Boys

Boys and Girls are definitely different, but it always amazes me to see those differences at such a young age.

I guess I'm use to being around all girls. . . me, my mom, my sister, her 4 little girls. . . because little boys, or maybe just Noah, definitely create a different atmosphere and environment. Girls are naturally so small, quite and gentle. Noah on the other hand, ever since he was little, has demonstrated the boy through and through. From the very beginning, he didn't talk quiet, he always hollers and didn't find his inside voice until he was 2.5 and it's still a rarity to hear his inside voice. When playing with trains, his cousins Laine and Sydney like to sit back and watch the trains go by without touching them. Noah on the other hand, likes to lay his head on the track and have the trains collide with his face. He also likes to set the trains on a collision course to run head-on into each other.

Girls want to build castles out of blocks while Noah just wants to throw the blocks and make them come tumbling down. That always frustrates Jon when he's worked so hard to build a tower for Noah and all he wants to do is tear it down.

Then, there is the potty thing. I don't know anyone who's had as many peeing stories as we already do. Noah's doing really well with potty training. He never poops in his pants or diaper now, but peeing is a whole other issue. Most days Noah does great, but then there are days where we have multiple accidents, but that's not the interesting part. What I find interesting is that Noah loves to poop outside. There I am cleaning the house when suddenly I see a bare bum out the window. There goes Noah, running across the yard with no pants or underwear on. "Noah, what are you doing? Where's your clothes?" The response I get, proud as punch, "Momma, I pooped!" and he shows me where every time. Jon caught him squatting to poop in a hole by the fence the other day. I try so hard not to laugh. Really, I promise, we don't encourage outdoor defecating. Today came another story and I laughed and laughed when Jon told me on the phone. Noah was suppose to be napping when Jon hears Noah call from the bedroom, "I'm naked!" Oh, that's never a good sign. Jon goes in and sure as can be, there's Noah with no pants again. I think he dislikes pants as much as Grandpa Clark. Then Noah proceeds to show Jon where he's peed. There on the floor is his diaper of which Noah removed, then stood over and tried to pee into the diaper on the floor. . . then comes my favorite when Noah points out he's peed down the heater vent. Oh brother!!! Someone help me.

A few days ago, Jon and I are downstairs when we hear the pitter patter of little feet upstairs. We go to see what's happening and find Noah and Sunny having a smorgasbord of lucky chairs, almonds and Swedish fish. I'm sure they enjoyed every minute of it. I couldn't even get mad, but instead turned my head to laugh so Noah couldn't see me, then grabbed the camera.

Noah's vocabulary has grown by leaps and bounds over the past few months. When we say we're going to church, he says, "To play with kids?" When we give him milk, he asks, "Is it big? Is it tall?" He's talking all the time and now uses words I never knew he knew. Most recently, Noah wants so much to help us, so he asks if he can pack. Tayton even helped me go through the stuff in my bathroom so we could pack it up.

We're moving to our new house this weekend, so I thought I'd share a few photos of the kids before we leave since I'm not sure how long it will take me to get settled and have time to write again.
Picture of Tayton with her fabulous bed hair, one with pigtails, then after pigtails.











Some great pictures my sister took.

Funny Kids

Kids do the funniest things.

Here is the before picture. Two weeks ago, my sister was babysitting our kids while we were signing the contract on the new house. When we get back to pick them up, Kelly informs me that Noah got a haircut. Teri immediately pipped up and said the Sydney got in big trouble for it. They told of how Kelly went to check on the kids outside and saw that their youngest, Charlie, had little bits of hair on her shoulder. He then went looking for the 3 year old, Sydney, and found her hiding scissors behind her back. Noah was just standing there with the blank look on his face and a huge patch of hair right off the top in front. I couldn't stop laughing. Noah looked so funny. Thank goodness it was Noah she practiced her stylist technique on and not Tayton. At least it's fixable with Noah. Teri then informed Sydney that she needed to go get her purse to pay for Noah to get a new haircut. Sydney got her purse and with the saddest look in her eyes, gave me a nickle. Once again, I laughed hard and told her I didn't think a nickle would cover the cost of the haircut. I told her she didn't have to pay because we'd just get the clippers out at home, but I made her promise she wouldn't attempt to cut hair again. This is a picture after I gave him a short short buzz.

While we were packing up one area of the house I got a little annoyed with Jon over something so he and I were having a discussion. Pretty soon I hear Noah walking around the house saying, "Daddy's naughty. Daddy's naughty." I tried really hard not to laugh.

If I have to tell Noah something he doesn't want to do, he then folds his arms, given me the evil eye and then shakes his finger at me. It's so darn cute, I have to turn my head so he can't see me laugh, then I have to tell him ot to get snippy with Mommy.

He's getting to point where we laugh multiple times a day at things Noah says or does. I need to write them down so I remember them and can post them for Noah to see in the future. . . or so we can show his girlfriends at some point. :)

Here's some cute pictures we recently took.

Halloween

Children have transformed my perspective of Halloween. Answering the door for tricker treaters really drives me crazy. I swear I'm my father's daughter in the fact that I'd rather turn all the lights off and hide in the house, not answering the door. I think some of it has to do with the fact that sometimes I'm anti-social and like to be alone or with the fact that I'm self conscience so I hate answering the door and passing out candy, talking to children and parents that I don't know. I'm not sure what it is, but Halloween definitely is a holiday that I wouldn't mind skipping.

Jon, on the other hand absolutely LOVES Halloween. If I'm correct, it's his favorite holiday of the year. He must REALLY love it if he ranks Halloween before Christmas. The first year we were married, Jon put a stereo outside playing spooky music, put a black light in the porch light, he put on a creepy mast, bib overalls and answered the door very slowly and made eery sounds. Scary to the point that he made multiple children cry that night. I tried hard to stay out of the limelight and sat in the hall upstairs out of sight watching it all happen and rolling my eyes every time there was a knock at the door. I finally had to yell at Jon and tell him that when kids got scared and cried or would back away from the door, he needed to take the mask off and tell them to come get candy. I was extremely annoyed, but didn't mind my place in the dark hall, watching.

Halloween registers so differently on my holiday scale now that we have children. It has become this magical day for children, which in turn makes it such a magical night for me as well. I love the excitement that fills Noah when we show him his costume. Noah trembles with joy when we say he gets to go to a party dressed up. He's figured out that if you go to each house and say "trick or treat" they give you candy and he gets so excited about that. Last year, Noah was two, and he didn't quite understand until about the 5th house. After that, he had a ton of fun running from house to house. This year, he just enjoyed every minute he could spend with this cousins, Sydney and Charlie, and was so thrilled to have people put candy in his little bag. Nothing made my heart smile more than when Noah would go to leave someone's porch and he'd turn around and say "thank you" in his little three year old voice. At about every third house, Noah would coming running back to me and say, "look mommy, candy" and he'd stop where he was on the grass or sidewalk, rummage through his bag until he could find me the piece of candy that particular house had given him.

Halloween has turned into one of my favorite holidays now because of the sweet spirits of my children. I get to stand back on the sidewalk and watch his face light up at every single house and watch him learn about people, traditions and spend time with his cousins. It doesn't get any better than that!