Trick-or-Treat

Happy Halloween!!!

I love this holiday, and now I have a little boy that loves it just as much as me! We took Noah trick-or-treating for the first time last year and he really didn't know what to make of it. He was pretty confused the entire time and just went along with the fact that he was getting candy at every door. Well...this was different, very different. Noah is old enough to realize that we dress up on Halloween for fun and he understood that he was going to be going to go from house to house saying "Trick-or-Treat" in exchange for the goods...CANDY! He got it...he was excited! I was a little worried that he wouldn't be as excited when we actually went, but he was, and we had so much fun!! Yay for getting older and understanding these weird little holidays! My only problem is that he told me tonight that he wants to go again next week...now I have to explain that he has to wait one whole year. Oh boy!

Noah was a COWBOY! Yes, he was a cowboy last year too, but the costume still fit him, and that's what he wanted to be. He was SO excited to get all dressed up and would walk around saying "Howdy partner".
Leah was a LADYBUG, and she was SO CUTE! These costumes for little kids are just too cute! I smile every time that I would see her walk around in this outfit...it really is so cute! I think that the tights make it complete :).
Doug and I were UTAH FANS...we were a little bummed that there was a home game tonight, but there was no way that we were going to miss out on going out with our precious kids tonight. Instead, we showed our support by wearing our red. Oh, and the Utes won...GO UTES!!!

We went to Alli and Spencer's house tonight and went trick-or-treating with them and their cute little boy, Ryan, who was a LION! He even mastered making a ROARRRR sound...very scary!
Leah really didn't know what to make of the whole thing, but she just went along with Noah and held on to her bag with a death grip. She wouldn't let anyone touch that thing. She knew what was in it and she wasn't about to share with anyone! Little does she know...{wink, wink}.
OK...Noah is seriously the best big brother to Leah. He was constantly saying to Leah "Come on, cute little Ladybug"! Plus he was constantly fixing her head piece for her and holding her hand as they went from house to house. I love how close they are getting. Makes me smile :).

We hope that everyone had a fabulous Halloween and that you got lots and lots of yummy treats :). Until next year...

Carving Pumpkins

Noah has been looking forward to carving our pumpkins all week, so we made an event of doing it last night.

Noah was so interested in what we were doing when we were cutting them open...he was a little confused on what we were doing exactly.
I don't think he realized that carving pumpkins isn't all fun...especially when I gave him the task of cleaning out his pumpkin.
Obviously, there wasn't much for Leah to do and she did not like the fact that she was not being included. Therefore, she was doing a lot of this at my feet...
So I put her in her highchair and gave her her own chocolate cupcake to eat. There...all better :).

Noah spent a good amount of time drawing his face on his pumpkin, or he just had fun drawing on the pumpkin.

Then we tried to get a picture of the kids together by the finished product...that just didn't work. I seriously can't win when it comes to getting a posed picture of Leah. Oh well.

So, here are our finished pumpkins without all the chaos. Happy Halloween!!!

Utah Game with Noah

We decided to take Noah with us to the Utah game this past Saturday, and I can truly say that this little guy is a true UTE fan! Yes, it was rainy and a bit cold, but Noah was too focused on the game and everything that was going on around him to care about the weather. Thankfully, the game was an afternoon game and the weather cleared up by half time, which made me feel better because the last thing I wanted was for him to get sick or something. Anyway, he loved it and was SO incredibly good until the last 30 minutes when he started to get a little sleepy. I was a little irritated that the game went into overtime, and ofcourse we had to stay at that point to see if we won. Good thing we did WIN! Go UTES!! It's always nice when we win and that other team loses...at home! Anyway, I'm so glad that we took Noah and that he enjoyed himself...we might just take him again :).

The joy of trying to get a decent picture with a 3 year old...story of my life!
The only thing that Noah didn't like was the ANNOYING whistle of this guy behind us. It is seriously an ear piercing sound...I don't blame him for curling over and covering his ears!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy 70th Birthday!

I love this picture!

Doug and his mom dancing...how cute!
Doug and his mom when he graduated from the U of U in 2005.
We had a big celebration for Doug's mom, Karin, last weekend, which consisted of a luncheon and an open house. We had such a wonderful time spending the day with family and celebrating my wonderful mother-in-law. I really got so lucky to have married into such a wonderful family and to have such a wonderful and loving mother-in-law! She is also an amazing grandma to all of her grandchildren. Noah and Leah absolutely adore her and get so excited every time we go to her house! She goes out of her way, every time, to make sure that the children are given the attention that they need and want. She really is so great! We love you bunches!!


Karin and her sister, Aunt Kathy.
Karin and our little family.

Messy Girl

I love giving the children fresh chocolate chip cookies and just letting them devour them and get as messy as they want. They were pretty good :).

See here for some pictures of Noah getting messy when he was little.

The Scarecrow Festival

So, Doug and I decided to take the kids to the Scarecrow Festival last week, and we were sadly very disappointed. I don't want to make this post a total bummer, but it was a total waste of $20 {just my opinion}. Despite the fact that we were all beyond bored 95% of the time, we were able to get some pictures of the few things that we did enjoy :).

The KSL Helicopter was there, which was very cool for Noah to see. He LOVES anything that goes, so he was thrilled to go up and see the helicopter up close with Doug. We were also able to see it take off, which was pretty amazing, and a little bit scary!
Noah and Leah did enjoy playing this one game, which consisted of throwing balls into Slimers mouth.
OK, the games were pretty lame, but Noah was a good sport and tried them out. He pretty much spent just a few seconds at each one, as they just weren't very amusing to him.

We ended our trip by doing the Fishing Pond. Noah was happy to get some little trinkets to play with, although he wouldn't share them with Leah, which wasn't a good thing. Sharing is just something that he does not want to do...we're working on it.

Fuzzy Wuzzy

Last month Noah kept noticing all of these caterpillars in our front yard. We would go outside daily and watch them crawl around and Noah was SO fascinated with them. One night we came home and one of the caterpillars was in our garage, so we decided that we would put it in a mason jar with some food and watch it for a few days. Well, after a few days I realized how great Noah was towards our new pet...always giving it some attention, making sure that it was given some fresh food and grass everyday, and he named it...Fuzzy Wuzzy. Now, do you remember in Monsters Inc. when Mike addresses Sully about naming Boo..."Once you name it, you start getting attached to it!". Well, that's what happened...Noah became attached, and he didn't want to get rid of his new "pet". He even remembered that he was given a little container for his birthday that was made for catching bugs and insects and he made sure that Fuzzy Wuzzy was put in there instead of the mason jar. Well...after one month of taking care of Fuzzy Wuzzy, {which, after a little research on my part, is a woolly bear caterpillar that will hybernate during the cold months and then become a MOTH in the spring...I know...very interesting!} I convinced Noah that it was time to let him go so that he could live where he was supposed to live. He finally agreed and today we took Fuzzy to the park to let him go. Noah was a good sport and told Fuzzy Wuzzy to "Have a good life". Isn't that cute! All in all, having Fuzzy was a good experience...especially for my little Noah :).

Loving Books

I love that my kids love to read. It seems that lately they would rather read books then play with any of their toys, which is fine by me. Leah is at that stage where she wants to know what everything is and she has taken a liking to this book that has different themes and is filled with lots of random things. She brings me this book often and sits on my lap so that we can look through each and every page over and over again. I just love watching her learn and I know that reading books is really going to help her in that department :). Here's to reading!

A Little Party

Today we had a little party with my cousins and their kids. I am so thankful to have such wonderful cousins that are close in age with me...I really do feel like we have grown up togther, and now that we all have kids that are all the same age makes getting together even that much more fun! Good times!

Each of the children made their own little pizza. I think Noah had more fun making it than eating it!
I was able to meet my cousin's beautiful little girl for the first time...isn't she a doll!!
My Grandma Fowler was able to show Leah how to play the piano. What a picture perfect moment :).

Then we decorated, and devoured, some dang good cookies! Noah was resisting eating his cookie when I took this...as soon as I snapped this, he dove right in!

Leah had fun licking the frosting off of her cookie.
She look so guilty in this picture...makes me laugh.

3.5

Noah is officially 3 1/2 today! Love this boy more then words could ever describe and I am amazed at how much he has grown in the past 6 months. He is definitely a 3 year old and has been doing some interesting, and not so interesting, things lately. So, here's what my Noah has been up to lately...

• He is still into trucks, but lately he has added the new dimension of building. He builds things constantly and is always looking for new ways to create something. I love watching him build something and see his little mind at work.
• He is full of questions, and sometimes he asks me things that I don't even know the answer to! That is how deep some of his questions are. For example, he asked us the other day why his arms and legs were hard under his skin, so which we told him that his body if full of bones. Now he is obsessed with the bones in his body and wants to know the names of all of them. "What's the name of this bone? that bone?". I love seeing what he is going to ask next :).
• He is very imaginative lately. He will have pretend conversations with his stuffed animals or on his phone. I love listening to these little conversations...they are pretty interesting!
• He LOVES his bike...the one he got for his 3rd birthday. It's a two wheeler with training wheels, but he is so dang good at riding that thing that I'm thinking we should take the training wheels off and see how he does. He is going to be so dang sad when he can't ride his bike outside anymore...I don't look forward to that day.
• He has a pet, well, two pets. We have taken in two fuzzy bear caterpillars and I am amazed at how dedicated he is to feeding them and taking care of them. He reminds me every day that we need to feed them...I'm impressed.
• There was a point where he wouldn't watch a show on TV to save his life, but lately he has been drawn to some really fun shows and has actually learned quite a bit from them. No, I don't let him watch TV or movies all day long, but in the morning there are a few shows that he loves and looks forward to watching. He loves this show called Word World, and it really is the cutest little show. Even I enjoy watching it with him :).
• He has the most amazing memory. It's crazy! He remembers the tiniest of details...just like his daddy! He also knows how to get from our house to pretty much anywhere, so if we are going to Grandma's house and I go a way that he is not familiar with, then he gets so frustated. But, then he memorizes the alternative way to Grandma's and will NEVER forget it. I really am amazed of the things he remembers.
• He is obsessed with letters and talks about them constantly. I'm so grateful that he has this interest and wants to learn more about them :).
• Like I said, he has really started to test the waters with us and is constantly trying to persuade us let him do things that he knows he shouldn't be doing. I was not prepared for this...really! I won't go into details, but let me just say that if he doesn't get his way, then watch out! He will get so upset and to the point that it is hard to calm him down so that I can reason with him. Oh boy! Once he is calm and I can talk to him, all is well, but when I initially tell him that things aren't going to go his way...I just brace myself. We're working on it, but I just did not see this coming! He has thrown me a curve ball and we are still trying to figure it out. Oh my!
• He has, just recently, started to take really, really short naps. Now, he has always been an amazing sleeper, and he still knows that he needs to get some rest during the day, but 20-30 minute naps?!?! Really? I so am not looking forward to the day that he has no naps. He is just so much happier if he gets a good nap in. Like today for example...he didn't take a nap and was the BIGGEST grump from 5:00 to bedtime! I really don't like being around him when he's like this...and then add in the factor when he doesn't get his way...WATCH OUT! Seriously, I thought we were past the terrible twos! I'm beginning to believe that three is the NEW two.
• He LOVES music and I think that listenig to music is very calming to him. He loves The Killers, just like Doug and I, as well as Coldplay, Metro Station, Francis England {love her...she writes children's songs and her songs are so much fun, as well as very calming}, Barenaked Ladies, and the list goes on.
• He is so dang funny and he says the greatest things sometimes. I love it when he says something just to get a smile out of us. Love it!

Well, there's some highlights on our boy.

Noah ~ We love you to the moon and back. You are simply the BEST!

Lip Biter

Leah's a lip biter, just like her Daddy. Whenever she is nervous or is really trying to focus on something, she will bite inside of her lip. It makes me giggle every time because she looks exactly like Doug when she does it.


I just had to add this picture...look how cute she looks on the little red tricycle?!?! She's getting so big...I didn't expect her to fit on this bike so soon. Wow.

Sewing

Being creative is my outlet. Sometimes I don't feel like I have the time to do the things that I, me, Angie, enjoy doing. Yes, I love being a Mom, and it is my top priority, but when I have the time to be creative...it feels so good! I really do LOVE to sew...love it! It is so calming to me and I feel like I am just lost in my own little world when I sit down at my sewing machine. And the satisfaction that I feel when I complete a project...it's great! That said, I have been doing a TON of sewing lately :). Once I start, I just can't stop! I am in the process of making my first actual quilt, which is coming along nicely and I will post some pictures of it soon. And what's even more exciting is that this quilt is for me! I don't usually make stuff for myself, so I'm excited to make something that I get to use :).

I also made this cute purse a few weeks ago and I am just in love with it. I love the colors...I am loving orange lately and I just fell in love with this fabric. I wonder what I am going to make next ;).

Writing Letters

Noah has been very interested in learning his letters recently and he is constantly asking me "What letter is this?", "What does an 'L' look like?", etc... He knows most of his letters and he can write a good amount of them too, so I wanted to find a workbook that would make it fun for him to learn write his letters. I gave Noah this workbook today and he spent close to ONE HOUR tracing the letters over and over again. The cool thing about this book is that you use a dry erase marker and then just wipe it clean when you are done...I love it, and so does he :). Here's to learning!