new blog (with big news)

So instead of making this blog private, I decided to create a NEW BLOG.  If you don't have access to it, but would like to, just email me - dgvannoy@hotmail.com

The 1st post has some BIG news so be sure to check it out!!!

Florida

We spent last weekend in Niceville, FL visiting our good friends "Bones" and Sam and their 3 cute as can be boys - Kobus (6), Kia (4), and Koen (2).  It was fun and crazy and we laughed a lot at the difference of raising boys vs girls.  Sarah and Kia fought like brother and sister - I felt like I was watching Jamey and I as kids!! :)

They took us to the beach even though it was a chilly, cloudy day (and rain at the end!) and we went trick or treating with them as well.  A big church there does "trunk or treat" - where cars line the parking lot passing out candy so you just get in a big long line going from car to car.  It was great!  We then went real trick or treating in Destin.  This was Sarah's 1st true Halloween experience - she caught on real quick to hold her bag open wide and say a loud "thank-you" each time.  She was too cute in my opinion :)

Here's a slideshow of a TON of pictures - playground, beach, and trick or treating

xc trip to Louisville

Last weekend, we went to Louisville for a xc trip.  Jon and the girls came - and it was crazy to say the least.  10+ hours on a bus in 2 days is a bit exhausting for 2 little kids and their mama and papa :)

The highlight/saving grace was getting to see my sister and her family!  Bruce and the kids rescued Jon and our girls Saturday morning when it was A LOT colder than we expected.  The main conclusion at the end of the trip is that the girls will NOT come to our last race in Ohio next weekend.  I don't think we'd survive!! 

Here are a few pictures from the weekend (I dropped our camera a few weeks ago and so it only works part of the time and often pictures don't turn out well ... thus to bad quality of some of these)

Sarah sitting with Chris - my team manger - who Sarah ADORES

Sarah and I with the girls team waiting at the Olive Garden

Caroline and Sarah (6 months apart) at the Olive Garden

Alysia and I - with Conor sneaking in! :)

Connor, Caroline, and Callie

the girls playing on the bed in the hotel room

Sarah slept on a sofa bed with no bed rails - when she got up in the morning, she said "Mama, I was on the floor. But I got back in bed."  Hmm, guess she fell out of bed. Glad she was okay!!! 

5 years and Jon's 37

Last Friday we celebrated our 5 year anniversary. We spent the day on a bus to Kentucky for a cross country trip. Fitting :) We'll go to dinner soon, and hopefully get away for a weekend as soon as Cora is weened.

Here are a few pictures for a trip down memory lane (we used film "back then" so the bulk of our good pictures aren't on the computer)

I love this picture - our nieces and nephews look so young! It's amazing how they've grown in 5 years! arriving at our reception at the golf club leaving our reception (Jon's war paint on his face is shoe polish - payback from all he did to guys over the years and their weddings!!!) our honeymoon spot in Chile - Puyuhaupi

These past 6 years of knowing Jon have been beyond what I ever could have dreamed. He is an amazing man, husband, and father. I am so blessed!! - as are Sarah and Cora.

And TODAY, Jon is 37. Happy birthday to the love of my life!!!!

going private

Due to promptings from my husband of crazy people out there (none of whom I think read this blog) we are going to make this blog "private" - meaning I need to approve your email address for you to be able to check our blog, and you will need to log in to check it. I know this is a hassle, but hopefully you will still read it to see our precious girls!

When I make the switch, I'll go through my address book and approve all of you who I know reads this. However, if you want to be safe and make sure you're on the list - email me (dgvannoy@hotmail.com) and I'll be sure to add you!

Cora's baptism

(I'm SO behind on posts and am going to try to catch up in the next few days)

Cora was baptized a few weeks ago - on Sunday, October 11. We were so honored that Len would come to Rock Creek to be apart of this important moment in our lives. Jon's parents were able to come in town as well. Both our dads prayed during the baptism - what a picture of God's faithfulness through the generations! We had a lunch at my parents afterwards. I did a horrible job of taking pictures, but here are a few ...

the girls both wearing dresses that my mom made

during the baptism

with Len afterwards - it was a BEAUTIFUL day!
Sarah LOVING attention from her cousins! (our niece, Kate, came down with Jon's parents - we loved getting to see her!!!)
Sarah and Kamp at their little table :)

Cora fell asleep on the way home from church and missed her whole party! :)

Sarah's diaper leaked so mom found this dress that she made for me - I wore it when I was 4-5. It was a bit big, but I can't wait for Sarah to wear it next summer!!

We had a great visit with Jon's parents and Kate. We can't wait to see them all over Thanksgiving!!

what we've been up to ...

Bare with me ... this will be a longer than usual post. I've got some catching up to do! :)

Solid foods ... Cora has been eating solids for almost 2 weeks now. She was quite apprehensive at first but is doing better. She likes her plain baby oatmeal, has gotten used to pears, but still spits out bananas. Often we both need a bath when she's finished. In all honesty, I'm not a big fan of this stage - the learning to eat stage. I'm just anal and don't like a mess and a baby learning to eat is MESSY! Oh well :) Here are a few pictures of Cora eating ... the 1st 2 are from the very 1st time we gave her food and you can tell she is not too sure of it!

at this point, she's good about opening her mouth for the next bite - you just never know if the bite will stay in her mouth or come right back out

We had friends over recently - Ada was hilarious! She kept going after Cora with her mouth wide open - not sure if she wanted to kiss Cora or eat her!! Carli and I sure hope these 2 become great friends as they are only a few months apart!

New shoes - okay, if someone could please invent socks that do not come off a baby's foot - that would be amazing! I have been unable to keep ANYTHING on Cora's feet which will become much more of an issue as it cools off. I stumbled across these shoes and was so excited about them! (Cora is sporting them below) They are precious and SUCH a good deal for handcrafted leather shoes! Our only problem is that Cora is fascinated by them - she gets a wild look in her eye as soon as I put them on her and immediately attempts to pull them off - as soon as she is successful, straight in her mouth they go. Sigh. This child's feet may freeze this winter!

Sarah dressed up for Hillbilly Hootenanny day at school!

(scrunching her nose just like Mama)

Cora bouncing away in her jumper - she loves it!!

Sarah came out of out room the other day wearing my cowboy boots! Hilarious!

Here I am with 3 of my cross-country girls at our race last weekend.

As crazy and hard as this Fall has been trying to balance everything, I truly love the girls and guys on the team and am so thankful for the role I am able to play in their lives.

more funny Sarah quotes

When we are taking our babysitters back to Covenant after practice, Sarah says "We're going to put Anna back at Covenant."

Yesterday, Sarah was loading up several of her animals in her little wagon and she said, "We're going to go change the honey."
"What Sarah?" - Mama
"Change the honey." - Sarah
"What? What is change the honey? Who says that?" - Mama
"Papa" - Sarah
(Papa shrugs his shoulders with no clue what she is talking about)
"We change the honey in the truck so it can run better." - Sarah

And we died laughing ... Jon had taken Sarah with him when he got his oil changed on Saturday and so I guess she got oil and honey confused (which isn't totally from left field since Sarah helps me make bread every week, and we put oil and honey in it).

Cora's 6 month check up

Cora had another great report at the doctor on Friday (thank-you Lord for healthy children!!!)

Here are her stats:

15 pounds, 3 ounces (25%)

26 inches tall (50%)

head circumference is 41 centimeters (10%)

And just to compare ... at 6 months, Sarah was 18 pounds-8 ounces, 27 inches tall, and her head was 45 centimeters.

So Cora continues to be our little light weight! But don't get me wrong - she still has great fat rolls!!! :)

6 months old

Sweet Cora is 6 months old today. We go to the doctor Friday for her check up, so I'll post her stats and comparison with Sarah at 6 months. I am loving life with my 2 girls! (and of course my 1 man!!)

She had her 1st baby food (Gerber oatmeal) on Sunday. I'm impressed with how well she did. I'm trying to get my days organized enough to get in a consistent feeding routine for her with solids. I'll probably add in bananas soon and go from there. I need to get motivated to make and freeze a bunch of baby food.

She is crawling more and more, and can sit up if she wants to - but usually she just wants to get on her belly so she can move.

overnight cross-country trip

We had our 1st overnight xc trip of the season on Friday/Saturday. Since I can't leave Cora overnight yet, Jon and the girls came along. It was great having them, and the girls were excellent travellers.

We put headphones on Sarah for the 1st time and it was a hit. Soon after I took the 1st picture, she fell asleep to her Praise Baby music. She also wore headphones to watch her dvd so the rest of us didn't have to listen as well. We may have created a monster! :)

Cora did so well - hardley made a peep the whole trip!

Cecil, our driver, has a granddaughter Sarah's age and so he was thrilled to have our girls along. And Sarah loved him!! He let her "drive" the bus!

She was cracking people up on the way home while she played with my cell phone - 1st saying she was texting, and then she pretend to call Grandma and Grandpa, held the phone to her ear for a minute, and then shut it saying "Hmm, they didn't answer."

more dancing

We had a fun treat Friday morning - Tilly came to play for a few hours! Sarah is REALLY into our Call Me Al Dance parties and wanted Tilly to join in ... sadly Tilly was a bit overwhelmed by it. I SO wish I had kept the camera recording Sarah because she was busting out hilarious new dance moves!!! I am going to do my best to capture more of it next time :)
(sorry to not provide any more humor at my own expense - I am staying out of the camera and not singing!)

smiles and on the move

I finally got some pictures of Cora's smile. She is such a smiley baby :) And just notice the picture of her on her hands and knees! She's not crawling but definitely scoots and inches her way along with intention - getting where she wants to get. I'm baffled!!

singing to Cora

I only managed to catch the tale end of this precious moment on camera and you'll hear Sarah's response when I asked her to start over. Cora had woken up so Sarah went in to see her - and sang to her! So sweet! :)

family walk

We went to early church this morning, which means we're home by 10:30am. Sarah has in her mind that we eat lunch the moment we get home from church. Not only is 10:30am way to early for lunch, but Sarah had found a plate of doughnuts at church and I'm honestly not to sure how many she had shoved in her mouth before we caught on! :) So we decided to walk the property after church today, to distract Sarah from the desire to eat lunch. It's a very short walk but is beautiful with the lake and the bluff. Sarah had taken off the shoes she wore to church and wanted to wear her boots on the walk (she looked too cute in my unbiased opinion!!!)

I just love the father-daughter bond and love watching these 2 together. I so look forward to watching Cora and Jon bond as well

Sarah specifically asked to walk "to the big rock to see the valley"
these 2 pictures are self portraits and her expression in both absolutely cracks me up!!!

Sarah walked almost the entire way, but at the end asked to ride in the stroller