A little country

While in Austin we headed north to Salado to visit my Uncle Virgil (Luke) and Aunt Marilyn. They are great hosts and our boys had a blast. They had quite a spread for us, Virgil made his famous barbeque ribs and Marilyn made all the deliciousness to go along with them.

Micah ate A LOT, which is a good since we are trying to put some meat on his bones (his cheeks are deceiving). Marilyn: I need to get the mac 'n cheese recipe from you. SO GOOD!

Went for a ride in the golf cart.

Luke took Noah for a tractor ride. I can tell he is trying not to smile in this picture. He was very excited.

Off they go.

On the way back Noah was steering and waving to us.

Micah was waving right back. :)

We sure did enjoy our visit to the country and spending time with Virgil & Marilyn. Thank you!!

I'm finally posting about our trip to Austin. I kept putting it off because I feel like there is so much to say. Shawn had a work meeting scheduled in San Antonio and announced that we should all get tickets and head to Austin to meet our new nephew Johnny. So we did.

Here's the man of the hour, he is a sweet little prince!

This is the only picture I got of the cousins together and was right after naps, especially apparent from Micah and Molly's bedhead.

Molly was ready to show the boys her pool and stayed in with them for about 30 seconds. She quickly realized that these boys are crazy and wild and high tailed it out of there. Noah is going through an orca whale stage so jumping in the pool is great fun and Molly's two pools in one provided the perfect leaping spot.

Deanna took us to a fun park that had a huge sand pile filled with digging toys and a sprinkler pad.

Date Night

Noah and I had a date night on Saturday. He likes to take pictures in front of the Louis Vuitton store, it is a pretty cool store front. Here he is acting goofy.

Baby

We told Noah that we are going to have another baby tonight. He said he is "so excited" and when I was putting him to bed kissed my chest (close) and said he gave the baby a kiss. Be still my heart. He also says he wants a sister. Hmm, well see how that request works out for him. :)

Noah says

Today we got the proofs from our photographer in the mail. Noah and I were flipping through them and I stopped on a picture of the whole family and said, "Noah, look how happy you look." He responded, "Micah looks miserable." Ha! Micah didn't look miserable to me but he wasn't smiling. I got a good laugh out of that one.

A few minutes of playing together peacefully. Ahhh yes! I'll take some more of that please.

End of Soccer

Soccer ended a couple of weeks ago and I've been meaning to post a wrap up. Unfortunately my camera battery died about 20 minutes after getting to the fields. Noah played in 4 games and scored a goal at each one. Both Noah and Shawn are excited about that stat. :) At one point during the last game our whole team had stopped playing and was over digging in a dirt pile. It was hilarious and a good reminder of the priorities of a 3 year old. The parents rotated bringing popsicles for after the games and messes were enjoyed by all. We had fun giving soccer a whirl and will probably do it again next summer.

All the kids got medals. Micah wore it around for about a week after.

Noah and his friend Emmie. They are always this cute together.

Austin Bound

We are off to Texas. Will be back next week with photos of our cutie pie niece Molly and new nephew Johnny and, I expect, a real appreciation for the Minnesota summers.

We are meeting up with HBS friends, The Cruser family, and Uncle Virgil and Aunt Marilyn so we will have a jam packed trip filled with lots of the people we love.

Note to self: take a lot of pictures!

NP's dream day

A dream day for Noah is spent going to the library for new books and then bringing them home and reading all day. The kid is a serious book worm. It has been so hot and humid here (don't hate me Texans!) that we were happy to venture to the library this week and spend some time in the AC.

mmm good

The boys like sweet corn.

Explorer Extraordinaire

We enjoy Fancy Nancy books around here. It certainly is a welcome break from the trucks, cars, and trains selections that make up the lion's share of our reading. The Easter Bunny brought Noah 'Fancy Nancy Explorer Extraordinaire' and his interest in exploring has been budding ever since. Last Thursday I brought him home a few items to get him going as he had already set up a clubhouse under our kitchen table. His clubhouse had so many random things in it including two pair of Shawn's dirty gym socks and all of Noah's clean socks.

A critter cabin. I imagined that we would catch the critters outside; however, by the end of day 2 we had already caught a garden centipede and an ant inside the house. You wouldn't believe the convincing I had to do in order for the cabin to stay in the garage.

Pillow Fight

Shawn came home from work a little early one night (bless him!) and an impromptu pillow fight ensued. I started with them but quickly let the testosterone take over and watched and laughed.

Look at Micah running over, pillow ready.

All tired out.

Photos

We have a photographer come take pictures once or twice a year and we did them on Monday. Usually it coincides with Noah's birthday so we are inside or all bundled up. It was really fun to have a summer photo shoot. I will be anxiously awaiting their arrival. Until then you can see that the boys had some fun at the beach. Noah had a blast.

I think we may have another mini-Shawn in progress.

Work To Do

While we were home in Nebraska Grandpa surprised the boys by bringing this home one morning. FUN! They had some wood chips to move onto the play ground area or Grandma's Park as Noah calls it.

Micah wasted no time climbing into the scoop.

The boys hard at work. They moved a lot of wood chips...just ask them!

Both boys went for a ride. Micah first and Noah after he warmed up and saw it was safe. A perfect portrayal of their personalities.

Love

In our nursery we have a piece of art that says "I love you to the moon and back" and 'I Love You This Much' is a popular read. So one day Noah asked me how much I loved him and I said, "All the way to the moon and back." He smiled. Then I asked him how much he loved me. He said, "All the way to Micah's bedroom and back." He just said it again and it makes me laugh every time. Sweet boy!

Five

I've been extremely negligent about posting lately. I have an excuse...and it is a good one. We are going to be a family of five! Whoa, exciting and scary. This is my excuse because I've been exhausted and sick beyond words. I just hope this time around the morning sickness can be done before 16 weeks. We will tell the boys as the time comes closer and I'm sure they will be overjoyed to split our attention even more (insert sarcasm). Noah still talks about how he didn't like us going to the hospital when we had Micah. So that's our big news.

Freckles

When Noah woke up today he marched up the stairs and into our bed for a little snuggle time, which I love because he is not much of a snuggler.

Noah: Mom did your freckles go away?

Me: No, there are still there.

Noah: Can you itch them off?

Me: No, I can't itch them off.

What I would have given 25 years ago to be able to get rid of them so easily. I keep checking the boys faces looking for freckles. Micah has a few across his nose. Noah is still in the clear.

Tyler's Birthday

July 28th is my brother's birthday and we were excited to be invited to a surprise party for him hosted by his girlfriend and the family he nannies for. We were heading back to Nebraska for the weekend anyhow so we hopped in the car a day early to help him celebrate. He was genuinely surprised by the party and it was a really fun time.

Micah's first experience with sweet corn...he likes it...a lot.

Uncle Tyler and baby Ryker.

My sister, Beth, just had a baby boy and we were thrilled to be able to see and snuggle him during our visit.

All the kids took a swing at the pinata before Tyler crushed it in one shot.

Noah liked the candy inside, no surprise there.

Happy Birthday Tyler!

Beth and Ryker. I LOVE when tiny babies snuggle like that.

Not every party includes a gator ride. Super cool.

His cake said #1 Manny. Love it.

One of my favorite pictures ever.