Summer Life Part 3

Noah and I loved being a part of Sports Camp at our church. I played piano and Noah really liked going early with me to watch rehearsals with the band and dance team. 

The mission project for the week was to fill backpacks with school supplies. The church collected them and will deliver them to area schools. Noah loved picking out the perfect items to fill our backpack. 

At the end of camp, we had a huge tailgate party where the band played on a stage outside, we ate hot dogs and cotton candy and sno-cones, and played on inflatables. Our church throws a fun party! And we are thankful for the extra time learning about Jesus and his love for us.

We love our trips to the Magic House!

A Lego car.

The cutest Ameren worker ever! 

Building a fort. Can you see them?

Practicing jumping. You have to get really low for enough leverage. haha. :) 

Trying to get some air! 

Noah and Cole playing Paw Patrol at Cole's great-grandma's birthday party. 

Birthdays

Lyla is 18 months! (Well, 19 at the time of this posting...but we will pretend I am writing the 18 month update on time!)

She has a vocabulary of about 50 words and is combining several into 2-word phrases. She LOVES singing "Wheels on the Bus" and asks Noah to sing it to her almost anytime we are in the van. She asks to watch Paw Patrol on TV (thanks to big brother) and throws a fit when we say no. She loves going to bed with her purple monkey (known as "baby"), a book, and her blanket. She often tells us when she goes potty in her diaper, but we have yet to have any success at sitting on the toilet. Her latest obsession is covering her baby dolls up with a blanket over and over. She climbs anything and attempts to jump constantly. She is a Daddy's girl through and through. It seems she is surviving on cheese, yogurt, milk, grapes, and crackers these days, though she loves dips and we can get her to take a bite of anything if we promise a bite of ketchup, ranch, sour cream, etc after it. If anyone lays down on the floor she will tackle them because she and Noah wrestle with Daddy. Her facial expressions crack us up and we get comments all the time about how expressive she is. Lyla-girl, we love you so!

Noah is 4! It's crazy! He has a vocabulary that surprises us every day. He likes to use the word "apparently" quite often--appropriately or not. :) He LOVES watching Paw Patrol and playing with his puppy figures. He really likes playing games with Mom and Dad (and anyone else who will play with him!) and reading books. His increasing independence is a blessing but Mama is happy that he still likes his cuddle time. He wakes up slow (like his daddy!) and is learning how to be a sweet and helpful older brother. He has a crazy smirk that makes us laugh every time. We love watching him learn and grow and are thankful for his sweet heart and growing confidence.

We loved having Grandma and Grandpa Sampson here for a few days around Noah's birthday. Grandpa was worn out from all of his work projects but we were able to fit in a lot of fun moments (Grant's Farm, the Science Center, the pool, a party), too!

Noah really enjoyed his Paw Patrol water-themed birthday party. We were thankful for so many friends and family members who took time to celebrate with him!

Noah, we are happy you are four! We're so thankful for you and love you so!