The month of December always goes by so quickly and this year was no exception. I went back to work on December 1st so I can safely say that it was the craziest month of my life so far. Adjusting to life with 2 working parents, a 3 (almost 4) year old and a 3 month old doesn't leave much time for peace and quiet or organizing and cleaning. However, we love our loud, messy life and are so thankful for it every day!

Christmas was so much fun! Needless to say, Anneliese and Ainsley got loaded down with gifts. We had a great time spending the holidays with family and only wish the time didn't go by so fast so that we had more time to visit with everyone. Here are some pics of all the fun:


















As you can tell, Ainsley didn't get into much of the action. She actually slept through most of the unwrapping. I'm sure next year she'll be ready to cause a ruckus with her sister and cousins! Thanks to everyone for another wonderful holiday season!

(p.s. I'm not being partial to the Henke family on purpose. My camera battery died before we had our Noska family Christmas so I got absolutely no pictures from that day. :( )

2009 was extra special for us and I'm sure 2010 has many great things to come. We wish all of you a new year full of blessings!

Love,
Brandon, Jennifer, Anneliese & Ainsley

True to the blue, baby!

We finally made it to a SHS game! Anneliese and I actually saw the second half of a game the Friday before Halloween but Ainsley didn't join us until this past weekend. It was time for the annual St. Paul game so the girls and I drove home to cheer on grandpa and those Indians! Anneliese went fully prepared with pom-poms, noise makers and an Indian jersey with grandpa's name on it.


Ainsley doesn't yet have any Indian gear so we improvised a little for the picture. She slept through this whole game but I know she was cheering on the Indians in her dreams.


Anneliese is having a difficult time deciding if she wants to be a cheerleader, a twirler or in the band. She may be the first to do all 3! She may be leaning a little heavier towards twirling because she discovered they get to wear sparkly uniforms. Shelby was nice enough to take a picture with Anneliese.


A few more pics at the game.





And finally, could the long running rivalry be ending?


Probably not but to a 3 year old who loves cheerleaders, it doesn't matter what color they wear! This picture turned out so cute - thanks Kaci!

Unfortunately, for the first time in 19 years, the Indians lost. But as they say, every streak is made to be broken. And I know our St. Paul cousins were very happy. The Indians are headed to the playoffs. I don't know if we'll be able to make it to any of those games but we will be cheering them on in spirit. Anneliese and Ainsley will be ready to cheer them on in full force next season!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween has come and gone and Anneliese loved every minute of it! This year, she got to trick or treat 3 times (and she got 3 wears out of her costume!).

It started out on the Thursday before when we went trick-or-treating in downtown Buda for Boo-da Halloween. Every year the businesses stay open late or set up tables downtown on the Thursday before Halloween to let the kiddos start their trick-or-treating early. It's a great warm-up for the big night.

We got the ballerinas dressed and took pictures with our pumpkins before heading out. (You can't see but Ainsley has ballerina slippers on her onesie.)




This year, the Grahmanns and Whiteds (minus James who was working) were able to join us. All the kids looked adorable and had great fun!




Next came all of the Halloween fun at school. After Mass, the fun started with Halloween bingo.


Then the kids got to walk around the circle and drop treats into their friends' bags. Anneliese had bubbles and Halloween fruit chews to pass out.


After lunch and a nap, the kids got to put on their costumes and head over to the Family Center for the costume parade.

Here's Anneliese with her class - she was the line leader on Friday and was quite proud to lead the line! (Notice the man in black at the right edge of the picture - that's Father Bill, our pastor. We all just love him!)


This is her friend Zoe. Zoe's mom is subbing for me while I'm on maternity leave and she's awesome!


This is her teacher, Mrs. Gosey. Anneliese really likes her!


Finally, it was the real Halloween. We went to Hallettsville so we could enjoy the fun with all of the grandparents. Nickie and Wyatt were able to join us. It was great to see them and I enjoyed catching up with Nickie.

Here's Anneliese and Wyatt with our Geisha Girl who was handing out candy at Mom's house while we trick-or-treated.


Ainsley stayed awake for a little bit of her first trick-or-treating experience. Tonight, she was a jack-o-lantern.


By now, Anneliese was an old pro at getting candy and she went up to most of the doors by herself.


Here's part of her entourage. I don't think there's ever been a bigger adult entourage for one trick-or-treater. ;)


And after walking for blocks and blocks, our ballerina hitched a ride.


Halloween was a ton of fun! We loved being able to celebrate it in Hallettsville. And luckily, Granny and Grandpa had so many trick-or-treaters that we ended up giving out some of Anneliese's candy so we actually came home with a manageable amount.

It is so hard to believe that it's November and the holidays are quickly approaching. My elf and I have already been making plans about when to get the Christmas lights on our house. Where does the time go?

Hope everyone had a fun Halloween and is as ready for the holidays as we are!

Love,
the Noskas

p.s. Make sure to keep scrolling down - I posted some new pics of Ainsley in a separate blog.

New Ainsley pics

Ainsley has been busy growing, growing, growing! It's so hard to believe that in 7 short weeks, she has grown and changed so much. Here are a few of our favorite pics:







We got to go see the newest member of the Henke clan this weekend and got a few pics of little Kennedy and Ainsley. It's so funny to us to see Ainsley as the "big" baby. When Anneliese was born, she was the teeny one compared to all of the boys and now compared to Kennedy, Ainsley looks huge! It's going to be so much fun watching these two grow up together!



Stay tuned - Halloween pics are on their way!

Pumpkin Patch

Every year the Buda Methodist Church loads up a grassy area in downtown Buda with tons of pumpkins. Anneliese has been asking when the pumpkins were coming for quite some time and a couple of weekends ago they finally arrived. She was so excited! Last night the girls put on their Halloween shirts and we headed to the pumpkin patch to pick out the perfect pumpkins. We ended up with a pumpkin for every member of our family, including Maggie.

Of course, we had to take advantage of the photo opps first. Ainsley slept right through all the excitement but Anneliese cooperated and smiled pretty.





Pictures of the carving of the pumpkins will come soon.


And I just have to share Anneliese's very first official school photo. She did a great job!



Have a great weekend!
Love,
the Noskas

Cute Quote

Here's a heart warming quote to get your week started:

This morning at 6:25 a.m. as I sit feeding Ainsley, Anneliese looks over at me and says "Momma, I love having a sister." My heart instantly turned to mush!

I've been told many times to keep a journal of sweet and funny things Anneliese (and eventually Ainsley) says so that I'll remember them in my old age. In an effort to do that, I'm going to try to do a better job at blogging these kinds of quotes.

Have a great week, everyone!

Love,
the Noskas

Homecoming Week '09

This week was Homecoming Week at St. Ignatius and Anneliese got to enjoy all of the fun Homecoming activities - including the dress-up days.

Monday was Western Day.


Tuesday was Crazy Hat & Sock Day. Anneliese took that to mean Crazy Face day as well. ;)


Wednesday was Green & Gold Day. Anneliese got to wear her very first mum! Thank you to my very good friend Natalie who made it for her. She was thrilled to have it on. She also got to see her very first pep rally with cheerleaders and a bobcat mascot. I didn't get any pictures of that but when I picked her up, she was grinning from ear to ear!


Thursday was Sport Jersey Day. She got to wear her SHS jersey with Grandpa's name on the back and she was very excited to get to show it off to her friends. She's true to the blue, baby!


Friday is Mass day so there's no crazy dress-up day since they all have to wear their Mass uniforms. Anneliese enjoyed her first Homecoming Week tremendously!

Ainsley's still doing well. Not much to report with her because she still mainly does what babies do best - eat, sleep and poop! She has had a few firsts:

First tummy time together with first time on her play mat:


First time in the Elmo chair:


First time in the swing:


And first time wrapped up as the true baby burrito:


Anneliese is still being a great big sister and enjoying every photo opp possible with Ainsley.

I have to say that this first one was totally not staged. I was making Anneliese's lunch one morning and when I went to fix her hair, this is how I found her. She is so sweet!




Love to all,
Brandon, Jennifer, Anneliese & Ainsley