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Asleep & Awake

Noelle asleep in her carseat on the way home from Worship rehearsal on Wednesday night. Since the rehearsal didn't start for me until 8 pm, I just dressed her in her footie pajamas and put her coat on top. She was so cute playing in the Church nursery in her pajamas! Also, Chris went to get her while I was still rehearsing. Some of you know that one of my favorite things is seeing her at the back of the Worship Center, running up the aisle to see me with that big grin on her face saying, "Mama!" :o) (I've got to get a picture or video of that before she stops doing it!) Of course, I knew she'd probably fall asleep in the car afterward. This was taken in our driveway when we got home. I was really grateful to be able to get her in the house, take off her coat, change her diaper, and lay her down in her crib to sleep all without waking her up!

By contrast, here's a picture of her some other day this week while we were out running errands before dinner. (Sure does get dark early these days!) She was trying to look around the camera that I was holding in front of my face.

I can't remember what I did to make her laugh...I'm sure it was something ridiculous that made the other shoppers in the parking lot wonder about the "crazy lady." :o)

letters

Here's Noelle playing with her Fridge Phonics game, which she loves! She was too busy playing to look at the camera until I started singing the "ABC" song...which finally got her interested enough to look up for a few seconds! Sometimes we play a game with her after dinner where we put the magnetic letters on the kitchen table with the back (blank) side showing. We turn around the letter, she names it, we say "Yay!" :o) This is also fun with Earth's Best vanilla letter cookies.

Thanks!

Thanks to everyone who gave comments for kiddie travel on an airplane. We appreciate your help! When the time comes to travel with Noelle on a plane, we'll let you know how it goes! :o)

Your Advice

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! Sorry we don't have any pictures from Thanksgiving festivities. We were too busy running around after Noelle, I guess. :o) We celebrated Thanksgiving at Jim & Rebecca's house this year (Chris' brother & sister-in-law).

Now to the topic of this post: Your Advice. We have not traveled with Noelle on an airplane yet. However, there may be some trips in the coming year. So, I thought I'd go ahead and ask for your advice.

What have you (or your friends) found to be helpful when traveling by airplane with toddlers or little kids?

Please share your comments. Thanks! :o)

"The 7 Game"

Hello everyone! I've been tagged by my sweet friend Angie to play "The 7 Game". I'm supposed to tell 7 things about myself that most people don't know. Hmm...well...how about some things that some people who read this blog won't know...

1. I can sing songs in 6 languages. That's English, Latin, Spanish, German, French, Swahili.

2. I sang with a Choir that was kicked out of the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, France. Ok...so it wasn't really that bad. :o) We were told at the last minute that we couldn't use their pipe organ, which limited the songs we could do a capella (without instruments). We sang all of the classical songs we could, and then sang some "spirituals". After singing, "Every Time I Feel the Spirit", we were told that our concert was over. Too peppy for them, I guess!

3. I was a BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) discussion leader for 6 years.

4. I swam with dolphins and fed stingrays from my hand in Cozumel, Mexico while on a Cruise.

5. I was born in Germany.

6. I was on a lot of missions teams in college and graduate school. Did a lot of construction work, leading music, and working with children. The last missions trip I went on was in 2002. For this trip, I was on a Worship Team leading music for a retreat for full-time missionaries (and their kids) that was held in Malta (Paul was shipwrecked there...see Acts). Chris and I were both on this team, and this is how we first got to know each other.

7. I play the flute...but only for myself these days!

Let's see...I'm supposed to "tag" seven people to participate in this game.

I "tag" these lovely people:

1. Beth
2. Janet
3. Shannon
4. Sherri
5. Merrielle
6. Amy
7. Emily

Fire Station

Last night, we went to an Annual Pig Pickin' for the PBC Tech, Rhythm, and Worship Teams. Phil (who does most of the cooking) is a volunteer fireman, so this event is held at his fire station each year. Here's a picture of Noelle before we left the house...riding on her own "vehicle." Something about this picture makes her seem more like a "big girl" than a toddler to me.

I wish we had taken more pictures last night. Noelle had sooo much fun running around with the other kids and playing near the fire trucks. We also got to see a lot of dear friends. Too busy enjoying ourselves and chasing the girl around! Just know that we had great food, great fun, and great fellowship! :o)

Wild Hair

I think every Mom and Dad has earned the right to do funny things to their kid's hair in the bathtub, solely for the purpose of their own entertainment! So go ahead, take the "bathtub challenge"...we'd love to see some silly hairdos from your kids too! :o)

It always helps picture taking efforts to have Daddy come in and make silly sounds!

"Eh-pih! Eh-pih!!"

Noelle's favorite silly sound is Daddy's "elephant" noise.

Here she is trying to imitate Daddy's elephant. :o)

Run & Read

Noelle loves to run...especially if someone is chasing her with the universal favorite toddler phrase, "I'm gonna get you!" or sneaking around the corner and saying, "BOO!" :o)

She also loves her books...being read to and doing some "reading" of her own. She doesn't really read, but she enjoys naming the capital letters that she finds.

Observation Park

On Saturday, 11/8, we went to the Observation Park at the airport. Toddlers are so funny! You never know which things will interest them most when you go somewhere. In the pictures below, you will see some of the things she was interested in during this family outing:

Playground

We found a new playground last week, and enjoyed the fabulous unseasonably warm weather!

Greg & Tina

On Nov. 1, we spent a fun afternoon with Greg & Tina (friends from PBC Worship Ministry), and 2 of their 3 kids. They were coming to a park out in our part of the county for a birthday party. We met them there and played with the kiddies for awhile. This picture shows Tina and sweet little baby Emily. So cute! Amazing to think that Noelle used to be this size!!

"Dahling...after playing at the park, we went to Panera for lunch." :o)

"Peek-a-boo!"

Fall Festival

We took our little Auburn Cheerleader to the Church Fall Festival on Friday night.

Noelle loved the inflatable slide!!

Going down the slide with Daddy.

Her expression tells it all.

"Daddy, can we do it again?"

In the background, you can see Erin and Brennan.
He was wearing a Georgia Bulldogs outfit, but we'll forgive him. :o)

Gotta love this look of joy!

Hat!

Noelle likes to put things on her head and say, "Hat!" lately. It can be just about anything...books, food, boxes, her sippy cup. Today, it was a metal mixing bowl in the kitchen. :o)

Pumpkin Antics

"Hey Mommy, I was wondering..."

"Can I eat this? "

"Hmm...that didn't work...maybe I should try something else..."

Pumpkin Friends

On Wednesday, we met Erin & Brennan at the Farmer's Market. It was a quick trip, but we enjoyed the nice weather, pumpkins, good prices on produce, and free samples of apples for the kiddies. As you can see, Noelle was ready to be up and moving from the moment we sat her down for this picture.

Noelle should take lessons from Brennan on how to sit still for a picture!

BIG pumpkins! We won't be bringing one of these home!

Baby Bathtub

Ok, so I know that Noelle is too big for this baby bathtub. We'll be "retiring" it soon...but before we do...just wanted to show you how much she LOVES it!

Gotta love her silly expressions! :o)

Hooray for bath time! :o)

Park

We took Noelle to the park before dinner on Monday. It was a lot of fun for us, because over the weekend she finally kicked this cold that she had for about 2 weeks. It was nice to see her back to normal. :o)

Here she is on the bridge.

Look at the tongue sticking out as she concentrates.
She likes climbing these stairs to one of the slides.

Noelle loves to say the numbers 1-10 and her ABCs.
So, she loves this wall under the slide! On one side there are numbers...

and on the other side...the ABCs. :o)

Our Little Pumpkin

October 2007

(7 months old)

October 2008
(19 months old)

"I like this one!"

"Pretty flowers...can I play with them?"

Ok...time to do something else...Noelle has decided to pick apart the Mums. :o)

Noelle loved playing with the letters on this sign!

She had a big grin on her face...touching and naming each letter on the row she could reach. :o)