Weekend Fun

As most mornings do, we started our Friday with the littles sitting on the counter, eating breakfast, and being their goofy little selves. Unlike most mornings, I had a total of six kids 10 and under for about 45 minutes before the bus came. It was fun and crazy, there were some tears, but at least Noelle bounced out of bed ready to go since she was so excited about Sophie coming over. (And apparently Sophie was just as excited until she found out her brother was also coming over with her.)

After my friend got back and picked up her son, my mom came over and I headed to our local tot swap. It was so nice being able to go kid-free and actually look for things! I found some sneakers for Noelle, which she was so excited about and kept saying "thank you, mommy" over and over again. I also picked up a bagful of cars for Jonah for Christmas, as well as tights and boots for Noelle. I met my friends Megan and Hannah there and was able to catch up with them a little bit. Hannah's little guy was getting restless, so she left to get him home, and once Megan finished up, she came to hang out for a bit. I gave her our baby swing, which her four month old tested out while at our house, and we really weren't sure if she was enjoying it, or giving Megan a look of "really, mom?"

On Saturday, we met up with Luke's parents and sister for breakfast at Roy Rogers. I'm not sure if I've ever eaten at a Roy Rogers in m life, but they have a delicious deal of all you can eat pancakes or biscuits and gravy for $1.99. Noelle and I loved the pancakes, Jonah took a few bites of everyone's food, and Luke enjoyed his biscuits and gravy. It was really fun to meet up with the grandparents and be able to spend time with them. After we finished eating and chatting, Luke and I took the kids to the local mall where Noelle completed a Christmas scavenger hunt. There were little gingerbread people taped to the wall near certain stores holding different types of candy. She had to match which candy went with which store. It was fun, and she really seemed to be into it. Of course both kids also REALLY enjoyed playing on the rides (even though we didn't pay any money to make them move!)

Sunday we had church as usual, and then headed out to lunch for my dad's birthday. We ate at Seasons 52, and the food was delicious! The kids did really well, which was surprising since we'd had a rough morning and it was right during Jonah's usual nap time. But it was fun celebrating with my parents, sisters, and brother-in-law. We went back to my parent's house for a little bit to eat cake and play with Roxy before getting Jonah home for a nap. In the evening we headed out to small group for some good fellowship and discussion of the current sermon series. It was a busy weekend, and our kids were a little crazy, but I'm so thankful for the time we had as family!

Halloween 2015 and Chili Cook-Off

The end of October brought a whole lot of fun our way, including a trip to a farm the day before Halloween that we'd never been to before with a bunch of friends . The super fun thing about Sharp's farm, is that it's mostly groups who come and set up a time just for their group to be there. Or in our case since we were a small group, there was one other small group there. But it felt like we had the whole farm to ourselves!

We drove down a looooong dirt/gravel driveway and met up with the rest of our group. While we waited for everyone to arrive, we were allowed to feed the chickens and the bunnies. Once we were all there, the farmer took us into a barn to talk to us about the different kinds of corn and beekeeping. After trying to find the queen bee, he lead the kids over to a giant pail of feed corn, and the kids happily ran back and forth from the pail to the pen of goats. I'm pretty sure Jonah dropped more food along the way than what made it into the goats' mouths, but he had a blast!

(they really did have fun on the hayride!)

After goats, we went on what I would consider one of the best hayrides I've ever been on. It was long and looped us around fields on the farm, and then through a not so little creek where I thought for sure we would get stuck in the middle or a child would fall overboard. But everyone survived and it just made it that much more exciting! The guy driving us around stopped at the pumpkin field where we picked our pumpkins, and then we found our way through the corn maze for little people. We ended with picking our own corn ears for making pop corn at home (which we have yet to attempt!) It was a lot of fun, and something that we all said we want to do again next year!

On Halloween evening, we continued our tradition (for the second time ever) of having some friends over to help hand out Halloween candy and watch a "scary" movie. My sister came and we took Noelle and Jonah around to some houses to trick-or-treat. Jonah was Nemo and Noelle was a giraffe without a head (last time I'm getting her a costume with a hat!) I allowed Jonah to suck on a lollipop while we walked around, and as soon as he got another one, he dropped the first one to open the second one. I took it away from him, and he threw a fit, so I dropped him off at the house with Luke, and my sister and I continued on with Noelle. After she complained that her bucket was "too heavy", we headed back to join the party to eat food and watch the movie.

My one friend and I are not big fans of scary movies, so we looked up how the movie (The Others) ended, and were able to watch it without being too creeped out. The movie the group picked was, as Luke put it, more atmospheric than actually scary. You always think something scary is about to happen, but there was really only one jumpy part. Overall, it was another fun year of trick-or-treating and hanging out with friends.

This past weekend, our little town had a chili cook-off so we headed down to Main Street to get the free tastings. There were so many good types of chili, and even though the samples were fairly small, we were too stuffed to try them all! But it made for a free lunch and fun time walking around as a family.

Gaver Farm Trip

Luke took the day off from work today, and Noelle played hooky from school so that we could go have some family fun at Gaver farm. Third year in a row that I've taken at least one child, and Luke's first time. It's a bit pricey to get into the area with all the activities, but there is SO much to do! We spent two hours climbing, sliding, pumping water, playing in corn kernels, going through mazes, and more! And I'm pretty sure Jonah would have gladly kept going if we hadn't needed to get home for lunch and nap time.

It was a bit chilly, and since Noelle has decided she has a thing against long sleeves, only had a short sleeve shirt on underneath her coat. She kept saying "I'm chilly" and wanting to be held. Jonah had a blast running around from thing to thing, touching the goats, and spent a good 20 minutes pumping water.

Per our tradition, we brought their Halloween costumes so that we could take their pictures in the pumpkin patch. Neither one was super cooperative, but they did look super adorable as Nemo and a giraffe! Every time Jonah bent over to scoop up gravel, his little fish tail stuck straight up into the air. I have a feeling the hat won't stay on for Halloween either, but at least we can still tell it's Nemo!

We all loved having daddy there with us, and I think he'll just have to start joining us every year. There's just something so sweet about making memories with my little family!

Fall Family Pictures

This past weekend my sister took our family pictures, and I love them! We just went to her backyard and used her rock wall, chairs, and the fall foliage. While Noelle and Jonah weren't the most cooperative, she managed to capture some great pictures!

Oh how I love our little family!

And this boy. I know I'm biased, but I think he's just so cute!

And my first baby- how has she grown SO much!

Love, love, love!

Jonah at 18 Months

I don't even know how to grasp that Jonah is a year and a half- which saying it that way just sounds so much older than 18 months. But he's running and talking and eating so much, so he is most definitely not a baby anymore.

At his 18 month well-check today he came in at 32.3 inches (50%) and 24 pounds, 4 ounces (28%). I wonder if he'll be "tall" for our family since Noelle has never come close to being in the 50th percentile. He did have some big brain/head growth going from the 19th percentile to 56th percentile.

He repeats so many things! When we give him something, he will usually say "dank oo". He'll say "e too" for me too when he wants something we gave to Noelle. And in true boy fashion, he likes to say "poop" whenever I'm changing his diaper. He mostly likes to say "yeah" when we ask him a question, but certain things, it's a definite "no!"

We've thankfully dropped down to one nap a day, usually soon after lunch. It makes it so much easier to do something in the morning, come home and eat lunch, and then put him down. Most times he naps for around two hours, and while Noelle watches some t.v., I get stuff done. (Or not, sometimes I'm lay on the couch with Noelle.) At nighttime, he usually goes down around 8:00 and wakes up around 7:30. Looking back to a year ago, I have no idea how I functioned when he was waking up 3-4 times a night! So thankful that has changed!

Three molars have come in, so he now has 11 teeth! Though our pediatrician recommended that you start seeing the dentist at a year old now, we'll probably wait till he's two. When we took Noelle to the dentist a few weeks ago, Jonah was more willing to sit (or stand) in the chair than she was, so hopefully that's a good sign he'll cooperate! And he loves to brush his teeth. Almost every time we go into the bathroom, he says "too" and points to his toothbrush.

One of the big things we need to work on is weaning him off his bottle (I know, we're like six months late on this!), but I worry that he doesn't drink enough from a cup because he'll take one sip and walk away. But he loves his bottles and guzzling them down. He can drink out of a sippy cup or straw cup, so we just have to keep pushing those!

He loves most foods and eats almost anything that we're eating. Hopefully we can avoid him being as picky as Noelle (especially when it comes to veggies!) He eats meats, rice, quinoa, most veggies, crackers, berries, egg, and more. And he loves to feed himself yogurt and applesauce. He is quite the growing boy!

His little personality is starting to come through, and Luke keeps saying we're in trouble because Jonah is like how Luke was when he was a kid. Luke is pretty sure that Jonah will be the one who is class clown, and will be goofy just to get others to laugh. He is also so sweet and loves to give Noelle a hug before he goes to bed! Makes my heart melt every time. Love, love, love him!

My Cup Runneth Over

So many thoughts today- but mostly I can't help but think my cup runneth over! It is a beautiful October day, we had a great MOPS meeting this morning, got in a good workout with Luke before the kids woke up, and have been blessed by my time with the Lord!

After MOPS today, we were driving home with the windows down, singing along to the "Itsy Bitsy Spider", and it was just one of those moments that hit me how blessed I am to be living this life. To have two beautiful children, being able to afford our minivan, living my dream of being a stay-at-home-mom, and so much more!

During our MOPS meeting, we had a speaker from Operation Christmas Child come talk to us about the whole program. And while we've made boxes for the last few years, I've never really thought beyond handing them in and imagining a child opening it up in a foreign country. The lady who shared with us told us about all the logistics of checking each and every box to make sure no inappropriate items were added, adding to boxes that don't have quite as much (but so thankful for people giving whatever they can!), the logistics of working with the distribution churches in each country to get things through customs and out to the church. She told us that 8 million boxes were sent from America last year, and that each box is averaged out to affect 7 people (family members and neighbors of those kids who get a box.) Also, the churches that distribute the boxes in other countries have to agree to follow up with the recipients and their families- it's not just a one time thing. It makes me excited to be a part of it again this year!

On Tuesday, Noelle took her very first field trip ever! Each child got to bring a parent or grandparent, and thankfully my mom was able to watch Jonah so I could go along. We went to a local farm to pick pumpkins and go on a hayride. Noelle loved it, but I think her favorite part was riding the school bus, just like her big friends, to get to the farm! She leaned over to me while we were sitting on the bus, and said "I'm so glad you're here, Mommy!" Heart melted!

This past weekend I was able to attend our church's women's retreat. It was in beautiful rural Pennsylvania, and our topic was being authentic. It was really cool to get to know other women in the church and hear their stories, and to see how God has worked in their lives. No matter how much we seem to have it together- we do not! Thankfully God is the One holding it all together! My favorite social part was the drive up and back- I drove four other adults and one baby in the van, and we had some great girl talk and lots of laughs. I am so thankful for each friendship!

First Larriland Trip

October is well under way, and we finally had our first trip to Larriland last week! It was completely impromptu, but necessary. Necessary in the sense that Jonah was being a cranky babe and needed to be outside of the house! On Friday last week, after our busy week of pre-school and meetings with both MOPS groups, I headed up to a tot-swap about 40 minutes away. I got myself some Starbucks, Noelle was content listening and singing along to her music, and Jonah was flipping through a book he had brought along. All was peaceful until we arrived at the fairgrounds.

yummy fall snack of apple and peanut butter

We went inside and it was packed with so many moms, kids, and stuff- which is usually how it is! There wasn't much that I needed, but wanted to look for sneakers for Noelle and snow boots for Jonah. We found the shoe area, and while I looked through the bins, Noelle and Jonah played with the toys nearby. Noelle was hilarious (probably only hilarious to me!) as she gave a little concert singing into a toy with a microphone. We're pretty sure this girl will never be able to do more than make a joyful noise unto the Lord!

There wasn't much in the boot department for the boys, but I found sneakers for Noelle, and couldn't resist a cute pair of fake Ugg boots for her as well. (Boots for her are just so easy because she can usually get them on and off all by herself!) I figured we should head over to the line that was snaking around the building so that we could make sure to still hit the road before Jonah got too sleepy and took a car nap on the way home instead of a real nap (#theworst).

Unfortunately that's when things went bad and Jonah became a writhing, screaming goober who was unhappy about not getting his way. I tried to wait in line, but when I picked him up to move further up the line, he started his shenanigans all over again. I'm still figuring out this whole disciplining thing, especially since Jonah seems to be much more dramatic than Noelle was at that age! I threw the shoes back in the appropriate bins and headed out the door.

Noelle was sad about not getting her sneakers, but she had been talking about going to the farm, and I decided to do something fun for her. Plus Larriland was right on the way home! There were a lot of people, with probably at least two school groups out for the farm experience, but both kids were happy to run around, visit the animals, and stick their faces in the face hole walls. It turned our not so great morning around, and gave us something fun to do before heading home for lunch and Jonah's nap. And we already have another trip to the farm planned with friends!

Noelle and I have also been working on painting some pumpkins while Jonah naps. My mom found a six pack of little pumpkins with paint and brought them to us for a fun fall activity. Noelle, of course, has painted all of hers blue, and I tried to make a cat face on mine. And definitely a good activity to do when Jonah is asleep!