Tonight we celebrated Caleb and Aunt Michelle's birthday with the Gransee's.  Gotta love it when it rains while you are swimming!  A birthday squeeze for Aunt Chelle!Noah was a very willing "helper" to Caleb tonight while he was opening his gifts and blowing out his candles.  I loved seeing how excited he was for Caleb's birthday.  Such a fun night!

Caleb is two! We had a great day celebrating our sweet little boy. He started out the day with a trip to the airport to pick up Laney. Then it was to Bagel Nosh to have a "fancy" bagel (this is what the boys call a non-Sara Lee type bagel). We paid a visit to our new favorite splash pad in Fountain Hills, and then had cheeseburgers with fries and watermelon for dinner. Everyone went for a evening dip in the pool, and the kids sported their Mater lips lollipops. Then we all gave Caleb a few presents to open, sang happy birthday and let him blow out the candles on his "cookie cake". This kid definitely prefers cookies over real cake. This picture is hysterical to me! I am so easily entertained.

Having been to Maui before and seen all the touristy things, this time it was all about relaxing with the ones we love.  Other than eating out a few times, we mostly just hung out at the beach or at the condo together.  We tried to get a few family pictures, and this gets a little trickier with each new little one added into the mix.  

The boys loved hanging out on the beach. We had a blast watching them play in the water and sand, boogie boarding, paddle boarding, and hunting for sand crabs. Hey there little crabby patty, you've got sand in your eyes!The paddle boarding was really fun, but did require a lot of balance. My dad thought it was so easy, he just started doing cool tricks on it. :-)

If you've never been to Yosemite, this is what you've been missing! It is the most beautiful place I have ever visited. In the midst of peaceful meadows, towering rock formations, and waterfalls, you cannot help but think about the God who created them. I wish I would have taken more pictures (I only got the camera out on two of the seven days we were there) and I wish I would have taken pictures of the rest of my family we went with, and not just my boys! But here's what we've got... The boys loved riding the shuttle bus all over Yosemite Valley, hanging out nonstop with their dad, and playing in the dirt with their cousin Aaron. I loved being with my family, and cooking with dutch ovens. We made the best lasagna, cinnamon rolls, biscuits, and blackberry cobbler. It was also great to be outside with the highs in the 70's, and letting the boys get really good and dirty. I'm still trying to get the dirt out from under their nails.  Got to get back to the laundry... we are leaving for Maui in eleven days!

Noah turned four yesterday!  We had a fabulous day celebrating, and my favorite quotes from Noah are, "Are my legs four too?" and "It feels so good to be four!"Caleb thought it might as well be his birthday too- especially since Noah is always looking for someone to ride with him in his new Gator!Sometimes, being four just takes it out of you!

Expected arrival date is November 24th, so I am just 12 weeks today. We are so excited (and maybe a little nervous)! It's been fun explaining to Noah how the new baby is growing in my tummy. His first question was, "When will it crack?" I think he's thinking it will be like a chick hatching out of an egg. I kind of wish it was that easy!

This boy comes from a long line of car lovers, so I shouldn't be surprised that where there is an engine and wheels, there's Noah.  Uncle Jeffy came this weekend to work on his Mustang and finally take it home, and Noah begged to hang out in the garage all weekend long. We also had a little family shindig while Jeff was here, and I love how the little ones all play outside together these days!

Decorating eggs, and pretending to eat them...Egg hunt #1Poor little donkey!Our mother cannot resist matching shirts...Egg hunt #2

Just had one of those milestone kind of birthdays.  My mom, grandma, aunt, sister, and cousins and I all went out for lunch to celebrate.  I felt very loved!  I took pictures of my food because Cory wasn't there to tell me not to :-)

Catching up a little bit, we were able to spend a long weekend up at the cabin for New Years.  There was just a little bit of snow on the ground... enough to justify getting all bundled up to feel it crunch under your boots.  Caleb, you can go play in the snow next year!We just relaxed...Read books...Stayed up too late...Happy New Years 2010!

Can I just say, I am a COOKIE person!  I love cake, pie, ice cream, and candy, but most of all I love cookies!  So I get a little excited when this day rolls around each year.  It's quite chaotic with all the kiddos underfoot, and this year they really wanted to help (can't blame them, but yuck), but we managed to get it all done.  These are my favorite Christmas cookie recipes, and a few pictures of all the fun.  

I have been feeling the pressure from my faithful blog readers to get something new posted here!  I do have some good excuses for my lack of posts, such as my broken camera.  Actually, I had a broken foot on my flash.  I learned the new lingo from the camera repair shop.  Also, I am finding that I am lugging my big camera to special events with every intention of taking pictures and posting them, but the evening goes by and I'm so busy chasing Caleb that I never even get the camera out of the bag!  I know... wah, wah.   Here's a picture of my new favorite hobby... hiking! After living in Arizona for 29+ years, I have finally learned to appreciate the "unique" beauty of the desert. I even asked for hiking boots for Christmas. We are planning a trip to Yosemite this summer. Can you say Half Dome?I told Noah I needed a picture of him for the blog and he wanted me to take a picture of his new Ford Thunderbird. And Caleb wants to tell you all that he really likes pizza!In addition to the beautiful chaos that surrounds this season, my heart has been longing to make preparations for the true reason we celebrate. My mom gave us this book at the beginning of advent, and I have found that God has faithfully provided small quiet moments in my day to sit, read, and contemplate. I pray the same is true for you!

Uncle Jeffy and Aunt Jenna are here for Thanksgiving, and we spent time with them yesterday at our beloved train park.  After we had a nice dinner all together at my parent's house last night, Jenna introduced us to this little number... Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding. Here is the recipe.  If you like bread pudding, you've got to try this!What a lovely way to end the day!

I haven't had too much to post about lately.   The kids have been sick, so mostly my pictures would be of snotty nosed sad little boys in there PJ's.  So I haven't had the camera out of the case very much lately.  But I'm thinking we are getting better now.  These are pictures from the cabin that Cory's mom took this fall.  Cory and Caleb having a good time at the park. Three generations of Gransee men.Making sure Caleb's little tree is okay.Noah at a car show up in Show Low. He continues to love all things cars. I'm not sure if this picture makes me want to laugh or cry! Caleb is back on breathing treatments for the flu season, so we are pretty used to seeing him like this. I think it's really cute when babies have ears that stick out, but I'm glad his don't look like this all the time!

Noah loved his "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" pumpkin that Cory carved for him while he took his nap today...Trick or treating with Aaron and Brynn.Don't you wish your UPS guy was this cute?Sit back and enjoy the loot! No pictures to post of Caleb this year... poor little guy is sick and had to miss out, but he had fun having his Nana and Bompa all to himself for the night while we went out trick-or-treating.

Since our airplane ride home was leaving from Louisville in the evening, we decided to make the  1.5 hour drive from Wilmore to Louisville after stopping at a quaint breakfast place, and then spend the rest of the day at the Louisville Zoo before heading to the airport to catch our flight.  This little cafe was called "Main and Maple" and they had really good cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting. I also tried "grits" for the first time, seeing as how I was in the South. They are um... gritty. It was a nice zoo, and the animals were pretty active and out in the open, but pictures of animals at a zoo are rarely impressive, so I'll just post the ones I took of the humans there.  The zoo had a really cute train ride that was broken down that day, and Noah was a little disappointed. But, then he loved being able to walk on the tracks (since the train was not running). Noah also loved (as I knew he would) riding in the airplane. When the plane was getting ready to lift off, he would look out the window and say, "Faster, faster airplane, you can do it!" Once we had been flying for a little while and had leveled off, he asked "Why did the plane stop?" It is kind of funny how the sensation of movement goes away after a while. Thanks for the lovely visit, Kristin and Laney! We can't wait to see you at Christmas!

After our coffee, we headed out to visit Asbury's Equine Center.  This is the road we took to get there, and I had to ask to pull over for some pictures. Kaelyn was the only one who would get out of the car with me, so we took pictures of each other. We thought the kids would love the horses, which they did, but Noah was also interested in this "newer fsphreder"  (manure spreader?).  I have no idea if that is an actual manure spreader, but Noah said it was, and they were fast friends.  From there we went to Boyd's Apple Orchard. We played on the slides, climbed hay bales, went on a hay ride tour of the orchard, and rode horses. When we went inside for lunch, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and did not hold back. They had so many apple desserts! I didn't know where to start! Fried apple pie, funnel cake, carmel apples, and apple cider donuts!After a sleepy drive home, we read books, watched football and rested.  We grabbed a quick bite to eat to dinner, showered the kids and put them to bed. Kristin and I stayed up late catching up. Such a great day!

I've got so many pictures to share from our trip to Kentucky to visit Kristin and Laney. I went a little camera happy so I'll post each day separately.

"Of all the things I have to play, I'd choose my brother anyday!"

This weekend we decided to tag along with my family on a little trip up to "Flagstuff" (as Noah would say).  So nice to be able to play outside with the kids!  It was also nice to spend some time with cousin Laney, who will soon be joining her mama in "McTucky" or "Kentucky" depending on who you ask.  

This weekend we had a huge birthday bash for all the July birthdays in the family.  We had some milestones, and let's just say 8 members of the family collectively celebrated 249 years!  We had a great time eating too much, swimming, and playing with all the kiddos.   Caleb turns one this Sunday, so more celebrations and pictures to come!

We decided to celebrate Father's Day and Cory's dad's birthday all together up at the cabin, so here are more pictures taken in the lovely cool pines of Show Low.  We went up a day earlier than everyone else, and spent some time with my grandparents who spend much of the summer up north where it's nice and cool and green and quiet.  We had fun with them feeding the ducks, playing at the park, and grilling some hot dogs too. Being the boy that he is, Noah has such a fascination with wheels. Imagine the excitement he displayed when his Nana and Bompa arrived at the cabin towing this new toy. Meet "the Rhino". Cory took me for a little spin through the forest, and we were surprised to see a few deer in our path! And this little cutie hasn't really decided that walking is easier than crawling yet, but he is working on it!

I've been wanting to post some pictures from our time at the cabin this past weekend, and I finally have a free moment!  I tell you, these boys are keeping me on my toes lately.  Noah is 98% potty trained (even at night) and I'm glad to be over that hurdle... Hopefully his teeth won't rot from eating so many Dum Dum lollipops!  Anyway, it is so nice to have a place to getaway to when you just can't take the heat anymore.  We enjoyed morning sunshine in the 70's, and afternoon thunderstorms.  Great weather for taking a walk, mountain biking, playing at the park, sitting on the deck, and taking a nap.  Delightful! We also got to cheer on Uncle Doug as he completed the Aquabike. We are really proud of him!   

Noah gets to share his May family birthday parties with Laney and Uncle Doug... Here are some pictures from the parties we had this month:

We love it when my brother Jeff and his beautiful wife Jenna come and visit!  They are so much fun, and it's great to have time together as a family.  Here are some pictures from our weekend, courtesy of Cory's phone. 

Lots of pictures to share.  Hope your Easter was filled with good food, family, friends, and the hope of our Savior.  

So fun to see these boys experience the blessing of "cousinship".  Thanks for sharing your backyard with us this morning!

Since we were in southern California for the wedding, we decided to give Noah his first taste of concentrated commercialism and overstimulation coated in a thick candy shell.  Of course, he loved it.  He didn't love getting off the rides however... But, that's a two year old for you.  A few highlights... Gotta do the teacups! Noah meets his hero face to face at last. Good thing you never have to get off the train. My view of the back seat before we even left the parking lot!

We made the trek to California to witness my cousin Kyle and his bride Sarah say "I DO!".  It was a beautiful ceremony with a really fun celebration to follow.    We're a little tired here from the drive that day, but there nonetheless!

Lots of pictures and catching up to do! Here is our group shot from our New Years getaway to the cabin with Cory's family. Some people worked on puzzles... Some people played with playdoh... Some people took naps... Some people played with the wildlife... We all woke up to a winter wonderland on the very last day! So Uncle Dustin took Noah out sledding... Can you tell Noah LOVED it??? I love that we live in the desert, but are only a couple hours drive from all this fun stuff! Great memories made.  

I finally took the time this evening to go through my Christmas pictures.  One thing I got this year was a sick kids Christmas sandwich.  Sick kids... CHRISTMAS... sick kids again.  Sheesh.  When my kids are sick I always tell myself to be consciously thankful for their health when they get better, and not to take it for granted again.  So while I loved all the get-togethers and celebrations of our Savior's birth, all the festivities left me a little drained this year.  Good thing it's not all about me, right?  

We snapped a few traditional family pictures in front of the tree before we headed off to our Christmas Eve church service. Then we had a nice family dinner and opened our gifts to each other. While Noah was unwrapping this gift, he kept asking, "What IS it? What IS it, Mama?" When he finally had it unwrapped, he squealed with delight, "A new box!!!" When he found out the "new box" actually contained a mini wooden airport, he was even more delighted. Nana and Bompa came over for some dessert, and we had fun showing them our new treasures.

We woke up bright and early and headed over to Cory's parent's house.  We were greeted with Christmas music, a crackling fire, and a yummy breakfast.   Noah opened this gift from Uncle Dustin and Aunt Michelle, and Cory was a little too excited about it. We saved the special gift that Cory and his dad had built for Noah for last, and he was so excited when he saw his new train table! From there we headed over to my parent's house, and my sister read the Christmas story, while the little ones listened carefully. We were so excited that Uncle Jeff and Aunt Jenna came too!Kaelyn got her first cell phone, and it instantly made her look three years older. My extended family all met up at my Aunt Debbe and Uncle Bob's house, and Noah got to watch the train go round and round under their tree until his heart was content. We made one last stop at Cory's extended family gathering, and then crashed in our beds to sleep in heavenly peace.

We had our annual Christmas baking day at my mom's house yesterday.  It has evolved into quite an event, with all the women in my family gathering together and bringing along oodles of children age 3 and under.  Somehow we manage to be quite productive, even while breaking up toddler fights and chasing wandering ones back into the fold.  I've had a couple of friends ask about our bear claws, so I was careful to take some pictures of the process as we made them.   Here is the recipe, and yes it is quite lengthy and involved!  Anyone up for a baker's challenge?

This weekend we did a couple of really fun things with the boys and our families.  On Saturday, we drove down to Tempe Town Lake for the Fantasy of Lights Boat Parade with Cory's family. The wind coming off the water was really chilly, but stopping by Starbucks on the way home for a salted carmel hot chocolate warmed us right up! On Sunday, we went to my parent's house for dinner and then walked to a neighbor's house to check out his backyard train set up. Very impressive!Then we walked back to their house to watch the Survivor finale (so glad the good guy won!) and ate some hot apple crisp together.

Just got home from our church's annual women's Christmas dinner.  I think it gets better and better each year, and I love starting out the Christmas season this way.  I usually hostess a table for the women in my family and some close friends, but this year I stepped back and just helped out with the centerpiece.  We went for a rustic, cozy Christmas feeling in our table decor.   What I love about the Christmas dinner: 

Last night, some of the girls in the family got together for dinner.  We made these cute little snowman gift tags too.  It felt good to be "crafty".  It's been a while! Thanks for having us over Aunt Trudy!

We went over to Cory's parent's house for dinner tonight so that Cory and his dad could work on building Noah's Christmas present (shhh... don't tell him. I'll post pictures when we give it to Noah). Cory's dad held Caleb while we were eating, and he fell asleep right in his hand!

You'd never guess it by looking at these pictures, but these two can really bug each other.  When it all comes down, they really do love each other!

Cory and I went on a much needed dinner and a movie date tonight.  As we headed out by ourselves, we realized that this was our first time alone together out of the house since Caleb was born almost four months ago!  Cory's mom watched the boys for us, and encouraged us to see the movie, Fireproof.  Even though we were the youngest couple in the theater (by far), we were really glad we chose this movie.  If you can get past a few really cheesy parts and amateur acting, it's actually a worthwhile flick...  You might even find it strikes up a healthy discussion with your special someone.  

I am slowly but surely getting unpacked and converting the mounds of dirty laundry on my bedroom floor into neat little folded stacks to be put away.  We had a lovely little long weekend getaway to visit my dad's side of the family in southern California, and we also spent two days at Sea World.  Here's a bunch of pics! We also visited Griffith Park, which is where I used to love to go when I was little with my Grani and Papa. Noah rode the train and a pony all by himself. He was so stinkin proud! After that, we drove to San Diego and relaxed at the hotel. Caleb and Noah loved the view of the marina from the balcony. I loved strolling along the boardwalk, and stumbling out of bed to go get bagels and coffee from the Einstein's Bagels just down the way.

It's not always this peaceful around here (as you know), but I want to look back and remember it was so much more than just temper tantrums and poopy diapers!

Last night we visited a family farm in Queen Creek called Schnepf Farms.  It was so much fun! We ate grilled corn on the cob and homemade apple pie.  Noah loved the tractor trikes, pumpkins, pig races, and fireworks!   Noah threw a little fit when we made him get off the tractor trike because they were so much fun to ride around the hay bale track and through the tire tunnel. Noah was a little nervous about this bumblebee ride, and when we asked him if he liked it said very seriously, "No. No like it."  He says that about a lot of things these days. These little carts were like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride goes off roading. Erin and I screamed our heads off the whole time!  Of course the boys were laughing.   Noah saw his first fireworks show. He kept yelling, "Bang! Bang!" I told Noah to go and put his arm around a pumpkin and smile so I could take his picture and this is what I got. This was about 10pm, so he was a little tired! No pictures of Caleb, as he was asleep in the stroller the whole time. Can't wait to go next year!

We spent three relaxing days up in the mountains with my family this weekend.  It felt so good to let the kids just play outside with the temperature being so pleasant.  We had a huge cabin to spread out in, we made ourselves some delicious meals (check out this recipe for a twist on sweet potatoes), we read books, played card games, visited with the boys' great-grandparents and just talked as a family.  One of my friends asked me how my weekend went, and I told her it was so enjoyable and I wasn't ready to come home.  She said, "My family and I get along okay, but I would never choose to spend that much time with them."  It made me realize that Cory and I are so blessed to have families that we not only "get along with" but love spending time with, and would CHOOSE to be with on any vacation.  

Guess who is sleeping in his big boy bed?  Noah!  Mom and Dad are so happy because now Caleb can sleep in the crib, and they can have their room all to themselves.  Even though Caleb wakes up once or twice in the night, it's nice not to hear every little fuss.  

My sister scored some free DBacks tickets so we decided to make it a girl's night out. Who cares that the Dodger's spanked us... we just wanted to get out and have some fun! I debated about leaving Caleb for so long (5 hours!), and when I came home, the first thing Cory said was, "Please don't leave me again." Good thing he has the day off tomorrow! We did some fun stuff this week. Noah had his first Krispy Kreme experience. Go ahead buddy... take a bite! Noah and Laney had the San Tan splash pad all to themselves. This picture looks kind of blurry, but is actually in focus. It was such a humid day that the misters didn't evaporate. It felt like we were in a cloud! All in a day's work...

I love nights at home when our schedules line up and we all just get to be together with nothing to do.  Add in a nice summer storm, and the smell of homemade brownies...  While I made these brownies, Noah entertained himself with my mixer (and wore one of Daddy's socks). And Caleb worked on his tummy time... Such a sweet baby!

I'm finally finding a minute to post pictures from this past weekend... My brother and sister in law came to visit us.  We had so much fun, as always.  Our weekend was filled with swimming, watching olympics, laughing at the kids, passing the baby, and eating at home and out.  Speaking of eating, we love Culver's!  Can you believe we actually ate all that food?  And then we got frozen custard for dessert!  The picture of Noah with my dad is of them tasting the table salt.  Whatever keeps him entertained is fine by me!

We also got to spend some time with Cory's cousin Lacee and her five adorable kids visiting from Wisconsin this weekend.  Here are some pictures from our ice cream night at Joe's Farm Grill.   Noah and I highly recommend the fresh strawberry shake!

This afternoon we had a visit from my Aunt Debbe.  This is the boys' great aunt, and hopefully their future preschool teacher.  She brought over a yummy homemade pizza and cookies.  Thanks Aunt Deb!

Got to love that scrunchy newborn face! We had such a great week together, just hanging out at home as a family. Cory heads back to work tomorrow, and I'm so sad that the babymoon is over... Goals for tomorrow: Keep kids alive, and take a shower.

Cory and I agree that today we finally feel a little bit "recovered".  I'm so glad he has the week off to help us out around the house!  I'm beginning to feel like my body is well on the road to healing, and even got out of the house for a little bit today to run some errands with my mom.  Noah needed his haircut, and we went out to lunch at Paradise Bakery for my favorite turkey and cranberry sandwich.  We are so glad that we decided to go ahead and attempt the VBAC.  Our birth experience was wonderful, and we saw evidence of God's protective and loving hand in it all.  We are so in love with our little family of four!  

This weekend we headed up to Cory's parent's cabin in Show Low.  How lovely it was to spend a few lazy days in the 80 degree weather!  Our brother in law, Doug, participated in a triathlon up there, and we got to cheer him across the finish line.  Way to go, Uncle Doug!   Do you notice how food just tastes better when you are surrounded by nature and the ones you love most? Here's a little update on Baby #2... I'm now 30 weeks along, and met with my doctor last Thursday. We scheduled my c-section for August 4th, and it's nice to have that date in mind... Now if things could just happen a little early like they did with Noah, I won't complain a bit! So at most, I have nine more weeks. Noah is crazy about his Grandpa Art "Bompa", and it doesn't hurt that Bompa will take him for a golf cart ride around the neighborhood anytime Noah says, "Ride? Okay!!!" We love escaping to the cabin... Now back to reality!

To celebrate Noah and Laney's birthdays, we got together with my family ate dinner at a classic pizza place... Organ Stop! This place is so cheesy, but the kids had a great time listening to the music and dancing around. It's one of those places I can handle about every three years I think! Everyone there either brought their kids, or is over the age of 60. Noah and Laney blew out their candles on the cake as we sang Happy Birthday, or as Laney would say, "Appy Earthday!" Noah even got some of his beloved orange tictacs from Aunt Melissa and Uncle Lee... We gave Laney some cool shades for summer (notice the winter vest in May- Brrrr!)... Since Noah can't eat cake because of the eggs, I made some fresh berry pies. Noah ate two slices!  I think this will be our tradition.  

We had a great weekend celebrating Cory's birthday, and visiting with his Aunt JoAnne and Uncle Ben from Illinois. Noah is always ready to hand out kisses to willing recipients! Mmmmmmwwhhhaa!

Today is Cory's 29th birthday... hanging on by a thread to those beloved 20's!  He's enjoying a day of fishing with the guys, and then a family celebration tonight with his mom's famous homemade pizza.  We love you!

A big "I LOVE YOU" to both of my sweethearts!

Tonight we ventured out to Tempe Marketplace to eat at Lucille's.  I split the baby back ribs with my mom, and Cory had the pulled pork sandwich.  This place was hoppin, and seeing that it was a Saturday night, there was a live blues band.  If you go, try the strawberry lemonade.  I love it when drinks are served in gigantic mason jars.  I would have to rate Lucille's a close second to Joe's BBQ.  Sorry no pictures, I was too busy keeping Noah occupied, and besides that, I forgot my little camera.  

We spent the weekend up in Show Low with some of Cory's family. I was expecting lots of snow and cold weather (Noah now owns some cold weather gear), but instead we had one beautiful sunny day, and the next a lazy rainy day. Noah loves the park in Nana and Grandpa's neighborhood, and is finally old enough to brave the big slide. Here he goes!So fun!!!Woah!!Grandpa took Noah for a nice wagon ride.

Noah loved opening his presents.  His favorite thing was to tear the paper off in tiny little pieces.  He's learning how to ride his new red tricycle.