The world through Andy’s eyes…

 

The world through our little two year olds eyes….

The world through Noah’s eyes….

The world through our almost four year old little boys eyes…

Okay, so I desperately need to find the websites where I found these photos and credit them....but I wanted to post them so I do not lose the photos in the depths of my computer.

I am getting very anxious to get settled into a home we own and can work on! In the meantime, I am going to keep gathering pictures of homes that inspire me!!!

I love love love these wood walls. I am not big on the starfish, etc...

but really love the texture these walls have!

Josh and I both really love a huge island. I am sure our next house will not have room for something like this, but a girl can dream! I just love the idea of having a nice huge breakfast room/dining room...then having a table height space to sit at the island, rather than bar height. I could see our boys doing homework there, eating breakfast while I fixed their lunches for school, etc. It looks like something like this would be great for us!
Red doors, need I say more? Me .... swoon.

This. is. the. front. door. of. my. dreams. PERIOD.

More to come!

What a good end to the night:)

Laying next to Andy tonight at bedtime I said "I love you, Andy." He squeezed my arm and said "I ove You, Mama." Today was the first time ever that he said it back to me!!! :)

When Noah was getting settled for the night he came back out and sat down on the couch. After laying down on the couch he said "I like just taking an extra relax with you. It is a fun time on our own." Then he patted my hand and said "Sweetie, I love you."

Those are words every Mama should end the day on:)

Heard in our House...

I have so much to post, lots of pictures, but no energy! The boys and I have been under the weather all week:(

Some funny things have been going on around here.

Andy knows he is not supposed to take ornaments off the tree. Yesterday I caught him pulling ornaments off. I went to walk up to him and tell him to stop and he immediately looked at me and started singing "Holy Holy Holy, my Lord God Almighty." I busted up laughing! I did not know he knew the song "Holy Holy Holy" and I thought his timing was hilarious! He knew I would be tickled!

Both the boys are loving singing Christmas carols. Noah loves the 'turtle doves' song...i.e. the 12 Days of Christmas. Andy absolutely LOVES Jingles Bells...I think because he loves singing all the words and then yelling 'HEY!'

Noah was watching the movie Ponyo this morning. In the movie a little boy named Sosuke (sounds like Sulskay) is riding in this little red and white boat. Noah went to his room and got clothes on that looked like Sosuke's and then came back and said we needed to go buy him a boat like Sosuke's. I asked him where and he was so serious, he said 'Well, Target."

Andy loves loves loves oranges and has now figured out how to peel them himself!

Noah is loving waking every morning looking for our elves from Elf on the Shelf. He says they travel to the 'Nurth Pole' and tell Santa if he was good, then come back. He named his Jersey and Andy's Treety, even though Andy says his is just named Elf.

I think the most exciting thing going on around here is chocolate advent calendars! They get so excited every morning for their piece and they both have little felt ones (from Target of course:)) that they move little things on. Noah's is a tree that you move a candy cane on and Andy's is a stocking that you move a star on. I need to fix Noah's. I just realized when looking at his that it only goes to the 23rd. I need to add another pocket - otherwise he is going to be very disappointed when Santa has not come Christmas Eve morning when he is thinking it is Christmas day!!!!

FREE Shutterfly Christmas Cards!

This is truly my FAVORITE time of year! I get SO excited to check the mail, anxious for another card from friends and family. I LOVE seeing the cute picture cards, they really make my day! I hang them all over our fridge and leave them for months. It is a fun way to remember all the ones we love!

This year I am just now working on my Christmas cards. If you are too, you can get them for FREE!

The awesome people over at Shutterfly are offering FREE Holiday Cards to anyone that blogs! When I heard about this I was super excited. Because I heart Shutterfly and their adorable cards, invites, calendars, books, etc!

I LOVE all of their adorable Christmas cards and cannot wait to place my order! It is so nifty, you can choose the size of the card, the number of pictures, and even the color. It makes it so easy to narrow down your choices and look at the exact cards that fill your personal criteria!

I am love these...

I love the chocolate brown and candy cane stripes on this one...ADORABLE!

I think the 'top ten' idea is just precious!

What a great way to share what your family has been up to!

More chocolate brown! This time with plaid - SO stinkin' cute!

Remember Shutterfly for all of your holidays cards, thank you notes, birthday cards and presents! Don't forget to check into this promotion if you blog! http://bit.ly/sfly2010

Thanksgiving 2010

On Wednesday before Thanksgiving we started our drive towards Coahoma, Texas to visit Josh’s grandparents and his Mom’s side of the family. Our week of reflecting on thankfulness started with a moment of great thanks for my van and the DVD player it has!!! It really made the trip a bit easier. I thought it would be fun to surprise the boys with a new movie. I purchased the movie Santa Paws. I thought it was super cute, but Noah did not at all. In the movie there is a lady that runs an orphanage wearing green and she is not very nice. Noah found it to be pretty scary! Andy wanted to keep watching it though. I was surprised by the G rating with the dark content it had! Once the movie was over the boys took a nice long nap. They woke up about the time we made it to Abilene. We met Josh’s folks there for dinner at Cracker Barrel. YUM. It was a great place to stop, the kids got to look at the toys and stretch their legs and see their grandparents too! Noah was really really funny. Over a year ago on a camping trip Noah watched Bolt with Darren. In that movie there is a “green eyed monster” that really freaked Noah out. There is a theme here, Noah getting freaked out and the character being green or wearing green! Needless to say, we check all movies now on Focus on the Family and read all about content first! Anyways, the MOMENT Noah saw Darren, probably because he was so freshly freaked out by Santa Paws he informed Darren “I do not want to see that green eyed monster again, that movie is rated POG.” I had the hardest time containing my laughter. It was so funny. Noah’s chest was all pumped up and he was VERY adamant. Darren was so sweet and told Noah that movie could go in the trash and no worries they did not have to watch it again. Noah really is so funny!!!

We made it to town and were able to go over to Josh’s cousins house to visit and let the kids play. It was nice to let them get some energy out after being cooped up in the car!

The next day we went back out to their house and the kids go to ride their pony! Noah was very into it and did well, but Andy just seemed to be a natural. He wanted to be right up in the ponies face, touched his hooves, rubbed his back, and even seemed to be shifting his weight when riding. It was fun to watch both the boys!

The rest of Thanksgiving day was really nice. We had a really nice meal and spent the rest of the weekend visiting with cousins, playing, and watching movies. It was so nice to spend that time with Josh’s grandparents. They are really neat people!!!

Oh Nose...

When Noah was real little he was just so laid back, never did any climbing on furniture, jumping off couches, or putting things places they just do not belong. Then along comes Andy. I think I have this Mama thing made. I know how to handle boys! Then it hit me...Noah was just SO laid back. Andy is a very gentle, sweet boy, but he has SO much energy. Fun for Andy is standing on the couch arm and diving head first into the couch. Jumping on the bed, that is fun too for Andy. Standing in a chair, no fun, he goes for the middle of the table! I have found him on top of the washing machine (and there was NOTHING for him to climb on to get there), in the bathroom sink, on the kitchen counter (again, no stool or chair!), half way up our bookshelf, and inside the cubbies of our toy storage shelf. All of that, surprised me, but I can handle it. But now...Andy has really thrown down the gauntlet. He is taking after me. In a way I wish he would not! When I was little, I stuffed stuff (mainly once a bead...bleh) up my nose. Yuck, right? Well....Andy thinks it is funny. Me, not so much. The other day I looked over right as he stuck a kernel of corn up there. It thankfully was on the edge, so I just pulled. No problem. Then it hit me. Could there be more? I got the flash light. Yep. Just I suspected. WAY up there. Josh mentioned I should get Baby L's little nose suctioner...I feared it would shove it up further. Then I remembered from MOPS first aid training...close the child's mouth, cover with your hand and blow in the other nostril. I did and out flew the corn! WHEW. Yuck, made me shudder and Andy laugh uncontrollably. Today the boys were making little cards with some foam stickers I bought. Innocent, right? I thought so. An hour later I was changing Andy's diaper and noticed something royal blue up his nose. It was a foam ornament. GROSS! Thankfully easily it came out, and this time there was just one. I know they say not to ask what next, but some days I wonder with Andy...what is next!?!

Oh - and Noah...now thinks jumping on furniture is fun...thanks to his little instigator of a brother:) Who would have known Andy would have been the ring leader!

Heard in our House….

As both of the boys get older, the funnier the things they say seem to be!  I love listening to them and finding out how their minds work.  But most of all, I keep getting blown away…sometime by the amazing joy in their hearts, sometimes by the shocking bluntness children have, sometimes out of horror when I realize they are being tacky, but mostly I get buckled over with laughter at the funny things they say!  But that laughter has to stay inside usually, as neither of our kids like to be laughed at…I cannot blame them there!

NOAH…

When Noah was so sick recently he kept waking up in the nighttime with really high fevers.  When the fever would get close to 105 the poor thing would start throwing up.  One of the nights I was in there rubbing his back and I was just so sad he was feeling so ill.  I guess Noah could read that on my face.  The sweet child said after getting sick again “Mama, I’m so sorry.  You are working so hard to make me feel better.”  Wow.

While Noah was napping that next day I had Andy color Noah a get well picture.  Andy was so proud of it and took it to give Noah when he woke up.  Noah said to Andy “You are my most special boy.  You made me a beautiful picture.”  It was so sweet and I could see the pride just beaming off of Andy!

Tonight while making dinner and setting it up, Noah was getting very excited.  I had some gluten free fish sticks, corn, tator tots and apple juice…you know, seriously epicurean stuff here:)  Anyways, I put candles on the table and turned the lights off.  Noah was so happy, he ran over, hugged my legs and said “Mama, you are the prettiest girl I ever seen.”  A girl can seriously handle those kind of comments daily:)

We have a couple of words that are not necessarily BAD words, but we just do not think they are too nice coming out of little boys mouths.  Two of them being stupid and shut up.  It seems that ALL the rated G movies have them somewhere in them.  Noah recently has been through a faze where he would grab the remote and shut the movie off it he heard one of those words.  Saying ‘that is not a nice movie.  I just do not want to watch it!’  I so appreciated that, but when it ended up we had only Super Why left to watch, he and I sat and visited about the meanings of those words/phrases and how tone and context are why they are not good.  Anyways, he now stands very firmly in front of his shows when those words are said and shakes his little pointer finger and says ‘that’s just not nice at all!’  He also understands the rules we have placed on only wanting them to watch G rated movies.  I guess he has seen us at Red Box or looking on Netflix enough searching for appropriate G rated movies.  Anyways, recently Josh was looking for something on Netflix and Noah said “Daddy, can I watch that?  Is it rated G or POG?” :)

 

ANDY…

Can say “Allie!”  Instead of Awwie  :)

We watched the Polar Express recently and were talking about our upcoming trip and ride on the Polar Express and our recently past trip to ride Thomas the Train.  Andy is so excited and runs around saying “I ride Thomas.  I ride Po Express!”

My sweet little Andy.  He really has this unbelievable gentle personality.  Mainly when his big brother is not around, but it is just so contagious and endearing.  Whenever he is getting tired he comes running at me saying “uddle me, Mama, uddle me”  (uddle =cuddle) ….ME=a big melted heap upon the floor:)

Today I was asking Andy…’What does a dog say?’ he said ‘ruff ruff’…’what does a cat say?’ he said ‘meow meow meow’…’what does a pig say?’ he said ’Boink Boink!’…’what does a horse say?’ he said ‘giddyup!’ and ‘what does a goat say?’ he said ‘don know?!’  It was so cute, his answer to the pig, his seriously funny one to the horse and the fact that he tried so hard and came so close to saying ‘don’t know!’

I have a tendency to say “Oh my gosh” a lot.  Andy has now started saying “O dosh, O dosh” when he is surprised or startled!

Recently Andy had a little runny nose, he was laying in bed with Josh and very clearly said “Daddy, my nose RUNNIN” 

e-ooooo = pick me up!

e-up =cover me up with a blanket!

MDO Thanksgiving Program

This year I was SO excited and so nervous about the Thanksgiving program at the boys school!  Last year parents and grandparents were invited…when Noah spotted us he burst into tears.  He watched the program from our lap.  I was really hoping not to have a repeat of last year.  Noah had a springtime program last year and did fine…but this year Andy was part of the festivities too!  The school has a lot more students this year, so only parents were invited, so Josh and I sat and hopefully waited to see our two sweet little boys…this is how it went…

 

We saw Noah peeking out the doorway, you could tell he was SO excited to see us!  Happy, not said!  WAHOO I thought!  It looked like he was holding another little one’s hand…

Here comes our cute little pilgrim!  He told us he was going to be a “pilgram in the progrim!”  :)

“OOOH!” I thought!  That little hand he was holding, it is his baby brother!!!!  You could see the look on Noah’s face “Where’s my Mama and Daddy?”  I was frantically waving as my heart pounded thinking “Andy stay there with bubba, no crying, k?”  But all that hoping worked out!  Andy spotted us…

…looked to his brother to make sure all was okay….

…Noah kept walking taking Andy along with him….

…And there they were.  My two little boys…on the left hand side.  Among all their little friends ready to perform.  ….sigh…..

Our two big boys.  They did such a great job!  So cute.  I love our little indian and “pilgram”!