Thanksgiving Fun!

The trip to IA was awesome! Noah was a great traveller too; only one meltdown on the way there around Albert Lea. We stopped at the local Pizza Ranch (YUM!) for their buffet and let Noah run around the mall that it was located in. That was just enough activity to tire him out until Sheldon. By then we were pretty much home free.

Our time at my parents' was great. We just hung out, played with the kids, did a little shopping, opened tons of presents. We do our Christmas celebration at Thanksgiving b/c it's the only time we know that we'll all be together for sure. It was a Little People Christmas for Noah. He got lots of Little People toys, which he loved. Uncle Dan bought him his first bowling set too. Last night he was almost throwing the ball like a pro, much to his daddy's delight. :) The cousins had a great time playing together. If you can, check out the Rosencrans Family blog. Chris has a great video of Addy and Noah playing the piano together. Noah even played with his head at one point (but we didn't get that on camera).

The trip back home was not so nice. Tons of snow all through MN which made driving difficult. Wisconsin wasn't so bad, but the snow picked up some more the closer we got to home.

I'm now ready for Christmas. All my decorations are up, except the tree. On Saturday we're going to Sheboygan Falls where they have a Christmas event going on. Then we'll get our tree. Noah's enjoying all the lights and snowmen that we have in the house right now. I'm sure he'll love the tree too.

Here's the kids playing with new toys.

Noah loved his new Aquadoodle!

Checking things out:

Giving Uncle Dan some bowling tips:

That's my boy!

Babies on the bowling alley!

Having fun at the Hull Christian gym.

Chillin' with Addy.

8 More Days!!

In 8 days I'll be on my way to Iowa to spend Thanksgiving with my wonderful family! I'm very excited for that. Our traditions have changed since we've grown up. We now celebrate Christmas and Thanksgiving at the same time! We do it because we're all at my parent's house at the same time so we can all watch the little ones open presents. It's such a great time! I think Noah will get even more out of it this year. I can't wait for him and Addy to get together to play. Peyton will be so cute with them as the older one.

Here's some of Noah's latest.

He loves to "shop" while I make supper. He'll be getting a play kitchen for Christmas. He's always got to help me "cook".

He likes to try on our shoes.
He always takes out all the DVD's to look at.
Can you see him by all of our wood?
This is how we know Noah is ready for a nap.
He loves pancakes on Saturdays! Noah will even help me flip them. He usually eats 5 pancakes!

Long Time

Noah the artist.

I know it's been forever since I've written. Tyler and I lost our "free" Internet access at home, so I've got to do this at school. With 27 kids I don't have too much free time these days. :) I've got conferences tonight at tomorrow night. I'm not really looking forward to them right now. It just makes a long week.

Anyway, I just wanted to share some pics of what Tyler did at our house last month. He decided to climb our really huge tree to cut off a couple of dead branches. I was very nervous! He attached himself to the tree so he wouldn't fall, but even then I worried. Here's my lumberjack.

I love Fall!!

Fall is my absolute favorite time of year. I love the smells, the colors, and the cooler weather. It's just fresh outside. I need to get a new rake for me and a little rake for Noah so we can keep up with the leaves this year. I'm sure we'll be jumping in some too!

Hunting season is also here. Tyler's been out a couple of times. He actually shot a doe, but then he couldn't find it. Too bad. I'm looking forward to a freezer full of venison!!

I'm just going to put some new pics of Noah below. I love the age he's at. He's just so fun and silly. He is also very verbal, and I'm surprised at how much he understands! He's also started saying his name, but it sounds like "Woah-wah".

Tired

It's been a while since I've posted anything. Sorry about that. I'm so busy and TIRED now that school has started. I've got a big class and they are exhausting. Very talkative, and some very naughty boys that take all my energy. I still have time to play with my #1 little guy though!

He likes to lounge and watch tv like daddy.

This looks comfy!

He's also got a thing for my shoes.

Whenever I cook, he has to also!
I'm hoping I start to feel more energy as I get back into my routine again. Right now I could go to bed at 8 every night! Maybe that's not such a bad idea. My house would be a disaster, but I'd be rested.

Winding Down

Summer is about over, and school is just around the corner. August is so busy!! We've had a wedding this month, I went away for a girls' weekend, and next weekend there's another thing to do. This weekend I don't have anything, and that's just how it should be. I need to catch up on cleaning, blogging, and Facebook. Noah's nap is the perfect time to do all that.

Noah is getting to be such a big helper! I've said before that he'll put his dirty dishes in this sink, but he also wants to help fix his own breakfast. Noah will put his waffle or bread in the toaster and push it down by himself. He hands me his plate when he's done eating, wipes his face and hands, brushes his own teeth, and lots of little things like that. He's my little man! Today he walked down the stairs all by himself just holding onto the railing. I was standing right next to him of course, but he didn't want any help. My little baby is growing up!

He loves his Sit and Spin!

Here are the first of many scraped up knees. :)

I babysat a friend's little girl twice last week also. Her name is Haley and she's about 6 months old. Noah was really great with her. He would pick up toys that she dropped. He did want to play with his old baby toys too. It was fun to watch.

Last weekend I went away with 5 other women to a "cottage" in Mosinee, WI. The cottage was nicer than my house! We had a great time relaxing, shopping, going out for dinner, and just being with each other. It's nice to have a little break from husbands and kids. I missed Tyler and Noah a lot, but it was great to get away, especially before the craziness of school resumes.

School starts on Sept. 2, but I've got meetings next Wed. and Thurs. My summer is pretty much over, but it was a great one!

Another wedding

Tyler and I went to another wedding this weekend. We didn't have to do anything, so it was nice just to go and have fun. Tyler's sister and mom took turns coming over to watch Noah. It was like a date night for us! Those are few and far between. The next wedding we have to go to is in October. Ty is a groomsman and I am a personal attendant. That one won't be very relaxing for us, but should be fun.

Noah's doing well. We're still having fun this summer. I took him to the beach for the first time last week. He LOVED it! He just waded in to get his feet wet, but had a ball with it. I forgot my camera, but we'll go again, so I'm sure I'll get some good shots.

Here he is just having fun at home.

Remember Hy-Vee? I still have my aprons! Noah's going to be my little helper someday. He actually puts his used bowls and cups in the sink on his own! That's MY boy!

Tucker is thinking, enough love already!

Brat Days

This weekend is the annual brat days celebration in Sheboygan. There were some awesome bands there last night. We went to hear Slaughter, but ended up hanging out by a U2 cover band. They were so great! Chris, you would have loved them! The lead singer sounded just like Bono (sp?). Waaaay better than Slaughter. The Budweiser clydesdales (sp?) were there also. They're huge! Pretty cool to see them there. The brat eating contest was this morning. We didn't go. We usually head down there one night and that's plenty of brat celebrating for us.

Have I mentioned that Noah loves to play in the water? His little shark pool is so cool! There's a leak in it somewhere though b/c it just won't hold air. He really just likes to stand outside of it and throw things into the water.

Camping Fun

It's been a really long time since I've posted. Our weekends are so busy lately it seems. Last weekend was awesome. We went camping with a group of friends in Lodi, WI. It's near Madison. The campground is called Smokey Hollow Campground at it was awesome! There was so much for kids to do! Noah was a little young for most of it, but he had an awesome time with the stuff he could do. There was a huge man made pond with a great sandy beach that he totally got into. He loved digging in the sand. He did get into the water eventually when I found something for him to sit in so he could float. After that I couldn't get him out! When we had to leave he threw such a huge fit. All the other people on the beach probably thought I was torturing him or something. Here's some pics of him enjoying some fun in the sun.

We use my father-in-law's pop-up camper for the trip. Everyone else tents it, but if we can have electricity and running water, I'll take it! Noah had a pretty sweet set-up too.

We played a lot of bean bags to pass the time. Noah and our friend's daughter Hailey got into it too!

The campground had a ton of other things to do. There was a little pumpkin coach pulled behind a golf cart to ride in. There was also a giant shopping cart you could get rides in. This thing was awesome! Noah didn't go b/c he was napping. I'm glad I went. There was a huge truck engine in it and a quarter barrel was the gas tank. I've never seen anything like it!

I have to say that this was the best place we've been to yet! I'd definitely go back.