Look Alikes!

Lately we have really started to notice how much Leah is starting to look like Noah. Yes, they are different, but when they are together you can definitely tell that they are siblings. Tonight I took a picture of Leah, and as soon as I looked at it, it reminded me of a picture that I have of Noah. So, I went to the computer, put the pictures side by side, and I was amazed at how much they look like one another as babies! To me, they have the same nose, eyes, hair {they both have a widow's peak like theiy daddy}, and the same smile. What do you think?

Noah ~ 6 months old

I LOVE this picture of Noah!! I love his little smile with his two little teeth! Too cute!

Leah ~ 5 months old

Silly Boy

I love this kid...I just love him! I love his sense of humor and I love how he loves to make me laugh! This evening, after tubby time, I started to get Noah dressed in his pajamas of choice {yes, his Christmas jammies}, but he insisted that he dress himself. So, after taking 15 minutes to get dressed {no joke...15 minutes, because I am not allowed to help him in any way!} he decided to pull his pants as high as they would go and run around the house laughing. He totally looked like Steve Urkel...it was so dang funny. I know that this doesn't sound very funny to many, but I love how funny it is to me! I especially love it when he knows that he is entertaining me and he cranks it up a few notches just for my amusement! I just love him!

Playing Together

Leah loves to watch Noah play with his toys, and the other day when I was in his room with him, he insisted that I put Leah on the ground so that he could play with her. Noah had a grand old time telling her all about his trains, and she had a great time listening to him and watching the train go around and around. The precious moment was when he went over to her and gave her a kiss on her head. I really do think that they are going to be the best of friends. I love watching their relationship grow each and every day...it's amazing to watch!

Noah showing Leah how the train goes around the track.

Such a happy little girl! I love her gummy smile!
This is how the trains fit together...
Noah kissing Leah...absolutely precious!

Cherry Hill 2008

What's summer without a trip to the waterpark? Noah has been a huge fan of going to the pool this summer, so when we decided to go to Cherry Hill with the family, I knew that he was going to have a great time! It looks as if this is going to be something that we do every year as a family...see here. It was a special day to go because it was also my nephew, Alex's, birthday! We had such a wonderful time playing and having fun...especially the kids! Afterwards, we went to Chipotle {yummy!} to formally celebrate Alex's birthday! What a wonderful day!

Jacob and Noah playing under the waterfall...they couldn't get enough!

Me and my baby {he will always me my baby :)}!! I love his "not another picture" look! Haha!
Doug and his little man :).
Jacob, Maren, and Noah playin' in the water. I love the look on Maren's face!
Noah and Maya
Maya is a natural when it comes to taking care of her younger cousins. She was very willing to take Noah down the slide over and over again...thank you Maya!!
Alex...the Birthday Boy! He's such a good boy! We love you Alex!!!
Of course, Noah had to help putting the candles on the cake...I wasn't surprised!
***Thank you Mom and Dad for watching Leah...you're the best!

Leah ~ 5 Months

Yes, our pretty little princess is 5 months old today! So much has happened this past month...

~ She weighs 13 lbs 4 oz {50th percentile} and is 26 inches long {95th percentile+}. These stats are actually from Leah's 4 month appointment.
~ She LOVES to cuddle with her Mommy and Daddy, and we love it too!
~ She loves to look and laugh at herself in the mirror...I don't blame her...she's dang cute!
~ She has really found her voice this month. She is constantly talking, or maybe screaming is a better way to put it. She is SO DANG LOUD! See the video below to see what I am talking about!
~ She has just discovered her feet and she loves to lay on her back and suck on her toes...too funny :)!
~ She loves to stand up whenever you are sitting down and holding her. She rarely will just sit on your lap...she pushes down on her legs and and stands right up. She's a strong little thing!
~ She wants to be held all of the time. So, Leah is in my arms all day long while I am playing with Noah, preparing meals, cleaning the house, getting ready for the day, etc, etc... The moment that I put her down she starts to cry, but she's fine the moment that I pick her up. She knows what she wants, and what she wants is to be close to her Mama, or anyone who will hold her! The only toy that she will play with for longer then five minutes is her Jumperoo...thank goodness for that toy!
~ She is very stubborn, just like her brother. For example, she will not take a bottle willingly. She will fight it and fight it and not give in. The only time that she has ever taken a bottle is when I wasn't around and she didn't have any other option...we're working on it:). It kind of makes me feel special that she chooses me over a bottle though :).
~ She loves to laugh and she has a great sense of humor! I especially love it when she laughs at Noah when he is throwing a tantrum. It makes him stop his obnoxious little fit faster when he realizes that it is so amuzing to Leah. Once he sees her laughing, he goes right over to her and gives her a hug and a kiss...so sweet :). At least we found something that stops those dang 2 year old tantrums...thanks Leah!
~ She is rolling everywhere! Back to front...front to back. I am amazed at how fast she got a hang of rolling around...she's a smart one :).
~ She started to sit up this past month. She still needs a little support, but she is getting better every day at using her own strength to hold herself up.
~ She is such a happy little girl, and we are so happy to call her ours!

Here are some pictures from this past month for your viewing pleasure :).

Pucker up!

Sitting up nice and tall :).
She just loves her new discovery!
Noah has "graduated" from his high chair, so Leah now gets to sit in it, and she loves it!
Standing up on Mommy's lap.
Who's that cute baby??
Ahh...I just love that precious smile!
***WARNING***

Turn the volume down! I know that this is long, but I think it is so dang funny...especially at about 20 seconds! Now, she is not sad in this video, she is just screaming just for the sake screaming. If she was sad, there would be tons of tears, so no worries :).This screaming continued on for the next 15 minutes or so after this was taken...my ears were ringing by the end of the night!

Jump Around

Leah has a new toy, and she LOVES it! Noah is showing her the ropes with how it works, and she is catching on. Notice how she already knows that she needs to bounce to make the music play. I love her face when the little toy lights up...too cute! Noah loves to dance to the music...Leah loves bouncing around. What a great toy to keep them both occupied :).

Ahh...

Bear Lake 2008

I love Bear Lake! I used to go to Bear Lake with my family to go boating as a child, but I haven't been up there in years. I was so excited to be able to take Noah and Leah camping and to the lake so that we could get out of our usual element for a few days. My mom's side of the family has made a tradition of going to Bear Lake to go camping and renting wave runners for the past couple of years, but this is the first year that we have decided to go. We had SO MUCH FUN!!!

Noah absolutely LOVED camping and he could have stayed there all week long, if he had the choice :). He was such a great helper when we were unpacking and setting up...everyone was very impressed with how willing he was to help! We believe in instilling a good work ethic at a young age...I guess it's working {wink, wink}. Doug and I were very nervous about sleeping with the kids in the tent, and we had every reason to because that night was officially one of the worst nights with the both kids! Leah didn't want to go to sleep, but she finally gave in after about 30 minutes of crying, no, screaming! Then, around 1:30 in the mornin', Noah woke up and wanted to play...um, no thank you! Seriously, how in the world do you calm down a 2 year old when you are confined to a 9 ft x 9 ft tent, with a sleeping baby, and you are right next to four other tents filled with people who are trying to get some sleep?!?!!? Apparently, you can't....so, what do you do? You take them over to Grandma's tent and hope they go to sleep! That's exactly what we did...we took Noah to my mom at 2:00 in the morning and he ended up sleeping the entire night with her...at least we know what to do next time :). So, after we got rid of Noah, Leah woke up, yet again, and wouldn't go back to sleep. Sorry to ramble...I am sure that you are getting the drift...basically, we barely got any sleep on our first camping adventure. Oh well...that's how it goes, I guess. Despite our horrible night, we had a fabulous time camping and we look forward to going again {but we don't look forward to another sleepless night two kiddos!}.

We rented wave runners for an entire day, which meant we spent the day on the beach, which was GREAT! We had so much fun hanging out with everyone, eating, talking, laughing, building sand castles, and, of course, going out on the lake! Doug and I each went out a few times and we had a blast! Noah had a great time playing with McKenzie and Leah had a great time sleeping...yes, she pretty much slept the entire day at the beach...maybe it's because she was up all night long...just a guess! By the time we got in the car to head home, Noah was beyond tired and fell asleep within 5 minutes!

On our way home we were able to stop in Millville to see Doug's mission companion's grave. Nate passed away on January 12, 2004 and it was great to be able to go and see him. Nate was Doug's last mission companion and they had a great bond with one another. It was a special moment being able to go and see his headstone. It was a good way to end our trip.

We look forward to next year!

Noah playing in the tent with my mom. He just loved the tents...he couldn't get enough!

Me and Noah hanging out around the camp fire. I had to keep a tight grip on him so that he wouldn't go near the fire.
Here's Doug, Noah, and my uncle Curtis in the morning.
This is Leah with her second cousin, Lexi. They are only 4 days apart...they are going to be close friends!
Noah helping clean up at the camp site...he really is such a good little helper.
Cute Baby Leah all bundled up {it was cold!}...I just love her to pieces!
Doug cuddling with Leah...too cute!
Noah helped my Aunt Karin blow up all the air mattresses and toys for the beach...he just loved the electric air pump!
Noah playing in the sand.
Doug going out on the wave runner. He's a stud muffin!
Noah trying to build a sand castle. He kept destroying it...oh well, he had fun doing it :)!

Cute McKenzie playing on the beach.
Noah and McKenzie in the raft. They could have cared less that the water was freezing! They had so much fun!
Here's Noah...sound asleep on the way home! We really wore him out on this trip! I love how his bottle is balanced, so carefully, right next to his bear.

Summer BBQ

We had a family BBQ today to celebrate my father-in-law, Paul's, birthday, and boy did we have fun! You know you're having fun when...

...Noah voluntarely smiles for the camera {he's dang cute!}.

...you show up to the BBQ and your cuz is wearing the same shirt! Now, isn't that just the cutest picture!!!
...you are able to drink a whole lotta rootbeer, and from a "big boy" cup too!
...you get to hold Baby Ryan {he is already 3 weeks old!}.
...you get to watch Spencer and Elizabeth have a major wrestling watch, which leads to...
...THIS!!!
The wrestling turned into a major water fight! Too funny!

We just love getting together with the family...you never know what to expect :). We had a great time!

Breaking Dawn

A week ago Friday I went to the Breaking Dawn Premiere Party at Borders with my sweet niece, Elizabeth {who introduced me to these books} and her friend Kara. As you probably already know, I am a HUGE fan {I know I'm not the only one (wink, wink)} and I was not going to miss out on getting the book as soon as it came out...plus this was just a great opportunity to have a fun night out with the girls :). It was a long night, but Elizabeth and Kara were beyond hyper and were having so much fun that it made the night go by pretty fast. My sister-in-law, Steff, and her friend met up with us around midnight to get their books too...see, I'm not the only one :)! We finally got our book around 1:00 AM and I was up until about 5:30 reading...I was planning on staying to read, so I was somewhat prepared for a little sleep deprivation! I finished the book early Monday morning {3:00!!!} and I don't care what anyone else says, but I LOVED it! It was nothing what I expected, and that is what made it so much better! It did drag in a few places, but all in all it was a good read {in my opinion :)}. I guess I am just sad that the anticipation for the book is all over and done with...I guess I will just have to get excited for the movie to come out :).

Elizabeth, Kara, and me

Has anyone else read Breaking Dawn? What did you think!?!?!?

Happy to Sad

Leah does a really good job at going from happy to sad in an instant! One second she's all giggles and smiles, and the next second she is crying so hard that you would think she is in pain! I know she is fine, that is why I am sharing this...it just makes me giggle a little bit...

Happy Birthday Steffanie!

Happy Birthday Steffanie!

{or "Happy Birthday Nee Nee", as Noah would say}

We got together to celebrate tonight with the family, and we had a fabulous time! I seriously LOVE getting together with our families! Good times ;). The food was great and the cake was beyond fabulous {chocolate cakes don't get any better then that cake...it's the BEST!}.
***

Steff ~ We hope that you have a fabulous day today! We love you lots and lots!

***

Uncle Spencer and Leah

Everyone singing "Happy Birthday" to Steff.

{Erin, Doug, Noah, Frat Boy Jacob {love that face!}, and Steff}
Steff blowing out the candles :).