What's Up???

It's been a little while since my last post so I thought I would give a few updates and post some random pictures. I have been crazy busy at work the last few weeks getting the kids ready for competition. I've also been busy with my grad school work and helping Noah with his school work. On top of all this we were anticipating a lot of layoffs at my job so everyone at school was holding their breath. The letters came out on Tuesday. I got a letter but mine said that I would move from being an 11 month employee to 10 months. The bright side - I still have a job and I have a longer summer! The down side - I lost more than a months pay for a total paycut of 9.09% which may still go down some more :( Maybe it was all this stress but I have been suffering from terrible migraines. It got really bad on Monday and I didn't sleep at all from Monday-Thursday. Noah took me to the ER on Thursday and they gave me some IV meds and fluids and sent me home with a better prescription. I am finally feeling better!

Noah got a semi-promotion at work. He is now opening the warehouse in the mornings. He goes in at his regular time (4 am) and works until 2 or 3 on a normal day. I'm not entirely sure what he does all day but I know he likes it better than being on the truck and it comes with a small pay raise and a monthly bonus. It doesn't come close to making up the difference in my pay but it is something! What is going to help is getting approved for the post 9/11 GI bill from the VA. Noah will get complete tuition for three years, a stipend for textbooks, and monthly housing allowance. This will be especially helpful now and we are very thankful for it and also for Noah going back to school to better himself and our family!

The kids are doing great. For all intensive purposes Izabel is potty trained. She wears underwear all day whether we are at home or not. She still wears a diaper for nap and bed but we'll get there eventually. She's so funny because as soon as she uses the potty she jumps up and says "I get ticker and umy bear yay!" I love it! She's very sweet and loving but of course she is two and we are reminded of that frequently. Tanner's been a little cranky lately but I figure it's just teeth. He had his first real experience jumping the other day and he loved it! I have a feeling we'll be spending a lot of days at the jump place this summer!

Noah is camping for the weekend so me and the kids are hanging out at home. We hope everyone has a great weekend!

He's almost big enough to jump on the horse by himself

Izabel and Drew

Noah was throwing her and she LOVED it

Daddy's Boy

10 Month Pics...Finally!

Some months I am able to get the pictures done right on the monthly birthday and some months I run a little behind. This was obviously one of those months :) Don't worry though because I already made the appointments for the last two monthly picture sessions so those will be right on time!

This month we got tons of cute shots of our little man. Enjoy a few of my favorites and then click here to see the rest. There are way too many to post here so make sure you check them all out!

Our Future Quarterback!

Our Little Man!

Weekend Updates and Birthday Celebrations

This past weekend went really well but way too quickly! Noah's birthday was Monday so he got to sleep in both days. He took full advantage of this by sleeping until 12:30! Must be nice :) Saturday I got up and took the kids to the Jungle Gym for a playdate. It was snowing pretty hard when we left the house but nothing stuck. We got there early so we ran over to babies r us to pick up some diapers and wipes. Tanner was asleep so I put him in his stroller and let Izabel walk. Usually she is pretty good about holding on to the stroller and "helping" me push but this time she wanted to push all by herself. Of course she couldn't manuver around the corners without my help and she got very mad when I tried to turn the stroller. She ended up throwing herself on the floor doing a full-fledged two year old temper tantrum. I walked away and told her we were leaving so she got up and followed us almost to the check out line before she turned around and bolted the other way. I looked at the cashier, pushed the stroller to the register and went after Izabel. It took me a few minutes to finally get her because she of course thought it was a fun little game. I got back and paid for everything and got them out to the car. It's so hard to be out with them by myself because if she runs off I have to leave him to go get her!

After the store we still went to the jungle gym for some jumping time. I needed to spend some time with the other mom's and Izabel needed to run off some energy. She got a pretty good lecture before we got there though! She jumped for a while and I even let Tanner crawl around in one of them until a bunch of bigger kids came in. We had some lunch and then headed home.

Izabel was exhausted and hadn't had her nap so we left her at home and went to the ODU game. It was a sold out game vs George Mason (who was in first place). We won, VCU and Northeastern lost putting us in a tie for first place! It was a great day :)

After the game I met up with Humaira and some of her friends for dinner and some drinks. It was nice to sit and chat for a little while without chasing the kids around. When I came home Noah headed to a friends house for a party. He ended up spending the night because he had been drinking too much to drive.

Sunday morning Noah came home and went back to bed. I was doing some homework before church and realized I had missed a deadline for a paper! Needless to say we missed church so I could do the assignment and get it in as soon as possible. After I was done Humaira came over to spend some time with the kids. I woke Noah up so he could take his midterm for psychology while we were out of the house. We went to lunch, did some shopping, and then went to Skinny Dip for a treat before coming home. We had Outback to go for our Valentine's dinner and spent the evening writing a paper for Noah's business class. So romantic!

Monday was Noah's actual birthday but we both had to work. My school played their rival for the final basketball game of the season. Noah came over after work to watch the very heated and intense game. Since we couldn't celebrate on his actual birthday we had a birthday dinner last night. Izabel helped me make and decorate a cake and Auntie came over since it was her birthday. We had chicken cutlets, mashed potatoes and corn and then some yummy birthday cake. Once the kids went to bed Noah got to go to poker (first time this year!). It was a great night and we all had a nice time!

Izabel helped me make and decorate the cake
I did the words and she did all of the balloons!

Ms. Laurie brought over a cake for Auntie too

Auntie's cake came from here...yummy!

Izabel loves eating cake Tanner was sad I wouldn't give him any cake :(He got over it :)
Izabel practicing with a big cup!

Orlando with DECA

Last Wednesday-Sunday Noah and I took 7 students plus the school athletic director to Orlando for the DECA Sports and Entertainment Marketing Conference. Since I am teaching the sports class next year this was a great introduction for me and a few of my students. We arrived early Wednesday morning and used the Disney transportation to the Disney All-Star Sports Resort. After settling in and having some time to relax we went to Downtown Disney for dinner and shopping. Thursday and Friday we started our days off with DECA presentations from marketing professionals in the sports and entertainment fields. The speakers were from Universal Studios, Orlando Magic basketball, Tampa Bay Buccaneers football and several local agencies. The presentations went to about lunch time both days but they were pretty interesting and we learned a lot. After the presentations we had lunch and enjoyed the two Universal parks.

Head to head with their favorite teams!

Margaritaville was so much funBalloon hats - twisted for Noah and heart for me
Our DECA group in front of the Universal globeDECA with super herosKelsie with Betty Boop
Thursday night we saw the Blue Man Group and they were fantastic! Friday night we saw the Orlando Magic lose to the Washington Wizards. I am not ashamed to say I was happy!

Kisses from a blue man :0
Noah and one of the blue men
Noah and Lee at the game
Orlando Magic vs. Washington Wizards
Saturday we slept in a little and then spent the day at Disney's Hollywood Studios. The new attraction there is the American Idol Experience. We watched the final show and voted on the winner. The guy who won got a golden ticket to go to any real audition and skip the line! I had a couple of students who wanted to audition but we were too late so hopefully next year :) After the park we took the bus over to downtown disney again to eat at Rainforest Cafe. It was a late dinner but very good!

Me and Noah in front of the Rockin Rollercoaster
The kids at American Idol

Sunday morning we checked out and headed to the airport to get home just in time for the Super Bowl, Go Saints! It was a great trip but completely exhausting! We were happy to get home and so excited to get back to our babies!

10 Months!

That's right...Tanner has hit the double digits and he is only two months away from the big ONE! He has such a personality now and he his starting to "talk" more and more. He's still crawling all over the place and starting to cruise when he is standing up. We've been doing finger foods more and more and he has no problem with anything we've tried so far. He's been playing with Izabel more and it's really nice for them to have each other. They'll play in one of their rooms for large chunks of time until someone starts crying (usually Tanner) and we've got to come break up the fight. I have a feeling we'll be doing this for many years to come! He's still in stage 3 diapers and getting ready to move into 9-12 or 12 month clothes! He's still a pretty easy baby but he does not like getting his diaper changed. He goes to sleep totally on his own and he only has his binky in the crib. We're moving closer and closer to no binkies and no bottles so he's on the right track. It's amazing that we can love him so much and then love him even more the next day. He is such a joy! Pictures will be coming soon so check back later this week :)

Snow Days 2, 3 and 4!

Well as you may or may not know any amount of snow pretty much shuts everything down around here. We don't get it hardly ever so we don't have the equipment to deal with it and people don't know how to drive in it. We ended up with 7-9 inches of snow over the weekend which to us is a blizzard! It was exciting and fun. Sunday we never made it outside but it was nice just hanging out and playing all day.

Everything was shut down again Monday. Even Noah didn't have to go to work which shocked us both! We were all ready to get out of the house so we went out to run some errands. The Armada was past due for an inspection so we went to take care of that and then we stopped for lunch. While we were eating Amy and Ray came in so we got to catch up with them for a few minutes! Then we went to Kohls to get Noah some business casual clothes for our trip. By the time we were done there both kids were asleep so we headed home for naps. Izabel didn't sleep long so I took her back outside to play in the snow. We even went for a little walk in the wagon which was quite challenging.

Trying to walk in the snow. She would take a step and then
look at me and say "help me please!"
Our yard covered in snow (Daddy cleared the walkway for us!)

Our footprints in the snow!

Trying to make another snow angel

Love the snow gear. My mom bought it for when we go to
Massanutten, we never thought we'd need it here!

Noah had to go to class (even though EVERY other college in the area was closed) so me and the kids had dinner and then I gave them both a bath and put them to bed.

Izzy and Tanner in their matching bath towels!

School is closed again today so I am home with the kids, but I still have to go to work for a little while. My students complete 9-30 pages papers for DECA competition and they are due Thursday. They have to be signed and go in the mail today since we leave for Orlando early tomorrow morning. I contacted all of my students yesterday and they will be meeting me at school shortly. I also have to contact all of the parents of the kids I am taking to Orlando to make sure we're all ready to go. I guess this is what I get for being a dedicated teacher, but it still sucks to have to drive all the way to Hampton in the snow when I don't even have to work! Then I have to stop at the grocery store and finish all this laundry before I can pack and get some sleep! 3:00am is going to come really quickly I'm afraid! We don't get home until Sunday but I'll have lots of pictures and updates then. Enjoy the rest of your week :)

Snow Day #1

That's right...we got snow in Virginia! And not just a little dusting like normal, we got SNOW. Some areas got as much as 12 inches. I think we got around 4 or 5 so far and it's supposed to snow a little more tonight. We've been pretty lazy today but we all bundled up to go outside for a little while. The kids have never seen snow before so I was excited to see them experience it. Izabel loved it! She wanted us to help her walk in it but she did not want to come in. Tanner cried the whole time I was getting him ready and then cried as soon as I brought him in. I think he liked it too! I didn't really let him crawl around in it though because I don't really have snow clothes for him to wear. Maybe tomorrow! Here are the pics from our first snow day and I'm sure there will be many more tomorrow.

Tanner "walking" in the snow

It was much easier to walk in the street

It was still coming down!

Daddy loves the snow!

Izzy's first snow angel