Always and adventure...

Tonight Noah and I went to Mcdonalds with some of the most amazing people on this planet. It is always an adventure when we get together and not just for the fact that there are 5 year olds running around chasing each other along with the younger siblings. Tonight was no different! I picked Noah up from school and we headed in the direction of Mcdonalds. Since we were early, we took a pit stop at the consignment store so Noah could get some clothes that fit him since he is growing like a weed!!! Plus, Noah likes their books and toys (I like their prices).

Mcdonalds was fun as always, I got to see my favorite ladies AND climb in the child - size indoor playground. Not to mention, I get to see (out of the corner of my eye as they run by me at lightening speed) some of the greatest kids I know and love! Well, MOST of them run by me at lightening speed. One of them doesn't! 2 year old Alice sits in my lap as we swap licks of each others ice cream. Not only is it adorable but it distracts her from begging me to climb the child-size playground again. Although, for her, I love it!! So after I cleaned off the ice cream Alice shoved in my face, we all kind of realized that the tornado warnings that everyone was talking about all day were actually starting to come true. The sky was getting darker and everything outside was starting to look weird. We hurried up the kids and got out of there. Noah and I had the farthest to go to get home and we didn't make it 5 minutes up the road before we were in trouble.

We were at an intersection at rush hour and i was frantically talking to my mom on the phone wondering if we should try to make it home or to her house (which was closer) before the storm hit. Allen was already home. There was word 2 tornados touched down not far from where we were. Just then, all the torndado sirens went off and the power went off in every building around us and all the traffic lights went out. In a matter of seconds, the sky was BLACK and the rain and winds were blowing sideways. I kind of panicked since i knew it was coming FAST. Luckily, we were very close to Wal Mart so I headed that direction. By the time I got into the Wal Mart parking lot, the storm was upon us. I parked in the fire lane and Noah and I jumped out and ran into Wal Mart. We were SOAKED. As we got into the store, the employees were moving everyone to the center of the store. It was pretty intense. Noah was pretty scared, not to mention wet and cold. Everyone in the store was huddled in the center and the storm pounded!!! The roof sounded like it would tear off an any moment. It lasted about 4 minutes and then it just stopped. Everyone kind of looked at each other like "are we done"?? Noah and I immediately went to the clearance rack and we grabbed some sweatshirts since we were freezing!! Wal Mart wasn't letting anyone leave just yet and I wasn't sure how long we would be in there but we were nice and cozy in our warm sweatshirts. After 20 minutes or so it was safe to leave so Noah and I ran back out to our car and drove home. By the time we got home the rain had stopped and the clouds were actually almost gone. It was freaky! But like I said, being friends with this group is always an adventure!!!! :)

Superheros!

Last night at 4am I had a revelation! I went from a sound sleep to wide eyed, down the hall, standing over a sleeping Noah in about 3 seconds. About 5 seconds later, Noah opened his eyes and yelled "MMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM". I scared him half to death when I answered him so fast. He had a bloody nose. He gets them a lot. It usually wakes him up and then he usually wakes me up. But last night (and this was not the first time this has happened), I woke up and knew something was wrong with him seconds before it happened. I am amazing! As I was half asleep, pinching his nose I wondered to myself "how did i do that??" I don't even remember waking up or racing down the hall, i just remember standing over him moments before he called my name. I call that spidey sense!! And THAT is why kids love their moms! Because we are their superheros! There isn't any length I would not go for Noah and he knows that. Plus, I have this amazing spidey sense and that is just cool. I know when Noah is scared, tired, happy, or afraid just by the look on his face. I am the first one he looks to when he scores a goal, I am the one he runs to when he is hurt and needs a hug. Plus, he lets me be Princess Leia when we play Star Wars. I LOVE being a superhero!!!!

Strep Throat

Strep Throat has taken over our house! It started with me, which actually shocked me! I am usually the last to get sick and only because I was taking care of everyone else so 3 days ago when my throat was a little scratchy, I didn't think much of it. Usually when i get a sore throat it is gone within a few days and I just get a cold...nothing serious. This time, my throat was getting worse and worse each day and never got a cold. Noah has been complaining of a stomach ache for a few days and yesterday when I picked him up from school, his stomach ache was way worse! So was my throat!! It was bad!! So I went to the doc to find out I had strep throat...ugh! Then Thursday morning, Noah started complaining of a sore throat so off to the doc we went. Sure enough...strep throat! Then Allen started complaining of a sore throat but somehow he tested negative for strep. Noah missed Thursday and Friday of school but was a totally different person 24 hours after antibiotics! So am I!! Thursday was rough for me. I took 3 naps and was still wiped out!!! Luckily, By Friday afternoon everyone was feeling much better!! Allen headed off to the men's retreat and Noah and I are home resting for soccer tomorrow. I mean lets be honest, i need my rest so i can be Noah's greatest fan tomorrow!!

Bedford Falls...

My All Time FAVORITE movie is Its A Wonderful Life! My whole life I wanted it to be real and I wanted to live there...in Bedford Falls...I still do. Well, the closest thing I have to seeing Bedford Falls with my own eyes is Rockford, Michigan. Its the beautiful small town where my grandma was born, grew up, and still lives. The same small town where my dad and his brothers were born and grew up. I love Rockford!!

Last weekend, Noah and I went to Rockford to visit my grandmother. It was so much fun!! People think I am crazy for wanting to go there in the winter but I love all the snow and the cold weather! Noah was a champ traveling! We had to fly into Flint, Michigan and then rent a car and drive 2 hours to Rockford and I was nervous doing all of that since i didn't know where I was going. Thank goodness for the GPS!


Noah loved the plane ride...

And when we landed, we were both so excited to see all the snow! There is something so amazing about a place covered in snow!!
Noah wanted to play outside the moment we got there....
The snow was so high!! (and yes, i zipped Noah's coat right after i took this picture despite him telling me he didn't want it zipped)
We took grandma to The Corner Bar for dinner for their famous hot dogs!!
And we checked out all the ice sculptures around Rockford. Soooo cool!! Especially this one of a hot dog in front of The Corner Bar!

Noah was so good inside grandmas house. He played his Nintendo DS a lot when i was too cold to play in the snow!
On Sunday, after church, we went to my grandmas sisters house to visit with Aunt Elaine...This is Noah's Great-Great Aunt....how cool is that??


.Noah begged me to take him on a walk in the snow... (Noah wanted to take some pictures...)












so we went on a walk around the block...I LOVE this street...

I took this picture for my friend Brent. Here's a weird story for you...so my dad grew up in Rockford and one of his best friends was Diane Root. They grew up a few houses away from each other. They lost touch after they both moved from Rockford, both went on to get married, have children and move away. Well, years later they end up both living in the same neighborhood in the suburbs of Atlanta. Diane married and because Diane Wardrop and she has 2 sons, one is my age....Brent. Brent and I grew up together in the same neighborhood and our parents would often get together for dinner so it is very cool that Brent and I can say our parents grew up in the same neighborhood and he and i grew up in the same neighborhood. The picture below is of Brent's grandmothers house which is about 4 doors down from my grandma.
This is the house my dad grew up in.....

my grandpa built the garage in the back...
We took a short cut through the playground...the snow was soooo deep!





On Monday we went tubing!! The high was 19 degrees and it was so cold but so much fun!!!
I love that they pull us up the hill!!
It was so cold coming down the hill!! Noah didn't seem to mind!
Here we are strapped together in our tubes flying down the hill...

We had to take a snack break and warm up with some hot coco...
Grandma had dinner ready when we got home...it was quite warm and yummy!!

This is my drama king putting on a sad face because he looks like he is in jail..haha.
We stopped for breakfast on the way to the airport the next morning....

What a great trip!!!! I Loved every minute of it and I am so thankful for the relationship I have with my grandma and that Noah has a great relationship with his great grandmother!!!

Super Bowl

Bleh. That's how i feel about it...bleh. I don't like football and thank GOD Allen doesn't watch it regularly. The super bowl really isn't that big of a deal to me (enter gasp here). I enjoy super bowl PARTIES but not for the football. The commercials?? well that i just don't get. I mean when i was a kid (you know, in the dinosaur ages) we had to watch the commercials. Not just on the super bowl but on everything. There was no DVR. In fact, we would say "If only we could fast forward commercials, life would be great!" Well, now we can!!!!!! I hardly ever watch commercials anymore cause we DVR our shows and then fast forward the commercials. And Life is great because of it! Just like we hoped it would be! I get frustrated when we are watching LIVE TV and we can't fast forward commercials. Commercials are dumb! I mean I haven't seen a funny one in a LONG time. So no, I am not watching the super bowl for the commercials. The End.

airport travel

I have always loved to travel...planes, cars, boats, you name it, it is fun. I still love to travel but traveling with a child is WAY different than traveling by yourself or with adults. Just an example...this past week while traveling in the airport with Noah, he felt it was necessary to point out EVERY picture of a black man by yelling out "Mom, it's Martin Luther King". Granted, this picture was all over the airport and he really did resemble MLK but seriously, while standing on the crowded train, that was NOT what I wanted my kid to yell. Oh Noah, how I love you!