Apple Hill

I was working on a scrapbook page from when the boys and I went to Apple Hill one Saturday while Keith was at the Ohio State game and decided some of the pictures were too cute not to post, even though it happened awhile back. Enjoy.

Kitchen fun

Someone please remind me why we buy kids toys when they would much rather play with plastic utensils? I came into the kitchen today to find all of the plastic utensils left over from various birthday parties scattered all over the floor and the boys were having a ball! Ty said they were on a "spoon hunt" and Carter was chucking forks across the room. Whatever makes them happy I guess and buys me some time to fold the laundry.

TGIM

I never thought I'd say this, but thank goodness it is Monday! Monday means that Super Saturday and Sunday lessons are over! I spent all last week getting things ready for our Super Saturday (a craft day) at church. Thank goodness for friends like Stephanie who came over to help me sew all of the puppets for the nativity puppet class! We also taught the "love at home" sign class--they turned out so cute (thanks Steph for the picture I stole). I'm working on Keith to let us get a vinyl cutting machine so I can go into business! I'm addicted and already have 10 orders--now I just need to convince him to get the machine!

Ty after a long day of "crafting" with mom and friends.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAROLYN!

still more...

Here's the last of the photo shoot pictures for now. Stay tuned for the edited versions!



Thanks Steph for being our personal photographer!

more from the photo shoot

Family photo shoot

We finally had blue skies and decent weather the other day, so I dragged the family out for our Christmas card photo shoot. I have to say, they turned out adorable! These are just the raw, unedited versions. You have to wait for the Christmas card--way cute!!

Thank goodness for children

You know what I love most about children? I love how forgiving they are and their ability to love you unconditionally, regardless of all your shortcomings.

People warned me that three's were worse than two's and I'm beginning to agree! Ty can be the most loving, most adorable little boy around, but he can also be the most wild, whiney, stubborn (I don't know where he gets that from) too.

Lately I feel like he and I have been going at it a ton and I'm constantly arguing or punishing him. After a particularly long and stressful day recently, I went to get Ty for bed, fully prepared for another battle. But instead, he lit up when I entered the room, like he had completely forgotten about our battles of the day and I was the most important person in his world. He came over to me on the couch and snuggled up and told me how much he loved me. Could I be anymore blessed? Thank goodness for children to remind us of what is important in life and the value of forgiveness.

Trick or treat continued...

I'm having trouble posting more than 2 pictures at a time...

More trick-or-treat pics

Trick or Treat

The long awaited day finally arrived yesterday--Halloween. After tons of costume parties and pumpkin patches, it was time to trick-or-treat. The final night to wear the costumes! Ty was pumped! He took a four hour nap to gear up for it.

Following tradition, Nikki and Dominic came up from Akron and Mom, Dad, Chase, and Gam-Gam came over for potato soup in bread bowls and trick-or-treating.

Carter was so fun to watch this year! This holiday was made just for him. He couldn't believe there is actually a day where he can run from house to house and they give him candy! Why hadn't we done this earlier? He went to every house, and when he had the opportunity he took extra and went back for more. A few times he tried to go right into the door to help himself. Back home he hoarded all of the suckers and literally fought the "big boys" for their candy. When it was all said and done he cried at the door because he wanted to go back out...That boy loves a good time and really loves to eat!

Carter loved having a personal escort to each house...
Keith carried the two tired trick-or-treaters back home...
Carter liked his spider costume much better than the lion!

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!