pray for us . . . it’s nutcracker season!

dear goodness gracious, pray for us because nutcracker #1 starts today.  

i pray we stay sane!

love, laurie

happy thanksgiving!

have a lovely thanksgiving!

love, laurie

cold kitty

when the temperature outside starts dropping, leko starts curling up in the fleece blankets.  it turned cold all of a sudden and poor kitty wasn't ready for it!

love, laurie

noah's yellow submarine

a recent beatles tribute at the theatre gave noah their inflatable yellow submarine prop and it’s safe to say he loves it!

love, laurie

genie operator

this guy totally forgets that he's only 2 years old and is convinced that he can operate mom's genie lift!

love, laurie

tiny construction worker

it's never too cold for noah to want to dig up his rocks . . . it might be too cold for mom and dad, but he can't get enough of it!

love, laurie

dressed up for a moment

ryan and i had a rare opportunity to dress up for 2 hours to attend an event at work . . . the inauguration of our university's 13th president!  (since we've been a part of the university we have seen 4 different presidents run the school.)

love, laurie  

more tributes!

tribute season continues at the theatre all fall long.  we recently had a doo wop tribute and a british invasion tribute on stage.  both were big shows!

you can see my photos from the shows on the theatre's facebook page here and here.

love, laurie

all aboard!

it has been 4 years since we have been to the trolley museum, and we knew noah would get a kick out of the "choo choos" so we paid the museum a visit during their 25th anniversary weekend celebration since admission was discounted.  

he enjoyed exploring, selling tickets, and driving the mini model trolley.  it was a good activity on a cool morning.

love, laurie

big helper

noah is a big helper when it comes time to "mow mow" the yard.  he was pleased with himself after a good job so he had a little seat on the front porch and told me "mama, seat."

love, laurie

this kid isn’t afraid of a microphone!

when you visit dad in the booth during a "big show" and he lets you use the microphone!

love, laurie

everything is an instrument

noah's in a phase where everything is a musical instrument.  he found a drawer divider and made it into a clarinet.  his toy broom became a guitar and the broom stand was his microphone / microphone stand.

he's watched enough bands on mom's big stage to know how to do it!

my favorite part is the singing that accompanies the playing.

love, laurie

potty piano

sure, beethoven was talented, but did he play the piano on the back of his potty?!

nothing like a little bathroom symphony.

love, laurie

best view in the house

noah had the best view in the house during a recent taylor swift tribute concert at the theatre.  he likes watching from the balcony.

love, laurie

veterans day flags

the veterans alliance at the university where we work has displayed thousands of american flags on campus in honor of veterans day for the past several years.  every year i love seeing all of the flags in the lawn.  each flag represents a fallen service member.  the flags are on display all week and it's really something to see all of the flags arranged in perfectly straight lines, blowing gently in the breeze.

love, laurie

showing off

the trees in our back yard were really showing off this fall!  we enjoyed it before all of the leaves fell.

love, laurie

feeding the birds

noah was a riot feeding the birds on halloween.  he did a little dance and then filled up the feeder.

love, laurie

one last trip to roba's for the season

we visited roba's on wednesday for one last trip before they closed for the season.  noah wore his play glasses the whole time and had a blast!

we certainly got our money out of those season passes this year !

love, laurie

halloween 2024

noah really enjoyed halloween this year . . .  or as he called it "who-ween!"

we all got together at our house for pizza and brownies followed by some trick-or-treating in our neighborhood.  noah liked putting the candy in his bucket and also liked handing out candy to other kids too.

we dressed up as blippi, meekah, and miss rachel this year since those are his absolute favorites!

love, laurie

. . .

previous halloweens: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023

happy birthday, papa!

happy birthday today to papa / grandpapa!

we hope you have a great day!

love, laurie

noah's fall clean up

noah's motto: "work harder, not smarter" . . . why not use a snow shovel to rake the leaves and mow up the gravel?

he's available for hire.

love, laurie