Greetings from Saginaw

Here is what Noah is doing right now:

Since Noah is busy, I decided to post a few pictures. We are having a great time in Michigan so far. Everyone here is enjoying time with Noah... of course, my dad had to take him for a ride on the 4-wheeler: Doesn't my dad look proud of his grandson?

We spent some time at my brother's house today -- watching football and playing Guitar Hero. I had never played before... it was hard, but a lot of fun. I can see how people can get addicted!!We also got to see Kara and Cambrie today... Kara looks amazing, as usual. I swear, her hair wasn't messed up until Noah got ahold of her...

Here is Cambrie rubbing Noah's head:He must have liked it because he thanked her by kissing her hand:
I actually think he was trying to suck her fingers -- but oh well. I also discovered that I never posted a picture from Halloween night... here ya go! Note: I am wearing a wig -- that isn't my new hair color. I didn't want to alarm anyone :) That is all for now... we get back home late tomorrow night.

blah blah blah...

Bad News: For some reason I have caught a case of the blahs... haven't been able to shake em'.
Good News: My vacation starts tonight. I am on the red-eye flight with Noah back to Michigan to get some quality time with my family. I get more vacation every year than Travis, so the last couple years I have been making an extra trip without him.

Will post more (hopefully) while on vacation :)

ND/UW Weekend

Travis had a couple of friends in from out of town for the Notre Dame/University of Washington football game. I was on babysitting/cooking duty most of the weekend. I did go to the game on Saturday night with them though. It was Evelyn's first ND game -- Noah ended up with a babysitter due to the cold weather and his having a cold already. Here are a few pictures of the big day... Doesn't Trav look like such a happy & proud daddy? We had a great time :) This picture is courtesy of Melissa's camera (thanks!!).

In other news... I have a hair appt this Wednesday. I am almost positive I am going semi-dark. I will post pics (unless it turns out really awful!!)

Halloween preview...

Pumpkin Patch

We took a trip to the Pumpkin Patch yesterday to enjoy the sunny fall day and hopefully get some great pictures. I had high hopes -- beautiful day, cute outfits, new camera -- this was going to be perfect!! Here is a picture that pretty much sums up our experience:

As you can see, Noah just sits like a sack of potatoes (which is fine with me!). Evelyn is busy trying to escape, or bugging her brother, or refusing to smile... but we did manage to get a few decent pictures. (Between Sally's camera and mine, we probably took 200 pictures!)

I definitely learned my lesson. I think I am going to put the kids in their Halloween costumes on numerous different days and have many photo sessions. That way I will increase the likelihood of getting a good picture!!

6 months

Yup -- these are late -- Kara reminded me of that today :) Here is the quick explanation: our camera broke on Noah's six month birthday, Travis blamed it on me and is telling everyone that I sabotaged it (I had been saying for almost a year that I wanted a new camera -- but I seriously didn't break it), I did a ton of research and camera shopping, and now we have a new camera. Such a happy ending :)

Noah was 20lbs 1oz at his check-up. His length was 28 inches... and I can't remember anything else. I know he was 90th percentile for weight and height -- and 75th percentile or something for his head.

That is all for now -- gotta catch some zzz's.

many blessings

Here is Evelyn enjoying some chocolate pudding after she finished her dinner tonight. As you can see, she loved it!

Here is Noah -- he is turning into quite the cuddler! His body just molds into you -- it is the best feeling :)I took some time tonight to reflect on things while putting Noah to bed. I usually feed him, read/sing to him (poor guy has to listen to me sing off-key!), and then rock him a little bit before I lay him down for the night. Tonight while I was rocking him, I took some time to say my prayers and give thanks for all the blessings in my life. I truly am blessed. I know this is true. Sometimes when life gets crazy and hectic, it is easy to take things for granted.

My prayers tonight revolved around the kids. I am so blessed to have two healthy, happy little angels. Evelyn is becoming more & more fun every day. She has always been such a good little girl -- and she is learning so much and changing so fast these days... I sometimes find myself excited for her to get up in the mornings just so that we can hang out together longer!! And Noah is seriously the smiliest baby ever! He is so social -- he loves attention -- whenever he can tell that people are looking at him, he will get the biggest grin on his face.

Even though I am anxious for Noah to crawl, walk, etc... I am really cherishing these baby-days. Travis and I hope to have more children someday, but you never know what the Lord has planned. These days I am just trying to take in everything that I can, while I can. When the days get crazy and I feel overwhelmed -- I need to remind myself to just slow down, really think about what is important, put my trust in God, and everything else will just fall into place :)