Noah's First Birthday

Not only have we had Grandma, Grandpa Elder, Aunt Laura and Aunt Carla here for Thanksgiving, we had a party for Noah today. He turned one! We can not believe that a year has flown by and our little boy is ONE! He has grown so much in his first year of life I can not imagine what is in store for the years to come. We invited some of our closest friends to eat pizza and cake with us this afternoon. I (rebekah) have to do some bragging, I made Noah's 1st Birthdat cake!! I am so excited about how it turned out, it actually looks like blocks! (and it taste good too, bonus). Noah got some great new toys, in the last hour before bed he has gone from one thing to the next just as happy as can be. We are hoping to get the video uploaded of him eating his cake and opening gifts (which the paper was more exciting then the gifts for awhile), we are having some trouble with youtube (it looks like other people are too....)
We hope everyone had a great turkey day, we love you all!

Just wanted to let you all know that Noah's still cute. He grabbed his pants while getting dressed from work. He took the top off of his little Lego play table and climbed in. AND he had his first sleepover--with a girl (we babysat for the neighbors; she's only a month younger than Noah and they had a lot of fun).

Itchin' for the Holidays

I just have to say that I am just itchin' for the Holidays. The change in weather (which in Texas is really feels like Fall), the music, lights, and we might even enjoy a cozy fire in our apartment this year. (Don't worry we aren't setting the place a'blaze, we have a fireplace) David is going to have to restrain me from putting up the tree as soon as Thanksgiving is over. We have already had a few discussions over the tree: where will it be, will Noah pull it over on himself? I think we have actually decided to put it on our balcony, without gifts of course. I am curious how that will play out but it will definetly be an adventure. We will make sure to post pictures.

David's parents and sister are coming down for Thanksgiving and Carla (my sister) will join us as well. So we are excited about a full table (of food and people).

Noah's 1st birthday is the Saturday after Thanksgiving so we are all excited about cake and friends coming over. I am looking forward to his reaction to the cake. Anyway, that is the scoop on us lately. Hope everyone is well.

A little glimpse at our trip to Mexico

David and I had a great time in Mexico for about a week this last month. We missed Noah like crazy but were grateful and extremely happy that both of our parents were able to split time and come down to hang out with their grandson. Oh, and Auntie Laura! Thank you mom and dad's and Laura for that, it made the trip more enjoyable knowing that Noah was in great, loving hands. It does make us want more and more to be near family. I really hope that Noah will grow up knowing his extended family the way I was blessed growing up. We pray that in the next year or two God will help us make those important decisions as well as give us the patience to allow David to finish his dissertation. But not only finish but write it to the best of his ability and be proud of what he has accomplished.

Hey all, we've had a really busy Columbus day. To celebrate the horrible subjugation and massacre that followed Columbus' "discovering" of the continent, we tried on a Halloween costume and went to look at pumpkins! The costume is supposedly a lion, but it looks a bit weird. He loved to eat the chin strap. Noah also got to crawl on the car a few days ago! I know the picture is of him on the top, but dad just put him on the hood and he climbed all the way up. He's a pretty big boy.

A lot has been happening around here. I got some big boy pajamas and I did my first art project at home with daddy. I made pretty pictures for mommy! Daddy gave me oil based paint and it tasted so good! Just kiddin'...he actually made some yummy vanilla pudding and then put food coloring in it. I promise that I put more pudding on paper than in my mouth. I looked outside and saw all the pretty trees, but I just don't have a literal artistic vision. I'm much more modern.

My Guys

So today I am feeling overwhelmed, frustrated and a bit ya know 'bitchy'...just ask David. Things are going well, just quickly and a lot to do in what seems like very little time. David was able to spend the whole day with Noah and I was looking forward to seeing my guys all day. But I have come home David and I worked on dinner together something we don't do enough of...Noah tried to help too. Noah and I crawled all around the living room, enjoyed dinner as a family and Noah got a bath, he is a bit of a messy eater. But really, what fun is food if you can't play with it, right? We have discovered that Noah really likes the spaghetti with meat sauce baby food, which is about the only 'dinner' baby food he likes and another thing he really likes is double stuffed oreos. Who would 'a thought, he really is like me! Well I have been working here for a little bit on curriculum and I have lost all motivation, I guess I will be doing some work tomorrow! We love you all and miss everyone in Iowa! Enjoy the pictures of Noah and his oreos as much as he enjoyed the oreos! And, just cuz they're cute, I put up a picture of Noah climbing into the laundry basket and of Noah taking a nap.