Tuesday, October 20, 2009

A couple of Noah's latest antics


Today:
We sat down to have lunch and Noah started talking to his hotdog.  It went a little like this:
Noah:  "Hi Hotdog, I'm going to eat you now."
Hotdog (aka Noah using his low 'hotdog' voice):  "Okay, Noah"
He takes a bite of the hotdog
Hotdog:  "Ouch, ouch!  Noah, that hurts!"
Noah:  "Sorry Hotdog"
Hotdog:  "Thats okay, but your teeth are sharp.  Do you use your teeth to talk?"
Noah:  "No, hotdog, I use them to eat!"

As he is doing this I ducked behind the counter to call Jon.  I just had to share this with him!  I was trying to whisper so Noah wouldn't hear me, but I think my giggles gave me away.  I stood up and he was sitting there with a big grin on his face.  He totally caught me.

A week or so a go:
We were in the car and both Noah and Millie were a little fidgety.  I gave Noah a book to read and Millie the DoodlePro.  Noah was then upset because (of course) he wanted the DoodlePro.  I told him he needed to wait until Millie was finished with it, and gave him a pad of paper and a pen to drawn with instead.  He took the paper, tore off a sheet and asked me to 'show him how to draw an 'X.'  This was a little strange, because I know he knows how to draw an 'X', but I did it and handed it back.  He then took the pen and started to draw a little, but soon got frustrated and said in a very stern voice..."Mommy.  I don't know how to draw Millie's face on the 'X'.  I need you to help me."  Again, giggles insued.  He has done the samething another time since then, but used a red marker to make the 'X'.  He said he was making a sign to show Millie to 'stay off his stuff.'



The sibling rivalry begins...

Monday, October 19, 2009

My little pumpkins

For the past three years we have driven to County Line Orchard in Hobart, Indiana to choose our pumpkins and to pick apples. I love that we have continued this new family tradition so far. It is one of my favorite days of the year. We started going mainly for the pumpkins, but now I think we enjoy the apple picking just as much!
The first year we went Noah was 20 months old and it was exciting to see his reaction to the big pumpkins (they were all big compared to him!) and to watch him try to roll them. Last year was definitely not the best year, but memories were made nonetheless. It was Millie's first year to go, she was just 2 months old and I spent most of the time feeding her while Noah and Daddy stomped around the pumpkin patch. It was also very hot and buggie that year and we found ourselves losing patience with the mud and mosquitoes.
This year was different. Noah and Millie are now both at such an adventurous age it made this years trip the best yet!
The visit always starts the same...with pumpkin and apple spice doughnuts and hot apple cider. (I didn't say anything about it being a healthy day, but it is quite a treat for all of us!) This year we went through the petting zoo. The kids loved feeding the goats, piggies and cows. Once through the zoo we hitched a ride on the wagon to take the ride out to the pumpkin patch. After trudging through a little mud and picking our perfect pumpkins we headed back to the apple orchard to pick (...and sample) our apples. It always proves to be a long day, but the fun we have and the memories we make always make it well worth the trip. I can't wait to go back next year...
Noah being a good big brother and giving Millie a ride.
He did a great job and she surprisingly sat still and enjoyed the ride.

Noah searching for the 'perfect pumpkin.'
It had to be 'hu-uge' he said as he stretched his arms out to his sides.

Millie was determined as ever to pick one up.
She went from pumpkin to pumpkin trying to lift each one.

Family picture in the patch.

Millie liked taking bites out of each apple she picked.



"Mmmm, apples! My 'bays-rite'!"

Millie sharing her apple with me.

As you can tell we filled our wagon with lots and lots of autumn goodies!

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Book Review - How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You?


I decided to do a book review, my first, because I just love the newest addition to our personal library. How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You by Jane Yolen is a book that just makes my heart melt. We have every 'How Do Dinosaurs...." book printed so far. The latest edition was released on October 8th - I pre-ordered it through Amazon and received it on October 8th and I have to say that eventhough Noah is the dinosaur lover in our house, I couldn't wait to open it either. All of these books have a little humor while teaching a little lesson. The illustrations are unmatched - so bright, fun and with lots of detail. I have always enjoyed reading them, but this one is different - it pulls on the old heart strings a little. It talks about how dinosaurs sometimes test their mommy's and daddy's patience, but mommy and daddy love them anyway. It is the perfect bedtime read at the end of a loooong day, the kind of day when you just can't wait for bedtime to come...but when it does come, this book will help you appreciate that day - good or bad and will make you look forward to the next.
Happy Reading!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Scenes of our Summer

This summer was such a whirlwind! We traveled out-of-town almost every weekend and although we had lots of fun going to showers, weddings, visiting family, etc, we also appreciated spending time at home too. Here are some of the highlights.




Noah splashing around in the rock stream at the Morton Arboretum. This was such a fun place. We spent a few hours here and didn't even come close to seeing all the fun children things to do.


At a Detroit Tigers game. We had amazing seats...right behind the Tigers dugout. Carlos Guillen and Miguel Cabrerra each threw Noah a baseball. He loved it!


Noah with Paws the Tiger. He danced on top of the dugout, then hopped down to take a picture with Noah. We felt like celebs.

A fun morning at the Green City Market in Lincoln Park. We like to walk around the farmer's market and scope out the goods. Last summer our favorite treat was the fresh cheese and herb crepes, but this year a new addition to the market, Seedling took over. They have delicious sorbet! Noah's favorite was blueberry and mine was rhubarb honey mint - you can't even imagine how wonderful this was. They used fresh mint, one of my faves. We also bought their Pear Butter to enjoy at home, yum!

Just a lazy weekday at home. It was a beautiful day so we had a picnic lunch outside. Even Bowman enjoyed lunch that day...Noah's and Millie's!


Noah working hard at Grandma and Grandpa K's house.

Millie enjoying the view at Grandma and Grandpa K's house.


At a pool party in the 'burbs. Millie just loves the water!

Every summer we have a family campout with my side of the family. My parents, brother, sister, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc all attend. Most of them live near Cincinnati so I don't get to see them very often so it is nice to have a weekend to enjoy their company and catch up.

That picture is of the new tent we bought on the way down...it rained most of the weekend this year and the tent LEAKED..a lot. Ugh. Needless to say, we returned it on the way back home.

One of the highlights of the camping trip is going to the creek to look for critters. This year we found lots of 'crawdads' and even a tadpole. No snakes...this year!

A picture of Millie with her Great Grandpa B.


At a playdate in Millenium Park.
We met our friends for a fun Wiggleworms sing-a-long and had a picnic lunch.

Noah was in two weddings this summer. He did a great job in both! Doesn't he look handsome? Here he is at my brother's wedding. If it looks like his hair is wet, that is because it is. It was a sizzling 90+degrees that day! Whoa!


Well, that is our summer in a nutshell. I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we enjoyed taking them and experiencing them!





Long time, no post.

I know it has been some time since my last post. Our summer was a crazy one. We were out of town every weekend (excluding two or three) for showers, weddings, or other events and although we were having lots of fun, it left little time to sit down at the computer. I am hoping this fall will slow down a little so I can continue posting my families memories. In the meantime I will post a 'Summer Update' so everyone can get caught up.

I hope you all had a wonderful summer - I missed you!