Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Our week started out fun. Aaron took Monday and Tuesday off. On Tuesday, I woke up before Arwen to make baby muffins for her birthday breakfast. We got her a little tiny fairy tea set for her gift and thought baby muffins would be fun. When she walked down the stairs when she got up, she gasped and said, "Oh, my tea set!!" She was so excited. She spent the morning pouring milk for us and her fairy friends. She also got a karaoke thing that shows her dancing on the TV while she can sing to the songs. She loves it!! We went in to Portland to the mall. At one of the department stores you can see Santa and they also have this really great little train the kids can ride for free. We didn't see Santa. But she did ride the train 6 or 7 times! It was so fun to watch!! We had a really great day!!
We have also had a really fun Christmas holiday. Aaron and I enjoyed sitting on the stage at church and singing in the ward choir, while a woman in the ward sat with the kids. It was so fun and the choir sounded pretty good I think. It was fun to watch the kids open their presents from everyone! Of course Noah's favorite thing of the day was the screw driver used to put batteries in new toys! Good old Noah!! Arwen has had so much fun playing with her kitchen set. She makes us dinner all the time now!! We had a yummy turkey dinner with some a young couple in our ward. It was lots of fun. Then we played a couple of games with them. Overall, we had a great day! Thanks to everyone for all our great presents!!

Arwenisms: After seeing Santa from the train, Arwen reported that he was a big, red, scary monster.

Noahisms: The little guys runs around screaming and yelling like a wild monkey all day. He has finally found an appetite lately too and eats more than his sister.

Love, NASA

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Just thought this one should make it up as well.















Aaron
Hi! We had a really great time in CA for Thanksgivng! The kids had a blast playing with all of Josh's toys and of course with Josh too. The other day we were in the car with some friends and Arwen was telling her friend Jake all about Josh and how he was her friend. IT was pretty cute! She also had a great time playing with her old friend Evan. It was fun seeing M and B too! Thanks to everyone for such a great time!This weekend we went and got out Christmas tree. The kids think it's just great. Arwen has hung lots of Noah's toys up as ornaments. She has even hidden a care bear or two in there to take "naps." She's already broke at least 5 of my decorations too. Way to go Arwen. Every time I look at my Nativity, the sheep are in different spots. That girl!! Noah really likes to play with a little plastic snow globe that has an angel in it. He shakes and it and says, "Ba ba," for baby.
Yesterday we went to the Nature Park to try and take our family picture. I think 2 or 3 may have turned out from the hundreds we took!!
All is well here and we hope everyone has a great week!Arwenisms:
We have been going through each room and finding things we don't need or play with anymore to give to DI. When we were in Ar's room, she kept telling me not to give any of her bears away to the kids. I kept telling her that of course I wouldn't. Then she stops and says, "Mom, you can give me to the kids."
Arwen was bearing her testimony for FHE while standing on the piano bench. She fell off so I told her not to stand up there anymore. Then like 3 minutes later she took a flying leap to land on it right when Aaron was moving it. Instead of her body landing on it, the tip of her nose did. She tore it all up and had a purple ring around it. IT was soooo funny to see though despite the fact she got hurt.

Noahisms:
Noah climbs on top of the VCR and DVD player so he can turn the TV on and off. It drives Arwen crazy. I even caught her spanking him the other day because of it.
Poor baby somehow got knocked down yesterday and was laying on the ground screaming like he was dying (which he does a lot). When I got to him he was all boody. He bit all the way through his lip and now has a fat, purple lip and won't eat anything.

(Grandmas--your Christmas presents will be a while in coming--I've been waiting for a time when the kids are both presentable to get photos of them taken to finish the gifts. As soon as Noah's mouth is better, I'll get on that!!)

Love, NASA
Is it too late for Halloween pictures? I'm so lame that it took me till today to take pictures of the kids in their costumes. That and we finally carved our pumpkin last night!!Anyways, the kids had fun trick or treating! I hate having all this candy in the house. It makes Arwen a monster. She screams all day for candy. Life is normal around here. We've had fun doing some Christmas shopping lately.It has been so rainy and cold around here. It's so pretty too with all the changing leaves. Our grass is finally super green again and our yard looks great! Arwen keeps a cup out on the back porch and collects rain to feed our plants.Arwenisms:Noah was babbling in the car one day and Arwen said, "Mom, Noah is pretendering to talk. That's so cute!!"Noah was babbling again later and it sounded like he said "wet." Arwen said, "No, honey. It's not wet. It's not wet."Whenever Aaron is being silly Arwen shakes her head, sighs, and says, "Mom, what we going to do with him? I know, sell him to the circus. Don't worry Daddy, you'll love the circus!"Noahisms:He's a crawling rash lately becuase he's having a reaction to his MMR or chicken pox vaccine. It makes him look all zitty and gross!We had ravioli's for dinner last night and Noah ate his standard one bite and then took the rest of the greasy, garlicy pieces and rubbed them in his hair! I had just given him his bath too! Ahhhh!!

Love, NASA

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

We had a good enough--pretty much nothing out of the ordinary. We went in to Portland to play on Saturday which was really fun. We met lots of crazies on the Max--lightrail. We bought Noah a little finger puppet. (We had bought Arwen the same one when she was little, which she must have thrown somewhere when we were out so it got lost!) Anyways, when I showed it to Noah, he looked so pleased. He grabbed it and pulled it to his face and gave it a big hug. He just kept smiling and giggling at it. It was the sweetest thing I've ever seen! (Of course when we gave it back to him yesterday, he could have cared less!!) We had Noah's big party yesterday. We opened his presents when we woke up. He liked a rock he found of Arwen's about the best--Arwen had a great time playing with his things. She keeps calling them HER toys. After church we had dinner then pulled out Noah's cake. We ! got him a 2 layered chocolate cake with custard filling and whipped cream frosting. He LOVED it. IT took him about 10 minutes to completely destroy it! (We had quite the messy bathtub after his bath!) It was a great day!



Arwenisms:
When we were done with our lunch at the mall, Arwen decided she was still hungry. So she walked up to the ice cream counter by herself and told them that she needed some ice cream. The lady behind the counter smiled and gave her a big scoop on a spoon.

When we were on the MAX Arwen pointed to an old man and said, "That's a scary guy!"

Whenever she gets in trouble she says, "But we're still friends!"

Noahisms:
He can finally crawl like a real baby--on his hands and knees!

He's just one giant tantrum nowadays!

He taught himself how to climb stairs last week. We had to invest in a gate after he fell 14 stairs and the only thing that saved his life was that he got his foot caught in the banister!

Love, NASA

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

We had a good week. Poor little girl came down with strep throat at the end of the week. She's doing fine now and amazingly none of the rest of us got it! It's been really chilly here and we've enjoyed a fire in our fireplace just about every morning. Noah likes to play right there at the fireplace. We went to choir practice yesterday at some peoples house who live out in the country. They have horse in their back pasture. Arwen was really excited about them and kept trying to give them leaves to eat. She really wanted to feed them and was sad when we had to leave.

Arwenisms:
We were at the library and as we came out she saw a man with really bad acne scars. She pointed to him and said, "Why that man got scarpies on his face?" I ignored her and kept walking hoping the guy didn't hear but she kept asking. Silly girl--anything yucky or that feels weird is a scarpy lately.
Arwen picked out some bright pink chapstick this week when we were getting her medicine at the store. All night she kept applying and reapplying her "lips." We'd be playing and she'd say, "Wait, I need more lips." We finally threw it away yesterday because we found to much "lips" on furniture.


Noahisms:
Noah can now do sign language for more. He does it all the time especially for candy, which he calls, "Can-can." He also said "sissy" this morning when he saw Arwen and he sometimes says "thank you."
His favorite place to be is on top of Arwens old pink glitter girl car. He plays with toys on it and drops them on purpose and says, "uh-oh" until I get them or he falls off trying to get them.
He's got lots of bruises on his head (a big one from just a while ago) because he likes to climb on furniture.

Have a great week!
Love, NASA

Monday, October 03, 2005

Hello!
We had a busy week. Just about every day someone asked me to watch their kids. Arwen loved it--she loves to play! I had book club on Tuesday. We chose the book, "The five people you meet in Heaven." It's pretty good. Friday night some friends came over and we played two new games called Ticket to Ride and Bohnanza. They were pretty fun. We've done okay at potty training Arwen. But lately she just pees in her underwear. So now she's in a diaper again. The big problem is now she hates being wet and demands a new diaper every time she pees. Ahhhhh!!!

Conference was fun, we listened on the internet. I look forward to downloading the mp3’s so I can listen on the way to work. I worked on some leaf boxes during conference as well as making a video for Arwen and Noah and I noticed how green and nice our grass was in some of the pictures. It’s started raining this weekend, hopefully our grass will come back. Sarah pinched a nerve in her back, I told Arwen and Noah to let her take it easy, we’ll see how that goes. Poor Sarah.

Arwenisms:
Arwen was singing into a cup one night at dinner. Aaron started to do it too. Arwen put her cup down and said, "Stop Dad. That's a poopy song."
She's made up a new word--at least she thinks it's a new word--Donkey. She says, "Oh Donkey Noah." and "You're a donkey." And she yells it when she's mad. I can't tell if it's a bad word or not--I think it's a very versatile word! This morning she was squeezing Noah's cheeks and she said, "Squeaky Donkey No's!"

Noahisms:
He points like crazy now. It's so cute!
He opens and closes his hand to wave at you now and says, "Hi." in his cute little Noah voice.
His new favorite word is "Uh Oh!" He says it all the time. The other day he threw his pancakes on the floor on purpose and yelled, "uh oh!" What a silly.
He has finally started to pull himself up on furniture.
He tries to stick toys in the VCR.
He threw one of Arwen's play coins down the heater vent today.
Yesterday we caught him trying to stick his fingers in the one socket that doesn't have one of those plastic protectors on it! He's pretty mischievious!!

Have a great week! Love, NASA

Monday, September 26, 2005

Hi! Let's see....Monday, for part of family home evening we got to go to Sweet Tomatoes for free (Thanks Scott!!!) Poor little Noah was sick and wouldn't touch anything but a little blueberry muffin. Tuesday I had enrichment. We did a service exchange. I ended up getting a homemade meal and I gave some hats (the kind you made for us at Christmas Marsha). Everyone loved them and came up to me afterwards amazed that I could knit, (ha ha!!!) and wanting some for their kids. Wednesday Aaron took Arwen to Scouts with him so I had sick little Noah to myself. The poor kid ran a fever of 104 all
week! Thursday I went to a pampered Chef Party (for 30 minutes cause I had sick little boy with me again). It was fun while I was there. I took Arwen to my Young Men’s meeting and she didn’t want to be there so we had to leave early. It was cute though. “Come on Dad let’s go play.” Then we took the kids to the movies because it was bring 3 cans and see a free movie night. I wanted Aaron to see Just Like Heaven (I'd already seen it with a friend and loved it!) but we couldn't cause it was a new movie. So we got our tickets for something else and still went to that movie. Noah was bad yet again, and I spent half the movie in the hall till he fell asleep and saw the end of the movie. Aaron really liked it! Friday, Aaron took the day off and we drove up to Seattle to see Joseph. While waiting to meet Joseph, we went to the Pike Fish Market. It was really fun! Arwen kept whining cause it was so stinky.

We got some strange mushrooms that’ll be fun to cook up, a lobster mushroom and some chanterelles. She got real excited when we stopped at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and she got to pick a treat. A guy working there wanted to give Arwen some caramel he was making, but it was too hot. Then we walked around the space needle area and found Joseph. We went to the top of the space needle and got to look at the city. It was so cool! Noah, who I think was finally over his cold and perfect all day started to scream. Then he started grinding his teeth sooooo loud. It was driving me crazy. Finally I stuck my finget in his mouth to make him stop and guess what I found--his first molar bleeding through. Poor kid! Next we went to the restaurant on top of the space needle. We had seats right by the window. The restaurant slowly spun in a circle while you ate so you eventually got to see the whole city. We were there during sunset. It was beautiful. Don't worry--Noah was still screaming and whining during all of this. WE took turns walking him while we waited for our food (It was a pretty fancy restaurant,
but luckily it was kind of loud, so we didn't bug too many people I think.) Finally Uncle Joseph took Noah and got him to sleep in about 30 seconds. We were then able to enjoy our meal in silence (well minus a screaming baby!) Aaron had some seafood mix thing, I had seared ahi tuna and Joseph got duck. They were all really yummy. Then we had cheese cake and lava cake for dessert. It was so fun! Thanks again Jospeh!!! We had a blast. Sarah mentioned the view was awesome, if you ever go make reservations for an hour or so before sunset like we did, it was clear day and awesome sunset. And the city lights were beautiful. Arwen sure had a great time playing with her uncle Jophes! Saturday we enjoyed another meal at sweet tomatoes (thanks Scott!) and I went to Women's conf. that night. It was great!

Arwenisms:
She loves lipstick and lipgloss. She always says, "Can I have more lips." Then yesterday I gave her a kiss and she gave me a sad look and said, "You kissed my lips off myself." So I had to give her more.
She still crawls into bed with us too much. Last night I said, "Don't kick me tonight Arwen." She said, "Mom, I'm not even touching yourself." She says yourself, myself and his-self all the time and never uses them correctly. It's so funny!

Noahisms:
HE can now sit up by himself and he's starting to pull himself up on toys and stuff.
He loves the bath!!! He freaks out when I try and get him undressed to get him in. He wiggles so much! Then when it’s time to get out, he screams like he's dying a painful death! We gave Noah his first haircut this week. We buzzed it. It's pretty cute, minus the few hairs that we missed! We have a silly little bald again!



Love, NASA

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Hi! Aaron had a great birthday I think. Yes it was great, thanks Sarah! We went to Todai (sushi) and then to see a movie on the actual day. It was fun. Arwen enjoyed singing happy birthday all day practicing for when Aaron got home!Thursday morning we flew out real early to go and visit my parents. We had a great time and did lots of stuff in the short time we were there. We were able to go to the amusement park with my brother and sister while my parents took the kids to a big stake family fair at the church. Riding the rides was fun, but I think being kid free and not have to worry about them was better! Church was fun. I took Arwen to nursery and she wouldn't let me leave. It was fun to watch her in there. She volunteered to say the prayer and said a terrific prayer all by herself. They had a lesson on friends and Arwen told them all about Jesus. She knew all of the songs that they sung during song time. It's nice to know that she really is learning some good things! The nursery leaders sure were impressed (I was impressed with how good they did--our nursery is really lame in comparison!!). Monday we went down to Colorado Springs area and visited a park called Garden of the Gods. It's beautiful. It's full of all these huge red rock formations that would be awesome to rock climb on. Arwen and I hunted and found lots of agates. Noah had fun eating sand and rocks and Aaron took pictures. Next we went to this place called Cave of the Winds. It's this really cool cave found by a couple of kids out playing back in the day. Arwen kept holding me close and saying, "It's okay mom, don't be scared!" Later she found a little boy on the tour her age and went and held his hand so he wouldn't be scared. It was pretty cute. At one point in the cave they have this place where you throw something metal on the pile for good luck. Don't worry, Arwen swiped quite a few coins. What a klepto! IT was fun, but maybe not worth the 16 bucks each!

We were warned not to touch the walls or any formations when we wen't in. "... they feel just like rocks...and the risk isn't worth it, it's a fedral offence..." the guide blabbed. Well we'll all be doing 10-20, I think Arwen will get life if they ever check for fingerprints.

That night we went out to eat at a place called Casa Bonita. They have divers jump from up high into a little pool. It has a scary cave to walk through and ski ball and stuff. Arwen was so pleased when her grandma and grandpa bought her lots of pretty shiny rocks! Aaron and I got to go and see a movie with my brother and sister while my parents watched the kids again. Fun! The next day we drove to Boulder to see a water fall. Thanks to our teriffic luck, the path was closed so we didn't get to see it real close. Oh well, it was still fun!

We stopped down the road by the river and spent some time throwing rocks in the streem (licking the dirt off them in Noah's case). It was fun.

Over all we had lots of fun with my family! Arwen and Noah got lots of new toys and clothes and were so excited to be there!

I got home today to find that some people doing work in the street hit a water and gas line and have had to make calls to come and get my gas turned on and water cleaned out!

I was wondering why the water was cold that morning.

Arwenims:
"Mom your house is bad. Grandma's house is good." she didn't want to leave last night.
"Uncle Milo!!" For some reason Awen called my brother Scott Milo. We have no idea why, but it was so funny!
We asked her if she knew what we did on halloween. She got real quiet and then said, "Toilet." Who knows!
"Where did both my grandmas go?" She still gets confused about saying grandPA.

Noahisms:
Cute as ever!
We are now able to trick him and get him to take his formula when he is sleeping.
He can wave now. It's so cute!!

Love, NASA

Monday, September 05, 2005

Can't rememeber much, except duh, duh, dunnnn.... Noah's 10 month appt. It's not good--poor boy is apparantly not thriving, or so the Dr thinks. Man just cause his weight has dropped a little and he's no longer even on the percent chart anymore. His pin head is in the 5th and of course his height is in the 85th. I have two months to try and fatten him up. I'm not quite sure what will happen if I go in and he's still a runt. I'm to try and give him lots of formula (stupid me for giving away all my free stuff cause it sure is expensive) and make him eat. It's not that I haven't been feeding him, he just doesn't like to eat, or when he does, I find most of the food in his high chair. He's eating apples right now and he chews them and sucks the juice out and then spits out pieces of apple. His tray and bib are covered in spit up apples!! It was also funny at his appt cause he was in just his diaper and he kept scr! atching himself and the Dr got all concerned and said, "Oh no, does he have a rash? Does he always scratch like this." I told him no, cause he's usually not naked. And it looks like he has a rash cause he's been scratching. Oh well, hopefully he gets fatter so I can keep my baby!!

Arwenisms:
She had a telephone cord and wrapped it around her waist and said, "Look, I'm a princess." then she wrappend it on Noah's head and said, "Look, Noah's a sea horse."

Later I called her a princess and Noah a sea horse and she said "No, Noah's not a sea horse, he's a BAD sea horse!!"

I called ARwen a wild wilma and Noah a wild willy. Arwen said, "No, I'm a willy and Noah's a back pack." some imagination huh?

We were at wal mart today and she was standing up in the cart and the checker lady told her to sit down. She looked at me and said, "Why that grandma tell me no?" I told her cause she was being bad then she made a funny face and said in a funny voice, "Little Girl, sit down please." She was mimicing the checker lady. It was so funny!! What a bad girl with an attitude!

Noahisms:
He's just little!!

Love, NASA

Saturday, September 03, 2005

All you artists out there, I'd like some suggestions on this one. I actual like it but think the cliff needs some work.

http://www.geocities.com/aarastas/Ginko_sun_03.jpg

Aaron

Monday, August 29, 2005

Hello! We had a busy week. Arwen's friends, Kyle, Jake, and Kristen came over to play all day Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. My house is still a mess, but they sure had fun playing games, doing crafts, and playing outside--that and eating--boy they suer had lots of snacks!!! Tuesday was Enrichment which was fun because it was a potluck. Friday, Aaron went to work early so he could come home early and we could go to the ward campout. It was up by Mount Hood. It was a realy pretty place. Right in the backyard of our camp spot was a huge lake. Arwen loved to just wander down and throw rocks into it (and people loved to wander up to us and make sure we knew where our little girl was!!). There was a really fun fireside thing on friday nigh with lots of games and songs. Arwen had a blast. Then we roasted marshmallows and had smores with the ward. We all slpet good--both kids ended up on our li! ttle bed and kicked me off to Arwen's bed. Man, she should have told us her bed was FREEZING!! We had a yummy breakfast with the ward then everyone played and swam in the Lake. We packed up and went a few miles away with some friends to the Alpine slides. They watched out kids while we went down and then we watched their kids. It was really fun minus the little kid who went in the fast lane and went so SLOW the whole way down. He slowed way down, so his dad did, and the Aaron did, so I did, and the guy behind me did, but the guy behind him did now and rammed the guy behind me who rammed me HARD. His dumb little cart came up onto mine and slammed right in my back. OUCH. Anyways, the ski lift up was really pretty and fun! It was a really fun, dirty weekend. Church was great. I got to sub in nursery today. There are like 22 kids in our wards nursery. Man, those poor full time leaders! It sure! does wear you out!!

Arwenisms:
Noah fell asleep at church and was laying on the bench. Arwen went to him and rubbed his head and kissed him and sang him her new favorite lullabye, "the moment I saw you, I wanted to hold you and keep you warm on a cold grey morn. The moment I held you, I wanted to kiss you and welcome you here on the day you were born." Then like 2 minutes later she was throwing a tantrum and I had to run her out!

Aaron was laying on the floor and Arwen was jumping all over his stomach and chest. Aaron was moaning and groaning and complaining and Arwen kind of stopped and said, "What's he talking about?" and then kept jumping.

She woke up this morning and said, "Come on Sar, let's go down and have breakfast."


Noahisms:
Noah loves to just scoot around and play with toys. He loves fruit snacks, like Arwen and loves chocolate!!

He had a great time rolling in the dirt and eating rocks this weekend. He also loved drinking the remainder of Arwen's hot chocolate!

Love, NASA

Monday, August 22, 2005

We've had a busy last two weeks--mostly cause of swimming lessons. Arwen sure did like them and it was so fun to watch her do things like "chicken, airplane, soldier" on her back! Noah is glad they are done because they interfered with his nap time.
Last weekend the kids and I went to the beach with Aaron and the youth in the ward. The kids all learned to surf and played games. We brought our little tent and the kids played in there and also played in the sand (well one of them ate more sand than he played with). I found a little baby sand dollar that was whole! I was pretty excited.
This last weekend we went camping down on the coast. Aaron "won" a free camping trip by putting his name in something at the county fair. It was a time share for campers. It was fun enough. They had a lodge, a swimming pool, a play ground and lots of other things. We had a fun time and look forward to camping again this weekend at the ward camp out.
Happy Anniversary Bill and Marsha!!
Happy Birthday Meghan!!

Arwenisms:
Arwen stood on top of her bean bag and said, "Look. I'm a dangerous girl."
We were at Costco with some friends and we were eating hot dogs. Arwen always takes her hot dog out of the bun to eat it. When her friend Jake unwrapped his hot dog, she grabbed and took the hot dog out of the bun for him. He cried and I put it back and told Arwen that Jake ate his hot dog like a human, so she needed to stop. A few minutes later I looked over and Arwen said, "Look mom. I'm a human." She had put her hot dog back in the bun.

Noahisms:
I'm not quite sure that Noah will ever crawl. He gets around just fine only because he army crawls everywhere. It's very slow, but I guess it works.
Noah is almost weened. Yea!!!! He sure is the messiest eater in the universe. He has to spit every bite of every thing I give him out into his hand to look at it first (even milk from his sippy!!).

Sunday, August 07, 2005

Hi! We had a yucky week. Arwen had a break this week from swimming lessons which was good because Noah was really sick. He somehow got roseola where he had a 104 degree fever for four days and then broke out in this nasty rash all over his body. His doctor said that when the babies get the rash they feel so horrible and are in lots of pain. Boy could we tell!! What a grouch my poor baby was. But, by saturday he was back to his usual sweet self. He now army crawls all over the place. He just can't seem to get his bum up in the air and crawl for real!! While out on the trampoline last Sunday we noticed we have a pet living up in the tree. It's a raccoon. Then Aaron slept out there one hot night and noticed a big one and a baby one. We volunteered to go and help server food at youth conference (well someone called and asked us to) so we got a sitter on Saturday only to go and watch the kids serve themselves deli sandwichs. Aaron played a game of ultimate frisbee with some boys which was totally worth paying for a baby sitter, right? A long lost kid in the ward that used to come over a lot that has recently falled off the face of the earth came and visited us this weekend and spent the night on our trampoline the past two nights. Hopefully he'll keep coming by and we can talk him into being a good kid and shaping up so he can go and live at home again. Happy Anniversay Mike and Heidi!! Happy Birthday Dad!! Arwenisms: "Look mom. Noah has lots of teeth. But he doesn't have long hair. When he gets to be a girl, he's gonna have long hair." Arwen stuck a little olive wood baby Jesus we got in Israel in a play container of jam and started to shake it up. Then she said in a real mean voice, "Baby Jesus in trouble. He's getting a time out!!" We've been watching "Potty Power" all week and Arwen is pretty excited about not wearing diapers anymore. She does pretty good about telling me she has to go when she wants a treat or something. Aaron was talking baby talk to Arwen and she said, "What's that say mean?" Noahisms: Noah says "Yea!!!" and claps all the time now. He recently discovered his tongue and sticks it in and out really fast. He mostly just wants me to hold him now a days. When ever Aaron is holding him and sees me, he lunges for me and whines till I get him. Love, NASA

Sunday, July 31, 2005

We had more swim lessons this week. Unfortunately, they didn't go quite as well. Arwen was feeling pretty comfortable I think and her true colors came out. All I ever heard was, "Arwen, don't....." Oh well. At least she likes the water. Thursday, we went to our little county fair. First we stopped and saw all the animals. Arwen called just about all of them camels. Then we went and let Arwen ride some rides. She was so cute. She loved them. She was even brave enough (and tall enough with her tennis shoes) to ride the mini roller coaster. A girl from out ward was in line too so she sat by Arwen. Poor little girl looked scared to death the whole time (I think she was too scared to cry or anything!) When she got off she told me that she wanted to ride THAT ride--the not scary ride. It was really fun. Then we went and played game and popped a couple of balloons and won her two little care bears. She sure was excited! Saturday we went to Tillamook to the cheese factory to get little Noah an ice cream cone. It was fun--Noah of course loved it. Then we went up north to Seaside beach with the intentions of buying and flying a kite because it is usually very windy there. On the way we stopped and got lots of taffy. There were about 2 million people at this beach and no wind! Oh well. Noah loved eating the sand and Arwen had a blast in the water. It was a beautiful day! On the way home, we stopped at a tiny little place and got some clam chowder and halibut. (The chowder was okay, better than Mo's, but not the greatest.) Our sweet little Noah has a high high fever today and is so sad. Aaron just quadrupled the size of his Deacon's Quorum so he'll be even busier lately!!

Arwenisms: "Look, chocolate. Chocolate! She's chocolate." She said this at the cheese factory while pointing at a black lady. Arwen loves to call Grandma Carrot. (She got confused when my mom told her she was Grandma Karen and now says carrot instead!) "I just trapping Noah." When I came down stairs, she had her little plastic chair on top of Noah. He gave a "PLEASE SAVE ME!!" look.

Noahisms: He army crawled for a toy. He's does really good at mimicking me. He claps and makes a funny noise if I do. Love, NASA

Sunday, July 24, 2005

We had a great week. Arwen started swimming lessons. They offer them here at our little community pool. She loves her teacher to death and does a pretty good job. You should see her do a back float. It's so funny. She puts her little hands on her belly and totally floats. She looks like she is dead though--she kind of has a grimace on her face. She loves to jump in from the edge too. After lessons they have mommy and me time and I swim for a half an hour with Arwen and Noah. Noah likes the water too.
Yesterday we had a busy day! First we went to the Farmer's market and got some blueberries and raspberries. Yummy. Then we went over to a couple's house in our ward. They have an online Halloween business where they sell costumes and stuff. Anyways, they bought a page in Women's World magazine and needed people to come and wear costumes for the page. Aaron and I got to do it. (Arwen would not keep her costume on--it was a rooster and she kept telling us that it was too scary for her! Noah freaked out too, so they won't be in the picture.) When it comes out you can all go and look at it. Since we did it for them they said we could each pick a costume out for free. Yea!!! After that we went to our ward barbeque. It was fun. The old bishop took all the kids on a tractor ride. He was driving it down a gravel hill and the trailer in back lost control and slid and looked like it was goin! g to tip over. Poor ARwen was on at the time and FREAKED out. She told me she didn't like tractors anymore. Poor kid. After the party we went and saw Willy Wonka. It was really fun. Arwen loved it!! She stayed awake till midnight to finish it was was soo good.
Church was good. Emily, Aaron made a really yummy carrot ginger soup that you'll love. You need to come and try it!!

Arwenisms:
"Mom, I'm gonna care bear tare you down!!" She was mad at me and had just gotten done watching care bears and decided to give me the care bear stare to make me be nice--except she still can't do s's very well and she tared me down!
Later I told her to care bear stare Noah and she said she couldn't because she didn't have a heart on her belly. I got a marker to draw one and she said," Oh mom, we ONLY draw on paper." Great, the one time she remembers one of her rules!

Noahisms:
It's begun--and it's so funny! I was eating icecream the other day and sharing it with Noah. Apparantly every other spoonfull was not enough for him and he threw his head back and bared his teeth and made fists and threw them behind himself and shook! Yea, another rage baby!! It's so great. I love it when he does it (which usually only happens with icecream!)

Love, NASA

Happy Anniversary mom and dad!!!

Sunday, July 17, 2005

Our poor little girl managed to come down with a double ear infection this week. She's getting better. I got a new calling as the compassionate service leader. I'm excited. It should be fun. Me and Aaron have been making jersey topping eating it on black walnut icecream with carmel and hot fudge sauce. It's sooo yummy.



Arwenisms:
She was in a bad mood and we asked her to do something and she said, " I don't even care about anything." So much for all the care bear movies she watches.
Every time we would be in public, Arwen would say real loud, "Oh mama, let me see your pink eye. That's so sad." Thanks for announcing to the world that I had pink eye again!
We were getting out of the car and I told Arwen to stand far away while I got Noah because the man in the car next to us was smoking. She said, "Bad man!" and pointed at him.

Noahisms:
Noah was playing on the trampoline while me and Aaron were playing catch. He managed to roll to the one spot on the thing that is missing and spring and rolled right through it and landed on the ground. Poor boy. He had another really nasty fall, but once again it's cause we were negligent parents and it's way too bad to write of--but he's fine!
Me and Arwen make these really yuumy pizzas in our electric skillet with whole wheat tortillas and lots of veggies. One day, Noah ate more of Arwen's pizza than she did!
I found a lady bug when we were out playing and put it on Noah's hand so he could see it. Well, before it could even crawl on him, he put his little hand to his mouth and ate it right up. You should have seen the look on his face as the brown drool came from his mouth. Yuck!!!

Love, NASA

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Man! It's been a long time since I've written one of these! Sorry. All is well up here in Portland. We've had fun since Aaron got back from Scout Camp. We went up to Fort Vancouver in Washington on the 4th and watched the biggest firework show west of the Mississippi. Anyways, it was pretty good aside from all the dirty smokers. We all wore glow in the dark glasses and braclets and were the hit. We celebrated my birthday on Tuesday. We went up to the gorge and hiked through freezing cold water to a water fall. Actually it wasn't too bad this time (remember mike, heidi, matthew, and bethany. It was only up to our waists this time and I didn't fall in!) We stopped and took a break by the falls and ate yummy cherries. We left kind of early and gave our kids to a sitter and went to Benihana's and then to see War of the Worlds. It was really fun!
We went to the Farmer's Market on Saturday and got lots of mushrooms and made a really yummy fungi pasta! It was so fun and good--even homemade noodles. Arwen HATES mushrooms by the way--at least that's what she told us before even taking a bite. What a silly girl.

Arwenisms:
We were at the park and Arwen yelled down from the slide, " Hey, remember me? I'm Arwen!" She says her name so cute She enunciates the AR and then draws out the wen. "I'm ARweeennn."
Aaron asked her to sing a song with him and she looked at him and said, "I'm just too busy."
We were waiting for Aaron at church on sunday and a lady from a different ward walked by and I thought Arwen said, "A pretty princess." (She calls dresses princesses.) Then she corrected me and said, "No, a BIG princess." The lady was pretty big. Luckily she didn't hear Arwen.

Noahisms:
Arwen likes to grab Noah and roll all over the floor with him and "wrestle." I about die every time they do it, but they LOVE it! Noah shrieks for joy which Arwen loves. It's so cute.
The little kid can get his butt in the air in attempts to crawl (well only when we set up the car track and let the car race. He REALLY wants to get that car.
He rolled himself over to Arwen yesterday and started to bug her. He kept kicking her really hard to get her attention. It was so funny. She kept telling him to stop and he kicked harder!
I just walked in on them and ARwen was sitting on Noah and he was giggling. What a beast sister!

Love, NASA

PS Thanks grandma for my birthday money! Love you lots!

Sunday, June 19, 2005

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!!!!!!!!!!!! We had a good week. Nothing too noteworthy of to write about though. Arwen loves to go out in the backyard by herself now and climb up on the trampoline and play. I got to go to a cooking class which was really fun. (Marsha I have lots of ideas to use for your pots and pans that I’ll show you when I get there.) Church was good. One of our home teachers is a priest about to go on his mission. Arwen saw him today and told me that she loves him. So then in the middle o! f the high council speaker she ran over to him and gave him a hug and a kiss. She’s such a flirt—man are we gonna have problems!!

Arwenisms:
In all three bathrooms in our house there is a stool or laundry basket pushed up against the counter. Arwen loves to go and look at herself in the mirror and admire herself when she has just had her hair fixed.
Arwen played with a little girl her age this week. She kept calling her Bar B Que. I don’t know why.
Arwen was mad at me because I picked her up from her friends house after I got done with Valiant Girls. She was crying in her car seat and said, “I just want to run away sometimes. I run and you chase me and then I cry.” I asked where she would go and she said, “I just go to my friends house.”
Me and Arwen were at Old Navy and Arwen found a little puppy that had his tongue sticking out. She kept licking me with it. Then she turned around and made the puppy lick the butt of the man behind us. Nice Arwen.

Noahisms:
Noah had a big week. First he started doing this weird thing. He bares his teeth and breathes out of his teeth—kind of like he is hissing like a dragon. He does it when he eats. I was doing it once when he wasn’t and then he mimicked me. Yea Noah!!
He knew it was Father’s Day I am sure and started saying, “ Da Da” this week.
It’s pretty safe to say that Noah is a sitter now. He still wobbles and falls a lot, but he can do it for a while.
When we say Yea Noah! Noah will clap.

Love, NASA.