Noel

I wanted to document a little bit about Noel....  She really has changed so much over the past few months and I am reminded all the time that my sweet baby girl has grown into a funny, cute, and sassy toddler!

She loves her brother very much and wants to copy everything he does....

She is very much into her babies....

They have all been named (with help from her brother) and they are very well cared for.

Here she is telling us her baby names....

Her vocabulary has exploded.  She surprises me everyday with a new word or expression.  This is so much earlier than Aaron - I guess girls just learn early on how to talk! 

Here is some video of her telling me her colors....

I will have to post some video soon of her swimming.  She has no fear and loves it, just like big brother!  We are so blessed to have Noel in our family!

#5

I am a little late on this report, but just a few weeks ago, this handsome boy turned 5!

We got to have a little party with cousins at Papa and Grammy's house.  One of the main requests was to have a pinata....

...... and a monster truck cake.  Mommy is not super artistic but pulled off an acceptable one. 

I love this picture - the reaction to Aunt Julie's Justin Bieber card that played "Baby Baby".  Oh the pure joy! =)  Probably the most expensive card she ever bought, but a definite hit!

And later that week, Aaron and I took a special date to a local water park, just he and I.  It was a blast to hang out with my buddy all day and enjoy some one-on-one time.  

Some things I want to remember about Aaron at this age:

- He loves his sister so.....  Although he pesters her, and gets frustrated with her getting into his stuff, they love to be together and have lots of fun.  

- He still is a fish and loves the water.  He swims so well now!  We have enjoyed watching Michael Phelps and practicing our racing skills in the pool.

- He asks good theological questions and wants to understand God and His ways.  When we read his Bible, he always manages to come up with a question that intrigues me.  An example being, "Mom why did Jesus HAVE to die on the cross?  God can do anything so why did He make Jesus do that?"

- He loves music and amazes me at how quickly he can learn a tune and the words that go with it!  We have to sing a selected song before going to bed at night - lately it fluctuates between "Joy to the World", "Tis so Sweet to Trust in Jesus", or "He Washed it White as Snow." 

- It is his main goal to make people laugh and have a good time.  He is all about being fun and relational....  Pretty much every meal I have to remind him to stop being silly and eat.

- He was such a terrible sleeper as a baby and little toddler, but ironically he still takes naps quite regularly!

- He loves to get out and do things - Even if it is a trip to Kohl's or the grocery store with mom, it is way better than staying home.

- He has made this mama grow and trust in God unlike anything else - I pray that He continues to grow  into a man that loves God and wants to know Him more!

Ridgway 2012

Our family and extended family took a camping vacation to Ridgway State Park in Colorado.  Camping is always such an interesting experience - lots of work, but usually worth it all and our family had a great time.  It was nice to get out of normal life and escape and we had a great time with all of our cousins....

Thank goodness for modern technology to pass the long drive....  Even Noel enjoyed some IPOD action....

   

The wonderful thing about Ridgway was that it was covered in parks so we got to play away and enjoy changing it up....

This merry go round was a huge hit, as well as a huge motion sickness problem =)  I love how all our kids are sprawled out everywhere....

(I stole this shot from my cousin Jenna - Loved it!)

Aaron completed a little workbook and received an honorary "junior ranger" title complete with a badge he was quite proud of....

Noel with her cousin Raegan in the bike trailer - too fun having these girls so close in age together....

(This one is courtesy of Julie - I wanted to remember what a cool Aunt I was succumbing to all the bike trailer ride requests of the little ones)

The whole crew enjoying a night in town for pizza and ice cream....

I really missed my brothers and their families on this trip....  Thank goodness for so many great cousins to lessen the blow of that distance.  Love all my family!!! 

And some progress at home while we were gone......

The Moves

What in tarnation,  June is halfway over???!!!  Well, time to squeeze in another post so I can remember our lives in this season.....

We moved out of our home a few weeks ago and thank goodness that is over with.  My dad always used to say that he thinks that if one goes to hell, he or she will have to continually move for eternity.  I think I agree because no me gusta moving.  Thank goodness we had so much help from our family and friends!  The only major mishap was that Noel's dresser accidentally got packed into our storage pod in the very back.  Getting to the dresser would have meant another half day of work unpacking and repacking the pod. So suddenly, my little girl only had the clothes and hair bows that she happend to be wearing that day.  After a few hours of panic, I ended up being able to actually laugh about it, as I am blessed with so many amazing friends -  Noel was pretty much given a whole other wardrobe through hand me downs and gifts.  We are blessed! 

Anyway, Lee's parents own a small second home here in Mesa, and they have kindly let us stay there while our new house gets built.  One major highlight of the new home is that our next door neighbors (who happen to be our good friends at our church) have two cats.  They are pretty much outdoor cats so Aaron and Noel have loved having "pets" to enjoy outside.....

We also enjoyed a visit from Uncle Chad, Gi Gi, and Papa.....

As I downloaded pictures, I could not believe that I hadn't taken any with Gi Gi and Papa!  But I promise they were here! =) 

Anyway, it is getting HOT here which means a lot of this to keep us entertained....

Aaron got to enjoy a week of swimming lessons with his cousins and continually proves to be a little fish.  Here is some video of his latest summer tricks....

He also surprised us by jumping off the local public pool's high dive!  We were proud!

We also pass the summer with popsicles sessions, stripped down....

Usually these dates include our neighbor friend, Ivy.  We will get pictures of her with us later...

We also our happy to have Uncle Steve, Auntie Serina, and baby Gracie back in Mesa permanently with us!!!

In the midst of our home move, we also moved our church.  Which was another round of exciting but hard work.....  But it has been AWESOME to have our own church building!!! We are so excited what God will do in and through Harvest in this new location....

Here is a picture of our lot where our new house is going.... (Most likely done sometime in September)

Our home will be directly across the street from this awesome park, which we are all super excited about....

The kids are excited about the coming perks as well....

Anyway, thanks for hanging with this long post.  We have had a busy month, but it has mostly been good stress.  We are so blessed by all these changes, and are so grateful for how God has provided for our family!

Just when I thought life was settling down....

I think I had said on my last two posts how life was beginning to go back to "normal"....  Boy, did I set myself up.  In the last few weeks, we have had some exciting and crazy changes to look forward to....

After talking with some realtor friends and seeking their counsel, we decided to put our house up for sale, seeing if we could get what we paid originally for it (something we never dreamed possible anytime soon in this market).  After 3 days on the market, we had several offers, one of which was a cash full-asking price offer which our realtor said was a total miracle, so we accepted.  Suddenly, we were out and about looking for a new house that would give our family a little more room with a bigger backyard.  We determined quickly that our best choice was a new build a little further southeast of our current home.  This happens to be closer to our church as well.  So as we wait for that to be done (hopefully end of August) we are thankfully moving in the meantime into Lee's parents' house that they bought in Mesa a while back.  We are so grateful to have somewhere to land while we wait, and Aaron is super excited because our next door neighbor happens to be some good family friends from church.  I'm sure you will see pictures of her in the weeks ahead because we plan to play lots with her this summer =)  So whew! I have been so busy packing up the house and getting us out of here!

Also, another miracle - Our church found a building to lease that we will have full access to.....

This is totally a crazy story as well of how God provided....   In short, an existing church that owned this building had to close down and after our church elders met with the board of men who owned the church, they agreed to lease Harvest the building.  It is a huge opportunity for our church to have its own building that we can have 24 hour access to!  We are so excited and thankful for God's provision.  As we prepare to move our church into it, there has been a ton of work to do to make it our own....  More busy-ness!!! 

In the middle of all these big happenings, little happenings with the kids are occurring too.  We are trying to not let them get shoved to the side as the good stress of all of these things are weighing on us! =) 

Aaron grew up just a little bit more and decided on a whim to try riding his two-wheel bike with no training wheels (after seeing his cousins and friends be able to do it) and had it no problem..... We couldn't believe how well he did!

Also, Noel grew up a bit more too, turning 18 months old and got rid of her pacifiers.....  It was hilarious, because she is so communicative already that I decided to talk with her about it one afternoon.  We had a little ceremony of throwing them into the trash and I told her what a big girl she was now, not a baby.  She went to bed that night without a peep!!!  No tears or asking for it - So funny!  She really is a big girl now!  

Dare I hope that potty training could be this easy down the road?  =)  Somehow, I think not....

Something also fun we got to do is Mother's Day tea at Aaron's school.....

It was really a sweet time with my boy.  I know a lot of the stress and changes going on around us have been hard on him, and it was nice to have some time being together and not rushing around.  The kids did lots of special things for all the mommies that morning, but one of my favorite aspects was reading the cards the teacher made after interviewing each child about his or her mommy....  SO FUNNY.  Here is Aaron's:

I love that he loves to go to garage sales with me! =)  

And just for fun, some video of the kids singing their new favorite Justin Bieber song, thanks to Uncle Kyle and Auntie Sarah's blog post awhile back.....  

Twin Cousins

Last week, I got to try out having almost 18 month old twins when cousin Lincoln came over. Aaron and Lincoln's older brother, Caleb, are in the same preschool class and they had a field trip, so Aunt Julie took the big boys on the field trip while I stayed back with the "babies." Lincoln is just 3 days older and I just know he and Noel will be good friends.....

It is so funny to see the difference in girls and boys.... Noel wants to COMMUNICATE about everything around her and is constantly chatting away, while Lincoln seems perfectly content to investigate, explore, and climb on everything around him. While eating lunch, Noel was working on Lincoln to communicate with her....

Oh we had fun all together =)

And Aaron had a great time on the farm too - Aunt Julie sent this picture of him and I'm pretty sure he was in heaven.....