Noah's Thanksgiving Day Wishes...and a dance, to boot!

Enjoy!

All things Noah!

Well, I think Noah's room is finally done. Only took 2 1/2 years, but hey... The only discernible theme that I can see is BackyardigansRocketshipSpaceMonkey--we've yet to really put the Backyardigans on his walls (I moved them to the doors when painting the walls) because he's gotten to the age where he can reach them easily (and if not, he'll drag the footstool over & use that to boost himself up) and then carnage ensues. When Lowe's had these decals on super clearance, I picked up an extra set, but am hesitant to use the 2nd set--maybe waiting until he's beyond the "let's see what happens when we pull on Pablo's head---oh, it rips off! Cool! Let's see what happens when we pull on Uniqua's arm--oh, it rips off! Cool!" stage. Then again, he is a boy, so he may NEVER get beyond that!

His room is painted a nice yellow--I think it's called "Safe Harbor" which I liked, and it's the kind without any VOCs--so no odor, no headache, good for the environment! (Of course, I kind of negated the whole "good for the environment" when I just tossed my used paint rollers....) I'd already painted one shelf red, and the fan blades red, blue, yellow & green--so you've got the cheerful primary colors going on. Then on one wall, under the chair rail moulding, we did a blackboard! We were trying for the magnetic blackboard, but I was on my 5th or 6th coat of magnetic paint & it just wasn't working... The instructions on the outside of the box didn't specify that you should have it professionally shaken--it's in a small pint-size can (though it weighs about 10 lbs due to, I guess, the metal shavings in it to make it magnetic), so it's not something that I thought about. Then you get it home, and read, and then it's "well, do I just stir the heck out of it & hope for the best, or do I put on my "outside" clothes--as opposed to the pink sweats & sweatshirt paint uniform I'd donned--and go BACK to the store & say, "Here, shake this?" And had I done the latter, would it have worked better? No way to tell. I take comfort in the various boards out there where people who'd had it professionally shaken AND not having the same issue I did--that it just wasn't that magnetic. So, we had a heck of a primer base for the blackboard paint! I did about 3 coats of that, which was hard to tell where I'd done, since it's black & the magnetic primer is black... But, I think we got it pretty well covered.

I found a nifty stuffed animal holder in the shape of a rocket, so that's hanging up in his room; we found a light-up moon that will go through the various phases (crescent, 1/4, 1/2, nearly full & full) that adds a nice ambience at night (and very appropos for when we're reading "Goodnight, Moon"). We bought a 12-bin organizer that holds nearly all of his toys, and then we've moved all of his books onto his bookshelf. Surprisingly, I don't think the room looks TOO cluttered! He's got his alphabet mat on the floor, so that gives him a cushioned place to sit & play, and he seems to really enjoy playing in his room.

As for some of the other pictures, it's just Noah being Noah...

Enjoy!

From the back wall, looking diagonally to his closet...


From the position I was just looking at, with my back to the closet looking diagonally...


Standing at the door to his room, looking diagonally... (Not sure why the picture is slanted...)


I think this was taken after he started eating his pure sugar, Peep-like Pooh Bear lollipop!


...as was this one!


With the aforementioned lollipop...


Love those big blue eyes!



Such a happy boy!


Noah & I painting a horse... This was at Hagood Mill this past Saturday--they had Native American dancing (well, they were supposed to...we heard singing, but didn't see much dancing, but Noah had fun anyway!). At first he wasn't sure he wanted to do it, so I had to have my hand slathered with yellow paint, too, and we did it together--which made for a great memory!

Noah and I stepping back to admire our handiwork.... Yes, the pun is intentional. Not good, but intentional! (Ours are the yellow hands.)


After doing it once, Noah wanted to continue painting the horse!


In his Mickey Mouse poncho towel...it has sound that, so far, hasn't stopped working after washing! This was the best $13 we've spent for him, I think! He LOVES it--he even refused to take it off for church this past Sunday! We figured God would understand and get a kick out of it!

VOTE!!! And also, Happy Halloween!

Okay, I'm getting to this post a little later than I intended, but since today is Election Day--

GO VOTE!!!!

I don't care who you vote for (well, okay, I do...but this isn't going to be my political soapbox, so I won't go there), just VOTE!!!! Yes, the lines will probably be long--we went to our little polling place at 7:05, and were done by about 8:15ish. Funny, though...the line was shorter when we LEFT than when we got there! This election is an amazing opportunity--so exercise the right that we have, and go stand in line, meet your neighbors, and VOTE!!!!

(Plus, if you vote, you get a nifty little sticker! The folks at our polling place even gave one to Noah--yes, we took him and he charmed the pants off of the people standing in line!)

Okay, now to the Happy Halloween part of the post!

We were going to go to the mall, since our neighborhood just isn't great for trick-or-treating (we had 2 kids stop by, a woman and her two boys that live about a block over, and they weren't even dressed up. That's okay...we didn't have very good candy, so I guess we're even!). But, at the last minute, Patrick suggested Mom & Dad's old neighborhood, so we went there. We wanted to be there by 6, but that didn't happen... Noah's schedule was ALL messed up, but at least it was a Friday night, and it only happens once a year, so we're not terrible parents, right?

Noah was SPIDERMAN! I should have gotten a 3T costume...not sure where my brain was, so the costume was a bit tight, but he LOVED it! Did NOT want to take it off! It came with a little cap, which surprisingly, he liked wearing, too. The piece de resistance was the "mask" --spiderman eyes on an elastic string. There was NO WAY Noah was going to let that mask over his head. So, I used some Mommy Ingenuity and took off the elastic and hot-glued the mask to some of his "cool baby" sunglass frames. He tolerated it enough for a couple of pictures, which, really, is the most important part!

We had a great time trick-or-treating, and Noah was even knocking on the doors & saying "Trick-or-Treat" and "thank you!" and "Happy Halloween!" One of the houses had a HUGE inflatable Elmo on a pumpkin, and Noah was talking about that for DAYS. He enjoyed seeing the other kids dressed up, and for the most part nearly every house had some sort of elaborate scene going on, so that was great. And, saw lots of Mom & Dad's old neighbors who send their "Hellos" and wanted to know when you're coming back! One of the neighbors said that they think that the big house on the end of the cul-de-sac may be coming up for sale soon, but as it's the biggest house there, I'm not sure that it would be in our price range... Saw the folks who bought Mom & Dad's house, and I tried to peek in to see if they changed anything, but it was hard to do that & be subtle!

Towards the end of the journey (we were only out for MAYBE an hour), Noah's Spiderman head candy bucket was too heavy for him to carry, so he was handing it off to us after he collected his booty. He got some great candy, too; not like the crap that we bought to hand out!

I think that we made the best decision--I think the mall would have been way too crazy, with too many people; I think the way we did it was great for Noah's first time to really trick-or-treat. Enjoy the pictures!

Daddy & Noah, just before we leave to go trick-or-treating! (Note the Micky Mouse pumpkin in the background...thank you, Mimi & Papa!)


Noah practicing putting tricks into his Spiderman head candy bucket.


...and practicing getting the treats OUT of his Spiderman head candy bucket!


Putting the finishing touches to his costume...the EYES!


The Jack O'Lantern that Patrick carved. Please pay no attention to the slugs crawling around the porch... I guess they do add a sort of ambiance....


Noah chillin' on the sofa after voting.


In his uber-fashionable Monkey Hat!


The spoils!


Out trick-or-treating!


In his full Spiderman regalia!



Okay, so I had to put this in here! :)