the hwangest time

We are revving up for a fun holiday and a major road trip to the northeast, so i thought i would post some photos of the last week or so before we leave. We hope you all rejoice this Christmas season in Christ Jesus, the one we NEED and that we HAVE thanks be to God!

...are getting so big!!! what lucky parents we are! joshua is learning to play baseball and soccer and it's a trip to watch him.
nighty, night.

i have always wanted to make a gingerbread house, and finally my dreams have come true (thanks to costco!). amazing that they now sell kits and you don't have to make homemade cookies or anything. it was fun to hear noah asking for candy with each application. argh! Here is our finished house.

we're in the throws of celebrating Christmas in our quiet little suburban way. singing 'jingle bells' often, thanking God for baby Jesus each time we pray, and trying to get cards out, gifts bought, and the house cleaned for this and that. it's cold again in the south, and that makes drinking hot cocoa all the more appealing. i'm ready for the smell of sausage balls to fill the house, and to sit in our pj's all morning as a family.

i'll sign off with our prayer each night over the advent calendar (and then Noah gets a candy cane).....'Thank you God for Jesus. We need a Saviour.' Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus.

we had a most busy weekend, raking leaves and getting our home prepared for the Christmas season. i feel so lucky to have a husband who is constantly reminding me WHY we do all of this...to remember the baby Jesus, and the excitement in the coming of the Messiah! we are reflecting these days on how desperately we need a Saviour. and what great news that He is come, God with us, Emmanuel.

i have never seen jeff work so hard as he did this weekend! he raked so many leaves (this photo of the 32 bags plus the huge piles doesn't do it justice!) and he and noah decorated the tree.

let us remember what great news Christmas brings. "Come thou Long Expected Jesus..."

hello world!
we returned from a nice time at debordieu with family and a wonderful visit with old friends in charleston. we are refreshed and have come home to lots of leaves that need raking!!! we're looking forward to advent, and the first time to really teach noah about the wonder of Christmas. we also have dear friends who are missionaries to visit this week, and we are so excited about that! here are some photos of our time away! have a great day! oh! and joshua is walking. yeehaw!

are any of you out there as shocked as i am that thanksgiving is this week and christmas music is already all over the radio waves? time goes by so quickly with children!!! for me it's a matter of finding those moments and remembering that THIS is the moment to be relished. THIS is the moment to stop washing dishes and play chutes and ladders with noah. THIS is the moment to sit in the floor and read joshua goodnight moon for eighth time! and also that THIS is the moment when i can lay in bed-eyes closed- and let 'mommy, mommy' go ignored for just another minute (ha!). otherwise it just passes and we haven't really BEEN there, you know?

as i feel fall blurring past me (which makes me sad...it's my favorite time of year!), i was elated yesterday when noah jumped in a pile of leaves and sat there for nearly 10 minutes, grinning ear to ear. joshua stood next to the pile (he's not quite walking but does stand alot!) just laughing and cooing and picking up leaves and throwing them. many of my autumnal goals have not happened....haven't made that yummy pumpkin cheesecake (thanks becky), haven't gone to the mountains to wind around the roads looking at pretty views, haven't even taken many walks in the crisp air. it makes me sad that i live on such auto-pilot, moving from one meal to one nap to one of load of laundry to the next.

sometimes we need to sit in the leaves and smile. at least in the flurry of children comes their beautiful perspective as well. what a gift!!!

so yesterday we decided to take a walk after naps, to give the poor poodle some exercise, and also to get some fresh air. our mission was to find as many red trees as we could. it's so beautiful outside! enjoy the fresh, cool air!

this past weekend we visited family and the darlings in charlotte. it was so fun to hit the monkey joes (noah LOVES it!) and to go on a date with our dearest friends. time with yah-yah was also fun! are they cute or what?!!!

playing in dino-land at mgm
noah's first view of the magic kingdom
conquering the cars
the whole clan (minus jeff)

going to disney a few weeks ago was so much fun! having time away as a family, spending precious time with extended family, and seeing noah's face as he experienced these 'magical' moments was just beautiful. we were renewed and refreshed by our time there. tired, too, of course. it's not easy toting a 13-month old through the parks, but again, so fun, and man do they do it right there! we were really impressed. yah-yah spoiled us with scrumptious and beautiful meals, and we enjoyed the freedom of such a lavish trip.

some highlights for noah were dumbo, the cars, and the playhouse disney show at mgm. he also thoroughly enjoyed his time with cousin zoe. jeff loved our japanese meal at the steakhouse in japan (at epcot) and his mickey ice cream bars. i loved shopping in the world showcase at epcot, our beer in the UK and the parade at the magic kingdom. so fun! and joshua...he enjoyed the playgrounds and soft pretzels!

we look forward to our next trip! thank you yah-yah for everything!

i'm so behind! i must get at least one post up about disney but that will have to wait until the weekend when jeff is home! i've been sick (again!) all week and jeff has been working non-stop.

in the midst of the fury we were able to pull together a decent celebration of the weirdest holiday i know of--halloween! we just try to celebrate the fun dressing up and the freedom to eat as many 'fun size' chocolates as possible. joshua was the fatest, cutest lion, and noah, thanks to target was buzz. 'to buzz or not to buzz?' that was the question, until we found the all-in-one costume at target!!! whew! we went to a fall party at a church parking lot (hmmmm), carved a pumpkin, and went trick or treating at favorite neighbors' houses.

we had our first puking party due to candy last night too! noah snuck some candy (thanks pappy!) during his quiet time in his room, and spent an hour puking the six tootsie rolls up of course just as we fell asleep ourselves! luckily i can smile about it all. nothing like the first time you catch your child hiding in his closet, with a mouthful, surrounded by paper candy liners!

so for some random reason, though he's never seen "Toy Story," noah wants to be buzz lightyear for halloween. his friend Jack at school has a buzz jibitz and it has sent him flying through the air saying funny things ever since! some dear friends luckily loaned us their 4 year old's costume (a little big!) so we didn't have to shell out our savings to party city. Jeff and i nearly fell over laughing (we tried to be discreet!) when noah got all this gear on! we'll see if he actually wants to put it all back on for halloween. isn't he cute, though? so funny!

you should also know joshua is nearly walking!!! he's up to about ten steps per go! yeah! surely i can get a video on here with that great news!

have a great wednesday! noah is 'star of the day!' at preschool so that makes it extra fun.

a nice hug after a morning of working hard at lowes. the kids brought home firetrucks they made themselves!!!

so jeff rarely--if ever--comes home for lunch. but he called yesterday and said, 'how about a spontaneous lunch date with the family?!' so he came home, we ate our leftovers, and went to play on the back porch with the kids. and for the first time, joshua takes 2 whole steps all by himself! so fun! i couldn't believe the beauty in that perfect timing! (this past week God has used such timely events to encourage me...it's the little things!) so he's still taking 1-2 steps at a time, so we'll let you know when he's up and walking for real!

he's also able to sit on things now and ride on toys. kind of scary but he's oh so proud of himself!

have a great thursday! today we're gonna have lunch at our babysitter's house. noah is excited to see where karen lives!

this is my cool new bike. it has a bell and everything! gotto go! love, noah

so yah-yah got noah this cool new 'go-diego-go' bike, so goodbye pinky! it's so cool! it has a bell that noah dings so much that neighbors have asked about it! this shot is of them putting the bike together; noah of course has his tools to help! tomorrow i'll try to get one of noah on the bike itself!

look at that noah-boy! we went to the children's museum on saturday and jefftook this photo! they've made some renovations and it's even nicer than its been! we had lots of fun playing with the balls (joshua seriously likes balls!) and noah loved 'nonni's house.' we also had lunch at chipotle, a new tex-mex place that we like! it's nice to have those weekends where you have time and space to say, hmm...what should we do today? it definitely makes monday a little harder...

this is a typical view of mine on road trips! thanks pappy for the dvd player!

i haven't posted anything lately on noah, poor kid! i think i've been obsessing over joshua because i just LOVE his age! that 12-18 month period is so fun. anyways, here is noah building the tallest tower yet! whenever i go out at night and leave the boys alone for more than an hour, i typically come home to a tall tower!

noah is loving preschool, his new bike (that will have to be a post soon!), and pretending he is superman. he flies around the yard, arms out and all, screaming, 'suuuupermaaannnnnn!' oh, and he loves this thing called a 'rody' that he bounces on all around the house.

good night! off to eat the final remants of my birthday cake. (i think i've eaten two bricks of cream cheese with this cake, so it's probably good it's gone!)

joshua gets hysterical when he gets to play on the floor with pillows and blankets!