Proof

Proof of the upcoming deployment has been creeping its way into our house. And, in some ways, shouting to make itself known... like when Ben came home with box #1 {with several more on the way} of new gear issued to him specifically for the "trip".

Just Another Monday

Here's what we're going to be doing tonight:

clear coating all these items! I simply cannot wait to get all these things out of the dining room!!

And, because I would be in serious trouble for two days in a row without Noah pictures, here's one from when the boys were having a tickle-fest on the couch before bedtime:

Painting....

We've been getting quite a couple of big projects finished up around here. And it seems that most of them revolve around painting. We've got a couple of other things that we'll need to paint, but seeing how they are not yet in our possession, we're almost finished for now. This weekend's big painting project was the bookshelves that belong in our bedroom:

All we need to do now is to do a couple of touch-ups and put a clear protective coat on it {and the shelves in Noah's room} tomorrow night.

I'm really just in love with this color {maybe this is the color that I will use to repaint the master bathroom? hehe} and think that our friends, the Frey's, will love it too - it's called Buckeye!

And Happy Birthday BB!!

"Giraffe"

So, evidently, at least around these parts, every animal is a "ger-aff" {giraffe} and every animal says "mmmoo".

But only if you catch Noah ready and willing to tell you all that.

Boys.

I keep reminding myself that I am a "Boy Mommy". And for those times when I seem to forget - Noah likes to remind me.

Take today for an example: After breakfast, I put Noah on the other side of the kitchen gate and went to clean up the highchair tray and dishes. I had literally just turned around and walked back into the kitchen when I heard a scream and then crying. I rushed back over to him, only to find that he had fallen. Onto the box. And hit the corner. Within centimeters of his eye. He was crying and then I was crying. {Reminds me of another recent accident.} After calling Ben, and then my Mom, I called the Pediatrician {which is another post for another time: NICU Parents = Overprotective Parents}. After some reassurance from the nurse, we decided that a trip to the doctor {or ER} wasn't needed... but we're fully expecting a nice black eye by tomorrow.

And is he scared to go back over to the box?

Nope.

{sigh} Boys.

Helping Daddy

We've been doing a lot of rearranging, painting, and prep work to get Noah's big boy room ready {sorry, but I'm not posting any pictures until we finish it!}, which means that the nursery is also seeing some changes. {The nesting bug has definitely set in, for both Ben and I.} For example, tonight, Noah and Ben pulled out the foam mat puzzle that Ben had picked out and set it up on the floor in the nursery.

The only problem was that Noah didn't want to leave it alone once it was all the way down.... he wanted to pull it up!

And then put his face in the monkey square....

There's no doubt that he is our little helpful Monkey Boy!

Noah's New Toy {Box}

We've had this little black box ever since we got married. In our very first apartment in OKC, I used it to help store my scrapbooking supplies. In our townhouse in LA, we used it as our "gift closet" - it was the perfect place to store smaller gifts that we had bought until it was time to give it to the recipient. And, up until today, that was still its' function. That is, until Noah realized that he could open it and pull the contents out! So, I gladly emptied the box and we'll now use it to store a few toys once we move the rest of the toys back into Noah's room.

For now, we'll just use it to store him.

Dance Biscuit

Yep, my kiddo is a total dance biscuit:

Yesterday, Ben and I watched Kung Fu Panda and let Noah watch a portion of it with us before he went to bed. A preview for Madagascar came on and Noah went CrAZy! He was laughing, singing, and dancing along with the preview! We thought it was so hysterical. Since we had an appointment with the OB today {everything looks great so far!}, Ben got to come home early. And when I came back home from running an errand after we went to the appointment, I found the boys watching Madagascar.... and Noah was still dancing:

I guess he learned how to dance from his Daddy:

Toddler Tip #382

If you are going to turn your back on your toddler to sweep the floor while he colors, make sure the crayons are non-toxic. {Thank you for being non-toxic Crayola!}

Because you will turn around just in time to see them go into your toddler's mouth.

"Dduun!"

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the Daddies, Daddies-to-be, and Daddies-at-heart out there!

{Especially to my Daddy-Man! We love you!}

I think Ben had a pretty good Father's Day today. Noah and I {and Ellie}, got our present and cards together and woke Daddy-Ben up to open his present {hence the reason there isn't a picture of him opening the present!}. We got him a Harley Davidson clock to hang in his Harley Davidson-themed garage. {Once we get some of our other big projects out of there, like the bedroom bookshelves, I'll take some pictures of it all to show everyone how handy Ben is at painting too - he painted orange stripes on all the peg boards!

I wish I could say that we relaxed all afternoon, but we didn't. It seems that Nesting Season is upon both of us. We spent the afternoon {particularly during Noah's nap} cleaning out the cars, getting the Jeep ready to be sold {anyone want to buy a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee?}, and steam cleaning the carpet in Noah's big boy room. And, despite all this, we still got in plenty of Daddy-Son time, dinner out, and even a movie after Noah went to bed.

Happy Father's Day Dear One.

I'm so happy to be on the journey of parenthood with you and feel so lucky that our kids can truly say you are an awesome and loving Daddy. Noah and Ellie {and the kids to come} are so lucky.... and so am I. I love you!!

The Law of Toys

All three of us have been busy bees today. One major project that we completed during Noah's nap was painting his big boy room {well, we got the main color on the walls... but we're still unsure about what else we might paint}. I don't mind painting - honestly, I kind of enjoy it. I keep teasing Ben that he's going to come home from his deployment to find the entire house painted different colors.... or at least our bathroom! However, I discovered this time around, that the most annoying part about painting now is that Noah is a lot more mobile and he has a lot more toys. Because the soon-to-be big boy room is currently the "playroom", I had to move all the toys out before we could paint. And, as you can tell from the pictures below, The Law of Toys According to Noah is this:

"Toys shall be strewn about the entire available space {however big or small}, making walking around and playing with said toys difficult."

At least he's enjoying himself and hopefully we'll get our living room back soon.

California Baby

Even in Texas, he's still my little California Baby.

EZ View Desktop {from The Original Scrapbox}

Seriously, wouldn't this look A-MAZING on my craft desk in the guest room?!

Homemade by Jill is sponsoring a giveaway for the EZ View Desktop from The Original Scrapbox and I'm really hoping I win it - let's be honest here! Hope it's me Jill! If you want to enter the giveaway too, click on the link above.

A Little Fish

I spent a good portion of the day today cleaning {and playing} which meant that Noah and I didn't leave the house. So after his afternoon nap, I decided that we at least needed to go outside and play in the pool, even if it was only for a few minutes. The little fish just loved it!

See You {Again} Soon

It's always a sad thing when it's time to head home.

But Noah and Aunt BB got to spend some time together on Starfall, so I think that helped a little.


Come back again, very soon!! We'll miss you!
We can't wait to play some more... and of course....

... give you a few extra raspberry kisses.

Zoo and Pool Fun

{I was a little pic heavy today, so I'll be light on words!}

This morning we headed out early for the Abilene Zoo. Since Grami and Papa Snow had an Oklahoma City Zoo Pass with them, getting into the zoo was cheap!

Everyone loved the ducks:

And the Creepy Crawlers:

And, as usual, the favorite thing to do by all was feeding the animals, particularly the giraffes. This time, we even let Noah try to feed them:

We also got to see the newest addition to the Abilene Zoo... a white Bengal Tiger!

Grami and Papa Snow checking out the turtles:

We also stopped by the NICCL after our Zoo trip, but this time, we weren't allowed to take any pictures... so that was a bummer.

After lunch and a nap for Noah, we blew up the little pool that Nana and Papa got for Noah. The kid loves bathtime, so we knew that he'd love the pool too. Even though the water was a little cold at first {despite the fact that the high for today was near 100!}, Noah loved it!

He loved putting the ring over his head and thought he was so funny every time he did it!

{And, a word to the wise, if you don't blow up the beach ball all the way, it's easier for the kiddo to hold on to it!}

Luckily, we had our own resident {and official} Lifeguard on duty {thanks Aunt BB}!

After some play time in the pool, Noah got to eat his dinner and for a treat, he split a Popsicle with Morgan. And this time, he actually liked it!

Skyping with Papa and Aunt Jessie.

Somehow, despite the fact that there was seven adults in the room, Noah made it to the top of the slide with at least three of them not watching. The look on his face is pretty mischievous, so needless to say, the slide is going to be put away when there isn't an adult to help him with it!

A Great Great Aunt and a {very} Spoiled Toddler

I think it's pretty interesting that no matter where we move, we move near family. While we were at Los Angeles AFB, we were near some of Ben's relatives and my relatives. And, now that we're in Texas we're still close to relatives {not including the fact that we're a mere four hours from my immediate family}!

This morning, Grami, Papa Snow, Noah, and I all headed up to Aspermont to visit my Grandpa's sister, Aunt Dood. Before we stopped in at her place, we stopped by the cemetery to see if we could find Papa Snow's mother's grave. And, just as we were about to give up, we found it:

After a quick bite to eat, we stopped over at Aunt Dood and Uncle Bill's house for a visit. Noah was thoroughly intrigued by everything there was to see:

We were so glad that we were able to stop in and see Aunt Dood and Uncle Bill!


We had to get back home though, because Nana {Mom}, Aunt BB, and Cousin Morgan were on their way to visit US! And, of course, what is a visit from Nana and crew without a little spoiling.... case in point, Noah's newest toy:

Nana and Papa got Noah a slide... and I'd dare say that he just loves it!

{Thank you!!}

We're still working on getting up {the LADDER} and sliding down by himself... but I'm sure he'll have it down in no time with all the extra hands around to help!

And, just because it was so stinkin' funny, here's another of Noah's newest gifts from Nana and Papa - a pair of rain boots.

We're so happy ya'll are here too!!

Just Playing Around

We had a Lazy Sunday again today, which was great! After church and lunch, we came back to the house and just played around. Grami, Papa Snow, and I played a game of Phase 10 while Ben and Noah took naps. Once the boys woke up, it was play time all over again!

We got out the Tadoodles and Noah drew Grami and Papa Snow a picture to take home with them.

He loved telling us all about his drawing!

And, after his bath time, the play time didn't stop - Noah thought Papa Snow playing peek-a-boo with him was way too hysterical!

And then the tickling ensued! We love just playing around with Grami and Papa Snow!