short, but sweet

My roommate from college came Saturday afternoon and stayed over night. Her parents came for a wedidng, so she and her sweet little baby, Hudson, joined them. It was a short, but sweet visit.

They made it in time for Noah's birthday party. Afterwards, we went on a brief walk...then later went over to my parents so she could catch the ending of one of the World Series games (I didn't even realize that was taking place...her and I are similar on many things...but NOT the knowledge, nor the passion for baseball..specifically the Cardinals!).

Hudson...what a good baby! He and Noah are 8 months apart, exactly.

I wish we could go on walks routinely...too bad Iowa and Kansas aren't closer.

An attempt at the boys' picture. 

Thanks for making the trip Ranee.

I'm so glad I got to snuggle with you a little bit, Hudson...

and glad to catch up in person with you, Ranee.

Feel free to do this again..anytime!

First Birthday Bear Party

For whatever reason, we have called Noah, Noah Bear since he was very little.

In the first several months he had moments of being as grouchy as a grizzly bear...but overall, he's been as cuddly, playful, and happy as a teddy bear.

We had his first birthday party on his actual birthday.

We had mostly "bear" things for snacks...

goldfish, honeycombs, swedish fish, gummy bears, and teddy grahams

a mixture of marshmallows, chocolate chips, and teddy grahams

rainbow fruit kabobs with fruit dip

 chicken/pepper/pineapple and salmon/lemon grilled kabobs

and of course cake and ice cream...a teddy bear and a number 1 cake for Noah.

My sweet little birthday boy.

Dad with Noah and Hudson (my college roommate's 4 month old...today!)

We had quite the crew that came to celebrate...

Both sets of Grandparents, Great Gpa/Gma Hershberger, Great Gpa Bergey, Paul C. (Brenda was out of town), Sam, Brent and the kids (Alyssa had a prior commitment), Mitch, Ranee and Hudson.

Noah has an aversion to textures...including frosting.

I really thought he would want to smash it, or at least want to taste it. 

It took awhile and some prompting, but he at least touched it.

I don't think he ever really ate the cake part, he just licked a bit of the frosting...and mostly just smeared it around and put it in his hair. A new flavor of hair gel :)

Lastly, we opened up presents....

he is thankful for all the wonderful goodies he got!

Thank you for joining us in celebrating our little man's birthday. 

Happy Birthday to you Noah...and many more.

Noah [one year]

Noah Bear you turned one year old!

What a big boy!

It's hard to believe one year ago you were only 6 lb 6 oz...a little bundle in our arms.

You are now 19 lb 6 oz, and so close to walking on your own (you took a couple steps by yourself just a couple days ago!). 

You climb, crawl, and get into just about anything and everything!

You love your brother SO much. 

He can make you laugh so easy. The two of you are very funny together sometimes. You make sounds back and forth than giggle so hard. Oh, it makes my heart happy.

You love to be outside.

We go on walks, you like to look all around.

It is funny how timid you are about things with different textures....this may be food, different types of toys, grass, leaves, etc. Oh, you can make some faces about these! But it also works for having you stay in a spot for a little bit...you don't want to touch anything to move.

 

You have slept a solid 8-9 hours in a row! HOORAY! It has yet to be a running trend, but that's alright, we're getting there :) You are a good eater for the most part. You definitely know how to bat your hand at something if you don't want it...or shovel it in your mouth a little too well if you like it.

You haven't said any words yet...but you can babble and jabber a long story worth. I'm sure one of these days something that is recognizable will come out. Every now and then, it sure sounds like you try to make the noises into something...but I think that might be us just putting 'words in your mouth.'

You are getting such a sweet personality.

So lovable. So playful.

You are overall such a happy little guy!

You LOVE balls.

You actually can throw them quite well!

You love your mama..and you can give the best snuggles.

(You love your daddy too...just to be clear.)

You are growing up so fast. Hard for me to believe that you are growing out of the baby phase and into being a toddler. I love you, my little pumpkin.

We are so blessed to have you in our lives Noah. 

I am so glad God gave us such a healthy, happy little boy to join our other one.

You may add more mess and more noise...but you my dear have added even more joy too!

I excited to see what this next year holds for you Noah Benjamin.

Botanica { fall 13 }

Ben had a day off from school due to parent teacher conferences earlier this week. 

Crazy to think, last year when he had his day off we had Noah that day!

We decided to go to Wichita....eat at Freddy's and then went to Botanica. It wasn't as colorful as some years...but still lovely all the same.

Both boys did very well...Noah cooperated for some pre one year birthday pictures :) He is so funny about textures. We sat him in the mulched area...and he didn't want to move because he didn't like the feel of it...which worked out fine to take his picture :)

Ahh...I love fall.

Fall Family Night

We had a perfect fall evening to be outside yesterday.

Brent and Alyssa's family and us went over to Mom and Dad's for a campfire.

Dad making some roasting sticks

After supper, we bobbed for apples. I can't remember ever doing this...it was entertaining and refreshing!

Brent...

Dad...

Maddox...

Ava...

Kade...

Ben...

he was too fast, my picture was a big blur. He was like an animal!!

Christian...

he kind of skipped the bobbing part, and just took the apple.

After our apples, we made s'mores. 

I made mine with a Mounds candy bar inside, instead of plain Hershey's....yum!

Ms. Ava, who looks all grown up enjoying her GIANT marshmallow s'more sandwich.

Afterwards, we went inside to decorate and/or carve pumpkins. 

Fun, fall, family festivities. 

The letter of the week at preschool was just F...."fitting" huh:) okay, too much.