The Leaves are Falling

I just love fall. The trees are so pretty. Usually, the weather is so nice. It's been really rainy this year. Noah has been enjoying the leaves. He "helped" his daddy rake leaves Saturday. (Noah raked with a broom.)

Remember that rain I mentioned??? Well, it's created a little mud...which Noah fell into. He had it in his nose. It was a little gross.

Greg got Noah some little golf clubs. He's really enjoyed playing with them.

But enough with the pictures already...

Noah and John have their first matching shirts. Now we just have to wait for John's appearance.

"Pun'kin Patch"

...as Noah says.

As planned we went to the pumpkin patch last Saturday. It was really cold and muddy. But it wasn't crowded. And we did have a good time. Noah didn't seem to notice it was cold.

Just wanted to swing

He walked through the tunnel all by himself.

Sittin' in the pumpkins

Not too sure about Red Robbin

This one looks good.

Our trees in our yard a so pretty. Greg will soon have LOTS of leaves to rake. Who am I kidding? He already does.

He Shall be Called...

We've finally picked a name. After going back and forth 800 times (and this is not too much of an exaggeration...I don't do that kind of thing).

John David Schuster

Noah is calling him Baby John John, which is super cute.

We picked John because it's Greg's middle name and it has a really great meaning (as does David).

John: God is gracious

David: The beloved one

In My Free Time

...I've been making these.

Future Engineer

Noah is obsessed with building towers. Correction...with us building the tower and then he knocks it over. Last night Greg and Noah were building towers while I was cleaning up after dinner. I heard Greg tell Noah to come tell me he needed something, but I couldn't quite hear what exactly they needed. Noah came running in and was saying something. I finally went and asked Greg because I had no idea what Noah was saying. He was say Duplos. I just didn't know what that was... (Excuse my ignorance.) I then remembered we had some blocks in the basement we'd put away because Noah was too little for them when we got them. So, I dug them out. That is all he wanted to play with today. He even built his own tower. (He's very proud and not dressed yet.)

He also got another hair cut today. He really does well when he goes. He just wiggles. He is generally a constant ball of motion, how can you expect him to sit still for a hair cut? He goes to the Hairy Elephant where kids are the clientele. They're used to wiggle worms. (Not the best picture ever, but we had a very busy day...this was the best I could do!)

Over the weekend, we were in Columbia for the Mizzou vs. Nebraska football game and for Aiden's 2nd birthday party. We had lots of fun with MiMi and Poppy. They let him do things mommy wouldn't let him do, like rummage through their closets and drawers. My mom said he was playing in her purses and found a tissue (clean, but wrinkled). He said icky and then was looking around for the trash can.

We also went to pick out a pumpkin. (We're going to the big pumpkin patch Saturday, weather permitting. So stay tuned for more pictures.)

It's a...

Two years ago when we went for our ultrasound with Noah to find out what he was, he was being very "modest," or stubborn... He had his legs crossed and wouldn't uncross them. After much coaxing from the Sonographer, he finally cooperated and we saw that Noah was indeed a boy. I was really afraid we were going to have the same problem today when we went to see what baby #2 was.

Profile of head and shoulders

Luckily, #2 was much more cooperative. In fact, I thought I knew before the Sonographer said anything. So...It's a boy!

Breaking and Entering

It's official... I would make a terrible burglar. I walked into the garage this morning to retrieve a coupon from the recycling bin. Noah locked the door behind me. I was in the garage; he was in the house. Luckily I had my phone in my hand. First, I panicked. I had just tried Greg and didn't reach him, so I called my dad. He suggested I take a crowbar or a screwdriver to pry the door open. So, I found my trusty crowbar and started to work. Noah was on the other side of the door, laughing then crying. Once I started trying to get the door open he said "Mommy noisy." I finally got Greg. I thought I was going to have to break a window, but since I'd already torn up the door, we didn't want to break a window too. I kept looking in the window at Noah. He was doing naughty things. You know, like opening the drawers with child locks. (He's figured those out...much to my dismay!) Anyway, I almost had it, but just couldn't quite get it. Luckily our neighbor works out of his house. He came over and just gave it a little push (I did most of the work) and the door opened. It scared Noah. So, anyway, I'm not quite strong enough to break and enter... But here is my handy work.

On a happy note, Noah poopied on the potty last week. He had his diaper on, but still that's a big first step. I was trying to get him dressed and he kept wanting to sit on his potty. I thought I'll just take his picture since I haven't yet.

When I went to put the camera away, I thought it sounded like he was pooping, and sure enough...

Our sweet friends from church, the Gilberts, gave Noah their old swing set. It's very nice and Noah loves it. Noah "helped" put it together.

This afternoon, Noah's buddies, the Hunters, came over to play on the new swing set. Noah wouldn't come stand by everyone else for a picture. Then right as a snapped the shot...

I did get a picture of all of them, but no one was looking at the camera. What can you do?

Here are some other fun pics.

19 Months

Daddy styled his hair

Computer work with daddy

Summer Fun

Noah has been a very busy little guy. He's been to the Sprayground with his buddies the Hunters. We didn't plan ahead very well. Good thing kids can get away with playing in their clothes and diapers.

Noah didn't actually get in the water. I thought he might if he saw the girls do it. He just put his stick in the water. What is it with boys and sticks?

We've had an abnormally cool summer. No complaints here!!! The below picture was taken August 30 in Missouri... Isn't it usually like 90 and unbelievably humid? Scientists would have a hard time proving global warming on this day...

But doesn't he look so cute!?!??!??!!

Noah has also been to the zoo with MiMi. We went to see the Stingrays. MiMi even fed one. Ick!!! I touched it, which I'm not really sure why. It was slimy. Noah eventually stuck his hand in the water, but he didn't want to touch it.

This was the first time Noah has really enjoyed the zoo. At first, every time we'd leave one animal, he cry and want to go back. He finally figured out we weren't leaving, we were just moving on to something else.

On Labor Day, our friends Josh and Julie came over. They brought snow cones. Noah wasn't too sure about his at first. It was melted by the time he decided he liked it.

He kept sticking his hands in it...red fingers.

He also got some new shoes for the fall. We told him we were going to get some big boy shoes. As soon as we got in the car with them, he wanted them on. He refuses to wear his other shoes now. He only wants to wear his big boy shoes. (And yes, that is what he calls them.)

Last Thursday night, I went to a birthday party. Greg was in charge of putting Noah to bed. This is not exactly what I had in mind...but it's pretty cute.

Our sweet neighbors gave Noah a tricycle. He calls it his bicycle. Close enough, right? I was at a meeting at church last night and Greg said the neighbor boy was over with his bike. Noah was sitting on the seat and was enjoying it. Our neighbor was also outside and asked if Noah would like a tricycle. She said she's get it out of the basement in the next couple of days and bring it over. Noah ran over to the wooden (splintery) fence and smashed his face between the planks and yelled bicycle. We need to teach that boy some manners. In the meantime her daughters had gotten it out for him. He loves it.

Ear Muffs

My mom and her sister have had this on-going joke with some very, very old ear muffs for years. My mom had these ear muffs in high school and my aunt borrowed them. When she returned them much later, she hid them somewhere where it would take my mom a while to find them. So, they've been hiding them and doing clever things with them ever since. Recently, my mom found them in her freezer in a bag which used to contain frozen broccoli. They were returned to my aunt in a package with this picture... Mind you it took 874 attempts to get this picture (see below for "play by play.") It was in fact a two man job.

This was how we were informing my aunt that Noah is going to be a big brother... Except, she didn't notice the shirt. We thought we were going to have to tell her. She finally noticed (after some hinting.)

The new baby is scheduled to make an appearance on or around March 4 (the day after Greg's birthday). We are very excited. When Greg asks Noah where the baby is he looks at me and then pats my leg. It's pretty cute.

(You can just barely see the ear muffs in the top left corner of the picture.)

MiMi also check Noah's teeth while we were visiting. Sort of anyway. As soon as I snapped this shot, he was done. But it's still cute.

Then we promptly went to MiMi's and Noah ate his first corn on the cob. Don't you just hate eating something like that just after you've been to the dentist and your teeth feel so clean?

A few days ago we were riding in the car and I told Noah we needed to clip his nails when we got home. His response: "Morrow, mommy." The boy doesn't miss anything...