Our Last Week

So......as an act of love, Luke agreed to put up a new storm door for me. Our old one wasn't very energy efficient, nor would it lock, so I always had to keep the front door closed. Putting up the new door was going really well for about 5 minutes, then it went downhill. But Luke, being the amazing handyman that he is, managed to put our new (beautiful!) 80 inch door in a 78 inch space. We ended up having to remove the awnings which was fine with us!

We put up shutters, and while I was painting the door to match, Noah helped himself to the open can of paint.
I don't have any pictures of the final project, but as soon as it stops raining, I'll get some to post!

Here's our little Abby all ready for church last Sunday!

And here she is all tuckered out after skipping her morning nap for the 3rd Sunday in a row! All the nursery activity must keep her busy!

Later that afternoon, Noah was doing his best to teach Abby her colors. He would take the different colored blocks and match them up on the little pop up toy. Abby listened really intently for a few minutes, then just tried to eat the blocks, so Noah gave up and moved the toy out of her reach!

On Tuesday, we had an unexpected visitor! My mom was out visiting her sisters and had a flight delay. They were able to reroute her through Cleveland, so she got to vist with us for about 24 hours! The kids loved it! (And I'm sure she did, too.) Here we are on the way to have Abby's 9 month pictures taken. Noah brought his computer along to entertain him.

Here's Grammy with her grandbabies!

Noah got his first kite! He just loves Lightning McQueen from the movie Cars, and Aldi just happened to have a kite with that character on sale last week! When I came home from my dentist appointment this morning, Luke and Noah were in the front yard flying it.

His debut flight:

Have you ever heard the warnings to not fly kites near power lines? Obviously, our family ignores those!

Noah was SO proud!

And here's "Abbs" (as Noah has been calling her lately!) watching the action!

Noah's Play Date

One day last week, I invited one of Noah's friends over to play. This was the first time we've really had one of his friends over for no reason other than to play. They had so much fun! This is Gabe. He's the same age as Noah.

They played Play-Doh.....

and put stickers on their faces......

and jumped on our bed.......

and built a train track......

They had lots of little boy fun!

After Gabe left, Noah modified the train track a little. Here's what he did all by himself! (I love the little curly-Q on the right side!)

Feast or Famine

It seems like I can't keep this thing updated! I sit down and get all caught up, and then I get way behind again......so here goes. I'll try to catch you all up on our last 2 weeks!

We went to the park and had a cookout one evening. Here we are playing on the equipment while the charcoal was burning down.

Noah loves it when Abby plays with him. Here he is taking her down the slide!

And here's Luke taking Noah down head first. (He said afterward that this was NOT a good idea!)

That evening, Noah ran up to me with a dandelion and said, "Here, Mommy. I picked this for you!" Awwwwwwww! So I had to take a picture!

We also went to a local nature center one day. It's not very big, but it's perfect for two year olds. Plus, it's free! So we love to visit.

Here are the boys crossing the bridge. One of the workers was cleaning it out, so the water was kind of murky, and we didn't see any fish. Outside there are several different birds, along with foxes, rabbits, a raccoon, deer, and a skunk.

Inside, there are several aquariums and reptiles, along with a tide pool. Here's Abby in the play area:

When we were leaving, there was a school bus parked right outside the building. The driver was really nice and let Noah get on and look around. Noah has been fascinated with any big vehicles. He was just as excited about the bus as he was the entire nature center!

Day Two of our Kind of Staycation

Yesterday, we made a trek to the zoo. I've always loved going to the zoo. (Luke used to take me there on dates when we were young!) So this trip was as much for me as for them, but still.....we all had fun!

When we asked Noah what he wanted to see, his first animal he said was a lion. Ironically, that's the first animal we saw there!


Abby made friends with a little monkey.


She thought that was prett funny!



Noah loved the "dirty" rhino. He had been rolling around in the mud which (for some reason) made Noah laugh.


We packed our lunch and had a little picnic by Monkey Island. Unfortunately, the monkeys were put away while they cleaned up the area and (also unfortunately) we were sitting downwind.

I'm pretty sure every family who has kids takes this picture. Abby was fascinated with this little monkey!



We also got to go into the Rainforest, which we've never gone to before. It was very cool! There are some primates and crocodiles and birds. And the whole place looks (and feels!) like a jungle.

Here's Noah riding a frog like a bull.

In the evening, we went out to a local community college where Luke flies his R/C plane. Here he is showing off his skills!

Noah loves to run around and chase the airplanes.

Day One of our "Stay"cation

So we're not really having a staycation, but Luke had four days off this week so we've been playing! We knew we wanted to do something, but it seemed like a waste to spend a couple hundred dollars on a hotel to visit Niagara or Amish country or another place like that. So we decided to stay home and do some fun day trips.

Wednesday, we took the kids to Castaway Bay. It's an indoor waterpark with lot of slides and kiddie areas and a wave pool. The kids had an absolute blast! There was a great toddler pool with water spouts, slides, spraying water, you know, just a place for kids to play! Here's where we spent most of our time.

Abby loved just splashing in the water. Water in her face didn't phase her a bit!

Noah loved running around. He pretty much had free reign. He made a few friends and flirted with two different girls!

I was very surprised by how much Noah liked the wave pool. Up until a couple months ago, he was very timid about water, especially if it got in his face. But here, we could hardly get him to stay with us! He loved floating in the water and jumping the waves!

Both the kids were EXHAUSTED when we finally left! They both slept on the way home. Noah even went back to sleep once we got into the house!