December 28, 2009
Well, I wanted to devote a special blog to Kelsey and Cody. They just got engaged on the 18th! We couldn't be happier for them (and for ourselves)! We finally get to have another wedding and, even better, we get to officially add Cody to our family. Congratulations you two! I love you both so much, and know you are going to have a wonderful life together!
December 27, 2009
I'm NOT dreaming - it's a White Christmas!
Well, if you live in Oklahoma you definitely had a white Christmas. A little too white...we almost didn't have Christmas at all. It started off pretty good. Abby, Noah, and I drove to Sayre on Wednesday night to miss the weather. We figured it would be a little bit of snow, nothing too bad, but didn't want to chance it with the baby. We woke up the next morning in the middle of a blizzard. Sleet all night, then blowing snow all morning. 60 mile an hour blowing snow at that. Well, I woke up about 7 (or should I say got out of bed at 7 - woke up at 4) and thought I'd pass Noah off to my dad for awhile but he was nowhere to be found. Apparently, he thought it would be a good idea to drive to town and shut down his office. My mom's phone rings at about 7:15. Dad drove his car into a ditch and into a huge snow drift. So, Mom leaves to go get him and you can't see 10 feet in front of you. Total white out! Thank goodness he didn't get far. They both showed back up about 30 minutes later without the car. They had to get a tractor to pull it out of the drift later that day. Very exiting morning!
Thankfully, that was the only accident we had to deal with that day. I know a lot of other people weren't so lucky. By Thursday night, we were pretty sure Matt, Kelsey, and Cody weren't going to make it. We were pretty upset - Crappy Christmas 2009 was the theme. I really didn't want to celebrate Noah's 1st Christmas without his daddy! But, they all decided to chance it on Friday and everyone made it out to Sayre safely by Friday evening. We ended up having a great Christmas! Matt only got to stay a few hours but we squeezed it all in. We played a couple of rounds of Dirty Santa and everyone gathered around Noah while he "opened" his 1 million presents. The coolest thing he got was a collector grade train set from Grandpa. I think Dad and Cody played with it the most, but Noah did seem to really like. We are going to add to it every year so it will be something great for years to come.Anyway, we are all safe, happy, and home. Thanks for the great Christmas everyone!!
December 21, 2009
Christmas time is almost here! Yea! We started off celebrating this year by getting Noah's 6 month pictures taken and by sending out his first Christmas card (see proof above). I was a little leary about a naked baby picture on a card, but I couldn't resist. It was just too dang cute! Needless to say, they turned out great! Noah was perfect and smiled a ton this time around. No screaming like last time, thank goodness. Sara did her usual great job! I can't wait to get all the others ordered now.
Also, we have been shopping a few times trying to get everything done before we head out to Sayre. Always a nightmare, but even worse with a baby. Shopping malls and strollers just don't mix! I don't know why so many people do it. I finally just resorted to carrying him around which was way easier. We had to get him a new car seat. He's finally outgrown the infant seat. It makes me a little sad that his baby days are almost over. But, on the other hand, it's a lot of work and I'm exhausted. Speaking of exhaused, have I mentioned that Noah no longer sleeps at night? No idea whats going on. He wakes up anywhere from 3 to 5 every morning and he's UP. This is worse than when he was a newborn. I'm really hoping this phase will pass quickly. I've done absolutely everything I can think of and nothing works.
We also made the trip to Stillwater this year to spend time with Mum-Mum for Christmas. It was hectic but a lot of fun. Pretty much everyone was there this year which hasn't happened in a really long time. Too long. Noah had a lot of fun playing with his cousins. He is really starting too be interested in other kids. He really enjoys interacting with them and loves watching everything they do. Matthew and Noah got into a little fight over a toy Noah got as a present. It was really funny. Matthew is 2 and a half and Noah is 6 months. Matthew wanted the toy and tried to grab it out of Noah's hands. Noah definitely held his own for awhite and they had a little tug of war including some elbowing from both sides. Finally Matthew won...BUT Noah got the better of him in the end. As soon as Matthew turned around once he got the toy, Noah reached up and grabbed a big handful of hair and yanked pretty hard. This is not the kind of behavior I will ever condone, but it was hilarious that he already has that much will power. I was a little proud I have to admit.
Sorry, no Santa Claus pictures this year. The line at the mall was scary long and I think he would just cry anyway so we'll wait on that till he's older. Anyway, hope everyone has a great Christmas! I know we will!
December 4, 2009
I've always loved this time of the year. It's so much fun getting ready for Christmas with all the family traditions, good food, Christmas lights, and, of course, presents! This season is so much more fun now that that we have Noah to share it with. We have been trying to start new family traditions of our own this year. So, for Christmas, we decorated the house, then we let Noah put the star on the tree, and finished up with a trip to the Yukon park to look at all the Christmas lights. Noah absolutely loved it! He was really into the lights and couldn't quite take it all it. He was whipping his head around like crazy just trying to look at all of it. This will be a tradition that he will hopefully really enjoy for years to come. I'm not sure what we will do when we have more than one child, I guess they will just have to take turns putting the star on the tree.
I also want to spend a lot of time each Christmas teaching Noah about why we celebrate Christmas. That it's not really about all the fun stuff that we do, although that's fine. I just want him to understand that there is something much more important to celebrate. Jesus came to this earth in order to save us, to give everything he had to us, so that we can be free to live our lives built on love. I want to do something each year that shows Noah how we can thank Jesus for what he has done for us by giving ourselves back to him through loving others. This year we are going to buy presents for a child from Abby's school that doesn't have any other way of getting anything for Christmas. Hopefully, he will learn to really enjoy this and become a person that is filled with love for others instead of anger and indifference like so many people are these days.
Noah putting the star on the Christmas tree
Helping mommy put the tree together
