That’s what I heard all the way home this afternoon!  Our friends Ashley and Shawn just got a new puppy named Samye, and we met him for the first time today.  Noelle thought he was so great!

Noelle did great going down the slide all by herself!

Noelley was more interested in the puppy than posing with Mommy, but that’s okay.

Action shots!

Sharing with Samye!

Snack time!

Noelle’s new favorite treats are blueberries!

Mommy asking, "Where’s Ashley?"

Samye’s snack time!

Noelle didn’t know what to think about Samye’s tongue when he took his treat.  I thought her expression was really funny.

Ashley’s got her hands full with two balls of energy!

We had so much fun this afternoon, Ash, and we can’t wait to hang out again soon!

One tired princess!!!

My project manager (a.k.a. Rara) came to Arlington this weekend to help me catch up on some projects I’ve had in my head for a while.  We made Noelle’s nap mat and pillow for school next year, along with some bandana dresses for summer!  I found a wonderful online fabric store where I bought this fabric.  I chose this one because if Noelle gets bored and doesn’t want to take a nap, there’s lots of fun things to spot on this fabric – purses, bags, puppies, motorcycles, pony tails, shoes, horns, presents, boots… all sorts of "I-spy" things. 

Noelle play-sleeping… 

That nap didn’t last long!  

Taking nap mat to Daddy for him to see.  I wanted to post this pic so you guys could see the back of Noelle’s hair – it’s really growing!  It has sort of a double layer, which is natural – Noelle doesn’t have to pay for her layers… haha.  She has been letting me curl it for the past couple of weeks, but she won’t let me do pink tails (that’s what I call them, widely known as pigtails as Mike just informed me) yet!

We were so busy, I didn’t take any pictures with Rara!  We love you and thank you for everything!  I’m so happy, now I’ve got to go first thing next Monday and register Noelle for school.  We have our fingers crossed and hope she gets in!

We thought we would share some of our honeymoon pics from February 2003!  We can’t wait for our anniversary trip back to Mexico in April! 

Mike planned today all out and had the most beautiful pink tulips and purple irises delivered to the house this morning.  I, on the other hand, very last minute, wrote him a silly little poem to go with a frog card I found in the drawer that I turned into an anniversary card:

Sometimes you gross me out, and other times you’re really cool,
I’m really glad I met you when I was in school

We’ve grown even closer as the years have gone by
I’m so happy that I often cry  

Noelle’s here now and she’s such a joy
I’m sure she takes after you when you were a little boy

Mike, you’re my hero, my love, my life
and I came alive when you made me your wife!

To our family and friends, thanks for all your love and support over the past five years of marriage!  We feel blessed beyond measure to share in your life and love as well!

The talent was worse than ever folks… this season of who is the worst American Idol was definitely entertaining.

We started off the evening making chocolate covered strawberries.  Noelle sure was eyeing those strawberries!

Bekah gave Noelle the cutest little pony tails and took her for a ride on the Inch Worm. 

Noelle hanging out with Victoria.  Toria, I love this picture of you guys – great job!

Next was the cooking decorating contest!

Little Miss eyeing more treats!

Our beautifully decorated cookies with a few casualties along the way – oops!

Bekah reading Noelle a bed time story!

Toria and Mojo get ready to rock the house down!

Girls, I think we should go audition for the real deal next year – we’ve just got to figure out what to do with all our giggles! 

Thanks for coming to hang out with us guys!  We had such a blast (as always)!  Bekah, looking forward to slumber party 2047… LOL…

Noelle loves to eat bread and try on Mommy’s shoes!

So last week at our mid-week gathering we asked if everyone still wanted to meet this week because it’s Valentine’s Day.  To my shock and disbelief, we had a room full of anti-valentiners (haha).  Some had been single for way too long; they were even calling Valentine’s Day "Single’s Awareness Day," which I thought was really funny.  But that didn’t stop me.  Pull out the red carpet, folks, because tonight, amidst our book study, we are going to celebrate the day of LOVE!

Had to post a pic of my delicious cupcakes!

… and my design on a dime flowers, as well as our Valentine tree!

Noelle just had the CUTEST photo session a couple weeks ago.  I rarely post her professional pictures because we don’t have a scanner, but it’s on our "To Do" list – I promise!  Until then, I just had to post pictures of the pictures for my family to see!

My favorite part about this outfit is the mittens and gloves.  She came and asked for help with the skirt and sash, but she picked everything out!  If I could give any advice to new parents it would be to put dress up clothes and accessories (glasses, hats) in a reachable place in your child’s closet.  We did it on an accident and I’m so glad it worked out that way because it is so much fun to see what she’ll come up with next!

Noelle was putting on my gloves and I told her I was going to take her picture.  She immediately put her hands by her side and looked very stoic.  I guess she thought that’s what I wanted her to do.  She’s such a goof ball!