SECOND PLACE

Tyler's Pinewood Derby was this last week.  He and Steve spent hours and days working on his car.  After not winning a single race last year, they made a goal for this year - WIN 1, just 1, RACE.  They set their sights high....  Well after a week of dilligently working on the car a few paint jobs and much boy bonding time, they won more than just 1 race, they won 2nd overall.  Tyler was very pleased and although Steve wasn't there for all the excitement he too was very excited. 

The car - We named it THE BULLET

I must make mention of the fact that because Steve was not there, at the race, I mean.  Me, the Mother, had to take care of the very important Graphite on the wheels, and the weigh in.  I had to add weights and because of my expertise his car weighed in at exactly 5g.  Ya baby!

No Baseball and a Family Excursion

Tyler opted out of baseball this year.  I can't say I was really all that upset about it, okay I'll be honest, I was SOOOOOO Happy!  Around here, this is kind of a baseball town,  baseball means lots of practices and games.  Instead, he played in a competitive basketball league.  It was a great experience and the improvement he made and all the things he learned were fantastic.  His team was not the best, but his coach was fantastic.  Coach Hank or 'THE Hank' as we liked to call him around here was great with Ty and the rest of the team. 

A couple weeks ago Steve and I decided to load up the troops and head up to the mountains for a cookout and a little fishing.  Because of my very excellent 'OUTDOOR' skills, I threw together some tinfoil dinners and off we went.  It was a great evening and despite a very unhappy baby, we all had a good time, good food and some great family bonding.  It was a little chilly, but it was beautiful and it was great to get out of town, even if it was only for a few hours.

Tater's little snooze on the way up to the mountains.  I love his 'old man' glasses in this one

Tyler working dilligently to start a fire using a flint - he was successful.

Me and mine baby. 

My cute Brookie.

(My tinfoil dinners were not hotdogs, but we did bring some of those along too.)

A Whole Lot of .........

We've been busy, I guess.  Between birthday's (Mine and Steve's) and keeping up with the kids, life has been busy, I guess.  Here are a few highlight's of our latest activities in pictures. 

First we'll start with this cute little Photo of Noerson and Tater.  They are becoming quite the pals, although Noah might contend that a little TOO MUCH Tater isn't good.  Tater loves to 'hold' Noah and play with him.  Noah loves it, IN SMALL doses that is.

Now we'll move onto our little weekend getaway.  Steve had some work down in the OC, so the kids and I decided to tag along for some of it.  Noah got to experience his FIRST swim.  And although he was a little skeptical at first, warmed right up to the pool and loved it by the end.  Heaven help us if he is our one who doesn't love the water.....

This little fishy just finished up a round of swimming lessons.  He is so comfortable in the water and is sooooo close to swimming all by himself with NO Floaties.  By the end of his lessons, he was starting to learn the front crawl.  He has another round of lessons in a few weeks, it should be fun!

This little lady is just cute! 

The other day, I wrapped Noah up in his towel and laid him on the floor so I could get him dressed.  I had to grab something really quick  and when I turned back around this is what I found.  How he sat up I'll never know, but he was sitting sooooo very still, which never happens, and trying to figure out what the heck was going on.  I would say, 'Noah' and he would just barely move his head trying to see if he could find me.  What a nut...

And finally, this is the cute and totally crazy face under the towel.  He is very busy and while not crawling in the conventional sense, he gets everywhere he wants to go.  He uses his forhead as a pivot point and loves to stand on his head. 

8 Months!

Isn't it amazing how you get to a point after having a baby where you think - What was life like before you?  We have well passed that point with Noah and I can't hardly remember what life was like before his cuteness arrived in our home.  Already those first few weeks of 'Newborn' baby seem like a blurr.  Time marches on and I am really trying to embrace and savor every minute I have with not only my Noah, but all the kids. 

Now that Mr. Noah is 8 months the world is becoming more and more fascinating for him.  Here is my list of the things that he has been up too.

• We'll start with just being cute
• he sleeps great, although I am really trying to push the wake up time back - he wakes a little to early for my taste, especially with summer coming
• he is on a pretty good schedule and still takes 2 naps - sometimes 3 if life is just to exhausting
• he  learned to SIT this month.  He actually mastered it in just a couple of days, which was much faster than his brothers and sister did.  I attribute it to his chubby legs weighing him down.  ;)
• he FINALLY learned to roll from his tummy to his back.  It was a glorious day and there was much cheering and clapping to be heard from our house.  He would push himself up onto his toes and hands with his little bum in the air (he is very strong) and finally he figured out he could lean a little and over he would go. 
• he loves to do push ups and is in the 'pushing himself backwards' phase
• he is starting to pull his knees under him and would figure out crawling pretty fast if he would get his forehead off the floor.  Silly boy
• he feeds himself 'Stars' and must be eating if we are
• he tries to grab everything and his eyes are constantly darting around to check out his surroundings (heaven help me when he is mobile)
• he and tater had a wrestling match for Tater's glasses last night
• he still loves the Jolly Jumper and uses his arms to get some height (NO JOKE!) It is way funny
• he is getting a temper and an opinion about things like if the kids can hold him, if his diaper needs changing etc.  When he starts getting mad he crinkles up his nose, squints his eyes and clenches his gums together and breaths in and out.
• he still has no teeth
• he is a continuous fountain of drool

I think that about sums up the last month of Noah's life.  He continues to be a wonderful sweet cute and smiley little boy and although he still doesn't giggle too much we are seeing some break throughs!

And now what you really want, PICTURES........

Notice the drool streaks down his belly....

I also must mention that he has  THE MOST kissable squishy cheeks that I am sure I kiss at least a thousand times a day.