Happy Halloween

It's been a crazy few days. I am a horrible planner and waited until Thursday to start Noelle's Halloween costume so Thursday and Friday were a mad dash to get that done. Today we had fun at a birthday party, followed by me in bed with a crazy headache so Nick and Noelle got to go pick out pumpkins together. They came home and carved them and then we headed over to my parents for dinner and trick or treating. My aunt and uncle came also and my cousin Matthew was Noelle couldn't wait to go out together. We borrowed a costume last minute for Owen (thank you Scott's!) and had a blast. Noelle was queen frostine from candy land (her favorite game), Owen was a chicken and Matt was a ninja! Now the kids are sleeping and the men (plus Janelle) are playing poker to wrap up the night. Sorry my pictures are all out of order, I don't think it matter's enough to fix it :)

Woah! Here's the last 8 months!

Nick is sitting over my shoulder nagging me to update this blog. I had given up on actually ever doing it again but I was alone in my thought that that would be ok to do. I guess I should recognize that there are people who want to know whats going on in our lives that aren't on facebook :) So here's a hopefully short catch up on life since Owen was born.


Owen! He is 8 months. He is a handful! He demands a lot more effort then Noelle did but isn't an unhappy baby, just not very independent. He's very social so he likes to be interacting with someone all the time. He is crawling and has been for 6 or 7 weeks. As soon as he started crawling he started pulling up and soon after that he was cruising the couch. He will now go from the couch to the rocking chair or to a person sitting on the floor and every once and a while he lets go for a split second and will stand on his own. He will also walk across a room using whatever will move smoothly enough to be a walker. He loves to snuggle and I have really enjoyed the different dynamic with having my mommies boy.


Noelle! Noelle turned three in July. I thought that we really got lucky because we didn't experience the "terrible two's" with her at all but I thought a little too fast. Three has been a challenge. She has decided that pushing boundaries is an excellent game. But despite her eagerness to test defiant waters she is such a joy to have around. She LOVES to sing and I am blessed with everything from rocking out to our new Barlow Girls CD in the car (she knows more words then I do!) to her quietly soothing Owen with a round of twinkle twinkle little star. Our new favorite activity has been AWANA. It's girls night for us since we leave the boys at home and I help lead her cubbies group. Her ability to memorize scripture is amazing and I am happy that she is hiding God's word in her heart at such a young age.


Nick! Nick is working hard at Hardy Diagnostics (http://www.hardydiagnostics.com/). After working there just six months as a maintenance tech he was promoted to head of the plates department. The production of "plates" (petri dishes filled with various medical 'media') is Hardy's main source of production and he is now running the department. It's a steep learning curve and has been a challenge including working a lot more hours and taking some leadership courses but I think that he feels like he is actually making a difference in his department and employees which is a great thing. He has also slowly but surely been learning to play the bass and hopefully soon will join the worship team on Sunday mornings.

As for me, I am just running behind my kids, panting, trying to keep up! Being a housewife and mother has become a whole different story with two. I really have to keep in mind that it's only by God's grace that I keep my sanity and it's only his love working through me that will mold my children into what they need to be. I can only hope that someday I will almost kinda resemble the wife and mother that is described in Proverbs 31.

As a family we have had a lot happen. We have moved to a new apartment, Nick and I celebrated five years, we had an awesome trip to Disney, the kids and I got to go to Oregon, we have lost great friends to far away places and we have made new friends through a new sunday school class and new bible study. We have the privilege of spending Monday night's with my extended family for family dinner ever week, we get to be involved in the planning of my baby sisters wedding to Collin and we discover new ways to be a family every day!

So here are our favorite snapshots since the last blog. Hopefully with Nick's encouragement I might write a blog more often then every 8 months ;)

19 Days in the life...

Owen is 2 1/2 weeks old and we are having a fun and adventurous time with two kids. Owen seems to be like his sister so far, a pretty easy baby. It hasn't been long so he has plenty of time to change that but we are hoping he won't. Noelle is adjusting OK, she is her normal self most of the time but when she gets upset about something it's pretty dramatic these days. Potty training, sleeping through the night, and naps have kinda gone out the window but we realize that it's a big adjustment for her to share her parents so much so we are trying to be very understanding during this new phase in her life.

I'm feeling better every day and we are getting out of the house a good amount, but not too much. We have been lucky in having family and friends come from out of town lately and are happy to show off our new little one. I think the best way to sum up the past couple weeks is with pictures so here you go....


It's hard to get a picture of the two of them together. She loves him a lot but wants to take her own pictures because she seems him get a lot of camera time. She likes to hold him but is usually done after about 10 seconds so this was a lucky shot.
Playing with mommy's sunglasses.
My favorite sunglasses and I lost them :( Target doesn't have them anymore either!

Taking a sun bath to help with the little jaundice that he had.

Meeting cousin Andrew for the first time. He lasted longer then Noelle does but got a little nervous and gave him back pretty quick!

Ashley on the other hand could hold him for hours and loves to talk about how cute he is.

Just a cute face.

Noelle playing drums on her head in the background, any chance to get them in the same picture!

Looking back at these pictures makes me realize why EVERYONE kept telling me that my color was bad. I heard it a lot and I realize now I was pretty pale!

In his sweet outfit from Granny Another very lucky picture, I like this one a lot.

Noelle showing us her chicken nugget! She's very animated these days because she has to work to get visitors to pay attention to her.

Sleeping in my arms.

Cuddles with Mommy.

Sporting his hospital shirt.

His first smile caught on camera! I'm not sure why the photo posted sideways but I don't care enough to fix it!

More smiles!

Silly face

Tired face

Really funny face....kinda reminds me of my Grandpa!

Putting her face in for some camera time.

The 24th was Nick's 27th birthday. We were lucky that my Aunt and Uncle and two of their kids were here from out of state so we had LOTS of family come over to my parents for cake and ice cream.

Family picture!

Being silly with her daddy.

The card that Noelle and I made Nick

I got this shirt for Nick, for father's day, when I was pregnant with NOELLE! It's about time I put some hand prints on it....

Having some awake time with Daddy

Showing us he's hungry by trying to latch onto Nick's nose.

My Dad has insisted on taking both kids up on stage with him their first Sunday to church. He likes to show off, I'm sad I didn't get a better picture!

Tiny feet

I LOVE this picture, might make his head look a little big but I love his sweet sleeping face.

I have the same habit with him that I did with Noelle, some nursing and sleeping all snuggled up with me on the couch and then when I need my hands I just plop them down on the couch next to me. I like always keeping an eye on my napping baby and they really look cute all curled up on the couch.

This is my all time favorite picture. I had to bribe her with chocolate to lay next to him and smile but I would do it again in a heart beat!

It didn't last long, this shot was just a couple seconds later.

Our last family dinner before my Tim and Joyce went back to Kentucky. Noelle played skip-bo with her cousins. Here she is with Matty-B. She was excited about being people's "partner" for the game.

My sweet girl!

This is Owen's official first bath. He had a quick one in the hospital and we've washed him off quickly in the sink but this was the first time we got out the baby bath.

Noelle did a really good job keeping him warm, pouring water on his belly.

At first he was ok but he quickly decided he didn't like the bath.

Washing his peach fuzz hair.

Another picture that posted sideways, he was pretty pissed by the end of his bath.

Post bath snuggles with Daddy.

Out of the blue the other day Noelle told me she wanted to wear a hat. None of us wear hats that often so I was suprised.

But she looked stinking cute in it!!!

Nick's best friend from high school and his wife are visiting again. They are in the air force so we see them about once a year. They had a son a couple months ago so this was the first time for us to see him and them to see Owen. They swapped babies right away and posed for a picture.

Another sweet sleeping baby picture.

Holding onto mommies hand.

The other day at my parents house I took a nap and nick took Noelle out to play in the sour grass. He took some great pictures of her. I'm always amazed at how beautiful our daughter is!!!!

And how silly she can look with the help of her Daddy!

We are feeling very grateful lately. God has provided us with a wonderful family and very recently a way to take care of the family. Nick was hired on Friday with a great company in town. This is their website www.hardydiagnostics.com He will be a production equipment technician, maintaining and repairing production equipement. He is really excited about working with his hands and learning new things. It's a great company and we are very grateful to our friend from Sunday School who works there and helped Nick get in the door. God is good and it's been a good experience for us to remember to lean on him for provision instead of ourselves!!!

Keeping checking back for more!