Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!!!

This year has come and gone faster than I ever imagined possible! It was a wonderful year, and I look forward to the many fun adventures yet to come in 2010!

We spent this afternoon with the family at Andrea and John's house eating tons of food and sledding! They have a HUGE hill right next to their house, so we got in our snow gear and went to have some fun in the snow. It was a beautiful day...we couldn't have asked for better weather. Yes, it was a bit chilly, but the blue skies made it all worth while :). It was a great day to end this year.

Leah was ready beyond excited when we got her all geared up to go and play in the snow. She was only out there for about 20 minutes, but boy did she have a good time! Plus, look how dang cute she looks!
My Noah...he's so funny!

Alex, Alli, and Ryan...isn't that view amazing!! I love it!

My boys.

Connor and Andrea all bundled up and enjoying the fun!

Noah thoroughly enjoyed going down the hill with Doug and would ask to go again after each ride. That's my boy!

I just have to add this for giggles. I try...really I do to get a decent picture of these two together. Noah is cooperative, but Leah will NOT have ANYTHING to do with it. I love look on Noah's face...it's like he's saying "Mom, seriously, I am SO sick of this!". BUT, I will keep trying...I will!

Merry Christmas ~ 2009

We hope that everyone had a fabulous Christmas this year. We spent Christmas Eve with my parent's and had a wonderful night. Christmas morning was full of excitement and happy faces. We spent most of Christmas day with Doug's family eating food, opening gifts, and just hanging out together. It was a wonderful Christmas for us and the children this year...I wouldn't have changed a thing. Here's a little recap {left to right}...

1. My parents gave me a little box full of keepsakes from my family. I got some jewelry from my mom and both of my Grandmas, as well as some little things from when I was a baby {my birth certificate, hair from my first haircut, etc...}. It is a wonderful gift that I will always treasure!
2. The usual family picture :).
3. Noah got a Leap Frog Scribble and Write, which he loves.
4. Leah riding her new ride-on toy with her new purse in hand. She is very protective of her new toy and rarely lets Noah ride it around...it's actually pretty amusing to watch her try to get him off of it. The joys of watching the children share their new toys.
5. Noah opening one of his many new books. He couldn't be more thrilled to have more books to add to his collection.
6. Leah putting lipstick on Doug...too cute!
7. They also got some new musical instruments. Seriously, what was I thinking to give this gift...my poor ears! Oh well, at least they like it :).
8. Noah playing with his new castle, which Leah likes to constantly destroy. I'm becoming a pro at putting that thing back together.
9. Noah finally stopped to smile for the camera...he was SO busy playing with his new toys. I don't really blame him :).
10. Ryan showing off how yummy our Christmas breakfast was at Steff's house...it was SO incredibly good!
11. One of the favorite toys was this little shopping cart. Noah and Leah can't get enough of it! I'm thinking I might have to invest in another one...they both like it that much and of course they both want it at the same time. We'll see what happens.
12. Leah opening her last gift...Mrs. Potato Head. She was really into unwrapping her gifts this year and would spend forever tearing off each piece of paper.

Christmas Wishes

Together

These two are together all of the time, and, no, sometimes it's not all fun and games, but lately they have truly enjoyed being close to one another. It makes me smile to see them cuddling on the couch or having them both stand on the chair to watch the popcorn pop. And all the time they are chatting back and forth while giggling...it really is so cute!

Santa

Yet another classic Santa picture...

Noah had no problem sitting on Santa's lap, although he wouldn't open his eyes to look at him! Silly boy! He talked to Santa and told him what he wants for Christmas, all with his eyes glued shut. And, nope, he wouldn't even open them for our yearly picture. I guess it's just another classic picture...remember last years picture? It was pretty good too.

And, no, Leah didn't even get close to sitting on Santa's lap. When she saw him from her stroller she started to freak out! Can you imagine how that picture would have turned out? Lets see what happens next year...

Annual Fowler Family Christmas Party

We had our Christmas Party with my dad's side of the family this past weekend, and I am amazed at how much our family has grown in the past few years. There are so many little kids running around...I just love it!

My Grandma Fowler is incredibly organized and she buys a gift for everyone in the family...from the littlest to the biggest...we ALL get something from Grandma. And she always put so much thought into what to give everyone. It's always fun to see what everyone is going to get :).

After we opened gifts, we went to the church and did some crafts and ate some more yummy food. Noah is all over doing arts and crafts, so he thoroughly enjoyed himself. Leah had fun running around and getting lost...I wasn't surprised. She won't sit still to save my life! It was a good day and I was glad to get together with ALL my cousins and their sweet families! Good times!

Everyone trying to fit in the living room for the gifts.
Noah was so sweet to help Leah open her present.
Noah decorating his Santa...
...and gingerbread cookie.

Bath Time

Every night after dinner, I say "Who wants to get in the tubby?", to which both children start freaking out with excitement and dash upstairs. I think that I like tubby time just as much as they do...we all have so much fun. I think it is actually one of my favorite things to do with them each day...good times! I mean, just look at those happy faces! Talk about cute!

First Day

Noah doesn't start preschool until next Fall, but I really wanted to put him in some kind of class that would prepare him for when that day comes. Our city has a great Recreational Center that offers tons of great classes for kids, so I signed him up for the "Kid Class", which is a class for the 3 1/2 to 5 year olds that meets once a week for 1 1/2 hours. The class has a theme each week...and NO moms allowed! Oh boy...I was thinking that this was going to be harder on me than Noah, and in a way it was. I've been preping Noah by telling him that he was going to go to a fun class and that he was going to play with kids his age, and he was excited about that, but he wasn't excited about the part where I don't stay with him. The poor little guy was so confused, and I don't blame him one bit. Noah and I are tight...we do everything together...really! I feel weird when he's not around, and I'm sure that the same goes for him.

Well, this morning he was excited to go, mainly because I was acting so excited about it {you know...I was just keeping his spirits high}. I went to drop him off and he was a little hesitant to go, but he wasn't crying {thank goodness!} and he finally sat down and gave me a hug goodbye.

Then I left. I couldn't help but stay in the hall for a few minutes and check on him, and once I felt good and knew that he was OK, I left. Just me and Leah. It was weird...really weird. And once I got to the car I started to cry...I wasn't sad, I was just having a moment. I have never left him like that before, and I know that it was good for him to participate in a class like this, but a part of me just broke down. That's normal, right? I'm just realizing that he is growing up and that he doesn't always need me. A part of me thinks that I need him more then the other way around. He's my little buddy...he's my little side kick...he's my little partner every day. And I'm his, and he tells me every day that I'm his buddy and that I'm nice and that I'm his best friend...he makes me feel good like that. He really is the sweetest little guy and I'm going to miss not having him around every day when he actually starts school.

I think that this class, that meets ONCE a week, is a good prep for both Noah AND me. Yes, I know I'm going to be a cry baby on his first real day of school, but that's OK. It really is just so crazy to me how fast these little ones grow up.

I was there early to pick Noah up from his class, and he really did have such a fun time. He told me all about it and how he had made friends. It made me feel so good that he was happy. And he was SO thrilled to show me his little craft that he made...a snowman to hang on our tree. I love this kid...he really is amazing :).

N-O-A-H

Check it out...Noah can write his name! He did this all by himself, without any help. I'm such a proud Mommy :).

Oh Christmas Tree

The tree is up and the house is decorated...we are officially ready for Christmas!

I usually try to put the tree up the day after Thanksgiving, but I was way sick this past weekend, so we didn't get around to it until yesterday. Noah had SO much fun helping me decorate the tree, and Leah had fun taking off every ornament that we put on the tree. Noah wasn't too happy about that, but what do you do? She's one!

I love the feeling in our house right now...I LOVE Christmas! This really is my favorite time of year!

Happy.

That smile makes me happy.

New Moon

Yes, I was one of the many that went and saw New Moon at midnight last night. Yes, I am a little tired today, but I was so worth it! I was so impressed and thought that it was put together so well. It was perfect. Every moment. I love, love, love, LOVED it!

The Dentist

I took Noah to the dentist for the first time yesterday. I was nervous, really nervous, to how he was going to behave, but I had absolutely no reason. Well, it wasn't a completely perfect trip from start to finish, but all in all he did an amazing job. I talked to him about going to the dentist for an entire week and he got to the point where he was excited to go...really! But once we got there he kept saying "I'm scared...I'm scared of the dentist", but then I realized that he was just saying it to say it. You should have seen the smile behind the words...it was kind of cute. Well, they called him back and he let them take pictures of his teeth without a fuss, then he let them clean his teeth and he did everything that he was asked to do. I think he was mostly happy because he got to watch his favorite show, Finding Nemo, the entire time.

The Results:

NO CAVITIES {yay}

The dentist said that he has beautiful teeth, but he is bound to have braces {sniff, sniff}. I knew this, Doug knew this...our children are all bound to have a mess in their mouth thanks to their parents...you're welcome! Oh well, there's nothing we can do about that now. All I care about right now is that he has nice, healthy teeth, and he does. That puts a big smile on Mommy's face :).

I'm just so thankful that the entire experience was a good one for Noah. Until next time...in 6 months!

Watching his movie while he gets his teeth cleaned.
Check out those pearly whites :). I just love this boy...he's the best!

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.