Noah's First Christmas Program

Noah got to sing in his first Christmas program, and he had excitedly been practicing his songs all month. He loves going to our Bible study and learning with his two wonderful teachers who volunteer their time each week, Miss Karen and Miss Stacy. He has learned many songs, stories, verses and makes crafts each week.

So back to the Christmas program. When it came time to actually sing them in front of a large crowd at our Bible study (many of them moms and dads snapping pictures in the front like a paparazzi crowd)....

Noah started crying! He cried through all of the songs! His teacher picked him up and held him while the kids sang.

I asked him later why he was crying, and he said that there were too many people watching him. Haha!

visiting Grandma Judy at the hospital

Last week we visited Grandma Judy in the hospital after her hip replacement surgery. The boys were eager to eat all of the special treats and candy we brought her.

Benjamin got his ear tubes put in that morning also but didn't seem fazed at all by having had his own surgery. Jill studies the x rays showing the new hip.

Good thing there is a family lounge to hang out where the boys can run all around. We are thankful that Grandma Judy is recovering well so far.

Guilty.

So, in theory, 3/4 of a cherry pie should be a nice leftover for dessert another day. Right?

There is no "before" picture for this cherry pie....but this is the "after" picture.

"After," as in, after Noah sneakily ate a lot of it after his naptime. With a spoon and his fingers.

Don't you love that guilty face?

My two mini-runners

Goal of going out for halloween is always to have fun with our family, get to know our neighbors , and allow the boys to dress up. I haven't posted any pictures of them yet!

Noah and Isaac got lots of compliments on their costumes of being marathon runners. They tried out a few different medals, hats, and bib numbers until we found the right combination for each kid.

The cousins decided to crash the party in the neighborhood too.

Jill and Mark with their boys in costumes....

"Homeschool Preschool"

This year I am teaching Noah (and Isaac, kind of!) preschool at home. He calls it "homeschool preschool" but it's really not very formal or very time-consuming. We are just playing and learning letter sounds together.

Noah loves his new letters we have cut from cereal boxes. He likes figuring out how to spell things and naming all of the letters. He knows many of the letter sounds, though we are only formally through letter "F." I am loosely using a curriculum I heard of online called Letter of the Week.

Our "letter of the week" means we work on vocab and letter sounds for each letter. We also pick an animal that begins with that letter and get library books to learn about that animal. This week we are studying elephants and fish. We are doing two letters this week to play catch-up.

We try to do a playdate with our friends weekly for fun playtime. Noah is also learning Bible verses and practicing them with Mommy, making crafts, and participating in his preschool classes at Bible study and at twice a week at church. Nothing formal, just a lot of fun 3-year old playtime! We go to the library weekly and also regularly frequent the children's museum to check out the playscape, the planetarium star shows, and the exhibits.

It is really making me think twice about putting him in a formal preschool setting next year at 4.... $150-$200/month for preschool is nothing to sneeze at, and frankly, I really like teaching him at home!

still more tomatoes

One way we save money on produce in the summer is to grow it ourselves. I planted several tomato plants (I think it was 8 this year, still not enough!!!!) and as of this week, I am still getting tomatoes on my cherry tomatoes!

Isaac loves to pick the tomatoes and eat them for a snack while we are outside playing in the back yard. The problem is, he still doesn't really understand how to ONLY pick the red ones. He eats the green ones too. (Maybe that's why he got sick??)

Freshly picked and freshly eaten. Goodbye summer tomatoes. I know this is the last we will probably see of you!

feeding the sickies

Noah and Isaac spent much of the past few weeks fighting some kind of a stomach bug. After over a week of missing our normal activities (playdates, mom's service group at church, Bible study, working childcare at the gym, etc...), I finally took them to the doctor.

The doctor asked if I was feeding them the BRAT (Bananas-Rice-Applesauce-Toast) diet. I said, "yes," as I handed Isaac a handful of Goldfish crackers and a sippy cup of milk....

He said I needed to really do the BRAT diet exclusively. Ok, fine.

Would you like more carbs, Isaac?

No more milk. Noah didn't mind the Powerade that Grandma Judy brought over either. The boys were drinking a store brand Pedialyte and lots of water.

Thankfully they improved within a couple of days, and we were able to return to our normal activities.

another half marathon and hanging out in Berne

Jason and I finished the Fort Wayne half marathon in September. It was Jason's second and my third race of that length. So collectively, we have run 5 half marathons in the past year! Pretty crazy... Jason was pretty spot-on his previous race time, while I finished 10 minutes slower. (One of these days maybe I will actually improve my time!) We had fun meeting up with several friends since there were only a few thousand runners participating. Overall we thought it was a well organized small race, and it was a new little adventure to try out racing in a different city!

Back at the ranch, Noah enjoyed spending time with two of his friends, Mia and Layla. Here they are cuddled up on the couch probably watching an episode of Little Bear.

The boys love to read, especially Noah. Noah could probably do nothing but sit and read all day and be content. (I wonder who his parents are.....?) Isaac likes the board books. He is still learning how to sit and listen to stories. He has had a reputation for tearing the pages and a 5-second attention span, but he is getting better!

The boys loved playing with the train set at their grandparents' house. Typically Isaac loves to say "choo choo" and tear apart the tracks after they are tediously put together. Noah has a fiery little temper and promptly bops Isaac on the head (or other similar gesture of annoyance). Learning to share and live in harmony does not come naturally.....

Monster Trucks!!

A few weeks ago (takes me forever to post anything!) we picked up the Groupon for an auto parts / truck show at the fairgrounds. (And some kind soul unexpectedly gave us their free-t0-us Groupon tickets at the gate to spare us an additional $30 in entry fees!)

Noah was in an uncooperative mood (it was close to naptime), but he did enjoy checking out all of the giant monster trucks. The size of some of these tires was unbelievable!


Isaac is wondering what planet we are on. Nothing looks or sounds familiar....

We wanted to watch the monster trucks smash the cars, but we must have missed the time or something! We did get to see several truck races as well as monster trucks driving around the mud pit. The boys missed their afternoon naps, but all things considered they did really well.

I can't say I would really HAVE to go back again next year....

Picking at the Apple Orchard

Noah and Isaac have enjoyed apple-picking at our local orchard twice in the past few weeks. First, Noah always loves checking out the honeybees in the farm store.

Apple picking has been so much fun this year. Noah called yellow apples "tennis balls" and Isaac calls all apples "Balls" (his favorite word!). I love my little cuties!

Ready to make some apple crisp or muffins...mmmmm!