Fall Festivities

My Dad escaped a girls weekend away at his house and came to visit us. I did the longest bike ride (I think) I've ever done. We completed a metric century (100 K) which ended up being around 68 miles. Considering I had only been on my bike four times since I had the girls, I did pretty well. We completed it in 4 hours. Next year I would like to ride the true Century, 100 miles of rolling hills.

Anyhow, that weekend we also went to the pumpkin patch and my mom was able to join us. Elijah loved running through the field of "pungkins" and paying in the tents and little houses. He especially like seeing the giant pumpkins and showed us how HUGE they were. We are planning on going to Apple Hill this weekend, so I will get those pictures up soon.

Thoughts on Marriage...

Many of the couples I know have been announcing a divorce and it has been weighing heavy on my heart lately. I hear them say things like: "It's for the best" "It's been a long time coming" "We're better off" "What a relief" and other things along the same lines. It breaks my heart because these people must not realize that marriage is not just about them. There are so many people affected in a positive or negative way by marriage and divorce. Most of these people have children, and I can only imagine how difficult it must be for the entire family. I am not being judgemental in any fashion because I don't know the stories, struggles, or details of the relationship or divorce, but I do know that Satan is attacking the sacred covenant of marriage. In turn, he is wreaking havoc, and causing pain and destruction. It is clearly evident and breaks my heart! So, offer a word of encouragement and then get on your knees and pray for your pastors, parents, children, friends and neighbors. Interced on their behalf and pray for restoration and healing in their marriages.

Pictures from Karissa

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Pictures from Karissa

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Busy Busy...

I just started school last week, so the blog may continue to get neglected for the next few months. Hopefully, not, but I can't promise much. A quick update...the girls will be turning one next week. I should be able to put a few pictures up after the parties. Elijah has decided to be a BIG boy and ride his bike without training wheels. Amazing! He's like a little speed racer. He is still learning that when he stops the bike falls over. He has a few scratches now.

The girls started taking their first steps on Monday. They will walk a few steps across the room, but they often plop to the floor and just crawl instead. We are doing well and are still deciding what to do next. Chris's time will be up in the military come the end of this year. We haven't completely decided to stay in or get out. Keep us in your prayers for that big decision.

My sweet girls

For some reason it keeps putting this picture on its side when I upload and I can't change it, but it's still so cute.

What could be better?!

I had one of those amazing Mommy moments today that showed me we are atleast doinf something right...We were all sittinf at breakfast listening to some worship music when out of the blue Elijah says "Mommy, I love Jesus"
To which I replied, That's good because He loves you too."
"Mommy, I gave Him my heart."
"You did? That's what we are supposed to do."
"Jesus took my bad heart and gave me a good heart huh Mommy?"
At this point I was melting and wanted to just squeeze him, but I couldn't because I was shoveling food in his sisters mouths as fast as I could. I did manage to say, "You are so right Elijah. Jesus does take our bad heart and give us a good heart."

So Cal

I stole this picture from my friend Suzanne's blog because we were not very faithful in taking pictures during our trip down south. We had a great time catching up and it was the first time our husbands ever met as well as the first time we met each others kiddos. Fun Fun! It was a momentus night for Elijah...He had his first kiss. Maggie, their cute little girl, and Elijah struck up an instant friendship. As they were galavanting around she asked him to give her a kiss, so he puckered and slapped one on her cheek. Apparently, it wasn't good enough because later that night they kissed on the mouth a few times as well. It was precious because he even held her for the kiss. So cute. Good to see y'all.

A Busy Summer

We have pretty much been living out of our car since the beginning of July. First, we went to Family Camp at Christian Encounter Ministries, where I grew up. We had fun visiting with family, catching up with old friends...and celebrating all the family's July birthdays. Happy birthday Chris, Alexa, Channy, Elijah, and Braeden. We came home unpacked and repacked for a trip to Southern CA and Phoenix. First we drove all night and got to Phoenix sometime early in the morning after at least one speeding ticket:) We visited friends and family and then headed to So CA for a few more days of travel and visiting friends and family. We decided to take Elijah to Sea World on his actual birthday. Lots of Animal fun! Stayed a few more days, Elijah played more new friends and then we drove home to unpack amd repack to go to my parents for a week. Karissa and the kids cleared the house because Chris is in an Excercise at work. For those of you who know what this is, you know why we cleared the house and for those of you who don't, it means he was playing war at work and was working ridiculous shifts, so we cleared the house in order for him to sleep a little and relax. Plus, it gave Grammie and Grampie a chance to hang out with the kiddos a little. Here are a few pics of our month.

Reflections

I was inspired by one of my fellow young moms and friend Suzanne to do this...Looking back over the last four months: I am sure the only way I have survived life since January is by the grace of God. Really! We moved, and the house is still not unpacked five months later because life has been a little crazy at the Noll house. Somehow I got the crazy idea that I could go to Grad school while raising three children under the age of three, being a wife, moving, taking care of a house full of chores, training a puppy, and who knows what else. I can't even count anymore, the brain was gone a looong time ago. Who thought this was a good idea? Just to give you a glimpse into our live my days went as follows:

6:00 am begin the day with feeding the girls
7:00 am put them back to bed for a few more minutes of sleep (hopefully). Plop back in bed in hopes of getting maybe 15 more minutes of sleep only to lay down, get comfortable and have a 2 year-old sneak into bed and snuggle saying "Mommy I'm hungry".
7:? am drag my tired self out of bed and make breakfast for everybody.
9:00 am If I am lucky the girls went to back sleep (most of the time this was not the case) and decide to get up for the day and eat breakfast.
9-12 pm Playtime, naps for the girls, lunch for everybody.
1:30 pm Naptime for all. Mommy sits down to research and write her paper only to be interrupted at least 2-3 times from sleepless children.
3:30 pm finally cave in and get the kids out of bed (give up on writing anymore until bedtime) 3:30-6 pm Play and a quick nap sometime for the girls. Make dinner. Feed everybody.
7:15 pm bathtime
8:00 pm Bedtime
8:30- ? (usually 12 am) work on research and writing my Thesis
12-6 am wake up at least once, if not more times to deal with screaming children.
6 am Begin the routine again, and again, and again

For those of you who don't know the girls have had reflux and were not sleeping well because of it. They still spit up now, but not nearly as bad as they used to when they were younger. I don't think they would be considered colic babies, but they certainly were not good sleepers. We are still working on getting them to sleep well at naps, but I have given up hope that they will be as easy as Elijah. As if that wasn't enough, we got a dog. Not just any dog, a puppy who needed to be house broke and trained.
Chris has put up with a lot of neglect over the past few months and I am grateful for his help. He stepped right up and helped with the kiddos allowing em to get school work completed. We are enjoying the break for summer and are not necessarily excited about the intensity of next semester. I have two more classes to take before completing my degree and we will look back on this year of life through fuzzy lenses from the life in a whirlwind and be very grateful that chapter is complete.
Needless to say, the house is usually a mess with toys, laundry, dishes, poopy diapers and still...boxes. I may get a chance to go through them and organize a little, but I wouldn't count on it. So as I think about what has occurred in our lives since January. I am not sure how our girls got to be 9 months old all of the sudden. Last I remember they were still in premie clothing. Elijah is now almost 3 and Chris and I are now a year closer to 30. AGH!
There were many days beyond tears to the point of almost losing it for all the adults and possibly the children too. Many hours of screaming by everyone in the household, sometimes simultaneously. A few more times than we would like to admit saying, "You take this one. I will hurt them if I deal with them right now!" A few desperate phone calls for adult conversation as well as "Rescue me or one of us won't survive!" And even more moments of grace from above as well as many "I am sorry, do you forgive me?" moments of grace with each other.
Chris and I hear from people the reminder that the Lord won't give you more than you can handle (we are still in debate with teh Almighty over this one). I guess you could say we have found it to be true only because we have a team-mate unlike any other who will pick up our slack and fill in where we are weak. Ultimately we have the best team mate, Christ. There is no way we could have survived it alone with out Him or each other. As far as giving us more than we can handle, the cup was showing signs of overflowing, but somehow it has all been contained. So, when life feels like too much to handle, take one day at a time, or even one minute at a time and push through. This too shall come to an end.

A week of Fun!

Time just flies with 3 kids. This week Grammy came to stay for a few nights and we went to the Zoo as well as the usual...play, play, play (with many poopy diaper changes, lots of eating, crying, etc). These are just a few glimpses into our week. Grammy and Elijah are pretending to be flamingos. when we got home from the Sacramento Zoo, we aske dElijah what he did today and he replied, "We went to the zoo and saw all the animals that God created!" Love it. At least some things sink in:)

Alysah!Hannah!

If you don't know this is Elijah, then you must not be around much!

Growing So Fast

Life is flying by so fast. I am done with the semester (A sigh of relief for the entire household)! The girls are now 8 months old. I haven't blogged in a long time and well, that's our life. We were having trouble with the computers, so it has been difficult to blog, but hopefully our technical difficulties are fixed. Sorry, to all of you who haven't been able to keep up with us. I plan on trying to regularly. Here are a few quick picture updates until I get around to a few more stories and photos.

Our House

Here is our new house. It is in the process of being updated and needs lots of work, but it's a home. Please come visit us! We have space for visitors and our door is always open.
Our house is usually a little messy, so this is your warning before viewing the pictures. There is only so much time in a day and I do need a little sleep.

Settling In

We finally have begun getting things together at our house. We finally set up the computer today, so I thought it would be a good time to update everybody. I'll post pictures of the house soon, but for now we thought everbody might enjoy the crazy life of the Nolls and their little Darlings. It's still crazy we have 3 kids. I'm not quite sure how we make it through every day, but so far, so good. Since we have moved in we have npt prioritized putting things away. Chris has been doing household projects while Karissa spends most of her time writing her thesis for her Master's. There are days where we only see glimpses of the kitchen counter or carpet because cleaning has nor been a priority. There has been one day since we lived here that the table, kitchen counter, and living room have been clean. It was the day my paper was due. Karissa starts another class Tuesday, so progress will continue to be slow. So is the life with three little kiddos and a new house.

The girls turn 6 moths old March 16. They are healthy chubby babies just like Elijah. They have very distinct personalities, although sometimes they switch it up on us. Most of the time Alysah is relaxed and go with the flow, while Hannah is more demanding. In general, they are both super happy babies.

Elijah has a built in friend because the neighbors next door have a two-year-old boy. His name is Ben and they love playing together.

Giving three children a bath and doing bedtime is a major ordeal. It takes about an hour and a half from start to finish, and we are ready for bed ourselves when the day is done!!! Elijah decided he wanted to share bath time with his sisters, so we put them all in the tub. They adore each other. Both girls have this unusual licking thing. Their favorite thing to lick is the pole for their gym. Check out the distance they get. Just chillin in the swing!

Happy Holidays

We have been busy traveling from our Temporary new home on base at Travis AFB and Karissa's parent's house an hour away. We have been staying with them for the holidays and driving back to base for the work week. We have spent many hours cramped in the car with all the kids, but it's been nice to be with family for the holidays.

The girls are getting so big already and Elijah...well, he's just a 2-year old little boy. Yesterday, Elijah decided he wasn't tired for a nap. He decided to get into the tube of thick body cream and the huge bottle of baby powder. The picture speaks for itself. It took Daddy and Grandpa about two hours to shampoo and clean the carpets.

Check out the new video of Hannah Chatting with Daddy on the top right.