Does that make sense?  I know it’s been, well, forever since I posted about his fourth birthday but between no internet (kill me!) and the hustle and bustle of life… well, I never showed you the other party he had.  So here it is.

We had this second party mostly for those that would rather have a root canal than hang out in a bounce house.  All of our child-free friends and family had a great time!

Noah and Kate actually ended up being the only kids there and they loved it!  They got all the attention and helped keep all the grown ups young!

Noah was very interested in the cake!

But then we lit it.  And while he still loves fire…

He still hates attention.  When everyone gathered to sing he took cover.

And refused to blow out the candles!

But Kate’s not shy.  And Grammy never says no!

After dessert the kids soaked up a little more attention…

from everyone they could…

It was a great night.  Everyone had fun and we are so grateful to everyone who made it! 

Thank you!

This year Noah had quite the birthdays!  Turning 4, he was at the age where he was full of opinions.  From the moment we asked him (6 months ago) he wanted his party at Jumpers.  We tried to tempt him with so many other things, including a trip to Disney, but he was sure – Jumpers it was.  Being that Jumpers is most definitely a place for kids we decided to let him choose his guest list and we would do the family/adult party later.  We didn’t realize that his list of good friends was so short but it’s who he wanted so a small party with his nearest and dearest was what we had. 

Kate was our greeter.  She sat in the lobby and welcomed everyone to the party.

And this is Kate’s “I love you” -

Ayla the “supa-star”!  The world’s most natural model and Noah’s oldest pal.

Kate, Helena, and Ayla -

Once we were finally allowed in to play it was full speed ahead!

Aunt Rachel even got in on the fun!  If you ever go to Jumpers, don’t wear a skirt.  You will end up down a slide, eventually.

This is Charlie.  Noah’s BFF from school.  He is really into Charlie and they seem to be very similar in many ways.

I told you, we all end up on the slide!  I think Gena had more fun than Spencer in the bounce area!

I love this series of Noah and Charlie playing basketball…

After bounce, we bowled…

And then we danced…

Chicken Dance!

And then we ate cake!

Miss Molly (Noah’s teacher) even came!

We all had a great day!

Even if we had to work for a few smiles!

Dear Noah,

I can’t believe it’s been four years since you were born! It seems like just yesterday we were having pancakes and waiting for the glider to be delivered before we went to the movies… when my water broke. We still have pancakes every year and laugh about that morning even though we no longer have the glider and it took us forever to finally see The Davinci Code.

These days though are much more interesting and, usually, far less painful. You are figuring out your world, testing your limits, finding out about yourself and my tolerance for toddler antics. I love you so much. I love how much we’re alike, even if it means we butt heads constantly. You are stubborn, opinionated, feisty, active, and hard headed. It’s more politically correct to say you’re “strong willed” but you are far more challenging than that implies. You are the kid I got when my mother said “I hope you have one just like you!”. Often I wish the same for you!

You’re also way awesome! You are very mechanically inclined, inquisitive and curious. You love counting, numbers and trying to read.  You’re fascinated by Spanish and practice it constantly (and some days you remember seis and siete!).  We try hard to let you figure things out without squashing who you are but sometimes that can be frustrating and in case you ever remember the hard spots, I would like to tell you I’m sorry from now. I promise I’m doing the best job I know how to.

I love how much you love our family!  Daddy has always been, and will likely always be, your number one.  We joke about how great it is to be “the favorite”, like when you want a glass of water in the middle of the night and I just won’t do.  Trust me, he loves it as much as you do.  You’re crazy about your sister – when no one is looking!  You watch out for her, you speak up for her, and your protect her even if you also yell at her and swat at her for the silliest of reasons.  You want to include her in everything, whether she’s old enough or not, and you always save your banana at lunch time so she can have a snack when we pick you up.  You may want to be careful about that, since you’re so petite, she’s quickly gaining on you!  You are in the 25th percentile for height and 20th for weight.  You just broke the 30 pound mark and you mostly wear clothes made for children between 12 and 24 months of age.  I’m sure you won’t go to college that little but it is my job to worry! And the love of your life, our 5th member of the family – monkey.  Although he is far beyond tattered, his shine has still not warn off! Take it easy on him though, I’m not sure how many more washes he can handle!

You are very shy.  I’m not supposed to say that around you but it’s all I can offer up when a stranger is trying to engage you and you look at them like they’re crazy.  You won’t tell them what your name is, how old you are, who your sister is, or which balloon you want when they ask, no matter what.  It’s just not your thing.  You also don’t do group activities.  You will wait for your entire class to finish a project and move on to something else before you’ll do yours.  It always has to be your way.  Lucky for you, your teacher, Miss Molly, loves you and caters to you.  Your preschool best friend, Charlie, is your partner in crime.  You two are like long lost brothers, he’s the only little person who gets you at the moment.  Ayla is still your “girlfriend”, or so we joke and if you don’t marry her we’ll be shocked.  You get along, share, and fight like an old married couple.  It’s adorable and you do a great job at tolerating her when she gets bossy.  You’ll even give in to a hug every once in awhile just to keep her from being heart broken.

You are such an amazing boy!  I can’t wait to see how you grow and thrive throughout the years.  I’m certainly not wishing any time away but if you could be a little more reasonable or mature, that would be great!  For now I will remain as patient as possible and cherish the moments of love, cuddling, and kindness that creep in when we’re at home.  I love you to the moon and back and wish for you everything you could possibly need to thrive and succeed.  One step at a time though.  Pancakes?

Love you always,

mom

I debated posting old stuff that never made it to the blog, although blog worthy, and have decided that it will at least give you all something to look at.  That, and help you appreciate how nice our winter was now that it’s turning scalding hot warm.

These are photos from a play date with Ayla at the park on a gorgeous February morning. 

This was Kate’s very first set of pigtails; she looked just like Boo from Monsters Inc!

How can this welcome not bring a smile to your face?  Ayla was running in from the parking lot, they were both so excited!

Can I ride?!?!

Weeeeeeee……

Noah loves a good swing!  I love this series of photos!  I couldn’t decide which ones to post, so you get three.

Ok, four.  I can’t help myself.  This is Noah in the same swing at 9 months.  What a difference 3 years makes!!  It doesn’t even look like the same kid!

You know those posts when people go on and on about their vacations and seem to post every. single. picture?  Annoying, isn’t it?  Well, this is one of those posts.  Sorry.  You can scroll through and miss the commentary without hurting my feelings.  Promise.

Two weeks ago Robby and I took Ayla and Noah to Disney!  It may seem a bit unusual but Robby had time off during the week he had to take and I wasn’t up to anything so we decided to take the kids and knew they would have a blast sharing the experience with each other.  Boy, were we in for a few surprises!  But overall, we had a blast!

The night we arrived we had dinner with the characters in our hotel.  Ayla wasn’t totally sure about them, probably because of their size.  So long as dad was in the middle though she was pretty agreeable.

Noah wasn’t interested – SHOCKER – but when I asked him to do it for Walter so he could see how much fun we were having he agreed.  Please excuse his shorts.  Unfortunately he’s only growing taller and is in the same shorts from two birthdays back.  They’ll be Daisy Dukes next summer.

The desserts at the restaurant (in the Swan Hotel) were ridiculous!  We got a little bit of everything to try and one thing was better than the next.  I wish we had a before photo, I’m sure it would have been much more appetizing than the aftermath of half eaten treats.

The next morning we were planning to go to the Magic Kingdom.  Unfortunately an all day rain storm had the same agenda.  It rained ALL DAY.  Luckily it didn’t slow us down.  In fact, besides the ponchos, the park was fantastic.  There was no one there and there were no lines!  Score!

After this photo we went to breakfast.  On the way back from breakfast, Noah walked into a wall.  The wall won and he had a bloody nose for the rest of the day.  Excuse the leftovers in the rest of the photos.  Yes, he’s fine.  I think he must get his clumsiness from his father.

The kids were anxious to get on the monorail!

Once we got in the park we immediately bought the classic Mickey poncho.  Somehow Noah’s was HUGE.  I still don’t know if they gave him the kid size!

To dodge the rain we went to the Country Bear Jamboree.  This was a first for Noah and I think maybe me too.

Exciting stuff.

We had to hit up It’s A Small World, I think that’s a given!

It still amazes me how mesmorized the kids are by this ride!

And then, believe it or not, WE WENT ON DUMBO.  That’s shocking for a few reasons.  1) I haven’t been on Dumbo since I was Noah’s age.  2) I don’t go on rides that go in circles.  I almost had Noah talked out of it but I eventually gave in.  3) The line for Dumbo is usually crazy long.

In my efforts to get out of it we ended up behind Robby and Ayla but at least we kind of got to take a photo of them!

At Mickey and Minnie’s house the kids touched everything.  Here they are making popcorn.

And here we are waiting to see Mickey and Minnie.  Wet but thankfully, it wasn’t cold!

I can’t quite remember how I bribed Noah into this.  It wasn’t his favortie thing of the day – clearly – but he did it!  I was shocked and proud!  Ayla wanted nothing to do with them.

But she did want to see the Princesses… which Noah wanted nothing to do with.

Ayla was quite the talker with these beauties.  We really got a laugh when she told Cinderella that Noah was shy, told Belle that he was her Prince and they were married, and then told Sleeping Beauty he was her brother.  Maybe you had to be there but we were hysterical!

The Princess and the Frog are a new addition to the lineup and they were quite a pair!  They were dead ringers for the characters in the movie and they had such great personalities. 

Then we rode the bumper cars.  I haven’t been on this for a very long time too!  See the reasons up at the Dumbo portion of the trip…

And Noah met Buzz Lightyear.  He kept telling me how excited Daddy would be when he told him they met!

And Robby’s favorite ride… The Carousel of Progress.  I’m pretty sure this was my first time on this.

Afterwards we had dinner at the Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom.  Another first and we loved it!

Ayla wasn’t so sure about seeing these characters but if Noah can do it – anyone can!

Afterwards we went to see the fireworks…

The kids were way ready!  They had snacks, light up necklaces…. but there were no fireworks.  We were misinformed and therefore an hour early.  Again with the lying fibbing, we were able to escape to the car, unharmed by the crowd or the kids.  Fireworks will have to be another time.  Robby and I were beat! 

I’m not sure who enjoyed this trip more – the kids or the grown ups!  I would do it again, rain and all, in a heartbeat.  There’s nothing like experiencing Disney through the eyes of a child!

Happy St. Patty’s Day!  The fantastic holiday where we all pretend to be Irish and over indulge on corned beef!  Today is also a special day for our cousin, Kim Jensen, and friend Robby Friedman ~ Happy Birthday to you both!

I wanted to share these fun photos with you!  We bought a hat as a prop for a baby but never found the right time or kid to put it on.  Noah decided it was a toy and we had fun watching him try to squeeze it on his massive head.

Aunt Raven even got in on the action!

May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light, May good luck pursue you each morning and night! ~Irish Blessing

This is a total brag post.  We are gushing with pride over our three year old superhero!  Anyone who knows Noah knows that he is absolutely obsessed with fire and everything fire related.  Obsessed.  I figure he’ll either grow up to be a fire fighter (over my dead body) or a pyromaniac (ummm, yea, no).  Anyway, yesterday at school they held a routine fire drill.  The school takes the youngest kids (Kate’s class) out of the building prior to the alarm sounding so they don’t freak out.  After the alarm was pulled Noah’s class lined up and started to exit their room.  Noah ran to the front of the line and grabbed his teacher’s pants.  She said his eyes were welling with tears and he was in a panic.  She asked what was wrong and he said they needed to go get Kate!  They needed to tell her their was a fire and she needed to come with him outside.  He was frantic!  Of course when you’re three a fire drill and the real thing is a line that’s a little blurry.  She told him that Kate was already outside but that wasn’t good enough.  He needed to see her, he needed to know she was ok!  So Miss Molly spotted Kate in her pink jacket (with her back turned) and told Noah that Kate was right there (outside) and she was ok.  Still, he wasn’t convinced.  Miss Molly had to promise that it was Kate and as soon as they were able to step out of line he ran over to be sure. 

Three different teachers told me this story when I went to pick them up in the afternoon.  I was very proud, very surprised, and very choked up.  I love how much he loves her, even though – on occasion – he loves to torment her.  He also got to choose something from the treasure chest at school as a special treat.  Of course we couldn’t help but reward him too!  Every once in a while when your kid seems positively rotten and you’re at your wit’s end it’s important to hold on for one more day.  They do come around, they will wow you, and for at least one more day they’re safe from HRS.  We love you Noah Schmoah!

There are so many things I will miss when the kids are older.  So many little things.  Sure, I’ll miss being able to pick out their music and clothes, because let’s face it - teenagers are no good at that stuff, but I’ll also miss who they are right now. 

Noah has a flair for mispronunciation and made up words.  I already miss his emphatic “BA”, which could have been anything but was most often his pacifier when he was a toddler.  I still love that yellow is lello, and Ayla is Awaa but I’m sure those will change too.  His newest bump in the learning curve is telling time.  Every morning he comes into our room and announces it’s time to get up.  And every morning Walter groggily asks him what time it is.  It’s usually 5 or 6 something (but in the pattern of number number number), which means it’s not time to get up, but sometimes we get this treat – it’s mystery one five (or whatever is after the mystery).  It took us a bit to figure it out but that’s 7:15.  Apparently this – 7 – and this – ? – are pretty similar in his mind.  To me it’s  a mystery how he only manages to sleep past 7:00am once a week!  But, isn’t that the cutest thing ever?  Noah is also a huge fan of renaming people right now.  I don’t know how he chooses names, or sometimes where they come from, but it always makes us laugh.  His teach at school, Miss Molly, is Molls.  His best friend there is Charlie, Noah calls him Charles.  The other night I was Brisket but I’m most often Dads – that’s not a typo.  He loves to be silly!

Kate is still into pointing and grunting.  Her school tells us she can talk a little – Mickey, No, and Mine – but we haven’t heard it.  She mimics us sometimes and can almost get some similar sounds with the right amount of syllables out but she definitely understands.  You can tell her just about anything, or make any request, and she’s on it.  Whether or not she wants to do it remains a completely different story.  We joke that she has an attitude problem but I’m hoping it’s just that she’s opinionated.  Right now she wants to do everything Noah does, especially the dangerous stuff, and absolutely everything by herself.

All of these traits and habits will one day be a distant memory but I wanted to put them here so we never forget just how darn cute they could be!  Another thing I’m sure we’ll miss… how they enjoy Valentine’s Day…

The Queen of the Self Feed -

Apparently not even 3.75 years of practice makes you a clean donut eater -

What do you miss about your child’s childhood, or what do you think you will miss the most?

That’s it, I’m officially a mom.  In case the whole pregnancy, labor, delivery mess didn’t convince me, this is it.  I spent my day making treats for the kids’ bake sale.  Always trying hard not to take ourselves too seriously, and because I can’t eat chocolate, I didn’t “bake” just anything… Noah and I made popcorn balls! 

Popcorn balls have been one of my favorite treats for as long as I can remember.  We used to make them at my grandparents’ house every Christmas;  I have such fond memories of those times!  Today I use the same recipe written by my grandmother in pencil on an ancient index card. 

Every time time I make them I manage to do something wrong; some things never change.  The recipe is very simple.  Make popcorn, make this eewy, gooey, sticky sauce, poor the sauce over the popcorn and form into balls.  The first year I made these on my own I let 3 milliseconds pass between pouring the boiling sauce over the popcorn and attempting to form balls.  I don’t remember having to wait for anything to cool as a kid!  I also don’t remember how long it took that to heal but I’ve never done it since!  This time I put all the ingredients in the sauce at once, two are supposed to go in at the very end of the boiling process.  Oops.  They still taste great!

And because I enjoy my memories of popcorn ball making so fondly I figured I’d pass on the tradition.  Here’s how it went down -

Noah, Monkey and I pressed the popcorn into balls.  Noah was in charge of picking stray kernels off my hands for his snack.

He was also excellent at finding all the unpopped, hard seed kernels and putting them aside.

Don’t you love his dimple!?

I made a little one for him -

In order to bribe him for this -

Did I mention these things are sticky!?

We also baked some double chocolate chip muffins for the boring people at the sale.

Happy Valentine’s Day!  I hope your festivities are just as sweet!

For Christmas Noah got an ant farm from his Aunt Nikki.  At first I was a little surprised and not exactly in the fun, excited way.  Then I found out that to get the ants for the farm you had to order them BY MAIL.  Again, not excited – but, we did.  We sent away for the special ants that eat the special gel in this modern ant farm.  Did you know insects can be MAILED?!!?

Well the ants arrived and we put them in their new home (and by “we” I mean Walter).  Although they looked like big, mean, red ants, I figured so long as they were in the farm it really didn’t matter.  Once they got acclimated though and started to make this joint their home we all became fascinated.  It’s so interesting to watch them – from a distance – and see how they make tunnels and problem solve.  The very first tunnel they built went right into the wall of the farm.  D’oh!  They’ve gotten used to the surroundings though and this is what they’re up too…

Here’s what it looks like from a little further back.  Damn, ants, they can’t get anything right – we told them to spell Noah.  They are missing the o and the a and the h is upside down!  Just kidding, we have no idea what N4 is or where they think they’re going!