Getting Ready for Christmas

Christmas is quickly approaching and we've been getting into the holiday spirit with lots of pre-holiday festivities. It's so different this year with Henry being in school all week long; we don't have a lot of extra time during the week to do some of the stuff we've done in years past. But that's okay, we're making up for it on the weekends.

 A couple weeks ago we went to Zoo Lights (luckily we went before the super cold weather started). We went with on of Henry's friends from preschool and his family. Nora slept through the first part of the trip but I think she enjoyed it once she woke up. She didn't seem overly excited...but the boys more than made up for her lack of enthusiasm with their wild exuberance (aka wild and crazy behavior!).  Henry then got to take another trip back for more Zoo Lights with a friend from kindergarten and his family.

Last year we went to PIR for the lights there, but this year I'd like to go to Peacock Lane instead...especially if the weather continues on this mild streak (and there's no rain).

We also got our tree last weekend. We returned to the little lot right in our neighborhood where they've turned their yard into a tree farm. We get a fresh cut tree (which we have the option of cutting ourselves but  decided to let them do the work instead) and only have to go a couple blocks to get it!

The day we went was one of the days where it stayed below freezing all day long so unfortunately we didn't spend a lot of time outside looking around at trees. Once we picked out the tree Nora and I headed back to the car and waited for the boys to get it all loaded up.

Henry and Brett put the tree in the stand the next day as Nora looked on, trying to get her hands onto the tree. It made me remember that we didn't have a tree for Henry's first two Christmases...it's way too tempting for the little munchkins. Sure enough, once it was all decorated she pulled on a string of lights and the whole tree came toppling down. No one was hurt (other than the tree I suppose), and no ornaments were broken so it was fine.

The overwhelming majority of our ornaments are child-friendly: cloth, paper or plastic. This way both kids can help decorate the tree (and un-decorate and re-decorate to their heart's content). We did, however, have to remove some of the beaded and ribbon garland because Nora decided they look much better as necklaces for her than for the tree.

After Henry put the star on the top, the tree was finished!

Today Gigi and Henry started decorating gingerbread houses (to be finished tomorrow) and we went to Pioneer Courthouse Square for a Tuba Christmas concert. This week I plan to take the kids to see Santa one day after school in an effort to miss a long line. Henry's class has a holiday party on Friday (last day of school before winter break) and I plan to attend the morning portion. I think it's pretty much an all day event so I'm sure the kids will have a blast!

14 Months Old

She's a walking, talking (sort of) machine. After about six weeks of taking tentative steps, working up from one or two steps to up to about a dozen, in the last week she's now a proficient enough walker that she prefers walking over crawling and walks everywhere. The video just below was taken at Geoff and Adrianna's house on the last night of Hanukkah when she was still not 100% steady. I had the funniest video of her being goofy and purposely falling down but I think I may have erased it as I can't find it again. Boo.

In any case, she is loving walking and is getting really steady and confident on her feet.  Here she is with Henry's lunchbox. She was so proud of herself carrying it around. I'm sure she can't wait until she gets to take her own lunch to school.

 She's also talking more. Well, that's not exactly accurate...she's talking the same amount (a lot!) but is saying more understandable words. Of course, they are probably only understandable to me, but still! One word she has down perfectly is "hi!" and she uses it relentlessly: greeting us over and over when we enter a room, to people in the aisles at the store, and to every person she sees at Henry's school. New words she's added to her vocabulary: kiss (sounds like tiss when she says it); again (which sounds like gin); and sing (which sounds like ting). Speaking of singing, the girl loves music and singing. I practically never sing to her but happened to one night and then she proceeded to request me to sing more and more and more. Now almost nightly she implores me to "ting!" Today she's even gotten picky about which song she wants to hear. She requested Isty-bitsy spider rather than what I was singing. She does the little hand motions for the spider to get her point across and then when I finished that one and started another she got a grumpy look on her face and said "gin!" signed "more" and then said and signed "please."

I took this video of her the other day - we had the TV on, watching a kid's show where they were singing. During the song she was entranced and doing a little dance and when it ended requested we watch it again. I got the camera out to record her dancing but, of course, she didn't really dance while I was recording. It's a cute video anyway and you can hear her say "gin!" at the end.

Last week we went to a puppet show at the library where she was (once again!) the hit. All the parents said how cute she was and how friendly/happy she was. At the end of the show the puppets came out to meet the children. I love her body language here. She's totally leaning back away from it...I think she preferred them at a distance.

Here she is wearing Dad's shoes...looks like she might have a problem walking though. She still loves shoes, jewelry, and brushing her hair. I put her hair into a little pony tail on the top of her head today and she kept patting it before eventually pulling it out. Her bangs are getting so long that I have to figure out some ways to keep them out of her eyes, unless I want to cut them...which I don't!

I love these last two pictures of her. She looks so serious in the one, with a pen in her hand, as if she's busy thinking up things to write down. And then in the other, such a goofy smile. She is definitely a goof-ball entertainer (much like her big brother!).

 

Samurai!

Recently, Henry, Nora and I went to the Portland Art Museum to see the Samurai exhibit (Brett was out of town). We pass a billboard for the exhibit almost daily and Henry had been dying to go see "real" Samurai. He's very into Ninjas and Power Rangers and the martial arts in general right now so this was right up his alley. That said, I was a little worried he might be disappointed because he has a pretty skewed idea of what Samurai are like (based almost solely on the Power Rangers version of Samurai);however, I'm happy to report that he loved it. It helped that the museum did a fabulous job curating the exhibit - including the stuffed horses as seen above and below. I don't know why Henry has such a sad look on his face; he was actually really excited to be there and to see those horses!

There were lots of weapons on display including a bunch of swords, knives, bow and arrows, and even guns. I had no idea that the Samurai used guns, but Henry was certainly excited to see them! He took over my camera about halfway through the exhibit and took lots of really cool pictures of the things that interested him.

Here he looks happier! We went on the Free Friday - we still had to pay to see the special exhibit, but it was only $5 instead of $20. It was crowded, but it wasn't terrible. We had no problem moving through the exhibit and getting up close to the artifacts. Even Nora got in on the action!

Lastly, here's a picture of Henry trying on a replica of a neckpiece in the gift store. :)

Pre-Thanksgiving Beach Trip

Last weekend we all headed to Cannon Beach to spend two nights in beautiful autumn sunshine (yes! this really was the Oregon coast in late November!). Gigi came and spent the first night and then she and Brett both had to head home for work so it was just me and the kids for the second night. The weather couldn't have been better - I think it might have even been warmer (during the days at least) than some of our summer trips to the beach.

 We had fun going on walks, looking at tide pools, walking around town and going swimming in the pool.

Our room came stocked with lots of puzzles and board games, which we also enjoyed. Here is a picture of Nora doing one of her new favorite activities - "writing." I don't call it drawing or coloring because she isn't allowed to use pencils or crayons on account she bites pieces of them off and eats them. She loves using pens and, as you can see, she has a remarkably mature grip on the pen. It's really quite extraordinary to watch.



















I love this picture of Henry running - he's having so much fun!

He is such a big help to me with Nora. The morning we were on our own, he pushed her in her stroller on the beach for a long time. It was so sweet.

13 Months Old!

I haven't been very good about posting lately...my apologies.

Nora is 13 months old! She's not really walking, but I'll qualify that by saying she is taking a few steps here and there but nothing very consistently. She tends to stand up and then launch herself forward which throws her off balance and she topples over after a few steps. I've tried to capture it on video, but it hasn't worked because every time she sees the camera she speed crawls over to it. However, while she might not be walking yet, she has figured out how to CLIMB up onto the couch and Henry's bed (it's low enough for her to be successful).

Her hair is getting long! It curls a bit in the back, about the same as Henry's did but she has so much more hair than Henry did at this age. I hope hers stays curly longer than Henry's did...although I wonder if his might still be curly were it longer. She loves girly things, which is hilarious to me because I can't figure out where it comes from (certainly not me!). She loves to have her hair brushed, she requests bows and headbands (although she doesn't actually keep them in for very long, she puts on some necklaces she has ALL the time, she loves shoes and she's very sweet with her dolls and stuffed animals.

But don't let those traits fool you into thinking she's mild mannered and cautious...quite the opposite. She is a very mischievous and daring little kid. Here she is getting into Wilbur's food and water. And any chance she gets she tries to get into anything she knows she's not supposed to. Oh, and the climbing! With Henry we thought "oh, we should probably anchor all the dressers and bookshelves just to be safe...", but with Nora it is an imperative! She opens cupboards, tries to climb onto things and just generally creates havoc.

And she seems to have little to no fear, which is also very different than Henry who was much more cautious. She's very content to be left alone to explore (ha! that's code for she knows no one is looking and she can cause trouble!). And she's feisty! Unfortunately she's started to bite a little bit...I like to think it's because she has a molar coming in (poor baby - her gum is SO swollen) but I fear it's because she's "defending" herself the only way she can. She loves to dance, applaud anytime she hears other people clapping and/or saying "yay!," give kisses, say "hi!" to just about everyone she sees, talk on the phone (real or pretend) and is starting to blow kisses as well.

Here is just about the cutest video ever of her giving herself a kiss (oh, did I mention how enamored she is with her reflection? She loves mirrors!)

Here she is in Henry's towel from when he was a toddler. They look so much alike, but are also so different. It kind of makes me want to have 100 children just to see all the different permutations of gene expression. Ha ha ha!  I promise a post all about Henry soon! He is doing magnificently in kindergarten. I just chaperoned his class's first field trip and it was so much fun. 

Halloween Roundup

Our Halloween celebrating lasted almost a full week starting the Friday prior to Halloween. Henry's class had their Harvest party during the school day and then the entire school's Harvest Festival that evening. I volunteered to help out with the party and had a blast crafting Q-tip skeletons with all of the kiddos. They also made thumb print pumpkins, bats, and spiders; played a pumpkin toss game and enjoyed some fun snacks including mandarin oranges decorated to look like Jack-o-lanterns. The Harvest Festival was also a blast - the school did a great job with all the games and Henry liked the not-too-scary haunted house...plus, there was cotton candy!

Then, on Saturday, we braved the colder temperatures and headed to the zoo for their Halloween scavenger hunt. I talked Henry into wearing his AMAZING koala costume and it was a big hit at the zoo. Nora's bumble bee costume would have been all covered up since it was so chilly, so instead she just wore this monkey hat.

Next up, on Sunday, was the annual Halloween party with Brett's parents at the LO Country Club. It was so much fun! There were stations for pumpkin decorating, mask making, and decorating a cup to look like a mummy. Henry found a ninja and a storm trooper to play with and we barely saw him after that!

Of course we carved some pumpkins! Henry spent time drawing out designs for each of ours on paper first and then we helped him

transfer his ideas onto the pumpkins. I didn't take a picture of all of them together after they were done (I'll try to remember to do so!), but I did get this funny picture of Henry imitating his pumpkin's face - and that's Nora's tiny pumpkin next to him.

Finally it was time for the big day! We had pumpkin shaped pizza at Gigi's house and then headed out for some trick-or-treating. First, though, Gigi scared poor Nora to tears with her clown wig. Of course I had to take a picture. Here are the blue Power Ranger and the bumble bee ready to collect their treats! Don't they look happy?

Ha ha ha! I love this picture.
 Two last pictures from the big night - Henry trick-or-treating...and Nora, discovering the loot. :)

A year and a week old!

We've got a live one with Miss Nora! She loves to climb, crawl, explore...which is awesome...except when I'm trying to get anything done! She seems to have radar (or a magnetic attraction) for anything she's not supposed to have - something that keeps us all on our toes all the time.

Her vocabulary is rapidly expanding - in addition to the words she is already saying (mama, dadda, woof, dog, please...maybe others?) she is now saying teeth, keys, cat, shoes and probably more that are not coming to mind right now. Of course they are not super clear and might not even be understandable to people unless you know her, but she's trying. I think she has lots she wants to say and gets frustrated when she can't. She knows some routines - like brushing her teeth...she gets her toothbrush, holds it under the water, pretends to put toothpaste on it, brush her teeth then repeat the whole cycle over again. She knows that when I say it's time to put shoes on that she is to lift one foot up and then the other. She's also developed a funny habit of blowing on every bite of food before eating and, her latest habit, she likes to take her food and dip it in something before eating (especially water or milk).

Here we are enjoying the beautiful, warm fall weather at Gabriel Park. I tried to get a picture of Brett and the kids...they were not having it!

Nora's Birthday Party

I previously posted a bunch of pictures from Nora's birthday party on Facebook and then thought I had also done so here...but I guess not. So here's her birthday recap. 

Last Sunday we celebrated Nora's first birthday. She is either teething or had a slight cold (perhaps both) and had a rough night the night before and wasn't feeling 100%. Nonetheless, surrounded by family and friends had a fantastic time opening presents and eating her cake. 

The word got around that her favorite things right now are stuffed animals and dolls as she received some wonderful new playthings in addition to a book, a beautiful raincoat and a bike seat and helmet. 

Here she is with some of her new toys and wearing her bike helmet. The green thing she's sitting in is her new bike seat which we took out for our first ride today (lots of fun!!). Henry was an amazing big brother and took his job as official present opener very seriously. 

After presents it was time for cake!

A beautiful sparklely, pink and white cake made my Gigi in the shape of a number one. We'd been practicing blowing out candles, but when the time came all she wanted to do was grab them instead. Brett tried to help, but, as this picture showed, the flame was a little too close to her face and it just freaked her out!

The weather was absolutely beautiful, so we got to celebrate outside in the backyard. A fabulous day all around!