Isn’t Mom’s prince feather gorgeous!?!  One of the blooms is almost three feet long!  She got the seeds from Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. 

We had such a great time watching Brittany dance at her last recital!

Ryan, Ashley, Noelle, and Regan enjoying some cousin time!

It seems like ages ago that I danced on this stage – boy, how fast things turn full circle!

Funny faces!

Noelle admiring her superstar (Olen), and really digging the clock prop with Regan.  Brittany’s group danced to the song "Nine to Five" and that was by far Noelle’s favorite number!

Then and now!!!

Noelle sums up our little family cultivation project best when she saw the red tomatoes and said, "YAY!"

So, after much reading and questioning veteran moms, here we are!  My favorite book on the subject is Toilet Training in Less Than a Day (I read it when we were in Cancun, funny, huh?)  There were lots of practical tips, but the most helpful was how to make accidents not so much fun for the culprit using drills, changing their own clothes, & cleaning it up themselves.  After a miserable day (yes, day!) we have been accident free all week and wearing panties!

At the end of Noelle’s first accident-free day we gave her a "certificate" and read a book about confetti and then went outside and popped confetti poppers.  Every time Noelle goes to the potty, she puts her certificate and confetti on the floor in front of her!

Another treat was getting her toenails painted for the first time.  She kept saying all day, "My toes pretty, Mommy!"

Noelle getting treats because she got out of the pool to go pee pee on the potty!  We are still wearing training pants when we go out and about around town because I am mortified of an accident (thanks Andy), but we have gone to the potty lots in public already!  The best little tip I got from a friend was to keep the potty in the trunk, and they will want to go before getting back in the car – it totally works, and Noelle has FUN too!

Noelle and I read her Bible this afternoon, and I want to share some sweet memories from our reading.  When we were reading a story about Solomon, I looked at Noelle and said, "Solomon was very wise," Noelle immediately followed, "I wanna be wise, Mommy!"

We were also reading about Jonathan and David and the question at the end of the page was, "Who is your best friend?"  Noelle said matter-of-factly, "Drew!"

After 40 pages (each with pretty good sized paragraphs), I finally got tired.  I said, "Noelle, God loves you!"  She said, "God love you too, Mommy!"  Then I said, "Jesus loves you!"  She said, "Jesus loves you too, Mommy!"

We want to keep Bible reading fun and special, so we do it as it comes naturally, and today was just that!

I put paint on this heart and just watched to see what Noelle would do (thinking she would rub her fingers all over it).  Much to my surprise she crossed her pointer and middle fingers and started painting this beautiful abstract!  It really surprised me!

We made this the week of her 2nd birthday, I just forgot to post it!  Hope you like Noelle’s creation!

There’s nothing better than whistling with Brother Man & eating chicken nuggets!  Thanks John and Nancy for meeting us for supper!!!

It was a little chilly in the water!

But before too long Noelle was busy busy playing and sliding!

When Noelle makes this face in the second picture, I see a Xerox copy of Brother Man when he was 2!

Thanks Poppa & Rara for a great weekend of fun and excitement!

Noelle was so excited to go swimming!

Poppa & Rara set up their new pool and canopy for Noelle & Drew, which was such a fun surprise!

Daddy teaching Noelle how to play the piano.  She really does play pretty little note combinations.  Hopefully she will follow after Mike and love to play instruments!

We’re dorky, we’re cheesy, we’re corny, and we love it!  We all got into this discussion about whether Poppa’s guacamole was better than the Mexican grocery’s down the street.  We decided to have this elaborate taste test to decide once and for all.  It was based on Taste, Texture, Presentation, & the X-factor.  Poppa’s guacamole (Bowl "A" above) took home the prize!  We had a lot of fun making our own fun!

Let the taste test begin… Rara and Noelle loving all the guacamole.

Poppa set up his tent for Noelle, and she did a million and one flips before she was finally worn out!  He didn’t know he was setting up a private gymnasium.  So… we’re thinking it’s about time for some gym classes!