Autumn

My favorite season has arrived and I've started to decorate with the gourds from our garden!

Sunday #11 (September 28th)

75 days old today and still smiling!

As many people know, I'm rather anti-pink, so I am loving this baby-blue sweater outfit!

I may be biased, but she keeps getting cuter!

Thursday, September 25th

Noah wanted his picture taken with his sister...and here they are. Gotta love them!

Our one and only...

This year we tried jamming TOO much into our garden-jungle. This is the only pumpkin that is going to amount to anything. Noah checks it out every night and refers to it as his "ball."

When he's all done, he likes to press his nose up against the glass window on the back patio.

Bigger & Better

Noah watches Jeff make the garden bigger & better...

Jeff is SUPER excited to till more & more to double our garden for next year!

Bye, Bye Binky

As it seems to be with Mr. Noah - he marches to the beat of his own drum. On Monday night (September 22nd) Noah came to us & pointed out that his Binky has a hole in it. This was the last bink around the house & Jeff & I agreed that once it was no longer "good" that Noah would be "off the bink." We've noticed for a few weeks that Noah keeps biting his bink vs. sucking on it; we knew this was coming. I asked Noah if we should give his bink to the "Binky Fairy" to take away for some little boy who needed one. He said yes, and we marched out to the kitchen to put it in a paper sack. (It's amazing how fast you can fly by the seat of your pants once you become a parent!)... So, into the sack, and out to the back patio... Noah placed his Binky on top of the sandbox & we told him that the Binky fairy would leave him a toy in the morning, if he sleeps all night without it. Jeff got all teary, in turn, making me teary - as Noah placed the bag & walked back into the house. Noah did whimper/cry that night for a few minutes, which felt like eternity, but fell asleep & didn't get up until the morning.
So far Noah has done things like this with: going from his bottle to the sippy, his crib to his big-boy bed...and now with his Bink. It's really not worth "fighting" over Noah giving anything up, he does it on his own when he's ready!

Here was his toy - a pig! - waiting for him the next morning. He plays with this thing ALL the time now. We have to laugh because sometimes Noah says "B, b!" (Binky) and we say, "Noah, we don't have binks, we have a pig!" He laughs and says, "Oh yeah!" and laughs. And that is that.

silly kid.

Our home

One thing I truly appreciate about Jeff is how he loves to garden. It sure makes for a beautiful home & for nice pictures...Noah enjoys being outside and taking in all the nature we're lucky to be surrounded by.

Jeff is very proud of all the gourds we've been harvesting...Today, when we got home from church, we had $8 in our money jar from selling the fruits of Jeff's labor at our roadside! We were all tickled.

*pictures soon to follow of Jeff tilling the garden to double in size for next year.

Two Reasons...

why I now know why people have LOTS of kids.

These two little people make me one happy mommy.

Laura & Jed

My beautiful cousin, Laura, got married on Saturday, the 13th. Despite having a rainy day - she had a beautiful wedding. We love you both - Congratulations, Laura & Jed!

September 15th - 2 months old!

2-months to the date and the end of my maternity leave; Norah turns 2-months. I have loved every minute of being home with you, Norah.

Molasses Cookies

Since I knew my return to work was coming Monday, the 15th, I figured I'd make some homemade molasses cookies.
First, I rolled a bunch of little balls:
Rolled the little balls in sugar:

And voila:

Sunday #8 (Sept. 7th)

This past Sunday, Noah moved-up to the 2-3 year old "Junior Church" room at church.
After about 2-minutes of tears, he LOVED music time & did well during "class." I cannot believe how fast those 2 years went.

Norah, looking thrilled that she gets to stay upstairs with mommy & daddy during church still.

Lightening...the horse

We spent the weekend at Jeff's parents house. Noah finally got to meet Lightening, the spring-horse. Jeff's mom said that all 3 of her boys use to ride him & now, it's Noah's turn. He LOVED it...

there, I got my hat...

Noah, feeding Lightening - so he can ride some more...

Yee Haw!

*today Noah is 26-months old, WOW.

Straight from the garden...

Now that our tomatoes are coming on strong, I made homemade spaghetti sauce today. I love the smell of sauce simmering...