Heading Home

Noah and I left for California this evening and arrived at LAX around 7PM. It goes without saying that it was very hard for us to leave, but, at the same time, we were so glad to be at home with Ben/Daddy, even if it is for only one night! We leave tomorrow for Santa Maria (Vandenburg AFB) for a TDY with Ben.

Here's a few parting shots from Oklahoma:

We didn't take any pictures tonight once we returned, but I certainly wish I had of - Ben literally couldn't wait to get his hands on Noah! He took him right out of the sling and held him until I got all the luggage off of the conveyor belt! :)

We miss you Oklahoma!

The Last Full Day

Today is mine and Noah's last full day in Oklahoma for a while... we leave tomorrow for California and home. It's really bittersweet because we're both pretty sad to leave (Noah told me he was), but at the same time, we're anxious and excited to get back home to Daddy/Ben and visit with our friends before we move back out this way in July.

Needless to say, Noah received extra special snuggle time, hugs and kisses today. Everyone at church this morning simply couldn't keep their hands off of him (and that's okay!) - you'd think they liked him or something! And, you would think, with us having been here for so long that we would have seen everyone at church (and other friends/family) by now, but even today there were people who finally saw Noah for the first time. We also had a nice visit from my Aunt KK and my cousins, Micheal and Morgan... you'll never have to guess how much they love him. I just love this picture of Michael and Noah:

Right after I snapped the picture, Michael proclaimed that he can't wait to take Noah to the park and to Chuck E. Cheese's. The funny thing is, I remember holding HIM in the hospital and taking him places like that with us! I love it that they love him as much as we love them - I can't wait until we are close enough so that Michael can take him out to play.

We're pretty conviced that he's already teething... the massive amounts of drool are only one indicator!

Extra kisses from Aunt Jessie and Aunt BB!!

Getting in a book during bedtime routine with Nana - he absolutely loves this color book, particuarly the red, blue, and black pages.

Snuggle time with Papa before he was rocked to sleep. :)

An Afternoon with My Grandparents

Noah and I spent some quality time with our Grandparents today! Mom, Daddy-Man, Noah, and I ate lunch out together and then during our errands, stopped by to see Grami and Papa Snow for a few minutes. They were so excited to see him and love on him for a little while (and I was excited to see them and love on them too!). Later on in the day, they came over to Mom and Daddy-Man's house so we could have dinner together and play some Wii. And WOW! Grami and Papa both scored strikes in bowling! We were all so proud!

I lost count of how many strikes Grami made after four!

To cap off the day, Mom and Daddy-Man both rocked their "grandbabies": Mom rocked Noah and Daddy-Man rocked Pinny. (My sisters and I thought this was pretty funny!)

TGIF

When we ate breakfast with Marian and Eric on Monday, I promised Marian that I would crochet her a hat that matched mine and Noah's (Noah's doesn't have a flower though). I finally finished it up yesterday and called Eric to set up a time to give it to her. We ended up eating lunch together today... and poor Eric, what a day he was having! The wheel literally came off his truck. I'm just so glad that they were safe and that I was there to be able to take them back home!

Little Marian in her hat - doesn't the blue match her eyes perfectly?!

Her stick friend.... whom the nice ladies at Soda Pop's also gave a drink to! :)

Eric and Marian - this picture is just for you Carol! :)

Once we got back home for the day, Aunt BB had some much needed Noah-time and was so happy that he was in a good mood with her. Oh, and yes I know, I need to change the batteries in my flash!

BISON, Go with Ka-Rip!!

Can you still do it? Go with Ka-Rip!

Because I'm already this close, since Mom had the day off and we all needed a little "get-away", Mom, Daddy-Man, Noah and I loaded up in the car and took a day trip out to Shawnee to visit Oklahoma Baptist University (my alma mater). All to get Noah an OBU shirt. For those of you who are fellow Bison and who have not recently been on campus, please know that it is still our beloved OBU, but with an updated Geiger Counter and Bookstore - it looks so great! We almost didn't recognize it when we walked in.

Here's Noah and I on our way up the stairs of Shawnee Hall to the Education Department... maybe he'll be attending classes here in 18 years?? (You can also tell how seriously windy it was today - windy and hot!)

One of the first things we noticed while we were walking through Shawnee Hall was a bulletin board put together in Dr. Russell's memory. She was my advisor, professor, and friend during my time at OBU and passed away from breast cancer my senior year on Easter Day. It was so touching to read all the kind words her peers and students had to say about how she impacted their lives.

We also got to see Dr. Akin.... I *kinda* interrupted her class. ;) It was great to get caught up with her and being in that particular classroom brought back SO many memories of so many things!

And, what's a trip to Shawnee without eating at Cracker Barrel? Too bad they don't have an OBU rocking chair... but an Oklahoma Sooners one is a very close second!

I keep forgetting...

to post that Carter has received his froggy!

Isn't he just too cute??
(ETA: Carter is Brooke and Ben's little boy - Brooke (and her husband Ben) is a high school and family friend of my Ben. Hope that makes sense!!)

A Trip Down Memory Lane

When Mom and Daddy-Man moved out the old house, they ended up finding a ton of my stuff... whoever said that you never really move out of your parent's house wasn't lying. Who knew that I could take so much with me when Ben and I got married and yet still leave so much too!?

All these boxes of my "stuff" has been sitting in their new garage taking up some much needed space, so today I started sorting through it during Noah's naps. And no, not all of these boxes are mine, but most are! {And, notice the overhead projector that Mom got me for free from her school - I can't wait to use it to draw out Angie's quilt and Daddy-Man even has some plans for it too I think. ;) }

Boy, did some of the things I found bring back memories! Here's one of my sewing projects from junior high: these bunnies, along with their clothes, were my favorite thing to make. I'm going to go digging through Mom's patterns as soon as I have a girl so I can make her one! ;)

And who can forget the Original Tickle-Me Elmo?? If it still works, I might go ahead and keep it for Noah....

I'm still not quite finished going through it all (I've got several boxes of papers to go through). I took a break to go on a walk with BB, Pinny, and Noah. Pardon our work-out clothes! :)

'Cause I'm Leaving, on a Jet Plane...

Ben left for home today and this time it was a little harder to say goodbye since we know we likely won't all three be back until we move to Texas in July. Of course, Noah and I will see him real soon (we're heading back home next week), but all the rest of the family already misses him.

Before I put him in the sling to go into the airport, Ben had to give Noah a few extra squeezes and kisses.

One last group picture before he flew home.

I almost forgot to get a picture of Noah with Ben in his outfit that his Grandma Carol sent him - almost, but not quite!

We love you Daddy!

Little Marian.

What a silly girl! I always love spending time with Little Marian (and Eric and Amanda too) because I ALWAYS come away with a funny story... today, I have TWO! :) But, I'm getting ahead of myself....

Ben, Noah and I left the house around 10AM to meet up with Eric and Marian at Denny's. Things were going fine and Noah was in a good mood... then I felt the vibrations on my leg. Another full diaper. So, I took him to the bathroom to change his diaper and SURPRISE! Not only was it a full diaper, but a full onesie and a full pair of jeans. AND, to top it off, guess who's Mommy forgot to put an extra outfit in his diaper bag? Yeah, that will never happen again. (Remember that, it's important later.) So, all the pictures of Marian and Noah.... yep, he's naked.

Funny Marian story #1: After the event that later became known as Diaper Explosion the first, Noah was (obviously) hungry, so under the blanket he went. Marian asked, "Sami, what's he doing under there?" "He's eating," I matter-of-factly replied. With a confused look on her face, "Well how's he doing that?"

"Umm.. Eric. Want to explain to your daughter how Noah is eating?"

To Eric's credit, he explained it perfectly. Of course, I've now been compared to a cow's udder, but hey, it's all in the name of a little girl understanding breastfeeding! I'll never forget the look on her face when she finally got it either! :)

Funny Marian story #2: As we were leaving and the boys were paying for breakfast, Marian asked for a dollar so she could play the "Claw" game. So, Noah and I went out into the little foyer with her so she could try to win a stuffed animal. She picked out the exact one she wanted to win and the first try she grabbed it, but it didn't pull it up. The second time, well, you can tell from the picture below that she won one! We laughed so hard because only Marian would be able to accomplish all that on one dollar!

Once we got back home, we put Noah in a new outfit and then left again to run a few errands and eat lunch with Daddy-Man. While we're sitting at On the Border, waiting for our lunch, I get a whiff of Noah's diaper. Great. Another one. So I lug him and the diaper bag to the bathroom....

thank goodness I remembered to put another outfit in the bag....

Happy Easter!

**** I apologize now for the number of pictures... we took over 100 today and it was so hard to choose just a few!! ****

Happy Easter!!

Sorry it's so dark... it's the best one of the bunch.... I didn't check them before we changed. :(

The Easter Bunny visited Noah this morning... he got lots of books and a couple of toys, and was so kind to give Mommy and Daddy all the candy in his basket! :) My favorite part of his baskets (one from the Mommy Easter Bunny and one from the Nana Easter Bunny!haha) was his first Bibles - he received two! Ben and I are starting a new tradition that on the baby's first Easter is when they will receive their first Bible (and possibly the next ones too - it'll just depend on when we think the kiddo needs the "next step up" Bible). We got him a picture Bible and truly, that's exactly what it is - no words, just pictures. As any teacher (or Reading Specialist ;) ) will tell you, wordless picture books are great for non- and beginning readers. I can't wait until our usual book reading time tomorrow so we can tell him some of our favorite Bible stories in our own words!

After church and Easter lunch (Texas Roadhouse, YUMMY!), we headed over to Grami and Papa's house for an Easter visit. Here's just a few of the pictures we took while we were there:

The oldest child, the youngest child, the oldest grandbaby, the youngest grandbaby and the oldest great-grandbaby all in one picture! :)

Nana, Papa, and Noah - he's wearing his Easter hat from Nana! :)

Is that the Easter Bunny?

Silly boy...

After we came back home, we headed over to Aunt Marsha's and Uncle Mike's for a visit - Noah had such a good time that he practically fell asleep in Marsha's arms.

Happy Easter! He is Risen Indeed!

Perfect.

Tonight was perfect.

Ben and I went on our Anniversary Date to Boulevard Steakhouse. Oh my goodness. The steaks were delicious, the martinis were slammin' (I recommend the Extreme Housewife!), and the Grand Marnier Souffle was perfect. We highly recommend this restaurant to anyone as a special treat... and we're hoping to go back to the martini lounge portion of it again!

To top the evening off, once we returned to my parent's house, we finished watching Surf's Up with my Daddy-Man and while I was surfing the internet, Ben played Wii Bowling... and look:

Forget a Perfect 10, tonight was a Perfect 300.

The Longest Day

It's been a long day and as I'm sitting here listening to the crash of pins (Wii Bowling) I can hardly believe what all we've done today.

Ben arrived last night at 11:00PM and we all (the girls) picked him up without Noah... needless to say, I was fearful that he would wake him up as soon as he saw him, so I left him at home with my Mom and Daddy-man. He's had lots of snuggle time with him today though!

Jessie, my youngest sister, is working as an intern at KOMA 92.5. As a special treat for all of us, she arranged for us to be able to go into the studio for a tour. It was pretty neat to get a behind the scenes tour and Danny Williams even mentioned all of us on the air! :) We're now famous.

We're also hoping that Jessie will get a full time gig there (hint, hint!) and she's even been co-hosting (and hosting solo last weekend and this weekend!!) the Sunday morning Christian music show on KMGL 104.1. We're so proud!!
After lunch and a few rounds of Wii with Michael and Morgan, Ben, BB, Noah and I went over to Connie's house to get a few pictures of Noah and Megan in their cute little matching outfits that I made. Since it was a pretty nice day, we decided to take the pictures outside and trust me... it took a while to get a few good pictures of the two of them. Thank goodness Connie had a Bumbo since I didn't think to bring Noah's over!
And we can't take pictures of anyone without also taking a few of Amanda too... she's wearing Mae-Mae's sunglasses because she thought it was funny that Ben was wearing Noah's... I just wasn't quick enough to capture that picture! Also, an Easter gift arrived today from Noah's Grandma and Grandpa Haze - the little bunny is too cute! (Sorry the picture is so dark.... ) Thank you!