Grateful

So technically, it is the 3rd of November, so I’ve missed a few days.  But the good news is that the first thing I am grateful for is worth a few days, so we’ll say this counts as Grateful: Days 1 –3.

Last year, Luke began school in November, missing his picture day by about a month.  I was curious (dreadfully apprehensive) about Luke taking pictures this year.  Some might call him “full of personality,” others might call him “willful” or “active.” He is all of these things . . . and more.  I just didn’t know if he would smile or not. Or stay still. (Have I posted his 1 year pictures? They are a piece of work . . .)

Hearing stories from the photographer, I was so relieved.  Luke laughed and got all the other kids laughing, which was important as he was the first student to have his picture taken.  Apparently, preschoolers cry a lot at school pictures.  (I saw the class photo – there were definitely a few!)

The bonus about being a teacher at the school your child goes to? You can get pictures with your kid! Woo hoo! Unfortunately, his picture day was before mine, so by the time it was my turn, he was wearing his regular old school clothes. Oh well. 

His favorite picture?

Guess : )

So I’m so grateful for this happy smiley little face.  He frustrates me, he pushes buttons I didn’t even know I had, but man, he is one happy kid.  Luke has a belly laugh that fills my soul with joy I had never imagined was possible. He is smart and clever and pretty slick (wait till my Halloween post . . .) but he is a sweet, kind-hearted kid who has really good manners. I love good manners.  I love that Luke is Luke . . . the happiest kid I have ever known.

It's November

Last year I spent the month of November reflecting on all the things I was grateful for. I think that, even though I'm a few days late and already into November, I'm going to attempt to do the same thing.

So I'll start off with saying that I am grateful that October is over.

Okay, that's a total cop out.

I am truly grateful for all of my friends and family for their support and love and kindness and understanding. October was exceptionally difficult for so many reasons and I'm so thankful and blessed to have the people in my life that I do. Especially my Todd and my Luke. They are such amazing people and keep my smiling every single day . . . no matter how tough the day has been.

Example:

Tuesday was crap.

So, Todd moved the coffee table, set up our air mattress and as a family we cuddled and enjoyed a movie. On a Tuesday. For no other reason than it was really fun and it made me happy.

Love that man.

So thanks everyone for being there. Happy November.

*tap tap*

Is this thing on?

Are you there God? It's me, Noella.

Yeah, I'm just wondering what the plan is. I'm sure you get this a lot, I'm just one of many. We've always seemed to be on pretty good terms, but I'm having a hard time. Is this like an open letter? Or an open prayer?

I'll take whatever you've got.

I've been trying to be responsible and plan accordingly, but I'm getting some pretty strong hints that you're not particularly interested in my plans. Since my plans are apparently a big ol' pile of stink, I'm more than open to hearing what you've got.

Really. I'm just looking for anything right now. Lay it on me.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Noella

Happy 30th Birthday! (x2)

 

We celebrated Linda’s birthday towards the end of August.  She was turning 60 (shhhhh . . .) but we decided that “60” just didn’t fit her.  So instead of having a 60th birthday party, we had a 30 (x2) birthday party.  The décor, the cake – everything!  It was so much fun!

The 30 (x2) cake

Todd was so awesome – he did a 15 hour smoke on a pork butt that made THE MOST INCREDIBLE pulled pork sandwiches.  Not only did he smoke the pork butt, he also smoked a few racks of ribs.

Still not enough?

Todd also made HOMEMADE soft pretzels.  Have you ever been to a party that served homemade from scratch soft pretzels? I will have another blog post dedicated to the glory that are the soft pretzels.

Glory of Ribs.

Pulled Pork Heaven.

Luke and Great-Grandpa enjoyed a “Look and Find” Cars book.  Always a lot of laughing coming from those two!

 

Luke and Great-Grandma are so cute together.

Of course, it is Luke’s responsibility as the sole grandchild to help “blow” out candles on everyone’s birthdays.  And by “blow,” I mean spit on the cake.

 

While it is certainly a few months late, Happy 30th Birthday (again) to my most fabulous Mother-in-Law!

New Experiences

 

We decided that it was part of our “parent responsibility” to take Luke camping.  I’m not a camping girl.  Not because I’m fancy or find personal cleanliness particularly important, but mostly I’m just lazy.  Camping takes a lot of work and I don’t like pretending I don’t have a home. Or a bed. Or a potty I have to walk down a road to find in the middle of the night.  But Luke might like it. His friends go camping. So maybe we should too.  The Gartins were kind enough to bring us along for the trip.

Please note: I have not been camping in at least 9 years. And that last camping trip . . . well, it was a one night deal and I didn’t have to do much since I was only 12. Now I am an adult and responsible for others. Or so I’m told.

How grossly underprepared the Bickels were.

Camping in August? Hot, right? No. No it wasn’t.

I can’t say that I have ever been so cold in my entire life.  We didn’t even bring pants for Luke. Not even pants.  It was so cold and wet . . . that part was pretty miserable.

We did have fun though – the boys had a great time and it was nice to relax and hang out and be away from cell phones and tv.

How did it become “Noella-style” camping? We went out to breakfast the first morning. Woot! Why you ask? Because everything was soaking wet the first morning and raccoons attacked all our food. But I got nice warm breakfast at a restaurant! Score!

Off for a walk with the boys

Just because one is camping in the woods does not mean that one does not take one’s Sally with them.

Luke figured out how to ride a scooter – he thought that was pretty awesome.

After the first wet and abysmal night, we bought a pop up screened in tent-y thing at Walmart to cover up the table and the gear.  Please note – it did not rain.  The condensation was so heavy that it fell like rain.  But only in certain parts of Mt. Madonna.

You know, our campsite.

The pants came from the excursion to Walmart post-breakfast as well.

As long as we have a thumb and a Sally, we can go just about anywhere and do just about anything.

Fire and fruit snacks – life’s simple pleasures.

The boys had so much fun chasing each other in the woods and searching for banana slugs.  They thought banana slugs would both repulsive and awesome.  I’m more in the “repulsive” camp, myself.

Every Saturday night during the summer, they have a folk group that plays live music at their amphitheater.  It isn’t much but it was a lot of fun.  We ended with smores (a hit) and glow sticks (also a hit.)

Overall? A lot of fun and we’ll do it again, definitely.  The clean up stunk as everything was completely soaked.  But the kids had a great time and admittedly, I did as well.

 

Day Out with Thomas!

 

Do you have this in your area? Apparently, Thomas goes around the country so kids can have a “day out” with him.  Luke’s cousins went a few years ago and we didn’t think much of it.  Clearly, we didn’t have a preschool age boy at the time.  Lesson learned. We decided to go with the Gartin family so Luke could go with his very best buddy Jake.

We met at Starbucks in the morning for chocolate milk and treats. (petite vanilla scone for Luke)  It is quite funny that Luke knows my coffee order and can recite it perfectly: “Triple grande non-fat two splenda latte.” The baristas get a kick of out it and it embarrasses Todd. 

 

“Yeah yeah Mommy, I’ll smile.”

 

“I love chocolate milk. And special treats.”

I love that boy and his blue eyes.

 

Luke was so excited to see Thomas! We got in line to take a picture with Thomas before the train departed at Roaring Camp Railroad in the Santa Cruz mountains.  It was cold and misty, but Luke was determined to wear his sleeveless Thomas shirt.  We took a family picture with Thomas, but . . . man, none of us looked very good.  We bought a copy of course. But I don’t want to post it. Bleh.

 

Our Thomas train departed at 9:30 in the morning.  I am SO glad that we went early – if Luke had been older, we would have been able to do all sorts of fun things that were offered as part of the “experience.” But he is really not into coloring or painting, though he did get a Thomas tattoo.  Since we were one of the first people there, nothing was busy and we could have enjoyed ourselves without all the crowds.

Luke and Jake

“Brothers don’t shake hands . . . brothers gotta HUG.”

Our family.  Luke was super goofy by this point, but I’ll take what I can get.

Todd and Luke enjoying the beautiful redwoods. 

By the time we got back to Roaring Camp, the place was packed. To note for the future: Be the second train that leaves.  Get there right at the beginning, enjoy all the additional activities, take your ride and then get out! It gets crazy!

So we left and had a delicious breakfast down the street. Second breakfast? I love second breakfast.  Especially when it involves two of my favorite things: biscuits. gravy. Oh, and bacon. Always bacon. But that’s a given.

A’s for Life

 

Yup, he’s my little thug.  I know, I know . . . all the cool kids like the Giants. But we’re not the cool kids, we like what we like and we love the A’s.  We’ve outfitted Luke’s room in A’s gear (please note Oakland Stadium – O.Co Park or whatever it is now) and he wears his A’s jammies faithfully.  When Todd got an A’s beanie, even though it was the dead heat of summer, Luke just had to try it on. And sport the attitude.

But just like is Daddy, he may put on the tough exterior, but really he is just a funny, sweet kid.

 

Who turned off the lights?