love, laurie

we're in a magazine!

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Mon, 05 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000

happenings magazine featured our family ice cream cone halloween costumes from last year in their october 2026 issue. those were some good costumes!

we're so grateful that they featured our design. i had fun making those costumes for us!

love, laurie

preschool snapshots

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Fri, 02 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000

a few recent snapshots of mr. noah from preschool.

love, laurie

some random photos

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000

noah waiting for his speech lesson,

noah in the car with mom waiting for a friend's birthday party to start,

noah and mom enjoying freshly baked banana nut muffins that we made together,

and me being stuck because leko decided to curl up on my back.

love, laurie

farm boy

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

noah and i took a quick trip up to ritter's cider mill on saturday with grandma to get some apples and cider.

while we were there we said hi to the farm animals, noah played on the farm toys, and he was really happy to find a blue new holland tractor!

love, laurie

thank you!

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

a big thank you to friends for sharing their old books with noah to read!

love, laurie

crazy kid

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

this child is always up to something. lots of tools, lots of construction.

love, laurie

being silly

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

mr. noah being silly while waiting with mom for his speech therapy appointment to start after school.

love, laurie

preschool snapshots

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

a few recent snapshots from preschool from "five senses" week where the students explored each of their senses each day.

noah especially loved "taste" day when they got to make and taste pancakes and syrup!

love, laurie

krista and dylan's wedding

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 12:22:47 +0000

krista and dylan got married on saturday and we were so happy to be able to attend their wedding to celebrate with them. this was noah's first-ever wedding (and he kept asking when we were going to have birthday cake - ha!).

we attended the ceremony at the church and then made the trip down to the reception for the party.

noah looked very cute in his suit, which was the very first suit he has ever worn too.

love, laurie

noah's favorite place!

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

noah and i took a little trip to lakeland after school on friday to kick off the weekend. it certainly is his favorite place. he thinks he runs the joint! employees know him by name.

love, laurie

a furry helper

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

noah was playing at ryan's parents' house and the trucks driving around his roadway rug had to keep stoping operation for a furry roadblock that kept appearing in the midd of the rug!

love, laurie

preschool snapshots

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

a few recent photos of noah in his new classroom at school.

love, laurie

15 years old!

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

this month our fur baby turns 15 years old. gosh, he was so small when we first brought him home.

leko was resting recently and had his tail curled so cute around his leg that it looked like a furry ankle bracelet. i love the moments when he is quiet for a few minutes and not screaming at us!

happy birthday to our crazy cat!

love, laurie

a ride on the trolley

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Wed, 16 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

noah is obsessed with daniel tiger's neighborhood, and in most episodes daniel rides the trolley. so, we were excited to take noah to our local trolley museum over labor day weekend to check out the trollies and to take a ride on a real trolley!

love, laurie

a trip to roba family farms over labor day weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Tue, 15 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

we headed back to roba family farms over labor day weekend for the official opening weekend of the season. ryan didn't get to join us when we went for the sneak peek, so he was happy to be able to come along over the weekend.

love, laurie

apple picking at lakeland orchard

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

over labor day weekend we went apple picking at lakeland orchard with grandma and grandpa. noah has been anxiously waiting until apple season because he has been so excited to pick apples. he happily picked apples, strolled through the orchard, taste tested several apples, and sipped his apple cider.

love, laurie

patriot day

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

we had the opportunity to visit ground zero nine years ago in september, just after the 12th anniversary of 9/11 and it was a moving experience. the waterfalls and the reflecting pools that sit within the footprints of where the twin towers once stood are a lovely tribute, and the freedom tower is quite a sight to behold. our thoughts and prayers go out to anyone who lost a loved one on this day 25 years ago.

love, laurie

la festa italiana 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

i've mentioned numerous times that my favorite end-of-summer tradition is visiting our local italian festival over labor day weekend. it's especially important to us since it's where we went on our very first date back in 2004. i can't believe this year is 22 years since we first went together!

we went three times this year and had a good time eating and sight seeing. we tasted lots of stuff, and met up with grandma and grandpa as well as some friends too!

let the countdown begin for next year's festival!

love, laurie

. . .

previous trips to the italian festival:

2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025

sneak peek night at roba family farms!

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

robas opened for the season this weekend, but before they did, they held their annual sneak peek night for season pass holders on wednesday evening. noah and i went up after school to check it out. he was thrilled to be back, because he has been asking me if he can go to roba's for weeks!

he rode the rides, said hi to the dinos, reunited with his tractors, and sipped some apple cider. we had a fun time.

love, laurie

checking out a new splash pad

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

a brand new splash pad opened nearby and noah had a good time checking it out and getting soaked with grandma one day after school!

love, laurie

happy labor day!

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Mon, 07 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

i'm sad to see summer go, but i always do enjoy the fall.

i won't miss the insane heat and humidity we had this summer!

slightly cooler temps are welcome!

happy labor day!

love, laurie

preschool snapshots

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Fri, 04 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

noah survived two full weeks in his new 4-year-old preschool classroom. he is doing good and learning lots of new things. now we're looking forward to a long 3-day weekend.

love, laurie

off he goes!

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

i snapped a "first day of school" photo of ryan on monday before he left the house for his first day at his new job. it's hard to wrap my head around the fact that he is moving on to a new school, but they are lucky to have him because he is a fabulous technical director.

love, laurie

admiring the butterflies at lakeland

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Wed, 02 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

we took a trip back to lakeland and visited their butterflies before the butterfly festival ends. they are so beautiful and love the flowers inside their butterfly house.

noah always loves riding all of his tractors at lakeland too!

love, laurie

tent thief

noreply@blogger.com (Laurie) — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

i was wondering where leko got to, and then found him camped out in noah's play tent. i get it, leko, i would want to hid out in there too!

love, laurie