CLEAN!

Bathtime is a favorite time in our house.  Anna Ruth especially loves it as she is now able to sit up in her tub.  Joshua loves to have his hair sculpted with shampoo and look at his reflection.  I just love having clean kids.

Milestone Update:
1/8/14: Anna Ruth had her first ear infection
1/24/14: Anna Ruth had her first double ear infection
1/28/14: Anna Ruth's top front tooth on the right has come through (with 2-3 more close behind)

Joshua is 5-years old!

Oh my goodness.  A 5-year old lives in our house!

Joshua has been looking forward to turning 5 for the last 6 months.

We attempted a "Cousins in Costume" party last weekend but the cousins had been infected by a stomach bug that the Nolens were not interested in getting.

 

Joshua's sweet cousins still dressed up to celebrate his birthday even though they had to stay home.

The celebration took place despite the change in plans.  We took Joshua to the Children's Museum in Jackson and then had cake and ice cream.  As a special treat, Coach took Joshua to the movie Saturday afternoon.  What a day!

 



Cool new book from Aunt B

 

Awesome knight with a bow and arrow from the cousins.

birthday boy with his cake

A light side and dark side cake (think Star Wars)

A throwback to pictures taken when Joshua was too little to sit up. See this post.

The chair picture next to Forest the dog.  Wow, Joshua is growing up!

Words/phrases that could be used to describe Joshua:

energetic

talkative

inquisitive

curious

smart

funny

loves to make people laugh

passionate

compassionate

loving

snuggler

frequently dilly dallys

thinker

problem solver

whistler

movie watcher

concerned (sometimes to the point of anxious)

learner

people person

coo coo crazy

tough

loving, doting big brother

 

We are grateful for Joshua's maturation over the last year.  He is able to practice self-control, more often then not.  He loves school and being around his friends.  He loves to be active but also still snuggles up with us before bed to read and pray.  What a sweet boy the Lord has grown him into!



Anna Ruth: 8-months old

Sweet baby girl is growing up so fast!

Anna Ruth loves to dance.  If she hears a tune or a drum beat she will sway and rock and get lost in the song.

Anna Ruth has also started clapping.
We took a break from sleeping through the night BUT in the last week have gotten back to star-sleeper status.
This month also marked her first ear infection.  She stopped eating...so we knew there was a problem.  She feels much better and is back to chugging her bottles and attempting to eat baby food.  She acts like she hates everything we put in her mouth, for the first 5 bites.  But then (usually) eats it all up with no problem.

Anna Ruth is a delightful little girl.  She is always in a pleasant mood and smiles and loves us every time we come into the room.

Christmas Picture Roundup

Christmas was a hit at our house!

We were able to celebrate in Jackson with the cousins and then again at home on Christmas Day.

Below are photo highlights of the holiday.

 

Joshua's new Jedi cloak.

An excited little boy on Christmas morning

To say Anna Ruth loved her new kitchen is an extreme understatement.  There have been days she spent hours (literally) playing with it.

I love this picture...Anna Ruth's thought bubble says, "Mom, do you see Dad tearing that paper?"

Happy siblings

Joshua loves his new knights from Gran and Buddy!

Aunt Glo helped Anna Ruth open her new purse from Aunt Joy and Gumby.

MSU basketball goals were a hit with these 2 guys.

Joshua was super excited about his new lego set, but Dave was super duper excited about Joshua's new lego set.

rocking her new rabbit jacket from Great Gay and Gully

Aunt B is simplifying her life and gave us her ipad!
We are looking forward to how she simplifies next year :)

Blog-cation

Nolen News is on vacation through the holidays and plans to return to the normal Wednesday posts on 1/8/14. 
Happy New Year!

Christmas Happies!

 

A portion of Joshua's school Christmas performance

 

 

 

Merry Christmas!

 

(be sure to check out the other new post below)

 

7 months old

Anna Ruth has had a busy month.

She now has her first 2 teeth (as of November 27th).

She is such a sweet tempered baby we didn't know she was teething until all of the sudden her bottom gums had 2 poking through.

 

 

Anna Ruth loves to talk and laugh.  She is making noises of some sort most all of the time.

She lights up whenever Dave or Joshua comes in the room.

 

Eating solid food is not on Anna Ruth's priority list.  She tolerates the food but doesn't seem to love it.  Her favorites so far include: squash, green beans, peas, carrots and oatmeal.  She does not like fruit and makes some pretty hilarious faces when we try to feed them to her.

 

Another milestone reached is sitting up (as of December 8th).  She is proud of herself and loves having a new vantage point beside laying on the floor.

 

 

As he did with Joshua, Dave is helping Anna Ruth "walk" around the house.  You can tell by the laughter, all 4 of us think it is funny!

If I could only whistle...

Last Friday we enjoyed having breakfast with Santa at kids' school.

Joshua was very excited and had been counting down the days.

 

Santa asked JP what he wantedfor Christmas.  Joshua replied, "a hippopotamus." 

Santa asked AR what she wanted for Christmas.  She just grinned.

 

These two where trying to get in good with the big guy.

After visiting with Santa we ate a delicious breakfast together.  Then Joshua's class sang a few songs.  Initially, Joshua stood toward the end of the long row of kids.  But his teacher moved him front and center, in front of the microphone.  I immediately knew 1 of 2 things would happen, either JP would freeze up, act shy and not sing or he would act silly and clown around.  Thankfully I was wrong on both accounts.  The first song sung was "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth." (Note the "teeth" the kids are holding in the photo below.)  Part way through the song the teacher grabbed the microphone and put it in Joshua's face.  As the line, "...if I could only whistle" was sung, Joshua leaned up and whistled loudly into the mic.  His whistle solo came up again after the 2nd verse.  He was quite proud of himself.  Dave and I knew nothing of this solo until it happened.  However, we should have suspected something when Thursday night we both threatened to put him in time out for the rest of his life if he whistled one more time.

 

(Video of the solo is to come)

It's an odd numbered year...

On the odd numbered years my grandmother, her two sisters and all of their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren celebrate Thanksgiving together.  We have been doing this for over 2 decades and this year topped all the previous gatherings.
Cousin Amanda put it best saying, "you would have to see it to believe it."

This year we had 76 family members present.

There was food, card games, board games, four square games, softball games, food, football watching, catching up on the events of the last few years and food.

 

Uncle Larry, Dave and Joshua enjoy lunch together.

An intense game of Sequence

taking it all in

taking a break

Abigail and best friend Whitney making bracelets

sweet cousins

sometimes you feel like you may be going a little crazy...

and you're glad you aren't the only one who feels that way.

Luke looks ready to ambush someone.

the traditional softball game

all time pitcher and camp director

old faithful...the house

the littles god in on the four square action

Lottie requested a turn too

It is amazing how 4 days, 3 nights, 30 year old bunk beds, and limited bathroom space with 76 relatives doesn't seem bad when you realize how blessed we are to have such a great family.