Life is Beautiful...

Friday, March 1, 2013

Winter Fun in Michigan!

Just after the smoke had cleared, from family visits, Casey was told he was going to be traveling to Colorado on a weekly basis. This travel arrangement was going to last, at a minimum, for 4 weeks. This meant that little old me would be at home and outnumbered by Thing 1 and Thing 2. I frantically tried to figure out what I was going to do to occupy their time for 4 weeks while also wondering if I would be committed after those 4 weeks. Ah ha! I know I'll take the boys to Michigan...
new environment + snow+ Nena+Grandpa Vincent+Grandma Sue+Grandpa Chris+Cousins+Aunties+Uncles= Mommy doesn't get committed! Yeah.... genius... until we arrived in Michigan and found out the contract they were sending Casey to work on was suddenly cancelled! Uhhh ohhh... So we made it a vacation. Casey was able to work remotely, we still had fun in the snow and time with our Michigan family! Both boys had a great time, but I will say they (mostly Gabriel) are definitely California boys! Gabriel was not a fan of the cold... he loved eating the snow though! Enjoy our winter fun pictures! <3

Noah sledding

Annabelle, Gabriel, Katherine and Noah <3

Nena and 4 of her Grands...

Billy loving on hubs... LOL... no Billy he's not expecting...

Brothers...

Grandpa Vincent and Gabriel... Gabey love love loves Grandpa Vincent (aka the Monster)

Just a couple of cute pics of Noah

My two little loves...

Uncle Billy and Noah... so cute... Uncle Bill was throwing him up in the air and I believe it's right here that Noah is telling him to do it again...

He loved to eat the snow

Gabey

Gabey and Grandpa

LOL... that's all...

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Ergh...Rewind.... Noah's 3rd Birthday

We actually did have a birthday party for Noah's 3rd Birthday, but unfortunately not one picture was taken at his party. It's a good thing it wasn't actually ON his birth DAY. Yay for us! :-) He had a truck themed party and we celebrated again on the 15th of January. He had such a great time with his friends at his party and then again on his actual birthday with Grandma Coco and Grandpa Frosty. Thank you to everybody for making it so so special for him. I can hardly believe my precious baby Noah is already 3. He is doing so much now and I know nothing will stop him... including me or Daddy. :-) Noah is a bundle of energy who really doesn't need much sleep. He is our early riser, getting up around 5:30am. He usually stumbles into our bedroom and climbs into bed to watch his favorite cartoons in the morning. Then Daddy gets up while Mommy gets some precious snuggle time. He is still obsessed with Trash trucks, but his new favorite is airplanes and pretending to be a pilot. We recently made a trip to Michigan and Noah made sure Mommy packed and brought his costume to Michigan; heaven forbid he be without it for a couple of days! On the way home he even wore it on the plane! We are so proud of Noah and still trying to figure out the best way to direct his energy. He is constantly getting into things and sometimes that drives Mommy a little insane, but I know later I will look back and laugh and wish for these days to return. He is also learning to share... I just looked over and he was even trying to share his chewed up bubble gum with Gabriel! Hey, don't judge...it's sharing. We love you so much Noah and can hardly wait to see where you go and who you become in this crazy world!

Here are a few pictures from his actual 3rd Birthday!

Noah opening his new car from Grandma Coco

Celebrating with his brother... it's apple juice... jeez...

Noah asked specifically for train cupcakes... found this on pinterest...

Thank you Grandpa Frosty and Grandma Coco for celebrating with us!!!

Noah getting excited to open his presents! Love him!

Grandpa Frosty and Noah opening his card... check his hand folks... yes that is a hundy... huh?? I used to get two quarters taped into a card! Way to generous Grandpa!

Thank you Nena!

Grandma Coco and Noah opening his card...

Getting ready to blow out his candle!

Thank you brother for turning 3!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Noah Starling Wood!

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Bye Bye Pluggies...

We have finally "kicked" the habit!! I fretted over this day for months... I kept asking Noah if he was ready for the pluggy fairy to come and take his pacifier away. His reply was, "not yet, Mommy". Oh boy... if you know Noah this means, "Mommy, there's not a chance I'm letting this thing go. Not without a very very big fight!" Soooooo, I waited.........AND I waited.... I hadn't talked about it for a few months and ON Noah's 3rd birthday we were getting ready to put him down for a nap when Casey asked me if I had seen Noah's pacifier... I had...and handed it to him. Noah promptly said to us, "nope... I don't need one... I'm going to give it to the babies (i.e. his new baby cousin Kellan)." Casey and I exchanged a couple of glances crossed our fingers and hoped for the best! Well, that was it! Bye bye pluggy... in the 3 weeks since he gave it up he has asked for it once! Next up was Gabe. I knew it was time for him to give it up when I was more frantic over having one when we left the house or when it was bed time. One night during bath time I decided I would try to put him to bed without it. I did fuss or even discuss taking it away. That was it... I rocked him, he went right to sleep and voila! Done! We have been a pluggy free home for about a week now! Some sleepless nights, but nothing horrible! I'm happy and sad this chapter is over. Happy because I don't have to constantly search for those things and sad because it's a step closer to my boys growing up. A few pictures of them with their pluggies...

Noah

Gabriel

Daddy and his boys

Gabriel...

Ok after putting these on at least maybe now I'll have some pictures of them without those darn things! :-)

Sunday, January 13, 2013

November, December, January

I'm a slacker.... my excuse???? Well, two boys named Thing 1 and Thing 2. We had a great November with a visit from Palma and Brad and their exchange student son Federico, an Air Force football game and lots of lots of food. We celebrated Thanksgiving in Fresno at Casey's Mom's house and had a blast visiting with our family and friends. The boys loved getting some time in with their Aunties, Uncles and cousins!

December was a whirlwind with Christmas shopping, a trip to Disneyland and having the Christmas celebration at our house. It was busy, but fun.

Now well into January we have had a nice long visit with Grandpa Vincent, Grandma Vincent, Aunt Caitlin, and Nena. The boys loved having all of their family around!

The BIGGEST news of all is the arrival of Baby Kellan! Beth and Sean welcomed their newest addition on January 5th at 5:13pm. He is the sweetest little guy and he has the most loving parents and a VERY excited big sister. Welcome Kellan!

With the new year I will try and be better about blogging, but I'm not sure how many people are really following anyway! :-)

Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and Happy New year!

Thanksgiving Dinner at Grandma Coco's...

Palma and Brad "vegging" after a fantastic dinner!

Grandma Coco relaxing after making everybody Thanksgiving dinner!

Federico teaching Gabriel how to look like a monkey...

We all made a trip to Yosemite National Forest and it was amazing! It was my first time... breathtaking!

These ya ya's stole my camera and this is what I found... you crazy girls!

Gabriel at Yosemite...

Noah playing with Uncle Corey

Our family Christmas photo

Noah reading The Night Before Christmas... this was my dad's book when he was little and was passed down to my parents. I remember reading this book when I was little and it sat on our piano every Christmas. I love that now I get to read this to our little guys and can later pass this down to them.

We attended an ugly sweater party at our friends James and Amber's house... We had a great time...

Scott and Jenny... they welcomed their little bundle at the end of December and she is just beautiful

Amber and James

Daddy and Gabriel at the Air Force football game...

Our Disneyland trip started in California Adventure... The boys had so much fun. We bought season passes and have now promised ourselves that we will be visiting Mickey a couple of times a month!