My favorite Noah face...

I love this face and I finally caught it on camera! It's his "pray" face. At church he'll do it when we are praying, and before I put Autumn down for a nap he'll want to pray with her (just like we do with him) and he'll do the pray face to remind me to pray for her too. And before we eat he'll remind me to pray. Whenever he wants to see the praying mantis, he does this face and says "BUG!"

Slightly peeking

Eyes SUPER tight
Then right before the prayer ends he'll say "O-EN" (open) eyes!"

In every book he has he'll notice if the animals eyes are "open" or "closed" and if they are closed he'll think they are praying. :)

3 Months!

At 3 months Autumn is flashing more and more smiles

And getting to know her brother! She'll follow him around with her little eyes so intently

People keep saying she's starting to look alot like Noah, but I don't see it yet, she's her own little person

And right as she turned 3 months she started sleeping SO much better. She was only sleeping half way through her naps, and waking up crying alot. But now she sleeps all the way through her naps, and through the night (yippee!) so I'm getting alot more sleep too :)

"O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise." Psalm 8:1-2

Bugs and Buzzes

What would create such a face on little Noah?

This praying mantis! He was on our patio window yesterday and I couldn't wait for Noah to wake up from his nap to see it. It was HUGE! I thought he'd like it....

But he kept looking at it very cautiously. By the end of the day every time he passed through the door (which is usually over a hundred times a day!) he'd exclaim "Hi Bug!"
Today he met a better friend though, which he named "Orange Buzz"

And when the Orange Buzz would fly next door he'd chase it

But the faithful little Orange Buzz kept on coming back home to our little vine. He kept wanting to chase it so he'd "shoo" it away but then cry when it flew. Such a funny boy. Then he'd call for it like you would a dog....."Orange Buuuuuuzz!?!"

Can you see it? :)

Duck 'n Deck

I totally forgot to post these....on Noah's actual birthday I wanted to take him to the zoo, but since the Durban area doesn't have one, we found this place called the Duck n Deck which is actually really close to us. It's like a petting zoo with all the farm animals. Noah loved it, and made all the animal sounds when he saw the different animals.

What sound does a horse make Noah?

Really big birds! He loved these guys

His favorite I think were the goats cause they ate the food he gave them

Autumn loved going for a stroll

Me and my munchkin

Noah let out an appropriate "blah!"

He loved feeding the goats and said "baaaa"

Checking out the field of sheep and horses

Noah loves sliding down all by himself now

His face when he saw a bunch of bright red headed geese. Its funny when he sees them he pretends to be a goose and flaps his arms and kneels down like he's eating on the ground. :)

Noah loved these guys, and amazingly enough, they are the worlds highest flying birds. They fly OVER Mount Everest, how cool is that? I didn't even know God made creatures that could fly so high.

And we stopped to get a milkshake before going home. It was such a fun day with our kids, I love seeing the world through their eyes.

Playtime

Autumn is a lot more purposeful in her playtime now, she can concentrate on toys and swat at them with great enjoyment. She often coos at this little face:

And after all that hard work playing, before I knew it she fell fast asleep in her little chair! Playing is such hard work mom.

Happy Mother's Day!

This morning I woke up to these flowers while still in my pj's! Our family has a tradition that if its your birthday or whatever, that presents get given in bed as soon as you wake up! I LOVE this cause it makes you feel like it's a special day all day!

Then we headed off to church...this is on our front doorstep with my two kiddos and the flowers that they gave me.

And Clint made me bagels with cream cheese for lunch. This may not sound very special to you, but it is to me! First of all, Clint doesn't know how to cook, so it was easy for him. AND I LOVE bagels and cream cheese, and there is only one store in all of Durban that sells them, and they are just the plain ones. BUT yesterday I found them at my local supermarket only 5 minutes away, and they are the most awesome ones with even a few fun flavors! So one of my American cravings has been quenched. Yum. Ohh ohh, and I found dried cranberries, another American craving quenched! So yummy. I no longer have to import Crasins :)

I was realizing today how much fun it is being a mom, but how much hard work it is too (both little ones were sick this week!) Even though your kids may not notice it for several years, or maybe never notice it, the Lord always sees your hard work, and as you daily serve your kids, you are actually serving Christ as you glorify him: "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ." Colossians 3:23. So happy mother's day to all you hard working, kid loving moms out there! Keep on serving and loving your kiddos with diligence!

Just one more video for today....

Noah now can say how old he is...and answers the question "who made you?" He's playing with his car from grandpa....thank you! He loves it!

Noah learning his colors

Here's a video of Noah saying his colors. His default color if he doesn't know it is usually "geeeen" :)

Happy Birthday

One Day

One Week

One Year




2 Years Today!

It's been two years now that I've been a mom, and looking back at these photos makes me realize that as my son has grown up into a little boy, the Lord has used it to grow me as well. I am so thankful for Noah in my life for the joy and for the way the Lord uses Noah to sanctify me in my daily walk with Him. As a mom, just when you think you've got a routine, or a way of discipline all figured out, it changes literally the next day as they grow, which means you've got to grow right along with them. I'm abundantly thankful to the Lord for the last 2 years of how Noah has made me depend on God more and more for guidance, wisdom, and daily prayer for this little guy. And of course we are just so thankful for the daily surprises and laughter Noah brings both of us. Happy Birthday Noah, we love you with all our hearts.

Noah's 2nd Birthday Bash

Noah's actual birthday is today, but we had a little party for him on Saturday. I can't believe my little baby boy is 2 already and such a big "BOY!" loving cars and dogs and airplaines Pooh bear already. He is such a smily happy child and we love him to bits! Pardon the marathon post, but this is for both sides of grandparents who were sad they couldn't make it!

Here he is waiting for his guests to arrive and so excited. It's so fun when they are two cause they know whats going on. He kept saying "baooons" (balloons) and "cake" and "eat." And now if you ask him how old he is he says "Two" and holds up a peace sign. So fun.

I asked my friend Helga to make just some cupcakes, and when I picked them up she had made this amazing car cake for Noah! It was so beautiful and perfect!

The license plate even says NOAH :) When we picked it up Noah said "Car, Vroom vroom, eat?, mmmm mmm!"
Birthday banner that says "Noah's 2nd Birthday"

Helga also made cookies that looked like cars

The table

Family shot :)

And one with Noah smiling :)

As soon as everyone arrived Noah dragged a chair over and climbed up to look at his cake. He liked the 2 candle alot!

Before we sang happy birthday Clint read a passage from Psalm 127 "Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.
4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth.
5 Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate." And he prayed for Noah thanking God for his life.

Me and my little boy!
And Noah blew out his own candle!

Daddy helping :)

Noah finally getting to eat some cake

And trying some cookies. I don't let him eat alot of sweets so it was so fun to let him loose on his birthday!

He kept looking at his presents saying "open?"

Guests enjoying fellowship and cake

Autumn was awake for most of the party and was gladly held by everyone!

The Lord has brought alot of young families into our church recently so Noah had alot of friendies join him for his birthday

Little Luka

And Caleb

Noah's favorite though is Harley, she plays with him every Sunday. Ben and Harley are pushing Noah around on his car

Noah had tons of fun running around our yard with all the kids and Spurgeon of course

I'm not sure if Noah is taking this cookie from Keenan or sharing it, but I'm guessing its taking it :)

Some of the moms with their kiddos
Sam Celia and Wendy

Opening presents

Kerry captured the look on Noahs face when he opened his first gift, a red racing car that he loves!
Every gift he got he absolutely lovesI think his favorite one is his magna doodle. He plays with this for hours now.

After the presents all the kids played so nicely together with all the toys And the adults had a great time of fellowship!It was such a fun day for our little guy and we are so grateful that he has friends to play with every Sunday!