Absence makes the heart grow... :)

Please tell me how on earth we could live without this man?  He had the chance to spend a few days in Omaha for work and we thought might be a nice break from his normal, awful desk so he volunteered to go.  Ya'll, he hadn't been gone more than a few hours when all of us regretted it!!  The kids and I just don't know how to function without him here with us!  Our only saving grace was that he got a Kindle that took pictures that he could take with him so we could see him while he was gone.  It also made us up our game and finally get smart phones! ;)  The kids were thrilled that Josh got to see lots of snow, so he sent them pictures taken from his hotel room window.  They were way impressed.

They were also tickled with daddy's sense of humor with funny pics!

And also liked getting to see the building Daddy works in when he goes to Omaha...

When it was finally time for him to come home the kids were beyond excited.  Noah even dressed himself up all by himself to go to the airport.  I am in love with his fashion sense.  Love those skinny little chicken legs!! 

I convinced the kids to make a banner that says welcome home.  I guess I didn't take a pic of it.  But after that I went to get in the shower and they asked me if they could make some signs and hang them in the living room.  I really wasn't sure what they meant but I said sure.  When I came back the living room was plastered in colored paper that they had written little notes all on.  They were adorably cute... stuff like "we all missed you".  Noah wrote 2 of the funniest signs ever.  One said "It's a great day to come home!"  and the other one said, "God missed you!"  LOL  At the last minute they told Josh his flight was cancelled.  This was the picture we got from him:

And this is the picture he got from us:

But miraculously they fixed the plane and he made it home to us that night, hopefully never to leave again!

Daddy's helper!

 Do you remember way back when, three years ago when I said Noah loves to mow the yard with his daddy?  Well he still does!  I went outside a couple of weeks ago and he was just too cute following behind with that same exact lawn mower.  He gets the same accessories as Josh on - glasses, hat, etc.  It's so cute cause he normally never wears those things.

 I stood there and reminisced about how much he has grown and how I miss the sweet babe that he was.  So I figured it might be time to kick up his helping daddy routine a notch.  I suggested to Josh that he let Noah push the mower for a few feet with his help.  Well, a few feet turned into the whole yard.  He LOVED it!  I was so completely surprised that he could really do it!  He was a bit wild with getting into the neighbors yards, but he still did a  great job. 

Now we have had to tell him he can't do it every time, which of course breaks his heart.  We told him to wait a few more years till he can really do it all by himself, which I'm sure he won't even want to do at that point! 

Tucking Daddy in!

Since Josh comes home in the morning and goes to sleep around 8, Noah J gets to tuck him in every day. Its so sweet cause Noah goes and shuts the bathroom door, tries to turn the fan on, and then climbs into bed and under the covers with him. Then if Josh is lucky he gives him kisses and lays their playing for a bit. Then I have to drag him out of the room and Noah pretends to say "night night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite" but it mostly just comes out as jibber jabber. But its the sweetest thing you've ever seen.

Note: Yes, I know I have no pillowcases on, but the night before we took this pic I pulled the sheets and the quilt off to wash them and then just didn't have it in me to fully make the bed up before I went to sleep. I have since then put some on!! :-)

Big Boy Bed Update: The first 2 nights went fantastically - it took him a while to fall asleep, but then all was well. Then yesterday things started to go downhill. He didn't want to take a nap - it took us over an hour to get him to go to sleep. And then last night we were up with him for about 3 hours laying in the bed. He screams and cries at the gate until we come in and then he wants us to lay down next to him, which I'm OK with till he gets used to it, but the boy never got tired. I laid there for over an hour at one point in the dark I swear the kid never closed his eyes. And he should have been exhausted! And then today he only took a 1 hour nap, when he routinely naps for 2 hours. SO wish me luck cause I'm here with the boy all by myself tonight!

My boys

There is not much more that I love than when my two boys are doing the same thing at the same time! Noah J wants so much to be just like Daddy, and today he got to have fun with his new shovel. We bought him this shovel, rake, and hoe set at Wal-Mart (for the low cost of 1.96!) yesterday, and today he got to brake them in! We have been working at pulling out our Bouganvilla plants along the shed for over a year now, and today was the day they met their doom. Noah only slowed us down a little - but he was so cute helping out you just couldn't get mad!

Bye Daddy!

So Noah J and I had to take Daddy to the airport this morning for a flight to Omaha. I was sad, but Noah J thought it was lots of fun! He was even super sweet this morning sitting with Daddy drinking his milk. Then he helped him pull his luggage out the car - we were cracking up cause it was about a thousand pounds, but he really thought he could do it all by himself. You know how the airport is these days, where you can't see anything or do anything, but Noah discovered the escalator and decided that was great fun.

Josh will only be in Omaha for 3 days, so its not too bad this time (considering last time it was 3 months!). He said it was freezing and that there is snow everywhere and they are supposed to get 3-5 inches tonight. I think its exciting but Josh is freaked to drive in it! Wednesday's low is -7!! I can say I'm not jealous of that!

Hide and Seek!

Noah has become completely obsessed with playing hide and seek. He is constantly hiding behind the bookshelf and the glider in his bedroom. When I ask him if he wants a new diaper he says "yes!" and then runs into his room and hides. Then I have to look for him and pretend to leave the room, only to jump out and scare him when he comes looking for me.

He has also decided that hiding under his chair is very sneaky. He and Josh and to play this game every night. Silly boy!

Oooooooooh! A fire!

Noah J is just so much in love with the fireplace that I had to take some pics of Daddy and him building a fire. Well, not so much building one cause we ran out of real wood and got those logs, but it's still a fire!

My absolute favorite picture is the very first one, cause you can see that its not even lit yet and he's already blowing on it! He just really believes that ALL flames are supposed to be blown out. And then the picture with him laying on the floor was showing how he then laid down on his side next to Daddy trying to be just like him in front of the fire. I was too slow with the camera, though, and I captured him rolling away.

He doesn't understand its cold!

This boy seriously doesn't even notice the difference between 40 degrees and 100 degrees. He wanted me to take him out all day Thursday, but I told him he had to wait for Daddy to get home. So poor Josh got stuck with him in the yard. The best part was that he brought Josh the broom and then pushed him over to the sidewalk so he would sweep up the acorns. Then he ran and got his broom to help. Josh thought it was over when they were in a pile, but he was sadly mistaken. Noah then took him to the garage to get the dustpan and made him pick them up. Instead of helping I chose to take a picture.

We had to get Noah a coat last night - this was the warmest thing he had. We laughed cause when we put the hood on it was tight - I never thought that clothing with a built in hat wouldn't fit. His other hat that fits is size 4T-5T. We couldn't place what it was that he looked like in that outfit, but then it suddenly came to me. A jawa!!!! Anybody else see the resemblance?

Our tired turtle on a tuttle tuttle tree!

So I'm pretty certain this is one of those photos I'm not supposed to post for the world to see, seeing as how my husband just woke up and needed to get dressed/shower/shave/put in contacts etc., but its just so cute I had to share it!

When you put Noah J on your back and crawl around he looks just like the characters from Dr. Seuss's ABC book! If you own it you must look at the letter T and there you will see my little boy!

My manly men!

Josh came home with a flat last night, so this morning he had to go out and put the spare on so we could take it to get fixed. Of course, Noah J just HAD to help! They were so cute I had to snap a picture!