Noah is ...

... German

just in case you forgot

Happy Birthday, Toby

You are one of my favorite cousins and I love you so much

I hope you are having a great birthday
I can't wait to see you and Sam this weekend and play

You and Sam are my best camping buddies

I like you because you are such a fast runner
Almost as fast as me

It is so fun to just hang out with you
I love to come to Logan and visit you

Thank you for teaching me how to ski
We need to do more of that this year

Maybe this year I will be able to do cool tricks like you
Will you show me how?

Max and Friends

Hello Friends and Family,

I figured if Noah can blog, so can I. In my first post I wanted to tell you about my friends. I don't have a whole lot yet but some. Mainly girls, cause I like girls. Out of all girls, I like my Mama the best because she has all the yummy milk. But I won't count her as a friend here.

Then there is Rubie. She is only 6 days younger than me and I can already tell that we are going to be best buds. Just like our older siblings. Usually we just hang out together while our brothers have fun and play. We can't wait to join them.



Sometimes no one notices us. I don't understand how that can be since we are so incredibly cute. But it happens. Our brothers just want all the attention. So then we scream really loud, both of us. That way they will notice us for sure.


I also have my eye on Ireland. She is about 6 weeks younger than me and also really cute. At the moment I can't really decide which one I like better. But my Mama tells me that that is o.k., I can like both of them, and that I will meet many more beautiful girls. I can't wait.


But my best friend is Noah. My big brother is way fun and really good entertainment. When he is at preschool, I don't like it that much. Mama is kinda boring. She always tried to get stuff done when it is just me at home.


Noah always has time for me and teaches me cool things. I don't like his nose kisses that much but I can endure them. Thanks, Noah.


Maybe my mom will finally take some pictures of me rolling from my stomach to my back and the other way round. I have been doing it for a while and still have no proof. When she does, I will post some. Until then I will practice sitting and standing up.

Not Cute

You will probably think that this sweater is really cute. So do my parents.


That is why I don't like to wear it. I just don't like to wear cute things. I like to wear the ugliest thing in my closet at any given time. I think that is why my mom hides the ugly things. She thinks I will forget about them, but I don't. So I put this sweater on mainly so she can take some pictures. And because it was Sunday.













I have to tell you, though, that my aunt Jeanette from Berlin made it. And I have to admit that she did a really good job. The best thing are the buttons: they are from reindeer antlers. Those are pretty cool. Unfortunately I can't just wear the buttons only.

Not a Potty

Hi everyone,

I have not posted anything or a while because I can never get to the computer. Either Mama is writing Emails, reading blogs, or researching something or other. Or Papa is paying bills. But now that I don't take naps anymore, I have some more time on my hands.

Plus, I wanted to tell you about this cool thing. It is called a Bumbo. We are borrowing it from some neighbors and I love it.


I know, it kinda looks like a potty and I kinda look like I am using it as a potty, but I am not. I love to sit in it. Mainly, because it is for Max, and for some reason I especially like all the things that are for Max.

Sometimes I let him use it though














But often I make him lie on the floor while I sit in it. It is just so he will get strong neck muscles. I don't want a wimp as a brother. That is also the reason why I constantly either sit on him, lie on him, pull on him, roll him, etc. Or maybe it is just to drive my parents crazy. Either way it is fun.

2 out of 8

8 is how many swim lessons we signed Noah up for

2 is how many times he went in the water

6 is how many times he watched from the side of the pool



Why? I have no idea! But he sure loved it once he got in. He even passed off all the requirements in one session. Now, of course, he is sad that it is all over. I have yet to understand the reasoning of a 3-year-old.

The last day was play day!



I thought I'd also throw in a picture of Max swimming

Wimmelbuch

Ich weiß nicht, wo sich dieses Buch versteckt hat, seit Noah es von seiner Reise mit Oma und Opa zurückgebracht hat. Aber ich habe es gestern Abend in seinem Bücherregal gefunden und wollte es zum ersten Mal mit ihm lesen.

Ich: "Noah, ich habe das Wimmelbuch gefunden. Willst Du es mit mir lesen?"

Noah: "Nein. Das Wimmebluch lese ich nur mit Oma!" (in Hochdeutsch)


Nachdem ich ihm dann erklärt habe, dass wir Oma und Opa leider lange nicht sehen werden und ich das Buch noch nie gelesen habe, hat er eingewilligt und wir haben es zusammen gelesen.

Vielen Dank für das tolle Buch, Oma. Es gibt sogar Noah's Laufrad drin: aus Holz und mit rotem Sitz. Echt super.

My two lizard lovers

Karl found this really beautiful lizard in the sand in Moab. It must have really liked Karl because it would not run away but just hang out with him and Noah. They did all sorts of fun things with him. Well, Karl did. Noah was only interested for about 2o seconds. Karl, however, had fun with him for at least 20 minutes. That is my biologist.

We wanted to take him home and have him as a pet. Maybe next time.

Emily and Arches NP

We wanted to take Emily to a fun, cool, gorgeous place in Utah and decided Arches NP should be the one. We would have loved to take her to all the beautiful places in Utah since there are so many but we had to take our pick. It was the perfect time of year to go down there. Way too hot in the summer but nice and warm in the fall.

We left early in the morning (hence Max wearing pajamas) and made our traditional stop at the sand hill, just outside of Moab.



It is so fun for Noah (and us) to play in the sand, jump off the rocks, climb to the top of the hill, build sand castles, etc.



We had lunch by the river, followed by a hike in Negro's canyon. At the end of the hike Noah found this monster truck. Notice the little monster truck in his hand. He hardly ever goes anywhere without a monster truck. I think we brought 3 of them to Moab with us. At least.



Then we headed to Arches National Park where we were very lucky to be able to get a camp spot. It turned out that two of Karl's sisters were coming down with their family the same weekend (fall break) and had already reserved one. The campground is pretty small and very popular and it is extremely hard to get a camp site. The view from our spot was breath taking.



Arches is great for kids. There are quite a few shorter hikes with wonderful arches on the way. So even Noah could hike to a few of them.







My three boys taking a break and enjoying the scenery. Notice again the monster truck in Noah's hand. He loves Moab partly because he knows that this is the place where jeeps, dune buggies and monster trucks come to climb over the rocks.



We also hiked Delicate Arch which is the most famous one and on our license plate. Emily liked this one the best.





Noah, of course, cared more about his cousins than the arch. It was so fun to have them all there. They definitely motivated Noah to hike more than he would have otherwise.





The kid's favorite was definitely Sanddune Arch. Just a huge fun playground in nature.





Hanging out with Abbey by the campfire (after eating some blue piece of candy)



Max turned out to be such a great camper, much to our relief! He loved being outside all day in the warm sun. The nights were not any worse than at home. The last one was actually better than at home. Here he is all bundled up at night.



Thanks everyone for such a fun trip! We are a little sad (very sad, actually) to have to call this the last camping trip of the season. Unfortunately, we will have to postpone winter camping for a few years, though. But then again, we have this super warm queen-size sleeping bag that might fit all four of us...

Children's Museum

We finally made it to the children's museum in Salt Lake. We had planned to go to the Zoo but it was so cold and rainy that we preferred an inside activity. Noah's much loved cousins Toby and Sam joined us.

Noah was a construction worker





He was a grocery shopper



He was a farmer on a horse



He was a house builder



They explored a helicopter



They built cool things out of pipes



Noah's favorite was this red car. He filled it up with groceries and checked the air pressure in the tires.



He filled it up with gas and had a blast



Unfortunately, he was a little too possessive about it. Nobody else could even look at it, let alone touch it.



So Papa had a talk with the little man



Max also enjoys hanging out with his cousins