Happy Halloween

We hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween! We had a great day! Peter Pan enjoyed Halloween - so did Tinkerbell!!

Wonderful Fall Weekend

We have had a wonderful weekend! After a full week of rain...Friday it finally stopped and we were able to get outside. Our friend from church that lives in our neighborhood, Donnie, came over with a trailer full of mulch and pansies (he owns a landscaping business) and he and Mark mulched our flowerbeds and he planted flowers. They worked hard and our yard looks wonderful - thank you Donnie! We just met Donnie and Cathy a couple of months ago and realized they live just behind us and they have become wonderful friends and neighbors...and, they have a POOL!!

Saturday morning Ro Ro and I woke up early and headed for the Memphis Race for the Cure. We have participated in the MD race multiple times and the Atlanta Race twice. We both ran the entire 5k and talked the whole time and enjoyed seeing an area of town we hadn't seen before. It was a great morning for a great cause - everyone should participate for a cure!!! After the race, Mark met us with the kids at the Farmer's Market (sidenote....the first time he had to get out of the house with both kids by himself). We let Ethan pick out some pumpkins and run around the Farmer's Market for awhile.

Sunday was our last Sunday for Fall Fellowship at church. We have had dinners every Sunday the month of October to promote fellowship. It's been nice, but I'm glad I don't have to take food to church for awhile. Tonight was Trunk or Treat after our chili/hot dog supper. After dinner, we went outside in the parking lot to let the kids Trunk or Treat. Oh, I forgot this part of the story....so after church we're standing around talking, etc....and about to change into our costumes....all of a sudden we realized that Ethan wasn't around. This isn't anything out of the ordinary - he usually runs around after church, but is normally either in the foyer or at the front of the building playing on the stage leading singing. Tonight, he wasn't either of those places. So I went to the side parking lot where the cars were for trunking...he wasn't there. Mark and Ro Ro were also looking all over the place for him - no Ethan. We had everyone looking for him. Cathy and some of the kids were outside in the back looking. Donnie was in the main parking lot frantically looking while we were inside asking everyone to keep their eye out for him. Nothing. I know it had been at least 15-20 minutes that we were looking - he had been gone longer before we realized it. Finally I came back inside from the parking lot and started walking down the hall ...all the doors were closed and but heard a rattle and thought that maybe he was locked in a classroom and couldn't get out. At that moment, I was passing the 2-3 year old classroom and I flung the door open and there he sat in Mrs. Roberta's seat (his Sunday school teacher) with Macie Mae - eating goldfish and talking on the play telephone. They were so funny when I flung open the door - they just looked up at me like, here I am, what's up?!?! I didn't even say anything, I just ran around the entire building and parking lots telling everyone that I had found him and that Macie Mae had been "missing" too - her parents didn't even know she had been gone for awhile. Ro Ro was seconds from calling 911. So after catching our breath and calming down, we transformed Ethan to Peter Pan (Ro Ro made his costume and it was wonderful). He was running around singing, "I can fly, I can fly, I can fly!" He was into "it" tonight - hopefully Halloween will be the same! Nina was Tinkerbell and was adorable, of course. Mark and I wore our pilot and flight attendant uniforms and went as ourselves and everyone thought we were cute. We all had so much fun! Ethan and Nina are definitely loved at Great Oaks and for that Mark and I are so thankful. We are happy at church and that is an answer to prayers.

Nina is almost 6 months old (on Nov. 8th), so tonight while Ro Ro was still here, we fed her rice cereal for the first time. Honestly, it was like she had been eating for months. As soon as she saw the spoon she got excited and knew immediately what to do. It was cute. Ethan enjoyed sitting there with us feeding her. I hope this isn't going to open a can of worms with him - up until now we've told him that Nina can't have anything to eat because she doesn't have any teeth. She still doesn't have any teeth. Hopefully he'll still understand that she can't eat what he does. Tonight though he kept saying that Nina was a baby and eating baby cereal and when I would ask him if he wanted a bite he said no, I'm too big...Ethan eats Daddy's cereal, not baby cereal. Nina loved the cereal and it doesn't seem that we'll have a problem beginning her on that and on baby food in a couple of weeks - great, one more thing to shop for!

Sorry for the long post and lots of pictures. There were just too many to pick from. Hopefully I can post some of Ro Ro's pictures - she had some good ones too. We hope everyone has fun this week and are looking forward to seeing all of your Halloween and Fall pictures. Have fun and enjoy the last week of October!
Ethan with his pumpkin in front of the large 680 lb. pumpkin

Nina enjoying something other than the floormat and the papasan seat...finally!
Ethan is very proud of his pumpkin!
Ro Ro with Ethan and Nina after church on Sunday

The front of our house after Mark and Donnie worked hard on Friday Ethan and Nina enjoying the pretty flowers after church on Sunday Yes, for those of you that are paying attention....we have Myrtle the Turtle this week!

TinkerBell and Emily Higgins at church - Emily looks for us when we walk through the door so she can grab Nina!

Peter Pan after he was rescued from Never NeverLand - obviously oblivious that we were freaking out about his disappearing act! Peter Pan and Ro Ro The Pilot, Flight Attendant, Peter Pan and TinkerBell
Is Peter Pan squeezing TinkerBell's neck or pinching her ear???

Peter Pan trying to see if pixie dust really does come outta there...? How cute is he??? Ro Ro did a fabulous job!

Nina getting her first bite of rice cereal....family entertainment!

Ethan and Nina

I haven't posted pictures of the kids lately, so I thought I would. Ro Ro is here for a visit, so Ethan is having a great time with someone to play with him all the time! We have a busy weekend planned - Race for the Cure, planting a tree (if it stops raining), Trunk or Treat at church are just a few things we're doing this weekend. Hope everyone has a nice weekend - enjoy the pictures!

Nina at 5 months

Ethan at Nona and Poppa's house wearing his new pjs from Mema

While we were in Savannah, Ethan learned to climb the outside of the stairs

Of course....leading singing

This was tonight after dinner - Ethan wanted to hold Nina and she fell asleep in his arms

My Man

Alright, I thought I would be able to avoid this...but Heather got me...so here it goes!

1. Who is your man? Mark Elliot Noble
2. How long have you been married? 5 years this past April
3. How long did you date? TOO LONG...4 years and engaged 7 months
4. How old is your man? 31 but only for a couple more months
5. Who eats more? depends...but usually about the same
6. Who said "I love you" first? Mark
7. Who is taller? Mark
8. Who sings better? We both sing well
9. Who is smarter? I married Mark so I would have smart babies...so Mark better be smarter or we have a serious problem on our hands!!
10. Whose temper is worse? probably about the same - my fuse is probably shorter
11. Who does the laundry? I do - and I'm fine with that because there is only one way to do laundry and that's my way!!
12. Who takes out the trash? Mark
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Mark - which in this house is the side closest to the door, but somehow Ethan still comes over to my side of the bed.
14. Who pays the bills? That's a funny question - Mark
15. Who is better on the computer? Mark
16. Who mows the lawn? Mark - 2 things I don't want to know how to do...start the lawnmower and the grill
17. Who cooks dinner? We both do equally and enjoy cooking together
18. Who drives when you are together? Mark - unless he wants to take a nap
19. Who pays when you go out? Mark
20. Who is more stubborn? About the same
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Mark
22. Whose families do you see most? Mine
23. Who kissed who first? Mark kissed me in Leah Benson's (now Floyd) kitchen in her Toomer's Corner apartment after Auburn beat Alabama in 1997 - technically our first date!
24. Who asked who out first? Mark
25. Who proposed? Mark - but he pretty much had no choice...for those of you that know me, know the story on that one!
26. Who is more sensitive? I am.
27. Who has more friends? I do - but now that we're in Memphis, we pretty much have the same friends
28. Who has more siblings? Mark has 1 brother and I have 1 sister
29. Who wears the pants in the family? Mark likes to think that he does
30. Who is the biggest pushover with the kids? Mark

Alright Melanie and Jana...it's your turn!

Who Put Chris In Charge???

Soooo....this weekend is our trip to Savannah. We have been talking about this trip and planning this trip for months. We leave Ethan with my parents and are taking Nina. Jodi and Romeo, Dave and Jana, Chris and Heather and Chris and Melanie all leave their children with grandparents (and we are all confident in their abilities...). Here's the timeline...Friday 2pm - the Thompsons, Kings and Nobles leave in the Thompsons vehicle. Friday 3pm - the Brinkleys and the Hambys leave in the Brinkleys vehicle. We arrive in Savannah around 6pm and go to the hotel immediately to check in.

The front desk person was happy to report that she had 3 rooms available for us for the weekend of October 19-21 (check the date).

After Chris realized that she was not kidding, and the hotel manager also was not kidding, and that they were booked for this weekend, a look of shock/anger/embarrassment/horror/dismay came over his face as he realized he had to tell the Brinkleys and Thompsons they were going to have to shell out some more money for another hotel. Where was that hotel going to be? Not quite sure at this point. Ok, so, as they turned and walked out of the hotel lobby, the manager asked the King, "Would you like me to cancel your reservation for next weekend?" To which the King responded in a most sarcastic "ha ha" and walked out. Two hotels later, we finally got rooms - handicap stanky rooms with big dogs across the hall, but rooms.

We are having a great time. The weather is perfect and we have enjoyed every moment. The King has been the winner of most calls made back home and of most calls received from a 4 year old. We have learned a lot about each other - a lot that we didn't "need" to know...nonetheless, we have decided that next year, Chris will NOT be in charge of the hotel reservations.

Visit to Maryland

We were in Maryland for a visit and for Carl and Jaime's engagement brunch at the Noble's. I've been meaning to post pictures all week long and finally started to do it last night...however I was using Mrs. Noble's pictures she sent over yahoo pictures - and they are in a smaller format - so these are the only one's I have now. I'll have to get her to email me some in larger format. I hate it because she had some really great pictures. Anyways, we had a great trip. Ethan and Nina both did well on the airplane and in MD - Ethan of course loves the plane and travels like a pro! Ethan had a blast playing with all of Mark and Carl's toys in the basement - especially when Becky and Erica were there to play with him. We enjoyed seeing everyone - and had many visits from all Mrs. Noble's special friends. We always joke with her than she's selling tickets and has everyone on a schedule of when they can come by - but that's just Ro Ro being a proud grandma and she has every right to that! The weather was perfect all weekend and was a lovely fall weekend. We hated to return to Memphis' 90 degree October.

I will try and post more pictures from our trip soon.

Nina is 5 months old today - I just can't believe it. She has rolled from her tummy to her back but not her back to her tummy - she rolls side to side, but not completely over yet. She is such a good baby - great eater and great sleeper and is on a good schedule! I can't complain! She laughs all the time and I can really tell she loves Ethan. For the longest time she would just look at him with this "are you kidding me" look - but lately her eyes just light up when she sees him. It's precious! Ethan is so good with her and enjoys the fact that she is beginning to interact with him. We were shopping the other night and he wanted something and Mark and I told him that he was going to have to put it on his list to give Santa...so we started talking about Santa and how he'll go sit on his lap and talk to him, etc....when we got home we let him watch his Santa video from the past 2 years and that's all he wants to watch now. He thinks it's great and he can't wait to go sit on Santa's lap! I of course love it because the first year he got to visit the same Santa that Courtney and I visited for many years. We will be returning to Atlanta for that and the Pink Pig - some things I just can't give up. I will find somewhere to have my haircut in Memphis along with an OB/GYN (not that I wanted to give up Dr. Cook and Dr. Ralsten), but I won't give up my dentist, Santa or the Pink Pig - we will return to Atlanta for those things! Some traditions I just can't change!!

More Fair Pictures

Ethan and Allie reading their Gideon Bibles (why didn't someone tell me I had put Ethan and Nina reading their Gideon Bibles....?)
Nina just couldn't handle anymore fun!

Mark and I were the brave ones to ride the spinning dragons with the kids - they loved it and wanted to go faster....however we were scared we might be wearing someone's dinner, so we kept it a little slower!

Here are just a few more pictures from the fair - Melanie sent them to me...my batteries died so I didn't get to take many. A couple are duplicates from Melanie's post - but were so cute I wanted to share with some that might not have seen them on her blog. I'll post Maryland pictures soon - I'm hoping to get some from Jane and Ro Ro's camera....so Jane and Ro Ro, if you're reading this, send me some of your pictures!

Coweta County Fair and Airshow

Is it the hairbow that is making Nina look so concerned???
Last week we stopped in Atlanta for a couple of days on our way to Maryland. Thursday evening we went to the fair with Nona, Poppa, Melanie, Allie and Avery and the Thompson crew was there too. We had a lot of fun. Ethan, Allie and Gracie loved riding the rides together. I took Ethan on the double ferris wheel before we left and he liked it. We all had a great time together and this has become a great tradition. Make sure you check out Melanie's blog for more great pictures.

I've been meaning to post some pictures from the airshow. We all had a fabulous time - it was a gorgeous day (a little hot). FedEx was a corporate sponsor so they had several airplanes out for you to walk through - Ethan loved that. The Canadian Snowbirds flew and they were great. I had never seen them perform. Mark saw them from the road because he was stuck in traffic trying to get to the airshow. We walked around for awhile once Mark found us and saw some neat planes. Then we went and found Amy and Dave and their crew and hung out with them until the Blue Angels flew. They were right in front of where the Blue Angels parked, so we had a great view of the pre-flight activities and the taxi out to the runway. We were positioned in the best spot - right in front of the FedEx trailer that was their stage center...so everything they did was either right over our heads or right in front of us. The sneak attack (if you've seen them fly, you know what I'm talking about) was literally right over us and it was AWESOME! The Blue Angels are incredible and they always put on a great show. Somehow Ethan fell asleep about halfway through their show....not sure how that happened because it was so loud. We had a great time and hope to go again next year! Here are some pictures.