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!

Happy Birthday, Nora!

Happy first birthday, little Nora Lennon!!

 One year old!

 Six months old!

Less than one day old!

Sweetest story :  Yesterday, on the eve of her first birthday, Nora started saying the word "please." She's been signing it for a few weeks now, but just added the word yesterday. After Henry gave her a goodnight kiss she signed and said please and moved toward him with her mouth open...asking him for another kiss.

Getting Caught Up

Camera charger and card reader found! We're back in business! It's been a busy couple of weeks with the move but we are more or less settled in. Of course the garage is still piled high with as-of-yet unpacked boxes, but the essentials are unpacked. Henry started Tae Kwan Do last week and so far (after just one class) loves it. He is also loving the backyard here at the new house - he spends some time out there every day; playing golf, decorating with chalk, playing Brett's old trumpet! He is continuing to love kindergarten and has made lots of friends. Both Brett and I have gone and had lunch with him which is quite the experience. It's kind of amazing that the kids are able to eat anything - it's pure chaos in there. He's getting excited for Halloween and we ordered him the Blue Power Rangers costume. He's very much into Power Rangers right now...along with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Luckily one of the rules of Tae Kwan Do is no practicing your moves outside of class - so far he's stuck to that (other than when we allowed him to with his punching bag). But he is loving all things ninja related right now.

I let Henry pick out Nora's Halloween costume. Here's a preview of our little bumblebee. After I nixed the farmer outfit (told Henry it wasn't in her size) it was between the bee and a sunflower. He chose the bee - so cute!

We went to Lee Farms on Saturday, taking advantage of the beautiful weather. We all had a great time...except for poor Nora who was bitten by a mean donkey. Luckily it turned out to not be too serious, but she has one heck of a bruise:

When Brett first pulled her sleeve up so we could see the damage all I could see was some broken skin and I got really worried he'd bitten through into her arm, but it turns out it was more like a scrape and didn't actually puncture her arm. After lots of ice and some doughnuts she recovered and even went on to ride a pony, so I guess she didn't make any kind of negative association with equines.

I thought the pumpkin patch would be a good opportunity for a photo shoot...however, the kids apparently felt otherwise and the above pictures were as good as it got. Oh well!

On Saturday we also participated in the national Star Wars Read Aloud day by going to a celebration at our library. It was a great event with Star Wars themed crafts, games and trivia. And, Henry got to meet this guy:

So he was thrilled!

 Finally, ending with two of my favorite pictures from the last week. Above, Nora is helping decorate the table with chalk...except she's trying to eat it instead and giving herself a purple goatee in the process. And, below, Henry inside a tractor wheel at Lee Farms.