Noe News is Good News

Time to Start Thinking About Fall and Back to School!

Spring was pretty much nonexsistent this year and Summer has been hot and humid. I've had some fun times but it's that time of the year where the itch for fall comes in for me. I've always said I don't have a favorite season, but this year I have changed my mind. Fall is definitely my favorite. I will love the other seasons for their own little reasons, but only fall continually follows through in providing me with the things that I love. I'm already getting excited for the back to school clothing lines and supplies. I was super duper excited when I got my Pottery Barn Kids school gear catalog in the mail yesterday! I know it's a little silly, but I am really looking forward to it. Joselyn will definitely be going back to one day of preschool and to dance, and Landen will be enrolling in a small preschool as well (or MOM time type preschool). I've already been busy on Pinterest looking for fall ideas and back to school things. Check out all this pretty-ness!





See everything here and here! I've gathered quite the collection! Oh and I'm SOOOO ready for the fall clothing lines to come out too! My favorite kind of clothes to shop for :)

Cleaning out the Garage

It's been over 6 months now since we have lived in this house, so we figured we didn't have an excuse any more for our garage to be filled with boxes. So when it was still warm a few weeks ago Adam and I spent the day cleaning out the garage- going through boxes- and making "sell" and "keep" piles (Kind of like that one show on TLC- what's it called again?). It was great! We got so much done! We went and bought about 20 plastic boxes and labeled them all, so one wall in our garage has a wall of plastic boxes. It looks SO organized! The other side, where we have our "sell" stuff doesn't look so pretty, but it is still organized and we actually have room for a vehicle in the garage! Just in time for all the snow and ice.

Anyway, as we were going through our stuff, there was a lot the kids found and ran off with. They were having fun playing in the front yard, and once we looked over and saw Joselyn dressed REALLY silly and laughed out loud!



Those are pink elmo sunglasses (hand-me-down from somewhere) with a cowboy hat as she feeds her little dog a bottle. (and Muno too)

Before Fall is too far away...

Back in the beginning of November, I took the kids with me for Chelsea's photo shoot. We found this really great park in Madison County (after crossing over the FERRY!! They had a blast...) and there were TONS AND TONS of leaves! The leaves became the biggest "bed" ever to my kids. They jumped in the leaves and pretended to take naps in the leaves. They were having so much fun together it just made me so happy...











Jos and Landen's hair was filled with dirt and small leaf pieces that were really hard to wash out of their hair (especailly Joselyn's) but isn't their happiness just worth it? I think so.



I know Landen is really happy when he actually lets Joselyn hug him. He usually doesn't like it. But this time he was giddy that his sister was hugging him- and Joselyn's face says it all about the happiness SHE felt inside that her little brother let her hug him tight!











Gosh, I'm about to start crying! There is something so sweet about the bond these two have and it has such power over me! It got me thinking about how tonight Joselyn called Landen over and said "Come 'ere bud! Want me to read you a book?" and he got excited and said "YEAH!!" and ran to sit next to her... and how yesterday when a little boy was picking on Landen at Kid to Kid (a kids clothes consignment shop) Joselyn told that little boy "Be nice to him. He's my brother!" and then pushed him away. Maybe not the best thing to do, but I was touched by her protectiveness. They definitely have their fights, but I hope from the bottom of my heart that they will continue to strengthen this bond that they are forming.

Splashing in the rain puddles

Over the summer I dreamt of playing in puddles with the kids... all decked out in rain boots. And so I kept my eyes out for some nice used ones for the kids and bought me a pair. They have occasionally been brought out as an object of play, but they have mostly sat in the closet unused... until today. The kids were begging to go outside but it was still a little wet from the rain... then I remembered the boots. We each put our boots on and jumped in puddles! It was very fulfilling and the kids had so much fun!







Don't you love how one of Landen's boots is under his jeans and the other leg is all scrunched up?









Oh and can I just say how excited how I am that Adam is home the rest of the week! It's been SOOOO nice. Not just because he is really good at helping around the house, but it's just fun spending time with him! I know the kids agree... today he took Joselyn out on a daddy daughter date suring Landen's nap time. She was so excited to go out with him and came back with a huge satisfied grin on her face.



Speaking of my awesome husband... I'm gonna take a much needed break RIGHT NOW and go and spend some time with him! Movie night and pizza here I come!

Gratitude Tree

I totally stole this idea from a friend... but I was so in love with hers I had to copy ;) I had the kids finger paint with fall colors on construction paper, let it dry then cut them into leaves. We then added a few things we were grateful for on the leaves and hung them on branches we had collected and placed in a vase. We will continue to add to it every day until Thanksgiving- and will then read all of the things we are grateful for- which is a LOT!





We all got really messy- even me. And boy was it fun! Gotta love washable paint!













I definitely think this will be a yearly tradition in one way or another! I LOVE it! And it was so so easy!

Collecting Fall Leaves

I know the leaves are pretty much all just brown now... but I had been looking forward to taking the kids leaf collecting for a while and today just seemed to be the perfect day. We woke up and stayed in our PJs for a while- snuggling under blankets and watching their current obsession Bolt. But then we got a little restless so I decided we would go for a walk and collect leaves! It was a little chilly but we collected quite a few... thinking about making a garland to hang around our bay window??

Landen is still very much into trains right now and carries his little "choo choo chagga" with him everywhere. I blame this obsession on their friend Neville who introduced the exact train to Landen a few months ago. Landen tried to take Neville's train and Neville is still very upset about it. In fact, his mommy told me tonight that Neville said he loved Joselyn but not Landen because he took his train. Ha ha- makes me laugh.







Joselyn found a Halloween pencil on the ground and was super excited about it!! I'm pretty sure I put it in our bag of leaves, but I'm not THAT sure. I hope I did!







A good variety of colorful leaves were hard to find- in fact Joselyn picked most of her leaves from the trees.







Oh man... I had such an itch to start playing Christmas music today! THe day after Halloween always does that to me. I am so looking forward to the Holidays this year!!

Happy Halloween!

On Saturday my mom and I took Joselyn, Landen and Autumn to trick or treat on Moore Dr... if you haven't heard of it, it is something that Ronald McDonald House puts on every year and most of the stores on Moore Street will give away candy to trick-or-treaters. One of the company's sponsoring the event was 1390 Real Life Radio who I often do work for. They asked me to take pictures of the event, and so I brought the kids along. My pictures definitely weren't prize worthy- the day sun was way too bright and it's hard to take pictures when you have tired nap needing kids hanging at your feet. But I was so grateful to my mom for helping me out with the kids! I couldn't have done it without her! I finally got a picture of Landen in his Lion costume:



Landen was always seen with a sucker in hand. And he doesn't necessarily take his time with his suckers. He crunches them as soon as they hit his mouth, and he is finished in less than a minute. Then he would grab for another one. I know his teeth will rot, but it's Halloween! He was enjoying every minute.



I told you. Always sucker in hand.

Joselyn was just having fun talking to all the people and being her cute little mouse self.

As the event came to a close, my kids were very tired. It was past nap time and they had done a LOT of walking... so Landen was not in the mood for a picture!! Especially with his hoodie on!

On Sunday, we went over to the Hawley's and let the kids play and hand out candy. We had some yummy potato soup, bread and delicious cupcakes! And apples! As far as handing out the candy, it was so cute because every time someone would knock on the door (I think it was about 3 times the while time we were there) all of the kids would run to the door and give each person a huge handful of candy. We were laughing so hard. So pretty much each kid who came to the door got 4 handfuls of candy in their buckets. Something else that was funny... since my friend Stacie has 2 girls, the house was filled with girl stuff. Poor Landen... but he knew what to do. He found the manliest girl thing around and played with THAT. A pink ride-in car. So funny.

Joselyn's run-in with mean dogs

What a crazy day- is it that full moon? It started out good enough. I took the kids to Waveland for a photo shoot- we were in need of some updated pictures since birthdays and Christmas are coming up! On Tuesday I was lucky enough to have my talented friend Stacie Hawley take pictures of Landen. (and oh my gosh they are so adorable I can't stop looking at them!) so I mainly just needed some of Joselyn by herself and the two of them together. More on the pictures later though...

We were having a great time. After lots of pictures, I let the kids run around and just enjoy being kids. There were some other kids there and we even saw a girl from Joselyn's dance class. We were loving the cool fall weather and blue skies. There was a lady there walking her two small white dogs (Maltese maybe?) while her grand-daughter played with Joselyn.

At the moment this all happened my eyes weren't exactly on Joselyn, but Joselyn is an animal lover and will go up to any dog to say hi. She is ALWAYS gentle, but we have to remind her to ask the owner if she can pet dogs first, and this time I wasn't around to warn her. I'm pretty sure she saw those two cute dogs and ran up to them to say hi. They turned on her and attacked her. I heard some growling and looked up to see both of the dogs on top of Joselyn. She fought them off right away and came running toward me crying. My heart about stopped when I realized what had happened, and my mind went to mush. It took me a while to calm her down and ask her what had happened. In the meantime, the owner of the dog stood far off and just watched. Some other mothers rushed to my side to see what was going on. Finally the dog owner asked if Joselyn was ok... At that point, Joselyn was still hysterical and I was trying to make sure she didn't have any terrible damage. I responded to the lady that I was looking and not 1 minute after that looked up to see the she was gone. One of the mothers helping me went to look for her but she was no where in sight! She had just ran off and left!

I really didn't think much of it. It turns out the dog/dogs had just barely broke the skin on her neck and I wasn't even going to think twice about it. But then my gut told me to call my old Dr.'s office (who stopped carrying our insurance). They pretty much told me to take her to the ER. Apparently it's very involved- calling the Health Department, filling out reports etc. I had no idea. I ended up taking her to an Urgent Treatment Center where they took care of most everything. But since the owner ran off without leaving any information, Joselyn may be in for some Rabies shots :( Let's hope not!

 






My worst fear in all of this is that she will now be afraid of dogs... but knowing her, that probably won't be the case. She just kept on telling the nurses to make sure and put the dog in time out! And then we talked about how not all dogs are mean- but that is why we need to be careful when we want to pet them. I think she will probably just be more cautious next time she goes up to a dog she doesn't know! And I am so grateful that it was as mild as it was- it could have been much much worse!

Decorating Pumpkins

While the kids were napping, Melanie and I started on decorating some of the pumpkins we had bought today at Boyds. Joselyn woke up soon after and joined us :)

We painted some metallic bronze and some black. I wanted to use chalkboard paint but I was too lazy to go to yet another store to get it. Michaels doesn't have chalkboard paint just so you know.

We then added to the black for a black cat (ears to come), a ghost and B-O-O.






Joselyn got us started on the perfect calico cat too :)





The Metallic pumpkins are SO COOL :) I love how they look on my porch!!

Boyd Orchards

Today I picked up Autumn and Melanie and took them with us to Boyd Orchards to meet my friend Sarah and her two boys, Max and Sam. This time I took my camera :) It was very crazy- but is was also crazy fun! And it was such a perfect day for the pumpkin patch. When we went a few days ago, it was almost too cold- but it was sunny and mid 70s today. Perfect fall day :)

We didn't get to go on the hay ride ( or as the kids call it a train ride) on Tuesday so I made sure we did today. Max hopped on with us and sat down by Joselyn. I told them to hold on tight and Max grabbed Joselyn's arm. And then Joselyn laid her head on his shoulder. Aww......

















I was very camera happy today...



The kids of course loved the animals too- Joselyn especially has a thing for them. She loved one of the Llamas and was letting it eat right out of her hand. And in true Joselyn fashion was talking to it and carrying on a conversation. So funny.





Landen loved the little goat and the rooster. He kept on giggling when he'd hear the rooster!





We then picked out some pumpkins and made the kids all line up for a picture. Melanie had the idea of putting pumpkins on their heads and I thought it was adorable! We couldn't get them all to do it... (hmm... whose kids wouldn't participate??) but it was still cute!







Oh- funny story. So there were some school buses parked close to this pumpkin patch and Joselyn ran off toward them- after getting someone to watch Landen I went by the buses and couldn't find her. I tried not to panic, but decided to look IN the buses- and there she was on the front seat of one of them talking to the driver. My little socialite! And I guess all those times we've sang wheels on the bus has made it so that she has no fear of buses either.

Dum-dums were the reward for the pumpkin patch pictures, ha ha.

We also attempted other pictures near the Hay. This wasn't so successful but I did get some funny out-takes. Joselyn's pout just kills me.










And just in case you noticed all the hay in Joselyn's hair, she did that to herself.





I am always SO MUCH better at taking pictures of other people's kids. Max and Sam are hard to take bad pictures of though.

My favorite...

And what better way to end our fun time than with Boyd Orchards' yummy apple cider donuts?