Happy 2nd Birthday!

Noel's 2nd Birthday party came and went as fast as her first. It was nice to actually have her birthday fall ON the day of her party this year...too bad it won't happen for another 7! We had about 10 people come, mostly family but a few of our really good friends came too. We're considering having her party in Roanoke next year to make it easier for everyone, since most everyone that came had to travel 2+ hours to get here.

Anyway, I decided to take a much lower-stress approach to her party by ordering pizza instead of worrying about food prep in addition to everything else involved when hosting a child's birthday party. I have to say that it was VERY nice to just pick up the pizzas and serve, and not have any clean-up!

I also MADE her cake this year, instead of ordering from a bakery. It wasn't nearly as beautiful as a professional cake, but it was made with lots of love! Dana and I weren't sure how to decorate it, so we brainstormed ideas and came up with a rainbow of colors from the top to the bottom, since the cake itself was "rainbow". It turned out kind of cool!

She received a lot of winter clothes, so I think we're set until spring. She also got a whole bunch of "art" supplies (finger paints, window crayons, regular crayons, large blank paper, coloring books), a Sit n Spin, a matchbox car, a ton of books, a cowgirl costume, and a 'little people' castle. She loves ALL of it and we've been playing with them all week.

After opening gifts, we were ready for cake! Noel didn't know what to think of everyone singing to her, she seemed stunned for a bit, and then a huge smile spread across her face. She tried to blow out her candle twice, but ended up mostly spitting on it. Hahaha...she definitely got an 'A' for effort (I'll try to get the video from Mom or Dana to upload here). We all ate our cake and ice cream and then all the children went outside to play on the swingset.

It was 89 degrees on her birthday this year! I kept thinking back to her birthday, when it was a little chilly and raining cats and dogs. So much has changed since then, it's hard to believe. I almost don't want to believe that we have a two year old!

Night before her birthday...taste testing the icing!

Dana and her rainbow gun of icing! Watch out!

Can I have cake yet!? Please?

Noel said "Ohhhhh WOWWWW!" when Tim walked in with the balloons

Untangling the giant knot of balloons

Noel's FIRST picture smiling and not cheesing!

I always think that all of the balloons we get will engulf the house
with birthday festive-ness, then we get home and think "Oh..."
We had pictures to take home again this year

Noel and her Poppy

Waiting for everyone to arrive

How grown up does she look here??

Present-opening time!

Noel the cowgirl

Trying to blow out that candle!

Yum!

Eating ice cream with her bare hands...I didn't teach her that!

Swinging time!

Wee!

Noel & Maia on the glider

Not sure what this face was...I think she was tired of hearing "Smile, Noel!"

Superbaby!

Tim and Noel playing "Superbaby" this evening!

Go Hokies!

Yesterday we went over to the Oliphant's house for the home opener against JMU. All of the kids were decked out in their hokie gear, and continued to play SO NICELY together that I was able to relax a little bit and enjoy some adult conversation for awhile.

When we arrived at their house, Leah walked out to greet us in the driveway. Noel was so excited to see her that she went RUNNING down the driveway to embrace Leah in a big hug. However, she had gained so much momentum that she completely tackled Leah to the ground. LOL

Leah cried of course, and Noel was a little disoriented, but it was so funny! I wish I had it on video!

I love getting together for the games, even if I can't make it to Blacksburg for the real thing. Maybe when Noel gets a little older she'll be ready for a real one.

I didn't get many pictures of Noel that are half-way decent. I think the major problem is that she's always on the go, and hardly ever cooperates for picture-taking anyway. Oh well...

Their new puppy, James!Sandra and Dale

Eric, pulling the pork!

Leah, Hannah, Noel, and Dale

Sisters

Some Leah love :)

The Jensen Family!

"Old bee..."

Last Friday Noel and I made a spontaneous trip to Roanoke to see family. It was really nice to see my parents, but after a series of unfortunate events, I wonder if we would have been better off to stay home.

Saturday evening, we decided to eat out on the deck, with a summer feast of hot dogs, chili, potato salad, and baked beans. Yum! Noel took a late nap and woke up around 6:00. She began eating her hot dog while Mom and Dad cleaned off some of the plates/dishes. It was then that a wasp came crawling out of a small crevice in the umbrella, flew over to my mom, then flew down and stung Noel right next to her eye.

I did not actually see it sting her - I was alerted by her high pitched cry, then noticed her scratching and rubbing her eye. We ran her inside, applied ice and baking soda paste as best as we could. I called her pediatrician's office, but of course since it was a (holiday) weekend, it took about an hour for anyone to call me back. Mom had already ran out to get some infant tylenol and children's benadryl.

I've never seen her so upset - she cried and cried and CRIED, clutching her arms around my neck, burying her face into me, sobbing. It is truly heartbreaking to see your child so distraught- you just want to make everything better.

I was not only concerned about her fear, but also because Tim is allergic to bees himself. The pediatrician called back soon after mom arrived, and we ended up giving her 1 tsp. of benadryl. She was busy watching Caillou, but every now and again, she would point to her pink, swollen eye and say "Old bee!" LOL

By the next morning, her eye was almost back to normal, with the exception of a tiny red dot on the lateral side, where the stinger went in. She is such a trooper! I remember having a bee sting in between my toes when I was a kid, and not being able to sleep at night because of the pain. I also remember it not going away for several days.

Anyway, I looked for that "old bee" and could not find the little deviant. I just hope he knows that he won't get away with that next time! You're on my list, buddy!

So if you remember, I said unfortunate events...

We returned on Sunday afternoon, after picking Bane up. We made it into our trip about 2 hours when I get the whiff of something truly repulsive and foul. I knew there had been an accident in my car, so I pulled off as soon as I could (which is really a bummer because Noel was sound asleep).

I walked around and opened the hatch to find runny doggy poop smeared across the 'walls' and floor of my cargo area. Terrific! I had several layers beneath them, but he still managed to get it underneath my backseat. We've cleaned it as best as we can for the time being, but I still see us taking the entire backseat out so that we can get every little bit out. (Sorry for all of the grossness :( )

And then to top it off, Noel came down with a cold. I'm pretty sure she got that from Tim, but it doesn't help this week because I had my first exam yesterday, and an interview on Thursday.

I didn't get any pictures of the bee action, but there are a few pictures of our dinner, and around the house. Hopefully next labor day weekend will bring better luck, huh? Haha

Dicing Duo

Noel and I have been cooking and baking a lot these past couple of weeks. I've been trying to introduce NEW meals so that we don't always have the same boring menu of...spaghetti, hamburgers, tacos (from a box)...etc.

A few of the things we've made are...

Apple Nut Bread (A variation of the Amish Friendship bread...the one you get the starter for)
Rainbow cake with buttercream icing (I did a trial version of her birthday caketo make sure I wouldn't screw up the final cake)
Beef & Bean Burritos (I added a green chile to the meat, and added tomatoes + cilantro on top)
Meatball Sliders (The provolone cheese is what makes these so good!)
Chicken Spaghetti (time consuming, but so worth the effort)
BBQ Chicken Pizza (If you don't use the toppings, try the crust! It's SO darn delicious!)

In case you haven't noticed (or maybe if you didn't click the links), 4 out of 6 of these recipes are from the "Pioneer Woman's" website/blog. Everything I've made from her website has been delicious, and the ones I choose have very basic ingredients. I am REALLY looking forward to trying her Lasagna, and the Eggplant & Tomato Pizza. To be honest I've only ever eaten eggplant ONCE, and I've never cooked with it, but I'm sure it'll turn out just fine. I can't wait to try it!

Noel helps me by pouring in some of the ingredients, and stirring it all up. She also enjoys tasting everything as we go along! Today she took several bites out of one of our apples, and when I was placing the dishes into the oven to bake, she stuck her ENTIRE head into the bowl to lick the batter. Nice! Hahaha...needless to say, she had a bath shortly thereafter. ;-)

Happy Birthday...one month early!

This year we bought Noel a swing set for her birthday. Tim had originally wanted to design and build her a "custom" swingset, but after pricing lumber and accessories, it made more sense to order an already-made one. We decided to get it early because winter is fast approaching and we want her to get as much use out of it as possible.

Unfortunately, since it's already-made,we can't swing on it, or go down the slide :( BUT I guess we're too old for that anyway, right?






I don't have a full shot of the entire thing, but it has a small child-size picnic table attached, a wavy slide, a rock-climbing wall, two swings, and a "glider". These pictures were taken when Tim was assembling the whole thing.

Nannie and Poppy also sent Noel an early birthday gift. We received it today, and I spent a couple of hours assembling it. The colors go perfectly in her room!

These pictures aren't that great - Noel was ready for bed, but she still agreed to the photo shoot.



I'd like to put a few small prints on the walls bordering the table and a small rug beneath it.

Actually, her room needs a lot of work! It's difficult to organize the room based on the sheer number and size of toys and furniture she has. It doesn't help that her room is pretty small and narrow. I'm starting to wonder if we should make our guest room a "Noel play room". Hmmm...

Once we remove the rocking recliner, we'll have some extra room in there, but we can't get rid of that until Noel has a big girl bed. Since she isn't climbing out of her crib anymore, I'm inclined to leave her in there for as long as possible!