Glimpses of Our Day

The main body of our new apothecary media cabinet is put together.


Ellie tackles Noah every chance she gets.

And Noah is nearly as in love with his camera as Mommy is with hers'.

And... Happy Birthday to my Little Sister! We ♥ you!!

Also... be praying for my Grami please. She was admitted into the hospital early this morning with a staff infection.

Three.

Happy Third Birthday Dearest Noah!

Three is a Magic Number.

We started out the celebrations at breakfast... Noah's favorite: doughnuts.

The boy won't eat much, but he'll eat three doughnuts.

After Ellie went down for her morning nap, Noah and I painted the leftover trains from his birthday party. He was sad when all five were finished! The boy loves to paint.

After lunch and naps, Noah got to open a birthday present a little early with Aunt BB on Skype. "Pirate Lair-eeee" was an instant hit. {Thanks!}

Daddy-Ben came home from work a little bit early so that we could take the Birthday Boy and Little Sister to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner and games.

Big hit all around, except for Ellie now being terrified of the mouse himself. And, Noah and Ben traded in all their tickets that we've been saving since July for a foam ball gun. Both Daddy and Son are pleased with that acquisition.

Ellie was completely exhausted by the time we got home {for some reason, I think she might be trying to get sick again... or she's teething}, so after I put her down, we offered Noah ice cream, a cupcake, or a doughnut for his birthday treat.

I told you the kid was crazy for doughnuts.

Once the doughnut was freed from all its icing, Noah got to open up his presents.

My favorite gift we gave him {that I've been very excited about, but slightly nervous he wouldn't like}? A camera.

"Just like Mommy's tam-ra, Mommy! Noah take pit-chure!"

I have a feeling that Photos by Noah will be appearing on here fairly frequently....

Things Noah loves at Three:

• VeggieTales, Thomas, and Cars. And in no particular order. I take that back, Thomas probably trumps everything else.
• Ice cream and other fun treats shared with Daddy.
• Running away from Ellie when she tries to "play" with him.
• Reading... whether he is "reading" a story to himself or Ellie, or having Mommy or Daddy read him one of his favorite books.
• Playing with his life group friends.

Noah, Dearest Little One, we love you. And are so, so very proud of you. You're an amazing boy. You make us laugh everyday with your funny antics and silly songs. You know all your alphabet letters, nearly all the sounds, can count to 12 when prompted, and can spell your name to me when you want help writing it. You are completely day-trained and nearly night potty trained too. You are starting to really play, using your imagination and I'm always in awe of the things you come up with. You are creative and caring. If Ellie is upset, you try to figure out what is wrong and help her if you can. We feel so lucky and blessed that God chose us to be your parents. And we are so happy to get to watch you grow. We'll eat you up, we love you so. ♥

Today you are Two.

Today, you are two.

And, what a wonderful two it has been.

You've learned to be helpful.

You are sweet. Kind. And exceptionally funny.


You're learning to use your imagination. You are amazingly creative.

Two has been fun, Dearest Noah.

We love you to the depths.

And can't wait to see what Three brings us. ♥

Christmas Traditions

We have a few Christmas traditions around here... and a few that we are starting with the kids this year. One of my favorite ones is getting a new ornament. We met Ben for lunch today and while we were out, we stopped into Hallmark to pick out our new ones. For now, we're picking out the kid's ornaments, but I have a feeling that by next year, Noah might be choosing his own... or at least making a {bigger} request as to which one he wants.

The photos that I took of the new ones for this year didn't turn out the greatest, but I have no desire to retake them...

It was only fitting that Noah get the Polar Express Train ornament this year. {We really wanted to take him on the train ride, but the timing just didn't work out... hopefully next year!}

Ellie got The Zoo Keeper Says ornament. I love that it actually works! We really liked the Disney Princess and Barbie ones, but decided that this one is more fitting of where she is this year... and that I'm sure by the time she gets to choose her ornament, we'll have plenty of those types.

Ben chose the Triple Dog Dare ornament, from A Christmas Story. It plays out the scene... and makes me giggle every time.

And, of course, as soon as I saw the Green Eggs & Ham ornament, I knew it would be the one for me this year. It matches my mug perfectly.

One of the new traditions that we've added is Christopher Pop-In-Kins. I bought him last year after a friend posted about how much her kids loved him. He is a special elf who comes to watch the children for Santa. We're not pushing the whole Santa-thing {I mean, first, why should Santa get all the credit... sorry Mom and Daddy-man for all those years that Santa got all the credit for your hard work!... and secondly, the real reason we give is because of Christ and that's what I want my kids to correlate Christmas to.}, but it's fun to have traditions that involve the spirit of Santa. Even to this day, Santa visits us at my parents' house... and that's a tradition that I fully intend to keep for our kids. Whether they believe in Santa or not.

Noah still isn't quite so sure of Christopher, but he really liked the book!

A New{ish} Hair-Do

Ellie's hair is getting out of control. Her bangs are almost to her eyes and I haven't the heart to cut them yet... mostly because I'm not sure how.

Because here's the deal: she. won't. hold. still.

Even when I just want to brush her hair, she moves. And putting a clip, headband, or ponytail in her hair?

Forget about it.

Noah, on the other hand...

was laughing at my attempt to put pigtails in Ellie's hair and then requested, "Mommy, do Noah's hair."

I just wish Ellie would hold as still as he did.

Because just getting one ponytail in her hair is nearly as difficult as getting two:

And getting a photo of those two, lopsided pigtails?

Nearly impossible without the help of Big Brother.

Building, Resting, and Eating

It's been a long week and a half. We were suppose to leave today for Colorado, but between the kids just now recovering and me still being sick {and the million and one things that are on our to do lists}, we decided that while we really wanted to see everyone, it was best that we go ahead and stay home this time around.

Since he had already had his leave approved for the week, Ben went ahead and took the day off. Partially to help with the kids, but mostly so he could work on our new entertainment center that he is building. {Seriously, how did I get so lucky?!} And lucky him, he got a table saw out of the deal.

After a busy weekend and still not feeling too well, I was in no mood or spirit to cook and Ben was exhausted from working on the entertainment center, so we ate dinner at Cypress Street Station. Afterwards, we came back home and I put Ellie to bed. In the mean time, Ben and Noah had started a fire and were enjoying some ice cream.

I just love those boys.

Time with Friends

Nick, Lendy, and Mack all came out for Noah's birthday party last night and stayed the night so that they wouldn't have to drive all the way back to Dallas. We didn't mind because it meant some extra time with them. I just promised not to hug and kiss on Mack {though, it took all my strength not to!}.

Lendy and I are already in the planning stages of their wedding.

Thanks for taking the time to come out and visit us! ♥

We also had our Life Group Christmas Party tonight, but I was too exhausted to even take one photo... it happens, I suppose!

A "Things that Go" Birthday Party

My baby is turning three in less than a week. I can barely believe it. Three years ago, we had planned a Christmas Party on the first weekend of December and had to cancel and then un-cancel. This year, we almost cancelled another party - Noah's birthday party. I had big, grand plans for his party, but between caring for sick ones and then getting sick myself, well, very few things I had planned, happened.

One thing that I made sure happened? Noah's "3 Train" Shirt.

Noah was sure to have a good time, regardless of whether or not my idea of how the party should have gone happened. Two of his favorite friends came to celebrate with him: Jadyn and Mack!

It didn't hurt that they got to paint either.

Of course, his loving Little Sister was there to help him open his presents.

And Daddy helped entertain him and his friends with the Christmas train.

It's a train. And a cake. And covered with candy.

What's not to love?

I'm thrilled that despite me not feeling 100%, the kids still being easily tired and recovering, and everything else, that Noah still had a blast.

And that the adult "after-party" was a good time to reconnect with some of our out-of-town friends!

Puzzle Time

Tonight, after Ellie went to bed, Noah was determined to get to put together a snowman puzzle that we had purchased last year after Christmas. I think it was partially because he wanted to do the puzzle, but mostly because he was interested in the "snowman lunch box" that it is stored in.

{Those are last year's pj's... and they are still big!}

We didn't mind a little extra puzzle time though... because it almost always means a few extra kisses.

Trains, Trains, Trains!

I didn't take any photos or videos yesterday. Which, honestly, really kinda bums me out because I was hoping to do {a digital} December Daily this year. But, between how I'm feeling, how the kids are feeling and with the number of things we've got going on right now, one less thing to worry about is not a bad thing.

The kids are definitely feeling a little bit better. They are playing with a little more energy, but they also get more tired, faster. I barely have a voice still and no energy at all, so luckily the kids are still taking longer than normal afternoon naps.

One thing Noah will reserve his energy for?

"Noah and Daddy's special train, Mommy! Look!"