Noe News is Good News

Might as well have been a SMURF party!

Joselyn and Landen's friends Sam and Sophia had a little birthday party over the weekend since their birthdays were so close. What began as a basic fun-filled birthday turned really really blue. I don't think my kids have EVER had so much fun. EVER. My friends Nikki and Todd (Sam and Sophia's parents) really have the best back yard ever, not to mention that Nikki is the Craigslist queen and has all these fun fun toys she's found like TONS on ride on toys, a water table and a sand box filled with blue sand.(I don't know which of these are craigslist found or store bought but let's just say she has a lot of fun stuff)

It didn't take long for the kids to discover the blue sand. It started out pretty innocent with Landen shoveling dirt into the dump truck and Joselyn helping.





But then the sand throwing began... and the kids started covering themselves with sand. If you know Adam, you know how he was cringing at this point. At to be honest, even I was. But there was lots of giggles and laughter... and soon Adam and I felt our anxiety melt away as we let our kids be kids and have fun. It was so FUN to see the kids having so much fun.























In the end poor Joselyn and Landen were covered in the stuff- especially Joselyn. Her hair was filled with the stuff. It was not like white sands where the sand didn't stick to anything. It stuck to anything and was in every crevice of her body. Before they were allowed back in the Jeep it all had to be hosed off. The kids will say this was not their favorite part of the party, and I believe the other guests must have thought we were torturing our children from the screaming they heard. But it was worth ALLLLLLL the fun!




Besides the fun of the blue sand we also had fun with chalk. Like I mentioned before there was a lot of ride-on toys so most of the kids there had one for themselves. I thought it would be fun to make a little track for them to follow and turns out it was a hit! I started with a small strip of railing and Adam started a big circle. After a while we worked together to finish our loop in loop tracks complete with a fueling station manned by Adam. The kids followed those tracks and got their gas and had a lot of fun. I must say it was so fun to see the child in Adam come out again... I love seeing him get into child's play and it's one of the things that made me fall in love with him. Can't wait to tell you guys about our "blankie bomb" fun...









Anyway back to the party. Check out this Candy Land cake! So clever, huh? Nikki's sister made it and it took her 6 hours! What a nice aunt... so so so fun!

Thanks Nikki, Todd, Sam and Sophia for one awesome birthday party :)

The oddest requests...

Joselyn can be quite OCD about things. Definitely gets that from Adam. She is especially particular about things at night. Once prayers are said and lights are out, she wants all her Gyboree blankets on her and she requests songs and stories. Every night she pretty much tells me exactly what story to tell. Tonight it was:

"Mommy, I want a story about Joselyn and all her friends... the ferocious beast (of course!), Rupunzel, the Grinch and all her other friends!"

So I tell her the story and give her a kiss good-night. Then she asks if I'll go to my office. She can see me sitting at the computer from her bed and I think it brings her comfort. Maybe I shouldn't submit to that request, but I figure one day she'll either grow out of it or be more negotiable.

After I go to the office she calls me back in to take off her Gymboree blankets because she is too hot. It doesn't matter if I tell her before hand that putting all those blankets on her will make her hot... she just loves the routine of it I guess.

I go back to the office.

Joselyn then surveys her room for anything she doesn't want in there. It's best to have her room spic n' span before putting her to bed to avoid requests such as these. We did clean her room tonight, but I apparently left her toy potty (for a doll) in her room and she wanted it out. I joked with her... "But what if you need to go potty at night?" and she smiled. I love that she can understand humor.

I go back to the office.

"Mom, can you get my little lamb out?"

I had the same request last night. She has this little lamb that she loves but I guess she doesn't want to sleep with it. Last night I put the little lamb on my shoulder and kept it there while it was in the office. A few minutes later I took it off and she saw me.

"Put it back on your shoulder mom!" so I did. Until she was definitely asleep.

Tonight she requested I put the lamb on my shoulder again. So guess what? As I sit here typing this entry I have a little lamb sitting on my shoulder.

Dr. BoCheesy

Last June, our pediatrician (the one who was there when both of the kids were born and who we have seen ever since) stopped carrying our insurance. We were really sad because we LOVED Dr.Bottigi. So this year when open enrollment came, we switched our insurance to go back to him. Yes, we love him that much. And we love our nurse Angie too! Anyway, we didn't necessarily want to go and see him this early on in the year, but after 1 night of throwing up, the next day of runs and high fevers this morning, we knew it was time to go visit him.

The kids were both a little reluctant at first today but Dr. Bottigi can win your heart right away. To start off, I think he looks like a Sesame Street character- in a good way, of course. Thick hair, bushy eyebrows and glasses with a very distinct voice. He's nice to the kids- blows up balloons for them with his examination gloves, asks to try on their shoes, lets them blow out his otoscope light, and all sorts of other silly things. He then asks them about their day and actually listens and talks to them. When he left the room for a minute Joselyn called him "Dr. BoCheesy" and I just have a feeling that the name will stick in our family. CUTE.

Since both of the kids had the same symptoms, he split up the throat and nose swab tests. Joselyn got the throat and Landen got the tougher nose one. Neither of them cried- AMAZING. We were so proud of them. I've had both and they are NOT fun! As a reward for their bravery, Joselyn got 2 princess tattoos and Landen got 2 monster truck tattoos. Both were a hit.

Joselyn's test came back positive for STREP. Good thing she hasn't complained about her throat just yet- I think it's in it's early stages. This probably meant that Landen was getting it too, so they both left with prescriptions for antibiotics- and suckers, bracelets and balls.

You know you have a good doctor when you leave the office and your children say "That was FUN!"

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)

The Kitchen Sink

There are many things that I have had to "get used to" as a mother. Hard things... and one thing that always has thrown me a curve ball is what to do while I cook and wash dishes. Up until recently, the kids were kind of too young to be involved so it was always a challenge just letting them cry or whine while I did those things. I know there are many of you mothers out there who have this down, but I struggle. Especially since I'm not a great cook to begin with and it takes all my concentration just to get it done... if I even do. In an effort to make things a little easier, I moved Joselyn's play kitchen set downstairs where her and Landen could "cook" while I cooked. It has worked wonders. So my next step was to try and figure out how to keep them out of the dishwasher and off my pants while I washed the dishes (that seem to stack up in no time and that I avoid).

I finally figured it out. I filled one side of the sink with a little bit of water and dishsoap and pulled two chairs up to the sink. Then I let the kids play in the bubbles and water next to me while I use the other side of the sink to rinse dishes and put them in the dishwasher. This works wonders... keeps them occupied a long time... even after I've finished with the dishes!

Anyway, the other day after I had finished washing the dishes, I sat down at the kitchen table with Adam to have a conversation while the kids continued to play in the bubbles. Landen and Joselyn were giggling having fun and it was a nice sound :) I looked back to check on them and found them in the sink. Taking a "bath". In their clothes. Landen still in his diaper (which I had thankfully JUST changed!) Adam and I laughed so hard and then ran to get our cameras.

I honestly don't know how they both fit in there and still managed to stay giggly and happy.

Just in Case You Haven't seen this...

I guess this has been around for a while and was big out west, but I had never seen it... so just in case you haven't seen it either and are wanting a good laugh, here you go!

Bene "drill" and other funnies July-August

Some funny things being said and done in the Noe household lately:

On Labor day our family met up with my parents at a park for a barbecue. While there, Joselyn got eaten alive by mosquitoes. (as did I) Poor little thing had about 10 bites on one of her arms and 1 on each of her hands. I was so mad at myself for not putting bug spray on her. Anyway, she's been itching up a storm today and tonight as I was putting her to bed she told me she wanted some medicine. Here's our dialogue:

Me (talking to Adam): Can you please get me the Benedryl for Joselyn?

Joselyn (in a very concerned voice): No mom, a drill will hurt me! It's a tool! (Bene-drill)

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Joselyn: I LOVE you so really much!
                 I am SO love you!
                  Buh-llller-fly (trying really hard to get the diction and pronunciation right on "Butterfly"

-Singing some primary songs:

-(Love is spoken here) ... mine is a home where every hour is blessed by the strength of Preschool power
She even corrected me when I sang "Priesthood" and said "No, mom, say Pre-school."

-(Teach me To walk in the Light- 2nd verse)  ... home to his presents to live in His light... she asked me specifically to sing the song about Presents and I couldn't figure out which song she was asking for so I had her sing it for me. Ah-hah! moment. 

-After finding out one of my best friends Kasey is having a baby girl, I told Joselyn and she screeched, clapped her hands and in the most excited voice I've probably ever heard from her said "OH!!!! I am sooooo EXCITED!!"  (8/30/10)

- I don't know if I've ever documented this before, but when Joselyn smiles really big or laughs really hard she gets a small little dimple on her right cheek.

-A few days after we got rid of the pacifiers (which we tied to balloons and sent up into the sky) Joselyn had an ah-hah moment after Watching Little Einsteins. She said something like "Mom, I know! We can get the little Einsteins to take their rocket into the sky and get the balloons and our pacis!!!"  (8/16/10)

-After Joselyn freaked out when a fly landed on her, I told her not to worry. Flies don't have teeth and they can't bite! Well, later, she was playing with some ants and I was afraid they WOULD bite her, so I told her to stop playing with them. She looked at me and said "Mom, they can't bite me. Ants don't have teeth!" (7/25/10)

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-Landen calls Joselyn "uh-uh" and it's the cutest thing. MUST get this on video before he grows out of it! He'll say "I love you uh-uh"

-When Landen concentrates really hard- like when he is building a tower out of blocks- he'll raise his right eyebrow really fast. 

-Landen has never been much of an ice cream guy. When I got them a 49 cent ice cream cone from McD's the other day, he started eating it from the bottom of the cone. He definitely likes the cone much better than the ice cream. (8/16/10)

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Family Rock Out

I found all the toy guitars in the garage today so we had a Noe Family Rock Fest.

Pay attention to Landen in this first video...

Family Rock Out from Marissa Noe on Vimeo.

It's not the hitting  his head and getting hurt part that makes me laugh... it's that he totally watches Adam's every move and then copies it to a T. We couldn't (CAN'T) stop watching that video after the fact. And we laughed and laughed.

This one is fun too:

Rocking Out1 from Marissa Noe on Vimeo.

I just LOVE how Joselyn got into it in that last video... I especially loves the way she says "Rock OUT dad!" and you'll have to excuse the no clothes thing. It was right after dinner and right before PJ time. I also have to say that my husband is a total hottie of a rock star. I'm sure this is a side of Adam that NONE of you have seen! Or ever thought you would see! Yep- he's pretty fun like that.

More niece and nephews fun

Yesterday was Olivia's official photo shoot. The night before, Amaree and I made her some sweet little headbands with a tiny flower and they were just so sweet on Olivia. Of course the boys were VERY curious about everything going on during the photo shoot... especially about the "nest" we placed Olivia in. But it was lots of fun. So here are a few photos of the boys munching on cookies and of Olivia during the shoot. I'm doing something I've never done before by posting the pictures before their artistic edit- I think they turned out good enough, but I mainly want to post them for Grandma and Grandpa and other aunts and uncles who are dying to see more pictures!

 

Olivia is definitely one of the tiniest newborns I've met lately. (and I've met a lot!) She is super super sweet and cuddly and curly. I really had fun taking her pictures!

 

 

Today we took the family photos. We got lots of snow here in the past few days, so unfortunately doing it outside was out of the question. So we headed downtown to see if there was anything interesting and we ended up inside Times Square. Nothing too interesting, but there were big windows with great lighting so we settled there. I got LOTS of cute stuff of Kade and Charlie. They are just so fun. So I just wanted to share a few- also unedited!

As we neared the end of our photo shoot- I must say the boys needed some bribing. The only bribing tools I had were cough drops- and so, in an attempt to get their attention I had them say cough drops. They looked at the camera all right. But the big round mouth only ended up making some hilarious photos. I soon had to tell them to stop saying cough drops, but they couldn't stop. Especially Charlie.









Enough of the cough drops Charlie!



Just a note- For those of you who follow my photography blog (which I hope is most of you because it's gonna start getting really fun!) you might be seeing double of some of these in the next few days- will be posting a super sneak peak of the Matthews Family Photos!

Have we watched "UP" too many times?

Yesterday, Adam and I took our vehicles to the Jeep dealership to get the oil changed and to take care a the key fob recall etc. While we were there, the salesmen gave both the kids some really big balloons. I mean, we were almost afraid Joselyn was going to be carried away!

Well, when they went down for their naps, Adam decided to have a little fun with the balloons so that when Joselyn woke up she would have a little surprise!

So... Adam tied an Oreo to one balloon and two of her pacifiers to the other one.

There were giggles all over the place when she woke up! And lots of silliness followed.