Garbage

Note to self:  a wad of gum does pretty well covering a large hole in a garbage disposal so you don't have old faithful sprouting every time you turn on the sink.

Earlier this week I noticed the floor under the sink was a little wet.  Weird.  Then later when the dishwasher was running a flood was coming out the door.  As the unit was basically rotting away and really didn't work anyway we ordered a new one (the home owners covering cost, of course) and tonight Corey installed it.  

Do you like the preview our blue cabinets?  I took the doors off the upper levels to tone down the blue... Someday I will have the house clean enough to take photos of to show you around.

Joey

So at our last place I use to tease Corey that we kind of had a cat (you see, a few cats took to napping in our yard)...well the egg is on my face now.  We kind of have a cat.  It showed up Sunday evening whilst we were watching War Horse (therefore jokingly we dubbed it "Joey" after the horse).  But then Monday morning, War Cat was still there.  Always on our little back patio, occasionally meowing at our door.  

Short story long, it hasn't left.  We chased it off a few times earlier in the week, but it just comes back.  It was so persistent we even talked to the owners of the house..."Uh, did you used to have a cat?" Nope.


After a week of telling Noelle, "Noelle don't touch the cat!" she no longer listens to me and pets it anyway.  Things I've heard Noelle say this week:  "mo-ning joey!", "whered he go?", "here is" ("there he is" in Noelle speak), "i wuv you cat", "stay heres cat-y"...

We keep hoping it will go somewhere else and find lots of birds and things to eat (it's a really skinny little thing), but after a week it doesn't appear to be leaving.  We were avoiding feeding it so it wouldn't have a reason to stay, but it appears it's more stubborn than my heart strings and I fed it a little something today.  It seems nice--it lets Noelle pet it and will rub against your legs sometime.  We are okay with it being around but don't really want a cat (but don't want it to starve to death either)...


How long can a cat reside at your address before you can't claim it's not your cat?  


Anyone want a cat?

Backside

Let me explain.  Noelle is doing really well expanding her vocabulary, but sometimes gets mixed up.  Sometimes she mixes up outside and backyard...getting backside.  It's cute.  Here's a glimpse of our backyard from our little covered patio.  In the back corner is our bamboo garden.  We love our backyard!  It has grass!  And no cacti!  We spend hours out there.  Noelle's favorite activity so far is spray bottle.  She sprays the grass and bricks and anything she can find.

Here's a face that we get when we tell her something she doesn't feel like doing.  "Hey Noelle smile for the camera!"

There's the smile!  And yes, those are dirt prints on her face.

Luckily she warmed up to me snapping photos, how darling is this?

Comparison

I thought it would be fun to get Ivy on the same blanket Noelle was on for her blessing.  Lesa was kind enough to take pictures for me, this is my favorite!  I love her signature curl and smile.

On this past Sunday we realized Ivy would be almost exactly the age Noelle was for her blessing.  So out came the white dress and pink blanket for a photo shoot before church.  Here is the side by side comparison:

Noelle may or may not have had a cow during Ivy's photo shoot so we made sure she got some camera time too.  She's got attitude these days.  I think I have a small glimpse of what it's like to raise a teenager now.

Look at those two mug for the camera.

Don't mess with Ivy.  She's got ninja moves.

Three-0

Happy Birthday!

You may no longer get carded at the Temple, but I think you look great for being three decades old!

For fun I looked up movies that came out the year you were born.  1982 brought classics such as Rocky III, The Dark Crystal, and Tootsie.

Some other 1982 facts include:  gas was somewhere near $1.30/gallon, the TIME Magazine man of the year was The Computer, a computer scientist suggested using smiley faces to show emotion in an email, Gato Del Sol won the Kentucky Derby, and Channel 4 is launched in the UK.  Now we will sweep the competition in an 80's version of Trivial Pursuit.

Sunshine

I don't think there is anything better than seeing your baby smile at you.  It warms you up from the inside out.

I'm completely smitten by this girl.  She is such a patient and sweet little baby.  I can't wait to see her grow up.

Trail Mix

This post has nothing to do with a salty yet sweet snack.  It's just a mixed bag today (ps Happy Birthday Lesa!)

It's cute seeing Noelle interact with Ivy.  I showed her how Ivy can hold her finger (someone told me they taught their kids it's a "baby hug", so that's what I told Noelle).  Noelle thought it was fun.

Noelle loves trying to interact more with Ivy.  She likes to tell her things (like about a bug that was walking in her room) and try to get her to dance when music is on.  When Noelle finds my phone lately she'll open it and say, "Hewo. Ivy's drinking. Bye".  I guess she's caught on that Ivy is always drinking.  She likes saying "night night" to her and "morning!".  Dad is teaching Noelle how you shake someone's hand and say "nice to meet you", so Noelle will grab Ivy's arm and shake it while saying "meetchoo".

Ivy is sure getting cute.  Her little curl is still there, and her eye lashes seem to be growing lately (maybe she'll have sweepers like Noelle).  I've gotten a few hairs on her comb lately (tear tear) so she may be loosing her beautiful locks for a bit.  She is smiling a bunch now.  I keep forgetting to record her in the morning.  She is super happy when you get her out of bed and smiles a ton.

Anywho, we had a busy week of visiting the splash pad, play places, zoos, packing, and just hanging around the house.  Here's some pictures of another visit to the splash pad.  We went by ourselves as our friends were out of town.  Noelle still had fun by herself.  

Here's me and Ivy (can you see her, she's pretty hidden).  

This is the face Noelle gives you most of the time we are there.

I look over and this is what I see.  Not sure what she was trying to do but it was funny.

We officially have the run of our new place now.  We took a few loads (by we I mean Corey) over to the house and are already itchy to be moved and settling in.  It's nice having a low key move after that last one.  That is for sure.