The big party! Noah is four! Haha friday was his birthday he was 4, saturday was his party...he thought he was 5! He's so silly! He had a great birthday!

Friday we took him to the movies. hotel for dogs...cute enough for him! He liked getting all of mommy and daddy's attention. Although he did want to go to Ethan's sleepover with him. he had popcorn and soda and furitsnacks for dinner! The party was great, he had about 12 friends there! They all loved decorating theri own cupcakes. sunday we had some family over and we had dirt cake made by Daddy! His fave toy was by far his v-smile pocket!!! He loves it, and is way better on that then the tv version.

The Eagle has landed

We went to Alton yesterday to go eagle watching. It's a yearly trip but with Rick having the day off we got to go on my birthday this year! After a slow start....leaving, forgot gloves, leaving again, stopping at red box, and dropping Em off at daycare. We finally got on the road! The boys watched amovie on the way up. We started looking as soon as we got into Alton. We stopped at the little museum at the lock and dam. I really thought they would be bored but no way! Noah ran to everything and was so excited! The got to pilot a river boat down the Mississippi, the whole time saying things like, "turn, turn turn!" and "don't run into it, watch out!" They made eagle masks, they saw fish and other river animals. When we left we looked for some geocaches. ok...not we....Rick. (It was freezing out!) He found one, and thinks he found another, but the trash can was frozen to the ground so he couldn't get to it. The boys wanted a treasure, but we had nothing to trade in the van. Our cache stash is in the truck.



We saw lots of eagles up the river road and on the bluffs. We stopped once and Noah and I got to get out and walk down the walk to see a mature eagle in a tree. They are so beautiful! We stopped to look at 4-5 on the bluff. But that wasn't as interesting to the boys as the roadkill on the side of the road! Boys will be boys.



We saw loads on the river. The river was awesome in and of itself. We've been coming for the last five years or so and I've never seen the river frozen. It was covered in big huge chunks of ice, sometimes it looked like ice from bank to bank. I can't wait to go again next year!

Ethan's first pine wood derby!

Ethan had his first pine wood derby race today! Scouting is a continued tradition in this family and we knew the day he was born he would be in boy scouts. His grandpa and his daddy and uncle are big into scouts, so there was no denying that Ethan would be too. His cousin Max is too and Ethan watched the derby with him last year. He was super excited about helping Daddy build his car. It of course looked like a star wars spaceship. Don't ask me which one though as I have no idea. Daddy and Ethan went to Grandpa's shed to cut the car (while Mommy sat home nervously awaiting Ethan's return with all 10 fingers.) I only say that because max got stitches one year! They painted it and Ethan helped with various parts. They put the finishing touch on and off we went! Ethan raced his car 4 times and came in first in one of his races! he was super excited, but he was super excited his first race too and he came in third. He got a ribbon for his car and afterward all the boys were racing on the floor and Ethan broke a part off. Just a small part! Now that it's home I think it will go on a shelf in his room!!!! All in all it was a great first derby for him! He loves scouts! And so do we!

Ok, so I've jumped on the blogging bandwagon. I figured the new year would be a great time to start! I guess you could say this will be one of my new year's resolutions. This year has started off very well. Emily is 5 months old and thriving! Although she is going through some sort of growth spurt right now and is wanting to wake at 6 am. This has ended up with me taking her to daycare early with me. I'm hoping we will get her all straightened out this weekend and she'll go back to sleeping til 8 or 9! Ethan has a big month planned! Our little tiger cub will be in his first pine wood derby soon. He and Daddy have big plans for the car! Stay tuned! And Noah-his birthday is all he can think of! Since early December he would say-"Mara's birthday, Christmas, Johnny's birthday and then MY birthday." So plans are under way for his construction birthday! I really hope I can keep up with this!