School Halloween Party

Monday I volunteered at Ty's Halloween party at school. It was so fun. Ty got a kick out of seeing all of his friends in their costumes. Not surprised that he and his best bud, Giovoni, were both Spiderman! I was excited to see how Ty was at school--how he behaved for his teacher and interacted with his classmates. He was so good! His favorite part was playing freeze dance!The teacher definitely has her hands full with only 4 girls and 11 boys!!!!

Eleven years ago today...

Okay, I couldn't resist...October 26th is not only mom's birthday (Happy Belated Birthday Mom!), it is also Keith and my psuedo anniversary. Eleven years ago we officially started "going out." I found this picture of our first date on the computer this week while I'm cleaning out our files and couldn't resist! It was my sophmore, his junior homecoming!

Happy eleven year anniversary honey! You gotta love the green suit and mustard shirt!

Halloween party #1

We always have so many Halloween parties, but Great Grandma Woodman's is always the first (it was Wednesday). I promised Whitney I would post pictures of the boys at the party.

Ty was totally in his element as Spiderman and played up the roll nicely! Carter on the other hand, did not like his costume!

A little better mom...

Perfect! (look at that belly!)

Where has the week gone?

I can't believe it is already Friday! Where has the week gone? Actually, I love weeks like this. I love having something to do each day and the week flies by! Keith on the other hand, hates it. He likes to relax and just have more "down" time. We are working on a compromise.

Keith surprised us with tickets to the circus on Tuesday. Carter loved the first half! He immediatly started clapping when we sat down and oohed and ahhed at all the animals. The second half he preferred to walk around and flirt with the workers in the hall, so Keith and Ty enjoyed the second half without us.
It's almost Halloween and we still hadn't gotten our pumpkins yet, so we skipped our tradition of Mapleside Farms and the boys and I met Keith at work on Wednesday to run up to Pickering Hills to pick out our pumpkins. It didn't matter to the boys that we weren't at Mapleside--they loved finding just the right pumpkin for dad to carve! It made for a good photoshoot too!

Here we go brownies

Carter just thinks he's one of the guys. Here they are with some of the cousins practicing their slam dunks while the family watched the Browns get beat Sunday.

This is what it's all about...

Every once in awhile I need to step back, take a break from the craziness of everyday life, and take a moment to remember what this is all about--why I became a mom and what truly makes me happy.

It's been rainy and cold (what a surprise) the past few days, so the boys and I have had some time to do some serious bonding and playtime while we've been stuck inside. These two are so freakin' adorable!

Ty wows me each day with something new he does or says that I never expected! He's totally in to make believe and pretend play right now. Today I spent the morning in "Tae Kwon Do" class and on a shark hunt. I'm not sure how the boy does it, but I don't think he stopped talking for two minutes today.

Hard to believe, but Carter gets even cuter everyday. He learns so much from his big brother. I love to watch him take it all in and then mimic Ty. Lately he has been handing out unsolicited kisses which I ofcourse am glad to accept. I just wish he wasn't growing up so fast!

Keith and I were talking just the other night about how empty our life would be without these two studs. We are so lucky and wouldn't have our life any other way!

Well, off to the circus tonight (Ty can hardly wait)...

Called To Serve

The wait is finally over... Elder Edward Chase Noll will be serving the next 24 months in the Cochobamba, Bolivia mission for the Church ofJesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! We are so excited for him. His call came yesterday while he was visiting friends in Salt Lake City. He couldn't wait (neither could dad) until he came home, so we had a family conference call with Whitney in Mexico to open his call. He reports to the MTC (missionary training center) in Provo, Utah on December 6, 2006. There he will learn the spanish language for a couple months and then fly out to Bolivia to preach the gospel! Amazing that my little brother is serving a mission! We are so happy for him and grateful for the example he is setting for the boys. This next month and a half is going to be busy and exciting! Can't wait to post more!

The Blanket

Isn't it funny how kids get attached to the most random things? For Ty it was a teddy bear given to him by someone we hardly knew (and definitely not the cutest or most cuddly bear he had). For Carter, he just recently became attached to this duckie blanket given to us by an old neighbor before Ty was born. I gave it to him one day when the other blankets were in the wash, and he developed an instant attachment. He drags it all over the house (like that little guy from Charlie Brown) and snuggles his head in it when he's tired--so cute!

I snapped these pictures this morning while we were waiting for Olivia's (the girl I babysit) bus to come. I love babies in sleepers!

Another Visitor!!

It's been years since we've had family from out west visit us, and then this month we were blessed to have two visits from out west! The day after Aunt Dana and Uncle Bob left, my Aunt Linda came to visit from SLC. So fun!! Aunt Linda was a second mom to me while I was away at school so it was especially nice to have her here and share with her my Ohio life. The boys and I even got to spend a day with her, shopping and going out to lunch, while mom had a meeting at work. It was so fun to visit with her and the boys took an instant liking to her (of course). Hopefully next time their won't be so long between visits. Now I just have to work on getting Kecia out here...

Melt my heart...

I have been looking for a way to get my children excited about the scriptures and instill in them a love for the words they contain for a while now, so when my friend, Meta, shared what she does with her children, I was so excited to get started. I ordered the boys missionary copies of the Book of Mormon from the distribution center to get started, and when they came this week, I was shocked (and very pleased) with Ty's excitement over the books! He treasures his new Book of Mormon.

The other day I realized Ty had been quiet for quite awhile (which is never a good sign), so I went looking for him. I found him in the sunroom, "reading his scriptures" (spiderman costume and all). My heart melted!

Goodbye

Okay, I've been dreading this day for a week now (actually three years, but...). Friday was the big move for Karolyn and her family. I was so focused this last couple weeks on helping her get ready that I hadn't let myself think about how much I was going to miss her and her family!!!! They have seriously become some of our very best friends. I'm not sure what I'm going to do without her. She has been such a good friend: she inspires me creatively and spiritually, she is a blast to be around, a great kickboxing partner, an excellent neighbor and a selfless friend. Our family adores her children (Kelmen, Sadie, and Carson) too. We have been blessed to have the Davenports in our lives! Kar, I'm looking forwarded to our girls trip to Chicago!

Me and Karolyn after a long night of packing and saying goodbye.
The Bunco girls at Brio for a final girls night out with Karolyn on Thursday

Special Treat

Yesterday we got a special treat--my Uncle Bob and Aunt Dana brought three of their grandchildren to visit. Bob and Dana live in Utah, so we don't get to see them very often--especially in Ohio! They were in Pittsburgh visiting my cousin Bonnie Jean and her family (who just recently moved there from Arizona) and brought the children (Kaden, Alyssa and Kimber) to Ohio while they were babysitting. It was so fun to share our home with them--it's usually the other way around.

Ty and Kaden (5yrs) were instant friends and all the kids loved playing with Uncle Chase! The last time we had seen Kaden, he was just a baby and Ty wasn't born yet. It was so nice for Ty to meet some of my family. I want him to have the same fond memories that I do of my many cousins out west!

October Fun

I love October...the leaves changing colors, the crisp autuam air, apple cider, pumpkin patches, halloween...it is definitely one of my favorite times of year and I think for the boys too!

Aunt Whitney started the month out right with a surprise package filled with every Halloween toy and candy she could find. Ty and Carter were in heaven emptying the package Sunday morning (Keith made them wait until I came home from Time Out for Women to open it). Thanks Whitney!

Monday night our ward (church) had family home evening at Heavenly Hills Pumpkin Patch. They had a corn maze and prizes, hayrides, games, apples and apple cider, a scavenger hunt and a pumpkin patch. It was so fun and we couldn't have asked for a better night. The boys looked festive in their bat shirts from Whitney. Carter just thinks he's one of the big kids-joining right in on all the activities, following his big brother around!

Here goes...

Okay, I've been resisting the whole "blogging" thing because I felt like I just didn't have time for one more project, but I've been persuaded otherwise! After last month's General Relief Society broadcast (a conference for the women of our church) I felt a strong need and desire to keep a journal or some sort of record for my family. Yes, I scrapbook, but I wanted something more. Something to document the day-to-day happenings of our family. I wanted something my children will someday look back on and know what our everyday life was like, know how much joy they brought to our home and know me and my thoughts. I'm hoping that this blog will help me keep that record for my family. Who knows, maybe it will spark some great scrapbook pages too.

I also wanted to become better at keeping in touch with family and friends that we don't see everyday. We have so many wonderful friends and family all over the country that we love so much but just aren't able to keep in touch with everyone, all the time. This is my attempt to do that too.

So, here goes...