Thursday, May 10, 2018

Noah's 13th bday!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On Thursday, April 19, our first born boy, Noah Allen, turned a gigantic, colossal, monumental 13 years old! Gah! How can this be?!
Also, how adorable is Terry?! 💙

I was rather heavy at that point (60 pounds!!! But nursing school and overeating while pregnant does that to a person), but what's important is that little tiny baby that completely changed my world and how I saw it.



Noah was the first grandchild on both sides of our family and everyone just loved him.



Noah's birthday started with the traditional serenade of the birthday song. Good morning birthday boy!



"Happy birthday to Noah!"



Luna was rather excited but the kids all seem to like that.






Noah got the day off from school but he first had to finish a couple things, math and spelling. It only took a few minutes.



Then he got to do his favorite thing, video games! Meanwhile Evie and I were completing her standardized 4th grade test.



Lunch time!



Evie made Noah a 13.



After Evie's spectacular 10th birthday two weeks earlier (thanks to Terry's hard work), I felt like we couldn't just stay home for the occasion so we went to the park just like we did for Samuel's day.



Biggers in the tree again.



Bunny ears in the wind.



Evie discovered she could hang by her knees.



Everyone was so impressed and had to try for themselves.



Including big boy Noah. Look at that boy! He's huge!



Since there were other people at the park we couldn't just let Luna have the run of the place like usual, so everyone played on the swings for a bit.



And then either the other people left or because the kids were in the field, Luna stayed with us and didn't bother anyone else. Of course it was because Evie started throwing her this huge stick to fetch. 😆



Even though she's only one quarter retriever, she sure loves to fetch. After Snap dog, it's so nice to have a dog that will actually do something, like fetch and other tricks.



Isn't she so funny?!



She looks so happy.



Noah threw from up in the tree and his face is hilarious. Ha!



I believe this is the best video I have of Luna playing Keep Away from the kids.



Spring buds!!! 💚



Yep, everyone had left so Luna could play Lava Monster with the kids.



He looks so huge! And even since then it seems like I look at him once a week and he's taller. He's getting close to me! 



That evening Noah requested chicken pot pie for his birthday dinner but I talked him out of it since the gluten free version would not be as good. He chose steak instead. No I didn't eat that entire hunk. 



Oh, but I did make him a close second favorite, mashed potatoes. I like Samuel's hanging head on the side.



Not too much later my folks came over for some cake and presents.



Terry is modeling like The Price is Right.



Oh! And I just remember the reason Terry's pointing at the camera! My brother and sister in law had their third baby that day! We recorded Noah's happy birthday song and included our new baby cousin Quinn Eden in it too. How fun it is for Noah and Quinn to share birthdays!



At over nine pounds, she was so big! Poor little bruised face. She cooked a long time. 



It was Noah's idea to make an N and a 13 with sprinkles.



Getting ready to blow. I like how Samuel looks like he's preparing too.



Here's the video Evie recorded for Noah and Quinn.




The night before at the Awana store Evie spent a lot of her Awana bucks to buy this large gift for Noah (I love that generosity). He gave her back the drawings with girl stuff on them. 😂



He wanted to a watch and he got a watch. Nice uvula by the way kid. 



Look at that boy, he's all arms, just like his mom and dad...and grandpa behind him since that's where I get it from.



Of course this gift was the main event, as are all Lego Star Wars sets that he gets.



K-thump.



No time to waste, gotta get this thing together pronto...



...with an occasional bite of surprisingly delicious gluten free cake thrown in amidst the building.



I believe he was going too fast and made a few mistakes that needed some attention.



He finished it in no time the following morning though. 



Rewind to the previous weekend when we celebrated Noah and Rebekah's birthdays at Shari's after church.



The birthday song. Grampa's yawning. Ha ha. 



The other side of the room. 



Noah loves the babies...a lot more than any other age. But he used to be my baby! 😭 And now he's huge! Time sure has flown. Noah we love you and are proud of who you are. You've got a good heart and we are always praying for you. We can't wait to see what the Lord does.


Wednesday, May 9, 2018

first signs of spring

Our final snow storm (knock on wood) took place on April 13, and three days later, it was half gone.




Ezra loves being outside. It's always like that when the kids are little, the littler they are the most they like being in the backyard. This particular day I followed him out there because he had hauled the snow shovel over to the largest snow pile, filled it up, and then pulled it over to the slide. He then took handfuls of snow over to the slide...



...where he packed down the snow in the slide. It was like he was making a luge, continuing Terry's work where he poured fresh snow over the slide and the kids busted through it when they went down the slide.



This is the pile of snow Ezra took from but the irises were coming up behind it. A month later, the irises are half up and every time I look at them I am reminded of that snow pile.



I thought the green was so pretty. All my perennial flowers were starting to emerge from the ground too. Except my salvias which I dug up and threw away last fall. I hated the dumb things because they breed like crazy. I spent some time today digging up more tiny little babies. I'll put new things in soon.



I turned around and discovered the cat was enjoying the spring for another reason...



...because of the expanded litter box. 😹😹😹