Two.

Two months and no posts?! Sorry. A lot to catch up on…

Norah turned two on November 16th and to celebrate we had a few friends over for a party!  Friends, yummy food, games, cake, and presents… what more could a little girl want? 

Pin the tail on the donkey.. note to self: this game does not work so well with two-year-olds.

All of her friends her age are boys: We had Luke, Nolan and Harris over for the party…all very eligible bachelors :-)

The presents came out and all the kids wanted in on the action. Somehow Shannon still had the energy to play pretend…

Two of Norah’s favorite people… Lily and Megan.

Norah continues to amaze us as she grows into a little person.  She pretty much has a full vocabulary now and is a constant source of entertainment as she says things all the time that should not be coming out of the mouth of a person her size. She looked at Ezra today (who had had his socks removed by his sister), looked at me, put her hand up and said:

“Okay mom, I will be right back.  I am going to get brother’s shoes.  His feet are cold.”

She loves Ezra (a little too much sometimes) and always has a smile for him.  I think his favorite thing to do is watch her run around as she has never-ending energy.

Her nursery teachers have told us on several occasions that they think she is a genius.  She always has the answers to all the questions and knows all of the words to the songs.  Her teacher said that one time she was playing in the corner and he was asking questions to the class and she called out the answers from the corner, not really paying attention, when no one else knew them!  She has an amazing memory and loves to talk- I think that helps.

She loves Dora the Explorer and Curious George at the moment. She can’t get enough books to read and would watch movies all day if we let her.

Norah is a light in our home. She makes us smile and laugh everyday. She couldn’t be more loved.

Happy Birthday Norah!

The Better to Eat You With My Dear…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thought the wolf was supposed to eat Little Red Riding Hood…

Halloween this year was a blast! We had a family from our ward with two young boys over and ate a yummy dinner, went trick-or-treating, decorated cookies and carved pumpkins.  This was Norah’s first experience trick-or-treating- took her a few times to get the hang of it.  She kept walking right into peoples houses! After a few lessons in trick-or-treating etiquette she was a pro and got extra candy at every door for being so cute! They have a tradition in St Louis where you have to tell a joke at the door or you don’t get your candy.  The joke for the group was:

“Why can’t a bike stand on its own?”

“Because it’s two tired!”

Joel and I had fun creating Ezra’s costume. There wasn’t a pre-made baby wolf costume to be found so we had to improvise. Sort of a “Where the Wild Things Are" version of the big bad wolf.

Norah LOVED dressing up in her costume and asked to do so on a daily basis.

We already can’t wait til next year!

Countdown

Halloween this year was so much fun with Norah. We started preparing her weeks in advance for the big day (the actual day will be in a post to follow).  I bought her a Halloween book all about trick-or-treating, she helped me decorate the house, we made cookies in the shapes of bats, pumpkins and cats, and, of course, we took her to the pumpkin patch to choose out her very own pumpkin.  She was in heaven...

Where to begin...

This one looks good!

This is Norah's "happy face"...classic.

This is what Ezra was doing.

Joel had to take this picture (several of them actually) because he knows stuff like this grosses me out... pumpkin tumors.

There were so many pre-Halloween festivities in St Louis that we couldn't possibly get to them all.  We decided on two: the Magic House trick-or-treat and the ward "fall festival".

The Magic house is our local children's museum and it is incredible.  Norah has really been in to Curious George lately and the museum has a Curious George exhibit going on. Norah loved the exhibit- lots of hands on stuff- but the best part of all was the life sized George or "Big George" as she calls him (guy dressed up in a Curious George suit).  The look of absolute awe and wonder on her face when she first saw him was something that Joel and I will never forget.  She spent the rest the night giving him hugs and kisses.  He even let her hold his hand and walk around with him.  I don't think she has ever been happier!  Too bad we forgot our camera...

The ward party was great too. Norah was Little Red Riding Hood and one of Norah's favorite people, Lily, and her friend Lindsay, dressed up as the same thing!  Norah loved marching along in the costume parade with two "older" girls!

 

The pre-festivities were a hit!

Butterflies!

Joel and I got up one Saturday morning a few weeks ago and decided we wanted an adventure.  The weather wasn't too pretty so we decided to make the 20 minute drive out to the Butterfly House and see what we could see.  It was pretty amazing.  Butterflies of all shapes and sizes flitting and floating around your head while you walk through a tropical rainforest. There were some other rather disturbing exhibits as well... a very large glass display of the biggest cockroaches I have ever seen, tarantulas, HUGE worms (these things could've been on King Kong!)... you get the picture.  All in all, it was a great adventure!

2 Months

He's a growing boy...over 14 lbs... and in the 94th percentile for weight!  We couldn't love the little chunk more.  Look at that sweet face!

 

 

We love you little boy!

Girls Day In.

Norah has been loving all things princess lately and so one afternoon, when her brother was in one of those deep newborn sleeps, Norah and I decided to play princess.  We fashioned crowns out of paper and dug around in my closet and jewelry box for our get-ups.  We paraded around the house and couldn't stop looking in the mirror at how pretty we were. We ended the event with a princess tea party! Oh to be a little girl again...

 

Growing

Here are some recent pics we have taken of Norah and Ezra.  It is amazing how fast they grow!  Norah is losing all of her "babyness" and Ezra is a chunk!  My six-week-old looks like he is 3 months! 

Norah is starting to say some of the funniest things! Her favorite movie right now is Toy Story 2.  Yesterday I was feeding Ezra and Norah was in the other room playing with play dough.  Out of nowhere I hear a voice from the kitchen shouting, "Yard sale, Woody, yard sale!"  I about peed my pants laughing.

Some other Norahisms:

She LOVES to sing and is constantly talking a tune (doesn't quite have the melody thing down yet).  The song she sings most: The Barney Song

In Norah:

Wuv you (I love you)

Wuv me (You love me)

a happy fam-ma-me (We're a happy family)

blanky hug (with a great big hug)

kiss me a you (and a kiss from me to you)

say you wuv me too (Won't you say you love me too)

 

She loves "cold doodles" (any type of pasta noodle with no sauce)

 

Any word that has the "eerie" sound it in she will take and repeat that sound before she finishes- just for fun: cereal is cerea-erea-ereal and ariel is arie-arie-arie-ariel - the number of times she does it varies and sometimes she won't do it at all- hilarious!

Ezra at one week

six weeks- our other bulldog!

Norah likes to share her toys... wonder how long it will last.

 

 

These are for Grandma Vicki... she's in her princess skirt and her "fairy godbrother" shirt!