Superheros!

Last Christmas my sister gave the kids the most fabulous gift ever.  Superhero capes.  She made them.  They have their first letter on the back and came with matching masks.  The kids play around the house in them all the time, and last night they decided there was work to be done in the yard, saving the yard from perilous danger.

 

 Superheros!

 Luke loved watching, and really loved playing with his new favorite toy - stuffed Dora.

Running off to save the yard.

He's a spitter.

Luke has started spitting when I put something in his mouth he doesn't like (all vegetables).  And sometimes he likes to spit just for the fun of it.  Enjoy!

2 minutes.

These pictures were taken within two minutes, in consecutive order.  Silly, crazy, sweet, rotten Luke. 

Love.

scarowinds

Matt and Noah headed out after Noah's soccer game yesterday to Carowinds.  They had been plainning for awhile to go to this annual halloween event.  If I had realized how scary it was, I probably wouldn't have let him go.  Hindsight is 20/20 :)  Nevertheless, they had a fantastic time with the cousins and Aunt Heather and Uncle LJ.  Ella is looking forward to her one on one daddy date soon!

The Frog-Themed Play

 Each month in Mrs. Yelton's 2nd grade Noah and his classmates will perform a different play.  Friday we got to go and watch the frog-themed play.  We learned everything from how they develop, their environment, and some silly songs about frogs.  It was a lot of fun to watch!  And Noah loves to perform!

Common Ground: A Gathering of Moms

This is my third year of being a part of Common Ground at Grace.  We are a group of mommies who meet, fellowship, and focus on raising our children to have a real relationship with Jesus Christ.  I love these ladies and have grown so much from our time together!

They make me proud. All the time.

I went through Noah's test folder this afternoon.  This week he came home with a special sticker because he made all 100s all week (have I told you just how smart he is?).   I think his teacher is catching on to how incredible of a kid we have on our hands.  The #2 Questions below is "Why do you think the author wrote this story?"  To which Noah wrote: so you can learn a lesson of forgiveness.  The teacher wrote a "wow!" beside his answer.  I love Noah's heart. 

On another note, Noah joined the church today.  Ever since he was baptized he wanted to go to the front and tell the church about his decision to become a Christian and officially become a member.  On the way out he told several people "I'm a member now."  It was so stinking cute.  I love that boy so much.

Saturdays = Soccer!

It was a cold day at the field this week!  It had rained right before we got there and was super chilly outside.  Noah is doing a great job on defense and hustling on the field this year.  We love watching him play!

Benjamin is 1!

 Riding the tractor was so much fun!

 Rebecca asking Benjamin if he was done with the cake.

 Cupcakes!

 I smell trouble.

 I loved how Benjamin dug into his cake!

 Watching their cousin.

 Benjamin and his daddy.

Sweet Bobbie Hare spent a lot of time with Luke.

I have to tell you, this was one of the cutest birthday parties I have ever been too.  Rebecca did such a great job with the decorations.  We all had a blast celebrating Benjamins first year of life.  I can't believe he's one already! 

The end of an era.

I have this video when Noah was four of him walking out of his room on Christmas morning.  He walked straight to the fireplace, his eyes got wide as saucers, looked at the empty plate and have filled glass of milk and squealed "He did come!"  Santa Claus. 

Some people choose not to indulge in this fairy tale but for our children, we have.  However, the day came last week where a boy in Noah's second grade brought the fairy tale to a screeching halt.  Noah came home and asked Matt the question we knew we would have to answer one day, "is there really a Santa Claus?"   First of all I wanted to march into Noah's class and have a strong word with that little boy.  We considered lying to him but after all
1. thats wrong. 
2. what would it have bought us, another couple of months?
3. at least we finally get the credit on Christmas morning.

So we came clean.  Not just about Santa but all the other fake people we pretend to be during the year (i.e. the tooth fairy and ridiculous Easter bunny).  We explained to him who the real Saint Nicholas was and how there is a little bit of Santa in us all.

This Christmas will be different, Noah promised he will still sit on Santa's lap.  Mainly to hear what Ella says to him so we can be spot on Christmas morning with the gifts (No more cranning my neck behind the rope to figure out what she told the big guy in the red suit).  He has the ability to keep secrets (he doesn't get that from his mama) so I trust he will be our "helper" with the scheme for the next few years until some punk tells Ella the truth.

Noah has gone up one more rung in the "becoming a little man" ladder. 

Ham Rolls

I have never seen a baby with hamstring fat rolls until I met Luke. Yes, they are edible.

Soccer is back!

She Rocked It.

Not just the pose, but her first day of preschool.

Ella was nervous yesterday.  For some reason she thought she wouldn't make any friends.  Or that people would be mean to her (ridiculous).  So this morning I thought she would be nervous as we got ready to drop her off on the bus.  Nope, she walked right in and didn't even say goodbye.  I yelled up the steps "goodbye Ella, I love you" and her teacher had to get her attention.  She yelled back "ok mom."  I knew it was safe to leave.  

5 Months Old!

 Noah and I were hanging out with Luke, changing his clothes, the other day and he remarked about how huge Luke is.  We reminicsed about how we think we brought home a 6 pound baby, but it's hard to remember, it feels like he's been "husky" for so long! 

Luke turned 5 months old on Monday.  He's such a nut.  This month he has figured out his jumperoo.  And boy does he love to go to town in that thing.  We are dabbling in the world of food.  He prefers what we are eating and we sneak him bites as much as we can. 

We love every square inch and minute of this little guy!

Avery and Sky

For my Anniversary/Birthday/Mothers day combo present last year, Matt bought me a nice camera.  More than a point and shoot.  He bought it with the stipulation that I won't have a professional photographer take our pictures in order to compensate with the cost for three years so it will pay for itself.  Luckily my brother in law takes professional grade pictures now!  Anyway, I really would love to figure out what all the buttons and frills do on this thing but I don't have the chance to play with it as often as I would like.  Saturday I went and visited my BFF's horse with her little girl Avery.  Avery wants to send pictures of  Sky and herself to a magazine that she gets focused towards kids and their horses.  So I got to play with my camera.  Here are just two out of the 200 pictures I took.  I hope the magazine will publish one for Avery, she's counting on it!

 I love how she's on her tip-toes in this one.

Love.

 Recently someone I know had only one child and they were considering having another one.  They asked me what the best part about having more than one child is...  I didn't have to think about it:

 Watching them love each other.

Whether it's watching Noah and Ella get wrapped up in some amazing imaginary world, catching them giving each other a hug on the porch (like they did tonight), or wanting to make their brother smile... I am so thankful to be able to witness the love between my children.

~Disclaimer:  This love is always present, however there are times where there is "dislike".  I just don't take pictures of those times :)

Food. A day in the life.

Dr E said we need to start baby food in the next month or so, and I was going to wait.  But you should see how this little man's eyes lust over every bite we put in our mouths.  So we have been testing the water for a few days now.  We've discovered that Luke will only eat pears and rice cereal.  Together, not seperate.  Everything else gets smeared and spit out.  And as a lover of pictures of babies with food all over their faces, I give you these:

 Did you really, just put carrots in my mouth.

 Carrots are nasty, but my mommy is really funny!

 Ahh, my fingers.  Better than baby food.

More pears please, toss out the carrots.

31... It's not just how old I am.

Seeing my sis and Will snuggle and love on my babies at the beach made me so excited that the day they will get to snuggle their own sweet little one is quickly approaching.  God has blessed them immensly through this process.  And as they are getting closer and closer (they are almost to number 1 on the waitlist for a boy!) there are a few more financial hurdles to jump through. 

I just saw on her blog (yestoadoption.blogspot.com) that a friend is donating 20% of the sales this month from her sales profits in a company called 31.  Go to Bekah's blog, follow the link, and order something fantastic.  My friend Jen was sporting a fabulous 31 cooler bag to the park this week.  Not only are they trendy and great quality, you can get them embroidered too! 

Cover them in prayer as the details and paperwork get worked out in these last (hopefully few) months.  You can also read more about that on her blog.

There will be one less orphan... and you can help him or her get to their forever family!