Brotherly Love

Noah has hit a little bit of a mean streak... Well, in regards to John anyway... I don't know if he's just trying to get attention or if it's because of all the changes... Thankfully, we haven't had any major injuries. Noah pushed John down the stairs one day. It was just a half flight and there were no bumps or bruises, just a little crying. A few days later, he hit him in the face with a Duplo. John had a big raspberry on his cheek bone and a little cut. It made me very sad...

One of these days, John is going to get even...



If you look closely, you can see his injury. He was trying to get off the bed and got off in the wrong direction... Before I took the picture he was dangling. But I couldn't get it taken fast enough. It was funny!

A Golfer is Born

Last night, Noah got to play golf with daddy. It was so, so hot! But I think they had lots of fun. Noah "played" the first nine with daddy, then I picked him up at the turn to get him to bed. Noah was soaking wet when I picked him up. (Noah is wearing John's shorts... The last 2 times Greg has dressed Noah, he's come down with John's shorts on. In Greg's defense, all of John's clothes are in Noah's room. But I still think it's funny!)

The Great Outdoors

The boys love anything outside. They don't seem to notice if it's 800 degrees or not. I'm more of a fair weather fan really...don't like it too hot or too cold.

A few weeks ago, we visited Greg's brother. They have a little Gator (or something of the like). Noah became very attached. He wanted to take it home. Then when he figured out we weren't doing that, he wanted to go buy one right away.

After we got back to Grandpa and Grandma's, he thought he needed to ride the four wheeler some more.

Poor John wanted to go out too, but he was just stuck inside watching out...

Finally!! He got his turn too. He had a fit when we got him off.

We also got to visit Poppy and MiMi on our trip. The boys love swimming. So Poppy bought them a little pool. We filled it each morning (it got pretty dirty with each use). Then by afternoon, it was nice and warm.

He smeared dirt all over his stomach...They were so dirty! (Do girls get this dirty?)

MiMi got in the pool with them when she got home from work. They thought that was great! John kept climbing in and out of the pool. There may have been more grass in the pool than in the yard.

Colorado

The whole family loaded up in the car the day we moved out with our good friend Brad Gilbert and headed to Colorado. The boys really did great in the car. I was a little nervous about that... There were lots of movies watched (or actually just the same couple of movies repeatedly).

The boys had a ball. They did things they don't normally get to do, like play outside in their jammies, stay up super late, eat a bun with mustard for dinner...

The ZOE kids went every morning to do fun activities like mountain biking, hiking, rock climbing, snow sliding, and kayaking. The boys and I stayed at the camp and played with our friends the Hunters. We had a great time. The boys got super dirty every day. Noah thought the camp was Colorado... It was very cute!

There was not a lot of sleeping that went on while we were there. One night, Greg stayed with boys so I could go to the meeting. He said he had dosed off. When he woke up, John was standing in his bed and the boys were yelling back and forth and laughing.

On Wednesday evening, Greg flew home for a meeting. He flew back Thursday evening and then we hopped in the car on Friday morning to head home.

John with his two favorite things: hippo and a water bottle.

Noah playing hockey at 6am in his jammies

John following Noah around at 6am in his jammies

Taking an early morning "hike"

Noah doing a little rock climbing

Playing in the dirt - check out the nose

The day the ZOE kids went snow sliding, we went too. We drove and drove and drove. Then the bus just pulled off on the side of the road. Shelly and I looked at each other and discussed how we had envisioned a parking lot and some flat, safe areas for the kids. But, as was the theme of the week, we made the best of it! Initially, we thought maybe the kids could slide down, but once we saw the mountain, we decided it was much to steep for the them. So, they played along side of the road. They had a blast!

Heading off the play

So excited!

Sliding down on his bottom

Loving the snow

Having a snack

Playing with his snowball

Avery, Atley, and Noah

Loving each other...so sweet

Canon and Noah playing air hockey

Noah and Uncle Brad checking out the elk

Making a wide pass around the elk

Me and the boys

This sign was outside the area we had just walked through. Our friend, John Orf, was telling us where to go to see the elk. He said, "See that sign that says 'Danger?' That's where you want to go."

Noah following John on the yellow line

The whole group

The morning we left, there was a kickball tournament. The little kids played too. Noah kicked a home run.

Kicking the ball

Rounding the bases

Crossing Home

2nd Home Run

Playing in the park

Just hanging out

John with his buddy Champ (who broke out with chicken pox while we were there...poor little guy)

Big Fish, Little Fish

(Noah wouldn't hold his fish, but he caught the one Greg is holding.)

Cicadas...Ugh!

At the end of May, the cicadas started to appear... When I saw the first one, I showed Noah and we talked about it. Then I realized they were literally everywhere! We could hardly walk through the grass without stepping on them. It was a little disgusting. Eventually they got so noisy it was miserable to be outside. When I was a kid, I collected the skins. Kind of disgusting! My mom said she did too when she was a kid. Noah didn't collect them, but he liked to knock them off with a stick.

I captured nearly every stage of the icky cicadas shedding their skins. They're nearly all gone, thankfully! There are a few still hanging around.