The "Eyes" Have It

Time to hang up the quarantine sign on our front door... Noah has his first official case of Pink Eye. Poor little boy. I noticed it last night as I was reading him bedtime stories. His eye looked a little goopy. Huh, I thought. I've seen that a hundred times before, only usually in the mirror. I swear that I've had Pink Eye a hundred times in my short life. Probably twice a year during my childhood and always at the most inopportune times. Right before a birthday sleepover, the morning of school pictures, before a big date... I could go on!

So this morning I was sure to check his eye right away. Sure enough, that beautiful perfect little eye was bright pink and crusted shut. I grabbed the little hands reaching to rub the pain away and got him settled on the couch with a warm washcloth and a favorite movie. Fortunately, his doctor's office offered to just call in a prescription rather than bring him in for a visit. I could have bear-hugged the triage nurse! That made my day. I was headed to Target anyway.

So hopefully those sweet, sweet little peepers will be back to normal in 36 hours, pending successful eye drop administration between now and then. We'll see!

Love,
Someone who knows what he's going through :)

No longer a toddler...

Noah has a good friend named Derek. And Derek's mom is our awesome friend/ photographer/ superMOM Stacie. She did the funniest photo session with the boys (and Derek's baby brother Jason) the other day and I just LOVE the way she captured our little guy. He's even doing his little half smile in this picture. Melts me every time!!! For more pix of the boys, visit her website:


My little dude is definitely not a toddler anymore. So sad, so exciting, and just so hard to believe sometimes. :)

Love,
Nicole
@>->--

In The Moment

A recent conversation...

Noah: "Mommy, your head hurt today?"

Me: "No, I'm fine, Baby. Why?"

Noah: "Oh... So can I play with the pans then?"



Not only does he listen to everything I say, but he pays attention. And he always reminds me to just live in the moment. :)

Love,
A Grateful, GRATEFUL Mommy
@>->--

Caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake

Noah's cake was a lot of fun this year. I had a great time creating it, although I opted not to create the main picture myself using frosting tips, patience, wax paper and prayers like last time! I found the most amazing website that has pre-printed edible icing sheets with just about any character you can think of and in many sizes... For very affordable prices. I thought I would give it a try. I was NOT disappointed and would recommend this to anyone.


The design turned out far better than anything I could have tried and I loved the way the sheet just MELTED into the icing I'd just put on the cake. Pretty cool stuff! Next year I think I'll try to create something 100% by ME, only because it's fun to try no matter what it looks like. :) Can't wait to see what Noah will want next year.

The MVP ingredient for this cake:


I used the Pampered Chef Checkerboard cake pan set to create NEON green and purple craziness:


A cute little helper...


The awesome topper... I wondered how they would ship it to me. Turns out that it arrived in a USPS Priority mail envelope with a piece of cardboard to keep it protected. Who knew???


Paper Thin:


Because it was a square piece of icing going onto a round cake, we had to trim the edges a bit. Kev and I both tried the remnants and it pretty much tasted like rice paper. We watched over the next hour or so as it just "melted" into the frosting and became part of the cake. I was a little freaked out personally (like cornmeal). But it was cool.

Then I picked Noah up and showed him his birthday cake. Kevin caught his reaction:


Add a little more neon green icing and TAH-DAH!!!!


Man, it was good. Buttercream frosting...

Until next year, cake lovers!!!

Nicole
@>->--

A Buzz and Woody Birthday!!!

Noah had a Toy Story birthday party last night. We kicked things off by Noah opening his presents while we waited for dinner to be delivered. Then we had pizza for dinner and watched Toy Story 2 until our guests arrived. Noah invited his friend Derek over to have cake and to play for awhile. And while THEY played, so did the parents (i love Guillotine!)

The boys donned new red cowboy hats and partied until we shut things down about 10:00pm.

Enjoy the pictures!


Opening presents...


Pizza for dinner:


The CAKE!!!!


The Birthday Boy did a great job blowing out his candle this year:



Par-TAY Time!!!


Daddy is awesome... Yet another example of WHY:


Birthday Hugs.... So cute!


The decorations - You can't have a Buzz Lightyear party without turning the house into a space station...


Now I'm wondering just how long my house will have neon green crate paper and blue stars hanging from the ceiling... As of this morning, Noah showed no signs of being bored with it. I don't mind. :)

Here's when the Birthday Boy woke up and came out of his room:




Opening Zurg:




A singing card:




Today Noah seems a little more "3" to me. He talks a little more clearly, stands a little taller, jumps a little farther, and asks WHY to EVERYTHING I say. I've heard that I need to get used to that!

I'm so looking forward to a whole year of 3.

Love,
Nicole
@>->--

P.S. Coming soon - The Making of The CAKE!!!

Oh, yes... Riveting.