Poor Noah

Noah and Ben had their well checks at the doctor yesterday afternoon. Noah ended up with mild ear infections and and had to get 2 shots in each leg :( Poor guy. They could hear him crying in the waiting room. Fortunately, he was asleep withing 15 minutes of leaving the doctor's office. And he got a cool alligator finger puppet for his trouble.

He seems much better today and doesn't seem to have any pain in his legs.

Noah's Birthday

Today is Noah's 5th birthday! He had a pretty good day. He got to bring cupcakes to school. The weather was decent so he played outside for a little while. We had homemade Chinese food - pot stickers, moo shu noodles, and cashew chicken - for dinner. And a giant soccer ball cake for dessert. He enjoyed Skyping with Oma and Opa, and he actually let me hold the phone to his ear long enough to let Nana say Happy Birthday to him.
He opened presents which included a soccer ball, blanket, Madagascar 2 dvd, a puzzle, and a Cars toy.
Now he is in bed singing and banging on the wall trying to keep himself awake.
It's been a long day, but totally worth it!

She fights like a girl

Bocce and Keely were taking advantage of the nice weather today.

Keely found a stick and Bocce tried to steal it.

They were playing around pretty roughly and Bocce got a little carried away.
She really got some air under her.
They had a little stretch. And a snuggle.

Then they were tired.

And now they are passed out.

Lake Katherine After the Ice

Steve, Noah, and Ben decided to go for a hike Sunday afternoon because the weather was beautiful and, as we all know, Steve gets stir crazy when he's cooped up. They caught the end of the icicles from the ice storm. Noah and Ben said they had a good time.
Good Brother Time

Storm Clouds

This evening a storm rolled in with wind gust forecast to be 60 to 75 miles per hour. This forecast prompted Wellston (where Steve's plant is) City Schools to call for school to be dismissed 2 hours early today. I didn't know why until the 5 O'clock news said that the buildings had suffered some damage in the last storms that lead to the discovery that the buildings (only about 5 years old) were built with not enough steel supports. It's really no wonder with the lack of building codes in this area that such an oversight could be made. Unfortunately, it had to be in school buildings where children spend a majority of their time.

The news also pointed out that the high winds could lead to more power outages due to the weekend tree limbs.
I did manage to see some beautiful pictures of the clouds as they rolled through.

Introducing Bocce

This is Bocce (after Andrea Boccelli). She's a cute little Boxer puppy. Her mom was a 3-legged Boxer named Maggie! It was so meant to be.
Keely has been very tolerant and they even snuggled a little on the way home from picking her up.

She played with Noah and Ben so much that she already had to take a nap - she snores! She loves her new bed. She is so sweet and cute.

Ben likes to carry her around and he's making sure she doesn't try to go up the stairs. Noah was curling up on the couch and whining just like Bocce.
I can tell the boys are going to have a lot of fun with her and Keely.

Let there be power!

We finally got electricity back this afternoon. We couldn't be happier - except there was a lot of cleaning to do. I got the fridge and freezer cleaned out and a lot of laundry done. Jakob had a hard night on Monday when he was going to sleep. It is hard to sleep 4 different places in 6 nights and it caught up with him. He just wanted to go home and sleep in his own bed. Everybody is OK tonight though. And we are all glad to be home.