NCYC

I totally forgot I got this done. I just needed to add some captions, and it's all ready to post.

We're home from Columbus and right back at the craziness that is work, ministry, family, and preschool. It was a good conference for Oddwalk. Lots of people are more aware than they ever thought they'd be of the keytar. We got the see the new CD, finally! We got to see, however briefly, ministry friends that we only get to visit with one or two times a year. We were very lucky to have Mom and Dad along to watch the kids, and we all had a good time.

The new CD!
GIA's booth.
The miniature "Santa Maria" was actually a backyard climbing play structure. They allowed people up on it to take pictures.

Erin H and Madeleine

Erin h rocks the keytar.

Noah rocks the keytar.
bMom, Dad and the kids aboard the Santa Maria.
Noah gets a ride on Shannon's shoulders.
He's got a thing for people's mouths and teeth these days. It's kind of yucky.
Orin.

bSmallfish, our next-booth neighbors, had this inflatable rainbow unicorn that Madeleine *loved"*.
We couldn't eat dinner until after the exhibit hall closed at 7:30 pm, and the kids were usually done done done by the time the meal was over. Madeleine knelt on the floor and put her head down on the bench and fell asleep here at Gordon Biersch.


Orin and Noah.

This is a little grainy because I took it through our hotel window, but those long white things are all motorcoaches lined up outside the Nationwide Arena to take the participants back to their hotels after the evening session. They lined up for 3-4 blocks in each direction from the Arena.
Madeleine helped by handing out flyers and stickers. She loved it! She was great at it, too, actually chasing people down to give them stuff.
She got a lot of traders in return - beads, candy, flashlights, stuffed animlas, etc.
Noah, once again rockin' the keytar. Orin put it in his lap and then walked away, that's why my foot is in the picture, keeping it from falling to the floor.
Saturday was Keytar Appreciation Day.

The kids celebrated KAD in their own special ways.
The winner of the inflatable keytar, who also happens to be one of Shannon's teens.
Madeleine snapped a picture of Granpa at dinner.Another picture of a sleepy kid at dinner.

...and he's out.
The girl was starting to get droopy, too.
Noah, having some naked butt time, crawled into the basket of th stroller.

Playing checkers at Cracker Barrel on a lunch break.

October Catch-Up

Here is a bunch of pictures from October, just daily goings-on and stuff around the house.
Noah snoozing in his high chair after lunch.

Doesn't everyone play an African wedding drum when they're dressed like a princess?
Smiley close up of Noah Boy
Madeleine falls asleep on the couch at night, holding her box of Disney Princess flakes that I cannot get her to eat. We're not big cereal eaters at our house, and I thought I'd introduce it by letting her pick out her own, but she refuses to eat this, even though it is super sweet and it turns her milk pink.
Noah loves to sit on the Dora couch and look at books.
Princesses Mommy and Madeleine.

I don't know why a) she's only wearing purple tights and b) she's sitting in the basket.
Cerneka hair. Noah gets all his crazy cowlicks from his father. God knows they don't come from me.
At a Prayer and Praise night in the Haven with some of Shannon's teens.
Sporting t-shirts to go and help promote Lifeteen with Dad at Helias.
Bam! I'm not making an easy, outdated joke here. He really is banging a pot and spoon together.

Whack-A-Mole's cousin, the Whack-A-Shark at Bonkers.
We won a bunch of tickets playing skeeball and Whack-A-Mole and -Shark, and this Frankenstein mask is what Madeleine decided she wanted. She played for a long time while wearing this thing.
n More than anything, besides playing dress-up, Madeleine loves to cook, or to "make", as she calls it. She is mixing croutons with parmesan cheese and pepper to add to our dinner salad.
Crazy Daisy shampoo hair. It's amazing how long it's gotten.
Yee-haw! Noah has sitting and rocking in the step stool, turned upside down.

I've got a lot of catching up to do

I have tons of pictures from NCYC and from just around the house to post. In the meantime, enjoy this picture of Noah stuck in the toybox:

First Day of Preschool

Our big girl started school today! I got home in time to fix her hair and give her a hug and kiss before Shannon and Noah took her to Millersburg. She had a great morning and told me all about the purple dress with flowers she put on, the apples and cheese she had for snack, and something about a worm or snake that was like the snake that Noah picked up. I also overheard her singing "If You're Happy and You Know It". She played hard at preschool and ran around with Shannon in the afternoon, and was sound asleep on the couch by 8pm!
Walking into school.
The preschool is housed in the basement of a church. Each week, the environment is put up and taken down by preschool parents so the church can use it's basement on the weekends.
Miss Sherri helps Madeleine sign in for the day. Madeleine's nametag is pinned to her back. Each child picks their own unique animal for a nametag at the start of the year, and Madeleine chose a dog. The child's name and age in years and months is printed on the front, and all the emergency information (phone numbers, doctor, hopsital of choice) is on the back, along with the names of those people who are authorized to pick the child up from school.
Madeleine in her classroom.

I've got a video taken on my phone of Madeleine telling me about her first day that I will try to get posted soon.