Happy Birthday Verity

Happy Birthday to my sister in law, Verity. She is married to Kersten's brother, Jason. Their one year anniversary is in November. I have actually known Verity since she was in Jr High. My sister Amy and her were best friends through school. It is fun that I have known her as she has grown up. I even helped her with her hair for prom. What a small world that she is now my sister in law. She is very organized and keeps Jason on task and in line. Which is a feat in itself. She is willing to try new things with Jason, even if they don't sound fun to her. For example, they hike, camp, go to movies and lots of other things. She is very well read and has her degree in English. It is fasinating to hear her talk about books. She is really intelligent and always willing to help people with their homework. It has been really fun to get to know her better as she is a part of our family. I hope she gets wildly spoiled for her birthday and she has a fantastic day.

Happy Birthday Kayleen

Today is my dad's wife Kayleen's birthdays. They will have their 3 year anniversary on Nov 1. She has made my dad so happy. They do everything together. She has had a fasinating life. She was in the army for 20 some years and is a nurse by profession. She makes amazing Chilien Food, which is so fun for all of us. That is where our brother Nik went on his mission. He is in ecstasy when she makes it for us. Kayleen has a very generous spirit. Whenever anyone is sick, she loves to send flowers to cheer them up. She took care of her Uncle and both her parents as they got older. And made many sacrifices to keep them home and comfortable as long as possible. She is always finding small little gifts to brighten her grandchildrens day. She calls them her little angels. Which I totally love. Noah can't wait to go to their house to play on their trampoline, talk to their bird and steal cookies from their cookie jar. We are an overwhelming bunch of kids and she has been very patient with us, She gets all her birthday and Christmas shopping way ahead of time. I think they had this year's Christmas done in January. She is very organized, which I wish I was a bit more of. Have a wonderful, fantastic birthday, I hope that all your dreams come true.

Relief

All is well, Kersten is up and about way more than I thought he would be. It is really fun having him home. He is in a much better mood since his back is not in the same kind of pain as it was.

The doc said to me again "Interesting" which scared me but, turned out really good. None of my levels have gone up, they have just tapered off. So I am cleared again for a bit. Hooray! I am suppose to nap everyday and keep my feet up as much as possible. I was looking at my feet and they look awful.

Sorry my posts are not that exciting. Appreciate all your support and prayers.

Happy Birthday Audrey

My older sister Audrey's birthday is today. She is just two years older than me. Growing up we were very opposites. While I said Barbies, she said Batman. She was so thrilled when Nik was born, for then she finally had someone to play with that would play "fun" stuff. My sister Aub, has the biggest heart of anyone I have ever known. She loves people without reserve. She was the cute girl going to visit all the old ladies in our neighborhood. She also has a talent for befriending and working with people with disabilities. I always thought she would do something with that. She has always been really competative and really good at games. She loves all type of games, board games, hand held and word puzzles. She plays the guitar and I miss watching her sing with it. She lights up when she laughs. When Kersten and I were engaged and in the same singles ward with her, he had to do a spotlight for the newsletter on her. I was interested to see what he would say about my sister and he wrote that she has "silky smooth skin". And this is so true and I am so jealous and always have been of that. She has two beautiful, zany kids, Kara and Christopher. She amazes me with what she can do with them. I love my sister "Baba" a name given to her by Spencer when he was little and has stuck as her aunt name. Hope your birthday is fantastic.

Happy Birthday Lena

Lena is my only brother Nik's wife. He really is a very lucky man to have found her. I am so glad that I can now count her as one of my sisters. She really is perfect for Nik. She understands his funny quirks and motivates him to be better. This is one very talented woman. She is amazing with stain glass and has such a passion for her work. She is really fun with color and diffrent designs. She loves types and fonts. She is a major bargain hunter. She goes to garage sales almost every Saturday and I am amazed by the deals and things she finds. She has a talent for being thrifty, which is something we all need. She is a fantastic conversationalist. I love just talking with her and hanging out. She adds so much spunk and fun to our family. A natural red head in every single way. I love her sense of adventure and her take charge attitude. I have really grown to love her more and more. I hope your birthday is great Lena, Love ya

Willy Wonka Grandparents

This week will be a bit hectic so Grateful Sunday will resume again next week. Kersten and I have learned that we will get to be like the Grandparents in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Both of us in bed at the same time.

Tomorrow my husband Kersten will be having surgery on his back. It is a micro diskectomony. He has two ruptured disks in his back that they will shave away the bulge and clean up scar tissue from his last surgery in 96. It was not suppose to happen until the first week of Oct but they were able to bump it up. This is a huge blessing for he has been in amazing amounts of pain and although the pain is not over. There is now an end in sight. He only has an overnight stay in the hospital, so that is really nice. The surgeon says that it is a 4-6 week recovering until he can go back to work and resume normal life.

Other news is the same day we found out about Kersten's surgery, my baby doc, Dr. Esplin informed me that I am developing preeclampsia. This is kind of like toxemia. Luckily they caught it soon so they were able to give me some medication to help my blood pressure. My doc looked at my ankles and gave me this funny look and said "You know your not far enough along yet to swell like that" I had this same thing with Noah and in the next couple weeks I will have to go on bed rest. I am cleared until Wednesday just on bed watch, so right now I am suppose to be down when I am home but I can still make dinner and take Noah to preschool etc. And now take Kersten to surgery in the morning.

So if possible, we need your prayers to get through life until January when this baby is born. Especially for Noah, his life is going to be totally disrupted and we are going to have to be creative to keep him happy.

Happy Birthday Amy

My baby sister Amy is having a birthday today. Amy is seven years younger than me and weirdly enough I don't remember much about her babyhood. I must have been a bit in my own world. But she did become my little shadow as we grew up. I used to con her into cleaning our room or find clever ways to get her to do my chores. She was the pesky little sister for years but we became really close when she turned about 14. That is when we teased about her coming from another planet and her mother ship had finally come. She is my soul sister and before life got crazy we would hang out all the time. Scrapbooking, shopping, cleaning or just running errands. During her high school rebellion years she was a permanent fixture in our home. She is now a mother of the chubbiest baby, Cute Allie. I am amazed at her as a mother. She recognizes and takes such pleasure from all of Allie's fun little personality quirks. Amy loves to talk and has always had an amazing imagination. Sometimes we would get her talking just to see what tall tales she would come up with. She is an amazing musician. She has the most beautiful high soprano singing voice and she is a master at the violin. I was always a bit jealous of that although I knew that wasn't meant for me. She just discovered a new talent at beauty school. I am really proud of her and I love the way she colored my hair. I hope that Amy has a fantastic birthday and it is everything she dreams it will be. I love you, Bagel Snagel.

Together Forever

"In spite of the most vivid impressions of the most adorable encounters,
have you the reminscence of a sweeter and more voluptous day?"
-Leo'n Gambelta to Leonie Li'on May 23.1879

Congratulations David, Polli and Kaitlyn, it was a most beautiful perfect day. I am so grateful that I was able to be there for everything. What a perfect day to be able to do it on your 10th anniversary. It was such a beautiful moment.

My Firsts

First Memory: I remember running down the hall to my mom. who was on the phone in the kitchen, I remember the lilt of her voice and hiding behind her long skirt. I peeked around to see down the hall and stuck my tongue out at my sister Audrey who was chasing me.

First Friend: My first friend was probably Quinn C* from across the street. He was also my childhood boyfriend when we were 3. We used to touch tummies all the time. His brother would say he would pay us $1 to kiss, he still owes us a lot of money. We are still friends. At about the same time Quinn's mom would watch my friend, Alicia. This was the beginning of a long and beautiful friendship. We are also still friendsm through all of school years and beyond.

First Pet: We had a dog named Sammy when I was littler than 4. I have a couple memories of playing with him in the backyard. My mom accidently ran over him one day. I remember walking across the street to go to the Cannons. When she ran out of the car crying. We then got another dog, Binksey, he got killed by a German Shepard in our neighborhood protecting me and my sister Audrey. The German Shepard tried to attack us and Binksey jumped between me and the dog and bit his neck. It was very traumatic. I was always scared of Mr Layton's dogs after that, even when I was in college.

First Memorable Gift: My doll cradle. This was the first really cool big thing that was just for me. Most of the other big girl toys I had were past down from my sisters. It was painted with Austrian flowers and even has my name on it. It is still one of my greatest treasures today.

First Time To Disneyland: My family went for the first time in Oct of my 7th Grade year. It was a HUGE adventure. We all have characters that we love and actually are.(That will have to be another post). It was one of our first big family vacations out of UT. It is something I will never forget. All of us still Loved Disneyland and go a bit crazy when we get to go.

First Bike: My first bike was a hand me down from my older sisters. It was turquise blue with a flower banana seat. THe flowers were big bright groovy almost 60's design. It had streamers that came out of the handlebars. It was awesome.

First Crush: Brandon Brose in the 3rd and 4th grade. He had dark hair and tan skin. He was new to my neighborhood. He used to show me his big muscles at recess. Me and my best friend, Heather used to leave annoymous love notes on his door step. Until one day, his big brothers caught us and grabbed my brother Nik (who was helping us deliver said note). We ran off on our bikes and stopped doing that. Heather's mom even took us once to toilet paper his house.

First Car: My dad purchused a 1981 Honda Accord, stick shift in Porsche red with tan interior, for us to share while I was in high school. I loved that car. My sister Emilee needed a car up at college and stole it for most of the year unfortuntely. That is what happens when you are the third child. Kersten called it the Porsche because of it's color. It got sandwiched when I went to UT State on main street the first week of school. My dad told me much later that he was going to let me have the car up at school before it got crunched. This broke my heart.

First Car Accident: In the said Honda, I was leaving Kersten's house and I pulled out to go down the street and hit a motorcyclist. It just put a ding in my car. But he slid across the road and had huge road rash. He was in shorts, t-shirt with no helmet. His bike was totaled.

First Job: I worked for my mom's business, which some would say was not really a real job. But it taught me a lot of skills to get a job later so that I did not have to work in food.

First Real Job: Probably when I worked at Beehive Glass. I was a glorified receptionist, but I did bids on glass, helped customers, was the assistant to the stained glass specialist, learned accounts receiveables and other such stuff.

First College Roommate: The roommate in my actual room, my first year of college was Nicki. She was not LDS and her parents smoked, so all her stuff smelled. She also claimed she was allergic to water, it gave her a rash. So she only showered once a week. She had an internet boyfriend and she spent all her time on her computer in our room chatting with him on the internet, I endured living with her and spent a lot of time hanging with my peps.

First Broken Bone: Miracle of miracles I have never had a broken bone.

First Concert: Technically, I should count Bobby McFerrin in the Sixth grade. My parents had me and my two sisters and brother go. The first concert I purchused the ticket was for James Taylor in 1995. He is still one of my absolute favorite concerts to go too. I have been blessed to go quite a bit to him through the years.

First Album:It was a totally hip band in the 80's called "The Jets". They were an LDS family that made it big back then. My parents got me all of their tapes. My Grandma and Grandpa S* took me to "Stadium of Fire" in the sixth grade for the 4th of July because they were playing there.

First Time Wearing Makeup: Seventh grade. I tried to copy my sister Emilee. She was wearing blue eyeshadow and pink lipstick at the time. Not the best combo, but funny now to see the pictures.

First Airplane Ride Alone: This was also my first airplane ride ever. I went to go visit my aunt Patty after she had her second baby, Anna. She lives in Dallas TX and it was February so very nice weather. I went to be with my Grandma Billie and hang out and help with the babes. It was my second year of college.

First Boyfriend: I don't think we will count all those little "going with's" in 6th, 7th and 8th grade. I might say Clarence D*for he was my first kiss. He lived 500 miles away and we wrote letters. Which was so romantic at the time. He was 16 and I was 14 and 15. He came down a couple times and we saw each other at diabetic camp, which is where we met.

First Boyfriend That Meant Something: My boyfriend Clint, when I was 16. He was a lot of fun and had a cool fun car. He was friends with all of my friends. He treated me well or at least what I thought then was well. He had a huge fun family. I sometimes still wonder how his brothers and sisters are now grown up. The sad thing is that he made some bad choices after we broke up. It was good I did not stay with him.

First Heart Break: The first heart break that changed everything in my life was Shaun D*. We did not date very long but we healed each other and he taught me a lot about life and how to deal with it's struggles. The break up turned ugly months after it actually happened. I found out who my true friends were and how fickle people in high school really are. Luckily, Shaun and I were able to talk and resolve everything. He was and is one of Kersten's dear friends. I was actually best friends with his wife for years. If I see him now, I don't remember it at all.

First Date: My first date was with a boy named C.R. I was totally sunburned and looked like a tomato. We had a picnic of Wendy's up at This Is The Place State park, and climbed all over the statues. This was before they charged admission. We then went to a dollar movie, I don't remember what movie but I tripped as I was getting out of the car and totally skinned my knees up really bad. All my date said was not to get blood on his back to school shorts. His friend Clint who was doubling with us is the one who helped me get cleaned up. It was fun and It makes me laugh now. CR was one of my absolute best friends through the junior high and high school and now this is freaky he is my step brother. My mom and his dad got married 3 years ago. Good times

First Dance: Monster Mash my sophomore year. It was girls choice and I took a boy named Kevin that was in my drama class. The girls dressed up like boys and the boys like girls. It was actually quite hilarious. We had dinner at a girls house that I can't remember.. I don't remember a ton about that specific dance. But Kevin eventually fell totally in love with me and was kinda freaky. Saying things like we knew each other in heaven (wrote that in my yearbook), he asked me out frequently but sporatically over the next two years. I always said yes and went with him and dodged some sticky situations.

First Prom: My boyfriend Clint took me to Jr Prom the day before I turned 16. At midnight he kissed me and wished me a happy birthday. I wore a dress my mom made. It was light blue with pink flowers on it. I don't remember where we ate or anything but the dance was at an elementary school for the theme was "Forever Young". I wrote about 5 pages in my journal about it so I should pull that out and read it.

First time out of the country: Sad to say I have never been out of the country not even Tiawana, Mexico or Canada. Someday

First Time I Met Kersten: It was the opening football game right before my junior year, Fall of 93' My friend Carrie and I (we always went to the games) were flirting with some boys that played in the band. One of these boys was Matt O* and Kersten was hangin out behind him (he doesn't play an insturment). I remember thinking "Oooh, Matt's friend is really cute". Kersten and Matt were going to go to a dollar movie with our friend Megan after the game but we persuaded them to go to the Stomp (dance) afterwards instead. I remember watching Kersten dance and trying to get his attention. He does not remember the game but remembers meeting me in the hall the first day of school. Then the flirting commenced.

First Kiss with Kersten: It was on October 1, 1994, he picked me up after he went to General Priesthood meeting. We went to Baskin Robbins for ice cream. Afterwards we went to Tanner Park and talked on what turned into the Rock of Love, where he held me and told me he thought he was falling in love with me and his concern was that he was leaving for his mission in a little less than a year. Afterwards, we went to his house, and layed on the grass and talked while we looked at the stars. It got cold, so he lent me his favorite fuzzy blue hood sweatshirt. His bedroom was out in the garage and we thought it would be cool to climb on the roof. We snuggled on the roof and at about 11:35pm he kissed me and told me he knew he was making the right decision with this. We then raced me home for my curfew was at midnight. Oh,, what bliss. It still gives me tinkles thinking about it.

First Time I Realized I Loved Kersten: I think I knew it long before I acknowledged my feelings. On Christmas Eve of 94", after we exchanged gifts etc, I was leaving his house and we snuck around to the side to kiss goodbye. He was being silly as usual and I was laughing and blurted out "oh Kersten, I love you." He looked me square in the face and grabbed me really close and baried his head in my neck and said " I love you too Lou, I love you too". And picked me up and spun me around. It was a marvelous Christmas.

First Home With Kersten: We had an apartment right behind the Cottonwood Mall on Memory Lane. I loved that apartment and thought it was really nice. Now looking back it was a bit of a dump but it had good space and storage. There are such fun, crazy memories there. It was a fantastic first apartment.

First Baby: Noah Lawrence, my sweet, charming darling boy, He was born on April 14 at 1:56am. I was in labor a little over 30 hours and only dialated to a 9 1/2. I asked the doctor to knock me out so that I could rest so I had energy to push and they decided to do a c-section since he was posterior and could suffocate coming through. Kersten loved it cause he had always wanted to see that surgery. He ended up having such broad shoulders that he would have gotten stuck in my pelvis. He is a sweet miracle and brings so much joy to our home.

First Time I Realized I Wasn't A Kid Anymore: This one is hard for there are quite a few little moments. Having the realization after marriage that all the bills were mine and Kerstens responsibilityThe first time I knew for sure my parents were divorcing. That first day home from the hospital after Noah was born and Kersten went back to work the next morning and I was completely alone. And more gradually as he has been growing coming to the understanding that I am the one who is making a safe haven and good learning enviroment for my boy.

Grateful Sunday 9-16-07

Today I am Grateful for:

NAPS: I can't remember the last time I had a fabulous nap. Today I got a glorious nap that left me feeling so much better when I awoke. What a huge blessing

WARNINGS: At least I know what it coming so that we can prepare a bit better for the storms ahead. The Lord would not put this ahead of us without a way for us to get through it

NOAH'S TEACHERS: He loves his teachers. Miss Sharon is so patient with him and takes the time to really try to understand what he is saying. She is the perfect teacher for him. He also had his first Speech Therapy session with his new teacher Miss Libby. Her enthusiasm and love for her job are infectious. She is so knowledgable and made me feel like I have not failed with him.

CAPABLE DOCTORS: I am very particular about what doctors I will see and I am so lucky to have such smart, knowledgable and capable people around me that know how to help and that get things done.

FALL: My favorite season is in the air. You can see the leaves changing in the mountains. Soon I can wear jackets and long sleeves. I love the smell of the crisp air and the anticipation of the fun holidays ahead

I've been Tagged - 7 Random Things About Me

(This picture was taken by Noah, on his first day of School)

1. I am really good at remembering phone numbers and other important numbers.

2. I love to put Fritos on my sandwiches. Especially, ham, turkey and bolgona. I like the crunch.

3. One of my favorite television programs on TV right now is Kim Possible

4. The chores I dread the most in my house are cleaning out the fridge and mopping the floor. Brings up horrible childhood memories

5. My favorite game right now is playing Candy Land with Noah, This is no ordinary candy land, Folks, It is the Disneyland version. It is an adventure where you fly, sneeze, run from the evil witch, have an unbirthday party, go swimming and much much more. All from Noah's imagination from the pictures on the game. If you ever stop by we would love to play with you because we ALL get to party in the end

6 I can only drink apple juice if it is ice cold. Can't do it any other way

7. I can hardly ever remember the authors of books or the singer of songs

Now I tag these 7 people. I will be checking back to see you if follow this tag

1. Amy
2. Lena
3. Sharon
4. Kristi
5. Erin
6. Polli
7. Shaunelle

Happy Birthday Carrie

I don't even know where to start talking about my best friend. Carrie and I officially met when we were sophmores in high school in orchestra. Before that I knew her from afar, for we took violin from the same teacher. For the record, she is much better at violin than I am. Once we bonded, we were connected at the hip the rest of high school. Kersten told me once that he knew that if he wanted to date me that Carrie was part of the deal. I could not have made it through high school without her. It is so nice to have someone that knows your history and how you have changed and become better. That knows a lot of the mistakes you have made and loves you anyway. I am so grateful our friendship endured through the challenges of growing up and figuring out who we are. She is the most phenomenal mother of three gorgeous boys. Carrie amazes me with her many talents. She always knows just what to say to shed new light on things. She really is a kindred spirit. There really are not many people who get me and know me as well as she does. I love that we can spaz together, be serious, be reverent, be silly, be silent or just be together and it seems like our friendship was meant to be.I looked in my photos from the last year and sadly I have quite a few pics of our kids together but none of us. That will have to be remedied at Christmas. Carrie, I hope your birthday is fabulous and I hope you know I love ya.

Random Pregnancy Facts

I have not written down a lot about this pregnancy so I am going to in honor of my 22nd week that starts today I will write some random stats and facts about this pregnancy:

THE REVELATION: My first two pregnancies I started feeling extremely sick about 2 weeks into it, so I assumed that it would be the same again. But not so. On Mother's Day of this year, I was sitting on my in-laws couch so exausted I thought I would pass out and my father in law made the comment "Yeah, you do get very tired when you are first pregnant." Of course, I had to deny it for a full day to myself and everyone else. The next day I was at my sister Amy's house and prior she had asked if I wanted the 2nd pregnancy test from her box, since it would expire before she would use it. So I picked it up and some other things and thought about taking it for a full 20 min till I could not stand it any longer. It did not take even a full 10 seconds to say positive. I stewed for about a half hour about how and when I should surprise my husband. And then he called. True to form, I could not hold it in and plus the whole reason he was calling is to see if I had gotten a test and taken it yet.

DOCTOR APPTS TO DATE: these are just the ones related to this pregnancy- 23 times and I email my baby doc, once a week

ULTRASOUNDS SO FAR: 4 times and one scheduled on friday

ILLNESS: With Noah I was nausaus and sick the entire 9 months. I think I felt good maybe a total of 3 weeks. I did not start feeling really sick with this pregnancy until about late June when the heat came. The month of July was torture and I blame everything on the heat. I felt just fine as long as I ate until it got so hot no one could breathe. I was nauseus, vomiting and wanting just to get some rest. This is also when my migraines returned with a vengance.

CRAVINGS: First one was Beef and Cheddar at Arby's for about a month, I could not get enough of these sandwiches. And the Arby's melt would not do. It had to have the onion roll. Then I moved on to delicious turkey sandwich specifically from Tasty's and that posed a problem because Tasty's no longer exists. I wanted the soft fresh bread and the exact proportions of veggies and meat that they perfected. Kersten took me to Subway and it cured me of that craving because nothing is quite the same as Tasty's. The rest of my cravings have not been as strong or frequent as those first two but include things such as watermelon, potato chips, berries of all kinds, my mom's rolls,little chickens (including but not only, buffalo wings, chicken nuggets, chinese etc)

I will keep you updated on all the craziness and joys of my pregnancy

Grateful Sunday 9-9-07

Today I am Grateful For:

MY TWO DATES -
Date #1 - On friday after Noah and I had a very long morning running around town, I decided to treat us to a fun lunch. So I explained to Noah that this was a special lunch and we were going on a date. We went to Hires, a old fashioned hamburger joint in our area. I showed him how to get my chair and we chatted. He had to bring his Heffalump, Lumpy with us that day. And the cute waiter after we ordered, I whispered that Lumpy needed food too. The waiter patiently took his order and went to get our drinks. And bless them, they brought an empty cup with a straw for Lumpy and when lunch came a plate with a sucker on it. Noah was so thrilled and excited the Lumpy had his own plates and everything. (He already feeds his animals invisible food all the time) When we left Noah had to take both his and Lumpy's drinks to the car. The manager asked if we wanted a refill in Lumpy's cup. I explained that he was just fine and it was his elephants cup. The manager got such a kick out of what his employees did. I heard them talking about it as we left. It just warmed my heart that they took that little extra time to make my little boys day. Noah even got the car door for me. He was such a gentleman

Date #2: My sister Emilee invited Noah over to have a sleepover with her kids on Friday night. Oh, you could feel the excitement of Noah as we drove him out to her house to play with Spencer and Kristin. He even picked up his room and his mess in the front room with no protest so that he could go. So Kersten and I were free to go as we please. I honestly can't remember the last time we had a real date. We went and shared some Chinese food and then went and saw Pirates of the Caribean 3 at the dollar theatre. The movie was okay but the company and the nite were perfect. When we picked up Noah late Saturday morning he saw us and burst into tears and asked us to leave. It was quite hilarious. I think he had a lot of fun. Emilee graciously offered to let him play while we ran on our errands. It was so weird for Kerst and I to go to Costco and other places without our Pookie Rascal. What bliss! I am one lucky woman

CUDDLES and INNOCENCE- Oh, how rare it is to have uninterrupted cuddles. I think Noah did miss us a bit yesterday for this morning he crawled on my lap and we cuddled on the couch for a good 15 min. This is what I live for and makes all the hassles of everyday life worth it. He then explained to me that his baby sister Shak-T when she is ready will come out of my belly button. This made me laugh. What a smart boy to figure out something that made sense to him.

COOLER WEATHER- Over the past few days there has actually been a breeze. I can feel my favorite season of Fall trying to come. It has been so heavenly and much more bearable. They do say it will get hot again but it was so nice to have a couple of days.

Utah State Fair 2007

Last night was the first night of the Utah State Fair and as such admission was only $2 a person. So we gathered in the car with Uncle Nik and Aunt Lena and we were off to the Fair. I love the Fair. It is so much fun. There are so many interesting people to see and fun booths and food. We went last year and I hope to make it a tradition.

Noah was so excited to see the animals. As of last year his favorites were still the goats. They are really friendly animals and very soft to pet. He and Kersten were connected the whole night exploring all the fun things to see. That is why their are no pics of me. I loved seeing the wonder on Noah's face. He also got to see a sheep being sheared and baby pigs.

They had some adorable miniature cows. Noah kept saying "Ahh, cute" He could not get enough

As a reward for not whining and being a major pain, when we arrived at the Fair. Noah was really grouchy and whiny. So we told him if he made good choices that he could ride the ponies. From then on he was happy and did not throw fits the entire night. He loved riding his horse. He actually had really good posture

I love the kid farm area they have. You go and do activities to earn money to buy a treat at the end. He got to plant a seed and harvest a carrot. Deliver the hay to the animals (he is doing that in the pic), brush a sheep for wool, feed the cows grain and he earned a dollar and bought a carton of vanilla milk. He was very proud of himself for earning the money himself.

Nik and Noah went down this huge, giant, wavy slide. It looked like fantastic fun, The pic I took of them going down, did not turn out. Lena got a better one, I am hoping she posts it on her blog. At the bottom, you could tell Noah was not sure how to feel but when Nik started saying how cool it was and getting excited that it was so fun. Noah started jumping up and down and saying "Yeah" with his fists in the air.

Overall, it was a fun filled night. We arrived home tired but happy. Noah said he liked the fair. He could not decide what his favorite part was.

First day of Preschool

Is is really possible that my baby boy is old enough to go to preschool. How am I going to feel when he actually goes to Kindergarten or High School. I guess I will go down that road when it comes. He has been so excited. But I don't think he quite understood what it meant to go to school. Today was more of a meet the teacher, play in the classroom, meet your classmates and we will show you where school will be. On the drive there this morning he kept saying "No school, Home please". And when he saw the big elementary school building he got a bit nervous and asked me to hold him. But when we got close enough he could see the front doors, he had to get down and walk in all by himself. I showed him the bear outside on the wall with his name on it and walked into room #3. Wow, how cool is it that he is in room 3 and that is how old he is. He had a metal grip on my hand when we walked in. And then he saw the table with dinosaurs all over it and ran right past the teachers and started playing with them. I am so excited about his school. He has a fantastic teacher named Miss Sharon and her aide Miss Mary and also his speech therapist Libby. All of them took the time with him to play and talk with him and find out what he likes. It was a bit emotional to see him in that enviroment and watch him make new friends. He made his placemat for snack and found his name on all of the charts. Tommrow is his first full day where I don't stay and watch. I am really glad that I get to help in the classroom, it will be really fun. He had to show his backpack in the picture.

Animal Friends

These are Noah's animal friends. One afternoon in August he gathered all his animals to come watch his favorite show "Star Wars; Clone Wars" He lined them along the TV stand and made sure each of them could see perfectly. He then explained to me in his own little language that they could sit that close to the TV because they were animals. It was so cute for he explained to them what was happening and took each of them down one by one and snuggled with them during the show. He is very good to his friends
I will now explain why these are his favorite From Left to Right in the Pic :
Nemo Fish -he is a fish, after all and can swim anywhere
Lumpy - makes the best trumpet sound from his nose and has a movie, and he is a Heffalump
Al the White Alligator: he has sharp teeth and has a mean chomp and he has seen his brother at the Zoo
Pal his dog: this is Noah's favorite friend, he sleeps with him, plays and tells him all of his secrets. Pal has a very high pitched bark and likes to do very silly things all the time. He loves to give Mom big lick kisses all over her face. He also gets put in time out by Noah when appropriate
Phant - this elephant is so cool, he already knows how to use the potty all the time and squirts water from his nose a lot
Not pictured (fell off) Baby Donald Duck: this was Noah's very first animal friend, He was scared one night and Kersten told him that this duck knew Karate and would protect him in his bed. Donald is also Pal's best friend and likes to ride him like a horse. He has to also sleep with Noah.