Sneak Peek ....

Our little man turns 3....

Noah turned 3 yesterday!  I can't say we were ready for it... it still feels like only last year that we brought newborn baby Noah home from the hospital, and now we have this fantastic singing, running, jumping, painting, spelling, story telling, make believing, potty training Noah 3.0 .... so "ready" or not, we had a weekend full of celebration in honor of this awesome little dude God gave us as our son :)
Here are some photos from Noah's jungle safari party with his buddies Friday morning. The boys had lots of fun, and with a house filled with babies, toddlers ,and pre-schoolers there were no tears or temper tantrums, so I would say it was a huge success!

Noah and his buddies (and some mommies) in their jungle fort with paper towel roll binoculars.

 

Safari hats! short lived! Noah was in no mood for photos... Lisa and I had the same idea on how to cheer up our little guys, what boy doesn't love kisses from his momma ;)

Our attempt at a family photo... thanks Jill! Sorry the birthday boy just wasn't having it ;p

Then the SAFARI began....  "follow the tracks, follow the feet... what kind of animal will we meet??"

A MESSY ELEPHANT left peanuts all over the kitchen!!

 The boys line up to follow more tracks....

to THE BRAVE CAVE !!

collecting slimy spiders in the brave cave.

my brave ( and messy)  little 3 year old !

this should be a pic of the kids... but I really liked this shot of Samuel's  loot bag :)

 \Fishing for frogs in the "tall grass", and a surprise visit from a lollipop throwing kangaroo!

 Frog balancing act!

 What's in the hole????

 SNAKES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hunting for snakes! They totally love it.

 Our little explorers eating "jungle stew" (chili).

and what safari would be complete without CUPCAKES :)

"CHEEeeeeeeeSE"

Happy Birthday dear Noah..."

" Happy Birthday to you!"

  Timothy enjoying his GREEN icing, Ruby enjoying her hands...

and Noah's face says it all... a very happy Birthday indeed :)

Love Letter #2.... 50+ reasons I love my hubby :)

Because you are my love bird...

and when I am with you I know I am surrounded by love...

because we are in this thing together...

and we are equally yoked...

and things don't always work out like we hope..

 but it's ok because we know we are part of something so much larger than ourselves...

and God has put us in a good place together...

You drink life to the fullest...

You are strong...

and gentle...

Silly...

resourceful and creative... (coconut football)

You're sometimes a dork...

which brings me back to the equally yoked thing...

But we have fun!...

you're a nature lover...

you love your cat...

but you must love me more, because you let me do things like this to him! ...

We work well together...

And our tevas have gone some pretty amazing places together...

like Amalfi...

and New Zealand...

 and Florence...

You are as sweet as gelato...

I love waking up by you...

 and you always make me breakfast!

You are thrifty~ (John inside our $12 tiny walmart tent  we thought we could use to camp Hawaii Volcano National Park :)

Adventurous...

You always share your ice cream...

you are super friendly...

and totally freek'n cool!

We have shared lots of these...

 and these...

You are lucky...

you have good taste in women (and fruit)...

and you think I'm pretty....

you get me...

and you brighten my days...

Because we almost crashed, and yet we kept on flying....

because we believe in our dreams...

 

We have been friends forever!

You were my high school crush...

and we still got it going on...

You said "I do" and meant it...

You keep my secrets...

You are totally GQ...

My very own "Mc. Dreamy"...

the only man that I ever wanted to have your babies...

and we've made some pretty spectacular babies...

You have passed your good looks onto our son...

We are a family on a mission...

You are the best daddy ever...

always patient....

lifting our kids up to God (as in Jesus Christ, not to be mistaken with the giant native American in the backround :)

Our kids look up to you...

and sometimes so do I...

You are my resting place...

You fill my moments with joy...

there is no place else I would rather be...

and you are the love of my life!

*some photos in this stream were taken by Beauty for Ashes Photography, and Alison Conklin photography.