Ready for vacation

As usual, it's been a pretty full few weeks for us! The three of us participated in the Father's Day 5K in Jeff City the Saturday before Father's Day. Dave ran, and Noah and I walked. We came in 9th . . . from the last! In our defense, we had to stop several times to blow Noah's nose. And we did come in before the family that drove us crazy throughout the walk!


Grandma Norita came down that afternoon, and we spent the afternoon together. She watched Noah for us that night, so Dave and I could go to a friend's party. We all went to Mickey and Regina's for lunch on Sunday with Grandma Pat and Grandpa Rusty, Great-Grandpa Larry and Tracy and Roger. Lunch was so good, even if Noah didn't eat any of Regina's fried chicken. Maybe next time!

We went to the doctor Monday because Noah had an ear infection. We saw a different doctor, whom we like, but we had a horrible nurse! She is maybe in her mid- to late-60s but seems so very bitter. She was pretty rude in the exam room, but Dr. David (our second favorite doctor in the clinic) made up for it by being kind as always and by coming right in. We were in and out of the office within 20 minutes.

He seemed to feel much better as the week wore on, but we're starting to see some of this "terrible two" business pop up here and there. He goes on a "no-no-no" streak, and I caught him hitting himself in the head when he didn't get what he wanted the other day! He manages to stay out of trouble at daycare, more or less, but he ends up in timeout at home about once a week. We realize, though, this could be so much worse, and we're thankful for the normally cool, calm and collected little guy he usually is!

Noah and I went to Grandma Pat's and Grandpa Rusty's Friday night. We walked in a 5K Saturday morning in town. We got to the park about 8:15; I thought the race started at 8:30. It started at 9. We decided to get an early start! We left about 8:20 or so and were back home by about 9:10! I'm so glad we did - it was hot enough while we were walking. Can't imagine how much warmer it was even 45 minutes later!

It was too hot to be outside much this week, so Noah didn't get to play on his play set. Today, though, it was fairly cool (only in the 80s!), so we played tonight. Noah got some bubble wands for Easter, and we tried those out tonight! I feel like he ate more of the bubble liquid, trying to blow bubbles, than actually blowing any bubbles!

We're all on vacation this week! Noah's daycare is closed, so we took the week off, too. No big plans for tomorrow. I have a doctor's appointment to talk about my blood clot, and we're heading back to Dover for the rest of the week later that day. Noah has a couple dates with his grandmas later in the week, so Dave and I can go on a date and so we can have girls'/guys' nite. Then we'll celebrate Independence Day and Noah's birthday Saturday. Cannot believe he's going to be 2!

Goodbye, yard

The play set is finally here! Thank you, Socket!

It arrived Wednesday, and it's put together already.

Dave and I started sorting the pieces to make sure we had everything we were supposed to have.

Then, Brandi and Jason came over to help. They got most of the tower built Wednesday night.

Our neighbor, Tony (Harrison's dad), came over Friday afternoon to help, too. Dave got it finished Saturday morning, and Noah's pretty much in love with it!

Who wouldn't be, though? It has a wave slide, a rock wall, a rope ladder, a telescope, a steering wheel, swings, a trapeze bar, a Tic Tac Toe game and a picnic bench! It's a far cry from the oh-so-cool Crayola swingset Josh, Kelly and I had when we were little!

Noah can climb the ladder to get to the tower area and slide down. Dave switched one of the regular swings for a toddler swing, and Noah loves that! He also likes rolling his ball down the slide and attempting to climb back up the slide. He can do it sometimes!

It's so fun to watch him whip down the slide - sometimes he gets a little airborn and has a pretty soft landing on his rear!

We had planned to put it toward the side of our back yard, but Dave pointed out we probably didn't want people to be able to see it from the street. So it went in the center of our yard. I miss the view already, but I'm so glad Noah has such a fun place to play.

Other than having fun in the back yard, we went to Grandma Pat's Saturday morning. Noah played with her for a while, so I could go to a friend's bridal shower. Then we went to the Fuehring family reunion at the park. It was nice to see family I hadn't seen in a long time!

On the way home, we met Dave, Brandi, Laura and Tony at the winery in Rocheport. Brandi and Laura had gone for a bike ride and ended up riding back to Columbia instead of driving. Go, girls! It was so nice to enjoy the view, live music and gorgeous weather with great friends. Noah had a wonderful time playing in the wood chips and steps in the patio area.

We all had a nice, leisurely Sunday. Mostly we watched movies (read: commercials) on TBS this afternoon while Noah played in the living room until the sun went down enough to play outside!

Noah is going to Lexington Tuesday to keep Brianna and Grant company while the adults rebuild a shed at Fred and Juliet's. Should be a fun day! For the kids at least!

In memory of our old back yard . . .

Driving

We had a great weekend but spent a lot of time in the car!

We went to Harry's birthday party Saturday morning. Such a great idea Sheryl had - the party started at 10 a.m., lunch was at 11 a.m. and we were home in time for a nap! Noah needed a little time to get used to their dogs, but eventually everyone had a great time playing! Harry's sand box was a hit, as were the bubble wands.

After Noah's nap, we decided to go for a drive. When we were out near Fayette, Grandma Norita called with a computer problem. We decided we were out far enough and just drove on to Lexington. We took the "really" back way, so it was a nice change of scenery. After Dave did what he could and we had dinner, we came home.

Noah seems to be getting his back molars in - not a happy camper! He kept Dave up pretty late last night, and I got him out of bed at 5 this morning. We went for a walk this morning and met Harry and his mom and dad, so we played for a little while. Noah got a hair cut, and we went to the Runge Nature Center in Jeff City after nap time today.

Then it was time for Central Dairy - Noah's first time there! It was so packed, but we were able to snag a table. Noah, however, did not want ice cream! We're blaming it on the teeth. He was very interested in watching the people on the sidewalk, but he only had a bite of Moose Tracks. He'll get there!


Yes, his eyes still cross when he's had his glasses off too long!

All in all, it was a great weekend, and we're so glad it's summer time! It's just a little hard keeping Noah inside during the day. Thankfully, most of his "inside" hours are during lunch and nap time!

Tiny bubbles

Not too much going on lately. We've been playing outside a lot lately! Noah's been playing outside at daycare, too. Bubbles are the latest fun toys . . . even if you get soap all over your clothes!

So are Mom's socks . . .

So are Noah's new flip flops . . .


We're looking forward to Harry's birthday party Saturday morning. His parents are getting him a new sandbox for his second birthday, and Noah's play set should be here next week some time! Cheryl (Harry's mom) decided that Jack, another 2-year-old in the neighborhood, should get a pool, and they'll have all the fun stuff between the three of them!

Same old stuff

Noah has been enjoying a lot of time with his grandmas the past few weekends! He spent the weekend with them when Dave and I went to Oklahoma, and he spent the following weekend with them. Dave and I started spring cleaning and attended the fourth annual Cinco de Mayo party at Brandi and Jason's; this year we "celebrated" Dos de Mayo!

Seriously, how many times do I need to tell you people that it's not a good idea to stick your arm inside a barrel of fire?!

We had a nice Mother's Day weekend. Got the thousands of ladybugs (not just the Japanese beetles - we had some real ladybugs!) vacuumed, and Dave mowed three yards over two days! We had a bbq with our moms, Rusty and Brandi on Sunday.

Noah has been enjoying playing outside a lot lately. Carol takes them outside quite a bit after nap time at daycare, so he has a ball cap and sunscreen to leave at her house. We've been playing outside in the evening when we can, too. Noah still enjoys riding around the neighborhood in his wagon, but he does OK in the stroller if it's just the two of us. He waves and says, "Bye!" when he hears a car start up! He also says, "Szage," for "garage." So we hear that a lot when we're walking around!

Your toys get bigger as you get older, don't they, Dave?!

He's been such a good boy lately! He hasn't been hitting me much the last few weeks, more like pushing my arm away if he doesn't want something. But he does seem to have been eating a little bit better lately. Hope it stays that way!

Noah loves a good John Grisham

Tonight we went out to dinner with Brandi and Jason and our friends, Cat and Adam. They used to live in Columbia, and Cat and I used to work together. So sad when they moved away! Cat is going to grad school in Delaware, and Adam is a professor in Wyoming, so they're living a long way away from each other. She just finished her school year, and they were driving through on the way back to Wyoming. Knowing we were going to see Cat made this long day so much better! One of our students, Lauren, came out for a bit, too, and I think a good time was had by all! I'm hoping Cat can stay for a couple days on her way back to school later this summer.

Lauren, Tracy, Brandi and Cat

Noah was such a trooper during dinner! We corraled the corner where our table was, so he had a little room to run around, and he enjoyed drinking water out of the metal cups.

I have to work Thursday and Friday nights, but it's worth it to get these students out of town for the summer! I won't have to work on Saturday, for the first closing weekend I've worked in five years! So we're going to try to water-seal the deck in Dover Saturday. Hope it stays dry enough to do so - it sounds like a better idea to do this in May than in late June when we're on vacation!

Windy weekend

Whew! What a fun weekend!

The three of us just returned from a weekend away from home. Dave and I went camping with Brandi and Jason in Alva, OK, Jason's hometown. Noah spent the weekend with his grandmas. We were planning to take him with us until earlier this week, when it just didn't seem like a good idea to have him strapped into the car for so many hours, especially since he's been sick and cranky, and to have him out in the sun or in a warm tent, what with the "don't be outside from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m." rule and all.

Dave and Jason left Thursday night, ideally to set up camp and hang out Friday. Brandi and I left Friday morning and met Grandma Norita at Higginsville Junction. Then we set out for Wichita to meet up with Brandi's parents, her brother and her nephews, who were also going on the trip. So much fun to see where Brandi grew up - we didn't have time to tour the town where she went to school, but it was great at least seeing her house!

After the very long trip to Oklahoma (the convoy included Brandi's mom driving the two of us and towing a Polaris, Brandi's dad towing his new Jeep - so new he didn't have tags for it yet - and Brandi's brother driving his RV and towing his four-wheelers), we set up camp while it was still light out. Jason fixed pork chops and grilled veggies over the fire. We sat around talking for a while before bed. Jason's mom braved it by sleeping in the bed of their truck! Considering this was my first time legitimately camping, I'm still in awe of this!

I knew Oklahoma was windy, but geez! I don't think anyone got a good night's sleep, the wind was blowing so hard! It had died down earlier in the evening but kicked back up after midnight. I thought I felt our tent moving around just a bit, which scared me, as we'd staked it down pretty well! I think Jason's dad said he heard they were 50 mph winds!

Saturday morning was cool and overcast. After breakfast, Brandi and I took the Jeep out through the fields. Jason's family has 1000 acres of ranch-land near the Kansas border, and I think we explored as much as we could get to! Oh, the mud Brandi kicked up! Parts of the Jeep were not as yellow as they had been the night before! But we had a great time!

We got pretty close to some of the cattle, so Brandi could take pictures. All of a sudden, though, one of the "teenage-ish" cows (well, Brandi would say it was the biggest, oldest one there was in all of Oklahoma) started "charging . . . OK, sauntering" toward us, we tried to high-tail it out of there! The cow was coming closer and closer as we tried to roll up our windows. Except we didn't have windows because Brandi's dad had unzipped and removed them before we left! At any rate, we got the Jeep in reverse and headed back toward civilization. Otherwise known as our campsite. If she hasn't already told you, ask Brandi about her experience with cattle. This helps you understand how surprised I was that she was willing to get so close to them!

Some of Jason's cousins came out for lunch, and we sat around a small campfire for a while. Dave tried rubbing two sticks together to start his own fire, just to see if he could. If the one hadn't broken, I think he could have! He said it got really hot. He's like Survivorman!

After lunch and after the sun came out, I crawled back into our tent to avoid a sunburn and to take a nap. So nice to sleep in the warm weather on a Saturday afternoon!

Dave and I also enjoyed getting to know Brandi's and Jason's families better. We've met them from time to time over the past few years but hadn't had the chance to spend as much time with Jason's parents and with Brandi's brother and two of his four kids. Jack and Nick are 6-year-old twins. They couldn't be more different! Nick has dark hair and eyes and is smaller. You can just see him looking for trouble! Jack is a little bigger and is blond with blue eyes. He is the sweetest, funniest little guy! They both said some hysterical things (like when Nick pulled something out of the cooler and asked if it was dessert and someone pointed out, "no, it's mustard!"), but I think Jack made us laugh all weekend!

We knew storms were likely coming, so we all packed up in mid-afternoon. We didn't want to have to rush out when the storms came, and we needed to make sure Jamey (Brandi's brother) could get his RV out in time. We went into Alva to stay at Jason's parents' place. His sister let Brandi and I borrow the shower at her house, so we could all get cleaner faster! Brandi gave me a quick tour of the town she lived in for a year after college, and it was great getting to put faces (or buildings) with names. She took Dave and me to the gas station where everyone goes when the bars close for "B's and G's" . . . or biscuits and gravy!

When everyone got back to town and cleaned up, we went to Gambino's Pizza for dinner! This is one of the things I'd been looking forward to for weeks! We used to have Gambino's in Concordia, and it's one of my favorite kinds of pizza!

(div>I made Brandi take my picture outside the store, too, but those didn't turn out quite as well. We ordered so much pizza . . . and, unfortunately for me, left it at Jason's parents' this morning when we left town (I just looked online and found out Gambino's is also in Lee's Summit and Grain Valley)! I am just excited to have gotten to eat it at all! So very good! About the time the parents, Jamey and his boys left, some of Jason's and Brandi's friends came in, so we got to meet more people we've heard about!

We finally left to go back to Jason's house, and we hit the hay after a few Wii Play games. So glad we came to town, as the thunderstorms started up about that time. I can't imagine having to throw everything into the cars in the middle of the night and race for town!

After breakfast this morning, we headed home. The trip home was pretty uneventful - mostly we were so excited to get Noah! It sounds like he had a fun weekend with both grandmas! Which is a good thing because he's going back next weekend! Dave and I are going to do the spring cleaning that just goes easier when he's not here!

We need to start picking out his playset from Socket. We're thinking about setting it up sometime in early June, if anyone's just itching to help with that!

Other than fun weekends away, Noah's starting to say a few more words, such as "Mom-mom," "go" and what sounds like "door," to his vocabulary. I know there are more - just can't think of them right now! He went to the doctor last week to find out if he had pink eye (thankfully, just a viral infection), and we found out he weighs 22 pounds! I think the nurse who said 17 pounds did something wrong, and I worried for nothing. Which is not to say he has the best appetite because he does not. But you don't want to think of someone so little losing so much weight. We're happy he seems to be gaining a little bit at a time! Perhaps it's because he's also learned to grab a box of animal crackers from our table, so he can stuff his cheeks with them!

He's also into the fake crying lately. Not a fun one, but his scrunched-up face does make us laugh sometimes.

So we're all home and either in bed or ready for bed. We're excited it's spring and getting warmer, so we can do fun things with family and friends. And we're looking forward to the rest of the spring and the summer! Noah already likes pretending to mow the lawn!

Easter weekend

Wow! What a weekend!

We finished our garage sale Saturday morning at Marian and Larry's place. We had a few people come through - Dave and I made about $60 but got rid of more stuff! Noah hung out with us for a little bit, then Grandma Pat came to pick him up. He had a fever most of the weekend and spent two hours screaming in the middle of the night Friday! So he took a nap for a couple hours Saturday morning. He woke up in time for the Easter egg hunt at the park down the street. There were so many kids! I think Noah had a good time! They had kids divided up by ages, and they did the groups one at a time. After Noah was done, we tried to watch Kaylor's group find eggs. Then we played!

After hitting Cree Mee for ice cream, we went back to Grandma and Grandpa's to see Kaylor. They had a pretty good time playing until Noah started wearing down. He sat in my lap for a good 20 or 30 minutes straight, which is highly unusual! He is not a cuddly boy unless he's under the weather. After all the McGinnises got there and Grandpa Rusty got home, the kids went outside for their egg hunt. It was Noah's and Grandpa's first hunting trip!

Noah didn't eat much dinner before getting to bed. So he missed out on the excitement of Braxton losing his first tooth! He got visits from the Easter bunny and the Tooth Fairy all in the same night! We couldn't see the hole in his mouth, so Nicole held his lower lip down for a photo op!

Unfortunately, Noah woke up again screaming in the middle of the night. He was up for two hours again. Grandpa Rusty was sick, too, so he'd taken his "knock-out medicine" before bed and missed it both nights. However, Grandma Pat had to hear the entire thing! No wonder she had a headache Sunday!

He finally fell back asleep around 5:30 - guess we could have just gone to the Sunrise service! He slept til about 8, though, so we checked out his Easter basket from Grandma and Grandpa. After playing with his fun new whistle and bath fishing pole, we went to church. Noah did pretty well. There were so many more kids in the back of church than there are at our church, so he had plenty of people to watch!

Noah looks like his dad sometimes!


You can get an idea of what Noah's Easter outfit looked like! He had a navy checked button-down with a dinosaur tie and matching socks! Too cute! His little pants are still too big, though, so they kept falling down! Poor boy!

After that, we went to Dover for Easter lunch with Grandma Norita, Dakota (a nephew of Norita's) and Cheryl's family. Her girls were there, and Brooke and Erica kept us in hysterics for a while! Noah enjoyed playing with Uncle Steve - he's so great with little kids. He can keep them entertained with the simplest things! Noah loved watching him blow a Kleenex over his head!

After our trip to Dover, we hit the Meyers' place for McKenna's 10th birthday! She is so old now! Everyone chipped in on a motorized scooter for her birthday. I guess she's wanted it for a couple years! It is pretty cute - it looks like a little pink Vespa! I can picture her tooling around Rome!

Even though we had a fun weekend visiting family and friends (and making some money!), it was so nice to get home! We unloaded the car and sent Noah to bed. Brandi and Laura came over for an end-of-Easter visit. We had such a fun evening, but it was so hard to get up this morning!

Noah seemed to feel better today than he had earlier in the weekend, but Carol said he was still pretty puny. He hasn't eaten much in the past few days, so we're just trying everything until we find what he will eat! Usually yogurt!

We're looking forward to a quiet week. Laundry's going, the dishwasher will start soon, groceries are unpacked and we have a fresh supply of diapers. I'd say we're set!

Weight update

Also forgot to mention Noah weighed almost 21 pounds at Dr. Gorski's office. I'm starting to think the nurse we had at the doctor last week used the wrong scale! Otherwise, I think we might have noticed (maybe?) if he'd gained four pounds in a week!

Albinoah

So our visit to Dr. Gorski's office didn't turn out quite the way we'd hoped! Dr. Gorski said he thinks Noah does have albinism, but he's not sure whether it's Type 2 or Type 3. He ruled out Type 1B (what he and Noah's eye doctor thought he might have) after seeing Noah's freckle and confirming it wasn't just a spot of dirt that hadn't washed off! I guess they see that a lot!


Dr. Gorski said it's difficult to discern between Types 2 and 3 without doing the blood work. However, he said there may only be one lab in the country that could do all the necessary testing; otherwise, they'd send different samples to several labs. We asked what that would do for us, and they said it would confirm the type of albinism Noah has. Then, if we chose to do any pre-natal testing on any subsequent children (no, we're not having another kid any time soon, Kelly), we could potentially find out if these babies also had albinism.


There would be a one in four chance that any other children we have would have the exact same type of albinism Noah has. It wouldn't be any more mild or severe. There would be a three in four chance that any other children we have would not have albinism at all. So it doesn't sound worth it to put Noah through any testing to find out whether he's a 2 or a 3! It wouldn't matter to us at all if any other child had this.


There's really nothing else we can or need to do. He'll have sensitivity to light, which he and I both have! He'll need to wear sunscreen much more diligently than other people (same here for me!), and we'll need to make sure he wears protective clothing, hats and sunglasses. We won't want him outside too much from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (when they tell you not to be outside too often, anyway). Also, he can't ever have aspirin, as it could cause internal bleeding. So we'll just stick with the Tylenol! All easy things for us to remember, especially as we already do them for him and/or for ourselves.


Dave took Noah for a haircut last night, so he won't be too shaggy for Easter! Noah's been very anti lately in "unusual" situations - like when getting a haircut, when animals get too close to him or when he hears loud trucks closer than he'd like! Dave snapped a picture of him in the mirror to show how difficult he can be sometimes!



We're looking forward to an exciting Easter weekend! We're heading to Concordia after work tomorrow evening for Garage Sale, Take Two. Then we'll finish the sale Saturday morning. Grandma Pat wants to take Noah to an Easter egg hunt Saturday afternoon, and we have the McGinnis Easter dinner Saturday night. We'll go to church Sunday morning and head to Lexington for Easter lunch with Grandma Norita! I think, if we get there in time, Grandma Norita wants to take Noah to an egg hunt in Dover. Oh, the candy we will have!


Then we have Miss McKenna's 10th birthday party that night! It will be so nice to see them all! We have to do our Christmas - I don't think I've seen the kids since the summer. Too long!


Hoppy Easter!

Out and about in April

It's spring! We're so grateful for the warmer weather - when it shows up, that is! It's been pretty chilly here the past couple days; we even had some flurries yesterday. No good for April!

Saturday, however, was a great, warm, sunny day! We had the Easter egg hunt at church Saturday morning. I went early to help hide eggs. I'm glad I'd volunteered, as there were just three of us to hide 500 plastic eggs! By the end, I was doubling and tripling eggs as I hid them! Dave brought Noah in later for the hunt. Pastor Kent had a quick message at the beginning before the kids were sent outside to find their eggs.


So fun to watch the little kids try to figure out what in the world was happening! Noah tried to carry his eggs - this was fine when he had one or two but got pretty difficult by the time he got five!

He had such a good time, though! Pastor Kent and his wife, Jen, had three kids participating, so they were going to be going home with many, many eggs. Jen kept throwing some of their eggs back out and pointing them out for Noah! But this other little boy kept running to grab them! Noah didn't care - he was thrilled to carry around his five eggs! He also liked taking them in and out of his Tonka truck basket, which was a pretty popular basket at the hunt! We got it last year just because we thought it would be soft enough for him, and he couldn't tear it up. No idea how "cool" it could be!

After the hunt, we went to Shakespeare's with Pastor Kent, Jen and their kids and another family. It's hard to pass up Shakespeare's, and it was great to see him as a "real person!" They offered to let us use their tent when we go to Oklahoma at the end of the month, so we were excited to not have to spend money on something we likely won't use often!

Noah passed out on the way home from lunch, but he woke up when we got home. We were there for a little while before we headed back out for St. Louis. We met Benny and Christine for dinner at a hibachi restaurant. The food was pretty good, and it's always a good time with them! Noah did pretty well, but he seemed to prefer watching the "show" at other tables as opposed to our own! He never screamed or cried out, but he would lunge forward and grab my arm when the chef lit the table on fire. He ate some of the rice and chicken, but we were glad we brought his yogurt, too! When all else fails, there's still yogurt!

I took Noah to the doctor last week because I was afraid he had an ear infection. He does not! Thank goodness! He just had a viral infection and seems to be completely over that now. However, he weighed three pounds less than he did in December. No good, Noah! As the doctor pointed out, he eats when he's hungry, and he is very active. He told us to stop by next month, and we'll weigh him again. He has been eating better since then, but he's usually pretty hit-or-miss. Again, when all else fails, there's still yogurt! He'll always eat yogurt or fruit. It's something, I guess!

We go back to the genetic pediatrician Thursday for a one-year follow-up to his appointment last spring. I think II mean, I hope!) the doctor is going to say he doesn't think Noah has albinism. There is more yellow in his hair this year, and his eyelashes are much darker than they were. We also noticed a freckle on the back of his arm tonight! Those are very rare, if there at all, for people with albinism. We'll keep you posted!

No idea what he's looking at here, but I love it! Our little Rambo pirate!

We're back to Concordia for round two of the garage sale Friday and Saturday, then an Easter egg hunt Saturday afternoon and the McGinnis Easter dinner. We're planning on church in Concordia for Easter, then lunch with Grandma Norita in Lexington. And then we have McKenna's birthday party in Concordia that night. Cannot believe she is 10 now! How did she get so old?!

Rolling along

As usual, we've had a wonderful but busy weekend!

Dave went to Lexington Friday evening with some friends from work. They spent the night in the country doing guy-in-the-country things. They were so nice, though, and helped Dave carry down all our garage sale stuff from the top floor of the shed. When I arrived, they loaded it in the back of the Tahoe. So nice of them! We told them they could come back anytime and not have to work!

My friend Jeanette (from work) came over and watched "Juno" with me after Noah and I went to check on Boo (Brandi's cat). Noah was pretty clingy when we checked on Boo. His heart didn't seem to be racing faster than usual, but he was very interested in watching everywhere the cat went!

We went to Grandma Pat's Saturday morning, and he spent the day with her. Dave and I moved garage sale stuff to Concordia throughout the day and got to have lunch with Brandi and Jason at Biffle's. They were on their way back from Kansas and asked about meeting us for a late lunch! Good stuff! We saw Jeff and Todd there, and Brandi was impressed that I knew so many people in one restaurant. She said she could tell we were in a small town!

After helping Kelly load one box of her stuff, we went back to Grandma Pat's! Got to see Uncle Corey and Grandpa Rusty before we left. Apparently, while he was there, Noah got down four of the steps on his own before Grandma could reach him! He's a stinker that way!

Dave's uncle and aunt, Ron and Sandy, were visiting from Oklahoma with their grandson, Grant. I think Noah is the only male cousin Grant has, so he is excited for him to get a little bigger! Grant is such a funny boy! I don't think I've seen him since he was a baby, so it was fun to see what a grown-up eight-year-old he's become. We all went to dinner with Grandma Norita and Cheryl. There was another family there with a nine-month-old girl. She was very chatty and wanted to see Noah - watch out, Miss Caroline!

We ended up coming back home last night, despite all the driving we'd done. Just wanted to sleep in our own beds. I realize they are also our own beds at Dover - we just wanted to stay put for today. Which is exactly what we did! We played a lot and stayed in our pjs until this afternoon! Noah and Dave both took naps this afternoon, and I went through Noah's baby clothes, pulling stuff out for the garage sale.

After everyone woke up, we decided to go for a walk. I had no idea it was so warm out! Dave put Noah's Radio Flyer, which was a Christmas gift from Mickey and Regina, together early last week, and we took it out for another spin this evening. Noah really likes riding in it! The first night, he sat with his hands in his lap the whole time! Tonight, he held onto the rails while I pulled him. Dave switched with me when we went back down the hill (his longer arms make it easier to pull sometimes!), and Noah wanted to hold my hand as I walked along beside him. Too cute!

He's also started doing somersaults! I think he picked this up at daycare. He loves playing on our bed, and he started flipping around the other day. Glad we got the king-size!

We have no big plans for the beginning of the week. Just a trip or two to Target and church Wednesday night. Then we come back Thursday for the garage sale. We don't care if we don't make tons of money - we just want to get rid of the stuff! It's nice to have it out of the shed . . . most of it has been sitting there since before Noah was born!

Noah helps price garage sale items.

Lucky people

What a great weekend we're having!


Dave, Noah, Brandi and I participated in the St. Patrick's Day 5K in Jeff City yesterday . . . whew! We had to make an emergency stop at Wal-Mart in Jeff City for a new stroller, as both of ours were sitting in our garage. Oops! Dave found a cute, cheap green one - good find!




Brandi and Dave ran in the race, and Noah and I walked. They ran in just under 30 minutes, but it took Noah and me about 56 minutes to walk. If you've ever been to Jeff City, you know how hilly it is! Dave and Brandi both trained for quite a while to run in the race, and we're so proud of them for doing so well! I am equally proud of Noah and me for walking this course - not so easy to push a stroller down those steep hills in a stroller you're not used to when your pockets are full of diaper-baggy things. We were the last to start and, I think, the last to finish, but we did it and had a good chat with a couple other ladies along the way.





Coincidentally, these photos were all taken outside Granny's old building!



After the race, we went to the White Stone to check out Mickey and Regina's new home. It looks so neat! They've done such a lot and seem to have many other plans for the place. Had a great catfish lunch, and they sent us home with extra cake and bread (finishing my cake with lunch today).


We made a quick stop at Schaefer House on the way back through Jeff City. Noah finally fell asleep on the way back to Columbia, so we drove through town for a bit before he woke up. We checked out a few neighborhoods on the west side of Columbia and found Concordia St.! After Brandi left, we went outside to play in the yard.


Noah had such a good time rolling his ball around! As is his custom, he likes to step on and off things, like the patio or steps. Unfortunately, the yard around the patio is pretty muddy from raining earlier this week. So his bright white Chucks were no longer so shiny! Dave got them pretty cleaned up - they've just lost that new-shoe smell!

But I guess that means it's time for me to get used to little boys being dirty!

Today, Dave and Noah went to Lexington to open the house back up! That was a short month! He's taking some friends from work there next weekend, and his aunt and uncle will be staying in the other house. So Dave is reopening the white house, and I'm spending the afternoon catching up on TV shows from a month ago (watching "Ugly Betty" now) and folding laundry.

Looking forward to them coming home this evening!