Mike, Nicole, Noelle, & Maile

2011-07-18T20:17:00.000-05:00

Halia's blessing :)

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Halloween

2009-11-02T14:04:00.000-06:00

I was excited to dress my girls up this year. I wanted their costumes to some how go together. I think this is the last year that I will get to decide what Noelle is for Halloween. :( Mike said that he gets to pick their costumes out next year. He says hw wants them to be something scary. I think he needs to have a son one of these days.

My Bumble Bee

2009-11-02T13:57:00.001-06:00

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My Sweet Flower

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On Halloween night we went to our church's trunk-or-treat. Noelle loved being in the little parade that all the kids were in and loved seeing all her friends dressed up.

2009-11-02T13:44:00.001-06:00

We went trick-or-treating at some of our neighbors and friends then went to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Noelle made out with tons of candy and other fun stuff!

6 months old

2009-11-02T13:34:00.000-06:00

My sweet Maile is getting too big too fast. When we went to her 6 month appointment she was 16 lbs. 14 oz. (80%) and 27 1/2 in. (95%). She is probably going to be tall like her dad. :) She got 6 shots which included her flu shot. She is my little sunshine. She seems like she always has a smile for everyone. She has been skooting around all over the place and has been getting up on her knees too. She is sitting up too and loves playing with her big sister. She loves to growl (the noise she makes when she's concentrating), eat cheerios, take baths with Noelle, and gets into everything. We love her so much!

2009-11-02T13:20:00.000-06:00

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I love her cubby cheeks!

My Sweet Girls

2009-10-12T20:51:00.000-05:00

I love having two little girls. Maile and Noelle just love each other so much and are best friends already. I really do think that they are each others favorite people. Whenever they see each other they smile and are always laughing and playing with each other. Noelle is such a good big sister. I look forward to my two girls growing up and all the fun times we will have with them.

2009-10-12T20:45:00.000-05:00

Noelle loves to hold Maile. She holds her at least once everyday. One day when she was holding Maile she was so proud because she put her to sleep. When I took a picture of them Noelle decided to pretend she was sleeping with Maile but had to make sure she smiled.

2009-10-12T20:41:00.000-05:00

One of Noelle's favorite things to do is to check on Maile when she starts making sounds when she gets up from her naps. She always gets one of her chairs from her room and puts it next to Maile's crib and talks to her and tries to make her laugh. I have also found her showing her flashcards and with books to read to Maile.

My Sleeping Beauties

2009-10-12T20:35:00.001-05:00

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About a month ago, I let Noelle watch some cartoons for quiet time before her nap. I was washing dishes and looked at her and she had fallen asleep watching t.v.

2009-10-12T20:34:00.000-05:00

Maile has also fallen asleep in her bumbo chair. Poor little girls.

Rice Ceral

2009-10-12T20:32:00.000-05:00

The other night I decided to start feeding Maile rice cereal. I am always a little hesitant to start feeding my babies food because it means to growing up and it makes me a little sad. But that night Maile just stared at Noelle eating her yogurt and kept trying to grab it. So I gave in and let her have her first taste of food.

2009-10-12T20:29:00.000-05:00

Maile did pretty good at eating rice cereal for the first time. The first spoonful stayed in and she didn't get too dirty. She did made some funny faces when we fed her but for the most part I think she liked it.

2009-10-12T20:26:00.000-05:00

Noelle loved helping to feed her sister rice cereal too!

2009-10-12T20:25:00.000-05:00

Maile loves chewing on her toes!

5 months

2009-10-12T20:24:00.001-05:00

Maile is now 5 months! It is so hard to believe that five months had passed already. She is such a smiley little girl and has been a pretty easy baby. She loves to giggle and laugh when she plays with Noelle and Mike, she loves to grab everything (especially things she shouldn't), and she loves to play with her toys. She can roll over both ways and just the other day she has learned how to skoot all over the place and can now get almost anything she wants to by skooting. I guess it is time to baby proof my house again. She is so much fun and always brightens my day with her sweet smile. We are happy to have her as part of our family. At her 5 month appointment she was 15 lbs. 7 oz. (65%) and 26 inches long (85%). By the way, thanks Aunt Carrie for the very cute pink leggings.

2009-10-12T20:18:00.000-05:00

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4 months

2009-10-12T20:16:00.001-05:00

She is posing with her first baby doll.

3 1/2 months

2009-10-12T20:10:00.001-05:00

She loved to chew on her fingers and drooled a ton at this age.

3 months old

2009-10-12T20:09:00.001-05:00

Preschool

2009-10-12T20:02:00.002-05:00

In September Noelle started preschool. A couple of other moms and I are doing a joy school were we all take turns teaching at our houses. Noelle loves going to school.

2009-10-12T20:02:00.000-05:00

Noelle loves to make silly faces when I try to take a picture of her.

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Look what I can do!

2009-10-12T19:59:00.000-05:00

Noelle can write her name all by herself. (She likes to put faces on all of her letters).

2009-10-12T19:57:00.002-05:00

Swimming with Dad

2009-10-12T19:57:00.001-05:00

Mike loved swimming with Noelle and Maile whenever he could. Mike is such a good dad. Noelle and Maile are lucky to have him as their dad.

2009-10-12T19:51:00.000-05:00

Noelle can finally touch the bottom of Grandma and Grandpa's pool in the shallow end. She is getting so big.

2009-10-12T19:49:00.000-05:00

Noelle loves to dance and wanted to dance with Mike while they were swimming. She loved it!

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Mike dipping Noelle.

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Noelle doing her back float.

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Noelle has become very brave and comfortable in the water. She even let her dad throw her in the water.

2009-10-12T19:45:00.000-05:00

I'm not too sure if Maile was very fond of being in the pool. She swam with dad for a couple of minutes and she was ready to come out.

2009-10-12T19:43:00.000-05:00

Maile keeping warm with Grandpa Jack after swimming.

Sunflower Stake Games 5 K

2009-10-12T19:41:00.000-05:00

This summer Mike ran in a 5 K race as part of the Sunflower State Games. He beat his goal by a couple of minutes. This is Mike running around the last corner of the race.

2009-10-12T19:38:00.000-05:00

Mike with his neices and nephews before thr race.

2009-10-12T19:36:00.000-05:00

Mike found out after we had left to go home that he got second place for his age group and got a metal. Good job Mike!

Dinner Theatre

2009-10-12T19:31:00.000-05:00

I got to go with Mike's mom, sisters and neice to a dinner theatre. We got to see the musical "The Sound of Music" and the food was delicious. We had a wonderful time. Thanks Linda for a fun filled night.

Swimming Lessons

2009-10-12T19:27:00.000-05:00

This summer I taught swimming lessons at Mike's parents pool. This is the 20th year that they have given swimming lessons. The youngest kids I usually teach are 4 years old, but since Noelle loves the water we thought she might have fun in tadpole class.

2009-10-12T19:23:00.000-05:00

Noelle did a great job in swimming lessons and did great at putting her whole head under the water and doing her "motor boat kicks" and "cookie moster arms."

Ann's Farm

2009-10-12T19:21:00.001-05:00

One of the things we did this summer was go to a family friend, Ann's farm with Mike's mom, sister Megan and Carrie and their 5 kids and brother Morgan and his girlfriend Megan.

2009-10-12T19:17:00.000-05:00

Noelle loved taking to this miniature horse.

2009-10-12T19:15:00.000-05:00

Noelle petting the a miniature horse with Uncle Morgan.

2009-10-12T19:11:00.003-05:00

There was a goat named Camelot at the farm. He kept trying to headbutt Noelle.

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Mike and Noelle feeding the chickens.

2009-10-12T19:10:00.000-05:00

Noelle helping Ann (who she kept calling farmer) put fresh eggs they collected from the chickens in a bucket.

2009-10-12T19:06:00.000-05:00

Maile got to go on her first train ride at Gage Park this summer. She got to take a picture with the cute train conductor. He loved holding a little baby.

2009-10-12T19:03:00.000-05:00

Noelle had fun being burried by her cousins Kiersten and Reagan.

Family Pictures

2009-07-27T13:39:00.001-05:00

My sister-in-law Carrie was so nice to take family pictures for us while she was here visiting. I thought she did a good job. Thanks Carrie!

2009-07-27T13:37:00.000-05:00

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2009-07-25T22:57:00.000-05:00

Cow Appreciation Day

2009-07-11T17:24:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Cow Appreciation Day. In honor of the day Chick-fil-a was giving away free meals to those who dressed up as cows. I dressed up Noelle and Maile and our neices Kylie, Kiersten and Reagan from Alabama also came with us.

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My neices Kylie, Kiersten, and Reagan in their cow costume.

2009-07-11T13:32:00.001-05:00

Aren't they cute?

2009-07-11T13:31:00.000-05:00

Me and my cute little cow. I think Maile definitely looks alot more like Mike's side of the family then mine. At least for now she doesn't even look like my baby.

Fourth of July

2009-07-11T13:27:00.000-05:00

To start the day off we went to watch a fourth of July parade at Noelle's friend Elle's house. They had fun watching the parade, scrambling for candy and just playing together.

2009-07-11T13:23:00.000-05:00

Noelle loved the fireworks. We lit some off two nights leading up to the fourth and on the 4th of July at Mike's parents house. She loved running through the colored smoke from the smoke bombs, throwing the pops, watching the magic black snakes grow, and helping dad lite the fireworks.

2009-07-11T12:47:00.000-05:00

That night we went near the lake to watch the firework show. We were excited to take Noelle to see her first firework show since in the past years she was asleep by 10:00. It actually was a pretty chilly night and it started to drizzle a little bit so we ended up watching it from the back of our CRV. Noelle watched the show for a little while then danced to the music for most of the time. Listening to the music that went along with the beautiful fireworks make me think of how blessed I am to live in our country and have the freedoms that I have.

2009-07-11T12:42:00.000-05:00

Me and my sweet Noelle waiting for the firework show to start.

My bumbo chair

2009-07-11T12:41:00.001-05:00

My good friend C and her husband James sent Maile some money so I bought this bumbo chair for her. Maile prefers to be upright so this little chair was perfect.

2009-07-11T12:38:00.000-05:00

I love it in the mornings when I get up to my sweet girls. Noelle always gets up and comes into my room and looks for her sister. If she is up she always wants to hold her without her clothes on after I change Maile's diapers. I love that no matter what mood Noelle is in after she gets up in the morning, when she sees Maile she always is happy.

2009-07-11T12:34:00.000-05:00

Noelle LOVES to kiss Maile. Sometimes when she is playing or doing something, so stops and runs over to give Maile a kiss then goes back to what she was doing.

2009-07-11T12:32:00.000-05:00

About a month ago Maile was able to hold up her head on her tummy. She is a really strong little girl!

Topeka Tinman 2009

2009-06-21T09:47:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I participated in my 4th Topeka Tinman. It was a beautiful day for a triathlon! This year I really struggled to get out and train because of the number of things we have going on, so I was pretty satisfied with my final time of 2 hours 33 minutes (1100 yard swim, 20 mile bike, 7 mile run). The swim was about how I expected it to be, considering the only times I've been able to train for it happened a couple of times 2 weeks ago in my parent's pool. I felt pretty good during the bike, but the run always seems to get me. It was an exhausting race in which I enjoyed myself thoroughly!

This year I had the added twist of competing against a couple of friends of mine from church, Brian and Brent. It was Brent's first triathlon ever, and Brian's first on the long course. Having them there made the day even more memorable. I'm sure this will turn into an annual competition between the 3 of us, and anyone else who wants to join in on the fun!

The Swim

2009-06-21T09:44:00.000-05:00

Brent was the first one out of the water between Brian and I.

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Thank goodness! I survived the swim!

2009-06-21T09:40:00.000-05:00

At this point I'm asking my wife if I beat Brent out of the water....I didn't.

2009-06-21T09:39:00.000-05:00

Gotta catch up to Brent!

2009-06-21T09:38:00.000-05:00

2009-06-21T09:35:00.001-05:00

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Brian flexing his muscles as he exits the lake!

Our Cheering Section!

2009-06-21T09:26:00.000-05:00

We had a great cheering section! My dad is in the background holding Maile. My mom made it just in time to see me finish the run.

Cycling Leg

2009-06-21T09:24:00.000-05:00

Brian beat everyone (Brent and I) on the bike, but I was hot on his trail!

2009-06-21T09:22:00.000-05:00

I was just too darn fast on the bike! This was the only shot Nicole could get of me.

The Home Stretch!

2009-06-21T09:18:00.000-05:00

I can't speak for Brian and Brent, but at this point I was so ready to be finished. I couldn't wait to cross the finish line so I could start re-hydrating and chow down on the goodies they had set out for us. The run kills me every year. The best part of running the last 200 yards is the cheering section!

2009-06-21T09:12:00.001-05:00

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Maile in her sling

2009-06-21T09:09:00.000-05:00

Maile just hung out in her sling for most of the race. Next year Nicole is going to have her hands full chasing Noelle and Maile around Tin Man circle!

Family Picture

2009-06-21T09:07:00.000-05:00

After the race Noelle wanted to hold me even though I was all "schweaty." Nicole is just the opposite. I had to go home and shower before I could get a hug from her!