Early works

The kids love early works and so do I! While they burn energy I gain it by sipping coffee. It really is fun to watch the kids grow up in this place. I am always surprised at the things they master each time. Here are a few shots of the kids having fun.

Happy new year!

Kisses all around in our house to ring in the new year! (even daddy got a smooch!)

Merry Christmas

What a busy day! We started out skyping with daddy, then grandma and grandpa. The kids got lots of great gifts. Maleah is in baby heaven receiving two babies this year. Noah, well he loves his huge truck. "Mom I've never seen one like it!" he repeats. Along with a train table I think these kids are pretty happy campers. I guess my kiddos must have been good this year! Next we are off to join some friends for dinner. Merry Christmas!!

Almost 4 and so grown up!

In just a few short weeks I am going to have a 4 year old!  Is that even possible?  It really was yesterday  that I had him, or at least it feels that way.  Noah has changed so much this year.  He is sharp as a tack and very witty to say the least.  But he also has energy that would give a busy bee a run for its money.  This kid could run around the earth a dozen times and still not wear out.  That is my boy.  His nickname (at least I like to call him this) is Midas.  Only when he touches stuff is doesn't turn to gold, more like, well the gold color of Gorilla Glue or masking tape.  He is also very good at magic, recently.  He can make things disappear really well.  But, well, the reappearing part...we are still working on that.  He is a boy of many talents.  He loves music, singing, art, trucks, dirt, firetrucks, and playing in his fort out back.  He is good at giving his mama a snuggle and his sissy a love or two.  He is an amazing "man of the house" when daddy is gone.  He vacuums, makes his own bed, unloads part of the dishwasher and is super at picking up toys.
Noah says the funniest phrases and I only wish I could remember them all.  But, here are a couple he will enjoy later in life:
"Mom, I can not believe it..." (This is a phrase used often)
"Mom, I am so sad." Why? "I don't have any hair up my nose" Why would you worry about that noah? "Well, Dad has LOTS of hair up his nose and I don't have any!"
I just love how he says spaghetti "psgetti" He loves psgetti by the way.
"I love you tutu"

Okay buster.  I saved the embarrassing stories for you later.  But, boy, you better beware I have some good ones coming...Here's to enjoying whats left of you being 3!

Galaxy of lights

Before Dave left for Afghanistan we decided to take the kids through the lights to kick off the Christmas season. The kids loved it! It was neat this time to see how much the kids have changed since last year. Noah really enjoyed each display telling us what it was and Maleah said "ohhh...haaa" the whole time!

A few last pictures

Well as our trip ended we got one last visit in with great aunt Arlene and uncle Russ. It sure was nice to visit. They were surprised at how much Noah had grown, after all he was A baby last time they saw him!
And then there are a few pictures along the way that I forgot to add in...
So there you have it! A fun filled, action packed trip. It went pretty smooth short of the flights. I think next time we will let Maleah take her own seat. She didn't like being a lap baby! But I'm sure they both earned their wings!!

Washington and Idaho family

We flew to Spokane for three days, and it was one action packed visit! We stayed with aunt Paula and uncle Larry. It was great to catch up and see cousins as well! A lot if time has gone by... Noah loved waking aunt Paula in the morning and
snuggling up next to Larry to read the paper. Maleah...well she loved all the attention! We also spent some time with dad's uncle rob. We were able to see deer in his front yard which was neat. Sadly, we had just missed the snow! We then spent time in post falls visiting, grandma Sally, dick, Bobbie, Dave and Logan. It was so nice visiting! Noah asked me "mom, how many uncles and aunts do I have?!" Spoken from a child who rarely sees family! Lol. Finally we went to joy and Garry's house where we enjoyed a nice dinner and visited with cousins and great grandma and grandpa Schmautz! Grandma surprised us with some very yummy apple pie. Oh how I love her pie! We sure left with a lot of great memories and two very tired kids!!

Great grandma & grandpa warren

We spent some time with great grandma and grandpa warren. As you can see Maleah enjoyed giving grandpa kisses, snuggles with grandma and playing with toys. I'm glad the kids got some time to get to know them.

Max ride and omsi

We had the opportunity to take the kids for a ride on the max. Noah was thrilled to go "on a train ride" as he called it. Maleah enjoyed watching out the window with her big brother as things passed by fast.
One day we met Anna and Landon at
omsi. The kids enjoyed running around and playing. Maleah liked the machine that you could put a ball over the air spout and it would float! It was so funny to watch her try to catch the ball!

Visiting nana & g-pa

We enjoyed our time in Portland visiting nana and g-pa. We also spent some time with uncle chris and aunt hailey. We spent some time collecting leaves (there were some beautiful ones!) playing and snuggling!

Ohhh...waterfall!

We took the kids up to see multnomah falls. They loved it. Maleah liked all the big leaves and Noah liked hiking up to the bridge. I had forgotten how beautiful it was up there. I'm glad we could share this beauty with the kids!

Family trip to Oregon

We had a great time visiting family...and introducing Maleah! We bounced back and forth from grandma and grandpa parker's house and nana and g-pa's. And then we took another plane ride to Spokane where we visited family there and in Idaho! We were blessed to see all great grandparents. We took so many pictures, I'm going to break the trip up. These first pictures are some fun we had with G&G Parker. Hot tubing, bird house building, and fishing are just a few of the fun activities! It was great fun!