Our latest family photos

One day I'm gonna be a photographer....one day. A couple of years ago I bought a slightly fancy camera thinking that was all I would need to take fabulous pictures. But once I realized, nope, it wasn't the camera, then I started to seek out photography lessons. I took a couple of classes and figured that would be all I would need to start my professional photography business. But, nope, that wasn't it either. I think I lack that "creative" part of your brain that allows you to visualize and take a great picture and the only thing I can think of that might help out with that is just more practice. Or more lessons. Or a more expensive camera. : ) But until then, I just ask my good friend Jenny Marrs to take some pictures for us and let her do the "creative" work. She's so good and I would totally recommend her if you're looking for a photographer. Plus, she's great with kids which was awesome because Noah was having one of those days where he didn't want to do anything we asked him to do and he sure didn't want any part of taking pictures. But he was excited to go to the pumpkin patch. And Jenny did such a great job of capturing some special moments with our family. I couldn't figure out how to copy any of the pictures on my blog, so you can check out her blog post here.

Shutterfly Holiday Cards

Christmas Cards!!! Oh how I love them. I love planning our family Christmas cards each year and I love receiving others' in the mail. And my favorites are all the photo cards. I think they are such a great way to send a picture of our family to all of our friends and family that we don't get to see as often as we like. Although I usually wait until the last minute and have to rush around trying to find a picture that I like enough to put on our card and make sure I order it in time to send them out before Christmas! But this year, I am on the ball. We already had some family photos made and I have some of them in mind that I can't wait to use.

I am planning on using Shutterfly this year for our holiday cards. I have used them in the past for everything from printing photos to wall calendars. They also do wall art...how great would a big canvas picture be as a Christmas gift for someone? Or if you're having a New Year's Eve party, they even have invitations for those. And guess what? Shutterfly is offering 50 free holiday cards to bloggers. So if you have a blog and would like some free cards, all you have to do is sign up here. That is such a great deal and with the huge selection that they have, there's no need to look anywhere else! I can't wait to get my Christmas cards finished and start mailing them out to family and friends.

A couple of videos

I know I've had a lot of videos on the blog lately, but I love how easy it is to just whip out the little flip video and record a few minutes whenever Noah's doing something funny or cute. And I can't tell you how many times I've had to sit in front of the computer playing video after video for Noah of himself. He loves watching the ones from when he was a baby and laughs so hard at some of them...it's pretty cute. But anyways, here are a couple from this week.

The first one is of him singing Happy Birthday. A week ago was Pop's birthday and we tried and tried to get him to sing it, but he never would. Then a few days later, he just started randomly singing it and I was able to catch it on camera. So this one's for Pop.

This one is of Noah singing his ABC's. Now this is something he's been doing for a while, but has really gotten good at in the last few weeks but of course will never do when you ask him to and definitely not on camera. But he was in his room singing along to his keyboard with his microphone and I snuck the camera in. A few things to I want to point out about this video:

1. He sang the song all the way through with the microphone once before I could get the camera. But I guess this time, he got tired of using it and decided to use the "Walk around the room while singing" approach.

2. He has the hiccups while he's singing.

3. He says "yaaayy" for himself at the end...probably because that's what we always say when he finishes singing it.

4. At the beginning of the video I accidentally opened one of those recorded birthday cards from Noah and Jeff that was laying on his floor and that's why you hear "Happy Birthday Mama" in the background....it's a weird distraction I know but luckily it didn't distract Noah enough to finish his song. : )

5. Please excuse the mess in his room. I would like to say it doesn't normally look like that, but sadly it does. He has too many toys...I would like to throw most of them out the window, but for now they reside on his bedroom floor.

Trick or Treat!

Halloween this year was a success!! And just in case you can't detect the surprise in my voice, I was not expecting it to go so well. It's literally a fight every morning just to get Noah to get dressed in his clothes, so I honestly had no expectations of him putting on his costume and going trick or treating this year. I figured we'd try to put it on him, he'd say no and cry and that would that. But when he found out candy was involved....ohhh it was a different story. And for the record, he was not impressed with his Scooby Doo costume (I actually don't think he's ever watched a Scooby Doo cartoon) so we convinced him that he was dressing up like our dog Patch and he thought that was awesome. So when people asked him who he was, he of course told them he was Patch. He was a little shy about going up to the doors at first, but by the end of the night he was running up to each house, ringing doorbells and saying "Trick or Treat" and "Thank You!".

He didn't want to put the Scooby head on (I think it was a little tight and bothered him) so when he would run to all the houses, that head just bounced and bounced. It was the funniest sight.

I must say that probably the only reason he was brave enough to go up to the first house was because his good buddies went with him and showed him how it worked. So a big thanks to Shae, Gabby, Kade and Kenzie. But once he watched the pros in action for a while, he really figured it out and could've gone on all night by himself! Except for the fact that he started getting really tired at the end and we had to carry him in between houses. He had such a great time...and so did we! Jeff and I both realized how much more fun Halloween is when you get to share it with a little one. We didn't go trick or treating last year so this was the first "official" time. And you should have seen how excited he was when it was time to go home and eat some candy. I think it's safe to say he thought that was the best night ever!!

The day before Halloween...

...is a very special day because it's Pop's birthday!! We were supposed to be heading down to visit him for his birthday, but unfortunately that trip didn't work out. So even though we're not there to celebrate with him, we want to wish Pop a very, very happy birthday! We wish we could be there, but since we're not, we of course have a little video from your very favorite little guy. Actually, there are a couple of them....it can be difficult to get a 2 year old to do what you ask him to on camera. Hope you enjoy them Pop! We love you and hope you have a great birthday! And hopefully the Hogs will have a big win in honor of your big day too. : )

Trip to the corn maze

Well, it's Fall and that can only mean one thing....time to go to the Pumpkin Patch! We had Mimi and Pop in town last weekend and decided that would be a great opportunity to go to the Corn Maze since we had never been. First of all, let me say that we had a good time, but paying to walk around lost in a cornfield with a 2 year old might be a little over-rated. Anyways, after we did the maze, we headed over to pet the goats. I wasn't sure how interested Noah would be in petting the goats, but he wanted to go in there with them. Luckily we got there early so there weren't too many people in the pen yet, because once it started getting crowded, I saw one of the goats start to get a little feisty....that's the last thing we need.

They also had a big jumphouse set up that day. I don't think it's something they have all the time, but we were lucky enough to be there on the day it was. I'm not a big fan of these things...they always seem to be very chaotic and I'm afraid Noah will get jumped on (or even worse, that he will be the one jumping on someone else). But we let him go in, and of course he loved it!

After that, it was time for the cow train that he had been talking about since we got there. Now normally, Noah is very cautious and reserved in new situations. I figured he would love the cow train from a distance and then as soon as we got close enough to actually get in it, he would cling himself to me or Mimi and not let go until we assured him that he didn't have to get in it. That's the way it usually goes. Oh but how my little baby is growing up. He ran over there, hopped in the train and wouldn't even think about letting me ride in it with him. There were lots of other moms riding with their kids so I figured I'd get in with him or he would freak out. Oh no, he wasn't having any of that. I put my foot in that thing and he told me, "No mama, get out." So he buckled up, gave us the thumbs up (which for some reason he does with his pointer fingers?) and took off.

Riding off into the sunset on the trusty old cow train....

I even got a little video of him. Notice he won't acknowledge my presence. He just looks at me like, "Mom, seriously? You're embarrassing me. I'm trying to ride the train and be cool and you keep following me around taking pictures." Sigh...

Happy Birthday Nanette!!

Tomorrow (Friday) is Nanette's birthday and we sure hope she has a wonderful day!! Noah and daddy have a little song they'd like to sing to wish her the best birthday ever. We love you Nanette!

Cheeeeeese...

Noah's latest thing, along with probably almost every other small child, is as soon as he sees the camera he wants to say, "Cheeeeessseee" and then "I wanna see" because he wants to see the picture he just took on the screen of the camera. So it's a never ending process whenever I get the camera or the video camera out. As a result, whenever I try to video something, I usually try to sneak it out and keep him from seeing that I'm recording him. But as soon as he notices....video over. Well, you can see what I'm talking about in this little clip...I was trying to record him doing belly flops onto daddy and about halfway through, he saw me recording him. So funny...and so him!!



And another time he was playing with his little toy that has the stacking colored rings and I was trying to record him doing it, but we didn't quite make it that far. I think it's so funny because he makes the weirdest face and says it in this really deep voice.

Van Gogh?...maybe

Ok, so I have a little something here that is mainly for the grandparents because I told Mimi that I would post this for her. But earlier Noah was drawing on his little Magnadoodle thing, and Jeff and I looked over and he said, "Eyes?". And we noticed he had drawn a face with 2 eyes on it. So we told him to draw a nose...and then a mouth...and then ears. And before we knew it, he had drawn a complete face, with everything in the right place. I was really impressed! I'm not normally one to brag on my child because that totally bugs me when others do it, but I think that's pretty good that he drew a face at just barely 2 years old right? If not, please just let me continue to think that my son's a creative genius and will probably be an award winning artist some day. But seriously, I thought that was great since we've never really tried to teach him how to draw that. So by the end of the night, we had advanced to drawing a face with hair and a hat and a body with shoes. I will admit, the body was a tad less distinguishable than the original face that he drew, but I know that's what it was because he kept wanting me to draw shoes on the bottom of it. I didn't get any pictures of that, but here's his smiley face (minus a little bit of the circle at the bottom because it got erased before I could get my camera). I would've taken a picture of the later one with hair and a hat but he kind of scribbled all over it so it was less impressive. : )

I think if this picture had been in color, it would be a picture of a little red-headed boy. : )

Happy Birthday Papaw!!

Noah has a special little message for his Papaw since today is his birthday. Hope you have a wonderful birthday Papaw!

Tee it up

A few nights ago, Jeff decided he wanted to play some golf and Noah and I decided we would go with him. Jeff is determined to make either a golfer or basketball player out of our little guy and I'm totally ok with either of those because I think they're probably 2 of the less dangerous sports he could choose. As much as I love watching football, I'm not sure how much I would love it if it was my baby out there getting hit. So, we headed out to the golf course. He absolutely loved it!! He of course thought it was fun to drive the golf cart. And everytime we'd stop, he'd hop out and go with Jeff to wherever the ball was and try to do everything daddy did. If this keeps up, we may have to get him his own clubs. Jeff really wants him to take lessons so maybe next summer if he still seems interested, we'll get him started with that. I think secretly, he just wants another excuse to go play golf and a built-in buddy to go play with him whenever he wants. : )


So here he was loading up on the golf cart ready to go! When he realized that we were going to get to ride on a little car outside that had no doors that he could help to drive, I think his excitement level about golf went from about a 7 to a 10!!

 So first daddy had to show him how it's done.......

 And then it was time to get the putter and walk out to the ball....Noah made a great caddy for his daddy.

 They of course had to study the ball and figure out the best angle to hit it...I wasn't close enough to hear what they were talking about, but I'm pretty sure Noah was offering his expert opinion here.

 Now it's time to putt. Even though it was twice as tall as him, he did a really good job putting.

 Heads up mommy! Here comes a golf ball! (We had to have the discussion after this picture that we don't throw golf balls because they could really hurt if you got hit in the head with one of those. I think he gets it now. : )

 Walking with his best bud and golf coach....

 It was really hot that night and every time he would get back in the golf cart, he would get a drink of my Sonic lemonade. Obviously this golf stuff is very, very hard work. But nothing a good Sonic drink can't fix.

 Just a little more caddying....I think he was trying to decide which one they should use for this hole.

 He looooved getting the ball out of the hole once it went in.

 I finally had to get out and get a picture with my little golfer.

 Whew.....time to stop and take another drink break...

 And finally, he drove the cart in for us when the game was over.

He was sooo upset when we tried to leave. He started crying when we got to the car. For some reason, Jeff wasn't sure if Noah would like going to play golf, but I don't think he has to worry about that anymore. We had such a fun time on our little family golf outing and I think I can foresee a lot of these in our future. Maybe I can take lessons with Noah so we can all play together! I have only played putt-putt golf before and would be afraid to see what happened if I tried to really play. But I think if I took some lessons and figured it out, I might really enjoy it. Then it could really be a family affair!

Wedding bells

This past weekend we went to Hot Springs again for Jeff's brother's wedding. It was at Garvan Gardens and besides the 105 degree heat, it was a beautiful wedding weekend. I have to admit, I was a little nervous about how Noah would do during all the wedding festivities.....rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, ceremony.....these things are sometimes not the most 2-year-old-friendly events. But I was SOOO impressed at how he did all weekend. He was so well-behaved and even provided some entertainment and I was so thankful for that. And even though I know he's a great sleeper, I was impressed at how well he slept on the fold-out couch in the hotel room. When it was time to go night-night, he climbed up on that uncomfortable little bed, said his prayers, tucked Gus the dog underneath his arm and went right to sleep. I know Jeff and I realize how blessed we are to have such a great sleeper....I hope he continues that as he gets older. And during the wedding ceremony, Papaw wanted Noah to sit up front with them and I was nervous because I had been planning on sitting in the back row in case we needed to make a quick exit! But we went ahead and made the long trip up front to wait in the front row for Nanette and Papaw. And that little stinker sat right in between them and never made a peep the whole time! I think he enjoyed watching Uncle Greg and Aunt Kelly getting married...he even waved really big to Uncle G once he walked out on the stage.

This is the front entrance of the chapel....such a pretty place.

Here is Jeff at the rehearsal walking his mom in....and in the background you can see Noah with his Papaw. He was so attached to his Papaw all weekend...

 Yay! We finally got a family picture with us all dressed up...all the weddings we've been to this summer and this is the first one.

 This is Noah and his 2nd cousin Raelee. He must have been showing her something here.

 And here is a picture of the beautiful bride and her groom. Don't they look great?

 And finally a picture of the guys...daddy, Noah and his proud Uncle "G".

Congratulations Greg and Kelly! It was a beautiful wedding and we're so glad we could be a part of your special weekend.

Just coolin' off

It has been so hot around here lately, we've been doing anything we can to try to keep cool. This turned into quite the challenge the other night when our air conditioing broke and we couldn't get anyone out to fix it until the next day. I was very stressed out and hot and so glad when the guy could get out to fix us up...it had already gotten up to 82 degrees in the house and it was not even noon that day! But for the rest of the time, staying inside has been our main activity because it's so hot to do anything else....except for playing in the sprinkler!! The kids were outside running through the sprinkler last night, and let me tell ya, I was this close to putting on my swimsuit and running through it a few times myself. I think they had so much fun. I don't know why the pictures look so dark on here, but here are just a few of the kiddos.

They had a Dawn bottle that they kept filling up with water to squirt each other, but Noah and Shae, being the gardeners that they are, used it to water the plants.

And this was my attempt to get all the kids to stand together and get a shot of them all jumping in the air. Needless to say, I did not achieve that....but I think I got some funny ones of them trying.

A few nights ago we went for a playdate at Chick Fil A with one of my friends and her little boy Dylan who is just a couple months younger than Noah. I think they had a great time and ran all over that little play area. There were a couple of older kids in there playing also and they kept saying, "Look at the babies." And Noah (being the giant that he is, was quite a bit taller than Dylan) was standing there and they asked us, "Can the big one talk?" We got a real kick out of that. I think by the end of the night, they realized that those 2 "babies" were capable of playing just as hard as they were. : ) We really enjoyed it and have to get together more often. As much as Noah LOVES his girls (Shae, Gabby and MC) I think he also enjoyed having a boy and someone his age to play with too. Now, this weekend we're off to another wedding. I hope to have lots of pictures to share when we get back from that. My last 3-day weekend for a while. : ( That's ok though, while I've loved our busy summer, I'm glad for things to slow down for a little while too. Have a great weekend!

Why is it...

...that boxes are so much more fun to play with than the toys that came in them?

Maybe....just maybe....it's because daddies make everything more fun.