Family Time

Last night was a Moss Family night! Curtis left today for Ft. Jackson, SC, so we had to make sure we had a good family night before he left. What is better than ice cream on family night? It was such a nice day, that we decided to go to Dairy Queen and sit outside while we ate our yummy treats! Noah loves ice cream, so he was in heaven:) We got him a Nutter Butter mini blizzard, and he loved it. We couldn't have asked for a better night together.
Curtis has only been gone since this afternoon, but we already miss him. Thankfully my mom is staying with me and Noah so we don't have to be alone. Yes, I am an adult, but I do not like being alone. I'm just thankful that my parents are always supportive of me, and always step up to help me in any way possible. I couldn't ask for better parents. It doesn't take the place of my husband being gone, but it does help ease the pain of him being away, a little. It's so hard when Noah asks me "where's my daddy". I'm just so thankful that he will be back with us Friday!

Tomorrow is a very important day to me. My mammaw is going to the hospital to get a pace maker put in. I can't be there, but I pray that she knows that I wish I could be there for her. I pray that everything goes smoothly, and this pace maker helps her and makes her feel a lot better:) We want her to do everything she can to better her health, so we have her here with us for many, many, many more years!!

If you are reading this Curtis, please know that we love you and miss you!

Our Kentucky State Fair Trip of 2011

Today the Moss Family took a trip to the Kentucky State Fair. We went with my parents (Noah's mammaw and pappaw). We weren't sure if Noah would enjoy this trip or not. Thankfully, he had a blast (just look at the pictures)! The picture of him with the big smile on his face, was taken when he was in the petting zoo area. He was watching the ducklings go up the slide, and fall into the water:) This was one of Noah's favorite parts of our trip today!!

We were able to see all kinds of animals today. Noah is really big into Animals right now! He likes to make the sounds that the different type of animals make, so that is a lot of fun! When we saw the cows, and we ask him what they say, he will go "Moo"! He didn't know what to think about the cows, because they are so big! He likes the pigs believe it or not:) He actually even petted a pig! It's so cute how excited he gets over seeing animals. We were in the animal section for a while, but it was all worth it for Noah:)

It was a very nice day to be at the fair, because the weather was great! I was thinking back to our trip to the fair last year with all my side of the family, and it's crazy with how fast time goes by. He was so little last year when we went! He had just started walking and he was really good about staying in his stroller. That was one of the main differences with him this year. He is at an age that he doesn't like to be in the stroller for very long. He thinks that he is a "big boy" now, so he wants to walk. This wouldn't be a problem if he would hold our hand, but he even thinks that he is too big to hold hands. He did very good today though, so we were all very proud of him! He stayed in his stroller when we were walking, but when we stopped to look at something we would take him out and hold him up so he could see what we were looking at. He did walk some, but he did hold our hand:)

I am so thankful that we were able to go to the fair as a family. Sometimes I feel like we miss out on a lot of "family" experiences, because Curtis is away from home a lot with Army duty. We appreciate any time we are able to spend together. We had a great day! Tomorrow is the last day of the Kentucky State Fair, so it always means that September is right around the corner! I can't believe August is almost over already.

On a different note... One of our friends passed away last weekend. His name was Tylan Smither at the young age of 33. Tylan was one of the nicest men that we have ever met,and he is truly missed. Our prayers continue to go out to his wife (Jessica), his son (Cooper), and their extended family. Jessica has asked that everyone learn from her loss and to appreciate every second you have with your loved ones. She is a very strong woman, and we admire her for leaning on her faith during this time. You never know when your time with your family will be gone! We just ask that everyone, please pray for the Smither family. The Moss family wants them to know they are loved, and we have been truly Blessed knowing that we were able to spend the short amount of time we did, knowing Tylan! He was one of the first people to welcome us when we joined the Sunday School Class at First Baptist Church in Shelbyville! We will never forget that, and it is a very special memory in our hearts. The Smither Family is one of the families that helped us realize that we wanted God to be in our marriage:) We will forever be grateful to their family.

80 Years?

Yesterday was my mammaw's 80th birthday! I can't believe that she is 80 years old, because she sure doesn't act or look like she is:) I am so Blessed that I'm still able to have my mammaw in my life, and that she is such a Big part of Noah's life as well. I admit that I still don't get to go into Louisville and visit her as much as I would like to, but in the past year I have been trying my hardest to make it a priority to go in and visit her at least 2 weekends out of the month. I thought that since this is such a special time, that I would dedicate today's blog to my mammaw.




My family all got together Sunday to celebrate this wonderful birthday! We all went out to eat at Aspen Creek (very delicious!), and then we all headed back to my mammaw's house to give her all her gifts and to eat cake & ice cream. All of her kids got together to get her a new very comfortable chair, and the grand kids all got together and got her a new Razor flat screen television:) She is all set now! My cousin Matt also made her this awesome Family Tree to hang on her wall. This was very special to her, and he did a great job! My picture isn't very good, but I wanted to share it with everyone.

My mammaw is one of the sweetest and most caring people you will ever meet in your life. She always puts everyone before herself! I used to see my mammaw everyday when I was younger, because she used to babysit me while my mom and dad went to work. I have had so many good memories with my mammow throughout the 31 years of my life, and I can't wait to see how many more I develop in the future years. I am so thankful that Noah is getting to spend time with my mammaw so he can feel the same love his mommy has always received from her! I love my mammaw and hope she had a wonderful 80th birthday. I am such a lucky girl that God chose her to be in my life:)

Update on Noah: Noah went back to daycare yesterday, and he is doing a lot better. I am still giving him his antibiotic and ear drops daily, per the Doctor's instructions. His activity level is back to normal, and he seems his happy little self again, so I could not ask for more:) Also, Curtis is back home with us so we are all happy!!

I hope you all have at least 1 person in your life that is like my mammaw is in mine. She is a true Angel!

Why can't I find enough time?

I catch myself asking the question "Why can't I find enough time" everyday! I still haven't figured out the answer, and I've come to the conclusion that I probably never will. There is never enough time in the day for me to spend enough time with my growing toddler! I always feel guilty that I have to send him to daycare throughout the week while I go sit at a desk and stare at a computer screen, while dealing with grown-ups that act worse than my 2 year old! This is something that weighs heavily on my mind. I pray that Noah will one day realize that mommy would do anything to be able to stay at home with him. I hate that when I get home from work in the evenings it only leaves me about 3 hours to spend time with him. Most of that time is fixing dinner, and getting ready for bed too. I will just continue trying to do the best I can at making up for our lost time during the week on the weekends like I have been.

I want to apologize to everyone that follows our blog for not posting one in a long time. I honestly want to post a blog all the time, but I just can't get myself to take time away from spending it with Noah to post one. He is taking a nap right now, or I wouldn't even be able to post this one. I hope everyone understands.

A lot of things have happened since I posted the last blog. We would like to wish our niece Layken Moss a Happy belated birthday that she celebrated on July 4th! We hope you got your card and gift ok:) She is growing up so fast, and we all miss her greatly!

We can't wait to see you again! Noah got to go to his first wedding on July 16th! My youngest cousin Robbie got married to his wonderful wife Mallori:) It was a beautiful wedding, and we all had a great time. We were very excited to officially welcome Mallori into our crazy family! Curtis was the pastor for their ceremony and he did great! As always, I was very proud of him:) Noah did great, and actually surprised me and his daddy by doing some break dancing moves at the reception. We don't know where he learned how to do them, but it was very cute! If he is anything like his mommy, he will love to dance:) Robbie has always been my little brother at heart, so it was a very joyous day for us all!
We also got a special visit from Noah's Nana and Pop a couple of weekends ago:) Noah had a blast with them while they were here. He wouldn't say Nana at all before they arrived, but after they were here a day with us, he started calling her Nana or Nanny:) He will still come up to me and ask me where his Pop and Nanny are! Very cute:) We will be going to visit them in October this year on Curtis' fall break for a weekend since we won't be able to spend Thanksgiving with them this year. We are looking forward to when we get to see them again. Who knows, maybe they will come and visit us again before we go there to see them. We would also like to wish our Niece Autumn a Happy Belated Birthday as well. Her birthday was August 2nd, and we got a phone call from her today leaving us a message that she liked her birthday gift we got her:) She is getting so big, and I can't believe that when I first started dating Curtis, she was still in her mommy's belly! We can't wait to see her again as well:) I hate that I'm always late at sending out cards/gifts, but I hope everyone knows that my heart is in the right place. I also hope everyone knows that I'm thinking of them even though I may not get things sent out on time.

Before I put an end to this past due blog... I know everyone is wanting an update on Noah:) Well, I had to take him to the Doctor Thursday because he was up all night Wednesday fussing. I knew something was wrong with him, but I didn't know for sure what it was. I first thought it was his stomach bothering him, but then when I saw him holding his ear, I knew what it probably was. Yep, he has a very bad ear infection in his left ear! The Doctor said it looked horrible, and he didn't know how my poor little guy was bearing the pain. Do you know what that felt like to me? I wanted to just take all the pain away from him, but I couldn't! I kept him home from daycare on Friday too so he could get some extra love and attention that he needed. I'm giving him an antibiotic and numbing ear drops twice a day. He cries badly when I give him the drops, but you can tell once he calms down that it's a sense of relief that comes over him. He still has a snotty green nose from the infection, but it's slowly getting better each day. Well he is starting to wake up now, so I'm going to end this blog.

Talk to you all soon!

Day Out With Thomas 2011

Sunday Noah got to go spend the day with his favorite "Choo Choo" of all time, Thomas! He was one very happy little boy the entire day. I know that the pictures don't really show how happy he was, but he was concentrating in a lot of them, and the sun was shining in his little eyes a lot. I promise you that he was very happy! He did very good, and didn't cry at all:)

I was worried that he may be too young for this event, but I'm so glad that I went with my gut feeling and took him. He wasn't too young at all, and he had a blast riding on the Thomas train, and playing with all the cool stuff they had there for the kids.

When we arrived at the Kentucky Railway Museum in New Haven, KY, we checked in to begin our exciting day with Thomas. We started out by watching a magic act for the kids that Noah enjoyed for about 15 minutes, and then he was done with that part. I don't blame him, because that was more for the older kids in my opinion. Our train ride on Thomas was at 12:20, so we didn't have to wait to long before boarding the train. When we first got on the train and were waiting for it to start moving, I don't think Noah understood that we were on a train. Once we started moving, he got excited and said "choo choo". They had some Thomas songs playing over the speakers during the ride, so that was cute for the kids. I never thought I would be the mom that would sit there and sing "Thomas songs", but I'm actually proud to say I am! I have always been so shy, but it's amazing how having a kid helps get you out of that shell some. When I was singing them to him, I didn't care who could hear me, because it was making my little boy smile:) The train ride was just long enough, because all the kids started getting a little restless at the very end of the ride. I think that was Noah's favorite part of the day, along with mommy and daddy's favorite:) It was a first for Noah getting to ride on a train, and even though mommy and daddy are a lot older, it was our first too! Very fun!

After our train ride we were able to get our pictures made in front of Thomas! Of course I had to buy the picture they took, because that is the type of person I am:) I want Noah to always remember this day since he enjoyed it so much. After the pictures it was time to play with Bubbles, another favorite thing of Noah's. He also got to play with Mega Blocks, trains, Train tables, watch Thomas videos, and listen to stories. Every kid there was having a blast, and it was so cute to see how excited they all got to see the trains!

We ended our day by visiting the gift shop. They had every Thomas toy you can imagine there! Noah picked a Thomas Shake and Go train, and he loves it. I also got him a Day out with Thomas shirt. The kid loves trains and that pretty much sums it up:) When we took our map that they gave us upon arrival, to the gift shop, Noah got a prize for getting it stamped at all the stations they had set up. He got a train wheel that tells all the names of the Thomas and Friends trains, and a set of Mega Blocks!

This was a very exciting day for Noah and us! Very family friendly and we would recommend it for all the parents to take their kids if they like trains:) It took an hour each way there, but it was well worth it. Noah slept the entire way home (so did mommy!). Much needed nap for a much needed family outing:)

My favorite part of the day was that Curtis was home with us and we were able to enjoy the day as a family:) Loved every minute of it! I have been struggling a lot lately with Curtis having to be gone so much, so this was exactly what I needed:) I want him here with us where he belongs as much as possible. We are one Blessed family and we count our Blessings daily! Make sure you and your families count their blessings also!

First Trip To The Zoo!

We would like to wish everyone a Happy Memorial Day! This weekend has been a very exciting one for Noah:) Sadly, Curtis has been in Ohio on Army Duty since Saturday morning:( Noah and I have missed him a lot! I have been sending him lots of pictures while he has been gone to help him experience Noah's excitement just a little. I always want Curtis to know that we miss him whenever he's not able to be with us.

Noah was able to go on his first trip to the Louisville Zoo this Saturday afternoon. He wasn't very sure if he was going to like it or not when we first got there because he was a little overwhelmed with all the people that were there. Once we started seeing some of the larger animals like the gorillas, Lions, Tigers, Elephants, etc., he had a blast! He wanted his Papaw to take him out of the stroller and lift him up to see them all!! We couldn't have picked a more perfect day for the weather either. It was in the mid-80's, breezy, and partly cloudy/sunny. Very very nice!! Noah also rode on the tram and carousel. He didn't really like the tram at first and cried a little. Once we started moving, he was ok and enjoyed it. He loved riding on the carousel, and I can't wait until Curtis can go with us next time to share a ride with Noah:)

Overall Noah had a very good time at his first trip to the Louisville Zoo! We look forward to many more zoo trip experiences:) Noah behaved himself very good, and let me just say that I was one very proud mommy Saturday when we were leaving the zoo!! The only thing that would've made our trip better, would've been if Curtis was there with us:)

The rest of our Holiday weekend was spent playing outside (even though it was very hot), visiting mamaw, and Noah getting to visit with my cousin Andy and his girlfriend who was in from New York. I wasn't able to go in to see my cousin sadly, but my mom was kind of enough to take Noah in to my mamaw's house yesterday evening so Noah could visit with him before he had to go back to New York. They gave Noah a birthday present of 2 trains that they ride in New York. That was very sweet of them to think of Noah like that, and I will never forget that:) Noah also had a present waiting for him from my Uncle Kenny and Aunt Barbara that they had left for him. He got some clothes, which is Great! We are very thankful for their kindness, and appreicate their gift. When we visited my mamaw Saturday evening after our zoo trip, my aunt Donna was able to give Noah his birthday present also. He loved his gift from her also:) She got him a Thomas train set, and a cool beach ball that you hook up to the hose and it squirts water out the sides. I can't wait until Noah gets to play with that. I'm thinking in the next couple of weeks with the weather being this hot, he will be getting a lot of use out of that:) I want to send out a HUGE thank you to everyone for all his wonderful gifts. It warms my heart that this many people thought that much of my son on his birthday!

Today is just a day of relaxation for us. We have been very lazy trying to rest up for the remainder of the work week. We are counting down the hours until Curtis gets back home with us where he belongs:) We hope everyone has had a good weekend. We also hope you all enjoy the few pictures I have posted from our zoo experience.

Please make sure to scroll down and see all the pictures. The best pictures are at the bottom:)

2 Blogs in 1

I didn't have time to post a blog after Noah's birthday party last weekend. His Nana & Pop came here to celebrate with him. I decided that since I had time, I would combine two blogs into one this week:) The first half of this blog is going to be about his birthday celebration last week that Noah enjoyed a lot!!

Curtis and I were very happy that Noah's Nana & Pop were coming to spend the weekend with us. They were going to be out of town this weekend, so we decided to have a separate party so they would be able to celebrate this special year in Noah's life! Noah was very glad to see them, but he acted very shy around them for a while before warming up to them. He even said "Nana" a couple of times while they were here, so that made us all very happy:) He says "Pop" all the time, but he was very shy around him all weekend. I think he was just messing with his Pop, because right before they got ready to leave he leaned in so his Pop could give him a kiss bye. He loves his Nana and Pop so much!

The weekend had an unexpected turn when his aunt Connie and cousins Austin and Autumn decided to drive here to spend the weekend with us also. It was very nice of them to want to see Noah so badly. Noah had a blast with his cousins even though they didn't get to go outside and enjoy his swing set because the weather was very rainy and cool. He also loved the gift they got him for his birthday, which was a music set that he can play with in the bath tub. He has played with this every night since he got it, and he loves it!!

The weekend was nice and it was good spending it with the Moss side of the family. Noah enjoyed it a lot, and that was what made it so special:) I also wanted to personally thank them for allowing my parents to spend time with them when they were here. It is very sweet of them to accept them in on their celebrations with Noah. It was the grandparents party to celebrate Noah's 2nd birthday, and the swing set they had all gotten him as a gift. They all made it a birthday Noah will never forget, and Curtis and I can't thank them all enough for that! It was a weekend full of family fun, delicious food, and delicious chocolate cake and ice cream!! We also want to send a special thanks to Rob and Judy for everything they do for us whenever they come to visit. We greatly appreciate it all, and will never be able to thank you enough. We love you, and can't wait until you are able to come and visit us again for a laid back weekend:)

Now on to the second 1/2 of this blog:

Yesterday we celebrated Noah's 2nd birthday with my side of the family and a few of our friends. Sadly none of Noah's little friends were able to make it this year to his party because they were taking their naps (we completely understand), but we are hoping that they will be able to make it next year:) We were very happy that their mommies were able to come and drop in for a little while to celebrate with us. It was a very good day for the party, because the weather was very warm and sunny! It's always a great time when we get to spend it with family. Noah was able to play with his 2 cousins Saylor and Bella for a while, so he was happy about that also:)

I had a lot of help from my family with decorating for Noah's party, so I want to say a huge thank you for that. We were also very happy that my cousin Amanda and her husband was able to make it to the party since they weren't sure if they could or not. We did miss the ones in my family that weren't able to make it, but hopefully they will be there next year if possible:)

I want to send out a very big thank you to my wonderful mom! She helped me out a lot, as always:) I am very blessed to have a mom that is so supportive of me, and is always there to help me when I need her. She helped prepare all the food for Noah's party, and helped set up for it. I know that Curtis and Noah appreciate her just as much as I do! She also decorated the beautiful cake, and made the cupcakes for his party:) Noah loved it all! I couldn't have asked for anything better for him.

I hope that one day Noah will look back and realize how much fun he had at his second birthday party even though he went the entire day without a nap. That wasn't good, but he actually did ok. He did have his moments here and there (what toddler doesn't), but overall he did great! He loved all his presents, and I think he has played with every single toy that he got at least twice already:) A big thank you goes out to everyone!

Tomorrow will be his actual birthday, so Curtis and I have a little present to give to him from us. I look forward to having a dinner with just us 3 tomorrow night and just us spending what is such a special day in our family, together:) I can't believe that my baby is turning 2 tomorrow!!

We hope everyone has had a great weekend, and we will talk to you all again soon!