Hot or Cold?

Our resort has a heated outdoor pool and hot tub. It is the neatest thing to be swimming outside while it is snowing. This isn't the best picture below but I was sitting inside (warm) while my boys were outside. I did join in later in the week and have to say it is the strangest thing to be in a swimsuit outside in the snow but feel like you are getting over heated in the hot tub. I think this has been one of Noah's favorite activities here.

Waiting on the elevator to go to the pool

Winter Wonderland

Our first day in Park City, Utah we just had fun playing in the snow.

Noah had a lot of fun building snowmen and then knocking them down and then building them again. It was also mine and Nathan's first time to build a snowman too.


You can't play in the snow without a good snowball fight!

We bought a sled at the grocery store and got hours of fun sledding down a hill.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Here are Noah & Nathan in the airport waiting on our first flight out of Jackson. This is Noah's 3rd trip on an airplane- the last time he flew he was 2 years 4 months old and let me say this time it was much easier! He was better following directions and more easily entertained.

Look at this awesome play area they had in the Dallas airport! There was also a TV with cartoons on. I am so glad that these airports are now providing places for the little ones to run around and get some energy out before having to sit on the plane for a long time.

Even McDonald's in the airport had entertainment for the kids too!

Here's Noah working on his sticker book very intently.

Watching Wall-E on Nathan's laptop.

Happy 4th Birthday!!!!

Noah is 4 today! I CANNOT believe it has already been 4 years since we checked in to the hospital in Ft Myers, FL to have our baby boy. How life has changed in these past 4 years. I have learned so much about being a mother, and I have to say no matter how unappreciated I may feel at times, there is nothing else I would rather be doing than raising my beautiful children. I am so thankful & grateful on a daily basis that I have been blessed with the privilege of staying at home with them.

These are the pictures from Noah's party day- last Thursday. They ended up backwards but oh well. Noah was finished taking pictures at this point but I really wanted one of him & Ava together. Please note Noah's cute shirt- my friend Jayme sewed it on for me. And it matched his invitations too.

Here's the cake I made! It turned out really well even though it took 3 days in the kitchen! (And did I mention that once I was finished Noah said he wanted a train cake)

The kids enjoying cake, ice cream, & cheese puffs in the party room after an hour of jumping

Blowing out the candle- Noah blew it out when we first starting singing so we relit it for him to blow out again

He wanted to wear the special party hat and sit in the birthday chair!

Nathan & Ava going down the big slide

Noah was so fast I barely got any pictures of him during the jumping time

Actually sitting still and paying attention to the safety video

Smiley at Wal-Mart

This is exactly why you should always twirl once in front of the mirror before leaving the house.

(If you don't see it- click on the picture to make it larger) :)

A Year Ago Today

A year ago about this time at night, Nathan was stopped completely at a red light when he was rear-ended by a girl going about 50-60 mph. The kicker is that there were 2 lanes on the right of Nathan that were completely empty and also another lane on the left. Had the driver been paying even the least bit of attention, she could have swerved and avoided the 4 car accident. She was texting on her cell phone. So this is my plea- PLEASE don't text & drive! I am grateful to my Lord that he walked away from this as it could have been much worse. I still tear up to this day just thinking about what could have happened. And I still get furious to this day when I think about the car seat in the back which was completely bent- thankfully Noah was not in the car- we won't even start to think about that.


Ava 4 months old- a year ago today- look at all that dark hair!

Ava 16 months old today snuggling with her babies while posing for her monthly photo shoot


She is growing and learning more everyday. We are truly blessed to have her in our lives!

Noah Update

Just catching up on a few of the pics from this month. Noah's said a couple of funny things lately that I wanted to share but more importantly document so I can remember them later.
Last night we were at the dinner table deep into a discussion about angels and Noah looks over at me and bluntly says, "Mommy are you starting to age?" How do you respond to that? Obviously I am if my 3-soon -to-be -4 year old can notice a few lines & wrinkles. I wanted ask him if he thought he might have a little something to do with that. :)

This morning Noah said, "Mommy when I get bigger I am going to buy you the shiniest ring in the whole world!" I just said oh that's so nice. And Noah replies, "And then we can get married!" Isn't that so sweet? He's been telling me that I am the most beautiful girl a lot lately too. I told him that I couldn't marry him though because I was already married to daddy. He seemed okay with that response.

Tonight at dinner Noah was rhyming words. He's been doing that a lot lately too (I think he's picking it up from Word World). He was saying things like duck rhymes with cluck, wham rhymes with bam, etc... and then he says "bam rhymes with dam". Nathan and I cannot even look at each other for fear that we will bust out laughing as we are both already trying not to spit our food out and conceal our grins. And Noah was so proud of his rhymes! We just never said anything so as to not bring attention to it, but I hope he finds some new words to rhyme.


This isn't the best pic with his eyes closed but Noah was loving every minute of playing in the rain with his new Cars umbrella that he got from Santa and his matching rain boots from Mimi & Grandpa.


Playing with the Moon Sand while wearing his new superman jammies which he both got for Christmas (side note- I would not recommend this as it makes a huge mess!) And note how long his hair is! I think this was the same night he studied himself in the mirror for a long time and then told me it was time for a haircut! (It was starting to look a little business in the front, party in the back)

Noah also got this remote control monster truck for Christmas which he named "Sammy"


Here's the new haircut- I cried when I left the salon and had to call Nathan and tell him not to laugh when he saw it. Bless his heart though- Noah likes it because he can "see better"- I guess it was in his eyes before. It will grow and hopefully quickly although Noah will celebrate his 4th birthday with this bad chop. On the bright side, I think it makes him look a little younger. At least he doesn't know it's bad...

Healthy Baby Girl

Ava went for her 15 month check up on Jan 7th. Here's her stats:

Weight: 23 lbs 2 oz (50%)
Height: 32 in (90%)
Head Circumference: 18.25 (75%)

She also got just one shot this visit.

Here's a few pictures from this past month since I have been slow with posting this month. We've really been busy!
Just thought this dress was too cute. My mom got it for her last year on clearance.



Lounging on a bean bag waiting on Noah to finish with the dentist.
Doesn't she look content?

Pigtails just for daddy. Pretty much all of her hair went up except for a few strands in the back which were a little short. She looked so cute with these! And if you look closely she is saying "boo" which really means "moo" for a cow.

Speed Racer

Last Sunday after church we were driving home from lunch and just happened to see all these people racing remote control cars in a parking lot. They had laid out a bunch of PVC pipe to form a track. Noah is really into this now since he got a remote control monster truck and helicopter for Christmas. And Nathan really likes it too. Must be a male thing b/c I have no interest at all. Anyway, Nathan & Noah ended up watching these guys race their cars for a little over 2 hours. I think they really had fun together. Nathan said that Noah asked about 200 questions, including " Is our quest for speed minivan faster than your remote control car?" hahaha. What do you think the answer to that question is? Oh and apparently these guys do this about twice a month. Who knew?

Museum of Natural Science

Last Saturday we took Noah & Ava to the Museum of Natural Science to see the dinosaur exhibit. The battery in the camera was almost dead so I didn't get many pictures. We all had a good time and were surprised to learn that many of the fossils we saw came from different areas in Mississippi. At one point, I told Noah to look up at a dinosaur above him. I asked him if he knew what it was and he replied immediately "Pterodactyl". After asking him how he knew that, Noah said "Because I am an expert on dinosaurs". I really think he learned it from a Diego video about dinosaurs but I thought his response was funny.


digging and brushing to find fossils

did you notice the alligator & turtle in the background?

ava really enjoyed watching the marine life

Giddyup!

Last week Ava found one of Noah's cowboy hats and put it on. She was so proud of herself and so cute in the hat. She literally wore it for about an hour. I was trying to keep the kids quiet since Nathan was sleeping so I got the horse out and asked Noah if he wanted to dress up like a cowboy. The shirt and vest were Nathan's when he was little. Noah looked precious but would not cooperate for any pictures. This is the best of what I got of him below. Ava, on the other hand, had her very own photo shoot. I got several cute pictures of her but only put up a few. This post is mainly for Nonnie & Pop Pop. Noah's cousin Lydia had this same horse when she was little and she absolutely loved it and would rock on it forever. It sings a cute little song and makes a few horse sounds. Nonnie had planned to pass it on to Noah but unfortunately it got ruined in Katrina so we finally found another one just like it. Now Ava seems to be obsessed with horses and pulls it and the tigger rocker (from mimi & grandpa to Noah on his first birthday) out of the closet every time she sees it. I guess I've got a little cowgirl on my hands!

Notice the hat on the horse too- Ava was very particular in its placement