Little Sister Vandalized

Poor Faith was vandalized during her morning nap. She was just sleeping away and Noah was…yes, you guessed it…playing with his trains. I went upstairs to try to get the ink out of the load of clothes from yesterday (I’ll tell you more about that in a bit) and when I came back down, I looked around the corner and seen something on Faith’s head. As I got closer, I seen a sticker on her finger and there were a couple on her shorts too. I guess Noah wasn’t playing with his trains the whole time, he did manage to vandalize his sister too!!!

I told Rick to come and look and Noah came over too…we asked him what he did and he just said “Faith stickers” and then proceeded to pull them back off of her, and she slept right through it!!! Guess she must be used to being picked on by Noah!!!

Now, about the laundry…first of all, this is all Rick’s fault!!! I did a load of laundry yesterday morning and when it was done, I went to go put everything away. I pulled out the first shirt and there were spots all over it, so I hesitantly pulled out the next shirt only to see the same thing. I put my head in the dryer and started yelling at Rick right away. He had left a pen in his shorts pocket and it decided to explode all over. Now I ask, why does he not clean out his pockets before throwing it into the hamper? Second, how did the pen manage to stay in the pocket during the wash cycle (at least I’m assuming it did, otherwise one would think it would have been at the bottom of the washer or at least fell out when I transferred the clothes to the dryer. Third, why couldn’t I have at least kept the shorts out to air dry!! Luckily, it was a dark load of laundry, so you can’t tell if there are ink stains on some of our black shorts or black tshirts and there was also some towels that were in there that I happen to let air dry, so those were saved!! The other clothes have not manage to fair so well. I’ve tried hairspray, nail polish remover, rubbing alcohol, and we even bought some Goo Gone stuff and nothing has worked!!! Faith has lost a cute outfit that she only wore once, Noah lost a pair of shorts, Rick lost a good pair of shorts and some shirts, and I lost some shirts. Some shirts where not hit as hard and we could still wear them for everyday and there were also a couple bibs that only had a few spots on them, so we can keep those too. The dryer looks like…a pen exploded in it!! We did get most of it off the stainless steel drum, but the back of the dryer looks like a mess, but I’m sure it’s just burnt into it. Way to go Rick!!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Noah

Yesterday was Noah’s 2nd birthday! He actually slept in until about 8 o’clock and then proceeded to play his drums. Glad Faith was awake already!!! Then he came downstairs and we gave him some pancakes with two candles in them. He got all excited and started saying “Happy Cake”. Then we sang happy birthday to him – which he didn’t like…is our singing really that bad??

After breakfast we got the kids ready and headed to Little Monkey Bizness. Noah had a blast!!! He loved the bouncy slide thingy. I’d have to lift him to the top of the slide because the steps were a little too far apart for him to climb. He’d get to the top and yell, “Dada” to make sure Daddy knew that he was coming down. I think he was definitely the sweatiest kid there! His hair looked like he just got out of the shower!

After Little Monkey Bizness, we went to Fritz’s Railroad Restaurant. He loves to watch the trains go around delivering everyones meal.

We got home and he took a short nap and then of course, played trains and cars when he woke up. Every time we said happy birthday or I read him an email I got wishing him a happy birthday, he would respond with “Happy Cake”. We told him that we would have cake when the neighbors came over that night. So when there was a knock at our door last night, he ran to the door yelling “Happy Cake, Happy Cake”! I guess he was excited for cake!!

He did pick off all the M&M’s first and then want more “nummies”, but he did eat the cake…and ice cream too!

Big Helper

Noah is such a big helper lately!! The other day, I got Faith’s bottle ready and had it sitting on the chair while I was putting away dishes. In the meantime, she started fussing and Noah stopped playing, ran to get the bottle and then started feeding Faith. He was doing pretty good, until a little dripped out of the bottle, onto the exasaucer. He pulled the bottle out of her mouth and went to get a towel. This did not make Faith happy because she could see the bottle, but she couldn’t eat it! So I picked her up and started feeding her and Noah came over and had to hold the bottle – this actually lasted a few minutes. He kept checking to see if I was holding the bottle and if he seen I was, then he would push my hand away and say “Noey feed”. (He calls himself Noey all the time).

He still loves to check on his little sister. He wakes up from his nap and that is usually the first thing he wants to do. He also gives her kisses all the time too. We started her on some rice cereal, so now he sees me feeding her and I think, he thinks he can feed her too. I’ve caught him trying to give her some of his snacks, so now I have to keep an eye on him when he has food!!

Arends Are in the House

The Arends clan came down for a visit this past weekend!! They arrived Friday night and we just got some Wendy’s takeout to eat.

Saturday morning it was time for the pool – I think Noah loved swimming with the kids. I guess it is a little nicer than our little kiddie pool we have in the back yard for him! Rick put Brian to work and had him help take out the motor in the Nova. I think Rick picked one of the hottest days to do it! Sorry Brian, but thank s for helping!!!! Then it was time for lunch! We headed to Pizza Street – a pizza/pasta/ice cream buffet – yeah, I think we were all stuffed when we left! We thought it would be fun to go to Power Play – it’s like Chuck E Cheese on steroids! We’ve actually only been there one time before, but we though the kids would LOVE it (and of course Rick too!). Well, we got there and it was closed for a private party, so that was a bummer. But we headed back home and the Arends kids went swimming and the Nielsen kids took a nap. We grilled steaks and potatoes for dinner.

Sunday morning we went to a breakfast buffet. The kids sat at one table and the adults at another. I think Noah has a little crush on Kenna (the middle child)! Rick got a plate of food for Noah and he was sitting at the table, just waiting for Kenna to come back. As soon as she did, Noah patted the seat next to him and got all giddy when she sat down! So cute!!

The weekend went way to fast and having two little kids, kind of dampers what we could do. Plus it was so hot outside that we really didn’t want to be outside, unless it was at the pool!! But we had a great time with some great friends! Thanks for coming to visit Brian, Pam, Kaley, McKenna and Connor!!

4th of July Weekend

We headed up to Iowa for the 4th of July weekend. We stayed at my sisters house on Friday night. I think Noah loved playing with his two cousins!! Saturday morning we got up and headed to Inwood to their parade. Noah didn’t like the parade too much and wanted to go back to the truck. We were surprised that how much he loves trucks and tractors that he was scared of them when they went past. Maybe they were too loud or just too big. I guess he is used to playing with the miniature version or seeing them in a book. We decided we have to come back to Iowa more often so he can be around that kind of stuff!!

Sunday we got up and headed to church and then we celebrated Noah’s 2nd birthday. I can’t believe he’s going to be two already! As Rick was grilling, Mom thought she would fill up the kiddie pool so the water could start warming up. Well, she just turned off the water and there stood Noah in the pool…shoes and all! I guess I shouldn’t have to worry about how warm his bath water is from now on! The four boys (Jack, Kahle, Noah, Bodee) played with the tractors, wagons, trucks and cars about the whole time. Faith and Nicholas got passed around alot…everyone wanted to hold a baby!!

That night we (Rick, Rachel, Noah, Faith, Janice, Renae, Micah, Kahle, Bodee) piled into our vehicle and drove around to look at the tornado damage. I can’t believe all the damage that can be done in a short amount of time. We stopped at my uncle and aunts house to see the damage down there and the boys loved looking at the machinery on the yard. I guess Noah just doesn’t like it when the machinery is moving!

Monday morning, Rick was up and out the door by 7 am to run in the George 5K!! It was his first 5K and he did great!!! The rest of us were waiting for him at the finish line…we’re not crazy enough to want to run for fun! He says he wants to do it again next year…I’m sure he’ll still be doing it alone!

The parade was early that afternoon and Noah did much better this time around! Aunt Renae held Faith pretty much the whole time and I don’t remember hearing a peep out of her…guess she must like her aunt (probably because Renae’s the one who keeps getting her the girly clothes!)

We were debating if we were going to go down to the school grounds to watch the fireworks or if we should go out to the farm…we decided the farm might be better – the boys were pretty wound up! We could still see the fireworks that they were shooting off in town and then we lit some of our own.

Noah’s favorite thing of the night was when we looked at the cows when we first got to the farm and one of the cows was farting…so now Noah keeps saying “Reids cow toot”. It makes Rick so proud that Noah is fascinated with farts…I, on the other hand, wish he would have just liked that the cow went moo.

You can see more pictures from the weekend, here.