Family Day

We just spend a fun day at the American West Heritage farm for baby animal days. This experience was a first for us & I must admit we probably wouldn't have gone except my dad was involved in the gun fights during the festivities.

Getting ready for the fight

My Dad threw us off, he is usually the sheriff but today he switched sides and he was involved in robbing the store. I have watched poor Anginette (girl in below pic) be kidnapped so many times I think she'd have learned by now to avoid the Mercantile as it never ends well for her when she shops there...oh well the good guys saved her as usual

Noah was really excited to see Grandpa, once he put away the loud gun...he didn't care for those today.

Noah wouldn't go anywhere without Grandpa being right there. In fact when Grandpa had to go rob the store Noah sat in the dirt & cried. He sure loves his Grandpa.

I thought maybe Noah would be hesitant to touch the animals but he jumped right in with the other kids.

While we were visiting with my Dad & his friends Noah began watching the horses tied up behind us. Bart (on of the the volunteers) said Noah could sit on the horse if he wanted. I thought he would freak out but he loved it and sat up there for quit some time. Guess Grandpa had better get a horse so he & Noah can go riding.

Not sure where he thought he was going, good thing the horse was tied up.

We ended up staying longer than we had planned, poor Noah was exhausted from the day. He refused to let anyone but Grandpa carry him, he just couldn't make it to the car....

Noah's music

Noah has always loved music, which isn't surprising with his father's family & how they love music.

First up we have Noah's version of the Wise Man & the Foolish Man

Second we have him conducting the music, he got this from his great-Aunt Karin or his Uncle Mike it's a toss up.

Third, in honor of our snow storm, we have once there was a snowman.

I think I labeled those right, if not sorry. ENJOY!

And it begins!

Mark just returned from his first work trip. He loved the flight time, and is very excited about his future as a pilot. Noah & I missed him and are glad he's home, He is handsome in his uniform?! I think so :)

Surprise!

Last Thursday at work everyone kept trying to get me to leave earlier than I ever do on Thursdays & Mark kept calling me with strange questions so I figured something was up. However I didn't think something this big was up. Mark had planned a trip to visit Matthew, Kristin, Axton & Jayli in So-Cal. I had hopes that California was where we were going when I got home from work and there were dress clothes sitting out for me to put on & the car had suitcases in it (we have to wear dress clothes to fly). Mark wouldn't tell me where we were going & when I asked Noah he would just do his fake laugh. It wasn't until we actually go to the security line that I knew where we were going. I was so excited I could have cried.

In order for Mark to pull this off he called my co-workers and got me time off plus he packed for all 3 of us. I think he wins Husband of the year award!

We landed in LA about 9. Flying American Eagle into LAX was a different experience. Their terminal is actually not connected to LAX but is out by the runways. After getting off the plan we boarded a bus that drove us to the main terminal, it was actually really fun because we got to drive under planes taking off & past huge (double decker) airplanes. Not sure who was more amazed by the planes Noah or Mark :)

We got to celebrate Kristin's & Axton's Birthdays while we were visiting. Kristin on Friday & Axton on Saturday.

We dragged the boys outlet shopping on Kristin's Birthday, they we were such good troopers!

After shopping we drove out to Channel Beach. Noah was amazed by the huge "sandbox." He also really like the water until it knocked him down. It was pretty cold with the ocean breeze but he kept going back for more waves. Kristin & I had a good time walking up and down the beach collecting sea shells.

We ended the night having dinner on the pier; the food was good, the view pretty & the company great!
Isn't Jayli just the cutest thing ever?! We had so much fun playing with her and you just can't help but melt at her smile.

Lots of people talk about the Strawberries in Southern California being divine, I finally tasted them & yep they were right. I wanted to bring some home but we couldn't figure out how to get them on the plane.

Noah loved the "kitty"

We spent Axton's Birthday celebration on Saturday with his friends & their parents having a pizza party at the park. I must admit having an outside Birthday party in February without snow gear was a little odd but I won't complain. Noah loved being outside in his t-shirt.

We ended Axton's day playing at Santa Monica Pier. The kids had so much fun on the carousel, Jayli even go in on the fun. I wasn't a very good photographer & didn't get Jayli or Axton on the carousel, I blame it on trying to not get motion sick :) I think my favorite part was watching Axton chase the birds, I was laughing so hard I had a difficult time getting a picture that was in focus.

Of course we had to go play in the sand and get our toes wet in the ocean.

We went to Red Robin for Axton's Birthday dinner, the server's came out singing with his very own ice cream sundae. I wish I would have gotten my video camera going, his face was priceless. I sure do love that little boy, can't believe he is 4!

Sunday at Church Noah got a little excited about a huge picture of Jesus behind the couch & in his excitement sort of jumped off the couch catching himself with his face. His marbles were sure shook up for a little bit. He brought home some nice rug burn as a souvenir, maybe next time we'll buy him something so he doesn't' have to bring home an injury to remember his trip by :)

It was a wonderful surprise weekend, thanks to everyone who helped Mark! Love you all!

Noah's genes

When you have a child people always want to know who he looks like, we get this question with Noah. Usually people will say he looks like Mark if they know him & Emily if they know her. What do you think......

Wrong...he looks like Emily's cousins Robert & Ryan. Above is a picture of Robert who is now 18 and graduating, below is Noah.

Robert was recently getting pictures together for a senior project and, as I heard it, came upstairs asking his mom why they had pictures of Noah in box. He was shocked to discover it was NOT Noah but HIM. Luckily for Noah his cousin Robert is a very handsome young man!

Airplanes, Airplanes & more Airplanes

We took advantage of my day off this week & piled in our car with Mom & Dad H and traveled to the Aerospace Museum. Noah thought all the airplanes where really awesome until he discovered he couldn't touch them.

He was convinced there was someone in this house ignoring him, he kept knocking on the window say hello and where are they. Than he would try to open the door and go in.

Father & Son had lots of fun looking at the airplanes, I think they would've stayed much longer except Noah informed us we were done by throwing a tantrum.

Future Pilot, I think yes.

Noah got to bring home his own airplane, he pretty much has it with him all the time. I wish you could all hear him say airplane, it is adorable!!

18 months

Some how Noah turned 18 months a few weeks ago! He went in for his 18 month check up and his growth stats are as follows;

Head: 19.8 inches 97%

Weight: 27 pounds 66% (he is finally above 50%)

Height: 34.25 inches 93%

Noah loves the "fishies" at Walmart

and ice cream sandwiches with Grandma N.

A few other milestones:

He is saying lots & lots of new words/phrases; bath, down, treat, outside, apple, burp, excuse you, George (as in Curious George), night, bye-bye.

He loves singing "Popcorn Popping," he does more of a pick-a-boo than look out the window but he gets the popcorn part.

He knows where his eyes, mouth, ears, toes and hair are.

Somewhere he learned how to do knuckles, it's really very funny.

He is ALL boy, the most important things in life are trucks, balls, blocks, tinker-toys and somewhere he figured out what guns are.

He will sit and watch Tangled, yep an 18month old will sit still. We actually call it Rapunzel but he loves it, or maybe her. Curious George ranks slightly about Rapunzel but it's a closer race.

He is working on learning where his belly button is, but it's a slow learn.

He is really enjoying the little bit of snow we are having, he likes to make it crunch.

He is OBSESSED with drinking fountains.

He will NOT be put down for the night without his Jessie blanket, he "borrowed" it from my sister months ago & I think she may have lost custody of it forever. In Noah's world anything associated with Aunt Jessie is made of fruit snacks (gold didn't make sense for a toddler analogy)

Nursery is not his favorite time of the week, each week is getting better. I think I figured out why, daycare if kids older or younger than him and he isn't sure what to do with kids his own size. He'll figure it out, eventually.

He LOVES to steal diet Pepsi & diet Coke from his Grandparents.

I am sure there is more but hey I am tired it is 9:30 after all.