Bath time giggles with daddy

Last night Matt had Noah laughing so hard and since little laughs from babes are so fun we figured we would share it with you

I am also hoping to get a picture of Noah driving. He just figured out that his car has steering and it is hilarious. Maybe later...

Another venture of Noah's is trying to conquer the picket fence.

UF B-ball here I come!

Well, all of his yelling and grunting could amount to something, especially if his name follows suit with the Noah before him. What am I talking about you ask? Not Noah in the bible, but Noah the former UF B-ball player. The video reminds me a little of Joakim Noah doing his thing on the court. Noah (Bolin that is) even makes 3 baskets in just 2 mins of game play...That is pretty impressive, but then again I am his mom and I know next to nothing about basketball;)

Warning: I get pretty excited when Noah makes his first unassisted basket...you may want your volume on low!

Springtime...in June!

Well the flowers are blooming here now that it is finally springtime. I am not sad to see the winter go away and have some resemblance of warm days...although it has been 48 a few mornings in the past few weeks (which would not qualify as warm if you were asking me a year ago, but after 30 below wind chills seems pretty nice, except if you consider the fact that it is JUNE!)

I just figured I would share a few of the blooms that are on display around our house.

Dandelions- seem to pop up over night. Noah was going around smelling them until the camera came out, then he had to ham it up.

Tulips- I planted the bulbs back in November just before the hard freeze for the winter that didn't unfreeze until around April. Only two came up at first, but then four more bulbs came up, but have not bloomed yet, so we shall see what happens with those...

Sandy stops to smell the...irises?

Leftover Irises- I call them this because they have been here for about 15 years or more. Matt was mowing them down last year, until I discovered what they were and promptly put an end to that. I was worried they would never bloom and all of the weeding I was doing would be for naught, but low and behold they are covered in blooms now.

We planted a garden with our friends Ben and Amy Dau. We put in Roma and Beefsteak Tomatoes, Green and Jalapeño peppers, Sweet Potatoes, Romaine Lettuce, Sweet Onions, Collard Greens, Cucumbers, Asparagus, Basil, Oregano, Mint, Cilantro and Mammoth Sunflowers. We are looking forward to the harvest and if it is plentiful, we have been invited to sell at the local farmers market.

Besides our attempts to buy local produce and hopefully have some of our own, our cloth diapers and composting, and our commitment to recycling, our new green venture is to ride bikes when possible. Right now, we only have one bike that is terrible disrepair and so it makes it hard to do this. But this past Sunday, Matt determinedly rode the bike to church, 12 miles I might add. After the service, I rode it home. The bike's brakes do not work and the gears are very hard to shift and not all of them will catch, but nonetheless we are making our attempts at being more green. We looked into new bikes yesterday, but will definitely need to save up for that investment. This all comes with the news I got at a health fair I was participating in that I have Osteopenia and I need to exercise more. Besides being green, I need to be healthy so pray that we can get into an exercise routine to help curb the possibilities of osteoporosis for me!

Another fun thing that we did this week was a HUGE, and anyone who knows Matt's grandfather and the way he builds a fire knows I am not exaggerating, bonfire. After discussing a bible study group at Jay and Becky's, the weather was finally right to light the fire of a pile that would not have fit inside our apartment in Gainesville. Becky, Jay, Emily, Jenna, Andrew and Jon all came out for the event, and an event it was! Becky and Jay brought the Grahams and chocolate to pair with our jumbo mallows and we had ourselves s'mores. They were delicious! A burning tire rolled off of the pile at one point and through it all, Noah slept!

See how high the flames were compared to the silo!

Taken off the edge of the barn behind our house.

Our friend Jay standing about 100ft from the fire, I am about another 100ft from him

Becky and Emily

Jenna and me being crazy!

While we were gone, now almost a month ago, a little Robin built her nest just outside of our front door. She had one little egg in the nest the first day we were home and then a second one the next day. Unfortunately, another bird came and attacked her nest and ate her eggs, but I got a picture of it before the second egg was laid. I was really heart-broken for the little bird!

Some pictures of Sandy and Zara, our friends Allie and Andrew's new lil' pup.

Adorable pictures of Noah. He was doing these poses by himself...It was sooo Cute.

Memorial Day stuff. I cried through the whole thing.

Pledge of Allegiance

Great-Great Uncle Darrell (Neil's brother), Grampa, Noah, Daddy, Great Grandpa Neil, Uncle James

Noah's first mouth full of mud. He loved showing it off.

Incomplete until...

I think about how incomplete of a mommy I still am because of all of the firsts that are still to come with my little boy. But, as of Saturday, I can cross one off of the list- I was thrown up on. And I am not talking about baby spit up any more, although several times my shirt was soaked and I had no alternatives at work with me to change into, so onto the next task of the day I was feeling a little drowned. Noah has been sick since Friday night. Today he seems much better, but still is a little cranky and sleepy. His appetite is still not back full swing, but there is a lot of play left in that little guy!

Yesterday we had the pleasure of sharing T-bone Steaks with our friends that were in our freezer when we moved in here and we thought it was high time we had those eaten. So Jon and Alicia Post and Jenna Hubert came over and we enjoyed a feast to say the least. Sandy has also been enjoying our dinner last night because she got a t-bone after the fact (and I mean bone only!). Then some more of our friends came out- Jay and Becky Baker, Allie and Andrew Potratz and their little puppy! I got a few shots of our little dogs playing together, but none of them were too stellar so I will try for better next time we get our girls together.

Last Thursday, we planted a garden with our friends Amy and Ben Dau. It was so nice to have help getting all the plants in the ground and will be fun to share the harvest too. We planted Beefsteak and Roma tomatoes, green and jalapeno peppers, onions, lettuce, collards, cucumbers, cilantro, mint, oregano, and basil. Yet to be planted are asparagus and strawberies. I better get a move on while the little one is asleep!

More words to add

Well in the last two weeks since we went on vacation Noah has added some words to his repertoire.

7. please (which sounds more like 'peas')
8. blueberries (which sounds more like buberries)
9. mama (my favorite)
10. oh-no
11. eewwww
12. uh-oh (I think 10-12 were actually left off of the first list)
13. Sandy (but actually he only says the 'eee' on the end- he calls her all the time!)

We also recieved our camera back from Kodak so I took a video of Noah doing all of the animal noises to post...

Noah's word count

Noah is now saying many words, so I wanted to put a list I can update, until it gets too exaustive to update anymore...At that time I guess he will officially be talking!

1. No
2. baby
3. hi
4. ball
5. bubble
6. more

He also knows what sounds the following animals make:
1. elephant
2. cow
3. dog
4. cat
5. duck
6. owl
7. horse
8. snake
9. bird
10. tiger
11. lion
12. sheep

That is all we can think of now. My family has wanted to know what words Noah is saying so this is the list that Matt and I can come up with right now.

Licorice Education as by Ashley

Not the kind flavored with strawberry or cherry, but the kind that actually contains the ingredient licorice (the color is black, but I do not think that it should be called "black licorice" because the red stuff really isn't licorice at all). Plus, if you look on a bag of twizzlers, the black ones are called licorice twists and the red ones are called strawberry-or-cherry twists. Hence, one is talking about the wrong stuff if mentioning licorice refering to something red in color.

Well the legend continues. My granddaddy, whom I was very close to, loved to eat licorice and I mean the real stuff. My mom loves it and so do I. Now, for a second time Noah has chowed down on licorice. He did one time before he was one and again today he ate licorice and loved it. So I am the proud mommy of a licorice eating little boy!

Lots of stuff that happened after CR...

Well there have been many events in our lives since we came back from Costa Rica. We celebrated the Resurrection of Jesus the weekend after we got back. We celebrated in white, and I do not mean our clothes...It snowed all day on Easter this year. Sad part was we did not hunt for eggs because it was too cold and snowy.

Noah waiting for lunch to be served!


The patriarchs...Mavis and Neil Bolin...


The grand kids and great-grand kids with them...


Noah and Sarah sorting out the goods...

Next year I think Noah will actually enjoy hunting for eggs. Since that time, I think it has snowed at least four other times. The best part is that it has been warm enough to not stick so there was no shoveling involved.

I have also included a video of Noah dancing in the kitchen. I posted about this many weeks ago, but didn't have a camera that could take a video until we went to CR. However, that camera is now at Kodak's repair place because it will no longer turn on...so much for buying something at Wal-mart. They wouldn't take it back because it had been longer than 30 days. Just remember that if you are buying electronics at the dreaded, you must take them back should something go wrong in thirty days or you have to deal with the manufacturer.



Just another picture of Gangsta Noah...getting into trouble again...


Another exciting event that happened while I was working on the CR posts, we got a new dog...We named her "Sandy" because of her spots. She is twice as big as Peanut and the longer we have her the more I think that she is not JRT, but more like maybe Beagle and Whippet. She really seems to be a great dog, about 1yo, already house-trained and sweet as can be. She got along with other dogs in the foster home so hopefully we can get her enough socialization to not be too territorial around other dogs. We are bringing her on our trip later this month and hopefully our "kids" will both be good travelers!

Noah testing out where the dog will sleep...


Sandy on her blanket before we had a crate that she would actually fit in...


Some more pics...Noah in the background with just one sock on...


Sandy on the card table house...she jumps in one leap from the floor to the table!!!

Well I guess that is all I have for the moment. Everyone put up two or three posts in the last few days, so I feel like I am falling down on the job, but hopefully this catches you up on the 3Bolins.

CR Day 8, March 15th

CR Day 7, March 14th

CR Day 6, March 13th

Day 5, Costa Rica, March 12th

Since it is taking me so long to get all of my Costa Rica trip published, I am going to publish the rest of the days blank so that I can publish some other stuff that has been happening and as I get the chance I will go back and edit the Costa Rica entries. I am not sure why I didn't think of that before, but that way I stop boring the ones who don't want to read that much and the ones who do can go back later. Capeesh?

CR Day 4, March 11th

We began with group devo & Kristina shared with us out of Acts 2. Breakfast was pancakes, scrambled eggs, bread, fruit, beans & rice. We left for school after breakfast and the group I was in taught three 6th grade classes. The first class we taught was a group of kids that for one reason or another had to drop out of school and have started back. They are 15-17yo and in the 6th grade. Julia and I worked with the group of boys in the back of the classroom. In America I think boys are generally harder to work with and integrate into the group, but in Costa Rica it seemed to be the exact opposite. The girls were more skeptical of new people and new ideas. The boys were a joy to work with and much of the American culture has infiltrated Costa Rica through the media. The boy I am pictured with below calls himself "Daddy Yankee" which of course is a pop music star who sings reggaeton. It was interesting how many of these kids have given names that are definately American as you will see in some of the pictures below.

"Daddy Yankee" and I

Julia and I with our group of boys...Names to be posted later

When we went to our second class we had a much larger class and I think we all had one group to ourselves. This can be kind of intimidating since there is little verbal skill for language between us as a group. In this class the bell rung half way through and the kids got to go to snack time/recess of sorts. There was a little concession stand that sold all sorts of snacks and the kids brought them back with them and ate them in class. During this recess, the boy with the jacket on, Jeremy, talked my ear off in español. I understood very little of what he was saying, but he was such a sweet boy. He also introduced me to his brother during recess and I saw his brother later in the week. I hoped to see Jeremy again, but never did. I did understand in my conversation with him that he was really interested in learning English and hoped for a good job to have a family one day. Please help me pray for that for him.

My group in the second class. Names will be posted later...

The third class we went to Alex and I worked with this group. The girl sitting closest to me, would not participate in the group, but did not mind being in the picture. This group was exactly what I was talking about above. The girls were very hard to break.

Names later....

After we finished at the school, we went over to Mount Sanai and helped in their feeding center. Matt was a hand sanitizer for this activity and I was a socializer...imagine that! After the kids ate, the socializers and I hung out with them and ended up playing telephone with them too. We had a blast.

Our game of telephone...

Ashley and Ashley!

This is little girl's name a prime example of American culture infiltration. Spanish does not even have the 'sh' sound so they say it more like our 'ch.'

We went back to the team house, we had some more down time. Some napped, others walked and the rest of us played "what if" again. We had a great time doing that.

Afterwards we had a cooking class with Miriam. She taught us how to make empanadas- make the dough, press 'em, stuff 'em and seal 'em, and best part of all, fry 'em! We all did it and it was great!

The dough balls and Miriam in the background frying the empanadas.

Press, stuff, seal!

Press, stuff, seal!

After we made the empanadas, we did not eat them:(...but took them and gave them away to people in the park, which turned out to be an amazing ministry. After we had passed out all of them, a group of us went to pray for the crazy man who wanders the park talking to someone...Natalia asked him if we could pray for him and he said no. Then we stood there for about 15 more minutes as he told us lots of stuff none of us understood, even Natalia who speaks Spanish. Natalia asked him again and he let us, but when we started praying for him he stopped talking and got really quiet, then started laughing. While we were there with him, one of the locals came and told us that he used to be a famoso guitar player and that he broke up with his girlfriend who was a witch and she cast a spell on him and that is why he is like that today. I will have a picute to post once they make it here from Gainesville.

When we finished with that project, a few of us went over to a park bench and we singing, "Open the eyes of my heart Lord" o "Abre mis ojos o Cristo." We alternated singing in English and Spanish. A man from a family we had just given empanadas to started to weep. Jorge, the youth leader from Mount Sanai, happened to show up in the park while we were there, was able to minister to the man.

After that, we started singing and playing with the kids who were watching us. We had so much fun. We played "Gigante y Enano" and "Dice su novio" and also bullfrog which we used to play here, but they had a spanish rhyme that had a little different cadence to it than our did, and ring around the rosie.

Here is the group that was gathering...

Wendy and I...

When we were finished singing...Jorge and the family man are in the background by the tree sitting on a blanket.

The worst part of the entire trip was that Matt and I were in different groups for stuff so there are not many pictures of Matt, but hopefully when we get the pics from the g-ville crew there will be more of him in there!