Large Marge

You may remember our furniture shopping extravaganza in North Carolina last summer. It was there we identified our favorite designer, Marge Carson, or "Large Marge" as we like to call her :) Anyway since then we've found lots of fabulous furnishings by Henredon through Craigslist which look very similar to Marge's designs but we had no actual Large Marge - until now. If you are ever looking for a deal, let Matt help you. I don't know how he does it. He searched on Craigslist for a LADDER and ended up finding our sitting room couch, two chairs and a table for the living room, a home theater screen and MORE home theater speakers (that's a whole other post...), and a LARGE MARGE desk!!!! I am thrilled with all of it but I think the desk has to be my favorite.

Just another day at the office:






In all fairness I found my FIRST (and probably only) find on Craigslist recently. Usually the stuff I find we never end up going to see or if we do we don't end up getting it. Anyway here is our new living room coffee table and side table!





The sitting room in our bedroom - you can actually SIT in it now! This sofa is so pretty that it's a shame to hide the back of it (the most beautiful part!) It's pleated all along the back - just a gorgeous design.




Matt's living room finds. I wanted to put a piano in this space (it's a difficult space to furnish) but this was MUCH more affordable. And no one here plays the piano either :)



And to top it all off we found a two pack of these lamps at Costco for THIRTY DOLLARS. That's $15 a lamp!!! We got a set for our bedroom and the guest room. At that price we're trying to think of other rooms we could get them for! They really make our bedroom look much nicer with warmer lighting. Great quality too - very heavy steel base and the shade looks like silk.

Noelle's New Shoes!

I've been wanting to get Noelle some shoes to keep her feet warm and protected but I know it's not good for their little developing feet unless it's those soft shoes (which look strange to me). Anyway I found these darling ones at Costco - and they are soft! They fit 12-18 months so hopefully they will last her a while too.

The Sweetest Bottomless Pit

Noelle can not get enough to eat these days. I'm not sure if she's making up for last week when she didn't feel well or if she's having a major growth spurt. I loaded up her tray last night with food thinking she would never finish it all - it was gone in no time and we had to work fast to get her seconds!

Table for Two

We found a great deal on an adorable table and chair set ($19.99 at AC Moore!). Noah loves it and wants to eat there all the time.




This morning he requested the baby sit with him too. And of course Butter makes sure she is present for every meal. Sometimes I'll see her just standing underneath the highchair even when Noelle isn't in it.

Au Natural...almost

Well last night was it. I couldn't take my two-toned hair any longer. It was driving me crazy to have the top half my natural color and the bottom half a faded out color over bleach - not pretty. So I made a spur of the moment appointment (which is almost never a good idea) to get "The Beth Moore" which unfortunately I still look nothing like her in her adorable haircut. Anyway the good news is that most of the awful color is gone, I feel about 10 pounds lighter, and I have a lot less hair to deal with for a while. I'm already thinking about getting some fun clip in extensions to make it more fancy for a change. With two babies to chase after, clip in hair is sounding mighty good right now!

The new Eve - at least until I change my mind - again :)



The look I was going for - isn't she adorable!? I love this haircut - it's so fun and feminine...maybe one day when I'm blonde again I can pull it off.

Happy New Year!

We had the best time on New Year's Eve! We co-hosted a super fun party with the LoGrassos - we've been playing "The Newlywed Game" with them and our friends on New Year's Eve for a few years now and it just gets funnier every time. Matt and I spent the entire next day just recovering - it sure was easier to stay up late when we were younger and didn't have kids that wake up so early!

Our little stud muffin in his bow tie:







Sitting with his date for the evening and best girl, Grace:



All the "newlyweds". They ranged in years of marriage from 2-8. I unfortunately didn't get pictures of everyone since a couple of couples had to leave early. We were so glad that everyone could make it - it was such a great time!!! Please note I had only a FEW sips of champagne - these pictures were just for fun!!!





Chris "Bob Eubanks" and Anne - our fabulous co-hosts:



Matt and Eve:



Nathan and Meredith:



The Winners! Doug and Jess:



Second Place! Sam and Harmony:



Last Place! Christian and Sandy:



The girls:



The LoGrassos stayed over and Noah was THRILLED to find them still in our house the next morning! He had so much fun dancing with Grace. They both just recently saw the gazebo scene from "The Sound of Music" and love to pretend to dance like that:






Noelle ADORES Grace - I can see how she already looks up to her big girlfriend and it's so sweet. The LoGrassos came over the day after Christmas and Grace is just so sweet to Noelle - always interacting with her, holding her hands, dancing with her, hugging her, caressing her face, etc. Noelle just eats it all up and is so thrilled that Grace pays so much attention to her. We joked that Noelle hoped that she was getting Grace for Christmas!




Tea for three - this tea set is very popular! Can't wait for Lily to join in soon :)

Christmas Round Two!

Nana and Papa came over the day after Christmas and we got to continue our fun celebrations!

Noah and Noelle playing with Noah's new train:





Noah looking oh-so-handsome in his handmade by Nana choo-choo robe!:



Noah playing with Papa - one of his favorite people in the world:



Opening more presents with Nana. She made both kids special Christmas blankies (the gorgeous red cloth in the background):




Noelle looking gorgeous in her beautiful handmade by Nana robe:




They LOVE Noelle's new tea set from Uncle Doug and Aunt Jess - it is one of Noah's favorite things to play with! He loves to pour the tea (it makes a sound that sounds like water pouring into a cup when you tip it over) and he of course loves to say cheers after two cups are poured and tapped together. Noelle is very sweet to share it with him so much :)















Noah even got a train toy for the bathtub! Now he can go anywhere in the house and have a choo-choo to play with:

Christmas 2009!

We had a fantastic Christmas this year (well, now that it's 2010 I guess I should say last year). We stayed home and had family come to us since we have the grandparent bait (babies) :)
Mimi stayed over on Christmas Eve and we all woke up early Christmas morning to read the story of Jesus' birth and open presents together.




Noah received an entire choo-choo set for Christmas this year and he has been busy playing with it ever since. The big reveal:



The train set in all it's glory - before it was destroyed by Godzilla (aka Noelle) as Matt likes to call her. Noah also likes to destroy it too. We're definitely going to have to glue all the tracks to the table:



His favorite part is the "wash":



He also received an entire fleet of radio controlled vehicles (fire truck, train, farm vehicle, and school bus) which he has really enjoyed racing around with Daddy.







Snuggling with his sweet new teddy bear from Mimi:




His last gift was Buzz Lightyear and he was, as anticipated, a big hit:




Noelle received new baby dolls - even one called a "Middleton Doll"!:





She loves her new fun activity table to play on!





And you know Noelle, just so happy:








Matt received a Tiger Woods golf game for the Wii and he and Noah had fun playing together:



Mimi gave us the coolest wall hanging - do you see what it says? It took Matt a while to figure it out - he wanted to put photos in it before we hung it...he had to go back and look at it again :)





Jake and Bailey stayed the night with Mimi and thoroughly enjoyed all the Christmas treats they received:



Butter liked snuggling with one of Noelle's new babies:



Lazy dogs:




Matt made delicious blueberry pancakes for breakfast!



Noelle had to wear one of her 400 Christmas outfits to dinner. She is my little Barbie Doll:





Dinner was delicious - I love how the place settings looked:



Mimi brought a beautiful and delicious cake for dessert:



It was a very special Christmas for our family to reflect on all the blessings that God has given us over the past year - although they all pale in comparison to the greatest Christmas Gift of all. At the end of the day we sang Happy Birthday to the baby Jesus in our manger set. I hope that we always focus our Christmas celebrations on Him more than anything else.

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

And Noah decided that he was NOT a fan of Santa showing up in his house uninvited. He wouldn't look at him and when we asked him if he wanted Santa to bring him a choo-choo he said no!

Bubble Buddies

Noah and Noelle are finally taking their baths together. She decided the big girl tub isn't so bad after all and now loves splish-splashing in the water with her big brother.

Tractor Tipping

If you've seen the tractor tipping scene from "Cars" you'll be familiar with Noah's interpretation of it. He does this every night with Daddy and we often have to watch that scene of the movie over...and over...and over...

Sick Puppy

Noah woke up on Tuesday morning with a high fever that finally went away yesterday. I have no idea what it was from! The only time he has really been sick was from ear infections which he hasn't had since his tubes went in. The only thing I can guess is that it was his last molar making more of it's way through. I'm so thankful our boy will be feeling better for Christmas! Here he is snuggling with his buddy, Butter. I brought his air mattress down to the family room so he could lay on it downstairs. Butter decided it was a fantastic idea.

Roller Babies

I'm pretty sure that if Noelle had auditioned for this she would have been in this commercial with her advanced gross motor skills.

If you need a laugh today - watch this:

Roller Babies

Santa's Message to Noah

Thanks, Cindy, for this great link!! Click below to see a special message for Noah from Santa:

Santa's Message to Noah

Oh and I had to do one for Noelle too:

Santa's Message to Noelle

Regressing

Noah has really been regressing here lately - he's so into Noelle's walker that we had to bring back the one we keep at Mimi's house so they could both use them at the same time. In other regression news, he is still sleeping on the floor by his door and we've found that we can keep him MUCH more satisfied if we give him his soothie. Yes, we had to bust the soothie back out due to Noah's major sleeping issues. He ONLY has it while he's sleeping though and he is very good about leaving it in his room when we get him. Thankfully after talking with our pediatrician, she said we're doing everything right in regard to getting him to sleep in his own bed. She said it can take months - and that's the direction we're headed!

This video is really funny - Noah is sprinting in his walker and if you look closely when he leave the room he ends up just picking it up with him as he walks out.

Earning His Keep

We've already put Noah on snow removal duty here. It's nice to have two strong guys in the house!