A Beautiful Day

The high here today was 67 degrees! It was so awesome to get the kids outside and take them to the park. Rachel and I picked up Noah from school, went to the coffee shop for ice cream and then headed to the local park. It was so nice the kids didn't even have to wear jackets. They played for a little over an hour before we started back home. I love to watch these two play together. Some days they play on their own and some days they imagine and play together. I like to watch how their little minds work as they come up with things to do and ways to play.

Another Tooth Gone...

Noah lost his third tooth today - his top right front one. It's been hanging in his mouth for a couple of days and we knew it was going to fall out. After Daddy tried to pull it out with a pair of pliers (freaked me and Noah out) I let Noah know that I used to twist mine all the way around to make them fall out. He tried it and it worked! It fell right out. =) Noah already has a plan for any money the Toothfairy may bring - more characters - this time Superman. He cracks me up. He sure loves those action figures.
Noah received his report card on Thursday and we were really proud to see that he had done a wonderful job with his grades this period. As a reward we took him to Marble Slab after dinner and he could pick out what ever he wanted. His choice? The purple stuff - Blueberry ice cream. We had him taste it before the lady fixed up a big cone for him. He had never had it and I was afraid he might not have liked it, but true to "Noah style", he loved it. He had a waffle cone full of the stuff, finished it off and promptly asked if he could have another. Silly boy.

Baby Girl -- 3D/4D Ultrasound January 14, 2009 -- 29 Weeks, 1Day

We had another 3D/4D ultrasound to see our baby girl up close today. It was pretty amazing. She is doing well weighing a little over 3 pounds. Everything seems to be right on track. As with her other ultrasounds she had her hands to her face - this seems to be the way she prefers to stay (we had trouble getting pictures of her heart at the last ultrasound because of the way her arms were folded over her chest). While we were watching her she yawned a couple of times, was sucking on the back of one of her hands, and opened and closed her eyes several times. We are still at a loss as to what her name will be. There are a few contenders that we are thinking about, but nothing has been decided on yet. I had my glucose test today and hopefully will not hear back from them about that - no news is good news. We go back in two weeks for another ultrasound to determine if the placenta has moved up and whether or not I have a C-section to look forward to. Any prayers that it has corrected would be a wonderful thing!

Papa's (Little) Airplane

Doug's brother Donny got their dad a remote control airplane for Christmas - Pretty cool. It was fun to watch these guys fly the plane. I think after five or so minutes of the first flight it ended up stuck (way up) in a tree - You can see the guys in the last picture trying to figure out a way to get it down. There they are headed toward the tree with a really long pole... and I think one of them still had to climb the tree to get it. It was cute to watch because all the boys were interested in watching the 'older boys' fly the plane. I think if the little guys had been feeling better they would have wanted a chance to fly it too. I love the picture of them headed down the field to go check out the wreckage. By the way Papa, if you're reading this, we found a whole store full of spare parts here in PTC. =)

Linda's Playhouse

We discovered a cute little Children's Playhouse to visit in Peachtree City this past week. We met some good friends of ours Dawn, Rylan (3) and Austin (6 months) for a play date and the kids seemed to really enjoy their visit there. It's called Linda's Playhouse and it is a cute little house filled with areas for the kids to explore including: a Mini Market, Artist Alley (a cute room filled with art supplies), a puppet area, a toddler area, Construction Zone, a Tea Room, a magnet and puzzle room, a book nook and more... Noah really liked the Lego area and the Construction area. He built several towers that were taller than him and played with a pulley system that pulled large legos up high and then dumped them down a chute. There were PVC pipes and elbow socket thingys (technical word, huh? ) and he built a house with them. Rachel really enjoyed the art room creating little projects and checking out everything in there. The kids also enjoyed the little market where there was a real scanner and play money. It was neat to watch them play. We spent a few hours there and then got some lunch. It was a great day and the kids have been asking to go back, so it must have made a good impression! =)

Bounce House

The kids are recovering from a cold and I am trying really hard to catch it where they left it (or so it seems). We are finally getting life back to normal after the holidays and keeping busy until Noah heads back to school. The kids tried out the Bounce House Mom got them for Christmas this evening (with their coughing so much I was afraid to try it until today) and they of course loved it. We cheated though and set it up in the basement. Yes, I know, you aren't supposed to do that, but with the rain and all, the kids had cabin fever and needed to run -or bounce- off some energy! They had a lot of fun for about 45 minutes and then it was time to head upstairs. I can see lots of time spent in this when it gets warmer outside. =)

2008: Our Year in Review

January 2008 - Having a light saber dual
February 2008 -Valentine's Day
March 2008 - Making a Snowman!
April 2008 - Swimming in St. Louis at our hotel.
May 2008 - The Little Rock Zoo with Olivia and David
June 2008 - Our new home
July 2008 - Saying Goodbye to Little Rock
August 2008 - Noah's first day of Kindergarten
September 2008 - Moving the rest of our stuff down to the new house
October 2008 - Our Family
November 2008 - It's a Girl!
December 2008 - Baking Christmas cookies
2008 has seen a lot of changes for our family this year. It's amazing that it has come and gone and here we are already started with 2009. The kids have each grown in leaps and bounds and matured so much this year. We brought in 2008 with Christina's family at our house out in Little Rock and January was filled with happy kids playing with their new toys from Santa - each of them with their own favorites, Noah with Star Wars and Rachel with her baby dolls. February brought Noah's 5th birthday shared with both sides of our family at a big Star Wars party at Chuck E Cheese's in Tennessee. He also began playing spring soccer in Bryant. March saw the kids playing in the first big snow that they can remember and they built their first snowman. In April we had the arrival of Aunt Amie, Olivia and David and had them stay with us for a few weeks before they moved into their apartment. We spent many days having lots of fun and making memories with them as we enjoyed the first time ever that we lived close enough to play on a daily basis. We also made a trip to St. Louis to see Doug's Grandma and Grandpa and all the family up there. Rachel started sleeping in her toddler bed and couldn't have been more excited about it. April also brought a very exciting thing for us - Doug found out he had been hired on with the Atlanta Tracon and that we would be moving in July. We were so excited and felt truly blessed to receive this news. In May Noah graduated from preschool and Rachel got her ears pierced. In June we traveled to Tennessee to see family and then Doug and I came down to Georgia to check out Peachtree City and in just three days found the perfect home for our family. While we were gone Noah learned to ride his bike without training wheels and later that week lost his first tooth. July saw us saying goodbye to Little Rock and living close to Aunt Amie and the kids. We were sad to leave them and the area that we had called home for three years, but excited about our new adventure in Georgia. July also saw Noah lose his second tooth and a very sweet girl decided she needed to be a big girl and be potty trained not a week after we moved into the new house! Yay! We also had some wonderful news that we wouldn't share for a bit - that we were expecting a new member of our family and we were very blessed by this big change. We continued to settle in to our new home and Doug began training at his new facility. In August Noah began Kindergarten! What a change that was. He has blossomed and really come into his own person this year as he learns and grows. October and November brought happy times with the holidays. Rachel celebrated her third birthday with a very pink princess party. We spent Thanksgiving with both of our families in Tennessee and also found out that our new addition was to be a girl. December has seen many more happy holiday traditions and the first Christmas the kids have spent with all of their family in Tennessee ever. Rachel got a new big girl bed and saw her first trip to the ER after a big fall resulting in her first black eye - Ouch! Doug and I saw 12 years of marriage on our anniversary and were blessed to go out on a date while we were still in Tennessee. 2008 has been rich in joys and a few tears, but it was a good year. One of many, many changes, but good ones and ones that have brought us closer to Tennessee and more opportunities to spend time with our family. Doug and I would like to wish you all a Happy 2009 - May it be blessed!