Sunday, July 31, 2011

Baggies


Isaac was playing by himself with hot wheels cars when I saw him do the most surprising thing.  He went into the kitchen and pulled out a few ziploc slider baggies, then he proceeded to put the hot wheels cars into the baggies and zip them shut.  I watched him take the cars out and put them in again and again.

This event might not be noteworthy, except that Noah used to do the exact same thing when he was Isaac's age.  He helped himself to slider baggies all the time and entertained himself by putting toys in and out of the bags.  Noah has since stopped playing with the baggies, and I'm pretty sure that Isaac has never seen Noah do it.  It was amazing to watch Isaac do the exact same thing!
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Harmonica Brothers


Noah has been having fun figuring out how to play the harmonica.  He let Isaac play just for a few seconds, and Isaac filled the house with beautiful harmonica music.  I just love this picture of them standing right next to each other!
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Sunday, July 24, 2011

Dancing in the rain


When was the last time you danced in the rain?



When was the last time you splashed in puddles while wearing your undies?



Noah and Isaac would highly recommend it.



Oh, drawing with sidewalk chalk is fun in the rain too.

Next time it rains this summer, just think of the fun possibilities!
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Saturday, July 23, 2011

Sharing Legos


For a very brief moment, Noah shared his Legos with Isaac.  Before he shared, he picked out all the little pieces and most of the "fun" pieces so that Isaac could just use the larger blocks.  As you can tell from the smile on his face, Isaac didn't care that pieces were missing.  He just loved playing with his brother's toys.
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How old are you?


"Isaac, how old are you?"



"Isaac, say cheese!"



"Isaac, how cute are you?"



"Noah, how old are you?"
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Friday, July 22, 2011

Jump-o-lene





We blew up the Jump-o-lene on a blistering summer day when it was too hot to play outside.  The boys bounced to their hearts' content and worked up a sweat inside the house.



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Rest Time


Once in a very long while, Noah still takes a nap at rest time.  The legos on the floor made me laugh because it looks like he tried to play but just couldn't do it.  Sometimes a boy needs some rest!
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Thursday, July 21, 2011

Zip Line

Noah ended his year at The Children's Schoolhouse with a bang!  During the party on the last day of school, he decided that he was ready to try the zip line!  This was a huge deal because it's something that the older kids usually did on the playground.  He had tried it a few times while we would hold him the entire way, but he had not expressed any interest in doing it himself.

That is, until the last day of school.   He stood and studied it and made sure it looked safe.


He stood on the platform and reached as high as he could to hold on to the zip line.



Then we counted 1, 2, 3 and off he went!



Z-I-P!

Look at that huge smile!  He did it again and again.  Everyone else was busy at the party, so Isaac and I were the only people around to see him on the zip line, but that's the way he wanted it.  Later, he told his teachers what he did, and they couldn't believe it.

The three major things that Noah accomplished on the playground in the last year were: swinging on a swing and learning to pump (when he began the year, he only wanted to swing in a baby swing!), swinging on the tire swing with other boys, and riding the zip line!

Go Noah!
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Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Emma's Boy


Isaac has taken over responsibility of feeding Emma, and he loves his job.  He knows that Emma gets one scoop (he holds up one finger when I ask him how many scoops he's going to give Emma), and two scoops in the afternoon (he holds up one finger on each hand for this one).  His scoops don't always make it neatly in the bowl, but Emma doesn't mind chasing around the few morsels that got away.


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Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Mixing







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Sunday, July 17, 2011

Children's Schoolhouse

We wrapped up Noah's year at The Children's Schoolhouse at the end-of-year party in May.  Noah and his classmates made ice cream the old fashioned way.  Here, they're waiting to take their turn at the crank.


Noah and Isaac tried to convince me they needed to eat all the watermelon themselves. 


Riding the tire swing is a big deal.  Noah first decided to try it just a few months before school ended.

One of Noah's many favorite things about school was the "school babies."  There were four babies that he would take care of every day.  He has a baby in the sling in the above photo.  That's a happy boy taking care of his baby, isn't it?  He would be sweet and hold them one minute, and the next minute, he would put them in the oven because they were crying too much.  Maybe that's how boys play with dolls?  

One morning, Noah's teacher, Miss Tara, told Noah about a fun activity they were going to do: hammering with real hammers.  Noah looked excited for a minute, but then looked sad and walked away.  I wasn't sure what to make of it, but later in the day when I picked up Noah, Tara said that she had Noah's reaction figured it out.  Noah had looked sad because he couldn't figure out how hammer and hold his school baby at the same time.  Tara showed him how the school baby could sit on a chair and watch him hammer.  Noah was happy with that, and then he could do his hammering.

Noah likes to make pretend phone calls, and while we were at home, he would frequently pretend that the phone was ringing and that the school babies were calling him.  Most of the time, they were crying.

Noah's main concern about leaving the Schoolhouse was wondering about who would take care of the school babies.  We wrote a note to Miss Tara and asked her to please take care of the school babies for Noah.  I'm sure she is.

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Saturday, July 16, 2011

Sharpshooter


It appears that we have a one-year-old sharpshooter on our hands.



He loves to use the spray attachment on the hose.  It's pretty hard for him to use his little thumbs to push the lever to spray the hose, but he can do it.  He stands in position, ready and waiting for someone to come in range.



As soon as someone is close enough, they get a spray and Isaac screams with delight.

Here, Noah is getting sprayed with the mist setting.  A few days later, Isaac discovered the jet setting.  It sprays a hard jet of water.  Now, once he gets his hands on the hose, he twists the sprayer to every setting and sprays the hose to figure out what setting it's on.  Once he has found the jet setting, he's ready for action.




Noah thought it was fun to get sprayed with the mist on this day.  Now that Isaac has discovered the jet setting, it's not as fun for big brother to get sprayed.  Now, once our sharpshooter is in position with the hose, we hide and take turns running past him.  Isaac is fast with the jet stream, so he can usually "shoot" us as we run by on the way to the next hiding spot.

The best part is Isaac's screams of delight as he "shoots" us.
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Thursday, July 14, 2011

Grammy & Yaya




Grammy and Yaya stopped by for a quick visit in May.  We had a great time exploring the creek that runs through our neighborhood, playing with legos, listening to guitar performances, and getting sprayed with the hose.  We always have so much fun together!  Here's a few more pictures of our time together.
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Thursday, July 7, 2011

Faux Hawk


Isaac has been waking up with a faux hawk now that he sleeps on a pillow.  I makes for some great early morning hair styles!

Every time he wakes up with crazy hair, it reminds me of...

...when Isaac had a faux hawk when he was just one day old!!




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Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Projects


Noah loves Saturdays because it means it's time for projects.  He wants to help with everything, and he really is able to be a good helper to Matt with many things around the house.

In this picture, Noah is holding the shop vac while Matt drilled through the front door in order to install a peep hole.



I can't believe how old Noah looks in this picture.  Maybe it's the hair cut.  Maybe it's the way he's intensely  holding the shop vac and being a helper.  Maybe it's the safety glasses.  Whatever it is, he's aged a few years in this picture.

I'm not ready for him to look so old.

Hmm...let me see...

There.  That's better.

Here's Noah at 14 months.  

Chubby cheeks, curly blond hair.

Still a baby.

Dreaming of holding a shop vac and helping Daddy with projects when he gets older.



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