400th Post; 5 Years Ago Today

July 31st, 2004 Jeff & I moved into our first house. I'm still pretty amazed when I think about our "house story" and how this came to be. We actually found this house prior to our wedding - which was in May of '04. The house was being sold by owner - and God couldn't have had more perfect timing for us. Not only did we find this, our bid was accepted, but we were able to rent it for a few months so we could move out of our apartment (that was originally Jeff's). I only lived in that apartment for 2 months before we had our home - which is funny to think about - considering our original "plan" is that we'd be willing to stay in that apartment for at least 2 years if need be. I could go on & on. The short of it is: God's timing & perfect will are best. It's certainly more than I could have "...asked or imagined, according to His power, that is at work within us."
5 years in this house has brought us: all new windows, new siding, re-did the downstairs bedroom, added a full bath downstairs (originally a 1/2 bath), new sinks, ripped out all the shrubs, Jeff's landscaped...I could go on forever. AND, we've brought both our children home from the hospital to this house.
Home.

Taken a few years back, but virtually the same: our home. We have 5-years of wonderful memories in this house - and hopefully many more to come!

Linus #2

If you go back through my archives (August 2007) you'll see a similair picture of Noah. I just love that my kids love their blankies... looks like I have yet another Linus on my hands!

Noah & Norah's Birthday Gift

Jeff & I decided that the kids really needed a swingset/clubhouse for the backyard. So, for a combined birthday present we went ahead & bought one. Jeff laid out all the pieces, which I never knew how it was going to go together:I had the great idea of using post-it notes to label all the pieces.From there - Jeff went at it, with Noah's help of course.Norah, guarding the slide...This is my favorite picture - because it's true to Noah's personality- he loves helping, he loves tools, and most importantly: he loves shadowing anything Jeff does.Almost together (I believe it was around 13-14 hours of Jeff's time to get this together - and thankfully, Jeff's dad helped finish up some of the 2-man-team type stuff)We didn't have to teach Norah what to do...She loves it!I like the little picnic-bench area - Noah enjoys having his snack there.Just what was needed for our Monkey-child, Noah."Mama, take my picture - Cheeeeeeeesssseee!" What a great investment. Happy Birthday, Noah & Norah- you're the best kiddos anyone could ask for!

Norah's 1st Birthday Party

Wednesday, July 15th was Norah's 1st birthday - but we celebrated both kids' birthdays on Saturday the 18th with both Jeff & my family.Eating her picnic dinner - cheese & hotdog, yum.I wanna touch that cake - stop singing!Really, I can touch it now?Mmmmmmmm, this is delicious!She LOVED her cake!I believe this was her 2nd piece...Norah is our little social-lite. She went over to Aunt Val & just sat down...
Aunt Val, I hear you're having a baby girl soon - I want to play with her!Hi Luke - thanks for coming to my party.Norah found her gift & was SO happy. Thank you Grandma & Grandpa J!And off she went - and found Noah's boots.Until she discovered that she got shoes of her own. Already, at 1-year old - Norah just LOVES shoes.Look at my new shoes!Ra-ra & Norah playing with Noah's new maracas.
Happy Birthday, Lil'Miss - what on earth did we ever do without you.

Noah's 3rd Birthday Party

On Saturday, the 18th, we had the kids' birthday party. Hard to believe Noah is 3!Noah enjoyed eating outside with his cousins...Time to sing "Happy Birthday!"Noah did great - blowing out his candle all by himself.Mmmmmm, chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting.Lots & lots of presents - trying to read the cards first.Ooooh, what'd I get?More trucks!Thanks Uncle AJ & Aunt Sherry - can you help me get these out?

July 10th - Noah's 3rd Birthday!

Noah's 3!We had a fun-filled today planned for Noah today: library, visiting me at work, lunch at McDonalds (he was more excited to play on the big slides than to eat there), and Papa & Ra-ra came for dinner. Noah requested hotdogs & what else... "An Ice Cream Party!" (easy enough!) Noah was super-excited to see a candle in his ice cream.He even helped sing Happy Birthday - he was so excited!He blew the candle out on the 1st try - all by himself! Nice job, Noah!He's such an old soul...just hanging out, enjoying his ice cream (Neapolitan - that way nobody has to decide what flavor - you can get them all!)It was such a beautiful day - Noah & Norah enjoyed splashing in the pool.Ah, Magoo - hard to believe it was 3 years ago today that I had you as you made your apperance on your due date at 12:10am.Your 1st birthday - you had JUST started walking...Your 2nd birthday - And now look at you... You are the most amazing little boy. We love you so much.
Happy 3rd Birthday, Noah!