T'was a Mighty Fine Christmas!!!

First of all, Merry Christmas everyone! We're had a very busy and joyous two days spent with family that is very dear to us.

We'll start with some pictures from Christmas Eve at the Shoemaker's:

Here are Noah and I, Noah is holding the blocks that Uncle Seth and Aunt Julie gave him. It was too cute, he hugged them after he opened them!

Here's my little man:

The newly-engaged couple, Leahna & Adam:

Julie & Seth:

Kathy & Tom:


Here are the presents that Santa left last night!

Here's Noah this morning checking out his stocking stash!

He LOVED the balls that he got in this stocking and the Cubs rocking chair that Santa gave him! He didn't want to get out of it!

Here he is sitting at his new table with one of the books from his stocking:

Sitting on his "Bounce & Spin" Zebra:

This is what he had the best time playing with this morning: our electric steamer and mixer!

We couldn't pass up getting him this toy laptop! He loves ours so much it was a no-brainer gift!

Can you find our living room in this mess? If so, please give me a call, I'd love to know where it is! If you notice there are still presents unwrapped in this picture. And guess what?! There are still two presents that Noah has yet to open! He was much more interested in playing with the toys then unwrapping his gifts.

Here's Noah and his cousin, Mary:

Noah helping Justin put together the wagon that Grandma Debbie & Grandpa Jerry got him:

Playing with Ellie & her Polly Pockets Mega Mall- He LOVED this present, too bad it was Ellie's and not his! (That and it's a little "girlie", don't you think?!)

And here's Uncle Aaron and Noah playing with the Polly Pocket Mega Mall, this present was a hit!

My lovely niece, Mary:

And my other lovely niece, Ellie, going for a ride through the house in Noah's wagon:

My family at dinner-

Here's Janis, Mary & my mom:

Aaron, Ellie and Justin:

And here's my dad, who made us all home-made fudge for Christmas. YUM!!!

We hope you all had a wonderful day! Merry Christmas!

Congratulations Uncle Adam & Aunt Leahna!!!

We were so happy to find out tonight that Noah's Aunt Leahna and Uncle Adam became engaged yesterday! They've been dating longer then Justin and I have been together and we all knew that someday their engagement would happen, but it was still such a wonderful surprise.
It wasn't until I sat down to write this blog that I realized they got engaged on my Granny and Gramps' wedding anniversary- they were married in 1933 on December 23rd, 75 years ago! I wish for Adam and Leahna that they have as long and as wonderful marriage as my Granny and Gramps did. They are two of the kindest, loving people I know and I hope they have a lifetime of happiness together. We are so happy for the two of you! Congratulations!!!
Here are a couple of pictures of Noah with his godparents:

Gotta Love Family & Friends!

I think the best thing about the holidays is getting to spend more time with family and friends. We are really lucky that a lot of our family live so close to us: my parents and Kathy & Tom live within a mile of us, my brother and his family are about a 15 minute drive away and they actually live very close to Seth and Julie and Adam & Leahna are the farthest away, in Littleton. Granted Adam will be moving next month to California and a brand new job but we are fortunate to have those people near to us.

Here are some pictures from this past weekend of Noah and some of his family.

In the picture above he's with his favorite cousin Mary and his Uncle Aaron. In the picture below he's with his other favorite cousin, Ellie and Aaron. I was telling Justin we got him the wrong thing for Christmas- we should have gotten him a picture of the girls for Christmas. I found an old frame and put a picture of the three of them in it and he LOVED it! He pointed to the girls and kissed their pictures, it was too cute!

Below is Noah with his Uncle Adam, who was tickling him. Noah LOVES Adam and Leahna. The three of them have a head nodding thing going on. When ever Noah sees them he shakes his head no, then they do it back and the dialogue continues back and forth. It's cute to see how he remembers that and associates that with the two of them.

On Monday Noah and I went to lunch at the home of a friend of mine from high school, although it's actually her parents house as she lives in Utah now. There were four of us that were able to meet for lunch. It was great to see everyone, most of them I haven't seen in over 15 years. And there were TONS of kids there, Noah loved that!

Here are all of us, on the left is Leah (she has four kids now), Megan (she has two), Becky (she has one and one on the way) and then there's Noah & me. We're hoping to make it an annual event. There were a couple people that couldn't make it, so it would be great to try to connect with them next year.


Well, tomorrow is Christmas Eve and that means we're off to the Pancake House in Boulder for breakfast with the Shoemakers. This year it will only be Kathy, Tom, Seth, Justin, Noah and I. Then after lunch my nieces are coming over so I can braid their hair for their Christmas pageant at Church. We're off to Church at 4:00 then dinner at the Shoe's. After dinner Noah will open his presents and after that everyone else will go out and look at lights while we get Noah ready for bed and then we'll all exchange gifts. I also have to make rolls sometime tomorrow and Justin has a few pies to bake. Hopefully I'll post some pictures tomorrow night or Thursday morning. If I don't, here's wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!!!

Today Noah Got His First. . . .

Kiss from a girl!!! (The cute little brunette in the first picture). We were in the play area of the mall today and this little girl came over to where we were playing and started playing with us on the spinning sand wheel. Justin was helping her spin it and she got excited and gave Noah a hug. Then they started spinning it again and she leaned over and gave him another hug and planted a smooch on his forehead. She did this two times, it was too cute. I asked her mom how old she was and she said she's two. I told her what a great vocabulary she has, she was talking up a storm! Too bad Noah didn't get her number, I bet she could teach him how to talk! :)
Here's our little man crawling through the dinosaur egg. The play area at the Flatirons mall is all dinosaurs, it's pretty cute. They also have a funny mirror, mazes and puzzles on the walls, Noah really like to play with those. He especially likes the lady bug maze- but those who know him well know he loves lady bugs!

Here's Noah with another little boy in the dinosaur egg.

Here's one of the wall puzzles.

Here we are at the ladybug maze I was mentioning above.

We're On Vacation!!!! (And Noah's scary encounter with Kris Kringle)

It's official, all three of us are on vacation!!! I had yesterday off and took Noah to see Santa Claus. I knew he was going to cry, he's hesitant about strangers let alone those with long white beards in odd red suits. I set him on Santa's lap and he bawled! Poor little guy. And I don't think it will be any better next year!

After the visit with Santa we had lunch from McDonalds in the food court. Unfortunately I took those pictures on my phone and don't have them uploaded. I was totally surprised when he ate more than half of the cheeseburger! I think he might be going through a growth spurt with how much more he's wanting to eat (okay, mainly nurse) and with how much sleep he's getting. He's been sleeping solid through the night from 8:00-4:00 with most days getting up later than 4:00, then nursing and going back to bed until 7:00. And he's been taking longer naps. It occurred to me yesterday as I was sitting there having lunch with him how much of a little boy he's become, he's really not much of a baby anymore. It makes me happy and sad at the same time.

Here he is eating dinner at the Hacienda Colorado. He has learned the fine art of dipping his fries into ketchup, his Aunt Janis would be so proud! :) And yes, he has fries at a Mexican restaurant. He wouldn't eat his burrito or taco but of course had a few bites of cheese!

He's climbing up on everything and everyone. I bet anyday now he will take off walking (as soon as he figures out he doesn't need to hold onto us).

Happy Birthday Grandma Kathy!!! (And catching up on other happenings. . . )

First of all, Happy Birthday Grandma Kathy! We hope that you had a great day!
Second, I have a lot of catching up to do on the blog. What a weekend we had! Uncle Adam graduated from the Colorado School on Mines on Friday. While Justin and I were unable to attend, Noah went with Grandma and Grandpa. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures to share of Adam in his cap and robe. Leahna had a real nice party to celebrate on Saturday.
On Sunday, Uncle Seth graduated from Metro State College. Here's a picture of the two graduates.
Here's Seth and Julie after the commencement ceremony. Here are the four boys after the ceremony.
Noah walking through the convention center. Notice that he's holding on to Justin with only one hand!
His physical therapist thinks it should be any time now that he will be walking on his own
Here's the little man "relaxing" during the ceremony. He did such a great job- the commencement lasted 2 hours and 45 minutes and he was great. Notice that he's laying on his diaper bag by my feet- what a goof!


Below is Noah being his smiley self!
This was my project last night: making name tags for the choir field trip that was today.
Here I am with "my kids" on the field trip. We had quite the experience. I called the living center yesterday to confirm that we were scheduled to sing today. Well, when we showed up at 10:00 they said they had "double booked" and we'd have to go through the hallways and sing. Thank goodness I had a parent that arranged for us to sing in the lobby instead of roaming the hallways and singing to empty rooms (which is what we started out doing). The kids did great with following directions and I was very proud of the way they represented out school.
Here are some more pictures of them singing to the seniors.
Here are my two boys relaxing this evening, "reading a magazine." You can't see it but Justin also has his feet kicked up. These two are best buds, that's for sure!
Below is Noah admiring the tree. He's been pretty good about not taking the ornaments off of the tree, but he does like to look at them and touch them and the lights.
And here is my little goofball who is becoming increasingly more and more difficult at diaper changes. He loves to turn the light on and off and the switch is located right at his "changing station." I've become quite good at putting his diaper on him while he's standing up.

Blog Catch-Up

We've been busy since Thanksgiving break. Between school, Noah's physical therapy, my choir concert and of course Christmas shopping it feels like we've barely been home! And this week is no better!
Noah started "speech therapy" today. This comes from the recommendation of his pediatrician and physical therapist. Noah sometimes communicates through "cave baby" talk. That is he grunts to us when he wants something. While Justin and I don't speak cave-baby we do understand it. All too well in fact. Now we've got to teach him how to communicate what he wants to us.
Physical therapy is going well, he's crawling like a champ. He could easily walk if he wanted to. In fact, tonight at speech therapy he started to walk away from me without holding on, but then realized what he did and quickly clung to my arm

Noah's getting into everything nowadays. In one of the pictures above he was getting into his daddy's school bag. Here he is "raiding the cupboard." Most people go for pretzels or chips, Noah likes colanders and flour sifters!

Here's my little man watching football on Sunday. What a typical male, lounging in his lazy boy, remote control in hand.

I hope you all are having a good December. I don't want to brag, but I almost have all of my Christmas shopping done! Can't wait to take Noah to see Santa on the 19th!