Arkansas Manthe's

Will you be mine?

2012-02-15T19:11:00.001-06:00

Joe and I don't really celebrate Valentine's Day. I would rather he surprise me with flowers on a different day (like he did a few weeks ago!)

Anyway, he did ask Kylah to be his Valentine. :)

He brought her home three red roses. She was so surprised and happy! Good job, daddy!

How cute are these matching PJ's on the girls? If I had a lot of money, I would buy them a ton of stuff that matches. However, I am too cheap not to use hand-me-downs for Norah, so her and Kylah don't get to match very often.

I love this!

The party

2012-02-13T20:30:00.002-06:00

We had Norah's birthday party on Saturday. It turned out to be a sweet little party. We had Gramma here, Norah's babysitter and just a few friends (a few friends that have 3 kids each, so it still seemed like a full house!) :)

Here's the birthday girl in her birthday dress.

She doesn't really like to keep her bows on anymore.

The party table.

How awesome are these cakes?! Norah's babysitter made them. They tasted as good as they looked!

Here are the fellow party-ers enjoying their pizza. They were all a little hyper at the beginning of the party.

Norah had a lot of helpers for opening her gifts. It worked out great that whoever gave her the gift got to help her open it. Audrey got her a sweet little ballet outfit.

She is so intent on opening that gift!

She was surrounded like this the whole time. She did not mind at all! You can tell she is a third child and used to not having any personal space. I remember at Joey's first birthday party he was crying because he was so overwhelmed with all the attention. Not our little Norah!

Giving her big brother a (open-mouthed) kiss. :)

So, are there any more gifts????

Matty is loving on the birthday girl.

Then it was cake time. Norah did enjoy hearing everyone singing to her. She was a little unsure what to do with the cake at first.

She started to dig in a little more after I tore it open a little for her.

There you go!

So sweet to share with Matty.

Then it was pinata time! We lined up the kids from youngest to oldest to have a turn hitting the pinata.

Norah went first.

Matty was pretty cute.

Kylah hit the pinata hard. She didn't hit it hard enough to break it open, but she did knock it off its string. We had to figure out a way to get it hung back up!

Mikaiah was the sweetest about hitting the pinata. She hit it so gently.

Audrey knew what to do! (Do you notice my hand holding the bigger kids back?!) :)

Joey came in swinging. He about took Audrey's head off. But then he did break open the pinata!

We let all the other kids take turns hitting the pinata open more on the floor.

Even Anna (who just got her cast a few days ago) got a turn.

And then Connor finished things off right. :)

A mad dash for the candy!

Norah got to play with her new toys. She loves this elephant popper that Papa and Gramma got her!

What a fun party. After everyone left, Joey sat on the couch and said, "well that was a fun party!" He's so old. :)

Joey and Kylah cuddled up on the couch to read some books with Gramma.

Joe, me and Norah all took a nap! :)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How cute is this picture of Norah and my mom before church on Sunday?!

And one of me and my little Norah.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

We got a little bit of snow this morning. We haven't had much snow at all this year, so it was very welcome by Joey and Kylah.

I let them go out and play when we got home from work/school today. I think that little pile of snow to Joey's left is their little snowman. :)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Joe was getting the kids ready for bed tonight I looked around our (messy) living room. I had to smile when I saw 3 babies "put to bed" by Kylah. Seriously, I find babies in these positions all over the house. I usually have no less than 2-3 babies sleeping like this all over the house at one time. I love it, and I don't want to forget that Kylah does this. I have found them in Kylah's room, our room, in the playroom, in Norah's closet, anywhere. I also see her patting their backs to help them fall asleep. :)

Baby #1.

Baby #2.

Baby #3.

The babies are always face-down, covered with a blanket and usually laying on a book or something similar which I think is to represent a mat like she sleeps on at school. I love it!

The birthday dinner

2012-02-10T20:33:00.001-06:00

We celebrated Norah's birthday night at home last night with dinner and brownies.

We are having a birthday party tomorrow for her (that's when she'll get her presents.)

I had to include this picture because (even though it's not the best of the kids) it shows Norah's crazy one-toothed grin. She looks like a little hillbilly to me! I wanted to capture it here, because it won't be long before the other one catches up and this crazy grin is gone for good.

(Thanks for the fun yellow t-shirts Papa!)

Kylah got to put the candle on the brownie and Joey got to carry it to Norah. We could tell Norah knew we were all singing to her because she kept smiling and looking from person to person.

She wasn't really sure what that thing in front of her was.

She grabbed the cupcake and burst into tears. We weren't quite sure what was going on until later (we figured out that she really didn't like the feeling of the frosting on her fingers!)

Then I helped her with a bite of the brownie and she quickly stopped crying. :)

That's better!

She was pretty serious about her eating after that, but she still would get upset every time the frosting got stuck on her fingers!

Yum!

Pretty sure she got frosting on her fingers again here...or she was just ready for a bath. :)

We are looking forward to Norah's little party tomorrow. I finished her pinata today...Joe and my mom were impressed (after they both admitted that they had doubted my ability to make a lady bug pinata!) Although, judging from how good I am at drawing animals for Pictionary, I guess I understand why they were doubting!

Here's a little preview! :)

And here's what Joey and Gramma are doing while I'm blogging. Joey took a little nap today, so he gets to stay up a little later. He got a new (used, but new to him) Nintendo DS from his teacher at school (they had an unclaimed one at school, and she gave it to Joey). Anyway, he is loving it. We are having to put a few time restrictions on his playing it... :)

Norah is ONE!

2012-02-09T20:21:00.000-06:00

Our sweet Norah is 1 today!

Norah's babysitter took this sweet picture of her today.

We had a little birthday dinner tonight (Gramma's here!) followed by brownies.

I'll post some of those pictures tomorrow.

At 12 months Norah is...

-finally SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT! I knew she could finally do it. Funnily enough, she started sleeping through the night when I stopped nursing her (just after 11 months old). I think she got smart that when I was nursing I would just nurse her in the night when she would wake up because I was so tired and just wanted to go back to bed. Now that I have nothing to offer her, she's figured out that waking up doesn't do anything! I feel like a new woman!

-still eating a lot of baby food, but is starting to try more and more table food.

-done nursing. Since she really wasn't "nursing" anymore, and I was just pumping, I was not sad at all to see this go. We did formula for the past month, and now we are starting to mix that with Vitamin D milk, to be totally on Vitamin D milk in the next week. She's done great and doesn't even seem to notice. I haven't started taking the bottle away from her yet.

-getting faster at her little scoot. She can roam all over the house. Joey and Kylah still think it's great every time they see her scooting. She is not interested in walking, but she does think it's pretty great when we help her stand up.

-getting more teeth! She got her first three teeth a few weeks ago (one on top and two on bottom) and just poked her other top one through today. She had been more cranky than normal the past few days, so I was wondering if she was working on another tooth. She has a lot of teeth to go...more crankiness...

-still not a fan of riding in the car. We turned her carseat around a few days ago hoping maybe that would help. Turns out she just really doesn't like the car.

-in love with her brother and sister. She just watches them everywhere they go and everything they do.

-still a mommy's girl. She wants her mommy at all times. If she can see me, she wants me. Is it bad that every once in a while I hide so that she can't see me?! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NORAH!

WE LOVE YOU!!

It's that time

2012-02-06T20:47:00.002-06:00

Today was pre-registration day for Kindergarten for Joey.

Where has the time gone?!

This picture has nothing to do with the post. It's just a cute one of my little man and me.

I am so excited for him. I know he will do so great and is so ready!

Hodge Podge

2012-02-04T15:20:00.001-06:00

Norah was just hanging out with Joey the other night. She still loves her big brother to death!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, the other evening the kids were out playing in the backyard. Since we moved in during the winter, we haven't really done any lawn work or picked up anything that the previous owners left here. There's some random bags and concrete blocks, etc. that will need to be moved come spring time.

Anyway, so the kids are playing outside and Joey comes and tells me to come see what they are doing. He shows me his hands and tells me he "found some soil, so we are making a garden." He thought it was pretty funny because his hands were covered with the dirt. I came to see and looked at the bag of "soil" that they were playing with. Zoom in on the bag and you can see that the bag says "manure." Yep, there hands were covered in manure!

We scrubbed those hands many times and used GermX a few times for good measure too! :)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

On Thursday, Joe surprised me by coming by my office with a dozen roses. So sweet. (and it's not even Valentine's Day yet!)

He then proceeded to cook an awesome dinner for him and me that night. We timed it so that we ate a late dinner after the kids were all in bed. It was amazing that we could actually hold a conversation during dinner at our own table! :) It was yummy, too!

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Yesterday we put Norah's hair in her first little pony tail. So cute!

Norah has been back to being a happy baby after being so cranky for a good three weeks. We are so glad to have our happy baby back. She pushed through 3/4 of her front top and bottom teeth, but somehow that other top one hasn't gotten the message yet. Oh well, we love our little hillbilly!

Matty and Norah were pretty cute together yesterday. Actually, as much as Matty loves Norah, I'm pretty sure he gets quite annoyed with her these days because all she tries to do is take every toy he is playing with. Sorry Matty. She'll learn someday.

Ah, look at them so sweetly reading a book together. Actually, this lasted about 5 seconds! :)

I love when my kids think of creative things to play. Yesterday they were playing "library" with Audrey. They made quite a mess with all the books, but it was so cute and creative I couldn't get too upset about the mess.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Today we all went out for a little shopping trip as a family. We got groceries and a few other odds and ends.

Our trip ended at Sam's Club. We were getting pretty close to nap time, so Norah was starting to get a little cranky. Somehow we lost her pacifier in the middle of Sam's--the only one we had brought from home. (Joey found it about 5 minutes ago in the hood on his jacket!)

Anyway, as we always do at Sam's, we headed to the bakery for a cookie for the kids. I got an extra one thinking either I would eat it or share it with Norah. :)

Turns out we don't need pacifier. All we need is a cookie! She was happy as a clam the rest of the time at Sam's and the whole way home. This was her very first cookie ever.

What, do I have something on my face?!

Kind of a gross post...

2012-02-01T20:20:00.000-06:00

Well, not much seems to be going on around the Manthe house this week, which is actually kind of nice!

We did have an eventful weekend last weekend.

First, Joey had his friend Zeke spend the night Friday night. This is the first friend besides Connor (whom we consider family...) that he has had spend the night. Zeke is my friend Callie's little boy, who is 5 just like Joey. For those of you who don't know Callie, we grew up together from 5th-12th grade. And now we live on the same street! Crazy, huh?! It's been fun having a close friend with kids just down the street.

Anyway, Zeke and Joey had a fun night. We got candy, ice cream and a movie for them to watch.

They were great! They got to stay up later than normal, and they got to sleep in Joey's bunk beds. We moved Kylah into Norah's room for the night (which she thought was pretty fun!)

We had a nice and relaxing Saturday and then enjoyed an evening with the Adair's. Well, we enjoyed dinner with the Adair's and then Mere and I went out shopping for a little bit! :)

And then the not-so-fun part of our weekend came...the stomach flu. I think it actually started with Norah. She woke up on Saturday morning with the world's smelliest diaper. I'm not kidding. Kylah (who had spent the night in Norah's room) came into our room at 6:15 Saturday morning saying, "it smells like throw up in Norah's room." No one had thrown up...it was Norah's nasty diaper. Anyway, it took the whole day and a Scentsy in her room to get the smell out.

Then, on Sunday morning, Norah woke up covered in vomit. Besides being a little grossed out, I didn't think too much of it because (after a bath) she was as happy as could be all day long and ate just fine.

We went to church, and on the way home I started feeling a little nauseous. I thought maybe I was just a little carsick and hungry. We got home and fed the kids, and I ate a little lunch, and then went to lay down because my stomach wouldn't settle down. Well, about 30 minutes later I knew why. And then again, and then again. Bummer. I. HATE. TO. THROW. UP!!!

Luckily it was Sunday so Joe took care of all the kids while I layed in bed the rest of the day and night.

And then Joe woke up at 1:30 am that night. It was his turn. Sorry, honey.

We both had to drag ourselves to work the next day, but fortunately it was only a 24 hour flu bug, and I was feeling much better by Monday afternoon. Monday morning was a little bit of a blur, but I don't think I killed anyone at work...

Luckily, the germs seemed to stop there and neither Joey nor Kylah has gotten sick.

We are all healed and eating normally again! :)

And as I turned the calendar today I realized that I have made no plans for a birthday celebration for our third child who turns 1 next week! I better get on that! :)

Bath time with Norah

2012-01-25T21:39:00.001-06:00

One of Norah's favorite times of the day is bath time. She has always been a fan of the bath, and she continues to love it. If she's having a particularly fussy night, we throw her in the bath earlier than normal and she gets a longer bath (hmmm...maybe she's catching on that fussy=long bath...)

Anyway, she was pretty cute tonight in the bath.

She was clapping for herself.

Don't you want to play with me, mommy?

There, I got you.

Don't you love the tongue out. She's so focused!

She was so curious.

She is not a fan of when bath time is over. Sometimes I can distract her while I lotion her and get her jammies on, but sometimes she just screams. She did a little of both tonight.

I was trying to get a picture of her new teeth coming in.

She was still happy...

Still putting up with me...

And, she's done. But, don't you think that's such a cute crying face?!

Just one more...seriously, I think I would be cranky if my teeth looked like that too!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

We were glad to all get back together this past Sunday after going three different directions this weekend. I had a board review course this weekend in Chicago. All by myself. It was weird, but a good weird, to be all alone for a few days. It was actually pretty intense with 11 hour days of lecture and then another 2 hours of testing at night. But I do feel more prepared for my boards than I did before I left. Let's see if I still feel prepared next month when I actually take my boards!!

I got to eat dinner with Aaron and Esther two nights in a row! I had my first experience at a Brazilian steakhouse, and it was awesome!!

Joey and Kylah headed up to Kansas to spend the weekend with Nana and Grandpa. (Thanks for taking them Jeff!!) It sounds like they had a great time.

Joe and Norah had some good bonding time here at the house. I think you forget how easy it is to only have one until you only have to take care of one. It sounds like they had a good time together too, and Norah slept pretty good for daddy too!

I was ready to see everyone when I got home Sunday night! Those kisses and hugs are the best!

She must be one of us

2012-01-14T10:48:00.000-06:00

Norah had her first taste of biscuits and gravy for breakfast yesterday!

I think it's safe to say she liked them! :)

We know these two love biscuits and gravy!

Just another Saturday

2012-01-08T20:22:00.004-06:00

We had a nice and relaxing Saturday. We spent the morning just hanging out in our jammies.

This little one is actually smiling here, but she's been quite the cranky one the past week. I chose this picture because if you click on it and make it big, you can see her swollen top gums...what I'm guessing is the reason for all of her crankiness the past week. She is 11 months old (tomorrow!) and has NO teeth, so they are bound to come in soon. And I'm thinking they may just all come at once. Let's hope they pop through soon so we can get over this cranky phase!

Who gave him permission to become so old?!

She looks like such a girlie-girl here, swinging around and dancing...with a sword?!!! :)

I even let Joey and Kylah paint my nails!

We spent the rest of the day cleaning out the garage. We went through every box and organized things, and made a pile for a garage sale...someday. We can now park my car in the garage! Yay! And we can now officially say we are completely moved into this house.

_____________________________________________

Joey got a new purple dress shirt and tie from Nana, and he really wanted to wear it to church on Sunday. When Joe told him that he also had a purple dress shirt, Joey really wanted to match. Joe was a good sport. When Joey is really excited to wear something the next day, he will lay all of his clothes out on his floor the night before. He lays it in the actual form of a human. I have gone in there in the middle of the night before and thought there was someone lying on the floor!

Anyway, Joey carefully laid out his clothes and daddy's clothes on his floor. They hung up the purple shirts so they wouldn't get wrinkled. (I didn't realize it at the time, but it looks like Kylah laid her clothes out as well!) :)

Here are those handsome men all ready for church this morning!

So sweet!

This was a pretty cute one, too!

Little Miss Fussy Pants wasn't really in the mood to take any pictures this morning, but I really wanted one of them looking so cute!

Daddy got her to smile a little, but you can tell she still isn't really too happy about it!

Did you notice Kylah's doll that has a matching dress? Isn't that the cutest thing?! Nana got that outfit for her as well, and she was so excited! I was excited to find the bag of 4T girl clothes for winter when we were cleaning out the garage!

We are 3 for 3...

2012-01-03T20:13:00.002-06:00

On what, you ask?

On having three children who all SCOOT on their butt instead of crawling normally! Yep, Norah has joined the ranks that her brother and sister started when they were babies. Who would have thought?! I thought it was crazy when Kylah started scooting on her butt like Joey did when he was a baby. And now, Norah too? I'm thinking it is either genetic or something we are doing to make them do this. I promise we do tummy time, but they have all just hated it and have never tried to get up onto all fours like normal babies do. My mom thinks kids who crawl differently will be smarter...we'll go with that! :)
So far, it seems like she is scooting girlie style, just like Kylah did, opposed to Joey's animal-like scoot!

Anyway, I started getting some glimpses over Christmas break that Norah might start scooting, but today she was actually moving, and I caught it on video! (Don't mind the food-stained shirt she has on...we had just finished dinner.) :)

Christmas Road Trip

2012-01-02T20:58:00.001-06:00

We had quite the Christmas marathon. We left on Friday, the 23rd and headed to my parent's house in Ohio. We weren't quite sure what to expect on that long trip, since our last long trip home from Ohio this past summer didn't go to well. Norah actually did great on this trip. Kylah was a little whiney, but other than that, it was smooth sailing. We had snacks, movies, bottles and baby food, and only had to make quick stops for bathroom breaks.

The kids were so excited to get to Papa and Gramma's house!

Christmas Eve morning was filled with fun crafts and things to do for the kids. My mom had this fun idea for ornaments.

I was impressed with how well they all did, and not one poke with the pins!

Gotta love the concentration!

This was common to see...lots of relaxation!

We headed to a Christmas Eve service that afternoon. I failed to get a picture of our whole family dressed up on Christmas Eve, but here's Joe and me.

Joey sat by his Auntie Esther, who scratched his back and head during the sermon...she knows how to speak his love language! :)

Kylah sat by Papa and Gramma for most of the service. I love this picture of her and my dad!

When we got home, we all had some of my dad's yummy chili and cinnamon rolls (a Manes tradition on Christmas Eve!)

Then, we decorated the tree.

Joey was pretty excited to see his ornament from his first Christmas with the year he was born.

Kylah hung up her own ornament too, with a little help from Uncle Andy.

Alright, who decorated Norah instead of the tree?! (But she looks pretty cute decorated in those lights!)

Meet Husker...this is Tony and Gina's dog. He is really a cute dog and good too.

Another Manes tradition is Santa making an appearance on Christmas Eve. Of course, Kylah was not a fan, which is saying it lightly. She screamed bloody murder. My dad pulled his beard off and showed her that it was him, and then she calmed down. We even got a picture of all the kiddos with Santa! (Side note: this is the exact same costume that my dad used to wear when I was little!)

Stockings were hung, Christmas jammies were put on, and then the kids were put to bed. I think the adults then played a rousing game of Pictionary. It was girls against boys all weekend in games, and the girls just did not fare very well. :(

Anyway, Joey and Michael were so patiently waiting on Christmas morning and staring at the pile of wrapped presents.

All of the kids were blessed with so many fun new toys. I love watching their reactions as they open the gifts.

I think Norah may have been more interested in the wrapping paper than the actual presents...

Joey may have the best reactions of all when he opens gifts. He is so excited about each one!

Aaron and Esther enjoying watching the kids open all their presents (maybe?!) :)

I had my dad's name this year, so I made him a Husker blanket. I think he liked it! :)

My mom got a picture that spells GRAMMA from Joey, Kylah and Norah.

Joey and Michael had a lot of fun playing together with their Transformer masks.

Not sure why they were hugging, but I caught a picture of it and thought it was cute!

I surprised Joe this year by getting him a Big Green Egg. He has been wanting one of these for quite some time, but since they are fairly pricey, he thought he would have to wait a few more years. It just so happened that I made a little extra money a few weeks ago, so I decided it was time for him to have one.

Needless to say, he was a little surprised when he read the card I put in his stocking. :)

Sweet Kylah in her new robe.

Do you see the remote control helicopter that Joey got? He had been asking for one, and I found one for really cheap (on sale and I had a coupon), so I decided to get him one. It lasted about 10 minutes and then took a rough landing and broke. Well, it was fun while it lasted!

We had a nice Christmas day...

The kids had fun playing games with Gramma.

Dad and I cooked Christmas dinner. Dad made an awesome prime rib! So yummy!

Gramma played with Norah and Luca too.

The big boys played football outside for quite a while.

Norah hung out with her Auntie G for a while.

I had to get a picture of Joey in his Transformer mask. He always had to have his new neck pillow around his neck anytime he had the mask on. So funny.

We restarted our Bingo tradition this year. We always used to play Bingo when we would have Christmas at my grandparents growing up. We decided it was time to bring it back. We always get silly gifts for whoever gets Bingo. I think we had about 100 gifts stacked on the table this year just for Bingo!!

Kylah enjoyed this disguise.

Joey convinced Uncle T to dress up as a Transformer (notice that he also gave him the neck pillow to wear!)

Papa had a little wrestling time with Joey and Michael.

The guys went out to shoot some clay rocks. Joey was able to go out and watch. I'm pretty sure he was amazed. I think as they were going out I asked Joe to make sure to have some gun-safety talks with Joey while he was out there!

Auntie Esther is a good sport and let Kylah do her hair. Kylah was gentle (most of the time...)

We played a lot of games while at my parents: Speed Scrabble, Pitch, Pictionary, Catch Phrase, Scene It. We always have fun playing games together (even if we do get a little competitive!) :)

I did have to include this picture of one of our Speed Scrabble games. It's probably not as funny as if you were there, but during one round, all of a sudden my mom stops and asks, "does beautiful have an A in it?" We all look over and this is what she had spelled...(you can see the A just waiting to be used if needed!) :) It must have been late... We all had a good laugh at that. :)

We had such a nice Christmas at my parent's with everyone. We felt like we had enough time to relax and just enjoy being there.

_________________________________________________

On the 28th, we loaded up and headed to Kansas to Joe's parents for a few days. We decided that since we still had some time off, that we would stop there and have "Christmas" there too!

The kids gave Nana her gift (pictures that spelled NANA).

Norah got to spend some time with her favorite twin cousin, Naomi.

We had a hard time getting them both to look at the camera at the same time.

They were very interested in trying to take each other's bows off!

Naomi took her first few steps while we were there (yep, she's only 10 months). Norah...not so much. She's not even crawling, although we have seen the beginnings of a scoot. But who needs to learn to crawl, when you have a cousing who can walk and push you on the scooter?! :)

Kylah got some fun gifts from Nana and Grandpa!

See what I mean about the great expressions when Joey opens gifts? :)

And then my camera battery died, so I don't have any more pictures of our time at Joe's parents house. We had some more great relaxing time. Grammy and Aunt Kris brought over some fun gifts for the kids, which they loved!

Joe's mom offered to watch all of our kiddos for us so we could go out for our anniversary (which was on the 28th...9 years!!) We headed to a matinee movie and then dinner at a nice steakhouse. It was nice to be out alone.

The next day we got to see Jake and Katie and Naomi some more, eat some yummy chili, play Nerts, and eat some yummy snacks. Later that night we got to see Grandma and Grandpa Manthe, Aunt Susan, and Grammy and Kris again. It was fun!

We headed back home Saturday morning to give ourselves a few days at home before we had to head back to work. We are mostly unpacked, although trying to find room for all these new toys has been challenging! :)

The Adair's came over for New Year's Eve. Joe cooked his first meal on his Green Egg...steaks!

The kids enjoyed playing with all the new toys. Joey loves this army game that my parents got him!

We put the kids to bed on New Year's Eve, and kept ourselves awake until midnight by playing Spades. We must be getting old, since it is hard for us to stay awake until midnight now! :)

Joe has been having fun with his Egg. He's cooked something on it every night since he's had it. We had steak that first night, grilled chicken last night, and then he made some amazing ribs tonight that the Matchell's enjoyed with us! Looks like maybe this Green Egg was good for me too! :)

Christmas party and playroom!

2011-12-21T21:37:00.001-06:00

We celebrated Christmas with the Adair's last night.

The kids have been so excited to give the Adair kids their gifts. I think we spent the whole dinner telling the kids not to tell each other what they got each other! :)

The kids got to dip and decorate pretzels. Fun and yummy!

Kylah was enjoying it!

That's my kind of decorating, Kylah! :)

The boys were concentrating pretty hard on what they were doing.

I tried to get a picture of the big boys opening their gifts from each other, but they were moving too fast!

The littlest ones were pretty cute opening their gifts, too. Norah was pretty happy with just the paper!

The girls were sweet and gentle when opening their presents (completely opposite of the boys!)

I don't think these two could be any sweeter!

And we actually got all 6 of them in a picture!

--------------------------------------------------------------------

In other news...we are really enjoying our new house. Having an extra room (play room!) really makes a big difference. Instead of bringing all of their toys into the living room and making a big mess there, the kids can get the toys out in the playroom and make a big mess in there (where I don't have to see it all the time!)

It seems like Joey and Kylah have really been enjoying playing in their new house.

I am always amazed at how creative they are when they play and the things they pretend to do.

Here is Joey being Stan the Handyman (carrying bathroom rugs!), while Kylah was Miss Pattycake.

One view of the playroom. We have a mini TV in there so we can put movies on for the kids if we need some quiet time! :) It's great to have room to put some of these toys.

I really shouldn't be blogging right now, when I have laundry to finish and packing to do, but I needed a break. :)

Wish us luck on our long drive to Ohio (Joe wants me to test the Benadryl out on Norah...)! We are looking forward to a fun Christmas with my family!

Away in a Manger

2011-12-21T21:17:00.000-06:00

The cutest version of Away in a Manger that I've ever heard! (You may want to turn your volume way up to hear her.)

Christmas concert

2011-12-11T20:08:00.001-06:00

Whew...what a weekend! We have moved (most things) into our new house. We are loving the extra space already, but we still have a lot of boxes to unpack!

But, first things first.

Joey and Kylah had their school Christmas program on Tuesday night.

Kylah was front and center, so we got some great pictures of her. Kylah sang her little heart out. It was fun to see her perform. She was so serious, and she knew every word and every action.

Joey also did great. He was in the back, so it was a little bit more difficult to get a good picture of him. But, he is a little performer, too, and did all the actions!

Joey sang in a little trio. He did great, of course! The microphone wasn't very loud, but you can hear him if you listen really closely.

Kylah was so much fun to watch. This video really says it all...

Joey and Kylah had some great supporters come watch them.
Nana drove all the way from Kansas just to see the (30 minute) concert! Somehow I managed to forget to get a picture of her with the kids, but we appreciated that she drove 4 hours both ways to come see them perform!

The Adair's came to watch too.
Joey is always excited to see Connor.

What beautiful little girls Kylah and Audrey are!

And Matty is always loving to Norah! (You can see Nana in the background holding Norah...that's the only picture I got!)

The three cutest kids I know!

Christmas is coming

2011-12-07T12:29:00.002-06:00

We have started the Christmas festivities around the Manthe house.

Unfortunately, we are moving this weekend, so the only Christmas decorations we have up is the small Christmas tree in Joey and Kylah's room. (unfortunately for it being Christmas-time, NOT unfortunately for having a new house!)

However, we are still getting into the spirit!

Yesterday was a big day: we had the first snow of the season, we decorated Christmas cookies with friends, and then Joey and Kylah had their school Christmas program last night.

I only have the pictures of the cookie-making from my phone right now, but I will blog about the rest soon!

Kylah was surprisingly really good at cutting out the cookies from the dough. When it came to decorating, she mainly wanted me to put the frosting on and then she did all the sprinkles. :)

Joey also did great at cutting out the cookies from the dough, and he had a blast being creative with the icing and sprinkles! It was a big difference from last year to this year. He didn't need much help this year at all!

I promise to blog soon about our other fun activities from yesterday. Did I mention we're moving on Friday?? Yeah, we are so not packed yet...

Way to go!!

2011-12-05T20:09:00.000-06:00

Ozark Orthopaedic Physical Therapy was voted best physical therapy in Northwest Arkansas by Celebrate Arkansas Magazine. (Joe is the director of this clinic!)

Way to go, babe!

(If you want to see the proof, you can click on this link.)

Love my girls...

2011-12-04T21:18:00.001-06:00

***UPDATE: Due to the overwhelming number of comments I received on this post, I just wanted to make it clear that the top picture is Norah and the bottom picture is Kylah at the same age. My nurse thought they were both Norah, so just thought I'd make that clear.
Now feel free to ooh and ahh and comment! :)

...in the same outfits! :)

Manthe Thanksgiving

2011-11-28T21:05:00.017-06:00

We spent Thanksgiving with Joe's family this year. It was a nice and relaxing holiday with lots of great food!

Thanksgiving was a beautiful day.

Norah spent a little time with Grandpa.

James got out one of his old army men games and played with Joey. They were pretty funny to watch, and Joey had a great time.

Joe is the official "turkey carver." He would make his Papa proud! I think this was his smoked turkey from the Green Egg. There was also a bigger turkey that was cooked in the oven. We never have to worry about running out of food at the Manthe house!

Here is almost everyone gathered around the Thanksgiving table. We missed you Josh & Val and kids, and Jeff! Gotta love the kids' table. :)

I should have taken a picture of the food: turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy (I made homemade gravy...I think I won Joe's dad over, but I'm not sure about his brothers!), stuffing, green beans, cauliflower and cheese, Val's sweet potato casserole, homemade rolls, and fresh cranberry sauce.

YUM!

These two had some fun together this weekend. They are starting to interact a little bit more, which is so fun to see. (Doesn't Naomi have the best eyes ever?!)Here they are "talking" to each other. Always have to have something in each of their mouths...

Joey and Kylah got to help Nana decorate her tree. Nana has an awesome tree with ornaments that each actually do something when you push a button. The kids love it, and they loved getting to decorate it. (Good thing, because we might miss out on having a tree here at our house this year since we are moving in a few weeks.)

Saturday night we all went to Power Play (think a bigger ChuckECheese or Dave & Busters). The kids always have fun, and always get to ride some fun rides.

Kylah is a fan of the swings.

Jason was the only one brave enough to go on this ride with Joey (actually he was the only one that didn't think he would get sick with all that spinning!) :)

Fun Dip and prizes at the end!

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend. I got some good naps in. The kids had a great time playing. We all ate some great food. And we spent a lot of fun time with family. Couldn't ask for more. On Saturday I was telling Joey that I needed a hug because I felt like I hadn't really seen him for a few days (he is just go, go, go when we are at Joe's parents). He told me he would cuddle with me when we got back to Arkansas. :) I guess he just didn't have time for that there!

9 months and ready for Thanksgiving!

2011-11-21T21:23:00.011-06:00

Norah Mae is 9 months old!

We took her last week for her 9 month check up, and here are her stats:

Height: 29 inches (90th percentile)

Weight: 19 pounds, 8 ounces (55th percentile)

Head: 18.5 cm (100th percentile...I'm still not sure the nurse measured right, but we'll go with it. At least her head doesn't look that big!)

I have to write a few things about Norah at 9 months on here, because she is already getting less written in her baby book than the other two. Sorry Norah!!

Norah is drinking about 4-5 ounces of milk 5 times a day. She nurses in the morning and then gets bottles of pumped milk (mixed with formula as needed) the rest of the day.

She is napping SO much better. She takes a 1-1.5 hour nap in the morning, and then usually a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon.

She goes to bed by 7:00 pm.

She is getting better at sleeping at night. I have high hopes that by 1 year she will actually be sleeping through the night every night. She has given me a few nights here and there, so I know she can do it! But, even when she does wake up, it's usually only once a night now, and she goes right back to sleep after nursing.

She usually wakes up around 6:30 am.

She LOVES her brother and sister, and they love to entertain her (thank goodness!)

I still think she is one of the most loved babies by her older siblings. I love it!

Norah loves her food (one of the reasons she is filling out so nicely!)

I still make her baby food, usually a mix of sweet potatoes, green veggies and chicken.

For her fruits I usually make a combination of apples, pears, strawberries and/or blueberries.

I think she would keep eating all day if we let her!

She loves puffs.

I have given her very small bits of food, but not too much, because she still has NO teeth.

She waves hi and bye-bye, but she does it backwards. So cute!

She babbles all the time. Actually, she's very loud!

I've heard her say mama a few times, but usually when she is crying in her crib. :)

Norah you are a blessing to our family, and we love you!!

------------------------------------------

Look at these sweet sisters!

The picture of all three is tough to get sometimes, but I can get a cute one every now and then.

Joey is so excited for Thanksgiving (and Christmas, too, but he knows Thanksgiving comes first.)

Today at school they had their Thanksgiving feast, and he loved all the yummy food!
--------------------------------------------------
Norah and Matty are still good friends. Matty loves to "help" Norah eat her puffs. One for Norah, three for Matty...
Bathtime together is always fun (sorry Norah and Matty, but we did the same thing to your brothers and sisters!) -----------------------------------------------------
Joey and Kylah love to go in our closet and dress up in our clothes.
I got a picture of them the other day. They look a little more like hobo's here than a mommy and daddy...what's that saying about our clothes?... ------------------------------------------------------
A few weekends ago our downtown had a fun Princess/Toy/Cars thing. (I'm really not sure what it actually was called or what it actually was.) They had lots of fun different booths with samples of little toys for the kids and toys they could play with there. There were also supposed to be princesses there, so the girls were to dress like princesses.
Kylah made a beautiful princess!
Joey finally got to see the life-size Lightning McQueen. We stopped for a quick picture and then kept going...it was packed!
And we finally found some princesses. I thought there would be more "real-life" princesses, but Kylah didn't know any better, so she was happy to see these cardboard cut-outs!

-----------------------------------------------------

In other news...we have found a new (bigger!) place to rent!

We were feeling a bit cramped in our 1100 square foot house after 2 years here, and this new rental kind of fell into our lap! It's not huge by any means, but it does give us quite a bit more space. We have some packing to do to be ready to move there mid-December, but we'll make it work.

(Name that TV show..."make it work!") :)

Star Student

2011-11-16T19:39:00.009-06:00

Kylah is Star Student of the Week at her preschool. She was so excited! The Star Student gets to bring a few fun things from home to show her class, bring pictures from home, and gets to be line leader.

Here is Star Student Kylah with her teacher Miss Amber (whom she loves!)

They do a fun little interview with the Star Student and that stays up on the poster on the door all week.

Here are the answers that Kylah gave...

When I grow up I want to be...a princess.

My favorite subject is...painting.
I am proud of myself because...I share with my brother. What I like most about school is...playing in the doll house.

I am a star student because...I listen and obey.

I am good at...writing my name.

So sweet! And we are so proud of our little Star Student of the Week! :)

cell phone upload

2011-11-14T10:40:00.004-06:00

I realized I haven't blogged in over a week (gasp!!).

So, here are some recent pictures from my phone to tide all of you grandparents out there over until I can get good pictures from my camera.

Norah loves to wear headbands and flowers...ok, I just like her to wear them.

This was one of my favorite outfits that Kylah used to wear (and I think Olivia wore it before her!) I think Norah got to wear it once, and now she is about grown out of it. She is my chunky monkey!!

The kids LOVE to paint. I really should just let them do it every day! :)

And Norah doing something she does best...eating! Still no teeth, but she can "chew" soft foods, and loves her puffs!
In other news, Kylah has finally kicked the sucking-her-fingers habit. We think. We started a little over a week ago by putting the nasty stuff on her fingers during the day and putting gloves on her at bedtime. I think she really must have been ready this time, because she didn't fight it at all, and doesn't really seem to mind. We haven't put any of the nasty stuff on her fingers during the day for about 4 days now, and she doesn't even try to suck her fingers! And, we forgot to put her gloves on her last night for bed, and she wasn't sucking fingers when I went to check on her (still awake). We'll keep doing the gloves for a while just to make sure she doesn't slip back into doing it in her sleep.
Falling asleep is harder for her, especially if she isn't too tired, but she seems to be doing ok.
We are so proud of her!

(Now, if only she would want to poop in the potty...)

Nana visits and Halloween

2011-11-04T14:16:00.021-05:00

Last weekend Joe's mom, Grammy, and Aunt Kris came for a quick visit. Joey and Kylah got to go swimming at Nana and Grammy's hotel Saturday morning, and they had a blast. I would have taken pictures, but I got to stay home and sleep for a few wonderful, quiet hours!! :)

Aunt Kris brought her little friend Samuel, who knows Joey and Kylah from when we have been down to Hot Springs before. They had a fun day together.

Here they are enjoying some hot chocolate.

Nana and Norah had some good time together.
We took the kids to Fun City, where Nana gave them lots of tokens to play games (which they don't normally get to do when mommy takes them!)

Joe got in on the fun with Joey too!
Norah had fun talking with Grammy and Nana.

And Norah got to ride her first ride ever! :)

After Fun City, we headed to MarketPlace to eat, which happens to be a favorite of Grammy's!

Of course, we had to get a Chocolate Mess for dessert. This was the first time our kids have experienced this yummy dessert.

I think they enjoyed it... Love the chocolate on his face!

Joey loves his Grammy!

--------------------------------------------------------

Monday night was Halloween, and instead of taking the kids trick-or-treating, we took them to a carnival our church was having.

Our friend, Kena, kept Norah for us so we didn't have to worry about her being out late or being cold. It was great.

Here is the only picture I have of the three kiddos together.

The rides were great! (Although there were a few that Kylah was too short to ride on, which she was sad about.)

She had fun on this one, though, with Audrey behind her.

This was one that took the kids up high (Kylah actually could have gone on this one, but said it was too high for her!) :)

What a cute little Spider Girl!

Joey and Connor were excited that they were both Superman!

Joey loved climbing this wall.

He has never done anything like that before, so I think he felt like he had really accomplished something. He was so proud!

Spider Girl loves her daddy too!

------------------------------------------

And, just for fun...Norah got to enjoy her first bath like a big girl in the big tub with Kylah. She loved it!

Oh, the drama.

2011-11-03T10:30:00.003-05:00

Kylah has been potty trained for about the past month. We finally just told her that she was going to wear underwear everyday (she had been wearing underwear to school and pullups at home for a few weeks prior, so we knew she knew how to stay dry if she tried.) We were so excited to finally be rid of pullups during the day. And, one bonus to her potty training late was that she literally had maybe one accident at the very beginning, but other than that, knows how to hold it and how to stay dry.

Anyway, then our battle with going Number 2 came. Oh my. This has been a battle. She will hold it and wait until she gets a pullup on at nighttime to go Number 2. We would catch her trying to go in her pullup and put her on the toilet, but she would not go. She said it was scary. Anyway, we are at our wits end, because we know she knows how to go Number 2, she just needs to do it on the toilet! The past few nights (when we know she has to go) we sit her on the toilet and tell her she has to stay on the toilet until she goes poopy on the toilet.

Oh. My. The. Drama.

She cries the whole time she's on there. But, both nights, after about 10-15 minutes she has actually pooped in the toilet! Yay!

But, here's the funny thing. The first night after she actually went, she came to the bathroom door, and when we asked her if she went, she started bawling! She could not stop crying. We tried to figure out why she was crying. We asked her if something hurt. No. We asked her if she was scared. No. She just said, "it made me cry." Well, we still celebrated! Same thing last night. She started bawling again after she went in the toilet. Again, "it made me cry." Maybe she's just so overwhelmed with emotion! :)

Seriously, I don't understand girls. I know I am one. But, I guess I don't understand 3 year old girls! :) And, just think...we get to do this again with another little girl. :)

Fun filled week

2011-10-29T14:52:00.023-05:00

Now that it's been almost a week since they've been here, I'll blog about my parents' visit last weekend! :)

We had a blast with them here. They actually got a good price on Priceline, so they were able to fly, which meant we got quite a bit of extra time with them. They got here on Thursday at noon and went to pick up Joey and Kylah at school. I wish I could have been there, because I'm sure they were so excited to be picked up by Papa and Gramma. They spent that afternoon playing and going to see Lion King in 3D. (all while mommy and daddy were at work!)

My dad's birthday was a few weeks ago, so of course we had to have a little party for him. He had a few "helplers" for blowing out the candles.

I let the kids each pick out their own present for Papa from the dollar aisle at Target. He ended up with a sword from Joey and a purple squishy thing from Kylah. :)

And, of course Papa let them open the gifts that they got.

Kylah was so excited! :)

We all wore party hats...even Norah!

And then Joey wore them all. :)

The kids got to do lots of fun things...like style Gramma's hair.

We all went geocaching one afternoon (Geocaching is a fun scavenger hunt-like game that has things hidden all over the world). It's really fun. You should check it out at geocaching.com.

It took us a while to get it downloaded on my dad's phone, so while we were waiting, Gramma and Norah spent some time together.

Joey and daddy did some racing. And then Joey and Kylah played in the dirt, which I failed to get a picture of.

We finally found one! :)

The kids got books read to them a lot. And, unlike their mommy and daddy, Papa and Gramma do not skip any words. Great, now our kids are going to know when we're skipping words!

This was pretty cute of them all cuddled up to Papa listening to the book.

Gramma reads to Norah (this book has been popular with all of our kiddos!)

Joey loves it when Papa is here, because it is a lot of rough and tumble play. (And Joey's always worn out, so it's a win-win situation).

Fun outside playing baseball.

You're out! :)

We had such a fun weekend. Let's hope that Priceline gives you a good deal next time! :)
-------------------------------------------------------------------

How precious is this little one?! I just want to eat her up. For as hard as she was the first 6 months of her life, she is just a joy now. She naps great (1-2 hours in the morning and 2-3 hours in the afternoon), eats great (she's gotten a little chunky since we've started solids, and I'm loving those chunky thighs!), and we're working on the nighttime. :)

----------------------------------------------------------

Joe's brother, Josh, was is in the US right now for a little over a week. He got to spend one night with us this past week.

This is the only picture I managed to get while he was here, but it's pretty cute!

----------------------------------------------------------------

Norah had her first bout with Croup this week. She was a pitiful little thing. And, she didn't sleep much for a few nights.

She never just sits and cuddles like this.

How pitiful. But, she seems to be getting better now!

What a fun-filled week!

And today, Joe's mom and grandma and aunt are here, so we're having another fun day!

Jump, Jump

2011-10-19T22:05:00.003-05:00

Here's a fun video that shows how crazy Norah is in her Jumperoo. Joey is playing with her, and I love how he can make her laugh!

Jake and Katie visit

2011-10-15T16:55:00.013-05:00

Jake and Katie came down to our house for a few days his past week. Jake's "weekend" is in the middle of the week, so we got to have a mid-week break! :)

I think I will forever love taking pictures of these two cuties since they are so close in age! We actually got asked a few times while we were out if they were twins. They are very similar in size and in what they do (although Naomi has four teeth and Norah has none.)

Aunt Katie let Joey take pictures with her camera. She is able to put it on a setting of either taking a picture by looking at the screen on the back or looking through the viewfinder. When she gave Joey the camera, he lifted his eye to the actual viewfinder and asked why he couldn't see anything. I love this because most people try to take a picture with my camera look at the back and wonder why they can't see to take a picture, rather than looking through the viewfinder. Maybe he'll be a photographer?!

Kylah really was sweet with the little two girls.

I think Kylah looks so old in this picture. Maybe it's because this picture makes it looks like she doesn't have a chubby face. :)
We went to Jump Zone to run off some energy. Unfortunately they have changed the rules, so adults are no longer able to go on the slides with the kids. So, we weren't able to let Joe and Jake run off their energy. :)

These two had fun with toys on the ground. Like Katie said in her post, each one wanted what the other one had.

Norah thinks she will take the toy from Naomi while she's distracted.

Well, now she's just blatantly taking the toy from Naomi.

And...Norah got it. Naomi looks a little sad.

Now Naomi wants that toy back!

So funny! Well, it's got to start at some age! :)

Joey didn't stop the entire time we were there. He loves that place!

Kylah loves it too.

Katie and me with our "twin" babies. :)

We had a great time. Come back soon! :)

8 months

2011-10-12T21:32:00.008-05:00

Our little Norah Mae is now 8 months old (well, she was on Sunday).

I thought I'd update on what she's been up to (since her baby book hasn't been opened in a few months. Oh, the poor life of a third child! Luckily I was a third child and still turned out OK...even though my own baby book isn't as full as my older brothers.) :)

Norah:

-is sitting up all by herself now. Sometimes I still put the boppy around her if I'm going to take a shower or something so I know she'll be ok if she does happen to fall.

-is officially a paci girl. She loves that thing.

-still doesn't sleep through the night. She gets up about twice a night right now. I am hoping that once she can find her paci and put it back in herself that maybe she will sleep a little better!

-is NO LONGER swaddled! The few days that our air conditioner was broken broke her of that habit since it was too hot to swaddle her.

-still goes to bed at 7. She would probably go earlier if we let her. (And before anyone asks, we have tried keeping her up later to see if she'll sleep longer, and she doesn't.)

-sleeps on her back. She's not a fan of her tummy.

-is such a happy little girl now. It's amazing to see the difference in her over the past few months. She went from a grumpy, tummy-hurting little baby to a smiley, pleasant infant.

-is so loved by her brother and sister. They are constantly wanting to hold her, hug her, kiss her, get toys for her and play with her. I love it, and I know she loves it!

-is starting to get more hair, but it is way thicker on top, making it look a little bit like a girl-mohawk!

-has started to babble. Her favorites are ba-ba-ba-ba and ma-ma-ma-ma. Joey is convinced that she is saying ba-ba for brother. :)

-can roll over, but she prefers her back so much more than her tummy.

-because she doesn't really like being on her tummy at all, and because I see no inclination of her wanting to even try to crawl, I am wondering if we will have another butt-scooter on our hands. (Is it possible to have three children who all scoot on their bottoms instead of crawl????)

And we'll see if she's a late mover like her brother and sister (Joey "crawled" at 10.5 months, and Kylah "crawled" at 11.5 months!)

-is eating oatmeal with some fruit mixed in for breakfast; a veggie and a fruit for lunch, and then a veggie and a fruit for dinner. She also now eats puffs which has been revolutionary for our family meals. Now she has something to do to keep her occupied while the rest of us are eating!!

-is eating about 4-5 ounces of milk every 3 hours during the day. She still gets breastmilk, but mostly gets bottles because it is faster for both of us and then I can see if I need to supplement with an ounce or two of formula. She will nurse in the middle of the night and then her first morning feeding of the day.

I'm sure there's a few other things I am forgetting, but these are some of the main things she is doing right now. We are all pretty in love with her!

--------------------------------------------------------

Jake and Katie were just here visiting for a few days, so we'll have some fun pictures of that coming up soon!

Fun in the yard

2011-10-09T20:00:00.011-05:00

Earlier this week we had a fun evening outside. We had just eaten supper (and left the dirty dishes on the table). The weather was perfect for some fun baseball in the yard.

Joey is pitching to Kylah.

Kylah just kind of runs aimlessly around the yard, but she loves it! Norah started out in her exersaucer. The hour from 6-7 pm is her hardest hour of the day because she is so tired. I was glad I caught this picture because she grabs her ear like this when she is tired. The very first time she did this we were wondering if her ear was bothering her, but then we realized she did this every time she got tired. I think it's precious!

I love this picture of Joey "tagging" Kylah with the ball. They look like they are having so much fun together, and Joey looks like he's actually being somewhat gentle! (doesn't always happen in his little boy world!) :)
Here's a few fun videos of our fun time in the yard. These are the moments that I just love and want to remember. There are so many times that things are stressful and crazy around here with three kids, but times like these make me want to freeze time for a while.

Joey throwing the football with daddy.

He can hit that ball pretty hard!

Kylah gets in on playing catch. Hmmm...she's not too interested in actually catching the ball yet!

Kids playing catch from Michelle Manthe on Vimeo.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Last night we went to some friends' house for the Razorback game. I think it's ok to say that we have officially come to like Arkansas football. (I can hear my brothers and dad sighing right now...) It's kind of hard to live in Arkansas and not become fans. It's kind of like living in Nebraska. College football is all there is. Come on, we do look a little bit cute in our matching Razorback outfits! :)

The kids had a blast running around the backyard and taking treat breaks every so often.

Joey and his best buddy Connor. They were so sweaty and so dirty, but so cute! :)

---------------------------------------------------

Happy Birthday to my Dad today! We love you!!

Relaxing and a little reading

2011-10-02T20:40:00.014-05:00

Joe did finally make it home from his weekend trip away last week, but not until Monday afternoon (he was supposed to be home Sunday night.)

The kids and I were all excited to see him. He brought gifts for everyone, which we all loved! Yep, he got me something, too (an hour long massage at a day spa close to our house. It was divine!)

Kylah got a new stuffed puppy, which she has slept with every night since.

Joey got a plane, which he has loved.

And Norah's favorite thing was the tissue paper. :)

Speaking of Norah, I have to document her hair these days. She's got a little mohawk going on, and not on purpose. It's at that length that it just sticks up; plus she's got two cowlics that go different directions, so we'll have to figure that out as she gets more hair!

For some reason, all of my kids have had hair like this...thicker in the middle and thinner on the sides.

And then I found this picture of Joey when he was about 8 months old. He has the thick hair in the middle going for him, and I realized that Norah actually resembles him as a baby too!

We spent a quiet Saturday at home. We didn't have a thing to do during the day, so we were able to get caught up on laundry and cleaning. The kids played really well together all day. (And Norah took a 3.5 hour nap in the morning!) Here they are playing mommy and fireman. So cute!

-------------------------------------------------------------

We got babysitters that night and went out with the Adair's for Dave's birthday.

Meredith and me.

The lighting was perfect for pictures when we left.

We had a very yummy dinner at a nice steakhouse. Joe said it was the best steak he has ever had! Meredith and I had lobster tails which were awesome!

------------------------------------------------------------------------

This morning for church I decided to straighten Kylah's hair. I've been wanting to do this for a while to see what she would look like without her (gorgeous) curls.

I think we look even more alike with her straight hair! :)

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Joey has been doing a great job of learning to read. He is loving it, and I am loving the awe that comes along with him sounding out words and figuring it out. And by the way, I take no credit for his ability to begin to read. I encourage it and help him, but he has learned most of it at his preschool.

This particular book he is reading in the video he read for the first time that day. The video is the third time he read through the book, so he is much faster than the first time he sounded out and read through it.

Enjoy! :)

It's nice...

2011-09-25T08:00:00.007-05:00

...to get dressed up every once in a while and remember I'm actually an adult! :)

Friday night was the annual Charity Challenge Auction Dinner. Thanks to our good friend Dave (who does the website for the event), we all get to enjoy a fun evening of fancy clothes, yummy food, a silent auction, and great friends. Unfortunately, for the second year in a row, Joe has been out of town. He travels one weekend a year for work, and it has landed on this weekend for the second year. But, I still went. It is a group of our best friends, so I don't mind being the 3rd wheel...or the 7th wheel. :)

Meredith and me. (We did not realize how alike we looked until we got out of our cars at the dinner!)

Me and my non-existent date. :)

All of the girls, except for Melissa, who left a little earlier.

THE picture Mere and I always have to take of ourselves. Turned out pretty good this time!

I am almost through my single-parent weekend. Have I mentioned that I'm so glad Joe doesn't have to travel very often?! :)

sitting...and falling

2011-09-18T20:19:00.009-05:00

We've had a nice, quiet weekend here at home. We've really done nothing, which has been a nice change of pace. Joe's brother, Jeff, was here this weekend for a wedding, but he ended up getting sick, so he just hung out here at the house with us. And, I didn't get a picture of him with the kids because he was sick! I think he was feeling a little better today, so hopefully he's on the mend.

Here's what Norah did all weekend. She's never at a loss for entertainment with her big brother and big sister around!

It was rainy and chilly all weekend, so these two had to come up with some fun indoor games. I think they are pretending that Kylah has babies in her tummy here.

And here they are "going to the hospital so Kylah can poop the babies out." (according to Joey) Oh, my! Sometimes I wonder... :)

-----------------------------------------------------

All dressed up for church this morning. Notice the matching hair bows the girls have on. Kylah and I went to Mere's house last night for a girls' night while all the boys were watching the Razorback game. Mere and I made some fun bows for our girls.

This little one is now sitting up on her own. I do still put the boppy around her most of the time because she inevitably loses her balance and falls. It's fun for her to be able to play with her toys this way!

She is intently watching her brother and sister in the bath tub. Like I said, she is never lacking for entertainment!

A fun video of Norah sitting by herself (and the inevitable topple at the end!) :)

some sweet pictures

2011-09-11T21:43:00.010-05:00

She is just the sweetest little thing! This was one of Kylah's old outfits, one of my favorites, and I love to see it on Norah too!

Such a sweet picture.

Warning: I'm going to brag on my son for a minute.
That little guy has made us pretty proud lately. He has been doing a great job at school of being a leader and obeying even when others aren't. And then, there were two different times today at church that a different parent made a comment to us that they want their son to be in Joey's room at church and to hang out with Joey because he is such a good example to them. Makes these parents proud!!

-------------------------------------------------

Joe's parents and Grammy stopped by earlier this week on their way home from Hot Springs. Norah had some good bonding time with Grammy.

This is one of my favorite things that Norah does. It's like she is studying your face and reaches out to touch it. I love it!

Cool Norah is ready for bed. (Joey and Kylah thought this was hilarious!)

On Friday night Joey wanted to try to start learning how to ride his bike without training wheels. He got a little nervous and frustrated, but it was a good start. (I think he'll still be using those training wheels for a while.)

Kylah was there riding her bike and cheering Joey on.

I caught the moment (just a second) of Joey riding all by himself. He likes to see this picture to know that he really was doing it by himself for a second.

Look-a-likes

2011-09-07T19:17:00.004-05:00

I showed these pictures to Joey and Kylah and asked them who it was, and they both said, "Norah!"

It does look a lot like Norah, but it's actually her big sister Kylah. I found these pictures today and thought they looked just like Norah.

Even the shape of the head and the way the hair sticks up on the top of the head is the same. I guess we know who Norah resembles now. :)

Nebraska friends!

2011-09-05T23:00:00.012-05:00

We had a great time this weekend with Amy and her kids. They made the trek down here (made even longer by the detours from the Missouri River flooding...) to spend the Labor Day weekend with us. Joe was away on his golf weekend, and her husband Greg had quite a bit of work to do, so we thought this was a good time for some girl/kid time.

The kids were all enjoying a cookie and a movie (even Norah...well, not the cookie for her...)

The weather was hot on Saturday, so the kids had fun with the hose on the deck in the morning.

And then it was time for the pool! Yep, we fit all 5 kiddos and us in the same car. You can even see Norah's reflection in her mirror.

We all had a really fun time at the pool. Logan was tall enough to go down the fun slides, but Joey and Olivia had to pass a swim test to do it because they were too short. They both passed it! We were excited that they all could enjoy the slide. I was seriously so proud of Joey; he has come such a long way in his swimming this summer. Kylah was pretty bummed that she couldn't go on the slide too. I told her that she could when she was four. "But Joey's not FOUR!", she said/whined/cried. Good point...

Joey even braved the diving board!

After the pool, we all headed home for showers and baths. Then Amy and I got to go out to dinner. Alone. Without kids. Without being interrupted. A gazillion times. It was great! :)

We got all the kids up and dressed for church and had time for a picture! This was one of the best. You should see the one Amy has. It is a true portrayal of Kylah who was very mad that I wasn't letting her hold her dog up in front of her face. At least she looks pleasant in this one!

Sunday afternoon was a nice and lazy afternoon. Kylah and Norah (and me!) napped, while the others watched a movie. Unfortunately, sometime during the afternoon Logan started to feel sick. He got quite the flu bug and was down for the count. He tried to make it bowling with the rest of us, but after just a few minutes in the car on the way, he lost it. Literally lost it. Good thing Amy had thought ahead and brought a bucket with us!
So we took him and Amy and Norah back home, and then I took the other three kiddos bowling. They had a great time, and they actually could all bowl by themselves, so I got to just sit back and cheer them on.

We went to Target to get a few get-well presents for Logan. They also got to pick out one toy each (from the dollar bin). Joey and Olivia both picked out a notebook. Joey has been writing in his nonstop. It's like his little diary. He even has it up on his bed tonight while he's sleeping so that he "can write some letters down in it in the middle of the night, because I won't have time to write in the morning." Sometimes it's just better not to ask...

Amy and the kids left this morning, and we had a pretty quiet day. We all took naps this afternoon (except Joey, who got to watch a movie...and write in his notebook...), and then we met up with Meredith and her kids for some bike riding in the park.

Here are my kids at the end of a fun weekend. I let Joey and Kylah eat their supper on the tray and watch Curious George. They loved it. And yes, they are both wearing bibs: Kylah because she is eating spagetti, and Joey because he thought he might make a mess too. I thought it was pretty cute anyway. And look who is starting to sit up better and better by herself (with the boppy)! Please don't pay too much attention to the messy floor. It was a busy weekend, and I was tired. :)

Thanks again for coming, Amy, we all had a great time!!

And now I am sitting up while Norah is trying to remember that she does NOT need to eat at 11:00 at night. After a week of having a cough, then our AC being out, and then sleeping in a pack 'n play in my bathroom, I think the little thing has forgotten that we don't need to wake up 4 times a night to eat. So I'm trying to remind her of that tonight...aka letting her cry it out a little bit. Let's hope she "remembers" soon. :)

Men in Pink

2011-09-04T07:44:00.005-05:00

Well, Joe is on his golf weekend with his buddies. I received this picture text yesterday showing me their official golf shirts. There are 8 guys on the trip, so there are 4 teams of two. For some reason Dave and Joe decided they wanted to be pink. They also have names for most of the teams. Our men are Team Wie (as in Michelle Wie, this golfer...looks good but doesn't usually win). :) Other teams include Team Daly and Team Tiger.

We are having a great time here at home with Amy and all the kids. There'll be a fun post at the end of the weekend!

Big news!

2011-09-01T20:36:00.014-05:00

First of all...how sweet is this picture of Norah and Matty?! These two just love each other so much. Every time Matty sees Norah he holds his hands out (says "ma") and has to hug and kiss Norah. Just precious!

We have had a busy, busy week. Some good, some not so good.
Let's start with some good!

On Saturday we got to go out to a nearby lake with some friends from church. Joey and Kylah haven't been out on a boat since last year, so they were so excited to go.
They were eagerly waiting and holding hands, which made this momma smile!

After riding around in the boat for a while, we stopped and hopped out to swim for a little bit. Once Joey was assured that any fish in the lake would not bite him, he was all for swimming around.

Then it was time for tubing! Joey watched his friend, JD tube, and then decided that if JD could do it, then he could too.
He looks so big out there all by himself.

Kylah watched and cheered on her brother...and thought...

Yep, she wanted to do it too! We, of course, went a little slower, but she loved it to. I really had no doubts about her doing it since she is our little dare-devil.

Norah relaxed in the boat while everyone was swimming.

It was a great afternoon. We'll definitely have to do that again!

--------------------------------------------------

On Sunday afternoon, Joe went golfing with a few friends, including Christine's husband, Brian. So, Christine and I decided we should get together for the afternoon.
It was hot, so we brought out the pool and slip 'n slide.
The kids all had a blast playing together, and we relaxed and talked in the shade.

It's been fun to watch Mikaiah and Kylah become better friends. They are just 3 months apart in age, and they are getting better at playing together. I'm pretty sure they were playing Mommy and Kitty here. :)

Popsicle time! (Was this the first round of popsicles or the second?...)

--------------------------------------------------------

In the middle of the night on Sunday (while I was up feeding Norah) I realized our house was getting hotter and hotter. Sure enough, the next morning it was already about 82 degrees in our house. Bummer; the AC was broken.

We had quite the time with our landlord company trying to get someone out in a timely manner to fix it. We spent Monday night at the Adair's in order to get some sleep. The next day we hung out with Amy and her kids for a while in order to avoid the heat in our house. That night we decided to try to tough it out at home, thinking 'surely it will cool off over night.' No such luck. That was a long, hot night. It never got below a stuffy 85 in our house that night.
Luckily, they finally were able to come out on Wednesday afternoon and fixed it. It was finally cooled off in our house by about 5:00 am this morning (again, I was up with Norah so I checked the thermostat.) Between the heat and Norah having a little cold, she's getting up a little more often at night. Pretty sure next week we'll be letting her cry it out for a bit again. :(

-----------------------------------------------

Now, as promised by the title of this post, and if you've actually managed to keep reading this very long blog post, I have some big news!

This little girl...

...has been wearing underwear since Sunday!!
I thought this day would never come. I'm still not sure why all of a sudden she has wanted to wear underwear. I've just been asking her every morning when we get dressed if she wanted to wear undies, and usually she would just say, 'No thank you.' Well, Sunday morning she wanted to. I jumped all over that! She's had just a few accidents, but has stayed dry every day at school so far this week.
AND...she went poopy in the toilet tonight!! Earlier in the week she had been waiting to poop until she got a pullup on at night or nap time. But tonight she went potty and came running out to tell us she went poopy. I never thought I could be this excited about poop in the potty.
I sure hope this continues!!

------------------------------------------------

Joe has his big golf weekend this weekend with his buddies, so it was going to be just me and the kids here. But now Amy and her two kids, Logan and Olivia, are driving down here all the way from Nebraska to spend the weekend with us. I'm so excited!!

What good helpers I have!

2011-08-25T20:11:00.001-05:00

the dimple

2011-08-23T19:23:00.003-05:00

Norah has the cutest dimple. It's up high on her right cheek. I can only see it when she makes certain expressions or smiles a certain way.
I love it, and I finally caught it on camera!

Isn't it cute?!

Joey on a roll

2011-08-22T19:51:00.003-05:00

Joey has said some funny things today...

We are on a TV strike this week (well, the kids are, and we only watch it after they are in bed!) After all the TV we have been watching lately, we decided we (the kids) needed a break.
Anyway, after we told Joey, he said, "Is the whole world on a TV strike?"

Tonight I was laying on the floor, and I asked him to stand on my back (if you are reading this, Tony or Gina, just ignore that last part...) Anyway, he asked me why and I told him that it felt good on my sore back. He said, "mommy, why do your things always hurt?" I really don't complain about pain a lot, I promise.

While Joey was standing on my back, Joe said, "mommy's going to brush your teeth guys." I said, "What?!" Right away Joey said, "he said 'mommy's going to brush your teeth guys.'"

Then I started laughing and told Joey he was cracking me up. He says, "Cracking up means that it makes you laugh and not that your body is really cracking, right mommy?"

We are glad to have our Joey Bear back! :)

Girls' night and a fun morning

2011-08-21T23:52:00.013-05:00

Friday night was Kylah and mommy night. After a rough few days for Kylah (lots of whining, clinging, fits, etc) I decided that we needed some one-on-one time together. With Joey's surgery, he's been extra needy, which kind of means Kylah wasn't getting as much attention (not on purpose, but because I really can't hold three kids at the same time!!)
Kylah was pretty excited to go.
We first went to Target---because, really, what girl doesn't want to go roam the aisles of Target. We shared a pretzel and a slushie (splushie, as Kylah says).

Then it was time to get our nails done! Kylah has never before gotten to do this, so she was pretty much in awe the whole time. As we were getting this done I told her, "Daddy and Joey go golfing together, and the girls get pedicures." She thought that was pretty funny.

I let her soak her feet with mine. She kept saying over and over how warm the water was and how good it felt.

How cute is this?! All the other ladies at the nail place thought she was just too cute!

My view of her getting her nails done.

Drying the nails is very important.

The final product.

After getting our nails done we headed over to TCBY. Can you tell whose bowl is whose? :)

She sure enjoyed it! (And I did too!) :)

We will definitely have girls' night again!

---------------------------------------------------------

Saturday morning we headed to a fun trail/park near our house with Mere and her kiddos.

We always let the kids ride their bikes on the trail while we push the strollers. Usually Kylah rides in the stroller with Norah because it's a pretty long trail, and she doesn't usually want to ride her bike.
Well, this time she told me she wanted to ride! She got lots of encouragement and practice! And pushes from me. :) She really did great for not having much practice on her bike.

At one point we left the girls' bikes against a tree to get on the way back so they could walk for a little bit. They are just too cute.

Matty and Norah just love each other, and it's so fun to watch them interact together. Matty just can't stop giving Norah hugs and kisses when he sees her! They both fell asleep about the same time while we were walking.

It was quite the hot and humid morning, so we were excited to find a fountain at the end. The kids cooled off. This really wasn't supposed to be a fountain to play in (it's a veteran memorial), but it was so hot...

The kids were all so pleasant that morning and really a joy to be around (this doesn't happen all the time--just the day before they were like little tyrants!), so that made for a great morning. Of course, it also made for great naps. :)

6 months

2011-08-18T20:12:00.008-05:00

Our baby girl is 6 months old now! She is getting more fun and more active every day.

Here are her 6 month stats:
Height--26.25 inches (75th%)
Weight--15 pounds, 14 ounces (50th%)
Head--not sure of the exact measurement, but it is about the 90th%

She just keeps growing and growing!

Look at that adorable face! (These are what I call her "dreamy eyes." A lot of people ask if she's tired when they look at her. She's really not. She just has this dreamy look to her eyes.)

I just want to eat those chubby cheeks.

At 6 months...

-Norah is rolling over both ways, although when she rolls to her tummy her arm gets stuck under her and she gets mad.

-She sits with support, and she loves to stand with support.

-She eats a lot of pureed vegetables and fruits. She also eats baby oatmeal but is not a big fan.

-She is breastfed, but prefers the bottle because it is faster. Yep, she's spoiled. :) I do supplement a few ounces of formula with her breast milk here and there when I need some extra.

-She has been off of her stomach medicine for about a month now. And she's doing great!

-Also, I no longer have to watch what I'm eating (I did limited dairy and no tomato products for a while). Hallelujah!!

-She's not the best sleeper, but she is way better than where she was 3 weeks ago.
-She gets up once or twice a night to eat. If I don't think she needs to eat, I give her the paci and try to let her work it out.

-She currently sleeps swaddled with one arm in and one arm out. With the arm that is out she loves to cuddle her purple blanket while sleeping (don't worry, it's crocheted, so it is holey!) We always joke that we're going to be swaddling her when she's 10! :)

-She is napping much better. Usually a 1-1.5 hour nap in the morning. A cat nap over lunch, and then another 1-2 hour nap in the afternoon. She no longer takes an evening nap. Some days she doesn't nap as good, but I'll take what I can get!

-She is now a happy and content baby for the most part. There are times when she just wants to be held, and she'll let us know it. We have to keep her pretty entertained between 6:15 pm and 6:45 pm because she is tired.

-Oh, yeah. She goes to bed around 7:00 pm. Yep, we have our evenings back!! :)

-She wakes up between 6-7 in the morning (depending on when she last ate in the night), but a lot of times I will bring her back to bed with me then and she nurses and we both snooze.

-She loves to watch her brother and sister play around her. I think they will keep her pretty entertained!

Well, there's some fun facts about Norah for you.

I love this next picture. Joey is watching TV and Norah is cuddling with him while playing with a toy. (He asks to hold her all the time.)
Joey still just loves his baby sister. I love it!

Joe brought out the JumperRoo for Norah tonight. She loved it! Joey and Kylah were so excited to "help" her jump. We'll have to watch Kylah's "helping." :)

--------------------------------------------------

Joey seems to finally be feeling a little better today. I let him stay with me for another day at my office today. He had a rough evening yesterday, so we decided he wasn't quite ready to go back to school yet. (His tough evening consisted of getting a piece of tortilla stuck in his swollen throat and having to vomit it out. Poor guy!)
He even asked me if he could take a nap today at my office because he was tired. He slept for 1.5 hours on the floor in my office! He ate pretty good today, and then tonight he asked Joe to wrestle (which has been unheard of for the past week!) Hopefully he will continue to get better and better! I already told him that on Monday he would go back to school (just so he doesn't get a little too used to going to mommy's work...) :)

Getting better

2011-08-15T19:55:00.009-05:00

We had a nice, relaxing, quiet weekend at home. Joey was not his usually active self, so we did a lot of cuddling and TV watching. Joey has been doing really good. He doesn't complain much of pain since his surgery, but I can tell he is not feeling good because he is really emotional and doesn't want to do much (besides cuddle!) I do love all those cuddles.

I love this picture because it is just real...my hair's a mess and there's spit-up on my shoulder. Kylah's hair is a mess and she's eating a snack. Norah's chewing on a toy and has food all over her face. Joey has chocolate all over his mouth and is not fully dressed. But it's us. :)

My mom was here this weekend. It was great to have her here. Since Joey wanted lots of mommy time, Gramma got a lot of time with Kylah and Norah. It made my job much easier!

So sweet.

Judge if you will...we have been watching a lot of TV since Joey's been recuperating. And eating snacks in the living room.

So clean and snuggly.

When we weren't watching TV, we were doing fun activities like pretending to cook.

Here's what they made... :)

Joey came to work with me today and got to watch movies and play with toys all day long. He did great, but was definitely tired by the time we got home. Hopefully he sleeps better tonight than he has been.