All Boy(s)

Noah's First T-ball Game

2010-05-10T19:44:00.002-05:00

Saturday was Noah's first t-ball game on the Pirates!

my little man all suited up

team huddle with coach clay :)

the pirates

clay prepping noah for his first at-bat

he hit it past 2nd base on the first swing!

one of the moms had sugar cookies made with the kids' names on them

ELC Art Show

2010-05-10T19:00:00.004-05:00

A couple of weeks ago our family enjoyed the Early Learning Center Art Show at the boys' school. The Art Show is a fundraiser held each year where the kids' art work is displayed and some art is auctioned off, all in order to raise money for the school. This year the money raised went to buy new inside play equipment.

Here are some pictures of Noah and Jude, their art, and a video of Jude's class singing Jesus Loves Me:

Noah and his friends' art work

Noah's butterfly

Noah's Sand Art

Jude and his friends' art work

Jude's star

Jude's butterfly

Jude's colored glue painting

Jude's glued tissue string art

Spring Fun

2010-05-10T18:39:00.002-05:00

Noah and Jude are at such fun ages. I realize I'm going to have a big adjustment when Luke joins our family next month. Right now, I can say, "Come on boys. Let's load up." and they get their things and follow me to the car. Noah can buckle himself in, so I just have one child to strap in. Noah can get himself dressed, so I just have one toddler to get ready each day. We hardly have to take anything with us anymore when we leave the house. I'm going to soak up all the "easiness" I have with an almost 2 year old and an almost 4 year old for the next few weeks!

Here are a few pictures of the boys over the past month:

Noah was wearing his baseball pants one day and requested that Jude wear his as well.

We have enjoyed some beautiful weather. The boys have loved playing outside.

We have enjoyed some yummy grilled foods, compliments of Chef Clay.

We have enjoyed many evening walks...

and bike rides!

birthday parties and the railroad festival

2010-04-17T08:12:00.004-05:00

Last weekend we took a trip to Louisiana. We had not been to visit our families since Christmas, so it was long overdue. Clay was scheduled to preach a weekend revival in north Louisiana, so he dropped us off in DeQuincy and then headed out. The boys and I enjoyed a couple of fast paced days which included the Railroad Festival, two birthday parties, church, and lots of family time.

The Railroad Festival is an annual tradition held in DeQuincy the 2nd weekend of April. As a kid, I looked forward to riding rides and getting out of school for half a day. It's so fun to watch my boys enjoy the festival now. This was Jude's first year to enjoy the rides.
Noah, on the other hand, is an old pro as this was his 3rd year to ride rides!

There is a city park right in the middle of the festival. I think the kids enjoy it as much if not more than the rest of the entertainment!

Here's Carson cheesing it up.

I can't mention the RR Festival without sharing with you the great food. Among the favorites are the "Pentecostal" hamburgers, homemade corn dogs, funnel cakes, and pork-a-bobs. You have to go several days to get all this eating in!

On Saturday, we were able to go to Dry Creek for Jack's 3rd birthday party! Amanda did a great job in planning a bug-themed party. The food was made to look like ants and spiders and worms. The dessert was yummy dirt pudding! Amanda also made "cocoons" which were cocktail wienies baked inside crescent rolls, ants on a log (peanut butter and raisins on "logs" of celery) and many other fun snacks!

For the entertainment, Clint released worms and crickets for the kids to collect in the their bug houses. Surprisingly, Noah- our city boy- wanted nothing to do with the bugs. However, our Jude LOVED the bugs. He would laugh, pick them up, and laugh again. Jack definitely taught our boys about being a true country boy.

On Sunday, we went to church with my family and then met Clay in Alexandria at Clint and Amanda's house. We attempted to get a picture of the 4 grandkids together. Baby Sydney is all the way to the left. She is our first niece and was born at the end of February. She is already 7 weeks old! We were so glad to finally get to meet her and see her precious pink room. The boys were all really gentle with her. We can't wait to see how this sweet little girl fits into our wild bunch of boys!

sweet guests

2010-04-14T15:16:00.005-05:00

At the end of March we enjoyed 3 separate visits from our families. First, my mom, sister, brother, and 2 nephews came for a couple of days. Then Clay's dad, my 84 year young Nana, and Clay's 75 year young MeMe, came and doted on us. A few days later, Mrs. DeDe came to stay with us. It was a busy time, but it was so nice to have family come spend time with us during Clay's crazy semester. Here are a few pictures from the 3 visits:

Visit from Grammie, Kaykie, Uncle Landon, Carson, and Grant:

We had not seen Grant since he was a few days old. He was so much to hold! I could never tire of tickling those sweet little thighs.
Clay is such a good dad and uncle. I always want my boys out of the kitchen (unless we are cooking something kid-friendly and I have planned ahead :) However, he lets them dig in and get messy. He let them spread butter on the foil before he put the veggies on for grilling. We ate yummy fajitas that night!!

Landon isn't such a bad uncle himself. He let the boys climb all over him on the floor with very little protesting :) Watch out Landon: Soon there will be 5 boys climbing on your back!

Watching Noah with Grant made me look forward to little Luke joining our family. Now Jude on the other hand...

I took this shot multiple times. The last time I took it, I asked them to hide their you-know-whats. They took me very literally :)

The morning they left we enjoyed a pancake breakfast courtesy of Clay.

I promise my mom and sister were also there, although they made no appearances in the pictures. We did make an outing to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, but sadly I forgot my camera. Story of my life.

Visit from PaPa, Nana, and MeMe:

PaPa and Noah going on a bike ride

The grandmas enjoyed watching the boys enjoy the beautiful Spring weather.

One day we visited the Stockyards and watched the cattle drive. Jude's favorite animal is the cow right now, so he was very pleased. We then enjoyed a yummy lunch at Joe T. Garcia's.

our family outside the Seminary Cafe where we enjoyed a breakfast together

On our last evening together Clay had to go to night class. I knew I had a lot to do to get the boys bathed and in bed and get the kitchen cleaned up, but I also wanted to visit with our sweet guests. No problem. Those sweet ladies cleaned the kitchen (including drying the dishes!), bathed and dressed the boys, and sent me on a walk!

Visit from GranDee:

When Mrs. DeDe visits our home, my dishes always magically disappear before I can even make plans to start on them. I call her the "Dish Fairy". During her trip to Fort Worth, we enjoyed eating dinner with friends, going to church together, playing in the park, taking walks, and meeting Clay for lunch. Here are a few pictures from playing at the park:

what have we been up to?

2010-03-15T15:03:00.010-05:00

I'm sure you've noticed that I haven't blogged about the Iles family since the beginning of November! I decided to give you a little recap to get you caught up on what we've been up to these last 41/2 months!

October

I thought I'd include one important thing that hadn't made any of the October posts... we found out in late-October that we are expecting baby #3!! We traveled home the next day and were able to surprise our families with the good news. This sweet addition is due late June!

Somehow no pictures were taken in the month of November. I'm going to blame it on being sick for the first 20 weeks (and more) of pregnancy, being out of town often, and probably not having the camera charged, too! We did enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving with the Terry family, Iles family, and Mitchell family during a trip to Louisiana.

December

We were very busy in the month of December. We enjoyed being home together and then spending 10 days with our extended families. We also enjoyed several snows!

The boys took a peek outside at the snow, but it was too wet to play in this time.

The boys all dressed up for church with their Christmas outfits

Noah and Jude acting silly during picture time
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We celebrated Christmas together as a family of 4:

Noah riding his new Spiderman bike for the first time!

Jude playing with his new Little People Nativity set

The yummy steak that Clay grilled for our family

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My sweet baby nephew, Grant Eston Rainwater, was born on December 18! We were so thankful to be going home the same day as he was born!

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We enjoyed a sweet celebration of Christ's birth with the Mitchell family.

Nana rocking Jude

Jude, along with his infamous "burpie", playing with a new gift from Grammie and Pops

Me holding my sweet new nephew- Grant

Carson and Noah enjoying their new LSU football uniforms

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We also enjoyed celebrating Christmas with the Iles family.

The 3 Iles grandsons enjoyed their new coon-skinned hats and play rifles that their great-MeMe got them!

Noah said goodbye to Ivory for the last time at Papa and Dee's house.

January

In January, Clay started back to school with a new semester complete with 3 theology classes (aka- lots of reading!) Apparently the only thing I have reserved on film for the month of January was our trip to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. The museum just recently reopened with brand new exhibits. The boys had a great time, as usual. Clay and I loved just standing back and marveling at their independence and their joy in discovering new things.

Also, Noah decided to take a large growth spurt after Christmas which proved to be quite difficult. There were many cold days left but no winter clothes in any of the stores. Well, thanks to new management at Children's Place stores a huge sale went on where everything was $2.99! I had coupons on top of that, so I got Noah enough clothes to last him the rest of winter for around $23!!

Jude enjoyed taking care of the babies

Noah enjoyed the Dino-dig exhibit

February

Noah went to visit his grandparents in Louisiana mid-February and while he was gone we had the most snow in Fort Worth history! We measured 8 inches in our yard over the course of 2 days. We had the best time playing together in the snow. We were just sad that Noah had to miss such a special time.

We found out we are having another sweet boy! I found these great Big Brother shirts for Noah and Jude!

March

So far in March we have enjoyed some beautiful days of warm sunshine and flip-flops and days full of spring thunderstorms and indoor play. Here are some things we do when it's bad weather outside:

Noah plays dress-up as Buzz Lightyear

Jude's first finger-painting

storybook parade

2009-11-10T21:30:00.002-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, Noah and Jude's school held a Storybook Parade where the kids could dress up as characters from their favorite book. My boys were the absolute cutest ones! (I'm a little biased :) You can see past Storybook Parade entries here and here.

Jude as Curious George and Noah as Woody from Toy Story

Jude's sweet class with his teachers Ms. Nelda and Ms. Leigh Anne. Noah had these same teachers when he was in the baby class and the ones class. He even wore this same costume and rode in the same buggy for a Storybook Parade a couple of years ago!

my cute little monkey

Clay was so sweet to come take pictures at the parade. I was helping in the 4 year old class that day, so he recorded the events for me.

Noah was super excited about the candy this year!

Noah's class including his teacher Mrs. Kerrie

Noah's class had a little party afterwards. He really loved this cupcake.

This was actually the next morning. Noah woke up and wanted to wear his holsters which he calls his "holders". Is this not the iconic look for a 3 year old?

The next week Noah came home with a Thanksgiving placemat where he had named things he was thankful for. Among the things listed were his Woody hat, his guns and his "holders", and also his momma, daddy, and Jude. Clay and I think those last 3 things were probably thrown in there by the encouragement of his teacher. Regardless, we are thankful for him and glad he's learning somewhat the meaning of thankfulness.

louisiana trip

2009-11-10T20:45:00.002-06:00

At the end of October, we took a trip home to see our brother-in-law, Jake, get baptized at Bible Baptist Church. Noah talked about it for weeks and kept asking when he was going to get baptized. We were so glad to be able to join our family in celebrating Jake's commitment to follow Christ in baptism. We were also thankful to be there on a Sunday that he sang and played guitar as well.

our crazy boys playing on the suitcases the night before we left

Noah's ready for the road!

On Friday we arrived to Jake and KK's house at dinner time and enjoyed a yummy meal of crawfish and corn chowder!

On Saturday we took a trip to Reeves to visit CW Farms. Here the cousins are playing in a large vat of corn kernels. Who knew that corn could provide such great entertainment?

Dee and Noah on a train ride

Grammie and Jude on the train ride

Of course, Jude's favorite spot was the petting zoo. He just laughs and laughs when he sees any animal. He also started making some animals sounds such as "moo" and "baa". So adorable!

Landon brought a friend with him and these boys were so helpful with Noah and Carson. They took them up this mountain of tires and dirt. The little guys felt so big going up with the big guys.

jump!

Our whole group took a hay ride, minus the hay. There were great sights along the way. We were able to see many animals as we travelled around the large property.

Saturday evening we enjoyed some yummy fried foods- shrimp, fish, fries, and hush puppies. Then the guys enjoyed the LSU game and the girls took the little boys (minus Jude) with us to Walmart. Noah and Carson picked out a toy that Grammie lovingly bought for them. Noah is still sleeping with his soccer ball that he picked out.

On Sunday, we enjoyed going to Sunday School with Jake and KK. We enjoyed the church service as well, where Jake was baptized. We enjoyed lunch together as a large family and friend gathering at my mom and dad's afterwards. Then we were on our way home!

Thank you Jake for allowing us to be a part of such a special time in your life!

visit from papa and dee

2009-11-06T20:23:00.001-06:00

In early October we welcomed a weekend visit from PaPa and Dee.

Noah helped cut up bananas for a banana pudding we made for dessert.
He used a butter knife and Clay helped supervise :)

This is what Jude looked like after eating the banana pudding.

Saturday morning we drove to downtown Fort Worth and got on the TRE to travel to Dallas. The 45 minute train ride was just as part of the adventure as our destination was.

We arrived at the State Fair mid-morning. PaPa and Noah posed in front of Big Tex at the entrance to the fair grounds.

We started our day by letting Noah ride a few kiddie rides.

It was so fun to watch him just walk right up to the ride and get on by himself. There are many things that are fun about having an independent three-year-old.

Jude was a bit too young to ride rides just yet, but he enjoyed hanging out with Dee and watching big brother.

One of our favorite things we did was watch Noah go through a little kid's activity farm. This teachable "farm" was designed to educate kids on the process that farmers take to get food to the grocery store and that it doesn't just magically appear there with no work involved.

Noah started by dressing in the appropriate gear, wearing an apron and donning a bucket.

First he watered the peach tree and then was able to take one of the peaches for his bucket.

He also milked a cow and was able to take a carton of milk for his bucket.

Another step was planting a seed and then choosing a veggie to place in his bucket.

He jumped on a John Deere tractor, placed his bucket in the wagon on the back, and took his produce and dairy to the store.

He was paid a buck for all his hard labor.

He exchanged the buck for a pack of fruit snacks.

Another fun, completely free activity we did was enjoy the petting zoo.

While Noah enjoyed feeding the animals with a shovel...

... Jude enjoyed touching the animals and squealing with delight! Jude learned to say quite a few words while traveling around with PaPa and petting the animals.

Sadly the corn dog stand line was too long at lunchtime, but we did enjoy a burger and fries. We weren't adventurous enough to try any of the fried goodies that the fair is known for.

After the train ride home, we rested a while and then enjoyed a dinner at home. The men watched the LSU/Florida game while Mrs. DeDe and I cleaned up and got the boys ready for a night at the hotel! Every time we pass the Seminary hotel now Noah says, "There's PaPa and Dee's hotel!".

On Sunday morning we went to Sunday School and church. Mrs. DeDe was so sweet to help me in the Ones Sunday School class. Once again, we were thankful to have our family join us for worship with our church family.

After church we enjoyed pizza at Joe's Pizza and Pasta and then PaPa and Dee hit the road.

Thank you both for taking time to visit us and love on our boys!

visit from jake, kk, and carson

2009-11-06T20:00:00.002-06:00

Later in September we enjoyed a quick visit from Uncle Jake, Kaykie, and Carson. Noah and Carson are possibly the best pair of friends I've seen. They get along better than most kids do at this age. I always wanted a cousin close in age. I'm so thankful that our kids can grow up together. When baby Grant arrives in December, there will be 4 sweet cousins to play together. Their ages will be 3.5, 2.5, 1.5, and infant. Look out Pops and Grammie's house!

The Rainwaters arrived Saturday at lunch. After lunch, the guys wanted to watch the LSU game and it was time for the boys to nap. So KK and I took the opportunity to do a little shopping! After the boys napped we took them to ride a local kiddie train. Despite the loud train whistle, the boys enjoyed themselves. For dinner, Clay and Jake grilled us some yummy fajitas. KK and I made the sides, which included some very cilantro-y salsa. It tasted great even if it was green!

On Sunday we were thankful that Jake, KK, and Carson were able to come to church with us. They had never visited our church before, so it was so nice to introduce them to our church family. Noah and Carson even got to go to Sunday School together. After a lunch at Joe's Pizza and Pasta, they hit the road back to Louisiana.

We LOVED having you visit us! Come again soon!

First Day of School

2009-11-06T16:35:00.002-06:00

At the beginning of September the boys had their first day of school at the Early Learning Center of University Baptist Church.

This is Noah's fourth year of attending this school. He started going when he was 7 months old. That year he was in the baby class, the next year he was in the ones class, the year after he was in the twos class, and this year he's in the threes class.

This is Jude's first year to go to school. He's in the baby-18 months class. He came with me a few times last year when I subbed, but this is the first year he's going both days. I work one day a week in the threes and fours classes. The other day I'm able to run errands while my sweet boys are at school. We really enjoy the Early Learning Center and are a little sad that next year will be out last.

Labor Day Frugal Fun

2009-11-06T16:17:00.004-06:00

On Labor Day we enjoyed some free chicken sandwiches thanks to Chick-Fil-A's college football promotion. The rest of my family wore their LSU gear, but sadly, I found that I have no warm weather LSU apparel, so I settled for our alma mater, McNeese. We went with our good friends, the Sanks. They sported their fave team and alma mater, Louisiana Tech. You can't beat free food!

Visit from Grammie and Landon

2009-11-06T15:00:00.003-06:00

(pretend the post date is sometime in early September- Labor Day weekend)

We enjoyed a weekend of sweet company during Labor Day weekend from Grammie and Landon. They arrived just in time for a Zuppa Toscana and french bread lunch. Afterwards, the boys went down for their naps, Clay and Landon got busy with a video game match, and mom and I hit the mall! Our goal was to find Noah's winter wardrobe for cheap. Thankfully, Children's Place, our go-to place for buying durable (and cute :) kids clothing, was having a fabulous Labor Day sale. Under 2 hours, we had bought Noah all the clothes he would need for the next several months. We felt very productive! After all that shopping we worked up an appetite. My mom was so gracious to take us to eat at our favorite restaurant- Uncle Julios!!

On Sunday we went to Sunday School and church. We were thankful to get to share our family with our church body. For lunch we had shrimp fettucini that my mom helped me prepare the night before. That afternoon I got to hang out with my "little" brother at the mall. Our favorite spots were testing out the mattresses in the mattress store and getting massages from the massage chairs. That evening my mom was kind enough to send Clay and I on a date while she watched the boys. We spent at evening at Outback and Montgomery Plaza while they ate McDonalds and played outside.

Monday morning we enjoyed breakfast together before they packed up and hit the road. Thank you mom and Landon (a bit late) for coming to visit us!

Noah entertained us on his guitar
Jude playing outside in his car

Landon and Noah in the courtyard after church

Noah coloring the menu at Uncle Julios

Jude restaurant coloring for the first time, without eating the crayons first!

me and Landon waiting for our table

Grammie, Landon and Jude

Landon, Noah and Jude enjoying a video game together

Landon and Noah's band

life x 2

2009-11-05T19:17:00.002-06:00

Remember that cough I mentioned in the last post? Well, it turns out it was the croup. Noah is now on steroids to help bring down some inflammation. It's incredibly sad to see my active boy so down. He sounds like he has laryngitis and his cough is awful. Please pray that nothing else comes our way. This has been a rough week (totally understated) and I'm not sure we can take much more.

Those posts I talked about will have to continue to wait...

life

2009-11-04T16:16:00.003-06:00

So, as you've noticed a whole two months has gone by with no activity here on Noah and Jude's blog. Well, it's not because there has been nothing to blog about. There has simply been no time to do so! Since September we have had 4 fun-filled weekends with family and 1 trip home. On top of that the flu visited our home. Currently, an ear infection has one son in pain while the other one is coughing during his nap. And our washer broke this week! Apparently somewhere in the middle of all this Clay is going to school and working full-time and I'm managing our normal household responsibilities and we are raising 2 little boys! Whew! Hopefully, over the next few days I'll be able to share with you some pictures and fun stories of our adventures from this fall. Stay tuned...

Drum roll please....

2009-09-01T13:52:00.002-05:00

Jude is walking!! He started walking last Tuesday. He's a little wobbly in this video, but he's gotten much better over the past week. Sorry it's sideways. I couldn't figure out how to get it right side up. Enjoy!

Cats Game

2009-09-01T13:20:00.003-05:00

Our friends, Michael and Meg, were generous to us last week in giving our family free Cats tickets! The Cats are an independent minor league baseball team in Fort Worth. Since Jude is a bit too small to really enjoy the late night festivities, Clay and Noah took a father and son trip to the 7 p.m. game. Jude and I opted to do grocery shopping and hear all the details at a later time.

From what I've heard, Noah was the star of the game. Apparently the Cats were getting blown away at the beginning of the game (13-1) so the entertainment had to lie elsewhere. Our boy is seen here placing his Astros hat on the team mascot, Dodger's, head. From the onlookers expressions, they must think he's as cute as I do :)

A baseball game cannot be complete without enjoying a ballpark hotdog.

Clay and Noah met a dad of one of the ball boys at the game. He told them to meet him by the dugout at the end of the game and he would give Noah a ball from the game. Noah was beyond thrilled when he came home with his new ball.

Clay was so sweet to take good pictures for me. Especially this last one where he's all tuckered out on the way home, still holding tightly to his ball and glove.

The Train and the Aquarium

2009-08-28T14:20:00.004-05:00

As a back to school celebration for Clay and the boys we took the train to Dallas and went to the Aquarium. The train was just as much part of the adventure for the boys!

Clay and Jude riding the train
Noah acting like a monkey on the train

Me and my sweet shark-loving boy

This bird ate a cranberry right out of his hand!

This slough got fed a licorice stick as we were walking by. He just hangs out in the open so you can stop by and watch him roam about. There is even a Slough Crossing as you are walking by!

A big high-light was watching the employees feed the animals. We were able to watch the otters, the sharks, and the penguins get fed one of their daily meals. This saw shark was Noah's favorite sea life creature of all. He was also very fond of the sea horse, sea dragon, and sea urchin.

Clay and Noah are looking on as the penguins are being coerced to eat their lunch.

Jude stayed awake almost the whole time, but fell asleep at the end.

Swimming penguin buddies

Iles Family Trip

2009-08-28T13:54:00.003-05:00

At the beginning of August we met all the Iles family in East Texas at Piney Woods Camp for a weekend together. We were celebrating Bro. Curt and Mrs. DeDe's 30th wedding anniversary, mine and Clay's and Clint and Amanda's 5th wedding anniversary, and Terry and Sara as a newly married couple. It's really neat how all of us celebrate our anniversaries within a couple of months during the summer. A great time of the year to all get together!

Noah spent the week away from us visting PaPa and Dee and Grammie and Pops, so we just had Jude along for the ride. We left during nap time so Jude was quite content during the drive.
This was the beautiful house that Bro. Curt, Mrs. DeDe, MeMe, and the grandsons stayed in. Bro. Curt and Mrs. DeDe were so kind to get the rest of us individual hotel rooms!

Clay and his brothers grilled us some yummy hamburgers one night and steak another night. YUM!

Sweet Noah sharing a snack with his brother. Nothing makes my heart happier than this :)

My talented sis-in-law, Amanda, made this yummy and creative 7-layer dip.

Noah and Jack showing off their muscles.

Here's a photo of PaPa and his 3 grandsons.

Noah (3), Jack (2), and Jude (1)

Now that Amanda is expecting again we are wondering if it's going to make Iles grandson #4 or Iles granddaughter #1. Hmmm....

That Saturday we spent the day at a really neat water area with a huge water slide for adults and other water activities for kids. Noah even caught his first fish in a fish pond, but I have no proof because I was a terrible picture taker! Well I do have this one picture of Clay and his brothers being brothers. I think they had the most fun in this "friendly" competition of pedal car racing. Sara and I were proclaimed as the official judges. We felt a little intimidated by all the rules :)

The weekend was such a success we all agreed to do the same thing next year. Bro. Curt already has it booked for the same weekend a year from now!

Thanks Iles Family for a great time of together-ness!

Our 5 Year Anniversary

2009-08-19T16:41:00.002-05:00

At the end of July Clay and I celebrated 5 years of marriage. Our sweet friends, Rick and Lynette Driggers, agreed to keep our boys so we could enjoy a weekend get away. We celebrated close so we could come back to town for a wedding of some good friends that Saturday. Even though this blog is about Noah and Jude, I thought I'd share a little post about their mom and dad. And this weekend was about them, too. This was the first weekend away from me for Jude and Noah has only been away two other times, so this was a celebration of sorts for them as well.

We brought the boys to the Driggers on Friday morning and headed to Dallas. We ate a cajun lunch at Gators. We weren't too impressed with the food, but enjoyed being together. Our favorite thing was just walking around downtown with no stroller or bags or sippy cups to worry about. It was such a treat!

Next we went to the JFK Museum. I know it sounds like we are totally nerdy, but we live this close and have never been. It's definitely not a kid-friendly place. Few people realize that JFK was shot in Dallas and was shot out of this very building. There is even several Xs on the road the mark where his car was when we was shot. The museum was really interesting and we were glad to get that experience.

That night we took our time getting ready and didn't have any schedule of eating at a particular time or any bedtime to have to adhere to. Our friends, The Sanks, recommended a lovely restaurant called Margarita Grill. It is a delicious Mexican eatery in the middle of Mockingbird Station, a really fun entertainment district of Dallas. We enjoyed some yummy fajitas that we could not finish. We have vowed to take another trip there before we move and share a plate of bacon-wrapped shrimp fajitas!

Our waitress told the manager it was our anniversary and they brought out this yummy chocolate dessert!

Afterwards we went to the movies and enjoyed sleeping in until 9:00 the next morning!!!!

On Saturday we went to see our friends, Mike and Marci, get married. It was a beautiful wedding. We enjoyed the reception without having to chase kids. Our friend, Ginger, was the photographer for the wedding. She snapped this picture of us at the reception.

When we left the reception we went to dinner at Pappadeaux's and ordered a movie in the room. Sunday morning we drove to church to pick up our boys who we missed very much.

We enjoyed our time away, but are so thankful for the family God has given us. Our boys make life so much fun and are huge blessings!

A few favorite things

2009-08-19T16:08:00.003-05:00

These pictures were taken over the past month and show what are boys are constantly doing:

Noah LOVES baseball. He could play all day everyday if he had the chance. As soon as we go outside he requests his glove and baseball and he's ready for us to play catch. If we're in the house he wants to play catch as well, so we have many soft balls available for this. Everything he wears is "baseball" even if it has nothing to do with the game! Clay is so proud of his boy and I think may expect a change in sports in a few weeks when LSU plays their first game of the season :)
He also loves shoes of any sorts. One night we went to tell the boys good night and found Noah in his bed like this. Apparently after we put him to sleep, he gets up and gets his favorite shoes out of his closet and tries them on. He also likes wearing my flip flops or slip on shoes.

Today he was wearing my flip-flops and I told him they were too big for him. He claimed they were not too big for him, even though they were hanging off his feet. There is no reasoning with this kid. He is very confident in his ideas and there isn't usually any way to persuade him. What's a kind way of calling my son stubborn?

Jude's favorite thing to do is CLIMB! If there is a chair nearby he will find a way onto the couch, the top of the picnic table, or the top of the small Cars table in our living room. He also escapes outside if the door is left open for even a moment. He will climb onto or into any ride on toy that is available. He's also climbed up several slides recently. All this climbing makes me so nervous. He's not even walking yet, so his stability is pretty shaky. Now my eyes are on 2 kids every minute of the day. It's a good thing our house has already been child-proofed!

Noah's 3rd Birthday Party

2009-08-19T15:27:00.003-05:00

We celebrated Noah's 3rd birthday with a party on Saturday, July 25. (I'm way behind on posts!) He and his good pal, Karis, whose birthday is just 3 days before his, shared a joint celebration. Noah chose a fun baseball themed party, while Karis chose a very girly, flower party. I was a horrible picture taker throughout the event, but did grab a few photos to share with you all.

I have only 2 pictures of Noah at his own party! This is one of them. It counts event though it's a side shot, right?

This is the other one. A little better I think :)

Here are the fabulous cakes our sweet friend, Brooke, made. They were delicious and custom made for our kiddos.

Here's the loot that Noah and Karis collected.

We are so thankful for good friends to celebrate life with. God has been so good to give us our Noah. Life would definitely be different without his sweet and active spirit!

Noah's Birthday Celebrations

2009-08-12T21:01:00.004-05:00

On July 24th Noah turned 3 years old! We had a day filled with fun!

We started the morning with a breakfast birthday party. When Noah found out he was having a party at breakfast he requested "special plates and napkins". We took a trip to the Dollar Tree and he picked out sports plates, napkins, and a balloon.

We continued the Iles tradition of serving birthday donuts. We also had chocolate milk because that's Noah's favorite drink. The chocolate milk is quickly being added into the birthday tradition.

Noah enjoyed a very short stint with a toy guitar a while back. He enterained us with many songs and a few of those performances even made it on Facebook. However, the toy was short lived when Noah decided to act out a Hendrix move by smashing it against the kitchen table. Clay and I don't plan to always fix our kids' mistakes by buying them things, but in this case it was his birthday and he does enjoy playing the guitar. He has enjoyed playing his new guitar and especially using his picks. He's been warned that this one will not be replaced.

He also got a new Astros hat, which he lovingly calls his "baseball hat". Actually everything he wears these days is baseball. Every shirt or pair of shorts or shoes he puts on he refers to as his "baseball _____".

We enjoyed a yummy lunch and birthday cupcakes with some special friends.

And we spent the afternoon swimming with those friends.

(Noah did not make the mid-day birthday pictures. He was probably claiming he was "going under" in the kiddie pool :)

That evening we took Noah and Jude to Chuck-E-Cheese. Noah hadn't been there in a year, so he had to get reaquainted, but it didn't take him long to feel right at home. He was eager to finish his pizza so he could play games. We saw his friend, Hudson, while we were there. Hudson told Noah, "Hey, do you wanna ride rides together after you finish eating your pizza?".

Jude insists on climbing on everything! The kid refuses to walk, but is an expert climber!

Our sweet boys love playing together. They are best buds!

Noah is the best Skee Ball player I've seen. Well, when it comes to kids under 5 he's the best. He really racked up the points. He spent most of his tokens at this game. He didn't really get the point of the tickets, he just loved having permission to throw as many balls as he wanted!

Saying Goodbye to Sweet Friends

2009-08-12T20:12:00.004-05:00

Over the past 3 years we've had multiple opportunities to say goodbye to sweet friends. There is a special group of people we like to spend time with and it is slowly getting smaller and smaller. The connections range from being ex-Louisianians, to attending Louisiana Tech, to attending Southwestern Seminary, to everything in between. We enjoy get-togethers for holiday celebrations, wedding showers, baby showers, and just any excuse we can find to eat and have fellowship.

Last month, we had a going away party for our Bufkin friends. We will especially miss the camaraderie between their boys and our boys. Since they only moved a few hours away, hopefully we will see each other from time to time.

These pictures are from the going away party we had at the Sanks' house. The last few pictures are from a dinner we had together a few days before they left.

some of the gals at the going away party
our kiddos making a train with their chairs

jax licking his brownie plate clean

and licking those fingers, too!

Meredith and I always seem to dress our boys in green :)

jude is eating the last few brownie crumbs he can find

noah and sawyer checking out a few books together

Water Fun

2009-07-26T21:05:00.003-05:00

We have had lots of water fun lately. Usually the weather is so hot that we have to go to water-filled places to actually be outdoors! Thankfully, we got some rain last week and things have cooled off a bit. By "cooled off" I mean we went from 105 degrees at the highest to now enjoying the low nineties, but it has made a nice difference.

A couple of weeks ago we met our friends the Bufkins at Hawaiian Falls water park in Mansfield. Our boys had a blast and Meredith and I had times for good conversation.

Noah and Sawyer are all sunscreened-up in this picture and are ready for splashing and sliding.
It's hard to get 3 little squirmy boys to cooperate in a picture, so this is the best we could do :)

I don't think there is any doubt that Noah had a great time. He plays so hard. I enjoy bringing him places like this where he can run around, play hard, and not get in trouble. He has so much energy!!

Jude enjoyed the wave pool and sliding down the slides a little. But mostly he enjoyed being strolled around. He's at that awkward "can't walk but wants to" stage. He really enjoyed his picnic lunch!

Our dry boys leaving the park and heading home for naps!

We also went to a Splash Pad in Crowley with our friend, Rachel, her son, Luke, and Rachel's sister, Ruthie. The Splash Pad is completely free! We brought a picnic lunch, so the results were a very frugal and fun day!

Noah enjoyed pumping these water guns and spraying friends.

Jude was a little clingy at first, but then he crawled around the soft padding and got a little braver with the water.

Again, Noah plays so hard. He's always exhausted and naps well after days like these!

These are our friends, Rachel, Luke and Ruthie. Our budding photographer, Noah, actually took this shot. Amateur's luck, I guess.

Here's sweet Luke. He and Jude's birthdays are only a few days apart so they are good buddies.

4th of July (a little late :)

2009-07-26T20:42:00.002-05:00

We celebrated the 4th of July with the Sanks family this year. We enjoyed a good meal together at our house and then some fun at Fort Worth's Fourth.

the festive flag cake

The men and boys provided great entertainment by sliding down this massive hill on cardboard political signs. The best part was that it was completely free!

Clay even ventured sliding down with both boys!

Clay and Noah, on the left, and Michael and Naomi, on the right, preparing to take off!

Even though the signs were as big as Noah, he insisted on carrying his sign up the hill by himself...

...and sliding down the hill by himself.

Didn't Naomi match the occasion well? Her talented mommy, Meg, made this cute dress for her to wear!

This is one of Noah and Jude's favorite friends. Isn't she the cutest?

Outside Fun

2009-07-20T11:39:00.003-05:00

When it hasn't been 107 degrees outside (really, several days have been lately) we've ventured outside. Some friends gave us a sand turtle and the boys have been having a blast. They will go from the sand into the water. It's like their own little beach!

Noah giving Jude a ride in his car
We enjoy having this car outside because Jude can sit in it while we're playing. He's still isn't walking, so outside time can by tricky. This solution works great! The other day Clay had the boys outside playing baseball. Noah would hit a ball and then Clay would push Jude in the car while they went to retrieve the ball.

Sand fun

Jude waving at his daddy

Noah apparently losing his pants!

a jude update

2009-07-20T11:07:00.002-05:00

Our sweet Jude turned 13 months old on Saturday. He is doing new things everyday. He usually just tags along with big brother doing whatever he's doing. But he also likes to play on his own. He's really good at filling containers up and then emptying them. He loves to play with trucks and make a razzing sound as he pushes them on the floor. He's learning to pretend because Noah is such a good teacher. Jude loves to sing little songs. We can't understand the words of course, but they are songs nonetheless. He likes to lay on a pillow on the floor so we'll all say "night, night Jude". He still enjoys clapping and waving. He says "mama", "dada", "bye-bye" (which kind of comes out like dada too :), and recently he has added "thank you" to his vocabulary. He is such a sweet child. He is a blessing from the Lord and huge joy to our family.

Here are a few pictures of Jude:

These last two pictures are from a month ago or more, but they are too cute not to share :)

Jude's First Birthday Donuts

2009-07-08T16:09:00.004-05:00

I found these pictures from Jude's birthday and wanted to include them. He has not been permitted to eat birthday donuts yet for any of our birthdays over the past year. (You can read more about this Iles tradition here.) However, we decided to make an exception since it was his birthday and all. (And we really like birthday donuts and only get to have them four times a year :)

Here are a few pictures of our breakfast together:

Notice Noah's card to Jude. It was a baseball game where A-Rod hit it over the fence!

Jude "reading" mine and Clay's card to him ;)

the yummy pile of birthday dounts!

Mitchell Family Vacation

2009-06-30T21:09:00.009-05:00

A couple of weeks ago we went on vacation to San Antonio with Pops, Grammie, Landon, Jake, KK, and Carson. We had a great time hanging out with our family at the condo, the pool, Sea World, the Zoo, and the River Walk.

We started our trip with a one-year-old birthday boy and a potty-training toddler. They both did great! We took our time and stopped several times to use the side-of-the-road bathroom. Jude got treated with a cupcake party when we arrived at the condo.

our sweet one-year-old jude

happy birthday baby!

Noah and Carson enjoyed singing "Happy Birthday" to Jude.

A cupcake and a nightly cup of milk- Jude's idea of perfection.

Jude now says "bye" when he waves at people!

The next morning we got up and headed out to a full day of Sea World. It's a good thing there were 7 adults to help push these strollers! We all took turns pushing these rides loaded down with our gear.

Carson all decked out in his shades

Mr. Serious enjoying the splash area

When I was a kid I only remember there being shows to see at Sea World. The big one being Shamu. But now there is a water park and theme park located on the grounds. We took the boys to play in a kid's water area before going to see Shamu. You would have thought they came only for this. They LOVED dunking their heads in the overflow of the water.

Jude's activity is kind of limited since he is a non-walker. But he's so easy going. He just took a ride in the stroller and would occasionally get out and play. He liked sitting in this tunnel in the splash area.

Carson was so brave. There was no pleading with him to get wet. He just ran right in and dunked his head!

That night we came home and cooked crawfish etoufee for dinner. The boys enjoyed much needed baths in the meantime.

Jude is taking after big brother and drinking bath water even with my persistent cries of "yuck".

The next morning we hung around the condo. We enjoyed the pool and the playground. The kids could have hung out there all weekend. It was so nice to relax for awhile and just enjoy being together.

That evening we went to the River Walk. Clay and I hadn't been to San Antonio since our honeymoon 5 years ago, so it was a walk down memory lane for us to see the hotel we stayed in and view the rest of the sites along the river. Besides it being incredibly hot, it was quite nice and so beautiful. We ate at Salt Grass and as you can see from the following pictures, Jude was the star of the show!

He turned all the way around in his high chair to entertain a couple across the room. He would reach behind himself to retrieve little pieces of chicken and sweet potato and then continue with his waving and clapping.

Jude posed with the couple before we left so we document their new found friendship.

On Sunday morning we treated the fathers to a yummy breakfast of eggs, sausage, biscuits and gravy for their big Father's Day celebration. We then headed to the zoo. We started with a picnic outside the entrance. KK and I thought it would be fun to dress the boys alike :)

Noah, Jude, and Carson ready to see the animals

All the Mitchells (minus mom who was taking the picture)

Noah and Carson checking out a leopard

Me, Clay and the boys

Have I mentioned it was hot? We took a little rest in the air-conditioned cafe and drank lots of water.

We got back to the condo that afternoon and the Fruges' came for a visit. They were on vacation in New Braunfels, so they joined us for dinner and swimming. We were so thankful to visit with Uncle Ray, Aunt Kay, Jenny, Neil, Julie, Jayme, Kyle, Jaedyn, and baby Grace.

Jenny and Jude

Jude and Grace interacting for the first time

Jayme, Julie, Mom, and Grace

Jude slept while we enjoyed grilled hamburgers and hotdogs. The sun really zapped us.

Jaedyn burrowed some of Noah's pj's so she could go swimming. She was a little hesitant at first, but then decided it was better than not swimming at all. This was hard for such a girly girl. She is such a cutie!

After seeing Shamu at Sea World the guys were always pretending they were the big dolphin in the pool, bathtub, etc. They were cracking us up doing tricks like jumping out of the water or riding Shamu, like Noah is doing in this picture.

Noah had no trouble going to sleep that night. He played so hard that he dozed off almost immediately.

And then none of us woke up until 9 a.m.!! That is unheard of in the Iles home. Never, not once since Noah has been born have we slept that late. After almost 3 years of rising early, it was so nice to sleep until we woke up!

Noah, Carson, and Jude hanging out in Grammie and Pops' bed

Our sweet Jude got to turn forward in his carseat for the car ride home. He has been so much happier now that he can see us as we ride down the road.

Noah stayed dry the whole way to San Antonio and the whole way back! Just don't ask us about #2...

Noah News!

2009-06-15T10:38:00.003-05:00

Great news! We are on Day 4 of Potty Training with Noah! He is doing a super job. He's only had a couple of accidents. He gets one Yogo for every time he pees in the potty and two Yogos for every poop. He's had 2 successful poops so far! He got a cookie yesterday for staying dry all day. It's actually a lot easier than I thought it would be. I'm not saying we're totally in the clear, but we are very hopeful with the progress he's made thus far.

We were out a lot yesterday and he even peed in several public potties. He still wears diapers at night and at nap time. But he's in underwear during the day. We're going on vacation with my family on Thursday, so we'll see how traveling and a day at Sea World goes. I hope we don't have any setbacks!

Jude's 1st Birthday Party

2009-06-15T09:27:00.006-05:00

We enjoyed celebrating Jude's first birthday party a couple of weeks ago. He'll turn 1 this Thursday- June 18. Enjoy the pictures!

the birthday cake

Susan Prejean made this delicious cake. She did a great job. It fit the dump truck theme perfectly!

Jude's cake

I copied an idea I saw on a website to cover the tables in black tablecloths and put yellow crepe paper for lines in the "road". I also put out some Tonka trucks and filled the back with Oreo cookies that were put in the food processor to resemble dirt. I also filled a bowl with some Oreo cookie crumbs and some leftover gummy worms. So fun!

Jake and KK graciously offered their backyard for the party. Jake also volunteered his grilling skills for the hot dogs. I'm so thankful for their help.

My mom bought these fun dump truck sand toys. I added them to the sand table for the kids to play with.

My dad bought a big roll of Visqueen. We put this down on the ground, added sand and toys and we had an instant sand pile for the kids!

I put out water, tea, lemonade, and juice for drinks. The kid cups were these fun Sesame Street cups with lids and straws!

the food spread

Notice the fun Tonka dump truck plates and napkins. I found these at the Dollar Tree.

I made dirt pudding and put it in these cups that matched the plates and napkins. I added a gummy worm to each one for added fun! This was such a great theme to work with!

Noah enjoying dinner with his 2 cousins

the crowd of party-goers

it's cake time!

Look at that boy eat!

Yeah, he definitely got a bath after this :)

our family minus Clay

Noah helped Jude eat his cake. As if he needed any help!

This may be the cutest picture of Noah ever!

Jude opening presents

Yea for Jude! He's 1!

Grammie and Jude reading one of his new books together

It seems like yesterday, literally, that my baby was born and now he's already one :(

So much fun is in store for us. He brings such joy to our family. We can't wait to see all that God has planned for you, Jude!

We were thrilled to have the newlyweds at the party! Terry and Sara along with Amanda and Jack came from Alexandria to Jude's party. Thank y'all for coming to celebrate with us!

Africa, Fort Worth, and Louisiana

2009-06-13T15:04:00.010-05:00

On Wednesday, May 27, Clay left with a team of 3 others to travel to Mali, West Africa to aid the Daltons as they seek to share Jesus with the Bozo people for the first time.

The boys and I stayed in Fort Worth until Monday, June 6. We enjoyed spending time with good friends and keeping ourselves real busy. We're so thankful for the Driggers, Horsburgh kids, the Sanks, the Bufkins, and Mike and Marci for helping to keep our minds off of Clay. You are great friends and we thank God for you!

On Wednesday evening we went to church. Thursday morning the boys and I went to a lady's house from our church to put together some things for a women's fellowship. There were 8 kids all together, so they enjoyed playing together. Noah liked playing with a doll stroller. We're so boy focused in this house we don't own any girl toys. Maybe one day, hmmm...

On Thursday night our good friends Mike and Marci came over. Mike took the boys to play at the park and Marci and I went cake-tasting to help her make a decision for her and Mike's upcoming wedding. We also ate at Pei Wei's where we got some yummy Chinese food! On Friday we enjoyed a day at the Driggers house. The ladies enjoyed fruitful discussion as we are going through the book Damsels in Distress by Martha Peace. Afterwards we ate a delicious picnic lunch out by the pool and let the kids swim. Then it was nap time and time for the mommies to float for a while.

After a warm afternoon of swimming we met our friends the Sanks and Ashley Perry for an evening of football. Well, an hour...er...thirty minutes of football. It was hot so the kids and adults didn't last too long. We opted to enjoy the air-conditioning and chicken tenders at Chick-Fil-A. The kids burned off energy in the play place and we slurped up some good sweet tea. Naomi even enjoyed some yummy ice-cream. Did you know you can trade in the kid's meal toy at Chick-Fil-A to get free ice-cream? What a deal!

On Saturday morning we got to Skype with Clay and it made our day! Well, at least mine. Noah seemed a bit confused. Afterwards us and the Horsburgh kids, Ava and Ben, enjoyed an afternoon of Academy fun and Sams free food samples! Ava and Ben's parents were both in Mali with Clay, so a lady from our church, Faith, went to stay with them. We hung out with them a lot so the kids could all play together.

Noah got a free ball cap (see picture at left) for attempting to cast a rod and reel. It was priceless. He also attempted to catch a fish, got his face-painted, and made a few shots at basketball. Academy apparently has this Family Fun Day once a year. They also provided free hot dogs and water. Wow free food and free entertainment!! That's my kind of deal!

Saturday night we hung out with the Bufkins at the Sanks house and ate pizza. On Sunday, we went to church.

Afterwards we went to a nearby park to celebrate our church's 4th anniversary. Sunday night we spent time at home preparing for our trip to Louisiana.

On Monday we embarked with Meg and Naomi to Shreveport where her mom picked them up to bring them to Ruston. I was so thankful to have help for half of the way. I was also glad that we got to eat at Raisin' Canes, which is one of my favorite places. I don't go to a city very often that has one, so what a treat!

We continued on our way to Louisiana with no stops on the way! We made it in record time and enjoyed relaxing the rest of the evening. On Tuesday Jake, KK, Carson, Landon, and the boys and I went swimming. We had fun relaxing around the pool and eating a picnic lunch.

KK and I watched the little kids play in the small swimming pools and everybody else played a game of water baseball in the big pool.

Afterwards we went to Jake and KK's house and attempted naps for the boys. No such luck.

On Wednesday I took Jude to get his haircut. Then we met up with Jake, KK, Carson, Landon and Noah and had lunch at the park. KK and I made chicken bbq pizza for dinner and then we went to church.

On Thursday we went to Artesian Springs. We had fun lounging around, eating lunchables, jumping off the high dive, and sliding down a long water slide. My mom was kind enough to stay in the shallow water with the kids while I had fun with Landon, Darren, and KK. It was so fun. I hadn't slid down a water slide in a long time.

Noah and Carson enjoying the shallow water

Noah and Carson taking a break from swimming and enjoying their lunchables

Landon and Jude hanging out on a beach blanket

Landon buried in the sand

On Thursday night we ate fried fish, fried shrimp, fries and hush puppies with Steven, Staci, and Darren Rainwater. It was some of the best shrimp and fish I've ever had.

On Friday we had Jude's 1st birthday party! He had so much fun opening presents and devouring his cake. I will have to include a whole post on this because there are many pictures to share! One of the best parts was that Clay called right as the party began. He had the opportunity to talk to me and Noah and wish Jude a happy birthday. He also got to talk to his mom, dad and brother. What perfect timing!

Friday night my mom, sister and I went out for a girls' night. We ate appetizers and dessert at Chili's and then did some Walmart shopping. It was such a treat to spend time with my mom and sister. It was also nice to spend time as a woman and not as a mom. I love my job as a mom and wouldn't trade it for anything. But there are times that a mom wants to be a woman too!

On Saturday we went to Landon's baseball tournament in Beaumont. Noah and Carson went on the field in between games. They felt so big holding bats and sliding at the bases. We were glad we were visiting on a weekend that Landon was playing.

On Sunday we went to church with the Iles family. We ate lunch at church because the youth were having a fundraiser for their upcoming mission trip. Yummy pork steaks! (I think I have an obsession with food :) After lunch it was nap time for the boys and for me! The single mom life is very tiring!

Sunday afternoon Noah helped PaPa pick some veggies in the garden. We were able to bring some of that fresh produce home. We've enjoyed the tomatoes, corn and green beans. There is nothing like fresh-from-the-garden vegetables.

Mrs. DeDe and I took the boys to play on the school playground. We also enjoyed a lap around the track before the boys were ready to get home for dinner.

We stopped at a gas station on the way home and I made one of the dumbest mistakes ever. I somehow accidentally locked the car doors as I was getting out of the car. The problem? The keys were inside, along with the kids! It was such a hot day and I started to panic. The boys remained calm, so that made it easier. Mrs. DeDe started talking to a man nearby whose son-in-law is a dispatcher for the Beauregard Sheriff's Department. He called us in a rush order, so they would respond quickly. It only took them 15 minutes to get from DeRidder to Dry Creek and they rescued my poor sweaty boys. We brought them inside the store and got a round of ICEEs for everybody. I feel like a terrible mom. Though since then I've heard many stories of other moms doing the same thing. I'm thankful that it wasn't for very long and we were under a pavilion instead of in the direct sunlight.

Clay and I have resolved to go get a spare key made, no matter how much it costs at the Buick dealership, and attach it to the underside of the car. Hopefully this will prevent things like this from happening again.

Noah enjoyed "counting" money on the sun porch at PaPa and Dee's house.

Dee reading to Noah before bed time

Sunday night we enjoyed eating dinner together and resting. I always enjoy good conversation with Bro. Curt and Mrs. DeDe. I packed us up and we hit the road on Monday morning.

It was a fun time with the Mitchell and Iles families and we were ready to see Clay on Tuesday afternoon!

Memorial Day

2009-06-13T14:43:00.003-05:00

After returning home on Sunday from a crazy busy weekend, we spent Memorial Day at a Rangers vs. Yankees game. It was incredibly hot and during naptime, but we made it until the 8th inning. At that time it was total melt down for the kids and time to make the trek back to the car. As much as we dislike the Yankees it was great to see the iconic team in action. We've become somewhat of Rangers fans since they are so close and we've seen them over the past 3 years. We both really like Josh Hamilton. However, Astros is still our team!

Jude's 1st MLB game out of the womb
I'm so glad Noah has been into smiling for pictures lately :0)

the Memorial Day crowd

Rangers Ballpark in Arlington

sweet Jude enjoying his milk

Introducing Terry and Sara Iles

2009-06-13T10:05:00.008-05:00

At the end of May we traveled to Louisiana to attend Clay's brother's wedding. We had a great time visiting our families and welcoming Sara as the newest Iles!

While traveling we stopped at a Walmart for me to get a few things. When I was inside Clay took this great picture of Jude sitting in Noah's lap. Hey, they have to be entertained somehow on the 6+ hour drive.
Jude enjoyed his first popsicle with Dee.

He likes it!

I think...

Yes, he does! And he wants more!

Terry graciously let Noah "help" him clean out his car.

I'm not sure what the paintbrush was for (?)

On Thursday I helped Mrs. DeDe and Mrs. Claudia decorate for the rehearsal dinner. On Friday we made these wonderful waffle bowls with chocolate moose, strawberries, and almonds for the rehearsal dinner dessert. Friday night we attended the rehearsal and ate a fried catfish supper. Yummy! On Saturday morning we attended the wedding of Terry and Sara Iles.

(photo courtesy of Amanda Iles)

We are so happy for the new couple!

After enjoying a lovely wedding reception with yummy cheesecake we went to visit the Mitchell family for the day.

In May we celebrate Carson's birthday, Landon's birthday, my birthday, and Mother's Day. This year the guys cooked us fried fish, fried shrimp, fries, and hush puppies. We had cookie cake for dessert!

We spent a lot of time outside. Noah had so much fun pushing Jude around in this car that my mom decided to get a car like this for Jude for his birthday. It's really fun because since Jude can't walk yet, he has a place to sit and play when we're all outside.

Landon and I have birthdays 2 days apart. On this particular Saturday it was his 13th birthday! We were so glad to get to spend his actual birthday with him and have such a big and fun celebration.

My daddy with his girls

Pops and Jude

Uncle Jake with sweet baby Jude

Jake's getting ready to have a newborn again. Yes, that's right. My sister KK is expecting their 2nd baby in December! We can't wait to find out if this 4th Mitchell grandbaby will make boy #4 or girl #1!

Mine and Landon's birthday cookie cake- my favorite kind of birthday cake!

the birthday boy

the fam

4-wheeler riding with Pops

We used this picture for his birthday invitations. Doesn't he look so cute and happy?

4-wheeler riding with daddy

Even Clay and I got to enjoy a leisurely 4-wheeler ride. I always consider it a date when it's kid-free!

Nana and her great-grandson Noah

Grammie playing pat-a-cake with Jude

We left my parent's house Saturday night and drove to Alexandria to spend the night with our sweet friends Jason and Melissa. We enjoyed visiting until late and then going to church with them Sunday morning. Noah loved seeing MeMe and JJ and of course, Moses, their black lab. We miss our friends in Fort Worth, but are thankful that they don't live too far away so that we can still visit each other.

It was a crazy busy and fun weekend. We went home to enjoy a few days together before Clay flew out to Africa for a 2 week mission trip. More posts to come...

Playing in the Mud

2009-06-13T09:55:00.002-05:00

After some rather wet weather our yard turned into a mud hole. The boys of course loved it! They had their own mud slide to play in! Oh, those spring storms in Texas...

I'm glad he had fun because that shirt is now permanently stained. I've tried bleaching it several times to no avail. Any ideas on how to get that mud stain out?
stomping in the mud

All boys are alike apparently because Jude enjoyed his first experience with mud too.

Raising boys is so much fun!

Fort Worth Zoo

2009-06-13T09:38:00.003-05:00

At the beginning of May we celebrated Clay's independence from the Spring semester at Southwestern Seminary by going to the zoo. Wednesdays are half-price days at our zoo, so it makes it pretty affordable for our family of four to pack a lunch and see the sights.

Noah enjoyed seeing the monkeys, feeding the birds, visiting the African animals, and looking at the aquatic and reptile life. He also enjoyed brushing the farm animals at the petting park.

Jude enjoyed riding in the wagon, smiling, eating lunch, and crawling in the baby play area.

Clay and I enjoyed being together as a family on a weekday and seeing our boys have so much fun!

Noah and Jude sporting their favorite form of transportation
Clay was able to pull the boys sometimes in the wagon and other times...

... Noah insisted on pulling the wagon himself. Onlookers found this quite entertaining :)

Noah brushing the farm animals

Noah sitting in the stage coach

Jude hanging out the window of the stage coach

Both of our sweet boys

where do i start?

2009-06-13T09:36:00.002-05:00

So since it's been over a month since I've posted anything, I have a ton to post! Jude is taking his morning nap and Clay is playing with Noah outside to afford me the chance to update you guys on the Iles family life. There are many posts to come, so stay tuned!

a jude update

2009-05-04T14:19:00.004-05:00

Jude will be 11 months on the 18th of May- just a couple of weeks away! Plans are underway for his first birthday. The theme is going to be dump trucks. It's so fun to plan his first party and we look forward to seeing him eat his first piece of cake.

Jude is the happiest baby I've ever been around. He constantly has a huge smile on his face. He even smiles with his eyes, which melt my heart. He loves to watch Noah play and laughs at everything he does.

Jude enjoys playing "shy" now. He buries his head under my arm when we see a friend or a stranger. This is his sweet way of getting attention.

He loves to snuggle and cuddle. He will reach for anyone who is willing to hold him. He's been quite attached to me for several months, but lately he will lunge for his daddy and does not want me to take him back.

Jude is crawling very fast now. He pulls up to a standing position on anything that will hold his weight. Even a large toy will serve this purpose on occasion. He's been cruising a little. He stood by himself for a few seconds one day, but then realized he was standing and dropped down on his bottom.

Jude likes to pull all the books off the shelves, flush the toilet and play in the toilet water, and drag out everything from the lower kitchen cabinets. Toddlerhood, here we come!

His favorite thing to do is EAT. People are so surprised at how much food he can consume. He eats whatever we have for dinner with a few exceptions. He's not picky at all! He's nursing much less now. Five minutes at best, four times a day and then he's down to play in the floor, especially if big brother is in the room.

Jude takes a morning and afternoon nap and sleeps great at night.

All around Jude is a laid-back happy kind of guy who brings great joy to our family!

Jude's first official swim and he LOVED it! The water was bit cold, but he never fussed once. As soon as I put him in he started splashing. His lips began to quiver once and I realized maybe it was time for a swimming break!

All dressed for the pool

Look at my cute knee crawler! No more soldier crawling for this guy!

a noah update

2009-05-04T13:21:00.004-05:00

Noah is at the age (2 years, 9 months) where he is learning new things, singing new songs, saying new words, and surprising us with new thoughts each day. He has an incredible amount of energy which I attempt to channel in a good way. He's becoming more and more obedient, throwing less fits, and is a joy to be around. Someone described him the other day as "obedient, but fun". I think that sums our Noah up pretty well.

Noah's favorite songs as of lately: "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and "The Gospel Song" (You can click here to listen to this song by Sovereign Grace Ministries.)

Noah enjoys reading books, lots of books. He enjoys learning about sharks and other marine life and trucks and other forms of transportation. He also enjoys hearing bible stories. His favorite bible story is Jonah right now.

Noah identifies all shapes and colors with the exception of sometimes calling rectangles, triangles. His favorite shape is of course the circle. But he is also fond of the oval and star.

Noah is aware that words are comprised of letters, but is not identifying letters yet. Our plan is to work more on identifying letters and their sounds in the coming months.

No news on the potty training front. This is more my fault because I haven't invested the time or energy. I hope to work on this in the coming months as well!

Enjoy some pictures of Noah's busy life!

Noah did not suddenly get diagnosed with a vision problem. He just really enjoys wearing our glasses. Though I hope he doesn't inherit his mom and dad's near-sightedness, he does look awfully cute!
Here's Noah reading a bedtime bible story to his Elmos.

This is a world map puzzle I bought for the boys. It's quite advanced for their age, but I thought Noah could learn about the animals in different continents and where daddy is going when he goes to Africa in a few weeks.

We've had quite a few rainy days lately, so lots of indoor play. One day Noah spent quite a large chunk of time transferring beans to different sized bowls. This proved to be a big hit!

One of his favorite activities- reading books by the bookshelf. He'll do this activity for 30 minutes or more!

I spread out a blanket the other night for us to watch Finding Nemo for our Friday Family Night. Noah ran in circles before the video began.

One day for snack time I made Noah and I some Raspberry Lemonade using some Crystal Light individual packs. Noah thought it was such a treat!

Here's Noah playing underneath his slide. His friend, Grant, calls it a "jail". I think that's because his dad is a security officer.

My sweet boys are ready for a wagon ride. There's this area by our house that has a bunch of hills. The boys yell like crazy and beg me to take them down again and again. Going down is fun but try lugging this wagon with these big boys up all the hills. Talk about exhausting!

Last Saturday we took the boys on their first swim of the year. Noah wore floaties for the first time.

He was a little afraid at first and just wanted to stay in the kiddie pool. Towards the end I pulled him in to the big pool and showed him how he could touch in the shallow end. Then he had a blast!

Noah and his daddy are laying on the floor watching Finding Nemo. This was Noah's first full-length movie ever. He didn't really sit still, which is totally fine. He basically watched the movie while running around the room and sitting on different pieces of furniture. I guess that's how active little boys watch videos :)

Photo Shoot

2009-04-30T15:47:00.004-05:00

Last month, my sister and I had our kids' picture taken by a sweet girl, Stacy Buxton Mitchell, from DeQuincy. She has a two-year-old herself, so she knew just how to get our little ones to smile and be happy, all while playing in the park!

I'm telling you folks. This is the way to go. No more portrait studio sitting fees and all that jazz. Stacy spent a couple hours with our guys doing their normal thang, took a million photos, and gave us the CD so that we can have all the prints we want!! Amazing!

It's a good thing, because I could have never narrowed it down in a portrait package. I couldn't hardly narrow it down just for this posting! Thankfully I spared you from having to look at every picture, but picked out my faves. (I have a lot of faves :)

Enjoy!

our 3 cuties: carson (2) , jude (10 months) and noah (2 years, 9 months)

my sweet nephew carson turns 2 on saturday!

this is frame-able

fascinating shoes :)

those eyes will melt your heart

probably my most favorite picture

jude was happy the whole time

he makes these eyes at us all the time

he already knows how to manipulate :)

we were standing close by on this one

Train Ride and Picnic

2009-04-27T21:37:00.002-05:00

Last Wednesday we rode the Forest Park Miniature Train and ate a picnic at the Botanical Gardens with Meredith, Sawyer, and Jax. The weather was beautiful. The boys played together well. And it was incredibly nice to have adult conversation with another mom.

Thanks for inviting us Meredith!

our little green guys
noah, sawyer, jax, me and jude after the train ride

jude and jax enjoying their lunch in the wagon

Noah enjoyed pulling friends around. This time Sawyer and Jude were in for the ride.

209 ELC Art Show

2009-04-27T20:55:00.002-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, we attended the ELC Art Show/Auction at Noah's school. All of his talented masterpieces were on display for everyone to see. I can't believe this is our third year to go to his Art Show! You can see last year's post here.

I was able to enjoy the event this year as a mom and less as a teacher, which was a fun change. I did help man a booth for a little while. And actually helped decorate the day of the fundraiser. I enjoyed putting all the fun center pieces together for the "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" theme.

I neglected to take pictures of Noah's artwork or of any of the festivities, but my friend Becky took these pictures and shared them with me.

The food included hot dogs, fries, popcorn, lemonade, and cotton candy. Can you tell what the kids loved most of all?
Noah and his friend Katie enjoying cotton candy for the first time.

Jude enjoyed his first time attending an art show outside of my womb :)

Next year Jude will be in his own class. Our plan is for me to teach the 3-4 year old class and the boys will each go to their classes. I'm excited about being able to teach little ones again. I'm thankful for the part-time work to help our family. And for our boys to be able to go to a pre-school program. Next year we'll have 2 little ones' art work to awe over!

Resurrection Weekend and the Railroad Festival

2009-04-14T15:30:00.004-05:00

This weekend we travelled to Louisiana to celebrate the Resurrection of our risen Lord with our family. It also was the weekend of the DeQuincy Railroad Festival. The boys enjoyed riding rides, eating good food, visiting with family, and attending church on Resurrection Sunday.

We began our trip at 5:30 a.m. on Good Friday. We made record time and arrived about 11:15 a.m. just in time for a yummy Crawfish Boil. We ate until we were stuffed and then let the kids rest before going to the festival. We spent the evening eating hamburgers and letting the kids play in the park and ride carnival rides. It was Gospel Music Night, so we also had good entertainment.

our family riding the carousal

clay and the boys getting ready to go to the festival on saturday

jude enjoying his high view

Many times during the weekend Noah would make himself at home by jumping on a ride with a complete stranger! He chose girls every time. Thankfully, the girls didn't mind sharing the ride seat with him.

I don't have a picture of Noah on the rollercoaster, but it was his favorite ride of all. It was quite the "big boy" ride and we thought he would be too scared to ride it. He's so brave. He referred to it as the "Pink Dinosaur".

After a full Saturday morning of rides and food we drove to Dry Creek to spend time with Iles'. Noah enjoyed going to the Eggstravaganza at Dry Creek Baptist Church. He loved sliding on the huge blowup slide. We were awarded the opportunity to teach the lesson of patience when Noah discovered he had to wait in line before climbing up the slide :)my brave little jumper

here's noah "patiently" waiting with uncle gordy until his turn to slide

Jack and Noah like the same things and enjoy playing together. Here they are with Dee and Uncle Clint.

Here are the Iles men plus Mrs. DeDe

Clay, Jude, Terry, Noah, Bro. Curt, Jack, Mrs. DeDe, and Clint

After eating a delicious dinner we returned to DeQuincy to enjoy the last few hours of the festival. Noah and Carson had the most fun at the end. They loved riding the rides over and over and sliding down the big slide at the park.

That night KK said that Carson was saying "Railroad Feestival" in his sleep!

here's landon and noah wrestling on the couch on sunday morning

On Sunday morning we joined the rest of my family in attending Bible Baptist Church. It's such a blessing to worship together with our family of believers. It was a special service to celebrate that our Savior has risen! Noah made up a song on the way to church that I didn't understand except for one message- The Cross. How beautiful that my young son is becoming more and more aware of the gospel of Jesus Christ!

After church we enjoyed lunch with the extended Mitchell family and then returned to Fort Worth. It was quick weekend full of activities that we thoroughly enjoyed!

jude's first haircut

2009-04-07T15:14:00.003-05:00

Even though Jude is only 9 months, he was in need of a haircut. I was going to do it myself, but then thought it would be fun to bring him to Cool Cuts for his first haircut. He even sat in the same taxi chair that Noah sat in for his first cut. You can see pictures of Noah's first cut here. Enjoy!

Before the cut- look how the hair hangs over his ears and dangles in the front of his face
no more forehead hair- yea!

Look how cute my sweet baby boy looks now! He's growing way too fast.

the iles boys

2009-04-07T15:04:00.002-05:00

Here are some recent pictures of my boys:

All 3 boys in Noah's bed as daddy reads them a bedtime story
Noah and Jude sharing a morning snack
(I did not put the snack in this colander. This is all Noah's doing.)

They were caught by the camera!

Here they are watching an afternoon Spring thunderstorm. Or should I say Noah is watching out the window and Jude is watching Noah watch out the window?

spring break

2009-04-06T15:02:00.005-05:00

Okay, so Spring Break was back several weeks ago- in mid-March, but I still thought I'd share with you what we were up to....

We said good-bye to our dear friends, Jason and Melissa, who moved to our home-state of Louisiana. They will be working at Louisiana College. We're jealous of Clint, Amanda, Jack and Terry who all live so close to them now. Noah and Jude really miss their MeMe and JJ :(

Noah and Jude saying goodbye the night before moving day.

The boys and I went to Louisiana to visit our families during Spring Break because Clay was in Illinois preaching a revival for one of his seminary classes.
Noah and Jude riding the tractor with PaPa

Noah and PaPa enjoying a fire

(By the way, Noah loves building "fires" at our house now too. He puts pencil colors in a colander and "lights" the "fire" with a marker which he pretends to flick like a lighter. So cute!)

Although I neglected to take pictures of the boys with their Dee (sorry Mrs. DeDe!) we had a fabulous time with her as well. She took great care of us and fed us very well! We also got to visit with MeMe Iles, the Glasers, the Campbells, and a Sunday visit with Terry, Clint, Amanda, and Jack!

After visiting the Iles' we headed on over to visit my family in DeQuincy.

Pops greeted us at the door and both boys lept into his arms

Noah immediately wanted to ride the 4-wheeler. He and Pops have a great time outside together.

Dad treated me by cooking Crawfish Etoufee' and Steak, rice, and gravy during my visit. I felt just a little bit spoiled.

Noah and Carson enjoyed quite a few popsicles together. They are such good buddies!

Grammie, the boys and I had a fun day at the park on the last day of my visit. We enjoyed a game of baseball in the park, playing on the slides, a Dollar Store run, and eating lunch at A.J.'s Cafe- yum, yum! I got a fried-shrimp poboy so I could get in some more Louisiana eating before going back to the no-seafood land of Fort Worth.

Grammie helped Jude slide down the slide for the first time.

Jude loved his first play day at the park.

Jude loves giving kisses to his Uncle Landon.

On Wednesday afternoon we had Carson, Noah and Jude's picture taken. Stacy Buxton Mitchell was brave enough to take on our 3 little ones at a park in DeQuincy. The pictures turned out great! I'll post them when my CD arrives in the mail (KK!)

We enjoyed eating dinner with the Schreves and Mallards our first night in town. We were also able to visit several times with Nana. Aunt Kay came over to visit on our last evening and was sweet to give Noah a bath. He still talks about "Kay" and the great time they had together.

Thursday morning we left early and made our way back to Fort Worth. I was crazy enough to think that I could manage to find the airport, park, and get two kids into the airport to pick up Clay on time. What was I thinking? The Tom-Tom does not give precise directions to the DFW Airport. Imagine that? It decided to lead me to the corporate offices. How helpful. Well we did actually make it on time. However, the plane arrived early and never gave the correct gate information. So, the boys and I (weary from traveling for 7 hours) parked in the first terminal and walked, and walked, and walked...and finally gave up. We sat for a while and I changed Jude's diaper and clothes. We then started our journey again. Jude ended up on my hip while Noah was in the stroller. A man took one look at me and said, "I really admire you". I was thinking "I don't!". We called Clay and he was still waiting on his bags, so we toughed it out and finished the last leg of the hike to the Baggage Claim. I was so relieved to see my tall husband in the crowd. It seemed so much easier to get back to the car even with Clay's big suitcase and carry on added to the bunch. Did I mention that Noah also had a poopy diaper all this time and I mistakenly left his diaper and change of clothes in the car back in Tin-Buck-Two? We decided it would be best to stop and get ice-cream on the way home. I've decided when Clay goes to Mali this May, I will not be picking him up at the airport when he arrives home. We'll look forward to him arriving on our front door step!

spring weather

2009-03-21T16:48:00.002-05:00

The weather has been predictable Texas weather lately. One day it's hot outside and the next- grab your jacket...and hat...and gloves. Two weeks before Spring Break it was warm and beautiful outside. Then in one day it changed to rainy, cold, and miserable. It's warm again outside- shorts, AC, and all. I prefer the warm weather myself, so I'm enjoying Spring very much so far.

Here are a few pictures of a fun day outside with Noah from several weeks ago:

sliding fun

I can't remember what he was telling me here. Apparently something was really big.

We're looking forward to having fun in our yard this Spring!

fun at the children's museum

2009-03-21T16:38:00.002-05:00

At the beginning of the month, my family came for a visit to Fort Worth. We enjoyed visiting the Children's Museum and watching an I-Max on dinosaurs. I mostly enjoyed watching Noah and Carson play baseball with Landon and having 2 girls-only adventures with my mom and sister!

Here are some pictures of our museum fun:

jude the construction worker
noah and carson- the little grocery shoppers

carson eating a lobster

noah cooking at a campfire

clay with jude- the little astronaut

jude is 8 months

2009-02-25T13:59:00.002-06:00

I feel like I just posted Jude's 7 month update, but here we got again. Jude turned 8 months last week! At 8 months, Jude:

*can get from a crawling position into a sitting position

*can scoot anywhere he wants to go

*enjoys playing with toys with his brother in their room

*eats finger foods: bananas, peas, bread, pancakes, puffs, cheerios, crackers, etc.

*LOVES his bath and wagon rides

*has 7 teeth!

I think Jude might be ready for his first hair cut. There is this stubborn piece of hair that hangs in his face and it drives me crazy!

Oh those sweet dimples!
yea for peas! look at his cute teeth!

I love the self-feeding stage. So fun!

yum, yum!

a visit from dee

2009-02-25T13:43:00.002-06:00

Dee came to visit us for the weekend. She arrived Saturday at lunch time with Taco Bueno in hand and left mid-morning on Monday. The boys had a great time reading books, throwing balls, and getting wagon rides with their Dee. I enjoyed a great sewing session on Sunday night and feel closer to being a sewer in the near future!

Dee and the boys

(Notice Noah's fabulous monster face :)
Dee bought Noah this fun helicopter at Cracker Barrell where we ate lunch on Sunday. Noah played with it while we waited for our table, while we ate, and then held it the whole way back to our house. That night Clay told him if he cooperated during teeth-brushing then he could sleep with his prize. He cooperated (read: didn't cry) so the helicopter went to bed with him. We all laughed because never did Noah realize that the helicopter was full of candy! He just loved the rest of the toy! Well the mystery ended on Monday when Noah banged the helicopter against a chair and out popped lots of tiny, colorful balls of sweetness. Before I could get them up, Noah was having a field day with the candy, even throwing some to his brother. I don't think I've ever seen my boys so excited about something!

Thanks Dee for visiting us and giving us lots of laughs!

haircut(s)

2009-02-18T13:03:00.002-06:00

After Clay cut Noah's hair on Sunday, we found Noah doing this with the clippers...

... cutting Elmo's hair! Isn't it great Noah can have a pal through life that does everything he does?!

valentine's day

2009-02-14T19:29:00.003-06:00

These are the fun things we did this Valentine's season:

We made heart-shaped pancakes with blueberry syrup for breakfast today. You can find the recipe here. We substituted the raspberries in the recipe for blueberries. We poured the batter into a heart-shaped cookie cutter to get the pancakes into the heart shape.

Noah made heart-shaped valentines to give to his teachers at school. He asked Elmo if he wanted to join the fun :) Clay and I are both really impressed with how well he shares, even if it is a stuffed animal he's sharing with.

Noah and I made these fun bags to give to his friends at school. They were filled with Kool-aid Playdough. I thought it was a good alternative to the sugar frenzy that is usual at parties for little ones. Actually I was surprised that he had one cupcake at school and his goody bag was only filled with valentine cards and no sweets.

I made these cards to go on the treat bags. The first one had the verse, "God showed his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8). The Kool-aid Playdough recipe was printed on the second tag.

We also received sweet Valentines from MeMe, Dee, and Grammie. Thank you for making Noah and Jude's Valentine's Day so special!

jude and luke

2009-02-14T19:19:00.002-06:00

My mom got me a sewing machine for Christmas. Something I am so thrilled about and am looking forward to the endless projects available to me! The problem? I don't know how to sew!! Yet, that is. My friend, Rachel came over on Thursday to try to help me learn the basics. So far she showed me how to thread the bobbin and make simple stitches on scrap pieces of fabric. We tried another project in embroidery a few months ago when our babies were little ones. Now that they are eight months old it's not quite as easy to get work done. We'll have to visit on our weekly "sewing lessons" and wait for weekends to get real sewing accomplished.

A picture of our little ones at play- Jude and Luke

planes, trains, and automobiles

2009-02-07T21:06:00.002-06:00

Noah has an obession with things that go. It doesn't matter what things that go. He's not partial. He loves cars, trucks, planes, trains, tractors, buses, backhoes, etc. He even talks a lot about different types of certain forms of transportation. He'll identify city buses versus school buses. He amazingly knows the difference between different types of construction machinery. Something I don't have a clue about. I just take his word for it. They'd all be called dump trucks if it were up to me.

Because of this deep appreciation for things that go, Clay decided to take Noah on a little trip. Today they drove in the car to the train station in downtown Fort Worth, got on the train and rode it to the train station in Dallas. Then they got on a shuttle bus that took them to the airport. They watched planes fly in and walked around a bit. Finally they took all the steps back to return home. Clay said Noah was quiet most of the time, just taking it all in. He's been talking about their great adventure all day. What a fun (and thrifty!) outing for a dad and his son.

Noah enjoying his 1st train ride.

all in a day's work

2009-02-07T20:57:00.002-06:00

What all do toddlers do on Fridays? Well, the Iles toddler does many things on one such Friday...

I caught him wiping Elmo's "poopy". I had to put a two wipe limit on him, though.
Noah's attempt at diapering Elmo.

The completed diaper change (with mom's help, of course :)

Noah was making Jude crack up by hiding in the toy box. He'd pop out and say, "hewwo".

... and again in the linen box in my bedroom.

more brotherly love

2009-02-07T20:48:00.001-06:00

I mentioned in an earlier post about how much Noah and Jude like each other. People are always asking me, "Is Noah good with Jude?". Surprisingly, yes he is! He's gentle and loving. He loves to take care of Jude. And Jude thinks everything Noah does is cool and funny. Noah is sometimes so distracting that Jude stops nursing for a minute to look his way. Giving up his favorite thing to give his brother the time of day is quite remarkable!

This week they took their first bath together! And today they took a wagon ride together. I love seeing the boys play together and truly enjoy one another.

splashing in the tub

hanging out on the couch- "Jude look at mommy. She's taking our picture."

clay's b-day

2009-02-07T20:31:00.004-06:00

Last Thursday we celebrated Clay's 27th birthday. We had birthday donuts for breakfast- my favorite Iles family tradition. For lunch Clay's boss took us and some other Kobi employees out to eat at a burger place. The restaurant waitresses and cook sang happy birthday to Clay and gave him enough brownies covered in ice-cream, chocolate syrup, whipped cream, sprinkles and cherries to share with the whole table. We ended the evening with homemade pizza and breadsticks for dinner upon Clay's request.

Here's some pictures of Noah celebrating "Happy Day Daddy":

Noah set up this ensemble so he could practice singing happy birthday.

The "candle" is the pump to his Thomas the Train.
blowing out the "candle"

"yea for daddy!"

Noah wrapped this present all by himself. He was so proud.

This is the front of the card Noah made for his daddy.

(inside the card)

Notice "Orange Moses" is written at the top of the card. Noah drew a bunch of orange squiggles and told me it was orange Moses, which is a black lab that belongs to our friends Jason and Melissa. I'm baffled by toddlers and their imaginations.

the back of the card

can you tell the difference?

2009-01-28T14:52:00.003-06:00

Noah or Jude??

jude at 7 months

noah at 7 months

Of course you can tell the difference, because I posted this picture of Jude on a previous post. But am I the only one who thinks they look a lot alike? Especially when they give that huge slobbery smile!

ice storm

2009-01-28T14:21:00.002-06:00

The weather this week has been awful. We haven't been able to go outside at all. It's been so cold, wet, and rainy. Last night we got a significant amount of ice and today it's melting. So even though it's not raining today, it's still incredibly wet because of the melting ice! Maybe there's better weather tomorrow, because we're going stir-crazy!

Clay's class was canceled this morning, so he and Noah took a little trip outside to see the ice. Don't you love that he has his pj's, rubber boots, and jacket, hat and gloves on??
This is what out backyard looked like this morning. No, it's not snow. Just yucky ice.
So then Clay left for work and I said what am I going to do with these boys all day, stuck inside for the 3rd day in a row?
Clay said, have a snack of peanut butter crackers under a tent in the living room and read books. Wow! What a great idea!

I made our snack of peanut butter crackers and...

... and we made a tent in the living room. Noah had a super time- mainly just jumping from chair to chair- but he enjoyed our reading time as well.

After lunch today Noah said, "I'm ready for my nap" and he went and climbed in the bed. He always requests that he listen to "PaPa" which is a CD that Bro. Curt made for him. Lately he's also asked to sleep with Papa's pillow. The Papa pillow is made out of one of my Papa's shirts. It's hard to explain to Noah that he has a Papa and that I had a Papa too. We watched a DVD of my Papa's life yesterday, so he's been very interested in him. I want Noah to grow up knowing about his great-grandparents because they are a rich part of our family history. Hopefully through pictures, stories, and possessions we can keep these memories alive for our kids.

noah is 2.5

2009-01-28T14:04:00.002-06:00

This month Noah turned 2.5. Although he's a rambunctious kid (see pics below), he's also learned a lot in his little life.

At 2.5 Noah can:

name all the basic colors (blue, green, red, pink, purple, orange, yellow, brown, gray, etc.)

count to 10 without help

count to 20 with help

do some letter-sound recognition (A says ahhh like apple)

wash and dry hands with little assistance

build a tower of 11 blocks, before they come crashing down!

sing many songs from memory, including ABCs, twinkle, twinkle little star, and Jesus loves me

recite much of Psalm 1!!

recite several other sentence verses

he got in the gumbo pot this week. he said, "mama help me out." i said, "wait. let me get the camera!"
It's very hard to get Noah to smile these days. "Say cheese" doesn't even work. So I usually settle for an action shot or one where he's being silly. Like this one, with his tongue hanging out. But you know what, personality pictures sure do say a lot. Especially when that personality is Noah's!

Here he is with one of his precious Elmos. I love that he pretends with them.

Apparently Noah and Elmo are sharing a pretend snack together.

Noah and his grocery shopping buddies.

jude is 7 months (a little late)

2009-01-28T13:51:00.002-06:00

Jude turned 7 months on January 18. I was waiting for the "perfect picture" before posting and I've found it...

is this not the cutest smile?! and look at those beautiful bottom teeth!

At 7 months Jude is:

sitting up

scooting (using his arms to drag his body)

getting on all 4 and rocking back and forth

wearing size 4 diapers

taking 2 long naps and day and 1 smaller nap

eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner (baby food)

nursing 4-5 times a day

enjoying his big brother very much!

Jude continues to be so happy. He's only upset if he's overly tired or hungry or if he's teething.

Several times a day he sits and plays with the Singing Stage that my parents got him for Christmas.

Oh, that smile gets me.

I think he looks a lot like Noah in this picture.

One of the sweetest things a baby does is put his feet in his mouth!

The Life of the New Elmo

2009-01-17T14:02:00.002-06:00

Noah LOVES his Elmo Live. He's become the replacement, I'm afraid, for the old Elmo (as seen here and here.)

Elmo was seen sitting at Jude's Singing Stage yesterday. Notice how Noah even thought to put Elmo's little chair underneath him so he'd be more comfortable :)
Noah had Elmo sitting laying on the couch with the "bapoo" and Noah requested that Elmo watch Elmo- how cute!

Jude, ahem Elmo, having a little tummy time.

jude's news

2009-01-17T13:47:00.002-06:00

Here's Jude playing with his Singing Stage he got for Christmas. He's getting better at sitting up unsupported, but gets tired easily. The bumbo seat provides great support and he can play longer. He loves to hear the sounds and see the lights on his toys. He's very into grabbing things, so anything he can touch and hit is a plus.
Jude got mail from the White House! Okay, don't get too excited. My friend Kim's son, Josiah, got the same cute letter signed by the Bushes, so I signed Jude up to get one as well. It's a good keep sake!

Apparently we got ours just in time, because they are no longer accepting greetings requests. Bummer! Well, maybe there's hope that Obama will do something similiar?

noah's news

2009-01-17T13:40:00.004-06:00

Noah got these skates for Christmas and has become quite good at moving around in them- in the house of course. We haven't ventured onto the concrete yet!

Again, the little problem-solver has got to figure out how these things work...

Here's Noah laying with his favorite things in life- yellow lamb a.k.a "bapoo" and his new Elmo Live.

(Disclaimer: It may seem in several photos that Noah is watching a video, but please know that it is rare that he is watching TV. He does occasionally watch Sesame Street or his Elmo video, but he does not watch videos all day!)

noah and jude

2009-01-17T13:29:00.003-06:00

Noah and Jude are quickly becoming best buds. When Jude wakes up from his nap and cries, Noah says he wants to go and check on him. Last week they played together in their room. I went to check on them and they were both playing with toys, content to be together. It pleases my heart to see how good Noah is with his brother and how Jude just adores Noah!

This morning I put Jude on the couch to sit by his brother. Noah began reading one of his favorite books, Trucks by Byron Barton, to Jude.
Notice how their holding hands in this one :)

One morning this week Jude joined Noah on the couch for an Elmo video.

Notice the batteries in Noah's hand. He has quite an obsession with these. I got him a flash light this week and when we found out there were no batteries I told him I'd get to it later because I had to start dinner. He started searching through the drawer trying different batteries to see which ones would work. He's such a little problem-solver!

My sweet boys with their momma after bathtime. Ohhhhhh how they smell so good!

life with a toddler...

2009-01-05T15:16:00.004-06:00

... or at least the toddler that lives here

trying to zip his new carhart jacket

(this jacket was given by my cousin marsha. we are soooooo thankful for such a nice, warm jacket this winter!)

This is how Noah looked all bundled up for church yesterday. It was 80 degrees on Saturday and then the high was 36 degrees yesterday. Crazy Texas weather!

playing alone in his room

Just recently Noah has begun playing in his room by himself. It helps out so much when I need to get a few things done. He requests one of his CDs (color songs or bible songs) and then wants to play with his train or paint set.

My nana gave Noah the cute slippers that adorn his feet. He calls them his "Elmo shoes" and they've been inseparable since he discovered them.

riding his new fire truck from grammie and pops

Noah loves playing with his new fire truck. He's currently obsessed with all things fire truck or police car. Basically anything that moves and makes noise. He had such a good time playing outside Saturday in the warm weather. We also went and fed the ducks and played at the park in that same fall-like temperature.

This is where we found "bapoo" the other day. We're not sure why Noah was storing him here. It's a good thing we didn't preheat the oven without looking inside! Lamb, anyone?

my boys watching football

Noah has also been loving football lately, which warms Clay's heart. They get in the floor and Noah says "ready, set, go" and then hikes the football. Watching them play football together is one of the funnest things about being a mom of 2 wonderful sons.

Jude's Attempts at Crawling

2009-01-05T14:42:00.003-06:00

Jude has been working real hard at trying to crawl. He can get on all fours and rock back and forth, but can't seem to get all the moves together in order. He does manage to scoot all over the living room, though. Watch out Iles house! Another moving baby on the the loose!

(Please excuse me talking in the background of the video. I didn't know Clay was "shooting" at the time :)

our family christmas

2008-12-31T17:10:00.004-06:00

The day before we left for Louisiana to visit our families for Christmas, we celebrated our own family Christmas. Even though it was a full week before Christmas Day, we loved being together and celebrating our Savior's birth- just the 4 of us.

We began the evening with a lovely meal. Clay cooked up some yummy baby back ribs. I made loaded mashed potatoes and green beans as sides. Noah LOVED the rib meat. I was shocked.

After dinner we sang "Happy Birthday Jesus" which we did a lot of the whole month of December. Noah was really able to understand a lot of the meaning of Christmas this year. Then Clay told the Christmas story. The only details that we expected Noah to retain this year were that Jesus was born, Mary is his mommy, God is His daddy, and that Jesus loves us very much. We know next year he will be able to grasp much more of this wondrous event.

Finally we had the boys open a few gifts that we got them. Mostly books and a few toys.

Here's Jude "reading" his first book.

Look at Noah's excited face when he opened his dinosaur magnets. It's crazy what a $5 gift can mean to a kid!

10 Days of Christmas

2008-12-31T16:00:00.010-06:00

Friday, December 19

We left at 6:30 a.m. on our journey to Louisiana. The boys did super! So super that after Dallas, we didn't stop until Monroe. Jude didn't cry. Noah didn't cry. So we didn't stop. In Monroe we met up with our BCM Director from McNeese- Todd Strain, his wife Megan, and their beautiful girls, Jolie and Sarah. We had a lovely visit. We've missed them so much!

We then continued on our way to Harrisonburg, LA. This is where Clay's mom's family lives. We said a quick hello to Clay's Papaw as he was working at his office (at 85 years old!) and then unloaded our bags at Papaw's house. We got all 4 of us ready (including ironing clothes, nursing a baby, feeding a tired toddler...) and loaded in the car with Clay's parents and Papaw to drive an hour to Natchez, MS. We attended Clay's cousin's rehearsal dinner and then drove back for much needed rest!

Saturday, December 20

Of course there's no sleeping in when you have two little ones, so "up and at 'em" we were before 7 a.m. We hung around the house most of the morning. Noah loved exploring Papaw's big house and playing with his fun toys. After lunch, we got all 4 of us ready again (including ironing clothes, nursing a baby, packing bags...) to drive to Natchez for Brooke's wedding. I was concerned because it was a 2 p.m. wedding, right during nap time, but the boys did great! The church was beautiful all decorated for Christmas. The ceremony and reception were lovely. The best part? Hot chocolate with marshmallows and peppermint sticks for stirring!

Here is our family picture taken at the wedding. I didn't get the 4 of us together at any point before this, so please consider this picture your Christmas card. I'll try and do better next year :)

After the wedding we went back to Harrisonburg to pack up our things. Then we began our trip to Dry Creek. Along the way we picked up Jack in Alexandria. He came and stayed the night with PaPa and Dee, so that he and Noah could play together. We got in pretty late so off to bed we went.

Sunday, December 21

We went to church at Dry Creek Baptist Church. It was so nice to see family and old friends. Noah was in PaPa and Dee's Sunday School class. He got a great report!

We had a delicious gumbo that Mrs. DeDe prepared for lunch. And the weather was cool so the meal fit right in.

Clint and Amanda came to Dry Creek and joined us for lunch. Noah, Jack, and Jude had a great time visiting throughout the day. Amanda and I were able to catch up and Clay and his brothers enjoyed hanging out as well.

This is how Jude has been laying in the floor lately. He looks like he's going to take flight. My mom says this means he might be crawling soon! I wouldn't be surprised. He can take all of his might and scoot his little body to get to a toy he's eyeing.

Sunday evening after the boys went to bed we watched Elf with Clay's parents. I never get tired of that movie. It always cracks me up!

Monday, December 22
Monday morning we had breakfast with Clay's parents, packed up our stuff, and headed to DeQuincy. My dad had prepared a hay-ride (minus the hay) for us. We had so much fun! The weather was cool and we got all bundled up in all Dad's hunting gear. Noah even helped drive the 4-wheeler while the rest of us rode on the trailer.

Monday evening we went to my Aunt Tiger's house to celebrate Christmas. My Mom's mom is no longer living and her dad lives in Washington, so we get together with my aunt, uncle, their 3 kids and their spouses, and their grandchildren. Our familes combined total 21 people and 7 of those are children all under the age of 4! Everyone brings appetizers and desserts. The food is always really yummy. My aunt reads the Christmas story. We don't exchange gifts. It's always crazy with the kiddos running around, but it's good to hear all the laughter. It's a blessing to a part of a family that worships our Savior Jesus Christ.

(For some reason I didn't get any pictures from Monday. If any of my family members send me some I'll do a later post :)

Tuesday, December 23

We had a yummy breakfast of biscuits and sausage with my family and then headed back to Dry Creek to celebrate Christmas with Papa, Dee, Uncle Clint, Aunt Amanda, Jack, Uncle T, Aunt Sara, and MeMe.

Clay's youngest brother, Terry, recently got engaged to Sara. In May Sara will officially be my sis-in-law. It was so good to visit with her several times last week. She made some sugar cookies for our family dinner. Noah and Jack had a great time decorating them...

...and eating them!

I enjoyed helping Mrs. DeDe by setting the table and making fun place cards. For dinner we ate stuffed chicken breasts, hot potato casserole, green beans, fruit salad, and pecan pie.

Aunt Amanda (or as Noah calls her "Aunt Manda") and Jude

Aunt Sara making fishy faces with Noah

Uncle Clint and Aunt Manda reading to Noah and Jack

After dinner we opened gifts. MeMe got Noah and Jack the books Trucks and Trains by Byron Barton. These are some of Noah's favorites. He was so surprised when he opened these packages. Both of these were some of those "can't we keep these and not bring them back to the library?" books.

Noah and Jack entertaining us with a musical melody

After we opened gifts Clay and his brothers led us in a time of family worship as we took communion together. It was a very intimate time and claimed our focus of the cross at Christmas.

Wednesday, December 24- Christmas Eve

During the day on Christmas Eve we hung around my parent's house. My dad made a fantastic gumbo which we ate a lot of. My mom and I ran a few errands while the boys napped. When we got home we all got ready for the Christmas Eve service at Bible Baptist Church. It was a special time as we took communion together as a family. Bro. Fox, my parent's pastor, lit candles and explained their meanings. I was encouraged that not only do we celebrate Christ's birth and death, but we also look forward to his return.

After the service, we took Noah to look at the Christmas lights at the Railroad Museum and returned home for some more gumbo.

Thursday, December 25- Christmas Day

On Christmas morning we celebrated with Pops, Grammie, Uncle Landon, Kaykie, Uncle Jake, Carson, and Nana. We usually open gifts at my mom and dad's house and then go to my Nana's house for lunch. But this year we changed things up a bit. We spent the whole day at my mom and dad's house. Nana came down and celebrated with us. We had a relaxing day and a lovely meal together.

Landon, Noah, and Jude hanging out in Grammie and Pop's bed

Noah playing with Elmo Live that he got from Grammie and Pops

Jude playing with his new bear from Grammie and Pops

Notice how well he's sitting up. He can play so much better now that he can sit!

It was such a joy to have Jude with us this year. Last year at Christmas I didn't know if he was a boy or a girl and was only 3 months along. This year he's already 6 months old. It's hard to imagine he was ever not a part of our family.

Noah playing with drums given by Nana

Sweet Carson playing with a new flashlight. I love this cheesy smile!

Look at this wonderful ensemble. Noah has on his pjs, LSU jersey (Kaykie gave him this jersey. It has his name on the back!), and Mardi Gras beads. Toddlers are hilarious!

After we opened gifts, KK and I set the table for lunch. I enjoyed this once again. We made cute place cards for everyone and used the dishes my Nana gave my mom. We ate ham, pork roast, potato casserole, corn casserole, green beans and crescent rolls. For dessert we ate Brownie Trifle. It was so nice to have such a small gathering for Christmas Day lunch.

Carson and Noah sat at the kids table. They weren't left out though. They had their own place mats and place cards. They also ate off of the plates we made when we were kids. What a fun tradition!

We ended the meal by telling about what Christmas means to us. It was so good to hear people tell fun memories and also tell of the Reason for this special season.

KK, Nana, and I attempted a gingerbread house. It ended up caving in, but we enjoyed spending the time together anyway.

Christmas night we ate leftovers and popped fire works.

Friday, December 26

Noah and I spent the morning at Kaykie's house. Noah and Carson played with Carson's new toys and KK and I got to visit.

Around lunchtime Clay, the boys, and I left for Dry Creek. We spend the remainder of the day visiting with the Iles'. Jack and Noah took turns riding with PaPa on the tractor. Clay and his brothers played football. Mrs. DeDe, Amanda, and I visited and made treats for the extended Iles get-together.

That evening we went to the Old House which has been a part of Clay's family for many generations. We took a family picture on the porch of this house.

Bro. Curt, Mrs. DeDe, Terry, Clay, me, Noah, Jude, Clint, Amanda, and Jack. Next year we'll have one more family member to add when Terry and Sara are married.

our family

clint, amanda, and jack

The attempt at getting PaPa and Dee together with their grandchildren. What are we going to do when their are more than 3?!!

After pictures we went to Clay's Aunt Colleen's for the extended Iles celebration.

She had a cute little table all decorated for the little boys, complete with their names written on the table.

She also had some fun toys for the kids to play with. All the older cousins had a great time playing with Noah and Jack.

Uncle Jody and Noah

Britney and Jude

After dinner, we opened gifts and watched some fun home videos of past Christmases. It was fun watching Clay sing and play the piano when he was a kid.

Noah was wiped out on the way home. He had chocolate on his face, rubber boots on this feet, and a box of Christmas cards in his lap. He slept the whole way back to DeQuincy.

Saturday, December 27

Saturday morning KK and I made food to bring to the extended Mitchell celebration scheduled for noon. She made a yummy spinach/artichoke dip and I made Monster Cookies to give to aunts, uncles, and cousins.

KK attempting to hold all the babies plus Landon. I think Carson was crying, Noah's trying to get down, KK is pleading for help, Landon is trying to distract, and Jude looks like he's having a good 'ole time.

At lunchtime, we went down to my Nana's to celebrate Christmas with her and the rest of the family. This is usually done on Christmas day, but each family is growing so much, it's hard for everyone to get together at the same time. This year proved to work well with us getting together the Saturday after Christmas.

Noah riding on Uncle Landon's shoulders. Actually I guess I can just refer to him as Landon. All attempts have been thrown out the window of Noah calling people by "Uncle". He refers to his uncles as Landon, Jake, Clint, and T.

Each year more and more family members are added to the Mitchell bunch. This year my cousin Neil married Julie. Together they now have 4 children. Baby Grace is their most recent addition. She was born at the end of November. Neil, Julie, Grace, and their 3 year-old Jaedyn were unable to join us this year. Uncle Ray and Aunt Kay brought Jayme and Kyle with them to Nana's. It was so good to get to know them. We look forward to getting to spend time with the rest of their family real soon.

Saturday night KK, Jake, Clay and I went on a double date to Texas Roadhouse. Mom and dad put gift cards in the boys' stockings and told them that mom would watch the babies (dad was working) and we could go out together! It was such a treat to be able to visit and not have to change diapers for an evening.

Sunday, December 28

Sunday morning, we went to Bible Baptist Church with my family. Bro. Fox asked Clay to preach and he was more than happy to. He doesn't get many opportunities to prepare and deliver a sermon. Many people stopped and told him what a great job he did. Bro. Fox said that anytime he comes to town to give him a call and he can preach on a Sunday or a Wednesday. What a blessing to have a church that is willing to give Clay these opportunities!

Afterwards my mom treated us to lunch at Faustos. We said our goodbyes and began our journey back to Fort Worth. Along the way we stopped in Alexandria to see Clint, Amanda, and Jack's new house. It is so beautiful! They moved in the weekend before we were there and Amanda has already sewed and hung curtains. WOW!

It was a long trip back and we didn't get in bed until 1 a.m. I finally finished unpacking all of our things today and it's Thursday, New Years Day!

2nd Annual Progressive Dinner Part 2

2008-12-14T20:21:00.003-06:00

Too many pictures to fit in the 1st post. Enjoy!

all the gals: (L to R) Stephanie, Kim, Ashley, Meredith, me, Melissa, and Meg

Our friend, Maron, had already gone home when we took this picture. There were 8 couples and 8 kids- all 2 and under- at each house. It was wild, crazy, and fun!

My nursing buddy Kim. Little Josiah was the youngest baby at the party. He's 5 weeks old and incredibly adorable!

Here are some of the party-goers enjoying turkey, dressing, green bean bundles, salad, homemade maccaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes, bread with garlic butter and sweet tea.

Meredith brought a fun craft for the kids to do. They made cute little Christmas trees complete with stickers- a toddler fave.

the beautiful dessert table

Ashley and Meredith were responsible for the desserts and had the best idea- fondue!

It was a huge hit among the adults and kids.

We already look forward to next year's Progressive Dinner. Hopefully none of our friends will move away before then :(

2nd Annual Progressive Dinner

2008-12-14T19:46:00.005-06:00

We had our 2nd Annual Progressive Dinner last night. (See the 1st Annual Progressive Dinner here.) We began the night with appetizers at Tommy and Stephanie's house, the main course at Michael and Meg's, and ended the night with desserts at Ashley and Austin's.

The food was great, but the company was even better!

our attempt at a family picture

(believe me- this was the best one :)
Our friend, Austin, continued the tradition of giving gifts to the kiddos. Noah received a blue stegosaurus...

and jude received this snuggly blanket!

lots of lovin' from my boys

clay and jason singing "total eclipse of the heart" on karaoke game

Clay is very proud that he beat Jason, but I do have to mention that they were both rated "tone deaf" on the game!

jude's life

2008-12-14T19:39:00.002-06:00

What has Jude been up to?

eating green beans
trying to feed myself (mr. independence)

waiting to eat rice cereal

Have I mentioned I love the Bumbo chair?!

noah's life

2008-12-14T19:16:00.003-06:00

What has Noah been up to?

mopping floors while wearing wool hats
and taking lots of bubble baths!

I promise the kid does wear clothes ( occasionally :)

Hurry, Hurry!

2008-12-14T18:06:00.003-06:00

In an earlier post I mentioned how much Noah loved the book Hurry, Hurry! by Eve Bunting. It was his first love of the local library. The first "oh no the book can't stay at my house" experience. And it was one of his gifts on his 2nd birthday. Noah has now reached a new milestone with this beloved treasure. He can "read" the book to us. Okay, he totally memorized it, but hey that counts right?