That's the Way Things Happen on the Polar Express!

We had SUCH an awesome night tonight riding on the Polar Express up to the North Pole! I know, I know, you are insanely jealous, but it was actually one of my favorite nights ever with the boys...minus Jakey being crazy and full of energy on a moving train. We went up to Hood River, thanks to my parents feeding on Noah's year long Polar Express obsession (yes, he really get's stuck on something).

We boarded the train (decked out in our pajamas) with Noah asking the conductor where we were going ("Why, to the North Pole, of course!") and taking our seats with the best music blaring from the moving (and I do mean blaring). Although the songs did play over and over again, it was so fun singing and dancing with the boys! It totally got everyone in the holiday spirit.

The conductor came around to punch tickets, and even punched letters into the tickets...I mean, how cool is that! Just like the movie:) (Noah got a PE for Polar Express, and Jakey got a SC...I'll let you guess that one, ahem, Santa Clause). As the hot chocolate began to be served, guess what song should take it's turn (or ten) over the loud speaker, but "Hot, Hot, Hot, Hot Chocolate!" (If you are a fan of the movie you are envisioning dancing servers having a jolly old time doing insane dance moves...no, we did not have the insane dance moves, but we through in some of our own--we do have a talented bunch). Cookies were also in order.


And then it happened. We pulled up to the NORTH POLE!!! And of course were greeted by Santa and all his elves (which Noah asked Santa if he could take one home for his Christmas present). Everyone freaked...so fun. But what was even better was when Santa walked into our car and everyone screamed with excitement. I mean, I kind of thought Elvis had just entered the building, but turned to see it was just Santa. Well, not just Santa, but you know... Santa!

Santa made his rounds and we returned to the station after singing Christmas Carols with the Elves on our car. It was awesome, though the ride was about 10 minutes too long with a wild 1 and a half year old who kept running all over the place. In all seriousness, this was probably one of my favorite moments with my kids, all the joy, all the excitement, and all the child-like-wonder was so fun to be a part of. This moment will be etched eternally in my mind as a moment of complete innocence and excitement with my kids.

I'm going to bed now, and I do have to admit, I feel like the coolest Mom, I mean I just took my children to the NORTH POLE! (and in their minds, I really did) Thanks for a fun night Nana and Papa!

**and again, more pictures on facebook, this is going to slow lately**

Another Thanksgiving!

Another wonderful Thanksgiving with the Souter, Boria, and Block gang. Of course if there is a family gathering, we're playing Settlers of Catan...the best game in the world! I think here is where I must mention that I won (and Hannah won a game too)...there is NO better feeling in the world then to win in that game. Seriously, if you've never played, you have to come over for a game night and learn...it's really hard to learn to play on your own, the rule book is a rule BOOK!


Anyways, another wonderful meal from my mom, and all we had to do was broccoli casserole and rolls...I do have the best mom in the world. Another day to remember, and so much to be thankful for. Not really feeling this post right now...so if you want to see more pictures, check out facebook. Blogger is taking forever to upload and I'm ready for bed!

Home!

Oh it feels so nice to be home after an awesome trip, but 9 days is too long to be away from the boys. They have grown even since we've been gone, especially their hair! Jakey is talking so much more and has even more of an attitude...great! Noah is smarter and funnier and saying the craziest things.

We got out all our Christmas stuff today, and now I am attempting to piece the house back together from our trip, but so glad to be doing it all! I am loving that I bought a bunch of stuff last year from Target at 75%-80% off when I'm seeing all these crazy prices! Looking forward to a nice Thanksgiving tomorrow with our family and a fun weekend with friends! Good to be home...

Nadia

Maui Wowie...

Ok, that title is not applicable at all, but it sounds cool! The only reason that title might work is because our waiter tonight was probably smoking Maui Wowie...but anyways. Ok, starting off rough.

Andrew and I have had a great time so far here in Maui on our 4 year anniversary trip. Hard to believe it's been that long. Boy, a lot has happened in that time, but here we are. Stronger then we were four years ago, closer with each other and with the Lord, two beautiful children later, and just beginning on our journey together.

We really do miss Noah and Jakey and wish they could be here with us...for about an hour, then we'd like some down time again. We keep seeing or doing things that we know the boys would love, and miss them like crazy. But it really is good for us to have time together with just the two of us, and no distractions. How often to couples take time to put their relationship first?


This picture is taken on "our" beach, the one right across the street from our resort. It's the perfect beach, snorkeling at both ends, the softest warm sand, and lots of space for everyone! It's the first thing we do every day is go and spend a few hours on the beach and in the water, snorkeling and swimming. Every day we've seen a few giant sea turtles....how cool! This morning I was swimming back and forth from end to end and on my second turn I met up with Andrew who was following a giant turtle!
We have been eating out every day...and loving it! Although that means we are eating way to much at every meal (and leftovers:) I LOVE the colors in this picture!

Posing by some flowers...I know, I know. Andrew with the tiki man by our pool! One thing we don't like about vacationing alone is we never are in any pictures together!

Here I am outside our resort...gotta love a flower in the hair!

My handsome husband relaxing on the beach!



Here's a video to make you jealous, Mom and Dad!

This is what I'll leave you with, our beach...seriously, does it get any better then this?!? This is so beautiful!

I'm Outta Here!

I'm leaving town for a scrapbooking weekend, I'm so excited! Yes, I do love dealing with this little monkey...but I'm excited for my "time off" too:) I've had this trip scheduled with my mom and a friend and her mom for several months, but then we scheduled Hawaii too, so I basically have a two week vacation starting now! I was starting to feel a little guilty, but then a friend reminded me how much I give of myself all the time, and how little I reward myself, so here comes the ultimate reward:) I hope it's a productive weekend, though I will miss these guys, and one big guy too.

Ok, that picture cracks me up because Jakey has started pulling up the bottom of his pack and play and sitting in the bottom, I'm really not sure why. Well he fell asleep last night like this...

I'll post up pictures of all my finished albums (wishful thinking?) when I get home!

Noah Counting and Sorting

Noah is so funny these days. I think I talked about him and his collections before and his preschool conference? Well we've kept up the same things around here. He's taken every stuffed animal in the house and put them ALL in his bed. Then we tried to "play house" together and play with the animals, but all they would do was throw them all over the place and fight with them. We did manage a few minutes of playing dogs, but they just kept eating eachother. I guess that's boys.

So tonight we walked in on Noah sleeping in his tent with most of his trains all lined up. They were all sorted in different ways, it was kind of fun to see. He had all the metal trains together, the ones with tenders together, the ones with two parts that matched next to eachother, etc. It was interesting to see his thought process.

Here's a video of him counting his Thomas trains...he has way too many!

And that's ok...

So I know I can be a little impulsive with things...but something that I have wanted to do for a long time is foster care. I have really felt it laid on my heart the past few months and so we started classes last week. I left feeling so excited about all the kids we were going to get to help, and feeling so hopeful. Andrew left feeling like this was way too much work. Which it is. It's a big commitment. So, after another week of trying to stay positive and keep up with the class, I finally realize that we both need to be fully on the same page for a commitment like this. Timing wise, I thought Andrew would have a job by now, after 7 months after graduating (kind of, he's still 3 classes short that he hasn't started...) and so that would mean I could just stay home with our kids and that fostering could be my ministry. But, I know that right now, that's not what's best for our family, though I still feel a huge tug in that area, and just helping families who don't have any good influences in their lives. What's that going to look like, Lord?