Noah is 2!

Noah turned 2!! Already! So hard to believe! We of course had to have a Mickey Mouse party because he LOVES to watch Mickey Mouse! It was so fun! We had a Hot Diggity Dog Bar, decorate your own Mickey Mouse cookies and Mickey Mouse & Friends cupcakes! Thank you to my wonderful and talented husband who made the 2 signs for his party (even though he needed to study for school) Here are a bunch of pictures from the party!
 

The older kids decorating cookies

He loved hitting the balloons

This post is a little late because I was a little late in getting him in to the doctor's for his 2 year check and I wanted to include his stats! ;) My big 10lb 3oz baby is now a big 34.4lb and 38in little boy! He is so much fun and really starting to show his personality more and more!
- He has been talking a lot more recently saying new words all the time with many 2 word phrases and a few sentences as well. He loves to try and sing to some of the kids songs in the car usually singing every couple of words (but he knows which words are coming).
- When he gives a hug, he smashes his cheek against yours and squeezes really tight while saying SQUEEZE!
- When he wakes up in the morning or from his nap, he usually will come walking out holding 2 or 3 Mickey's, Elmo and sometimes another stuffed animal as well.
- Loves to buckle himself in ...in his highchair, carseat, shopping cart, etc. but then wants you to undo it so he can buckle it again.
- Is OBSESSED with trash cans....I have no idea why but he always feels the need to point out every trash can to you. Also loves to throw stuff away (even stuff you didn't know you wanted to be thrown away)
- Loves to be outside
- In the process of being potty trained.....On our trip to FL at the end of May, we were in the TSA line and he was yelling poopy! I checked him and he had not gone yet so when we finally made it through the line I took him to the bathroom...he didn't go but as soon as we went and sat down to wait for the plane, we could smell him :/ so when we got home we decided we would start potty training.
- Is wearing mostly 3T clothes, some 2T's still but a lot of them are getting too small
- Before bed time, we read 2 books and then he gets into bed for the night...recently he has started saying rock before I lay him down so I have been soaking in the extra couple snuggle minutes that he wants me to rock with him before bed. He will lay his head on my shoulder and suck his fingers and wrap his other arm around my neck. It is so sweet and precious that I know will not last much longer so I am enjoying it while I can.
- Loves to jump! Not just on the floor (although he does that quite often) but he loves to jump off of things as well. His ride on rocket ship, a stool, pillow, stairs...if he can stand on it, then he is jumping off of it!
- Will randomly call me Sarah! One day he started saying Sarah and I thought he was talking about our friend Ms Sarah at church. But he said No, Mommy. Sarah. Pointing to me! Crazy smart kid! It shocked me but makes me laugh everytime too because I just don't expect my 2 year old to be calling me anything but Mama/Mommy.
- Thinks he is a big boy and will try to keep up and copy everthing Caden and his friends are doing!

Florida trip

Made a quick 4 day trip to Florida at the end of May for our nephew's high school graduation! Yay! Congratulations to Gabriel!

We got to spend time with family and even went to Disney!  Noah LOVES Mickey Mouse right now so I was excited for him to get to see him and Caden was big enough to ride ALL the rides! He loved the roller coasters and even wanted to ride in the very front on all of them! :)  He rode in the front of space mountain where you sit by yourself! And the roller coaster is in the dark! I was sitting right behind him and I kept my hand on his shoulder the whole time just to make sure he was still there!! Lol! It was a very long day but we had a great time! Definitely need more than one day at Disney to do everything but we did ride lots of rides, saw the castle, visited with Mickey Mouse, watched the electrical parade and had a great day (and the weather was perfect! Not too hot or humid!)

I turned 29 while we were there and my wonderful husband took me on a lunch date to Cheesecake Factory! Yum!! :) We were so eager to eat it, I didn't even get a picture of them! Yes, we ordered 2 even though we knew we wouldn't finish them! They were both sooo good! Thankful for family to watch the boys for a couple hours. Then, we celebrated with family that night and a chocolate chip cookie cake! (now that I am back home...how do you use this treadmill thing again!) ;)

Playing Catch Up

It has been a long time since I have posted but it's just because we have been so busy. This may be long but it will be the "major happenings" from the last couple months and hopefully I can start keeping up again!

October 31
Fall festival at church...so fun! Horse and hay rides outside and other games and snacks inside!

Caden and his best friend Caleb riding Batman! They were so excited!

Noah rode the farmer

Bob and Larry

November 7
Caden turned 4! After just finishing his first soccer season, he of course wanted a soccer birthday party. It was so much fun! I found some cheap blow up soccer balls (which were perfect especially since there were some little ones at the party) and borrowed a friends pop up nets and we had a blast playing in the gym at church! We also had a soccer ball pinata which the kids kicked around until it broke open. It was the first time we had done one and those things are stronger than I thought! Lol

Caught him sneaking some pineapple!

My big 4 year old!

Thanksgiving Week
Jimmy and I had the opportunity to go on a mission trip. The boys stayed with my parents for the week while we went with some people from our church to Mexico. I didn't quite know what to expect on the trip and didn't really know exactly what we were going to be doing but glad God provided the way and opened all the doors for us to go. It had been awhile since I was on a mission trip but I am so glad that we went. The purpose of our trip was to minister to and encourage the full time missionaries that are there. These missionaries live throughout Mexico and don't get to see eachother but maybe once a year. They work with indigenous people groups and some live in small villages. They get together once a year to fellowship, plan, and pray with eachother. While we were there, Jimmy was the "camp pastor". He led worship and did the devotional with everyone for four days. Also, when they broke up into groups to plan, etc. he was in charge of the youth with another college aged guy from our church and did lessons with them as well. (They also did a lot of playing football, soccer, goofing off and pranks) ;) The rest of us took care of the other MK's. They were very sweet children and easy to love on. When the missionaries were done planning each evening we would get to fellowship with them. We met some really great people and just listening to some of their stories was amazing. You could see how God has worked in their lives and in the lives of the people in their villages.  We gave the camp staff the day off on Thanksgiving and all the women cooked in the kitchen that day. We had a great American Thanksgiving meal and got to spend Thanksgiving with some very special people. Most of the missionaries left the next day (the day before we were leaving) so we got to go out and visit the market and tour around a little bit. We also got to eat in the mexican town we were in when we first got there and before we left. That food was really good. (much better than the camp food) One of the other things that we were able to do for the missionaries is bring each family a suitcase full of American goodies that they can not find in Mexico. A lot of it was snack foods like little debbies, jellybeans, and beef jerky. But we also brought new clothes for the kids and bath and body works for the women. They were SO excited and appreciative of everything! One of teenagers said it was like Christmas! It was a great trip!



December
Caden had his first preschool choir performance! He was SO excited to get to go on the big stage at church and sing! He did a great job!

 Late December
 We drove down to Orlando for Christmas this year to visit Jimmy's family. It was the first time we had driven that far with the boys. I was a little worried about how they would do but we broke the drive up in half and spent the night in a hotel. They did better than I thought so I was thankful for that. We enjoyed the time we got to spend with the family and the boys loved playing with their cousins (even though they are teenagers) While we were there we also got to visit with some friends!

best friends and our boys

We got to see Jeff, Sheena and Lexi too!

at the zoo

Playing lego airplanes at Abuela's

This is how Noah played legos!

Christmas day footabll game

Christmas night bowling fun

 When we got home, my parents came over and we did Christmas again (this time complete with gifts from Santa).

Thank you Nana and Papa!

He loved his new blanket from Gigi!

January
Had some nicer days and actually was able to get outside some! Of course the boys wanted to take their new gator out! I'm probably very biased but they are so cute and I just LOVE when they are playing and having fun together!

having fun

 

He was just as happy holding on walking behind

Even when he tripped and his brother kept going!

Loved waving at me everytime they went around

Pure joy

A week later, we had 5 inches of snow!

February
Valentine's Day at school is always fun with parties, sweet treats and high schoolers coming to visit! Each year they make boxes for the kids. Sometimes they are very elaborate! These were Caden and Noah's this year.

This year my Valentine made this shirt without me knowing or seeing it that morning. He shows up walking down the hallway at church wearing it and gives me a kiss. Love him!