Noah - The Marvel

This kid, wow.... he never ceases to amaze us!  And we have to take just a minute and brag on him because he's doing just so darn well lately!!!  

He's been learning phonics in school and wants to learn to read SO bad!  He tries to sound out everything he sees everywhere we go to figure out what something says.  It's been both fun and challenging, to say the least.  ;)  So we started off with a couple of things to help make reading fun with some ideas Jen found off Pinterest.  He basically blew through those in one sitting and looked around for more!  Ok then.  ;)

So she sought out advice from a couple of her teacher friends and they recommended the BOB Books. What a fantastic recommendation!!!!  We get them from the library, he begs to read from them every day (and blows through the set, mind you) and then wants to know when we can pick up the next book set!!! Love, love, love these books for beginning readers!!!

So to challenge him a little more on non-school days, Jen found some word searches online. You can get them customized from Pre-K through 3rd grade.  Well.  In no time at all, he had found all of the words on this page.  Apparently we need to up our game.  ;)  (did you notice how he did a pattern with his colors when finding the words - did that all on his own, too!)

Next up, we're getting the Kindergarten "Big Workbook" and some other harder books with word searches in them.  We figure he'll need something to do during the summer to help pass the time some days and since he loves to learn, why not?  :)  

Oh, and by the way, he had his very first professional school portraits done last week at school. Oh.My.Goodness!!!!  Does this ever make you want to bawl your eyes out?!?!  (sorry for the poor quality - we snapped it with our phone since we didn't have time to scan it into the computer yet.)

11 Months Old!

So..... we now have a walker on our hands!  She's been taking a few steps here and there almost immediately after she turned 10 months, but now.... she practically runs everywhere!  We also have an eater!!!  She loves all the food we put in front of her.  She kinda goes "eh" about pears, she will still eat them, but as of now, that's really the only thing.  She LOVES all finger foods - blueberries, black beans, green beans, corn, carrot chunks, peas, chicken, cheeseburger bites, cheerios, etc are her most favorite - especially when she can smash them up and make a huge mess.  ;)  She's had a few play dates with friends and warming up to people usually takes all of about 30-seconds.  Strangers still don't seem to bother her. She has 6 teeth now and think she's trying to get some more in.  Trying to change her diaper has become a challenge as she likes to kick at you the whole time (stinker!).  The time change didn't affect her at all.  We didn't really adjust her sleeping schedule and she doesn't seem to be off of it.  Weird how that happened...... She still loves to sleep.  Sacks right out and bed time and hardly ever makes a peep until sometime in the 8:00 hour!  Gosh, we are BLESSED!!!  She's able to venture out more and stay out longer/later.  If we get her off her nap schedule on a rare occasion, she either stays awake happily or just falls asleep in her car seat.  She's SO EASY!  She's been enjoying the weather getting nicer and being able to go outside and play or going to the park.  This summer is gonna be so much fun - having 2 little ones now to be out back playing in the pool, the hot tub, the crazy sprinklers, the cobra mister and the water table!!!  She throws bigger temper tantrums now - over the silliest of things, and sometimes over nothing.  It's really kinda humorous to see what's gonna make her mad.  ;)  She grinds her teeth.  UGH!!! It's loud and sounds SO AWFUL!! She loves to squeak/squeal/scream really, really, really LOUD.  She's like a pterodactyl.  ;)  We're planning her first birthday party a lot more serious now.  We've been planning it practically since she was born, but now in the final stages. Can't believe she's almost ONE!

And now a little about her best friend, Noah.....
He's doing SO well in swim lessons and seems to enjoy them!  This month a friend from church will be in his class!  He starts t-ball sometime this spring and Greg will be one of his coaches!  He says Emma is his best friend. He draws pictures or makes something for her every day.  They can't seem to get enough of each other!  :)  He is reeeeeeeeally into TMNT like never before lately and says he'd really like to do some kind of martial arts (maybe even with daddy!) We had his parent/teacher conferences at the beginning of this month and his teacher gave him nothing but beyond rave reviews.  Said he's helpful, respectful, kind, loving, obedient and that "he is more than ready for Kindergarten - in fact, he's at about an almost 2nd grade level!" WOW!


And now a side note.....
So we've been doing a "little" kitchen reno since mid-February.  New granite counter tops, some new appliances and Greg is tiling a gorgeous back splash!  We decided to hold off on sanding or replacing the cabinets for now.  They've actually kind of grown on us with all of the new additions we've added (and we also weren't in the mood to prolong this project any longer right now - ha!).  ;)  Since Noah found out that we were getting rid of the old counter tops, he took that opportunity to leave his mark on them.  It was too cute.  :) The kids also enjoyed playing in all of the open cabinets (since we had to take everything out).

Last side note for now.....

We had a little surprise family shower here at the house for Brian, Becca, Judah and their (almost here!) baby.  Mustache and bow tie theme.  So so so SO FUN!!!  Can't wait to have a new little one running around here!!!

Again, this probably isn't everything about everyone.  This blog has kinda taken a back seat to everyday life lately.  But hey, we get on Facebook sometimes and you can always email or text us to catch up or get pics/videos!  ;)