell her that or she will change her mind!) I guess we don't have to decide today what to do about the outfit.

Now What?

So this was my first week without a j.o.b. (We like to spell it out.) I helped out at Noah's school this week during promotion and did some odd jobs, like take these pictures of the new kids in school and make this display (It looks a whole lot cuter when the kids aren't blurred out....) Loved it. So what's next? I am going to teach a Learning Lab class on Mondays and Tuesdays for 3 and 4 year olds for a while. I am still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. I thought I had it figured out, but have found that church work is not for me. It is time for me to get back in church to worship the Father, and not be worried about what I need to be doing for Sunday School. I am actually looking forward to focusing on filling my spirit again, even though I am a little apprehensive about where that might be. I have a list of churches I want to visit, but I know that I myself will have a hard time reconciling their theology with my own beliefs. It's not about me, it's not about me, it's not about me.

Big Helper

I was trying to load the clothes from the washer to the dryer, and Noah was trying to empty the dryer. It was not a good combination! He was so proud of himself though, I couldn't get on to him. Oh, and he managed to hold onto a fake banana the whole time. I told you he was a monkey. Took these with my phone again. I need to get my camera out again soon.

Noah Red is Off!

I am a little late in documenting this, but finally, at the age of 15.5 months, Noah Red has decided that he can indeed walk! He is such a funny little guy. He took his first steps on Father's Day, but he is just so cautious, he has just taken his time to really go for it. My sister kept Noah one afternoon, and he apparently didn't like crawling on hardwood floors, so he just decided to walk. And he has been doing it since! Noah, my arms and hips thank you. Your poor little calloused knees thank you as well!

Memories

My sister somehow found a picture of the very first house I lived it. How fun is that? Okay Jennifer, your next assignment is to find the Timber Trails house we grew up in!

Hope's New School

Bring on the changes! We began our whirlwind of change on Monday when Hope started her new school.

She's a senior! Here she is with Ms. Suzanne, one of her new teachers. I love love love that she has Suzanne, because, well, I love love love Suzanne. And I have for the longest time. She will be a perfect fit for Hope's needs this year.

OK, so at the new school, they don't allow sandals or crocs. That is all Hope has worn all summer, so we had to go get new shoes for the new school. I have taken great pride in the fact that Hope has never had real tennis shoes before. No really, she has had a pair of white leather mary jane Keds in every size since she started walking. I don't know why, I just don't like big clunky Nike shoes on my precious little girl. So, other than her baseball cleats, I have never bought Nikes, or any other tennis shoe for that matter. Well, I gave in, and we passed on the keds. I just let her pick whatever new shoes she wanted. It was a tough choice between these two, so , well, we got both. She is oh so proud.

*Edited to say, she has had one pink pair of Stride Rite tennis shoes! I forgot about those!

I have been told those don't count though.

Apparently you have to buy them from an athletic store to be real tennis shoes.

Glad we cleared that up.

Here she is modeling her new backpack the night before school started.

And the following picture made me laugh out loud when I uploaded pictures...

can you see why?

Look at that crazy boy of mine! He was so stinkin proud of himself for sitting in Hope's babydoll stroller. I love this!

Changes

Changes are coming quickly to our little family. Some little, some big, but put together, it has really thrown me for a loop. All will be wonderful in the end. I resigned from my job would be "da big one." Now, to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. Also, Hope starts her new school on Monday. And there are more changes, but for now, that's enough to let you know that Jill is a bit stressed at the moment. But, God is good, and all is well.

I am also just in a blog funk. I just don't have it in me very often to post. I am trying to make myself do it anyway. I could use a bit of encouragement here. Who is out there reading?!

Trip to NWA and Branson

Last week was hard. A lot happened. More to come on that. Anyway, I so needed to get away. So, we went to visit John at his apartment he stays in when he is working on his project in NWA. I also only took 2 pictures with my real camera, so this post includes only pictures taken with my handy dandy iphone.
I headed up with the kids on Wednesday, and met John for dinner. When I loaded all these pictures, I found this one that Hope must have snapped when we had just pulled in the parking lot. Sneaky kid.

The next morning, we just hung out and watched cartoons on the projection whatever. The kids loved it. What Noah does not love is when sister tries to pick him up... which is all.the.time.

Feeding Noah without a highchair for several days...interesting. Here is a trail of his breakfast that he left on the floor.

For lunch we headed to the Promenade. Noah had his first carousel ride. (Ok, I think it was his first. I could be wrong here.)

Then, I let Hope make a Build-A-Bear. I don't let her do this often, so it really is a very special treat. She was thrilled. The result was a pink tie dyed bear named... Fuz Girl. Creative, heh?

After John was done working, we went to Chuck E Cheese for dinner.
Ok, so the next day, I got up, packed our stuff, and then woke everyone up and said, lets go to Silver Dollar City. We were less than two hours away, we have season passes, seemed like a good idea. And it would have been perfect... if my kids did well on car rides. They do not. We did have a great time while we were there. We hit all our favorite spots.

Noah absolutely remembered the ball area from last time. It was so funny to watch him get so excited when we walked in! Noah is my "Tinkerer." He likes to figure things out. He really just sat back and studied all the different contraptions for a while!

Hope and daddy on the butterfly.

Hard to tell what's really going on here, but Noah is on his first real ride! He didn't know what to think, but grinned really big when it was over. If the line wasn't so blasted long, I would have taken him again.

Hope loves the fast pirate ships

This is what Noah did all day. It is the sign language sign for more. More what? you may ask...

More frozen lemonade. He is a junkie. He comes by it honestly, right Mimi? He would get a bite and start signing more as soon as you took the straw out of his mouth. It was crazy.

Hope made Goop in the Kid Concoctions Barn. I will have to post the recipe on here. It was really easy to make and she has played with it every day since.

Lovely.

And, what would a trip to Silver Dollar City be without putting your kids in the jail to take a picture?

All in all, good little trip. It has taken me several days for my ears to stop ringing from the screaming in the car all the way home from NWA on Saturday, but now that it has stopped, I can look back and say it was good!