Happy Birthday Mimi!

Fun at the Mall

Back to the mall to enjoy the carousel. This was a treat for having excellent behavior during our entire outing.It seems like Nate and I are always on the sidelines, aren't we? Nobody takes a picture like us!

Happy Birthday Mimi!

Jay and Noah making Mimi's favorite homemade ice cream - banana!


Noah taking the banana peels to the garbage. This is also one of his chores to earn stickers on his chart.


Nate celebrating.

Noah had to be all up in the candle-blowing action.

He loved it so much, he made us sing again and relight the candles so he could blow them out (for a second time). Whose birthday is it again?

Happy Birthday to the most wonderful mom anyone could ever ask for. I love you more than you'll ever know!

Halloween Cookies

This afternoon Mimi, Noah, and I decorated Halloween cookies. Noah had a blast showing his artistic side. He didn't realize that the frosting and candy corn were edible until he saw Mimi take a bite of a cookie. He looked at me like "Can I try one?" We gave him the go-ahead and he licked it exclaiming "birthday cake cookie" as he licked the frosting off.

I'm so glad that he enjoys sweets in moderation like Jay. Jay can't eat anything too sugary or limits himself to a small portion. I, on the other hand... when I find something I love, I want to indulge. Anyway, after almost finishing a whole cookie, he had his fix and decorated a little longer before wanting to play with his trucks. These are the cookies he decorated:

Fun at the Grocery Store

Before walking into the grocery store, Mimi announced that she wanted Noah to take a ride on the horses - and so he did. As he went round and round he squealed "wee wee" as if it were just as much fun as the rides in Disneyland.

He said it!

On Wednesday night, I came down with some sort of bug. I was in bed all day on Thursday so my mom took care of Noah. After months of my mom's encouragement, he is now calling her Mimi. We always knew he could say it because he's said it on "accident" a few times, but would never say it if asked to on command. She is thrilled to say the least.

Happy Birthday Mom/Mimi!

Poppy surprised Mimi with a small surprise party. We had a spectacular meal of broiled sea bass, fried halibut, fried bay scallops, cole slaw, and french fries. It's funny how you can take a potentially healthy meal and throw it in some oil and all the nutrients go right down the drain. It certainly was delicious though. I made blueberry crumble for dessert and boy was it scrumptious with vanilla ice cream melting on top. I definitely slacked off with taking pictures because I was tied up helping to prepare the meal. Jay, Noah, and Mimi swam while we slaved in the kitchen. We had a great evening eating and telling stories. Happy Birthday to the best mom in the world! When I say that, I mean the best mom for me - I hope that everyone thinks that their mom is the best!

Cooling off

Noah took a little ride around Mimi's pool this afternoon. She also found some fruit puree popsicles, so I folded and let Noah have one - mainly because I was so warm and wanted one myself. I would've felt terrible eating a refreshing treat in front of him while he continued to bake in the sun. Needless to say, he enjoyed it, but believe it or not, he didn't want to eat the whole thing.

Splash Pad

We went to the Splash Pad again at San Tan Mall. This time Mimi joined us. She loved watching Noah have so much fun in the water. Unfortunately, he did slip and bump his head on the ground. Mimi dashed over to his rescue and swooped him up to make sure he was ok. It was only a moment before he was off splashing around again.

Carousel Ride

Mimi, Noah, and I went to AZ Mills Mall this afternoon. Noah and Mimi simultaneously spotted the carousel and immediately knew the others thoughts. We headed over and they both got their wish...

Someone got another wish...

Do you notice that he is riding a different horse this time? Yes, Mimi folded and took him on the carousel again. He would have loved round three, but we had to put our foot down.

Picnic

Mimi, Noah, and I went to the park on Monday to feed the ducks, but unfortunately the ducks must have been at another lake. The park was so nice and the weather was so perfect that we came back today and Mimi made us a picnic lunch. It was so yummy! She even got us Paradise Bakery brownies and cookies for dessert - mmm! Jay joined us for the food part, but then he had to get back to work. Noah of course had a great time and it was so much fun for us to play with him! Hopefully, the weather stays below 100 so we can continue doing this for a while!

Today

Noah loves to take walks around the neighborhood so we usually go out at least once a day - although a lot of the time he's in the wagon. Mimi was with us today and she set him free. (I'm okay with it because she knows it's then her job to chase him down.) He ran wild and loved every minute of it. Lots of kids were out riding their scooters and power wheels riding back and forth passed us. Noah watches them in awe - you'd think he thought they were flying. I know he is going to love having a sibling even though he pretty much already has one in Mimi. Every little bit of kid comes out of her when she's with him and trust me, he doesn't mind that she's 55! (sorry to disclose that Mom!)
Noah's birthday dinner from Mimi and Poppy kept getting put off for one reason or another so we finally got around to his little celebration tonight. A little back story: There is a mailbox store in our Walmart that also sells cards/balloons/gifts. Mimi knows how much he loves balloons so whenever we're there, she brings him over to touch the Mickey balloon that is always on display. He gets so extra excited about this balloon for some reason. She loves Noah so much that she tells Poppy every detail of everything she can think of that happened while she was with him. She didn't forget to mention this because Poppy stopped at the store before meeting up with us to surprise Noah with one of his favorite balloons. The look on his face was priceless - he was so excited! Unfortunately, our camera ran out of batteries as soon as we walked into the restaurant so I'll have to get a picture of Noah with his balloon tomorrow. Thanks for a nice night Poppy and Mimi! Updated: Added picture of Noah with Mickey balloon the next morning. It sat with him in his highchair during breakfast too.

Easter Bunny!

We were at the mall when Noah and Mimi spotted the Easter Bunny. The Santa thing didn't go well in Decmeber so I wasn't really thinking about a picture with the bunny. Mimi apparantly was. She ran straight to the line. Noah was very interested in the bunny from a few feet away, but almost as soon as he sat on his lap, he wanted off. He was okay as long as Mimi was holding him. We're definitely making progress because there were no tears this time - he just didn't want to be on his lap.

Wagon

Tonight we decided to put together one of Noah's Christmas presents from Mimi and Poppy. He loved examining the wagon and would open and close, open and close, open and close, the storage/seat over and over again. Like every baby, he loves exploring new things. Then, of course, we had to test drove it through the house.