weird!

So I guess it has been quite awhile again since you all heard from me in this form anyway...

Many events have taken place since I last posted. One of those being Halloween. What is really puzzling is how I made it through Halloween without getting a picture of Noah standing up in his costume! I have one head shot of him at a festival we went to at one of the local churches, but none of his wonderful tail. So, for that I am stealing one of Pam's pictures off Dave's profile on facebook:)

This year I had planned to make Noah's costume again, but as I was looking for ideas at target, I came across this costume and it was only $6.49!!! Couldn't pass it up!

We also changed up the dining room a bit and here are the results including the normal dining room clutter:

Leigh Anne: Seeing this picture made me think of you...can you figure out why???

We have been on a few field trips also with preschool. We went to the dentist and also to Heartland Farms. Enjoy the pictures.

We also went to the World Dairy Expo and spent the weekend with Pam and Dave. We had a lot of fun, but again I didn't take very many pictures...just have the one...

Between Halloween and Thanksgiving, I honestly do not know the time went...Preschool, Matt working, Pampered Chef shows, etc. On November 19th, we packed up after a Pampered Chef event and headed to Charlotte. Matt and I drove through the night and arrived in Charlotte at 4pm the next day. It was really seeing Katie, Jimmy, and Isaac. We picked up right where we left off. We had so much fun AND Katie and I won hand and foot!!! Enjoy the pictures...

Noah and Isaac on a blanket ride

Justa swingin

Noah giving Isaac a ride

Noah's 3yo and Preschool Pics

We finally had some pictures taken of Noah...The last time was the "gator family" pics and he was two. I hope you enjoy them!


♪♫ I'll take you for a ride on my big green tractor ♫ ♪


N-O-A-H


"I'm ready for school now!"


Ones we liked but did not purchase


Checking out the scenery...




Looks like he's growing up!




Peek-a-boo!



Mommy's favorite!

Howdy!

When Noah and I arrived back to Iowa, I had to go set up for the Bremer County Fair where I had a Pampered Chef booth. The next morning, Noah participated in what I have always known as "pee-wee" showmanship. I forget what they actually called it, but I like the name pee-wee better anyway ;) At first, Noah was not too sure about showing a calf. But after a little coaxing and bribery, Noah decided to participate. Gramma Mavis was really bummed because she had to have back surgery about a week before the fair and was not able to come down to the fair to see this, but she got to see some of the excitement. I took a few short videos and if you know ANYthing about showing, you should get a kick out of this.

Noah practicing

Noah walking in for the real deal

Is he showing the calf? or himself?

speech faux pas

Noah started speech again today with a new teacher at the school a few blocks from our house. We rode our bikes over today and it took us 4mins to get there. One really funny quote from Noah, I have to set the scene...

Speech Therapist (ST): Holding up a book about animals who are waiting for the school bus trying to prompt some language "When we read a book we turn the..."

Noah: "moder on!" (meaning the motor on the school bus we think?!?!)

ST: Looking confused, repeats "When we read a book we turn the..."

Noah: "lights on!"

Just thought everyone would get a chuckle out of this. Matt, ST, and I all laughed hysterically, especially me. In fact I am cracking up writing this, but maybe you had to be there?!?!

Time gone by

More time passed after Noah's birthday party in Iowa. In fact, I am really not sure where the entire month of June went. I, of course, already posted Noah's 4th of July picture on the last blog post. We enjoyed the Shell Rock parade this year and the rain and 60 degree weather?!?-What?!? Yes, I really do mean 60 degrees! It was the first 4th of my life that required a jacket and long pants. I was not impressed to say the least...but at least I wasn't suffering from heat exhaustion. We enjoyed the fireworks later that evening. Noah was very impressed and the show was so much better than last years. There were hardly any of the small, really loud ones like the show last year. Kudos to Shell Rock!

About a week later, Noah headed to Chicago with Pam and Dave a day before I headed to Chicago for National Pampered Chef Convention. I had a great time with my friend Melissa on the trip and also had Becky and Loretta as our roommates. My team with Pampered Chef has been growing and I am really excited because I have a goal to promote to Advanced Director by December of this year. We are also earning a family trip to Disney World and I still need every one's help to be able to make it there!


Our limo for the ride to Chicago!


Melissa and I meet up with WAHOOOO Woman!


Jean, Marla and Lisa show off their new ranks

After our Chicago escapades, Noah and I headed to Florida to meet the newest family member, Presslei Monroe Smith, Brilei's little sister. She is amazingly cute and amazingly hungry. That baby nursed every hour on the hour the entire time we were there! Please continue to pray for my sister and her husband Matt, for all of the emotional stresses of a newborn, marriage, move and new job! I think all of those qualify in the top 10 most stressful events in life and they did all in a few months!!


Presslei Monroe-one month old! Brilei wore this same outfit as a little one and I am looking for the picture of the two of us for a side by side comparison


Noah and Brilei enjoy dinner at Jimmy's parents. They had so much fun being spoiled that night!
When we left Florida, we headed to Indiana to visit Angie and Isabella! We had not seen each other for over 2 years and it was so good to catch up. Noah and Isabella enjoyed bowling at Angie's work. Noah is still talking about it!


Noah and Isabella...of course Noah picked out an orange ball.


watching the ball


Sunflowers from the farmers market in downtown Valparaiso, IN.

Long time, no blog!

Well, I realize how long it has been since I have updated anyone. A plethora of things have been happening around here. I am just not sure I can remember them all, so here we go!

Noah celebrated his 3rd birthday while we were on a trip to Fl. The main reasons for us making the trip were for my sister's graduation and baby shower. We had a good time at Amy's graduation. We met Amy's in-laws. We celebrated Noah's birthday at a park and had a great time visiting with Jim, Cindy and Charley Hughlett, Mike, Helen and Julianne Lacey, Nancy Lacey.

A classic Amy look...:)

Noah getting ready to try out Jordan's new 3-D chalk

Here is his masterpiece!

Baga with the kiddos!

Amy giving Presslei (in-utero) a kiss!

We also were fortunate enough to visit Disney World. This was Noah's first trip to Disney and he thoroughly enjoyed it. Noah's favorite ride was Dumbo and the funniest part about that is that we had to wait in line longer for Dumbo than any other ride! Baga and Brilei decided to go see something else while we waited in line.

Our picture in front of Cinderella's Castle on the way in.

Before Phillar Magic

Meeting Mickey and Minnie Mouse

The Bolins

Baga and the grandkids

We also celebrated my dad's birthday with him and Noah had so much fun driving the mini golfcart that Papa Ted had.

On our way home from FL, we stopped through NC to see Jimmy, Katie and Isaac. It was so good to finally see them again. It had been about 1.5yrs since we had all been together. The boys had a blast playing together and so did Isaac and Noah- hehe! We, of course, played as many games as time allowed. We left a little teary-eyed, but glad to know we would see each other again in a few weeks when the Whitlocks had a trip to Iowa planned!

Our boys

Our guys being very humble winners...

 
The mama's and their boys...

Noah and Isaac enjoying their wagon ride

When we got back to Iowa, Lynda Stanley and I planned a 3yr old birthday party for Sananda and Noah. It was a lot of fun having our first big gathering at our house. Lynda made the wonderful cakes- thanks Lynda!

Behind the two of them you can see a small doll cake and a football cake made from the Pampered Chef Prep Bowl set by Lynda

Mocha Skillet Cake Lynda made in the 12" Stainless Pampered Chef Skillet

Sometime after the birthday party, we took advantage of Noah's birthday present from Pam and Dave- a trip to the Minneapolis Zoo! The zoo was a great trip and Noah got up close and personal with several of the zoo animals. Probably the best story of the day happened in this location.... Dave decided that he was going to try to scare Pam so he ran ahead and quickly dived into this cave. An innocent pair of ladies was walking by and did not stop to look at whatever it was that Pam stopped to show Noah. Matt and I could tell that the inevitable was about to happen, but not wanting to blow Dave's cover we tried as best we could to let Dave know that those ladies were coming, but about that time one leaned right down and stared Dave right in the face. Both of the ladies squealed and jumped back and everyone involved had a good laugh.

Wouldn't you be scared too?

Noah visiting with a Prairie Dog

Staring down a tiger

A classic shot from the butterfly garden

A few more pictures that I had on file...

Noah with a "biiiiig dandelion...heew, u bwo it!"

The Coreopsis close-up

Noah's 4th of July shot...to see the progression click here

In honor of my "gaganny" (toddler speak for granddaddy), Noah making monkey faces

Happy Birthary

I know this is my first time doing a post on the blog, but I didn't misspell birthday. I wanted to create a post for Ashley's birthday and our anniversary. Ashley turns 26 on the 24th and we celebrate our 6th anniversary on the 26th. Since her and Noah are in Florida, I thought I would try to highlight just a few memorable times. It was not an easy task as most of our digital photos are on the good computer which I don't have. So I dug through the "old" printed photos, which was quite fun. Enjoy what I found.




Scanned from the scrapbook. Not ideal, but the only childhood photos I could find.

Ashleys' 19th birthday at Andy's Trout Farm.


21st birthday.

Ashley perfects the birthday bite.

2002 Spring Formal.

The day we got engaged at Disney.

God's work of art- My wife and the sunset behind us.

Proud parents.


Going to the Florida-Georgia game in Jax. (Gators won)


Noah's first cereal.

The most recent photo I had access to.

Happy Birthary

Wishing A Happy Birthary to you

Celebrating your birthday and our anniversary too

On July 24, 1983 you entered the world as a baby

Then 18 years later we met when you were just a young lady

That next summer I asked you to be my wife

Because I knew I wanted to be with you the rest of my life

Since our wedding day

We have celebrated life in many special ways.

That is why these two days just won't do

As each day is worth celebrating with you.

I love you Ashley

The Whitlocks visit...

The Whitlocks came to visit us in June and here I am only 2 months behind needing to get some stuff up on the blog. Noah is off to daycare today and I am doing some stuff at the house since I have no car to escape in...I even had to take Noah in the bike this morning to daycare. But I digress...

Their flight was delayed, so we were robbed of the first evening together. Luckily everything came in on the next flight, but that wasn't until something like 11:00PM!!! The following day we wasted no time in getting to our usual gaming. The boys once again beat us in hand and foot. I (ashley) of course won settlers and the other games were pretty much spread out...I cannot even remember what all we played. Jimmy and I stayed up late while Katie went to bed and Matt slept on the couch-ha! We had such a great time getting to visit with the three of them. Noah enjoyed pulling Isaac around in the wagon and also loved showing Isaac his big bubble wand. For Father's day, Matt's parents, Nicole and James, and G&G Bolin came over. We had a feast and even skyped with Dan and Lynn so that all the boys could wish Dave a happy Father's Day. If you would like to see some pictures, you have to visit Katie's blog because I don't have any?!?!? Not exactly sure how that happened... We miss you guys so much and are so glad you came to visit us. Anyone else up for a trip to Waverly?

Landscaping

Matt has found his calling in life... No wonder Matt and my mom get along so well ;) Matt is the mastermind behind this plan in the front yard. I liked the idea of the before/after pics my friend Katie did on her blog. The only pictures we have are from when the house was listed. When we bought the house, it looked much different. Everything was covered in snow until early April! These are the in progress pics because we planted wildflower seeds behind the hostas, and rubeckia & columbines off of the other ends of the coreopsus and daylilies. Such a change from 30 year old, overgrown, half dead, evergreen hedges!
Before

Progress

Now that I put these on here, I see I need a more upclose shot...more to come later. Too dark to do anything about it now!-ha

The lost is found...

Here is the picture I was talking about, the day we closed on the house...

Breast Cancer Awareness

We are coming to the end of our Help Whip Cancer campaign with Pampered Chef and I just wanted to inform all of the women and men who care about women about a form a breast cancer that is not very well known. Thanks to Jean Ellison for sharing this with me. It is called Inflammatory Breast Cancer and if you click on the link you can watch a quick video that is very informative. This is a very aggressive form of breast cancer and you do not check for it by checking for a lump. Please watch the video and pass it on!

Jesus Loves Me

home sweet home

After several requests, I think I can finally get these up...but i cannot find the picture of Matt and I from the day we closed on the house?!?! Well at least here are a few pictures:

Noah's toy room...

Living Room...obviously a few months ago...Look at all the snow out the window! So glad that is gone.

Just one of Noah chillin on the floor. For some reason he stripped his pants off. Thought he looked soooo big laying there!

Saturday

Well, 40 degrees feels the warmest it ever has. We went out in lighter weight clothing today and played in the melting snow...tomorrow we are supposed to get freezing rain so this could be the last of the "nice" weather for awhile. Matt is at work, so Noah and I have been hanging out today. We played ball with Sandy, hung up Noah's clothes, played with his alphabet bus, read a few books, Noah took a nap, unloaded the dishwasher and went potty several times. We also watched "Caillou" which still is Noah's favorite.

Last week Noah started going to one of our friends house for "school" 2 days a week. Noah seemed to love it and it was nice to be able to get things done in our house. Matt and I finished painting the living room and trim and door or the bathroom. we got the kitchen cleaned up and the living room arranged. It was so nice because I had some girls over on Thurs. for a Pampered Chef get together. My team is growing and I am really happy with my girls. I need a few more shows this month to keep up with it so I am working on that. If anyone wants to help out by hosting a catalog show, let me know:)

I have to upload pictures to be able to post them, which requires knowing where the camera is so...none for now. Maybe sometime soon.

Never Say Never

Well I thought Noah would never get potty trained, but finally success. While my mom was in town she sucessfully got him to go #2 on the potty several times. We already had the other stuff down. Then the day before she left, Noah peed 2x in his pants and also #2 in his pants. I was so frustrated because I knew he could hold it, but he would go in his pants on purpose. I knew this because I had a timer set to take him ever hour, but he would wake in the morning and be completely dry. My friend Melissa was a big help because she gave me the suggestion of letting him clean himself up when he made a mess in his pants...I think he had to do it about 5-6 times and it usually took him almost an hour of screaming at me, "No you do it!" to which I would respond, "I did not make the mess, I will not clean it up." So my mom says to me, "Just put him back in diapers for a little while so you do not loose your sanity." He was back in diapers for 2 days and had no accidents. Well I did not communicate to Matt that I was leaving him in diapers, so back into the "big boys" as Noah likes to call them, he went. Ever since that day he has been asking to go potty and has only had 2 accidents in over 3 months!!! That is success!

Now that I finished that, I can also add that we had a great Christmas here at our new home. With the move we did not put up a tree:( but we had a very cute Charlie Brown-type tree that Pam and Dave found for us...In some ways I really liked it better than a tree...it was really easy to take down.

Baga and Noah built a snowman baby...well, Baga built and Noah threw snowballs at Baga...it was a fun time for all.