Trip to Cali and Walking

December is such a fun and great month - We have been busy with so much and computer time just hasn't been a priority.... Anyway, to catch up a bit - My 97 year old grandmother passed away this month and though it is sad for us to be left behind, it is wonderful to know she is with God and healthy and happy. Aaron and I were able to take a quick trip to northern California for the funeral and it was so nice to have that time together and to see some of my extended family.

One of the more recent pictures of Grandma Fox. She left quite a legacy and it was nice to reflect upon her life and our memories of her....

It was fun for Aaron to get to meet some of my cousins' kids and play with them.... (Is that second cousins??) He enjoyed especially his cousin Alli and they got along beautifully....

Also this month, especially in the past week or two, Noel has decided to be a walker officially. Here is some video of her in action.....

She loves to try to keep up with big brother. She is changing so much and is really trying to talk. It's funny because she sort of gradually begin to say words all together so it is hard to say what her first word is..... Lee and I agree that besides mama and dada, it is probably "shoes." She is so girl =) She also says fish, baby, and Aaron which sounds more like "Awah."

Speaking of that big brother.... He is all about making her laugh and she is happy to comply....

Thanksgiving and Post-Thanksgiving Traditions

Barely making it, but wanted to get my Thanksgiving post on the blog before December 1st.... Get ready for picture overload....

Aaron's preschool welcomes the Thanksgiving holiday with a feast for the kids where they get to dress up as Indians and Pilgrims and eat together. It is seriously super cute. Here is Aaron's class below:

Just had to sneak in a little picture of Aaron's special friend that happens to be a girl he is not related to, Grace is her name.... =) They seem to be quite fond of each other.

As you can see, Aaron has to always act in strange ways to try to get her attention. I'll keep you posted if anything serious develops between these two. ...The important thing is that Aaron did tell me that she loves Jesus, which he knows is my main requirement when it comes to little lady friends =)

On to Thanksgiving Day, which is so chaotic with 30 something people invited, but it is a total blast....

Aunt Nancy bought all the kids gingerbread houses to make and they had a good time creating....

The best part is having people come into town for the day that you haven't gotten to see all year. It makes it that much more special to have them there to celebrate with....

All the cousin kidlets..... Not too shabby of a picture considering it was the end of a long day together.

And this is one of the many reasons why we will miss Uncle Kyle and Auntie Sarah in our future Thanksgivings while they live in Uganda....

Noel was obviously nervous just watching this craziness.... =) Love my family!

The day after Thanksgiving seems to already contain some traditions for our young family at this point. We are ready to begin looking toward Christmas so that means getting the decorations out as well as the tree.....

It also means the beginning of Papa Bob's light display at his church, which the kids love to be a part of. Aaron gets to help "flip the switch" for opening night and it is a "vewey impotant job Mama!!!"

Thus, Thanksgiving weekend in a nutshell. We had a lot of fun with our family and friends!

Birthday Bash

We are fortunate to be surrounded by much extended family, so anytime there is a birthday, we try to celebrate it together. The first birthday of course, is no exception.....

And we got to celebrate a combined bday with Noel's cousin, Lincoln, who is just three days older than Noel....

Noel with Papa Bob and Grammy....

The birthday kids with their beautiful grandmas....

The big boys together.....

Such a fun night! So glad Noel can grow up being loved by so many!

Baby Girl Turns 1

Can't believe it, but it happened - Noel turned one! And what a lucky girl - she got to turn 1 with a few other friends (incidentally, all boys =) ) so we got to celebrate all of them together this past weekend......

(Boone, Titus, Lincoln, Noel, Elliot, and Ezra)

I have been friends with these boys' moms for several years and it has been fun to share in this experience with them!

In this group is one of Noel's cousins, Lincoln....

And Ezra who is at Harvest with us.....

Noel definitely loved hanging and playing with all these boys!

We are having a family party for her later in the week but I tried to catch a few shots and do some fun things on the actual birthday (Saturday).....

Noel showing you she is 1 as she maintains a very funny facial expression....

Happy birthday sweet Noel! We love you and are so blessed that God brought you to our family!

Lee's Bday/Halloween

October 31st is always a busy day for us - We celebrated Lee's 33rd birthday with family with brats before the trick or treating began.....

My sister-in-law, Sarah, is so stinkin' funny.... Here is her artwork and guacamole contribution to the meal that evening:

We are so blessed that Aaron has second cousins to trick or treat with. They had a great time together. Here is our Aaron the Army Guy, Noah the Sherriff, and Caleb the UPS guy.

Yes, sometimes UPS guys need guns, okay?

Noel was a honeybee - and a cute one at that....

She wasn't sure what all the hoopla was about, but she definitely enjoyed her sucker.

October Days

This poor neglected blog..... Sigh. Life has been so full these past few weeks! Lee left and returned safely on a trip to India and we survived the 8 days without him. The kids were so happy to have Daddy back....

Noel is growing and changing so much. She is not walking yet, and I observe that she really doesn't feel the need to be that adventurous. She loves to walk around the house pushing her shopping cart. I'm looking forward to a future shopping buddy....

It's hard to document all of the things she is doing these days - her understanding has exploded and she knows so much of what we say now. She is so fun and expressive.....

(She also exploded with 4 more teeth this month! That brings the total to 8 with a few more in sight)

Lee and Aaron did a big project and made a big wooden fort in the backyard.....

And Aaron is in love.

I Timothy 4:12

One day after school, Aaron's teacher commented to me that she had to talk to him a little bit about being a good leader - in other words, he was causing some mischief and rounding his classmates up with him in it. We have noticed this "leadership" before, especially when he is among his younger friends. Of course, our desire would be to help him to use his leadership for good, and to lead others in the right way. It has been a bit hard to explain that to a 4 year old, but we decided that memorizing I Timothy 4:12 would be a good start..... I vividly remember instances in my own childhood in which my parents used Scripture to teach me - the Word of God is powerful and effective! So with a little bribe of a trip to Target to get an airplane if he memorized it, he got it in about a week and a half.

We were so proud! Now if he can make our joy complete and put it into practice =)

"Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young. Be an example for others by what you say and do, also by your love, faith, and purity."

(I Timothy 4:12)

Soccer

I meant to post this awhile ago, but alas, the days have gotten away from me.... Two Saturdays ago, Aaron began playing soccer on a team. And he had a great time! He gets to play with a few friends, one of which is his friend, Eli.....

Eli's mom and I were childhood friends and grew up together, so it is especially significant to us to watch our boys play together and be friends.

Some action shots.....

And some video.....

Anyway, all these pictures are from the first day. This past Saturday, the second week, didn't go so well, nor was it near as fun..... To keep it simple, Aaron was recovering from sickness and still tired. Let's just say there were a few record-breaking tantrums of frustration thrown so we called it a day and left early. There is a part of me that wished I had it on video and another part of me that wants to forget it completely. Honestly, parenting is truly a crazy adventure. Anyway, we have bribes in place for a fuss-free game this Saturday - here's to hoping for a fun season!

Copy Cat

Noel is really taking off in the sense of imitating and doing what we are doing....

I don't know where she learned this though because we don't ever use our phones around the kids; usually we are perfectly focused on our family and our Bibles, and not these worldly distractions.

(HA!)

Another example of copying.....

I hope she never feels the need to imitate this behavior....

(Just so you know this went on for about 20 minutes as I had told him I could help him with it AFTER I was done feeding everyone lunch. He chose to cry about it and insist on me helping him with it immediately instead so he was being ignored. It was really a fun time.)

So badly wanting to be out with the boys doing fun stuff.....

I took a very similar picture of Aaron when he was 10 months old also.... Here it is for fun: