The Nobmann Family

cool rides

2009-09-23T13:20:00.006-05:00

My sister, Becky, and her husband, Troy, live about 40 minutes away on the other side of Spring. They also have a ranch out in Brenham. When I told Harrison we were headed to the Ranch on Labor day, he started to jump up and down and flap his arms (standard in Harrison land for "I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!") "The ranch!" He said. "They have cool rides there!" ...referring to his uncle's crazy driving on the Polaris and the four wheelers.

On Labor day we added some more cool rides to Harrison's list when we spent the day on the lake. We all had a great time-Lincoln even fell asleep stuffed into a much-too-big life jacket. Harrison was so brave- he let us pull him alone on the knee board! And Asher kept insisting on being allowed to drive the boat- he was a man on a mission- kept going for the steering wheel and wanting to touch the controls. Uncle Troy fed his hopes a little on the way back to dock.

See Becky's sneaky thumbs up in the picture of she and I on the tube? That's how you tell whoever's driving to go faster. Thing is, from the moment she and I got on, Sean and Troy were already conniving as to how to spill us. Riding on the tube is mild enough for even Asher- except that time.

still shaking

2009-09-04T19:44:00.004-05:00

I have to admit, I have a love-hate relationship with summer...

love that when the boys say, "Mom, let's spend the whole day together" we actually can.
hate bearing the full burden of keeping them busy with "something constructive" (as my mother would put it.)

love going swimming and water fights
hate the heat that makes us scurry to the pool- particularly Houston's humid- makes my skin break out like I'm 16 again- heat.

love the sounds of Harrison and Asher playing so sweetly it's like they're following a script from a PBS kids' show.
hate when they fight so much and so loudly in one day it's like the house is going to implode.

and so on.

Last week school began, and with it came some blissful moments of quiet when both boys were at school. Asher attends preK 1/2 days at the same elementary school where Harrison is a first grader.

The goal has been to have the boys come home on the bus together in the afternoons, but for some reason our address wouldn't register for us to get a correct bus #. The teachers sent home little slips to be filled out for transporation each day in the first week anyway, so I'd filled out everything for them to be picked up by me the first week.

After waiting 45 minutes in the pick up line last Wednesday- I'm at the front, Harrison's in his seat getting buckled, and I see Asher's teacher approach, furrow her brow, turn around and scan the sea of kids, and approach again. "I put Asher on the bus." She says flatly, then adding, "You can probably get home before him if you hurry." She apparently couldn't find his slip and had referred to his long term paperwork which said bus.

Wondering where that little slip that I so carefully placed in a see through pocket in Asher's bag could have possibly gone, I move onto praying that he's on a bus that actually stops near our house. The whole way home I'm thinking, "Asher's four- what if he gets off near a house that looks like ours- or what if he gets off near the neighborhood pool because that's what he recognizes? What if he starts wandering? What if some wierdo's out prowling?..." We pulled into the driveway.

Asher wasn't home yet.

I posted Harrison at the bus stop in front of the house and got on the phone with the school-requesting the principal. "Dr. ____'s helping with dismissal right now, I'll forward you to her voicemail," the receptionist began. I interrupted her in my-I'm trying really hard not to lose it- voice, and said, "My four year old was just placed on a bus by mistake. I have no idea where he is. I need to speak with her right now." Long story short, during the conversation with the Principal, Harrison flung open the front door and said, "Great news, Asher's home!"

Asher stepped off the bus and said, "this is the bestest day ever! I got to ride the bus for the first time!"

And, still in that little pocket was that little slip, which clearly showed he was to be picked up by mom that day-

We're so thankful he made it back to us okay and oblivious of any problem. My sweet, innocent little man- the what ifs made me shake for an hour. And, the whole experience made me think of the mountains of mommy mistakes I'd made in my four years with him. I'm just so glad I have more time... It made me wish for the simplicity of Summer again.

great people great fun

2009-08-27T13:30:00.007-05:00

Our internet quit for a week right after I finished my last blog spurt. I didn't get to write about the great time we had with the Fowler family when they came to visit a month ago.
Such wonderful people- we know them from a Provo ward we lived in when we had Harrison. They interned in Dallas this summer, and Anna posted pictures on her blog a few months ago of the intern experience- makeshift furniture and living arrangements, that flooded Sean and I with memories of our three summers in three different states.
While they may not have loved every aspect of interning, we were so glad they were close enough to come to Houston for a weekend. Harrison and Asher had so much fun with their two terrific little boys, Jimmy and Johnny. And, Sean and I loved staying up late playing Ticket to Ride with James and Anna. Anna is so gracious, and such a patient mom. And, James braved all four boys at once in wrestling! We sure hope they end up in Texas!

linky-loo

2009-08-16T23:28:00.002-05:00

I'm a big boy now.

The littlest little man is learning to sit. After sitting comes crawling, with crawling comes, "uh-oh, I gotta clean the carpets, and and put those plastic things in all the plugs, and do something about those cords, and buy cabinet locks, and maybe take down the drapes so he doesn't pull them on himself..."

More than that, when we enter this curious stage, I love the window into his emerging personality, and often feel a little sad that the 'little baby' days are almost over.

linky-loo

2009-08-16T23:22:00.003-05:00

Lincoln is a little munchy mouth. It's super cute when they start watching every bite go in your mouth as you eat, and then they flap and squawk a little to let you know they'd like some too.

Here's some pictures of his first meal several weeks ago.

linky-loo

2009-08-16T23:17:00.004-05:00

I don't remember either of the older boys adopting a toy as their favorite until they were much older, but this little rattle was Lincoln's favorite for a few months. He would shake it like a madman, and then pause to stare at the little beads inside- so sweet. He loved this little toy from about 2-5 months.

linky-loo

2009-08-16T23:07:00.004-05:00

two to three months

The Janis family

2009-08-16T22:47:00.004-05:00

We had some great friends visit us in July: the Janis family. We know the Janis family from the work Sean did with the J. Rueben Clark Law Society in law school. Daron attended William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA, and they were amazing hosts when we visited them there our last year at Duke. They live in Dallas now, and stopped in for a day in July. They have sweet little ones, Esther and Nathan, and we loved having them here! Their pictures turned out way better than ours. Go to their blog to check them out!

keeping busy

2009-08-16T21:30:00.006-05:00

When I was a little girl, I remember looking forward longingly to the lazy days of Summer...warm weather, the smell of freshly cut-lawns (to this day still my favorite smell ever), splash contests in our little plastic pools in the backyard, and the crowning glory of it all, sleeping in.
Funny thing though, after about two weeks, I'd feel super bored, miss having a sense of routine, and want school to start again.
And, the cycle never changed. I thought it would likely be the same for my boys this summer, so I decided to schedule the days, and do "school" in the mornings. So, we've had a summer filled with themed days, oodles of crafts, cool outings, and yes- even a bit of learning. As we cycled through some simple centers in the mornings, it was fun to see them using toys, games, and puzzles that would have otherwise been neglected.
And, no worries, they had "recess" every afternoon. Ironically, that was actually the part I had to force them to do with the crazy Houston heat!
Here's some pictures from the days we learned about policemen, ocean creatures, rockets, soccer, and turtles. I found tons cool videos on youtube- like of rocket launches and butterfly metamorphosis. For my other favorite video site, click here . For favorite coloring/craft sites, click here , here, and here. For super cool facts on snakes and other critters, click here.

Have to write it so I don't forget it

2009-06-24T22:43:00.005-05:00

So, every night, we share a scripture story with the boys. Last night, I talked about Hannah. We talked about how she prayed and prayed to have a baby. I explained that she was blessed with Samuel, and that Harrison (Samuel Harrison) is named after him because I love this story. I shared a quick testimony about prayers and reminded the boys that we'd prayed alot as a family to have another baby- and now are blessed with Lincoln.
All was well... After family prayer, brushing teeth, going potty, and songs, it was time for individual prayers. Sometimes we wonder what our kids get from our efforts to teach, right? Here's what that story prompted Asher to request in his prayer:

"Please bless Mommy that she will have one hundred and sixty, eighty babies.... and that they will all be boys... tomorrow."

Whoa!

Happy Birthday, Harrison!!!

2009-06-14T22:35:00.002-05:00

May 31, 2003 was the day our first baby came to live with us. One moment you're a couple, the next moment, you're a family. Thank you, Harrison, for all you are and do to keep making us a family. We love you. And we're happy you think your remote control helicopter is the "best birthday present ever!"

And, for those who know, that's a french chocolate fudge football cake. Yummy!

Can you believe it? I dressed myself to go to my friend's house.

2009-06-14T22:27:00.003-05:00

How to get Asher's look:

1. blue and white striped socks
2. red soccer socks
3. rain boots

be sure to pair with shorts!

Perfect!

Congratulations on graduation from Kindergarten, Harrison! We love you and are so proud of you. Mrs. Hadland was the best teacher ever!

2009-06-14T22:13:00.001-05:00

Guardasaurus

2009-06-14T21:50:00.005-05:00

When Lincoln was just a few days old, Harrison came into our room with a favorite stuffed animal, Dino. Dino was armed to the teeth- literally. Harrison's explanation was that now he was all ready "to protect baby Lincoln."

Notice the sword, the helmet, the shield, the spear, the bow, and the quiver- which used to be full of arrows...

Dino still sits on the dresser by the crib.

Watching.

Two goals for Harrison. Two goals for Asher. Soccer's done and Summer's begun!

2009-06-14T21:25:00.004-05:00

The Bear Cave

2009-06-14T21:01:00.005-05:00

Last Fall, Asher learned about bears at preschool. Since then, Harrison, Mom, and Dad have all tasted thousands of pretend berries (you use your paws for those) and fish (these you must snatch directly in your jaws). We've also consumed thousands of pints of imaginary honey- watch out for the bees!

What's the best part about being a bear? Making cool bear caves... Though Mommy has to admit that playing bears sometimes includes convincing Asher it's time for a little hibernation.

Asher's Birthday

2009-06-14T20:38:00.003-05:00

Fishies, Fishies, Everywhere! Asher's birthday was in March, but because of baby Lincoln's arrival, we had his belated b-day party recently. We all especially liked the water pinata-- a fun idea I found online. We filled a blue trash bag with water and water toys for some splash and scramble fun.

5 a.m. Easter

2009-04-19T23:11:00.006-05:00

The boys were super excited for Easter. 5 a.m. excited. We said goodbye to good sleep March 1st anyway...

COMFORT

2009-04-19T22:32:00.006-05:00

Asher and Harrison love to amass whatever the favorite toys or books of the day are and sleep with them. They've even been wearing their Spiderman and Tiger costumes to bed OVER their pjs and with their boots.

They don't seem to mind being surrounded by pointy pokiness. In fact, the uncomfortableness issue isn't an issue. They prefer the comforting sense of being surrounded by what gives them happiness.

Not so wierd after all.

lookin' for a little powder

2009-04-19T22:12:00.003-05:00

We had this big piece of cardboard in our house from, well, I don't know. Anyway, Harrison and Asher always make good use of such trash/treasure. They're like little sculptors who can see a masterpiece in a hunk of rock. We've had cardboard swords last for months before, and have many a time sledded down the bottom of the stairs on our very own cardboard sled. But this piece of cardboard was destined for something different- something more- like Vail, Park City, Big Sky... this cardboard was meant to see the slopes. Apparently, the plastic golf clubs were, too!

sweet baby

2009-04-19T21:32:00.003-05:00

My friend, Mary, did these pictures for us. Lincoln was a dream for the shoot- except for peeing in Mom's face- but it's not like that's never happened before. He is, after all, baby boy #3.

He is the sweetest baby. He rarely cries, and when he does, it's more of a little fuss than an all out holler. He quiets almost instantly... what a gift of joy he is.

Harrison and Asher have truly attached to him. They're very protective. Asher's actually given a few people the evil eye at church and quietly, but firmly informed them "he's our baby" when they fawn over Lincoln. (We'll have to work on that one).

The big boys don't mind helping by getting diapers ready, etc. But of course, the favorite task is to get Lincoln to smile or "talk" to them. It's been four years since we had a baby... I'd almost forgotten how rewarding a "conversation" of coos with a six week old can be.

Showing off some neck muscles- and
a perfect baby bum.

Lincoln Asa Nobmann

2009-03-16T22:37:00.004-05:00

On March 1st, 2009, we welcomed Lincoln Asa Nobmann into our family. This now makes boy number three. A friend once made the comment that when he and his wife had their third, this required the switch from man-to-man to zone defense.

Unfortunately, since we were already losing to the two boys, I fear the consequences of "Team Offspring" now taking advantage of always having one man wide open in the paint. We may need to impose the mercy rule--also known as "Pixar."

Mother and baby are doing fine, which is not to say the delivery was routine. We arrived at the hospital at 10 AM Sunday morning and the nurse said Katherine was already at a nine. Since she was already so close, and not in much pain, she passed on the epidural and they broke her water. After a couple of hours, the baby had still not engaged. The doctor came to check on Katherine and, eyes wide, said, "this is a big baby!"

Katherine started pushing, and after a few sets of pushes, the baby's head would come down, but not stay down. The doctor again commented on the size of the baby and said a c-section may be necessary. As a last resort, the doctor suggested Pitocin. This baby was not coming out any time soon.

Katherine then got an epidural, and started on the Pitocin. After about an hour, the baby was engaged and the pushing began again. Shortly, the head was out, but the shoulders were stuck. There are four options to try to remove such a baby, and ours was out after three of the four. Step four would have involved the doctor reaching in and breaking the shoulder bone.

Occasionally, even option four is unsuccessful. When this happens, the doctor tucks the already-emerged head under, and pushes it back inside. Yes, back inside. An emergency c-section is then performed. Fortunately, Lincoln only required the first three options, as somehow my amazing, petite Katherine was able to deliver our 8 lb 12 oz "Lincoln Log."

Notwithstanding the delivery drama, Lincoln has been an absolute dream baby. We have to wake him up at night to feed him, and have often laid him down when he is tired, but still awake, only to have him fall asleep on his own. We are absolutely floored. We would have been less surprised if he'd come home and cleaned the bathrooms.

the funny things they say...

2009-02-26T13:11:00.005-06:00

February in Texas is more like mid spring is everywhere else, except we still get our share of Winter's colds and flus. We've had it pretty easy on the sickness front since coming to Texas' warm climate, but of course occasionally someone gets a cold, and obligingly passes it along to the rest of the family. So, from the germ factory that a public elementary school is, Harrison brought home a cold recently, and Asher's had it this last week or so.

He woke mom in the middle of the night a few days back, saying, "I'm stuck, Mommy. I'm stuck." I said, "What do you mean, Asher? To which he continued to lament in his half awake stage that he was "stuck." Finally, I woke up enough to realize he meant he needed some help blowing his nose- poor little guy. Last night he came in and woke up Sean, saying, "I'm gonna 'splode, Daddy! I'm gonna 'splode!" Which once again was a request for help with a 2:00 a.m. nose blowing.

And Harrison told me on the way home from soccer practice this week (which was a little chilly and got his nose running) that there was a "waterfall of boogies coming out of his face."

Though colds don't make our list of favorite things, some of these comments sure have. We wish all of you health as Winter closes, and if not that, a few choice phrases to laugh about!

brothers are the best

2009-02-15T23:50:00.002-06:00

Harrison and Asher are the best of friends... or not. As with lots of siblings, there's not much middle ground. They're learning to take good care of each other, and Valentine's Day is not the only day at our house when "I love you" notes are made for each other...those days do a mother's heart good...

living life at the top of your lungs

2009-02-15T23:39:00.002-06:00

Harrison's our little fireball- full of intensity and energy. He's delightfully spirited, and has found great joy in lots of sports this last year. He's on a small soccor team coached by a dad in the ward; and loves to spin out out on his big wheel or play football whenever dad or Asher are game.

Asher means Happy

2009-02-15T23:30:00.003-06:00

As many of you know, Asher means happy in Hebrew, and the name fits. Asher' s content to do projects- like making mud pies- playing in the leaves- or decorating a gingerbread house- for long stretches of time. He's full of "I love you's" and we adore him.

preschool

2009-02-15T23:16:00.003-06:00

Katherine's been teaching preschool with a few other moms in the ward. We rotate through weeks- and we ended up getting the Thanksgiving party. I helped the kids make their own little pies, and they helped me with some of the other foods for our feast. This is a picture of our little Native Americans and Piligrims.

SNOW IN HOUSTON

2009-02-15T23:08:00.002-06:00

So, funny thing about hurricanes, I guess they do something funky to the humidity for the season following, and can actually be a catalyst for snow. Yeah, snow. One of the highlights of the Christmas season this year was a snowstorm in mid December. It was tons of fun!

Hurricane Ike

2009-02-15T22:25:00.003-06:00

So, lots of friends and family have been curious about pictures from Hurricane Ike. I know this is old news, but they were something we were going to post but never got around to. The eye of the storm passed right over us, and spun off several tornadoes in our county, so we were without any electricity for 10 days, and local damage was impressive. There was lots of cleanup and many trees through many roofs.

We felt so blessed that we were safe and had everything in order to happily endure. And, the cleanup provided many wonderful opportunities to serve and lift others.

The boys behaved beautifully- tho our kitchen table will never recover from all the craft projects from that week and a half. There's only so much you can do to keep little ones entertained when you can't go anywhere or even put in a movie...

They were such good boys and did a great job helping with the cleanup of the back yard. They earned a penny for every broken tree branch they picked up- Harrison had over 200, and Asher almost as many.

The night of the storm was sort of surreal- to listen to the wind build and the rain pelt harder and harder; then to lose power and with it the hum of the air conditioning and appliances- made the sounds of the storm even more intense. The humidity and heat built so quickly in the house- tho it was 12:30am when we lost power. The boys woke up from the noise and the swampy heat, and we all huddled in a closet trying to go back to sleep. Then, amidst the pounding rain, relentless wind, and thousands of tree branch snaps, there was a big boom, and the ground shook. We wouldn't find out until the next morning that a huge pine tree- over 100 feet tall- had come down right next to the house.

Texas Halloween Rookies

2008-11-02T22:02:00.009-06:00

You know those things you do to be a good parent? Like, driving past the Fall Festival less than a mile a way because a neighbor tells you there's one ten miles away that has pony rides? So, you make the drive, patting yourself on the back the whole way. You get there, eat a hotdog, choose a pumpkin, and then, the best part of all... the pony ride.

Harrison wouldn't even get on the thing, and Asher, well you can see what he thought about it. To add insult to injury, he went on a preschool field trip a few days later, and you guessed it, there were more pony rides. This picture's actually from that.

A friend was driving Sean home from a meeting last week, and he saw our Jack-o-Lanterns on the front porch. "So, you already carved pumpkins, eh?" He said. Sean laughed and told him they'd already rotted though they'd just been out a few days. "Rookies." he chided. Guess Halloween in Texas is a little different than what we're used to. Well, the Texas Halloween Rookies did take #2 and carved a second set of pumpkins the day before Halloween. We're happy to report those two pumpkins smiled and "booed" for almost a week.

Boys will be boys

2008-11-02T21:42:00.007-06:00

Dressing mom up cool-in Dad's basketball shorts and Harrison's basketball shirt;
Horsey rides that always end in a collapse;
Playing in the mud;
Playing in the rain;
Wrestling...
Boys will be boys. And, we love em'!!!!

it's a bird... it's a plane... it's SUPERMAN!!!

2008-11-02T21:02:00.003-06:00

Ah, Superman- every little boy's hero... and ours are no exception. Playing Superman is a favorite with the boys and Mom. They pile up foam cushion at the bottom of the stairs, put on their capes- and sometimes their Superman p.j.s, and "fly" down the stairs. It's great, harmless fun that gets alot of energy out. So, Mom's happy, the boys are happy, and Texas is a safer place for the Superman duo that resides here! Amazingly, there's only been one minor injury...

I can be anything...

2008-11-02T20:49:00.008-06:00

Our little men love to play dress up. They can improv with just about anything to create just the right "look." Here, you see the baseball team, the pirate with his map, football players complete with a knight's helmet and the tried and true cowboy hat/baseball helmet combo (so, apparently we need to get some kiddie football helmets), and the fisherman.

Friends, and the COOLEST bug ever!!!

2008-11-02T20:37:00.005-06:00

We've had the treat of welcoming some visits from good friends over the past year. Summer and James are friends from Utah that have been here a few times. Their sweet little daughter, Abby is a grand playmate! The highlight of one of their last visits was the discovery the COOLEST BUG EVER! No, seriously, I've seen a lot of bugs, and most of you know how not super fond of them I am. But this one- wow! He was cool!

Easter

2008-11-02T20:28:00.004-06:00

Here are some pics from Easter. One from home, and some from a neighborhood party.

Workin' on the house...

2008-11-02T20:08:00.004-06:00

It's been an adventure to invest love and time into making our house a home. We all know Katherine's well... shall we say frugal? So, our family room curtains are made from canvas drop cloths (you know- they go under painters), and the kitchen's cornice boxes and window seat cushion covers are made from $5 shower curtains, OSB, and foam from the fabric store- about a $20 project.

We've had some crazy issues with leaks- the best one- a toilet upstairs leaked what they call "black water" (yep. That's exactly what you think it is. The nasty stuff.) into the floor-ceiling space below it. Everything's been under warranty- but some of the kitchen had to be partitioned off for awhile to fix it.

Christmas 2007

2008-11-02T19:54:00.004-06:00

So, we thought we'd give everyone a quick review of our last year. We moved to Texas in August of 2007. We welcomed Pop Pop for a visit last November, and Grandma Annie came for Sean's birthday and Christmas in December. The boys loved decorating the Christmas tree with Pop Pop. We had so much fun on a special outing to the mall with Grandma Annie. They brought in a truckload of snow and dumped it on a tarp for kids to play in. Santa and his reindeer were there too. Katherine's Montana heart couldn't let her boys miss out on the chance to play in some white wonder!!!