"Mommy... Hunter is getting my toes!"

The "I've got trouble on my mind" look...

The " I just tickled my big brother's toes" look...

The "Mommy!! Hunter just got my toes" look....

catching up...

I've been behind on blogging for quite some time. So much has happened... Hunter learned how to crawl and now has a mouth full of teeth... Noah is simply awesome, comical, hilarious and sweet... John survived a week of being "Mr. Mom" while I headed down to Haiti for 8 days to serve on a medical mission trip. It was an incredible week in Haiti - probably the hardest week of my life. I wouldn't have been able to go on this trip had it not been for the love and support of John and our mothers!! I did pull together a synopsis of the trip to Haiti to share with friends and family, so if you'd like to learn more, just let me know and I'll send right along to you.

* The photos of the boys are from Easter...

oh brother!

I'm in trouble with these 2!

fun in the SNOW!

what goes on when the weather is dreary

The weather today has not been outdoor friendly... so, what did we do?

Noah painted with his watercolors and his fingerpaints....

... and hunter enjoyed watching!!

Hunter jumped vigorously in the exersaucer...

all the while, Noah turned a pipe-cleaner into a "magic wand"... and then, proceeded to eat his cheerios with it. is this when i say that he is "john's child" ... not mine?

a love of hats

even as i get older, my love of wearing baseball hats continues. i've been trying to instill this love in my boys as well. and, from the looks of things, i might just have successful hat wearers!

RSV and Ear infections...

This week both boys were diagnosed with ear infections, and sweet Hunter was also diagnosed with RSV. I am so thankful that I was able to get them both seen by the doctor b/c Hunter's breathing turned down hill pretty quickly that evening. It was awesome to have a nebulizer and meds on hand.

So, this morning, Noah decided that he would check out Hunter to see how he was doing...

Blood pressure... looks good

Heart sounds... present.
Ears... uh oh... red and yucky!! but, wait... I think that's ELMO in his ear!!
Per Noah, Cookie Monster was in Hunter's nose!! No wonder it sounds so junky!

Mommy, I think Hunter definitely needs a shot to make him better :)
Sweet Hunter was a trooper to let Noah invade his privacy like that. I'm just secretly glad that Noah now has another patient besides me to receive his shots.

I just love my runny-nosed kids!

6 months

happy 6 months lil' guy!

... 6 months has brought one tooth... the bumps and bruises of sitting up and falling over ... lots of loud squealing and giggling ... eating of rice cereal... and oh how you keep allowing mommy and daddy to love you more and more! you are a sweet boy with such a peaceful and calm demeanor. We hope you stay that way!!! :)

And of course, I must post a couple of photos of big brother. Noah is a big fan of the cowboy hat Nana and Papa sent to him!

wrapping up 2009

Wrapping up 2009... The end of December included a quick trip to North Carolina with the Pleasant side of the family. Sadly, the Vikings lost to the Carolina Panthers... but, all in all, we had a great visit. Thanks to Carrie and Brad for opening up your home!

We returned to spend Christmas with the Mannings... here is a photo of the 8 kids on the Manning side.

Christmas morning at our house... Noah unwrapped every gift under the tree. I have a feeling he'll have a little more competition next year from Hunter. We gave Noah the rocking horse that my dad handmade for me when I was a child. Noah loves to shout "Yee Haw" as he rides it :) Also, here is a photo of the paintings of the kids I had done for John.

Later in the afternoon, Noah raced down the driveway on his lil' car. He's starting to get excited about the tricycle... but, when he wants to go FAST, Noah hops back on his car!

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for spending the last 5 days with the kids while John and I headed out to Atlanta. We are so grateful that you wore yourselves out with our kids!! :) From the looks of these photos (courtesy of Nana), it seems that you guys had fun!