Europe in less than a week!

Today I packed for Europe!
We leave next Tuesday.  I know I packed a week early, but I want to enjoy Christmas and everything about the season and not worry about it.
Plus, it made me REALLY excited!

We are headed to London first, then taking the train to Paris for 2 days.  Highlight while there:  Tchaikovsky ballet/opera:  Oneguine by John Cranko here at the Palais Garnier: (anyone been?)

Then, back to London for some New Year's Eve action here:

Followed by hanging out with friends, then something from my bucket list:  seeing Les Miserables in London.  And I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited about the Jean Valjean replacement.  I was very sad to see Alfie Boe go, but thrilled to hear that the person who played Enjolras in the 25th anniversary performance (Ramin Karminloo) is the new Valjean.  Love him and his voice!  Like I have a crush on his voice. (far right)

Then after that, we catch a flight to Malaga and we are going to visit friends from Spain and then meet up with my parents and sister (who arrived home from her mission in Paraguay today!) and basically HAVE THE TIME OF OUR LIVES!

I'm just so excited.
If any of you have been and have tips/advice/must do/sees---let me know please!

Thoughts

I'm not even sure what I am going to blog about right now. But it's 8:30 pm, the kids have been in bed for an hour, Jared has been gone doing homework since 9:30 am, my house is cleaned, journal is written in, paint project is finished, "The Sing Off" episode I missed last week has been watched, and I'm in the mood to blog.

Like I mentioned in my last post, I love and hate my blog.
Love going back and re-living past moments.  Love writing.  Love watching my family grow.
Hate how I compare myself to everyone else's awesome blogs.  Hate how I don't take good pictures or even enough pictures.  Hate how no one comments on blogs my blog anymore.

Anyways, things are going pretty good over here.  Jared is supposed to graduate on the 22nd--- in 3 days.  He is SO close.  But he's not going to make it.  Our new deadline is December 1st so he can avoid rematriculating and paying the fee to do so.  He'll make that deadline for sure.  And you better believe we will be partying over here.  Jared and I have been married a little over 4 years now and I have put him through his entire Bachelors degree.  When that diploma comes in the mail, I am adding my name to it in Sharpee marker.  And then we will be done with school until August.  The plan is for Jared to start on his MBA at the University of Arkansas next fall.  Of course he still needs to take the GMAT, so I guess there will be no break over here. ha!

I love my kids.  They make me so happy.  Suzy is out of her clingy stage.  She is now the same size as her brother.  Ok, well, Noah is taller, but skinnier.  But they are both in the same size clothes.  18 months.  They are more than 18 months apart too!

If I were to predict what my kids would be like in high school based on their personalities now, this is what I would guess:
Noah- artsy, into music, runner, soccer &/or baseball player, the smart kid
Suzy- dancer, sweet, nice, really good girl, quiet
I guess we will find out if I'm right in about 13 years!

I'm really excited to start reading the Harry Potter series.  I read the first book in high school and decided I didn't care to read anymore.  But then this last year, I decided to watch all the movies to see what all the hype was about.  And I got hooked on them.  And since the books are WAAAAY better than the movies...(right?) I decided to dive in.

And with that, I think I'll head on over to Pinterest to find some Thanksgiving stuff to make.  I'm hosting this year for Jared's family. 

Be back soon xxx

Update

Blogging and I have a love/hate relationship.

A few of you have started updating your blogs lately and it has inspired me. 

Here is a quick update.

Suzy

Suz is about as cute as she can be.  She is such a happy girl.  Noah gave her the nickname 'Suza' and it has pretty well stuck.  She loves being outside and running around.  She is wiggly and giggly and fun!

Noah

Noah is a sweet kid.  He is very smart and loves to make deals with us.  Negotiate privleges.  A business man, just like his daddy.

Courtney

I have been up to:

Activity Days

Cleaning

Laundry

Teaching Piano

Playing Piano

More Cleaning

Taking Care of Kids

Yoga

Running

Reading

& Daydreaming

Jared 

Jared is pretty much doing it all right now.  He has to have all his assignments in for graduation on November 22nd.  Then we he will finally have his MUCH anticipated Bachelors degree from BYU!  He is putting in a lot of hours at Pfizer, the job he got back in August.  He's also doing quite a bit of traveling, to the jealousy of his wife. (even if it is business traveling, it is still a break from kiddos and mac n cheese!)  He continues to work a little for his old company on the side.  In addition,  he has been running and training for races- he will do another half marathon this Saturday.  Jared is amazing.  I don't see much of him and am hoping this will change when he graduates. 

That's it for now, hopefully I'll be back again soon---I still want to post about Suz's birthday (in September), my birthday (in October), and Halloween. 

Noah on Fog

Kids are funny. This morning, I got the kids up early to go watch Jared and his brother, Caleb race in the Chili Pepper 10K.  Noah was not happy about being woken up.  I told him it was going to be a great day.  He said "NO, it will be a MEAN day!"  Here's the rest of the convo:

Me:  "Oooh, look at the pretty fog."
Noah:  (yelling)  "I don't like dogs!!!"
Me:  "I didn't say dogs, I said FOG."
Noah: (still yelling) "I don't like frogs!!!"
Me:  "I said FOG, not frogs."
Noah:  "What's fog?"
Me:  "It's when clouds are on the ground and not up in the sky."
Noah:  (yelling again) "I don't like clouds on the ground!!!"

Nothing like waking up on the wrong side of the bed. Ha ha

Noah's Daily Schedule

I am such a planner. I have our entire week planned out before Monday morning even hits.  I always know what we are doing each day.  But Noah doesn't.  (Or should I say didn't.)  Noah is so much like me (personality wise), so I figured it might help his behavior a bit if he knew what was going on (he doesn't do well changing activities).  And sure enough---it has!

I came up with the idea of a kid schedule one night when I wasn't sleeping and about 10 hours later (it seriously took a long time to make, much longer than you would think) here it is!

We have been doing it for almost a month now. 

Noah LOVES it.

Each morning when he wakes up, the first thing he says to me is:

"Mom, let's go look at our schedule."

or

"What are we doing today Mom?  Let's go see our schedule!"

He is SUCH a mama's boy!!! ;)

Hair Drama

I went back to dark hair again. 
Remember the last time?  (Hair Makeover post here)
The summer sun has  effectively "oranged" my hair and I kept putting lowlights and highlights in it.  See:

So, I decided to go ALL brown.
Trying to save a buck, I decided to do it myself.  I went to Sally's Beauty Supply and had the worker pick me out the perfect color.  I wanted to go to my natural color, which is pretty dark.  And then the worker recommended that I go one shade darker.  That might have been OK, but as my hairdresser later said, my hair is extremely pourous meaning it soaks up color like none other.  And I left it in waaaay too long.

It wounded up being BLACK.

I did NOT want black.  So, I washed my hair appx 15 times with baking soda and shampoo.  Luckily, I had only bought a semi permanent kind so it is continuing to get lighter.  This next picture was taken the following day and it had already lightened up some:

I know it's kind of hard to see it.  But I like it now.  It is continuing to lighten up and become the color I initially wanted.  I'm sure I'll add highlights again soon, but this is a nice change.  However, please don't anybody ever let me dye my hair myself again!

Saran Wrap Suz

Suzy Kaye.  I love her to pieces.  But holy cow, she is giving me a run for my money.  She is SO CLINGY.  She wants me to hold her all day everyday.  If I try to clean or hop on the computer, help Noah, or do ANYTHING, I'll put her down and she will sprint crawl to wherever I go.  It's getting so annoying to me that I find myself staying at the gym longer and longer for the free childcare so I can get a break!  She just will not play by herself or with Noah. 

WHAT DO I DO?!  How long will this phase last?  Please help me!

Update:  I haven't gotten a lot of feedback here, but I did talk to my mother in law for a while and we concluded that she prob isn't getting enough attention from me and I thought maybe she is hungry and I should feed her more than just baby food---considering she is a year next month!  Today, I've been focusing on that and already in this short time, it is making a huge difference! 
*Parenting is a ride, isn't it?!*

Summer 2011

Family Pics Summer 2011

We won some family pictures recently by donating some money to a good cause.  Here are some of my favorites!

Noah's 3rd Birthday Carnival

We went carnival themed this year for Noah's party.  It was easy and fun!  The kids came and got 10 tickets, which they could spend at the duck pond, fishing game, golf, clothespin drop, or to get their face painted.  They earned prizes, which were their party favors.  Party food consisted of carmel apples, nachos, and rainbow cupcakes.  Noah loved every second.  Enjoy the pics!

Noah's 3rd Birthday

Yay, I have a 3 year old.  Here's Noah on his big day:  July 27, 2011

(he may or may not be wearing a 6-9 month shirt & shorts)

I know I look dumb in these pics, but Noah's faces make me laugh so much.

On the morning of Noah's birthday, I took Suzy to a babysitter and then Noah and I went on a date.  To Chickfila! See how happy he is!

Playing at Chickfila

Then, we went to the movies to see Madagascar 2.  Noah got popcorn and ate the whole thing.  Sorry, I forgot to take a picture.

Then, Noah came home and his daddy picked him up to go on a treasure hunt!
He had a map and they made some stops before they got to the treasure.  First, they went to Walmart and bought cupcakes and M&Ms.  Then, to the carwash:

Then, they went to McDonalds where the treasure was a Happy Meal.

That night, we had Dora cupcakes, that Suzy enjoyed most.

Then, it was time for presents.  Noah was soooo excited.  Thanks Grandma A for the majority!

Jared and I got Noah a rocking chair, which is what he was always asking for.  We found one at a flea market and Grandpa G painted it and spiffied it up for us. 

Happy Birthday Noah!  Pictures of his little bday party coming next!