Thursday, May 29, 2008

Happy Birthday dear Noah

"Let's make party hats," he says. And so we do. Red ones with red ribbon by request.

"Let's go to the toy store," he grins. And so we go. Sat on the floor to read Handy Manny, drooled over the shiny bikes and the entire imaginarium aisle (wait, that last one was me, I love those toys).

"L-L-Let's go outside and dig," he says (the 3-yr-old-excitement-stutter has already kicked in). And so with bucket and shovel we dig right next to the peonies.

"Let's make birthday cupcakes and eat them for dinner," he laughs. And here a mother draws the line. But eat cupcakes we did. Right after our dinner plates were licked clean.

My favorite part of the day was that sweet smile on Boah's face when we sang Happy Birthday. So happy. Today was a day to celebrate.

Monday, May 19, 2008

What we're up to...


Noah's doing great. I'm so proud of him. I never thought potty training would actually be fun. Any great tips or ideas??

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Sunday pants

Gage has little brown corduroy pants. Gage's little brown corduroy pants are a bit big around the waist. And apparently corduroy sticks to carpet really well.

Oh yeah, and Gage started army crawling about a month ago. He's getting faster and faster. A couple times a day I'll set him down with some toys in the living room and leave for a second. When I come back I don't see Gage, but I usually find his pants first.

Hawk Island 5K

We ran a 5K last week through the woods and around the lake. Once again Dave rocked me pushing a thousand pounds of baby the whole way. But I'm just glad to get out and run. And the kiddos did great. Much much better than last time.
One of my favorite friends and her ever energetic husband also raced. Pure inspiration those two.
Noah's favorite part was the clown making a sword balloon just for him. Gage's favorite was pulling on Noah's stroller straps, Dave's was the pump-you-up music you could hear even on the other side of the lake. And my favorite part of the 5K was the snacks afterward of course. Bananas always taste better after a run.


Happy Mother's Day





Yum! Happy Mother's Day to me.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

I have two kids

I have two kids. This hit me today in an unusual way.

The usual way: two kids?! me? how is that possible? I swear I am still 21 and on my way to the library to study Clinical Phonetics and then hit Jamba Juice.

Today's way: I have two kids. Two beautiful boys. They are healthy. They are happy. I. am. so. lucky.

Here's their update (yes, you have my permission to skim).

Noah Boah
2 years and 11 months old

On a rainy day Noah likes to: fingerpaint, paint with watercolors, cut paper with scissors, scoop up playdough with a backhoe or make tire tracks in it, build train tracks, race Cars, play Curious George or Little Einstein on the computer, write his name (almost legibly).

When the sun is out Noah likes to: race his bike down the sidewalk, blow bubbles, draw on the sidewalk (and screen door) with chalk, run down the hill in the back and put sticks in the storm drain, jump in the mud, throw rocks.

Noah likes to go to the park, go on a walk, go to the children's museum, go to a friend's house, go to the grocery store, go anywhere. "Where are we going today, mom?" he asks first thing in the morning.

Noah likes to feed Gage, hug Gage, kiss Gage, give Gage toys when he's sad, step on him and squish him. When Gage is crying in the car he says "Its ok baby, we're almost there" and will sing him a song.

Noah loves to wrestle with his daddy and loves to "fight" with anything - let's play pillow fight, let's play train fight, let's play spoon fight.

Noah loves to build with the couch cushions. Yesterday we built a Book Nook, snuggled and read our stack of books from the library. Sometimes its a Flyboat, we put on our capes and save baby animals. Sometimes its his Ark and he loads it up with animals and feeds them.

He does not like: dogs, pizza, to brush his teeth, to wash his hair.

Noah does not stop talking. Lately he started telling his own bedtime stories. They are mostly long narratives with never ending sequences. I love to listen to these. Other fun things Noah says:
"Alright. Ok. Alright. Ok."
"Mommy, did you know that....(either Charlie likes spiderman, Abby moved to a new house, or whatever he is thinking about)"
"I can not believe it!"

He can count to 30. Or he can count to 100 if I tell him what's coming next. He loves letters. Thanks to the Letter Factory. He can read 3 letter words if they're phonetic - MAN BIG HAT SIT CAR.

Noah loves to hear stories about when he was a baby, his eyes get wide and happy with wonder. He also loves to hear "Something you did today that I really really liked" I tell him this at bedtime and its usually about how he shared a toy with Alex, how he sang a song to Gage to help him stop crying, or how he gave Mailee a hug. He gets quiet and really listens and smiles.

Gagey
9 1/2 months old
Gage has as two teeth on the bottom. He does a pretty fast army crawl and can sit up for about one minute, then he either slowly teeters to one side and falls or takes off army crawling after something. He can pick up his Cheerios and veggie puffs (and small bits of whatever off the carpet) with his finger and thumb.

Gage is a great eater - baby cereal, fruits, vegetables, this kids eats it all...even that green stuff that comes in a jar and is supposed to be "sweet peas."

Gage loves toys that light up and make noise or any toy that Noah is playing with. He loves to watch Noah do anything and wants to be wherever Noah is. He cranes his neck to watch Noah come around the corner and then squeals and kicks his feet when he seems him.

Gage babbles and babbles. He does a lot of reduplicated babbling right now /ma, ma, ma/, /da da da/, /ba ba ba/. He's got a lot vowel sounds and mostly front consonants /d, t, b, p, m, n/. Today I was hearing some variegated babbling too /aba, ee, ba/ and an approximated /g/ sound. That will be fun to hear!

Gage giggles and giggles. He loves to be thrown in the air, upside down or around and around. He loves to be tickled. Loves to grab noses, lips and ears. He is busy and does not sit still. But he also loves to be cuddled and will burrow into my lap.

He does not like: when I take him away from the computer cords or the curtains, to be held by Someone Else.

I have two kids. Noah and Gage.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

DAVE FEST 2008

DAVE FEST 2002 was the first one. Mr. Jeff Jordan himself started the whole thing. We plastered Provo's 800 North with Dave Fest posters, I made a cake and Aberdine played a rockin show. I'm still not quite sure how it all fit in that bachelor apartment, but it did. Complete with a happy crowd surfing Dave as Jeff wailed out 'Happy Birthday to you.'

Since then we've done DAVE FEST every year. And its been so much fun. I can't tell you how much I wish Aberdine could have played for us this year. This was big. Dave turned 30!

We went with the OLD MAN theme. Our friends came dressed like their grandpas, we had good food, good cake, a little Dave Trivia, and pinata of course.

Here's Noah stuffing the pinata for the kids. We also hired a couple babysitters to play with the kids and our friends' kids upstairs so we could talk about politics and the weather, you know, stuff 30 year olds talk about.
Party drinks

A few of Dave's favorite things. Prizes for Dave Trivia. How would you do?


Question 4

Dave is a dissertation away from earning his PhD in Organizational Behavior. What does Organizational Behavior mean?

  1. being organized
  2. studying people who are organized
  3. studying people in business organizations
  4. organizing closets

My sweet Emily friend put together a DVD with all the questions on it so we could see them on the TV screen at the party.

30 candles on Dave's Boston Cream Pie. Don't you love my shawl? I'm sad I didn't get a picture of my gray wig and fabulous antique purse I carried my party tools around in.

Dave Hall walked away with the prize for best dressed - I really hope he had to stop at the grocery store on the way home that night, the cashier would have loved it - Hawiian shirt, tie, hat, shorts with belt and the black Oxford shoes with high white socks to top it off.

Happy DAVE FEST everyone!





Answer to Dave Trivia Question 4
c. studying people in business organizations