My bundled up babies

Our little Christmas Angel

I wanted to get these blogged, and I'm also testing something out. Isn't she adorable? Daddy did a great job of picking out her Christmas dress. Sorry they are so blurry, but she just doesn't stop moving!

Darren

Noah rendered speechless by his Christmas present...

Noah really wanted this motorhome for Christmas, flowers and all. Boy was he excited to get it!

Faithy is done shopping

Faithy Joy and Noah

As you know I love comparing the kiddos, so here are more in nearly the same pose!!

Some homeschool pics :)

Okay, I am DONE fighting with blogspot on my pics. So here you go, in their full glory, since blogger won't let me post them any smaller unless I go in and edit each on in HTML. So they will mess up my page, but right now I don't care!

My friend Kristen and I have decided to homeschool our preschool boys. This has been so fun I can't believe I haven't posted pics and we are already on the letter F (one letter and number a week). I have to say though, it's hard to take pics as the teacher is usually trying to reign in two very active boys while the other mom is watching over two kiddos, one which sleeps (Ronin) and one which often doesn't (Faith!) Here are some pics from the letter F and the letter E.

** added later - the pics are so huge you can only see 1/4 of them so I will edit stupid Html!

E - elbow macaroni glued to name

E - cat/dog ears made by boys

F - counting goldfish

F - story with fish

F - Jesus using loaves and fishes

Mommy loves her babies

I love when Faith wears something Noah wore at one time :) The only difference is, Noah is wearing this shirt at 11 months, and Faith is wearing it at 8.5!

Noah April 2007

Faith September 2009

Dream big baby

Noah is very creative, so when Darren pulled out a play structure that you put together using various tubes, magnets, and clips, Noah was quick to build something completely different out of it... like, this leaf blower.

Yes, it's a leaf blower, and it comes complete with sound effects and a convenient strap to wear it over your back.

I love this kid.

Which one's the baby?

I had read it would probably happen, but it hasn't made it any less humorous or sweet.

Noah LOVES Faith. But almost as much as he loves Faith, Noah loves to pretend that HE is a baby too. He will sometimes ask to be picked up and rocked like a baby, he will pretend to pick up toys and suck on them, only to toss them aside and "cry", and he climbs into her baby-size exersaucer and plays. Yes, his legs are about 3 times too long, and his weight far exceeds the recommended limit, but I see no harm done. This picture was taken the other day while both "babies" were in their respective activity toys and both sucking on frozen banana cubes in baby-safe mesh feeders. Classic.

Can't wait to tease him with this one when he's 14.

Happy 8 months Faithy

Well I did this for Noah most of his first months, and was just reminded of that by reading a sweet post my friend Danaly wrote for her 6 month old daughter Jenna. So, here's one for Faithy.

Faith, what a joy you have been. I can hardly believe 8 months have passed! You are so full of Joy, it is no wonder that we felt led to make that a part of your middle name. Here are some snapshots into who you are today :)

You are constantly talking - you LOVE to hear yourself. Sometimes you will just shout little shouts over and over just to hear how it sounds in the room. We laugh because it often sounds like we are watching a horror flick in our house with all the screaming! When you talk you say dadadada and nananana and some gagagagaga's in there. You say nigh-nigh-nigh when you are tired, but I'm not sure if you understand that it's night night time. Just like I'm not positive you winked at your dad the other day although he is convinced of it :)

You army crawl everywhere and hate to be caged in. You will take your head and try to shove anything out of your way to get over to where I am. Yes, your head is still in the 100th percentile in size... must be packed full of brains!

You smile constantly and only fuss when we are late on your bottle or when you are ready to go to sleep. And when you sleep you simply need your paci and your blue comfort silkie and you are set. I sing you the same songs I sang for Noah when he was little.

Speaking of Noah, you two LOVE each other! Today when I came downstairs he was singing "hallelujah... hallelujah" to you from the Jesus loves you song I sing to him. He loves to hold you, squeeze you, and just overall love on you. He always tells us how cute you are and how he loves you. And you, when you see him, your whole day is made. You will go out of your way to get his attention just to get him to look at you. The two of you are a joy to watch together!

You sleep through the night from about 8pm to 6:45 am, except your teething and your recent growth spurt have put a hiccup in that a bit. Your naps range from 40 minutes to and hour and a half, though you slept 2 hours at grandma and grandpas last week!

Faithy Cara Joy, we LOVE you so much, and you are a joy to behold. We are so grateful for you every day and look forward to watching you grow up.

How to stress out your 3 year old.

Step 1. Take him to Disneyland for a week where he is out of his routine and in a different place.

Step 2. Immediately upon returning from Disneyland, put him into a week-long VBS program where he gets dropped off for 3 hours every day without his mommy and without knowing anyone.

Step 3. Take advantage of the no TV routine during the Disneyland trip and keep the TV off most of the day upon returning home.

--------------------------------

Apparently, this was all a little too much for our little guy. By Wednesday of the VBS week, it was as if they sent me home with a different little boy... tantrums, fits, "no no no!", escalating emotional outbursts over small things.... you name it, he did it. Saturday morning even brought some regression in his potty training (which has been great for months). It was emotionally and mentally draining and by Sunday evening I was getting pretty concerned.

What if this lasted forever?!?!

By Sunday, we pieced together that perhaps Noah was not prepared quite yet to be taken from mommy and put somewhere totally new for hours a time for an entire week. Especially following a week that was also totally off of routine. It was too much for his little head to handle and had stressed him out :(

So, after getting a much needed break on Monday with Jenny taking him the whole day, I decided to make Tuesday and Wednesday mommy/Noah days (as much as possible with a baby around). Tuesday my friend Erika came over and while she watched Faith, Noah and I played outside with his cars for a long time and then went to the park. I also let him watch a couple of his shows in the morning with his breakfast. Just with that little bit of time I noticed a slight change in his behavior.

Wednesday was a special day. In the morning he asked me "Mommy, can we sit on the couch and snuggle and watch a movie and be best friends?" How could I resist that? So we sat on the couch and watched three movies in a row! The Cat in the Hat, The Great Muppet Caper, and Chicken Little. I asked him if he didn't like being dropped off without mommy at the special church and he said no, he didn't like it.

It is Thursday today and Noah is back to his old self. He is still 3 and fights bedtimes, but other than that my sweet little guy is back and I couldn't be happier. As for preschool, we have decided that even though he CAN start at three years old, it doesn't mean to HAS to start then. This year I will join MOPS, I will create my own preschool-type learning environment, and we will try again next year, maybe.

Welcome back Noah.

Enjoying Darren's Toy

The whole family has gotten to benefit from Darren's new Can Am Spyder (well, except for Faith maybe). I personally went straight out and bought the gear I needed to ride with him. However, I was mistaken on how simple it would be. I thought I would just hop on and go, like in the movies. What I didn't realize was how scary it would be at first, holding on to someone while moving at fast speeds!

The first night I took it out in the court myself and then rode with Darren up and down the street - I was nervous and a bit freaked out. But just a few days later we had our first date on it - granted we just went to downtown Livermore - but I wasn't nervous at all! Maybe it was that it was daytime, or maybe it was that I learned that it was easier to ride if you imagined yourself as a sack of potatoes (as opposed to clutching and clinging on for dear life trying to become one with the driver) Whatever it was, it was fun to go and have a great time :) I've only been up to about 56 mph so I've got a ways to go, but I look forward to more rides with my man.

Movies and Motorcycles

Noah and Reid took their first trip to the movie theater and saw Surf's Up. They were both very well behaved and Kristen and I enjoyed ourselves too! Here they are on the way there, and afterward riding some cool bikes :)

A day at the park

I took the kids to the park yesterday but had no idea it would be so cold in the morning! Being the good mommy I am, I gave Noah the sweater off my back, and then had to roll it up, tuck it in, and cinch it everywhere I could to make it fit :)

Faith enjoyed her first time on a swing - looking at this pic you'd think I was really pushing her, but I was really conservative on how high I let her go!

Noah at 7 months (taken with a phone camera and a little distorted)

And Faithy at 7 months

Got my new camera

So somehow my camera broke. It just suddenly... stopped. Because of this I have been relying on my phone, which takes good pics, but not the quality I prefer. So here is an update of all things Rogers taken with my new camera or the phone :)

Trying to find something to keep Noah happy and occupied on a sick day

Why you don't leave babies unattended (I didn't, by the way)

When Darren left the room she was on the other side of the pillow, can you find her now?

Daddy and Noah owning the road

Faith in her new Jumperoo

Our little swimmer

We started Noah in swim lessons again, except this time mommy and daddy aren't in the pool with him - it's just him and his little class of 3 other kiddos and Miss Liz. This morning was his first time and he did GREAT. In fact, he did so good that they brought over a blue ribbon for him because he completed so many "preschool" water activities. Then an instructor had him and a little girl get out of the pool while ringing a cow bell. "Attention everyone!!!!" The girl shouted. She explained that Noah and this other little girl had done so well that they earned a ribbon - and everyone in the place hooted an hollered - and I got a little weepy I was so proud!

Needless to say, it was heartwarming and very cool.

We had more water fun at a community water park nearby. I have heard of the place but had never been - it was awesome! It was just mommy, daddy and Noah and we all had a great time.

"but I have to cut her hair off with this"

Six Flags

We bought season passes to six flags this year and have already been many times - Jenny and I went last week with Noah and Faith and had a great time. I'll put a pic up from last year for reference :)

July 2008

June 2009