I’m back!

I have been in a MAJOR blog funk lately! I love reading blogs every day, but for some reason I just got burnt out on actually writing on my own. But I know I will miss reading about our family in years to come, so onward we go! :)

We have had a lot going on since I last posted so in an attempt to catch up, I’m going to post iPhone pictures!

Of course, we have been geocaching!

Noah had a parade at school for the 4th of July and he got to ride his Thomas. He was SO excited!

My fabulous friend (and neighbor!) has been keeping Noah for me when he’s out of school. Noah LOVES Natalie! I’m sure the ice cream dates have something to do with it!

Brad went on his yearly Honduras mission trip (the second time this year) in July. Noah and I had to rough it out and eat McDonald’s by ourselves!

Noah discovered an affinity for sour gummy worms. He gets this from his Tay Tay.

Sunday afternoon naps with my peanut. Which reminds me, Noah has started to call me “Mommy-Lou” now. Where he came up with this, I do not know. But it’s super cute. And kinda weird.

We have been looking for a new house. Our current house is a great starter home, but we are ready for our forever home. And when I say forever, I mean the house we can raise our kids in and stay there until they are grown! In this picture, we were looking at a house and Noah was roaming the back yard. He suddenly turned around to me and said, “Mommy! Take my picture of me at my new house!” So I did! (This is not where we are moving…just in case you were wondering!)

I have been wanting to try some healthy new recipes and I found a recipe on Pinterest for a lighter version of PFChang’s chicken lettuce wraps. These were pretty tasty!

Bella. My super spoiled first born.

I took Noah to the Children’s Hands-On Museum. He had so much fun! His favorite part was this ‘hospital room’. He loved playing with the ‘hospital food’.

A few weekends ago, Brad and I travelled over to Atlanta to visit our best friends and we took Noah to the aquarium. He had fun but he wasn’t as interested in the fish as I thought he would be. He was just happy to run around the building. He did love watching the otters and the dolphin show. We bought him a stuffed otter and dolphin from the gift shop and he is still sleeping with them!

While we were in Atlanta, we ate at The Varsity. We had never been before. It was packed out (I’m told it always is!), but we still enjoyed it! That’s my friend, Jenn!

On our way home from Atlanta, Noah got a strawberry shake from DQ. He thought he was so big getting to have a shake all by himself! He did SO GOOD on the car rides to and from Atlanta!

This past weekend, my sister went to the beach so we happily agreed to feed her animals…including the chickens! Noah said, “I need my BOOTS!”

Alrighty. I think that about catches us up! Hopefully I’ll quit being such a slacker and I won’t get so behind again! If you made it through that whole post, gold star for you!

Just a sangin’

One of the biggest blessings God has given me is the privilege to be able to lead worship on the praise team. I really can’t even find the words to describe it, but I have moments when I am singing and worshipping when I just feel like He is looking down and has the biggest smile on His face. I love using the gifts He has given me to glorify Him and do His will.

So my husband is in Honduras for the week. I am doing a LOT better than I did on his first trip. But Noah and I are missing him like CRAZY! :) I sang in a trio yesterday at church and Brad was disappointed that he wouldn’t get to hear it. I asked my friend to video the song with my super-high-quality iPhone camera (insert sarcasm here). Anyway, for our family that lives out of town or for anyone that just wants to see, here ya go!

Swimming

Over the holiday weekend, Brad and I took Noah swimming at his parent’s house. Noah likes the water, but normally he WILL NOT let go of you once you are in the pool. Even with his puddle jumper on, he is just scared to let go. For some reason, this time he lost all his fear and started swimming by himself! After watching his cousins, he even started jumping off the side of the pool all by himself! He is so proud of himself and we are proud too!

Now his favorite thing to do is watch those videos on my phone over and over and over again! :)

#20 – Check!

Last night I hosted Bunco (for the second time this month!) at my house. This is probably going to sound a little coo coo, but I don’t love inviting people over to my house. I always feel like my house isn’t clean enough or decorated cute or blah blah blah. I always want to just get this or that project finished before I invite people over. I’m a little cray cray, I realize this. :)  So in an effort to try to branch out and suppress my type A personality, I put this item on my list.

#20 on my 101 in 1001 list is to host a party or get-together at our house!

It was lots of fun, even if we were crammed in like sardines!

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This past weekend, we celebrated Father’s Day by………..going geocaching! Duh!

We went to the Moundville Archaeological Park. The picture above and below are on top of the highest mound there! Noah loved being up high. Mommy did not love having to carry him half way up the mound. :)

#82 – Check!

#82 on my 101 in 1001 list is to buy myself five new shirts!

Ta da! I think my collage making skills are improving! :)

Potty news!!

Noah has something he wants to tell everyone!

Last night he went #2 in the potty!!!!

And this morning, he asked to put his big boy undies on! He was SO excited about wearing his underwear!

I was with him for about 30 minutes this morning before I left for work and I took him to the potty about every 10 minutes but he would never go. Luckily, I have a SUPER AWESOME FRIEND that is watching Noah for me while his school is out and she is working on his potty training today! :)

He’s had a few accidents today, but he has also had some victories!! Even with #1! We are SO excited for him!!

#93 – Check!

We had a fun, relaxing weekend! Friday night we went out to eat, then came home and went to bed early. Saturday morning I went to a Bible study while Brad and Noah hung out at Brad’s parent’s house. And Saturday afternoon, we took Noah swimming at my parent’s house! #93 on my 101 in 1001 list is to take Noah swimming! Check!

We took him to the pool last year but he was too young to really have fun with it. This year, we bought him a puddle jumper so he could at least attempt to swim. At first he didn’t even want to get in the water. I went in with him to help him see that it was ok. He hung on to me like a monkey for the longest time. But then his cousins came over and once he saw them swimming like fish, he decided that he could let go a little bit and have fun!

We will have to take him swimming again soon. I want to get him in the water as much as possible so that he isn’t afraid of it.

Sunday, we went to church, took a nap and did a little caching.

I love relaxing weekends!