Happy New Year!

As this year comes to a close, I can see a lot of change and growth over the last year, but there's something about the new year that gets me excited and motivated for this next year. I have some resolutions, as well as just some items that I want to cross off my list of things I want to accomplish. Something my dad taught me from the time I was little was about having a strong mind, body, spirit, and relationships, which I think is very wise. So, I'm going to try and have at least one from each area.

Strong Mind:

• Some sort of teacher education training/class/book.
  
• Read 1 book a month
• Read to the boys daily
  

Strong Body:

• Lose my last few pounds (15) by March 8th (my b-day) and maintain for the rest of my life! heehee
• Work out 5 days a week to keep healthy bones, muscles, organs to be able to live long and thrive!
  
• Focus on eating healthy in order to preserve my health long term

Strong Spirit:

• Fall in LOVE with Jesus! I want Him to be my best friend and for me to fully rely and trust in Him!
  
• Take on some sort of leadership role at church...maybe something in children's ministry?
  
• Spend time daily praying for my children and family.
  
• Allow God to change my heart to have a cheerful and giving heart towards my family
  

Strong Relationships:

• Build relationships with new friends from church/family friends
• Spend time investing in other people's lives...giving on myself and teaching my children to give as well.
  
• Spend time weekly investing in Andrew and our relationship

Here's just a few more random ones:

• Have Noah fully potty-trained by January 31st.
  
• Teach the boys the importance of being active daily and nourishing their healthy bodies
• Pay cash for a new car
• Save enough money to buy all our new furniture and decorate our new home with cash
• Put pictures in all my scrapbook pages
• Finish nursing to make it a whole year (April 1st)
• Do something bigger then just our family...something to help others in the world
  

This was taken at about 6:00...he's resting up for the big night tonight! Actually he's been up until midnight every night since we've been here because we don't want to change time zones and then change back again...so he'll be bringing in the new year with us! We are anxiously awaiting Bruce's feast...he's been planning and slaving away all day. On the menu is crab legs, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, sausage stuffing, broccoli casserole, and crown pork roast...Hannah, I'm officially conceding our little competition. I worked out every day here until yesterday and every day in Arizona which I though would save me, but I just have no hope anymore. Congratulations, you win. I gotta live it up tonight;)

Have a blessed and happy New Year in 2009!

Christmas in Cleveland

We have had an awesome time so far in Cleveland! We have shopped, and ate, and ate, and ate, and enjoyed time with family. Everyone was here, and now slowly everyone is departing on their separate ways. We are staying through the 2nd. We are enjoying getting to see family we don't normally get to see.

Jacob enjoyed chewing people's wrapping paper...he got some books, stuffed animals, and a sweatshirt. (Don't tell, but I think he enjoyed the wrapping paper best:)
Noah helped Pops and Grammy peel potatoes for dinner one night.
Noah has the best Uncles...he loves to tackle. He now has Cars thanks to Uncle Luke. He hasn't watched it that much...only about 3 times a day. He also got a bunch of Thomas the Trains, money for college and a train table! Oh, and I can't forget a bunch of Nike stuff and a Gap sweatshirt.
There was a warm spell one day...65 degrees, so Karen put the boys to work! Luke, Anthony, and Andrew
Everyone at our to eat...what a good-looking bunch!
Andrew playing football with the guys
Eating, eating, and still...more eating. This was a crab feast...can you see my tummy growing?
Grammy and Laura taught Noah how to make a cucumber smile;)
The boys have been spoiled by all the love and attention of Grammy and Pops and all the other family! We love it!
All the Boria's who are here, we miss you Jared!
Me and Laura

Kisses from Grammy...we'll all miss those kisses!
Oh, and Andrew got glasses today! I will try and get some pictures tomorrow and post them up! Until then, think 90's nerd...

A Cactus Christmas

Our Arizona Christmas is done. We had such an awesome time getting to spend time with everyone in Tucson. We forget how much FUN and laughing that we do with everyone there. Everyone is getting so old, not the little cousins I remember. And now instead of me entertaining them, they are entertaining my kids! And what a great job they did, the boys were in HEAVEN! I have too many pictures to post, so here we go!

These are pictures we took out on the golf course where all the guys played.
Our little family...complete!
All the grandchildren and Nanny and Pappy!
Auntie Cole and Jacob
Playing Wii with all the cousins...we brought our wii fit all the way down there and had forgotten the disc! We also forgot Settlers...I was sooo bummed for both!
Noah, Katie, and Brody made a break for it.
The sky looked so cool in this picture.
My pirates who don't do anything...
Playing with the swords...I'm sensing a lot of beat downs in the future...
Jacob always wants to be a part of things!
Jacob crawling! My little man is so big!Lindsay and Noah...I thought this face was so funny after all the smiles!

We all ate and ate, thanks to Nanny's AMAZING Christmas Dinner! Nanny and Pappy worked so hard to have so much amazing food and snacks for us...thanks! They do a lot of the same things every year, so it just feels like Christmas.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

You have GOT to be kidding...

Every year we sleep around the Christmas Tree one night... what an adventure. Just when I thought that things couldn't get worse after being trapped in a house with everyone all of last week, when we tried to leave on Sunday from Portland to fly to Tucson, Arizona, our flight was canceled about five minutes after we arrived at the airport! We had been checking, knowing that this might be a possibility, but we were all clear on an on time departure after two trips to the airport, ten pieces of checked baggage, and two boys who were up since 6 o'clock going out of their minds with excitement. So our flight was canceled, along with everyone else. The soonest that some of us could get out was 6 the next morning, but with the weather not looking promising...we didn't want to risk it. Well, actually take that back...I wanted to risk it, but Andrew was determined to DRIVE! (It turns out he was right as no flights took off for 3 days...) So, after 3 hours of trying to come up with a plan, we got in two cars without chains and took off for Tucson.

It took us 15 hours to get down to Tucson after having to buy chains and put them on twice (after we had already made it through all of Portland's bad weather going 20 mph. Poor Andrew was dressed for Tucson with shorts and a long sleeved shirt and had to figure out the chains with my dad. But, we arrived at 4:30 in the morning, got 1 and a 1/2 hours of sleep and a flight out of Sacramento. (We couldn't handle another day of driving with everyone:) The boys were both the perfect--they did so much better then I ever could have imagined! Needless to say, it was an exhausting day, but we were so glad to arrive in Tucson and to get to see all my mom's family! I forget how much fun it is to hang out with everyone and really how much they all are! We only have one day left and then we're off to Cleveland! We can't wait to see everyone there too!

Tomorrow we are doing our little Christmas celebration since we are really flying on Christmas. We are all spending $20 on one person (drawing names) and spending an hour shopping with another person for our secret "person." (Spending time...get it from the clip?) We are all trying to simplify Christmas and focus more on what Christmas is really about. Don't get me wrong, I still like giving and receiving gifts, but after watching this clip, you know the right thing to do...even though it might be hard.

Could it be? Yip-wii! The freshman 30?

Well, Hannah is home and everything feels right again. I really have missed her. Noah is excited and everything is so new and exciting for him to tell Hannah about;) It's funny.

When I went away to college in Arizona my freshman year, I gained 30 pounds. Yes, that's right. 30 pounds. I vividly remember stepping on the nurse's scale in the health office right before coming home for Christmas my first year. 166. yep, that's right. And you want to know what's sad? I didn't even notice I had gained any weight until I tried to put on a pair of jeans for the first time in months on one "cool" 60 degree day in Phoenix. I couldn't even get them up to go to class...so then came on the sweats.

You must understand that every day in Phoenix it was beautiful, and we'd always be out and about in comfy work out clothes. Which stretch...right? So I hadn't even noticed! How do you not notice 30 pounds? Did I think that the daily Belgian waffle with peanut butter, whipped cream, and syrup wouldn't catch up with me? (Thanks Mackenzie!) Or maybe it was the open buffet at every meal with foods I was never allowed to have. Or maybe it was all the lucky charms and cocoa puffs in between meals or as a late night snack. Or could it be the huge omelets Damion would make to order for us with extra sausage, cheese, mushrooms, and hash browns. Oh, or how could I forget the open dryer's ice cream bar that we would frequent daily. Yeah, I'm really not sure where the 30 pounds came from.

So that brings me to Hannah. Hannah thinks she's gained all this weight her first semester at school. Others agreed, I disagreed, she looks just the same. So this morning we put her to the test. She hopped on our wii fit, which she had previously weighed herself on before she left. As her mii grew bigger and bigger as it put on the pounds (those of you who have wii fit are laughing with me right now because it's the best part of the game), the line stopped right above her old line. A whole 2.4 pounds gained. That's it! Her first semester away! I blew her out of the water. While I'm sure Hannah was relieved to not to have gained much weight, I stepped on the wii. For the first time in our lives, I weigh less then Hannah! I think this was harder for Hannah to bear then the 2 pounds;) So while I'm still 4 pounds from my pre-college weight, I'm getting back down there after college and baby weight! So now the competition is on. Who can have the claim to weighing less after Christmas break...this is going to be hard. Hannah can be fierce competition.

I have to go...the Dorenbecher Christmas cookies are calling me. Oh wait...dang it. Maybe if I can convince Hannah to have more then me...

*My disclaimer is that Hannah still looks better then me...and she knows I am posting about this.

Trapped

Well, we're going on day 5 now (Sunday-Thursday) of snow and being trapped here in the house...with everyone home. No school and getting ready to fly out to Arizona then onto Cleveland means that there are 7 of us all staying in this townhouse! Tomorrow will be 8 when Hannah gets home--which I am actually REALLY excited for!

Today Andrew finished school for the semester (only one left to go!) so to celebrate/recover we went to Applebee's where we had a gift certificate left over from our anniversary. It was a needed break just to get out of the house;) Not that we don't love everyone! But we are not used to having everyone home all.day.long. Five. days. in. a. row. A weekend is fine...five days is pushing it. And guess what? It's going to be through Sunday when we fly out! Yay!

It's not even just having everyone here, it's just that we haven't really left the house besides to go for walks, play in the snow, or work out. I haven't been able to work at all, so there's nothing to break up my days. I think the boys are even starting to feel it as we are never just home for a whole day! But again, I did more scrap booking today...another 10 pages done! I've never gotten this much done on my albums! What else do I do?

Here's to new fallen snow so we can get out and play again! And we'll see, but maybe even a trip to the mall! ooohhh...

Christmas Tree

We had Matt & Ally over for Thanksgiving several weeks ago and had fun playing Settlers and decorating our Charlie Brown tree. That is perhaps the worst part of living with my parents is the anorexic fake tree. We also did a little early black friday shopping at Michaels!







Here is a little disclaimer for everyone we are spending Christmas with. I'm bringing the Settlers of Catan with me, and it is perhaps the best game in the world and we ARE playing. Friends become enemies, family becomes enemies, and even the sweetest/kindest of people...enemies. It's on when it comes to Settlers. Hannah, you especially. You've been gone, but no mercy will be shown.
Decorating the tree and then a little garage fun afterwards on bikes and in swings.

Here's a little clip of Noah going crazy (does there seem to be a theme here?) while he's dancing with Matt. The move at the end is my favorite!

Videos

I've been a major slacker with posting lately, so here are some videos to enjoy! There are quite a few since I finally plugged in our camcorder!

This one is from the Children's Museum...Andrew is such a little kid himself!



Andrew's been staying home with the boys two days a week while I've been subbing, and he filmed this for everyone to see last week. So funny:



Noah just got a new train table from Grammy, so he's saying thanks! This video is Noah at his finest! There's also a shout out to Hannah with the "rabies?"

Snow Days

Snow days...you gotta love them. I know for all of you East Coast readers, you are making fun of us for canceling school, staying off the roads, and hibernating, but for us Oregonians, it's quite exciting getting these few days of cold weather...bitter cold, and days off from "real" life.

Noah has enjoyed his time in the snow, going for walks, learning to throw snowballs, and especially being drug up the hill to sled right back down again. He also has enjoyed watching the Polar Express and snuggling with a blanket (and Jacob) on the coach. Oh, and I can't forget the hot chocolate, sometimes after a walk to Peet's, sometimes made here.

Nicole and Noah out back.

Andrew, aka the "Grinch" and I under the umbrella? and in shorts? He cracks me up because he has to be in the mood to enjoy the snow, he doesn't have quite the excitement the rest of us all share about the snow! Could it be the feet and feet of snow from living in New Hampshire? Jake, I was trying to find a picture of us in our huge snow fort to compare to our few inches, but it's on my other computer, but that was the best snow fort ever! Hopefully we'll have snow in Cleveland and we can show Noah how to really build a fort!
I took the day off from pretty much life and scrapped the day away! I got 13 pages done! I have been really into scrapbooking lately.

Here's a funny video of Noah sledding down the hill:

Three years?

Happy 3rd Anniversary to us! I can't believe it's already been three years, but at the same time, I don't really remember life without Andrew and the boys! Here's to a lifetime of love and happiness with my best friend.

*I'm sorry I haven't been posting pictures, I'll try and get some up this weekend of the boys for you guys to see who are far away! Christmas is almost here and we'll get to see lots of our family on both sides, we can't wait!

Big Day

Today was a big day in our family...at least in the life of a stay at home mom;0 Today was the first day I wasn't frustrated out of my mind being home with the boys. I finally decided to really clamp down on Noah, and make him obey the first time or time out, and you know what (of course you do), he's so much more fun to be around! (It seems so obvious reading this, but it really was a big breakthrough for me:) He's listening much better now.

That's not the real reason it was a big day today. Jacob started crawling for real now! He's been able to get all around a room lately, but is really crawling backwards fast now and starting to slowly move forward. He is such a cute and smiley boy.

Noah officially entered into the world of boyhood today, he began to imagine and pretend today. To be honest, I have been dreading as well as looking forward to his day. I distinctly remember Christmases spent in Oklahoma with my cousins playing, "Doggies" all. the. time. (Hi Katie, Lindsay, Brittany, and Brody!) Every child I've ever babysat has gone through the doggie phase. And it's not just ten minutes, it's all. the time. I'm not sure what it is about this pretend game, but every child goes through this phase of imaginative play. The panting, tongues hanging out, hands curled in, the barking, the playing fetch, the tricks, the licking...I've played it all with children between cousins and babysitting. And now we begin with Noah. Yay. I can't wait.

I go pee pee?

Noah wakes up every morning with too much energy. At 6:30 this morning, he walked with his cozy pillow into the bathroom and said, "Sun is up? I go downstairs?" No, no way! It's 6:30! Noah knows he can't get out of bed until 8, most days it ends up being 7:30 now. So I told him to go back to bed, so he went. For about two seconds. He came back out about two seconds later and said, "I have go pee pee." Ok, I'm a sucker for when he asks to go, and he knows that. I want to encourage the potty-training, so I break down. Noah farted, (too-dled in our family). He was naked and it was the first time he had ever farted without a diaper on. He turned around and looked, "Where it go?" I said it went into the air. Noah jumping up reaching and saying, "Come back toodles!" 20 minutes later, after I'm all done getting ready, Noah still had not gone pee pee. So I said it was time to go back to bed. I left to go sub with a naked boy and a husband back in bed. I guess it only lasted for a few minutes until everyone was up for the day. Oh, going to work is so much easier!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We all have so much to be thankful for this year. God has provided for our family in amazing ways. We are thankful for all the people in our lives! Have a restful and relaxing Thanksgiving and enjoy being together. Rest up for the big day tomorrow! hee hee
A sneak peak at our Christmas Cards...

Zoo Trip

Today we all had the day off so decided to take advantage of the b-e-a-u-tiful weather...even though it was mighty cold. We journeyed over to the zoo again, we've been trying to use our pass a lot before it gets completely too cold. We all bundled up with our warm coats and hats...except Andrew, and enjoyed our mad dash around the zoo. The dash was for Andrew's sake since he was "Chilled to the bones" in his thin jacket. Noah's favorite today was the penguins, we were there for quite some time with Noah shouting at the glass to, "Jump in! Jump in! Pee jump in water! It not too cold!" Big surprise, they did not listen to him, though there were some already swimming and they hung out right by the glass for Noah. We got to see all the Madagascar animals, Noah especially liked seeing "Murty the zebwa." I think Noah was scarred by not seeing a penguin jump in because he yelled at every animal to "Get in da water!" Again...they didn't listen to him.

When we were getting ready to go to the zoo Andrew asked Noah was the fishies names were (Andrew took the boys last week). Noah replied, "Salmon and Sturgeon." What a little sponge.

A Weekend to Remember

This weekend, Andrew and I got to go away and leave the kids for a marriage conference over at the Red Lion. It was such a special time to get to spend time with just us two...I don't know if we've been able to do that since Noah was born. It was our Christmas present from my parents, and what a gift it was. The speakers were just ok, but it's always such a good reminder to get to focus on just us. We had the best room in the hotel since it was right on the corner, we had two walls of floor to ceiling, wall to wall windows that overlooked the river...it was gorgeous. We were near the airport, so we could see the planes coming into land over the water. We both were able to take some good things from the conference, and are excited to get to strengthen our relationship! We had a blast...thanks Mom & Dad!

Friends!

It was so fun tonight when we got to have some of our friends over for dinner and to play! Jessica and her kids spent the evening with us, while both of our hubby's were working--her's in the police force and mine on homework. Jessica used to teach as well, and actually used to be my mentor in high school. I was good friends with her sister-in-law. Cooper and Noah are 3 days apart, and so are Mackenzie and Jacob...weird how that turned out! Mackenzie has some nice options with my two boys as far as a future mate, we'd love to be related to them!

Cooper and Noah did such a good job playing together, they were working on sharing, and had some full on conversations and even sat and read a book together all on their own! It's so fun now that they can talk to each other and really are starting to interact more. Noah's scooter is really theirs that they let him borrow, so Noah let Cooper take home his Thomas train to borrow:) It's fun to see him trying to process that.

Jacob and Mackenzie played really nicely together too, they are both learning to explore with their hands and it was so cute to see them reaching out for each other. It was also nice to get to swap stories with Jessica and have a real conversation with another adult who is going through the exact same thing as me! I feel a little more normal now after swapping stories, joys, and frustrations. We're thankful for good friends!

I had my second day of subbing today...and my first last minute call-in. I was still sleeping at 7:35 when I got "the call" and had to rush and get ready as fast as I could as normally I'm supposed to start at 7:30! I am loving subbing and really wish I could have my own classroom! I already have a job for Friday, so I'm sure I'll sleep much better tomorrow night not waiting for my phone to go off.