January Happenings

You know it has been a long time since you have posted when Grandpa starts complaining about no new posts.  January 2011 has been a very busy month for our little family.  We kicked off the New Year downtown in Town Square with my parents and the Rupp Family.  Noah loved all the "lights" in the sky from the fireworks! Then Wes and I headed to Whittier New Year's day for a wedding and stayed overnight at this romantic little Inn which was a treat for us to get away together. 

The next week was a blur as Wes' best friend Ben got married the following Saturday.  The eve of the wedding, the guys came over to our place for hot tubbing, poker to celebrate "Ben's last night as a single man."  I tried warning them at midnight, 1am, 2am, 3am and 4am that they REALLY should go to bed, but they were having too much fun.  I considered it a personal success that after a long night of partying, I got the groom and four groomsmen fed, showered and to the church by 11am for the wedding photos. Phew! Ben and Lennon looked so amazing and happy on their big day.  We had a blast celebrating with our good friends and dancing the night away. 

Wes has also been working hard on our master and guest bathroom remodel projects which has kept us pretty busy. Keeping a curious 2-year old out of the contruction zone has been an interesting challenge.  Lucky for us we live close to grandparents so Noah and I can escape the banging during his nap time! New cabinets, faucets and granite counters are installed and look so pretty (much better than the oak cabinets, brass faucets and pink laminate tops we had previously)!  We still have quite a bit left to do before we are finished, but we are making good progress.

Now to my favorite part of the blog...sharing about our little Noah!  Noah has seemingly grown from a toddler to a pre-schooler over the past month.  We can't believe how much he is talking and how big he is!  A few of our favorite "Noah" sayings from this past month are:

• "Mrrry Chstmsss!" Noah's attempt at Merry Christmas.
• "Dad? Dad? Dad? ......Wesssssss?"  If Wes doesn't come fast enough, Noah shifts to trying Wes' name!
• Repeating everything we say.  "Okey Dokey" is the funniest to have him repeat.  "Sweeeeet" also tops the list.
• "Snack?"  This applies to snack, breakfast, lunch and dinner. 
• Saying "YUM" at foods he likes. Most requested foods this month are "cake" (any kind of candy, cookie or sweet), toast, mac n cheese, "barn" (Nutri-grain Bars), cereal, oranges, peaches and JUICE! 
• Singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star with us.  Cutest thing ever.
• "Cars?"  he loves to watch his Cars movie, while playing with his cars and reading about cars all at the same time.
• "Happened?"  He says this when something falls or breaks, to which I usually reply with "it broke because you threw it honey".
• "Stairs?" Noah will look up at us and grab us by the hand to take us downstairs when he wants to go play.  Irresistable and works every time.
• "Nigh Nigh _______".  At bedtime, Noah says Night Night to everything in his room (ala Goodnight Moon style).  He also says "Nigh Nigh Mom", "Nigh Nigh Dad" and "Love You." Melts our hearts.

At bedtime, Noah has always loved to sleep with Dank (his blue blanket) and his stuffed puppy.  Now he has added his matchbox cars and Mack Cars Trailer to his nighttime pals.  One of the easiest ways to get Noah to go to bed now is to say, "Noah, Mack is tired; he needs to rest."  Noah will then bring his Mack Trailer to his bed and park all the cars next to him and say "Nigh Nigh Mack",  "Nigh Nigh cars" and then curl up with Dank over his head and go to bed with them.

I could go on and on, but we are having so much fun with our little man and love every moment (or maybe I should say most moments) we spend with him.  We are so blessed.  Below are some of our favorite pics from this month.

Proud Parents,
Wes and Cynthia




I love to climb into boxes...this one was tight, but I fit!




Playing Peek-A-Boo in the closet + Battering Ram = Lots of Fun!




Trying on Annie's shoes...these are tricky to walk in!




Painting with mommy... yep, that is mommy dipping her elbow in red paint. :)
thank goodness we were using washable finger paints!




I think it is funny to sit on daddy's head.  We agree.




Gong Gong's (Grandpa Gary) Birthday Dinner




I don't know what is more fun, eating grapes or coloring.




Reading my "Heads" pull tab book




Snuggling with mommy watching my Cars movie



Practicing my swimming.  "Swim Swim Swim"!





So sleepy, yet trying to stay awake to play more cars.



Merry Christmas!!

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones!  We had a great Christmas spent in the company of our good friends and families.  As always, it was two jam-packed days of holiday cheer, but in the spirit of comfiness, Noah played in his Christmas jammies all day on Christmas day!  Now that he is a little older, Noah really got into the spirit of the holidays this year. He liked to point out the ornaments on the tree (bird, truck, car, train...).  He loved all the homemade cookies and custard from Grandma Jan.  He reveled in all the attention from his parents, four grandparents, Auntie Nee, Al and puppy Lucy.  And by the end of Christmas day, he figured out that presents and stockings = new toys and LOTS of cars!



Noah's Christmas Eve Nap -- He loves to sleep with his "dake", puppy, truck and bear.  He looks so sweet when he sleeps; we peek in on him all the time and revel in his cuteness.  

  


Two of Noah's favorite things... his battering ram and Grandma's musical Christmas snowglobe!




 

Noah got a V-tech reader for Christmas (i.e "baby kindle")




Grandma's custard is YUM!!!




Noah got LOTS of matchbox cars for Christmas!

 


Mommy and Daddy gave Noah the Cars movie and Sid the Science Kid!

 


Noah wore his Christmas Jammies and carried his cars around all day!




Santa brought Noah even more cars at Grandma and Grandpa Oistad's house!




Noah had lots of fun playing with Auntie Renee and her puppy Lucy



Oistad Family picture time.. we were pretty pleased that we even got Lucy in the shot!




Santa also left some cars for Noah at Grandma and Grandpa Reimer's house. 
This was the Christmas of toy cars and Noah loved it!




Special moment with "Gong Gong" (Chinese for Grandpa). 
Lots of people comment how much Noah looks like my dad.




Hey look, I'm wearing Pao Pao's (Chinese for Grandma) glasses!




Grandpa's slippers are a challenge to walk in, but fun to try!



The Battering Ram Lives On

When Wes was a toddler, he got a Fisher Price van for Christmas!  Jan and Keith tell hilarious stories of how Wes used to whip around the house and would love to use it as a battering ram to bang into all the walls and furniture. 

Keith and baby Wes (1 1/2 years old) with his new battering ram - Christmas 1979

Noah is following in his father's footsteps and he too loves the battering ram.  It is funny because I am not sure where he got the idea it was a battering ram, but Grandma Jan and Grandpa Keith say that Noah rides it the same way that Wes did when he was little.  Like father, like son.  Click below link for video and select "view in high quality" under the video viewer for best results.

http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=d01d9b0a3ab7f1fb75635f&skin_id=601&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

My new ride!

Hope you all are having a very Merry Christmas with your families and loved ones!  A post of our family Christmas to come soon, but in the meantime....Wes got me an early Christmas gift this year, a shiny new (or new to me anyways) Subaru Tribeca!!  We have been shopping around for a good deal on a gently used larger vehicle for a while and this pretty baby came up on Craigslist just in time for Christmas!  Wes and I are huge Subaru fans.  He currently drives a Subaru Outback and he and I used to drive Subaru Legacy wagons.  It seemed only natural that our next family car would also be a Suby.

Noah's 1st School Picture

Noah's pre-school had school photos last month and he took his FIRST school photo!! My co-worker took one look and said, "He looks like a pistol!"  Ahhh, so true, our lil man is definitely mischievious.  But we love him to pieces so we don't care.  Most families I know tend to have one kid who is a handful and one who is more easy going and laid back.  I'm hoping that when we do have a second child, that baby gets the memo that the troublemaker slot has been filled. 

A Hawaiian Thanksgiving!! Aloha!

This year for Thanksgiving, we headed down to Honolulu to visit our good friends, Danielle, Shawn, Tyler and Ryan.  A few days before we were scheduled to leave, Noah (and then me) came down with strep throat and we had to postpone our trip several days.  The thought of cancelling the trip altogether did cross our minds, but in the end we decided that after Anchorage's record setting rain over the summer and everything we went through this fall, we deserved to go on our Hawaiian vacation.  Three change fees, a fare upgrade and 14,500 miles later, we rescheduled our flights and headed down to paradise!

We had such an amazing time with our friends.  20 most memorable moments include:

1. Noah yelling "HAWAII!!" with great enthusiasm!
2. All of us walking down to Two Scoops ice cream parlor at night.  Noah said, "YUM!" after tasting the ice cream.  The three boys having the time of their lives running around with their daddies.
3. Noah copying Ryan and Tyler on everything and learning so much from playing with them every day.
4. Wes golfing his best game ever and getting excited to update his golf handicap chart.
5. Cynthia spending the boys' naptime at the pool with Danielle having a "read-off" and lounging in the sun.
6. Cribbage games between the boys.
7. Walking a mile to the waterfall with a three year old, two year old and one year old exploring everything along the way.  This was one slooooooow walk, but cute.
8. Mile-long clouds that kept shading us at the pool/beach, but disappearing when it was time to pack up or walk home.
9. Noah calling out for his beloved blue blanket, "Dank" at naptime/bedtime. 
10. Throwing balls and trucks in the pool with Ry Ry and Noah (this game was played for hours)
11. Noah saying, "Gain?" after hearing theme songs from Sid the Science Kid and Thomas so we would play them again.
12. Ryan softly singing with the Praise Baby DVD in the mini. Tyler pretending not to like it, but singing along too.
13. Killer Tacos and Shave Ice.
14. Spending all day at Waikiki and successfully getting the boys to nap in their strollers.
15. Trying to take photos of the boys when they were all standing in the lagoon not doing much... Danielle saying, "well, they are all in it, but it isn't very cute."
16. Date nights! Date with Danielle, Date with Wes and Date for the Dodges -- so fun!
17. Cracking up at the outtakes for the Oistad's and Dodge's "family photo shoot."
18. Noah pointing to daddy’s bare chest and saying “Buff!”
19. Tyler doing lunges while pushing his Ry-Bear (just like Stroller Strides).
20. Wes jumping off the cliff at North Shore and swimming a 1/4 mile out to the dolphins.  Best beach day ever!

On the first day, Noah and RyRy bonded over their shared love for throwing rocks in the water!

Smart lil Tyler showed Noah all the cool puzzles and games on the I-Touch.

Noah picked me a pretty red flower on our hike back to the waterfall!

The beautiful Hawaiian sunset at the lagoons.

Noah riding the boys' trike that was just like the one at Grandma's.

It took some coaxing to get Noah in the pool, but once he was in, he loved it!

WHEEE!!!

Our three putt putt golfers (getting a pic with all three boys looking at the camera was not easy!)

25 cents bought the three boys wonderful treasures.



Beach Bum



Everytime we went outside, Noah would race to the fourwheeler to take it out for a short spin!



Noah and Ryan became good buds on this trip!

Surf's up Mom



The trip to Hawaii would not have been complete without Wes jumping off a cliff!

Sun, sand and trucks .... what more can a boy ask for?

Bye-Bye Hawaii!  Hopefully we will be back again soon!

Another Happy Halloween!

We celebrated Noah's 3rd Halloween this year!  How the years are flying by! For fun, let's take a peek at his past Halloween pics...

Noah's 1st Halloween - 6 weeks old! Those cheeks were made for kisses!

2nd Halloween - Noah was an adorable lion!  

(Noah got a bad ear infection Halloween night so we had to miss the costume party, but we were happy we at least got some fun pics with him dressed up) 

This year, since Noah LOVES cars, we got him this awesome race car driver costume... which he hated.

He is looking at Dad for mercy in this pic.

He REALLY didn't like it.

The minute I stepped away, Noah expertly and swiftly removed the hated costume from his body. 

(This is the first time he has really undressed himself without help from mom or dad.)

Get this shiny blue nightmare OFF me.

So instead, we dressed Noah up as mini Paul Bunyan for Halloween.  

He was a much happier boy and ready to party!