Halloween 2009

More to come! I promise! We had a lot of fun, but this mama is tired!!!

Star Senior

One of the highlights of being a "Senior" at Hope's school is the week that you are the "Star Senior." Hope has been counting down until her week since she started her new school. Some of the rewards for being "Star Senior" are thing so important like: Sitting on a red bench next to the teachers during group, helping set the tables for snack/lunch, opening the door to the playground, sleeping in a special spot for nap time, holding the flag ...you see just how special this honor is, right? You also get to tell everyone about yourself. We had to fill out a booklet of information together last weekend. It asked several questions, and I want to record some of her answers.

• What's your favorite color? Blue and red
• What do you want to be when you grow up? A mommy
• What do you do well? Hula Hoop
• What is something you like to do? Go to the cousins' house
• What is something you don't like to do? Leave the cousins' house
• What is something that makes you sad? When daddy goes on a trip
• What is your favorite food? Blueberries, strawberries, green beans and chocolate milk
• What is your favorite season? All of them

She also has to tell everyone her address and her telephone number, so there is a little pressure too! She knew it all.

We were also given a 1/4 sheet of posterboard to make a collage of Hope. I can't tell you how hard it was to sum up nearly 5 years of this precious girl's life on such a small place. Here is what I came up with:

And to get even more sentimental... I found this picture of Hope at the Infant Center her first time as the flag holder! She was still in the baby room, but my friends from the freshmen room came and stole her so she could hold the flag. I remember how proud she was!

Also, her "Senior Pictures" came in this week. How grown up is she?

Unfortunately, our star senior was out sick one day. The devestation that came at midnight Monday night when she was throwing up when she realized she was going to miss a day as star senior... Sadness. Luckily it was a short lived bug. Now, I am sick with a sinus infection. I can't talk either. I feel so yucky. I am not going to post the dates of our disney trip on the blog, but know that it is coming up in the near future, and we all need to be well! We have been dreaming of taking Hope to Disney World for her fifth birthday since she was born. I don't want sickness messing up our plans! Could we live in a sterile bubble until it's time to leave?

Elmo-Palooooza

The funniest thing has happened this week. Noah has fallen in love with Elmo. We watch a little Sesame Street around here, but not a lot. I was in Target with Noah last week, not even looking at the Elmo toys when Noah shouts, "Elmo!" I didn't even know he could say it! He had spotted this little Elmo friend.

We stood there for several minutes playing and laughing with Elmo. I resisted the temptation to buy Elmo on the spot, which was very difficult! I repeated my mantra to myself... "I want to go to Disney World more than I want this _______" (Insert Elmo here.)

So over the weekend, we dug out a few Elmo toys we had around the house, a see and say, and a phone. He carried them everywhere. He said Elmo hundreds of times over the weekend. No. Joke.

I remembered that we had an Elmo costume. Why? Here's a long story... I used to sell Elmo costumes on Ebay. Seriously. I would buy Elmo costumes on Ebay all throughout the year for cheap. Then, about 2 weeks before Halloween, I would list them. It was genius. I made a lot of money. But now, costume companies have wised up and produced more. There is much less Halloween craziness to find a last minute Elmo costume. Anyway, I still had one left in size 9 months, which is way too small, but still. (I have a cookie monster just like this too if you are interested!) I went and found it, and we put it on Noah as fast as we could without him seeing what we were doing. We put the hood on his head and took him to the mirror. He was soooo excited! He kept patting his head and saying "Elmo!" John tried to take the hood off after a while, and he freaked out!

And, if you are wondering if there is sibling rivalry going on here, umm, yes. Hope can not stand for me to take a picture of just Noah. And Noah did not want Hope taking a picture with him! So it begins...

Yes, she is completely blocking me from taking his picture on purpose.

Noah has been a little under the weather the last couple of days. He stayed home today, and will have to stay home tomorrow as well. After a trip to the doctor, I had to go to Target for diapers and Motrin. We had to go visit the Elmo isle, and those sad, sick baby eyes won. We came home with this.

It was worth every single penny. He looooves it so much.

Hoping to see more smiles like this tomorrow, and less sad, sick baby eyes.

Minnie

I found this costume for Hope at Duck Duck Goose for $3.00. I knew she would love it, and I thought she might also wear it for a little while when we are at WDW, which is quickly approaching! Well, Daddy went to Orlando last week for a training and brought back ears for the costume! Noah got some too! They will definitely be making the trip with us! (The ears AND the kids!)

Crush

Hope has a new passion in life. And it's not soccer. It's her soccer coach, Matt. She loves him oh so much. She is the only girl on the team, and she is using this to her advantage. She hugs Matt after every play. He will then pick her up and place her on the field where she should go. When we were getting Team Pictures made yesterday, Hope said to Matt, "Can we get a picture of just me and you? You could hold me!" So, I took these with my phone for her.

We are going to a Brian Kinder Concert later, and Hope said "Mom, do you know what coach I want to sit by at the concert?" Me: "Umm, Matt P.?" Hope:"Uhhhhhh-Huh!" They have already made the arrangements to sit together. I think the love is mutual.

One day I asked her, "Do you love Matt P?" She said, "No, he loves me."

Baby Spidey

So, I have posted a couple of pictures of Noah Red on my Facebook lately of Noah climbing on things. All things. It could really be my new project and I could make a book out of all the places he climbs on. My friend Nancy wrote that he was like a Baby Spiderman! It's totally true. Noah is happiest when he is perched high on something. The scariest moment was a few weeks ago when I was on the computer, John was in our bedroom, and Hope starts screaming because Noah is walking across our kitchen table! Scared the bejeezis out of me. Last night, he went and got Hope's stepstool, carried it into the kitchen, put it down right in front of the oven to climb up to the stove. Ok, maybe that should be the scariest! He was saying "Hot!Hot!" The stepstool has been put away indefinitely!

How much longer do you think it will be before he figures out how to climb out of his crib?

A Pic-A-Nic!!

Today was such a fun day for our little family. We spent nearly all day at the Park.

We picnicked...

And played a whole whole lot!

This is what Noah does when he is oh so proud of something... He walks in a circle patting his belly! Here he is so proud of climbing up the wrong way on the slide. So fun!

First Soccer Game!

Allright people, I know the blog has been neglected. I am sorry. I would promise to get better, but there is a good chance I won't. Somehow, with all the job drama, I have ended up with two wonderful jobs, which combined put me working over 40 hours a week. I am happy with the decision, but it is still an adjustment. John still travels a ton, Noah is back to waking up at night, I am just so tired. But determined to make this work for now, even if it means I have to slip on the blog. That being said, somehow, I let my sister peer pressure me into signing up Hope for soccer. What the crap was I thinking has gone through my mind several times this week. There were a million reasons not to sign up, not the least of which is the fact that Noah has a 7:00 bed time now, and soccer is not over until 7. Grrrreat. So, I will admit that I was really really hoping that today's soccer game would be rained out. Luckily, it wasn't. It was so fun! For real! I don't even like soccer! :-)

We started off rough, even in the parking lot. I ran into some sweet friends, Julie and Jenny. While I am talking to them, Hope sees her Mimi and takes off for her...in the parking lot. And a car is coming. I screamed at the top of my lungs. It scared her. It scared me. And Julie and Jenny might be deaf now. Sorry friends.

So we start in a funk. Hope is now upset, shy, won't talk to her coach. Great. By the time the game started though, she was fabulous. This girl was in it to win it. She is the only girl on her team. Then, they played a team of all boys, so she was the only girl on the field! Didn't seem to bother her a bit.

Then, she starts to realize, these are big boys she is playing against. She says to me, "I can't get the ball away from these big boys." So, what does my girl do? She gives up. Totally. She just stands there, staring at me. Will not budge.

The coach (The AWESOME coach) finally takes her out of the game, and she sits on my lap and calms down. Uncle Wes promised her a Barbie if she made a goal, but I changed the promise to if she kicked the ball 10 times I would get her a new Barbie, and the tea set she so covets if she scores a goal. She got right back in the game and was super tough. Maybe too tough.

Pretty sure that pushing is illegal in micro soccer, right?

And yes, brother was there cheering on the Pirates as well!

It was a really great time. I am so glad it didn't get rained out. I am so proud of that tough little pixie of a girl. However, I can't promise that I won't be hoping next week's game isn't rained out after a long day!

Pretty little Noah

I love when I have picture that I know I can use as blackmail one day. Noah loves to put everything on his head right now. He will pick up an object, look at me and wait for me to say, "Is it a hat?" Then he puts the object on his head, it usually falls to the ground, and I say, "Noooo, it's not a hat!" He was so proud when he found this dress up hat of Hope's. He showed me the hat and waited for me to ask, "Is it a hat?" He put it on his head and I said, "YES! It is a hat!" He was so stinkin proud of himself. Such a cutie. Anyway, he kept the hat on for his drum session with pots and pans. He will so not love me for taking these one day.

Give me the camera, mommy, and no one gets hurt!

Now for some random Noah/Hope/Mommy-isms!


I just love the age that Noah is at right now. He is such a repeater. My favorite word right now is "Banana." It's more like, "Bmamana." He says the word "ball" at least 1,000 times a day. Other words he says are Mama, Dada, Hope-ah, Up-pa, Hippo, bye bye, hello, hi, hi-dee (his own special greeting!), Papa Paul, Mimi, Nenny, baba (bottle), out, uh-oh, eyes, nose, diapah (diaper), bath, bed, wubby, bank bank (blanket), dog, abby, and Ri-Ri (Riley.)

When he talks, he puts his chin to his chest and tries to have a deep voice. So cute.

When he goes to school, I put him down and let him walk to class. He stops by every room, checks it out, tells everyone hi, and walks to check out the next room. He thinks he is so big. It cracks me up to see him walking down those big halls!

He is also working on perfecting his fit. He kind of spins, and then slowly falls down on the floor when he doesn't get his way. It's still cute right now, but I have a feeling it won't be for long!

One night last week, he woke up several times during the night. At one point, Hope woke up and yelled, "This is REEE-dic-a-las!" (Ridiculous!) It was the funniest thing I have ever heard at 2am!

Hope's first soccer game is tomorrow! She is on a team with all boys, so she looks quite dainty out there. She has the attention span on a gnat.

And, here's my not proud moment of the week. On Friday I was running late for my new job and the lawn guy was blocking the driveway. I grabbed the keys to John's car so I could maneuver around lawn guy's trailer better. I just edged past the trailer when I hear an awful crunch. Yep, I hit my neighbor's car that was parked in the street. My first accident ever.

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.