Valentine's Day

I went to Atlanta for 6 days in February for work. I departed on Feb. 15, so we spent most of Valentine's Day getting me ready to leave. Dave snapped this picture of Noah & Mars while I was packing. It was so tough to leave this little bug!

Special Olympics World Winter Games

The Special Olympics came to Boise in early February, and it was amazing. More athletes & countries represented than any other Olympic winter games in recent history (including Torino & Salt Lake!) We watched speed skating & floor hockey, and even got to participate as family ambassadors to an athlete & his family from Arizona.

(Modeling the Special Olympics scarf; hanging at Olympic Village with Auntie Heather, McGruff, the Olympic Eagle & our clappers; time with with Olympian Randy Rowe, his family & Floor Hockey Team USA!)

Catching Up

My sister Heather recently requested that I teach Noah how to blog, so the updates might be a bit more frequent. He would LOVE to take over the computer - but likely wouldn't be all that great at giving any concrete info (it would mostly concern Thomas the Tank Engine, his new fav).

So I'll do my best to get caught up quickly...

Squeaky at Indoor Park at Boise Friends Church - a huge indoor playplace for the winter. He loves watching the other kids (and striking cool-boy poses to impress the ladies)!

Pay It Forward

Remember that movie that came out almost 10 years ago? (Yikes, I'm old!) I really liked the idea - of doing something wonderfully nice for someone without them ever having done something for you (the definition of grace).

So there's this blog thing going around called Pay It Forward, and I had to get involved because 1) I love the idea of random gifting (my friend Danielle's version, Tuesday Prize Day, totally kicks) and 2) I dig treats in a major way, so I couldn't resist!

Here's the deal:
- The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the year, a cool little gift from me (might be homemade treats, might be something different - I will definitely put some thought into this!) What and when will be a total surprise!

- The catch: you must participate as well. Before you leave your comment, put a "Pay It Forward" post on your blog to keep the fun going. Then come back, let me know you’re going to play and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gifty!

- Make sure I have your email address. And remember that only the first 3 comments will get the gifty, so be quick! Have fun!

Blog Break

Sorry about the lack of postings lately...that won't be remedied until next weekend.

I'm in Atlanta all this week for work/training - so in the time you would have spent reading our updates, be praying for Dave (who is home alone with Noah all week)!

The Phone Call

February 2: Noah's 1st phone call.

I was talking with my sister Heather & Noah took the phone & jabbered with her for at least 10 minutes. He had a great time!

One silly little talker

The "Seriously?!" face

Lookin' just like mama,
Talkin' with his hands just like mama

Conversation is getting serious-
ready to start walkin' around

The 'jeeeeez, stop taking pictures of me'
teenager face

Finishing up

All done,
kickin' it & waiting for the phone to ring again

Playroom!

Last weekend, we cleaned out the 'hobbit closet' (the little storage closet under the stairs), bought a toy organizer & made a playroom for Noah.

He loves it! It's just his size, and we love that (almost) all of his toys fit in there.

While we were playing, he started stacking his wooden blocks - at the beginning, he stacked them 6 high by himself. Today he went 9 high!

Mars the Fire Dog

This was not staged - Marley really was lying like that in front of our fireplace for quite a long time before I snapped the picture. I swear he'd let all of his hair singe off if he could get warm enough!

Get A Job

Now that Noah is 18 (ok - 18 mos.), we decided that he needs to be earning his keep!

Just joking - he pulled the Swiffer out of the closet (Dave shortened it for him) & spent a large part of his morning doing the floors.

I say clean on, little man!

Special Olympics!

The 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games are coming to Boise THIS WEEK!

We're SO excited. We've purchased our scarves (see more about the amazing Scarf Project - what started as an idea to provide a welcome gift to all of the athletes has ballooned into 50,000 hand-knitted scarves & a really cool fundraiser. Check it out here!)

And we're signed up to be Family Ambassadors - we will be meeting a floor hockey athlete & family at the airport to welcome them to Boise & will join them to cheer on their Olympian during the competition. How cool is that?!

Join in! Go get your scarf. Come out & cheer on these amazing athletes.