as requested... here's another video of noel. :) this is a few weeks old, though, when he was first catching on to rolling over. he's a pro now. isn't his smile great? he smiles all the time --such a happy baby! :)

get in the tub and under a blanket?

well forget the "lovely weather" i mentioned a bit ago. we've had some tornadoes in the area! coming from the west coast this is a very traumatic thing for me. earthquakes?? no problemo. i've been known to roller skate during those. but tornadoes?? uh, no thanks. we don't have a basement and our house is a single story so when we're under a tornado warning we're supposed to get in the middle of the house (the master bath as it turns out) and put a blanket over us. hm... dame says that reminds him of his days in the army when they'd have nuclear explosion drills (i forget the official term for it) and were told to curl up in a ball as tight as they can with their helmets directed towards the oncoming explosion. i just don't see how either scenario is going to help much. good thing i can rest assured knowing that my God is in control. because i'm sure a blanket wouldn't be the thing that saves me if disaster strikes.

video of noel laughing

apparently the lighting isn't so great in this video (ya' can't see a thing) but it's the sound of noel laughing that made me want to post it and share it with you. so, turn on your volume and sorry about the dark picture. if you look closely you might see noel throwing his head back when he laughs. :)

our little... princess?

This is what happens when I let Maddie pick out what she's going to wear for the day (everything except the sweater --that was my addition). She originally asked for her Shrek hat, but since that wasn't available she asked for her Spongebob hat instead. And, yes, I ran errands with her looking like this.

a sunny day

Maddie, Noel and I went to the playground up the street the other day. I just thought I'd post some of the pictures I took for you all to see. The weather has been lovely this past week. Today, though, it has started to rain and we've been having thunder storms. But, it should clear up before too long and get nice again. :)

Here's Maddie burying a pine cone.

And here she is getting "stuck" on the play equipment.
Here I am with Noel.
Maddie's looking at turtles. This pond is full of them.
She didn't want to leave --and I didn't blame her. But, there are no bathrooms there so we had (I had) to go. :)

scraped knees

Well, I do believe these are Maddie's first official scraped knees. She was running in the driveway and took a fall which resulted in her "owie boo-boos." This was last week, and just yesterday she fell on them again making them fresh all over again.

playing together

I don't know who loves to play with this toy more --Maddie or Noel?
Noel loves it when Maddie is playing with him. She's really good at keeping him entertained. Actually, she's quite good at keeping us all entertained. :)

at least she put her boots on first

This afternoon I left Maddie inside briefly to bring in the garbage can and check the mail. When I got back inside, she was nowhere to be found inside the house. I checked out front, calling her name and still didn't find her. So I ran back inside to check again and finally spotted her out the window in the backyard. She was simply wandering around wearing her shirt and panties (yes, we're not giving up on this "next step" of potty training yet) but not only that --she took the time to put on her galoshes before sneaking out.

Anyway, I took this pic but in order to keep her from thinking she's funny (so that she doesn't do it again) I told her that it's for her dad to see when he gets home from work. Thus, the "I'm in trouble now" look on her face.

cats

Our house is backed up to acres of woods where all the stray cats (plus the cats who have homes but like to hang out with the wild crowd) in the neighborhood like to roam. Damian has realized that he actually likes cats when (1) they don't belong to you, (2) they live strictly outside, and (3) they allegedly keep snakes away (so far that seems to be true). Our neighbor had been feeding these cats up until she moved away. Now Damian feeds the cats. Yes, Damian. The same Damian who almost took our cat, Danny, to the pound (but let's not go bringing up the past...) :) Anyway, I told him that he can feed them as long as he doesn't name them. I figure once you feed them and name them you're pretty much claiming them as your pets, right?

Here's a picture of six of Dame's ten cats. Clockwise around the bowl from the bottom left is Ginger, Boots, Blacky, Stripey, Spotty, and the one in the back is Bibs. Not pictured are: Minger, Socks, Grayie, and Spottie.

the silver potty

Potty training has been going much better the past couple days. When Maddie has nothing on from the waist down she'll make it to the toilet every time. So today I thought I'd give panties a try. Well, do you guys remember the silver tray Dame and I received as a wedding present? It sits in the bay window and today Maddie climbed up there, sat on it, and went pee. She did it as soon as I put on her panties without missing a beat. I was shocked to see her do it and she was very happy to point out to me the mess she made on the tray. So, yeah, that was interesting --I just thought I'd share. Kids are so strange, especially my Madeline. :)