One more cute thing you did tonight: It was time for your shower and Daddy and I were standing in our room talking while you were playing with your purse and an Elmo bag. All of a sudden, you put something in your mouth that you got out of your purse. Daddy saw you do this and asked what you had in your purse. I told him I didn’t think there was anything in there. Then you did it again. We looked at each other and started giggling – you were playing pretend with yourself. I leaned over and told you that Mommy wanted one. You looked hesitant but reached into the bag and pulled out some imaginary food for me. I ate it without comment and you looked at me like, “Is she buying it or not?” Then I said, “Yummy!” and you got the biggest smile on your face. After that, you fed Mommy and Daddy lots of imaginary treats. We thought it was the cutest thing.

Here are some pics Rara just sent from Noelle’s vacation to Jacksonville while we were in Cancun.  Thanks cousin Brittany for helping Rara send the pics! 

Noelle absolutely loved the Caldwell Zoo in Tyler.

Noelle and Poppa playin’ in the yard!

Two of Noelle’s very favorite people, our cousins, Olen and Linda!

Linda brought Noelle a dolly with clip-on clothes and shoes.  She plays with it all the time.  This second picture made us laugh so hard!

Ellie and Noelley at Kids Depot.  Thanks for hanging out with Noelle, Ellie!

Exploring! Looks like you guys had a really fun week – thanks again!

Bekah and Noelle goofing off right before we left to go to the Art Fest. 

We had so much fun and made all sorts of crafts!  There was also live music, funnel cakes, fresh squeezed lemonade, and dip-n-dots involved!

Noelle trying to open the back door saying, "Bekah!" after she went home.  Thanks Bekah for spending the night with us.  We missed you Toria!

Noelle and Samye had so much fun together Saturday night!

Squealing with delight!

Snacking on some "Chi-ups!"

Playing with a dandelion

Daddy playing Rock Band with Shawn while Noelle dances to their music.

Thanks Shawn and Ashley for having us over for dinner last night!  We had a blast!

Noelle’s really big into picking out her clothes these days.  She pretty much tells me what she wants to wear now.  Some of the combinations are pretty funny.

Gangster Noelle.  She insisted on a jacket today and put her Texas Rangers hat Uncle Steve bought her on backward… pretty funny!

We’ve had a really busy week, but we are so excited the weekend is here.  We are going to the Art Fest in down town Ft. Worth tonight with Bekah and dinner with Shawn & Ashley tomorrow night!

These are pages from Noelle’s two favorite books right now: "Bard’s Rhyme Time" and "No, David!"  She always points at these two pages and says, "He funny!" and just laughs and laughs.  Tuesday morning when I woke up Noelle early for MOPS, she couldn’t stop yawning while I was changing her diaper.  I said, "Noelle’s funny!" and she cracked up!  It’s so cute all the little connections she’s making.

Congratulations Ebert family!

Practicing sharing…

Dancin’ dancin’

Lead the way, Brother Drew!

We had to be very sneaky to get this clip.  Noelle loves to get one of Mike’s guitar picks and strum the guitar while singing.  She will stand by the guitar and play and sing forever but when we get the video camera out, she always runs over to it and says, "I see Noelle!"  She wants to watch herself on the playback mode.  Anyway, she knows how to sing all of Jesus Loves Me, but this is the most we could get out of her with the video camera out.  She has the sweetest little voice in the world!

Under the direction of my sister, and inspiration from my cousin, Regina, we are growing cherry tomatoes this summer.  I hopefully bought my last $3.00 carton of tomatoes at the grocery last night… key word being "hopefully!"

Dad teaching Noelle how to scoop dirt into the pot.

After Noelle said, "No, I do it!" Mike got out of the way and held the bag open (Pic 1).  She then proceeded again to tell him, "Nooo, I do it!"  Pic 2 is the result of no help at all (not so fun)!

We’re back in business!  This was the first time Noelle’s worn her overall skirt, and I believe one of the last things we bought her before she was born, yep that’s right, you heard me correctly; I just can’t pass up a sale.  Anyway, she put her cell phone in her pocket and kept it there all day (unless she was on the phone of course).

Practicing gym (on the concrete, crazy) and checking out the new life on our tree, Noelle is so happy to be outside playing!  Although it’s surprisingly still chilly, we’re so happy it’s sunny!  I bought a special lens hood for our camera to keep the rays of the sun from entering our outdoor pictures, but I forgot to put it on… anyway…

"Yay!"  We suburbanites went out of our comfort zone and tried something new.  If you don’t see tomato plant pictures in a few months, don’t ask.  I’m going to try my hardest to keep these plants alive! 

Matt and Courtney (the proudest parents in the world) with their baby, Beckett Micah!

Beckett was born on March 17, 2008, and is the biggest miracle of life that we’ve ever witnessed.  I haven’t shared this on the blog, but Beckett had a diaphragmatic hernia and was given a 20% chance to live in October.  After flying through each step of the process to leave the NICU, including surgery, he is now home with his parents after only three weeks, with a clean bill of health!  We thank God for this amazing life and look forward to making lots of memories together!!!

Noelle tried on all my clothes while we were unpacking – it was so cute!  She changed so much while we were gone.  She’s talking in longer sentences, using pronouns (especially "I"), tons of possessives, and walking up the stairs (she usually crawls because our stairs are so steep), oh and her hair is curling in the back and is getting really long. 

We are so glad to be home and have spent lots of time tickling, reading, cuddling, chasing, and hanging out with Noelle this weekend!