Big Hug for Daddy

Noah was giving Rob the best hugs after he got out of the tub and ready for bed the other night! I said, "squeeze, squeeze, squeeze", and he did, giggling the whole time!

Truck 28

Rob's last stop on probation is Station 28. Almost done!
Please pray that he gets stationed a bit closer to home (28's is at Quincy & Sheridan)... we'll find out in April! The station's a bit slower than others he's been at, so they like to play "20 questions" with Rob, stuff like "What's your wife's favorite drink at Starbucks, what kind of car do you drive, etc., etc., etc." Rob loves the inquisition!

...outside the box

Noah is getting creative and likes to play pretend. This piece of styrofoam from my new Kitchen Aid mixer (thanks Mom & Dad!), became a truck (with noises and all), a home for his ducks, and a chair!

Now it's a chair!

peas please!

When the peas on the plate just were not enough, he helped himself by climbing onto the table, and grabbing the serving spoon and bowl. This boy loves his fruits and veggies!

oral hygiene...

Noah is completed fixated with brushing his teeth. We actually have daily struggles to get him to put down his tooth brush! Below is Noah cuddling with Rob while brushing his teeth with MY new "spinbrush". He thinks it's pretty cool. Guess I need another new toothbrush!

Pointing at his favorite guy!

cute!

ouch!

Time for Daddy to brush too!

Rob looks thrilled!

Sandbox...

The weather here has been crazy! I think the day we spent all afternoon in the sandbox, it reached a high of 72! (Knock on wood) We've had the most mild winter!

Mr. Clean, Mr. Clean...

I'm noticing a theme here... I don't think my son likes pants! (I guess I didn't need to look through photos to know that Noah would take "naked" any day!)

Trying to help in the thankless task of keeping these terrible floors clean. Thanks Noah!

Rob thinks its time for a haircut, but I'm resisting.

Noah's Room

I almost forgot, one other very important room in the house is pretty much "done"... Noah's room (his room was actually done before the kitchen).

Here's the door... he liked the silly letters at the Children's Museum when we went last month. Notice his cool skateboard too!

I think his room looks cooler in person. Notice the airplane and clouds on the angled ceiling (the ceiling aren't white, they're actually a much lighter shade of blue).

Those are the animals that Rob and I painted for Noah before he was born.
Also, I realize now that I didn't take a single picture of one entire side of the room (all his windows and toy bins, etc.). Ooops!

Noah in his room, working on his tool bench.

We do a lot of home improvement work around here without our pants! Ha!

Random Noah

All right... it's been too long! Back in the rut of working too much and feeling stretched thin, and the blog seems to fall by the wayside. I've heard my critics (how's Steven's blog, Lauren and Chris), and I will try to update more frequently!

Noah wanted to push his stroller to go get the mail on one of our 70 degree February days!

Yes, we're still on the ducks!

Noah had accidentally left the ducks in my car the other day. I was at work, and my mom was home with him, and he searched the whole house saying, "Duck, duck, duck???" He was relieved to see me walk in the house with them when I got home.

what a week...

We've had a rough go of it this week! Last Monday Noah was diagnosed with Croup, or "the Croup" (anything with "the" before it sounds so foreboding!). He's just starting to get over that, and today he came down with pink eye! I didn't understand how a less-than-two-year-old that doesn't go to daycare could possibly get pink eye, but according to the nurse, "it's everywhere!". She made it sound like it's a miracle that we all haven't been afflicted with this before! The best part is trying to explain and then put drops in the less-than-two-year-old's eye! No fun!

global warming...

Don't get me wrong, I'm sympathetic to the plight of the arctic animals that are losing their habitats daily, but we sure are enjoying this record-breaking heat wave we're having! We've spent lots of time outside every day enjoying the beautiful 60 and 70 degree weather! Is it really January? (UPDATE: Mike Nelson just brought me back to reality with a forecast of snow flurries for tomorrow! Really?)

just ducky...

Below is a video of Noah and his ducks! Notice the distressed look on his face when one of his ducks has been lost from the flock (do ducks come in a flock? gaggle? pack? If you know, please comment!).

rubber ducky, you're the one!

I always think it's so funny how kids seem to gravitate towards certain things without any influence from anyone else. For Noah this week, it's been his three rubber duckies that came on a bigger rubber ducky in his Christmas stocking. It all started at bath time a few days ago. Instead of leaving the ducks in/near the tub or bathroom at the conclusion of said bath, he wanted to take them with. So, he did, and he's barely let them out of his sight since. In fact, missing or fallen rubber duckies have led to more than one wild outburst this week. Ask Rob about King Soopers or me about our l o n g drive to Boulder. Here's a sampling of Noah loving his ducks!

Pouring the ducks from his art supply bin into my shoe (I know, weird).

Well, I guess they do fit pretty well in there.

Getting all his ducks in a row!

The next day, sitting in his tonka dump truck, the ducks have good seats too!

"in you go!"

"you lookin' at me (and my ducks)?"

As I type this, Noah is upstairs sleeping with his rubber ducks... seriously! He's never wanted anything other than his blankie before! The cutest part was that he's learning to pretend! Two days ago he was having raisins, and he pretended to feed them to his ducks. He also gives them cute kisses on their little beaks! I guess this is all fine until he's begging to take the ducks to school!

yes we can

Noah's been an Obama supporter since day one, so we decided to commemorate the momentous occasion of his inauguration on Tuesday with some obamicon's. If you want to make your own, go to www.obamicon.me.

kitchen "before" and "after"

I finally feel like we have one room in the new house "finished" (well, at least really close). I wanted to share some "before" and "after" photos of the kitchen.

BEFORE

Before, the walls were a olivey-brown color, counter tops were a gray limestone that was badly stained, and there was not backsplash or trim between the countertop and the wall.

Yuck... the stained countertops

Here you can see the olive green back hallway too

drum roll please....
AFTER

New "Australian Black" granite counters (Rob would like everyone to know that he picked the counters), fresh, lighter paint colors, and a tile backsplash.

View from the other way. My last project to complete is to find something cool to go in the brick nook above the double ovens.

Close-up of the tile... it's a blue/gray, brick-set, 1x2 glass tile from Japan made of recycled glass!

good company

As I mentioned in the previous post, my cousin Julie spent the night after I got her at the airport yesterday. She starts classes again at CSU on Tuesday and was home in Florida for Christmas Break. Noah decided to keep me company while I drove her up to Ft. Collins. We had lots of fun singing and being silly in the car!

He thought that drinking his lemonade was hilarious (this is before we even left the garage!)

He wouldn't let go of that sippy cup for anything! This is the little pathway in our backyard. For those of you not in Colorado, it got to 66 degrees today!

Thought I'd try to get a nice mommy-son picture, but Noah wasn't having it, as you can see!
"But Mom, the sun is so bright!"

"Just let me drink my juice Mom!"

I swear that right as the camera clicked he looked down! Shoot! Maybe next time!