Our life... new, exciting, adventureous!

November 19-26 we took a roadtrip to St Louis, Missouri to see Sean's younger brother, Brett and Mattie and the kids. It was kind of a pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving. lol Although we opted out of the turkey dinner. :) But after a few months of planning, we hit the road in Sean's new little VW GTI!!! We got out of town around 6am. Pulled Emery out of bed in her jammies and she went straight into the car. We did the drive in a total of 11 1/2 hours with that including only an hour of stops! Not bad with a 3 year old! But Emery came down with, what we think now was, the flu the day before. She seemed ok so we proceeded with our plans. But I have to admit that probably added to her being so 'good' and quiet all the way there, poor thing. She was a trooper though! She just chilled in the back, played with her toys, watched movies and Bubble Guppies on the iPad and enjoyed the scenery. She, unfortunately, only slept about an hour so when she woke up that was the worst hour of our drive. But overall not bad at all!!! We drove up through Oklahoma taking the "scenic", and might I add, most boring route through small towns instead of staying on the interstate. Oh well. Did I mention she asked about 4 times in the first hour "How long till we're there?"? hahahahaha This is gonna be a long day!!! lol

Emery is such "cool" traveler in pajamas and sunglasses!

Meet my newest nephew, Wedge!!!! The first morning we were there he ran with me on a very cold, and VERY hilly, 3 mile run! I was able to keep up my exercise and ran 3 times while I was there!

I made a quick new friend with my newest nephew dog, Wedge! He was a great running partner and snuggler!

Me and Wedge on one of our runs!

On Saturday, Mattie had set up a mini session for the cousins. Emery cried at first but a promise to Target toy department fixed that! They all looked soooo adorable!

Stole a shot at the kids' mini photo session Mattie arranged. They were so adorable!! From left... Owen (4), Mckenna (6), Emery (4), and Levi (2)

This park was beautiful!

The kids had a ton of fun playing together and got along well, most of the time. lol

Emery and Mckenna playing in her room

Emery drinking her medicine and Owen drinking his juice. Lol

A rare photo op with Owen

Emery loves Wedge too!

On Sunday, Mattie and I were able to get out for some girl time. Brett and Sean had gone out earlier in the trip, so it was our turn now. We hadn't planned to be gone so long, but it was such a great day!!! First she took me to Bricktops. It was kind of a higher end restaurant to my surprise but oh so good!!! I got Bahn Mi which was amazing!! And a martini! Because Why Not? Right??

Then we headed over to the St Louis Museum of Art. It was raining all day! But we had a great time!!! We stayed for awhile and then moved on. But it was beautiful.

In front of St Louis Art Museum

St Louis Art Museum

Could it be THE wardrobe?? Lol

After the museum she took me to Kaldis coffee. It was soooo yummy! Brown sugar Rosemary latte! Seriously good!!

Sisters!! We enjoyed our lattes on the patio while it rained. Loved it!!

I had such a great time spending time with our nephews and niece. Especially getting to know this little one! He was only 6 months old last time I saw him! In fact it was April of 2013 that we last saw all of them! They are all at such a fun age. And they are great kids!!! Their parents have done a great job!

Me and my precious Levi!

Levi and Emery! Adorable!

Sean picked me up a Kaldis latte and sent me this pic of him drinking it!! I think not!! Kaldi's is awesome! We both said we would move to St Louis for Kaldi's! lol (although I just found my "kaldi's" right here in Grapevine at Redifined!)

Beautiful sunset on our last night

Just a typical day of us hanging out

We had such a great time with our family! We played games, ate out (a lot!), talked even more and had a great time! With all the craziness happening in St Louis, we chose to not spend much time there (we were in Ballwin). But it was a blessing that we didn't tire ourselves out by sight seeing. We had a wonderful time just relaxing and hanging out.

On Tuesday morning, we headed for home. Sean had a great idea to go a completely different route home. It was a little longer but we decided to stay the night in Little Rock, Arkansas. But the fun part was we stopped in Memphis, TN for lunch!! However, despite having it in my mind that we would see some of the city and maybe even see Graceland, none of that happened. lol In fact, the restaurant we found on Diners, Driveins and Dives was called Alsenias. And so we made a quick left off the freeway into a very sketchy part of downtown. The main part of downtown was to the right off the freeway. But nooooo, our GPS took us left. And we really had second thoughts when we saw the place. But, like I told Sean, I don't want to miss out on something amazing just because its a hole in the wall. So he said he would go in and check it out. He was impressed by the immediate southern hospitality when he walked in. And at that I was like "lets go!!". And we were so glad we did!! It was amazingly delicious!!! Our first experience with southern SoulFood!! Unfortunately we didn't have time to sight see at all as we wanted to get to Little Rock by dinner time.

Here is Alsenia's SoulFood restaurant. Very sketchy neighborhood just off the freeway but the people and the food were amazing!!! So glad we stopped!

Decorated very much Mardi Gras style.

Fried chicken, candied yams, cabbage (A-mazing!!!!!!!), green beans (fabulous!!), white rice and hot water cornbread. Our first true experience with southern soul food cooking and it was amazing!!!!

We drove on to Little Rock Arkansas and stayed the night. Emery had her own bed!! And she was out in no time!!

Downtown Little Rock, we stopped for coffee and treats for breakfast before heading out

At the coffee shop

Being that Emery was sick on the way to Missouri, we worried that now that she was feeling much better, she would not do as well on the long drive home. But she still did AMAZING!!! She quietly read or played with her new dolls or talked with us or watch her shows on the iPad (best thing we ever bought!!) She is, and always has been since birth, an awesome traveler! It was such a joy to do this trip with her..... with us as a family!

We made Emery this fort to watch Frozen on the iPad.

The inside view! She loved it!!!

She was sooooo content.

I can't believe it's been since March since I've posted anything! Where has all the time gone? I guess I can always seem to find something for exciting to do during naptime than write a blogpost. But I do always regret not writing down the millions of things that happen weekly in the life of a 3 year and her mommy! lol So what has been going on with the Nobles?? LIFE!

That's it. Nothing more exciting than life itself. Let's see... in the past 5 months we have been through job changes, vacations to San Antonio for our 20th Anniversary in March (I should do a seperate post on that!) and Fresno in May to see family and friends, moved another long-time friend couple out here (they bought a house .87 mile from us!! hehe), and have personally watched every single month God completely provide every penny we needed to live! That in itself is an entire post, but I will just say that God is SO faithful when we fully trust in Him! Through all the changes with jobs, we have not had the income we've needed but for "some reason" I never freaked out about it. Every month I would find myself saying "Ok God, this is it. There's no more. Next month is going to be bad." And next month there would be some other way he provided whether it was carpet cleaning for Sean, a tax return, a purchased house from our friends that moved here, an extra paycheck, etc. I can say that it has been truly FUN to watch what God does each month because many of the ways He has come through I did not foresee. And He always provided right at the last second. We never had anything to fear. And again, this month, I found myself praying again "Ok God, for real now, there really is no more extra money next month" and now Sean's promotion will give us exactly what we need from here on out (that story is also a miracle!). God is SO good and He loves us so much! We never need to doubt Him!!

Sean has done Real Estate, carpet cleaning (for a friend full time) and now he's back at REI in full swing! He's already applied twice for manager (RSM) positions, one in Southlake (opening soon!) and one in Dallas where he works currently. He did not get either but came the most close ever and had his best yet interview in Dallas. He is however promoting to Sales Lead in a few weeks (unofficially as of now but we are counting on it!) which is really the next smart step toward RSM. He absolutely hates the commute but is passionate about pursuing what he really wanted to do before he quit (finances forced him to change jobs for that season). Anyway! He is loving it and having fun. I just encourage him (and so has God!!) to spend that commute time praying, listening to worship and sermons. Use it as a time to focus on the Lord and strengthening his relationship with Him.

As for Emery, she just keeps growing in every way, shape and form. Not only is her body growing (in its own petite kind of way), but so is her independence, self-style, attitude, negotiating skills, opinions.... but also her love for life, friends, fun and cuddles!

Her favorites right now have been ...
1. swimming : she is a little fish that would swim all day if I let her! She can swim from the side of the pool 4-5 feet under water to me and, now, finally, can bring her head up out of the water but just can't keep it out. She is a very strong swimmer but we are still working on getting her to the surface and swimming on top. She thinks she can hold her breath forever but we have found it is not so. SO... we keep on learning and practicing! The last two times she has swam I was not there to see, but my friends said she was rockin' it so I can't wait to see if she has improved since my last time with her.
2. dancing : She just started ballet/tap classes last week. As much as she was very excited, I was probably still more excited!!! My friend taught me how to do a proper ballet bun, then I practiced (dress rehearsal!) the day before and then I was "on" last Tuesday. It took me about 5 min but the end result looked great!! Her first class ended up being a private lesson. I was very disappointed at first as I had built up this picture in my mind of a bustling studio and all these adorable little ballerinas running around and she would make lots of friends, etc etc. But once I got over that I realized this was probably a good thing for her to start. As excited as she was, once there she was very nervous. I think the one on one helped her relax and was more able to focus and listen to the teacher. Supposedly there is one other girl so we'll see if she's makes it this week. At the end of the season all the classes (there's 3) will come together for their recital. But for now, it's just Emery and Miss KaLinda!
3. Peppa Pig : It's been Bubble Guppies for 3 years now!!! Aside from a few movies she's grown to love over the past few months, I have not been able to get her to like anything else but BG! Until now... Peppa Pig, the adorable little piggy in the adorable English family of pigs. It's cute. That's all I have to say about that. :)

I'm getting really good at braids... it's all she wants every day!

Elsa (one braid) or Anna (two braids) LOL

Just a couple pics with her cousins while we were in Fresno.

(not all my pics transfered when I got a new phone. still working on that)

Here she is with Joshua!

And she LOOOOOOVED her cousin Jenna! Everyday she could hardly
wait for Jenna to get home from school!

Swimming with Jen Jen!!

Hanging out and getting to know her Grandma Dorene (here in Texas!)

Easter 2014

Our friends came to visit first to look for a house before they moved

and this is Jeeter waiting for them at the door... with Emery! lol

Swimming with our neighbor and friend at my weekly

swim date at another friends house.

And another swim date with Kathy, Julie and Tyranie and the kids

BEST of FRIENDS

I LOVE taking her for bike rides as a family!

And Sean finally set my bike up so now we can just get up and go!!

She put this outfit together... I added the jacket.

She went to dinner like this minus my glasses. LOL

This was our day at Kellerpointe (kind of a YMCA family gym with a mini water park...so fun!!) Emery swam and played with our friends for 4 hours!! Yes we were a little pink. lol

My friend gave me a free month to bootcamp so I was back at it

for a few weeks with my best workout partner ever!!!

She would run, pushup, burpee, jumping jacks with me the whole time!!

Can't wait to join as a member! It felt like home!

modeling her super cute jammies!

fun times with daddy!

bath funtime!

I Love TV!

And here are some photos of her preparations for ballet

as well as her first day!

Her classroom

Getting fitted for ballet shoes

Ballet fun playtime with Ari (and I got a lesson in proper ballet buns!)

my friend, Karah, and pro-ballerina, teaching Emery some positions

Emery shopping for her tap shoes...hehe

This is what happens when you use a lot of product!!

My own finished ballet bun! not too bad....

On our way to dance class!

Mommy and Em in front of the Epicenter

Hamburger and ice cream after class!

And what about the mommy?? What is she up to?? Well really its just been the same ol' thang! Work is work. I say I just want to be home full time with Emery, but honestly after 5 days off, I'm a little ready for a break. Not necessarily a 13-hour-work-a-day-kind-of-break, but a little break would help. It has made me admire stay at home moms all the more for the hard work that they (we) do. It's not easy. In fact, comments have always been made about stay at home moms. That they don't work, they play all day, hang out with their friends (playdates), they swim, they do bible studies, they work out.... they don't do anything but have fun. Well in a sense that is true. So why am I always so exhausted at the end of every day if all I'm doing is spending mindless, 'relaxing' time with Emery and/or friends. Well, while their accusations come with a little bit of seriousness and sarcasm added with a little humor ("I'm just messing with you"), they are wrong! Point blank! And the Lord spoke this to me one day (yes, as I was lounging by a gorgeous pool, thank you Sheila!, watching Emery swim) And it's this.... Emery takes up every bit of space in my mind, every decibal in my ear, every ounce of energy I have. Why? Because I am constantly teaching, encouraging, inspiring, playing (very important for her development and sense of meaning), molding, reprimanding, discipling, comforting, soothing and cuddling, only to name a tiny few. Which might I add makes me feel extremely inadequate as a mom, ready to fail, only adding to my exhaustion! He showed me how I'm everything to her when we are home. He showed me how even in playdates, although I am getting some friend time, it is far from relaxing as we all are teaching our littles to play well together, to share, to give and not take, to think of others above ourselves... all of which are invaluable and necessary lessons for them later in life!!! I am raising an adult who will someday be somebody's mother, wife, friend, best friend, mentor, minister, teacher... and the list goes on! This is no game we're playing here. Brings tears to my eyes just rereading this! We all complain at some point! Sometimes daily! And yet, we get up again, each morning, and do it all over again. Why? Because when these blessed children of ours look us straight in the eye, take our face in their tiny hands, and say in their sweet little voice, "I love you mommy soooo much", it makes it all worth it! And so I have agreed to receive God's offer of mercy and grace for myself in this season of life called Mommyhood. God bless you moms everywhere!!!! (wow! that so could have been a seperate post! I never know what's going to come out when I sit down to write)

And on a lighter note.... Just some last fun pictures of adult time! Yes Sean and I do get it once in a while! We had one date night for my birthday down in the West 7th district of Fort Worth (other side of downtown) where we ate mediterranean food, listened to live bands in the street, then had ice cream at Melt, walked around the Water Gardens in downtown and then back up to Keller (our area) for starbucks. A week later we had the honor of going out again for my friend Jocelyn's birthday. This time we got all dressed up and went to the Glass Cactus at the Gaylord Texas for drinks and dancing (something we never do unless we're at a wedding! lol) We had so much fun with friends that night!!! Until next time.....