Soccer Stud

Noah is still doing great at soccer. Last week we played right after Padon so we got to see him for a few minutes!
Then Noah played a great game!...



he is such a stud!!

Our Parish Picnic

a few weekends ago, our Parish has their annual fall picnic. It's always a fun time and Noah loves playing the games. He spent lots of tickets on the golf game...

and the jumpy house...

and the slide...
and of course, he colored his hair...i think he was going for Auburn colors that day :)
and he was the master at the dunk tank...got the bulls eye almost every time!! Father Greg cringed when Noah came up to throw!!

Prayers Please....

My dear faithful blog readers,

I just got off the phone with my cousin Alyssa. Alyssa and I are the same age and grew up together as great friends. She is currently pregnant with her 4th child. Earlier tonight, I received an email from her which I would like to share with all of you. I know you are all faithful people and I beg you to please stop and say a prayer for Alyssa and her family. Below is the email Alyssa sent out...

Hey!
I was writing friends and family that I haven't gotten a chance to speak to in the past 24 hours to ask for your prayers. Yesterday I went for a routine 20 weeks ultrasound and while there they found some pretty serious abnormalities with the baby. She(it's another girl!) is measuring about 2 weeks smaller than she should be. But more seriously, they could not see her cerebellum at the back of her brain. This could be due to a very high amount of fluid that is on the back of her head that is covering it up. Either way, not a good scenario for our sweet baby girl. My OB immediately got me an appt. with a high risk OB in Savannah yesterday. Their findings were basically the same. I did opt to have an amnio done while I was there so we can really be sure what is wrong with the baby. We get the results on Thursday. Please, please pray with and for our baby girl...that the results would be negative for any chromosomal disorders and what they are seeing can be treated. On a positive note, everything else appeared to be perfectly normal. Her heart looked great, her stomach is functioning correctly and shows that she is swallowing, her kidneys looked good, etc. Her body is proportionate, just small. And I am also very proud to say that, in true Rhodes form, she seems to be very sassy. The tech kept trying to get good pics of things and she kept wiggling around and being, well, kinda sassy about it!
In the short amount of time since we have received this news, I have felt the prayers of so many already. While I am deeply saddened, I am not angry or feel punished. And Sammy and I have never felt more grateful for the three healthy, thriving children that we have already been blessed with. However, we are clinging to the hope that our sweet baby girl, Sadie Clarke, will also be healthy and thriving. Thanks yall, for being women I know I can count on for prayer. I will keep yall posted as soon as find out more information.
love---Alyssa


I know I can trust all of you to stop and say a prayer for my dear little cousin, Sadie Clarke. I thank God that she is being born to such amazing parents who will love and care for her no matter what the outcome of the tests. I can only image the 2nd half of Alyssa's pregnancy will bring more anxiety than the first 3 so please please please pray for them. I will keep you posted with the results. Thanks you all so much!! God Bless You!

Pumpkins

am i amazing or what?? check out the pumpkins i made for Noah....

this is Captain Rex from Star Wars (also happens to be what Noah is dressing up as for Halloween)...
this is the Hulk...
more to come...

my funny kid

Bedtime at our house is hit or miss. Most nights, Noah wants to stay up and play in his room. For the most part he will play on his floor with some toys until he gets tired and then he brings some toys into bed and then crashes. Then i go in, take all the toys out of the bed, cover him with the blankets and turn out the light. That is called a "hit". On a "miss" night, Noah will come out of his room over and over trying to stall bedtime. He is soooo interested in what Allen and I do after he goes to bed. Noah will sometimes creep down the stairs and peek through the railing and when i see him, he will go on and on about why he should stay up, why he needs more water, why he isn't tired...blah blah blah. Tonight I could tell it was going to be a "miss" night so I told Noah I was going to bed myself. So i crawled into bed knowing very well I would have a little visitor shorty after that. And I did. I heard his little feet sneak down the hall. I just pretended to be asleep. And it was hard because I wanted to start laughing. Noah tried to test to see if I was really asleep so he let out a little "peep". Seriously. he said "peep". I tried everything in my power not to laugh. Then he clapped. then stomped his foot. I still just pretended to sleep. Then he started singing. yes, singing. singing these words in a high pitched voice..."I am in your room. I am walking in your room. I am walking close to your bed, mom". I had to bury my face. He continued singing "I am crawling into your bed. I am getting under the covers" And he did. He crawled into my bed and under the covers. I couldn't take it anymore so I opened my eyes and he started cracking up. I mean cracking up. Like he thought he pulled one over on me. Oh my gosh, I couldn't stop laughing, he couldn't stop laughing. I have the funniest kid in the world. Luckily, the 2nd go round at bedtime was a "hit".

Leo

Noah's class has a stuffed animal (Leo) and each week a child gets to bring Leo home and then document some of the fun things they did that week. This week Noah gets to keep him. We took Leo to the park with us and I think Leo had a great time :)


Leo told us he wishes he could stay longer and is sad to return back to school on Friday :)

Pumpkin Painting

Noah has always liked to paint his pumpkin so that is what he did on Sunday. Thank goodness for 80 degree weather in October so Noah can sit outside in his underwear painting pumpkins :)

and maybe painting himself too!


what a great weekend!!!

Pumpkin Patch

Saturday afternoon my mom, Noah, and I headed up North to a pumpkin patch and corn maze. This is one of the MANY reasons I love fall...pumpkin patches!!






My mom did an AMAZING job leading us through the corn maze! Noah lost interest pretty fast but he managed to get through with us..


i don't know why this picture came in upside down but it won't let me flip it....
They had this "corn shooter" and Noah shot the target on the first try...he was in Heaven since there were tons of people watching him and the place erupted when he hit the target since some grown men had been trying to hit it all day!

Noah liked the smaller maze...
haha, such a good sport for my pictures...


we ended the day with a hayride...always a favorite!!

A great weekend...

This past weekend was so much fun! It was super busy but super fun! Noah and I were bummed we couldn't join Allen on his fall retreat since we LOVE going to the mountains for the weekend! Luckily we had so much fun we didn't even know what we were missing.

The weekend started Friday night with soccer practice as usual. I LOVE Noah's soccer coach!! The team is really great...great kids and great parents! Saturday morning we got up and headed into Roswell to watch the amazing "Miss Kate" run a 5K and watch the parade after the race. We met up with our friends, Bonnie, Madeline, and Patrick to help cheer on Miss Kate!



We had front row seats and Miss Kate FLEW by us but still managed to give us a smile and a wave as she passed us...
The parade was a blast and the favorite part (voted by the kids) was all the candy thrown!!!
It was a great morning!! And Miss Kate finished as the 3rd girl! You Rock Kate!

you really don't get any cooler than this...

Happenings

things happening in the Austin house lately...

* Allen and I are totally addicted to Battlestar Galactica. Thank goodness we can stream them on Netflix. Other shows we watch every week: Glee, Undercovers, Fringe, and The Office.

*Noah is reading up a storm. His favorite are the Dick and Jane books.

*Soccer season has started and Noah LOVES his team and coach...and so do I...he is great! He is firm but nice and really cares for the kids. This year it is an all boys team so it is ROUGH!! Lots of skinned knees!

*The bus situation is a mess. There are now 2 boys on the bus bullying tons of other kids. One is Avery (the boy that was picking on Noah). It is a bit ridiculous! Luckily both the boys live in our neighborhood so I have had no problem going straight to the parents and letting them know. The school has certain policies where they don't want parents knowing which parents called and which kids were being picked on and i understand they have these rules for a reason but until the parents of these boys start taking matters into their own hands and make their boys stop, I will be picking Noah up from school every day.

*I have a stupid cold that is making me feel so Blah. Luckily I have just stayed in bed the last couple of days and I am finally starting to feel better. I guess it comes with the season.

* Have I mentioned I LOVE FALL!!! The cold air, the leaves changing, the pumpkins on our doorstep, the fires in the fireplace, the apple cider...I LOVE IT!!!

*Every Wednesday I help out in Noah's classroom during "writing time". I love helping!! I love watching Noah interact with his friends and seeing what all the other kids love. Usually I help them finish sentences that start with I Love _____, I am good at _______, I don't like______, etc. It is so cute. Noah's usually involve Star Wars. Imagine that. :)

*Allen has his fall retreat this weekend and I am bummed Noah and I won't be going. Between soccer practice, games, CCD on Sunday (for Noah and me since I am teaching 6th grade), and a fun parade, our weekend is packed!! We will be going on the Confirmation retreat though and we are excited about that.

*Sorry is the game of choice lately. Allen, Noah, and I love playing it and Noah beats us every time....seriously. We don't even let him win.

*Noah is going to be REX for Halloween...he is from Star Wars. Thank goodness Party City had a great Rex costume for only $20.00. what a deal!!

Naples, Florida

2 weekends ago Noah and i took a very quick trip to Naples to see Uncle Bubba and Aimee. We got there Saturday morning and left Sunday afternoon...like i said...a QUICK trip. But it was so much fun!! My dad and Diane came down too for the weekend. Noah and I got in 2 hours before Dad and Diane so we took a little ride to the Bass Pro shop to play on the equipment for a while...





Then we headed into Ave Maria and had lunch at the pub...






and to the church...

I am totally in love with this little city!!


haha, Noah fit inside the cubby...
and Uncle Bubba made us do conditioning just like his tennis players...




Then we got a tour of the campus...I can see why Bubba and Aimee like it so much!
Beautiful!! and the church is the center of the city!!


The next day we headed to the beach before our flight. The clouds were rolling in and we tried to get some sun before the rain came...
and we did! The water was awesome!!




Then we headed to a table for lunch..
and that is when the sky opened up and it rained harder than I have ever seen!

It was a great trip and I can't wait to go back!!!