Rainy Days and Mondays Always Get Me Down

Norah has become very aware of the weather and her environment.  She get's excited to see the sun come out(don't we all these days!) and knows when the moon comes out because the sun goes to bed.  She loves to look out the windows in her bedroom.  She listens for the choo choo, watches for the birds, or lately she thinks every time she looks out the window daddy will be out walking on the path because we saw him last week out the window as he was taking out the garbage :)

She's not allowed to touch the window or stand up to it, but this was her testing the limits.  Such a stinker!

We spend a lot of time watching the rain come down these days.  But there is nobody I'd rather spend a rainy day with!  Alright it might be nice to have Ben with us every now and then ;)

28 is Great!

Today has been a perfect day!  As I've grown older I seem to like Birthday's less and less, but today was an exception.  What more could I have asked for?  You just can't beat waking up to the smiling face of a toddler, especially MY toddler.  We then had a yummy breakfast of fruit crepes.  Ben offered to bring it to me in Bed, but who really wants to eat in their bed? Gross. 

Our friends watched Norah for us this afternoon so Ben and I could get out and enjoy some time together.  We had a nice lunch where I didn't have to worry about if Norah needed a diaper change or if she was going to like what I ordered.  In fact I didn't even have to share :)  It was wonderful!  And then back home this evening to a dinner of Crab and Artichokes, delicious!  Such a great day with the ones I love; this is going to be a good year.  Wonderful Hubby, Beautiful daughter, and another precious baby reminding me of his presence more and more each day.  (still sinking in that we're having a boy!) Happy 28 to me! Yikes, that sounds old!

Norah is going to be a Big Sister to a....

 Little BROTHER! 

21 Weeks with Baby # 2 and it's a BOY!

Chistmas at Our House

We had a cozy Christmas here in Washington.  We missed our families but really enjoyed the time we had with our little family.  Norah was in Heaven with all the fun wrapping paper and ribbons to play with, before and after Christmas.

 We planned on getting Norah only one gift, because she is too young to care and she really didn't need anymore toys.  However the one gift idea expanded as we stumbled upon gifts that we knew she would LOVE.  I can see how hard it is to not spoil your children. 

 She did love all her fun little gifts we got her, but her most favorite was a Farm House my sister passed onto us because she didn't have room for it at her house anymore.  Norah would play with the Farm House and animals every waking hour if I didn't pull her away for meal times and diaper changes etc.  She does usually have at least one of the animals in her hand though.  Maybe a future veterinarian? or Farmer :)

Her very own laptop!

Animal Train from Grandma B.  She takes it apart and carries around the heads of the animals.

 These last pictures are from Christmas Eve.  We thought instead of trying to read from the scriptures about Jesus Birth, Norah would much rather have it acted out with her own little Nativity Set. Ben summed up the story and Norah was actually interested and listening, it was fun to watch.

I know these pictures of Norah are not very flattering, and the lighting is so poor, but I can't help but laugh, she looks like a teenager already, not excited about having her picture taken but posing nonetheless.  I love my girl!

And lastly, Christmas Eve PJ's!  Ben refused to pose in his new PJ's, but they are pretty cute on him!

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Some Light Reading

Where does she pick this stuff up?  Must be in her genes, from her daddy, not me.  Guess I can't blame her, diaper changes are a bore.

 And she'd prefer to stay naked, but can you blame her with that hot bod :)

Treats

I love baking around this time of year.  Not only does the oven make the house nice and toasty, but I can't resist a good treat!  I tried my hand at caramel and chocolate dipped pretzel rods this week.  They tasted amazing but were as ugly as ever.  I need to work on my chocolate dipping skills I guess, it's a lot harder than it seems.  

Tonight Ben and I made Sugar Cookies.  They were delicious!  I used my mom's recipe, they were super soft, and just perfect!  We made a cream cheese frosting for the tops though, Ben is a sucker for cream cheese.  Merry Christmas and Happy Baking!

Pardon Us

I guess you could say we are still settling it, but we are mostly just enjoying one another's company and exploring our new surroundings.  There's a park just up the hill from where we live.  It makes for a great workout for me, and Norah loves the slides and swings.  

We put up our Christmas decor and have been teaching Norah about it.  She says Santa so sweetly and then follows with a "ho ho ho".  For Family Home Evening we talked about what all the different symbols of Christmas mean.  It was over Norah's head, but soon she will understand the real reason we celebrate Christmas.  She is able to point out Jesus in pictures, and is fascinated with our Nativity Set, mostly the sheep and donkey :)  So here's to a great Holiday Season!  We are going to a Christmas Parade tomorrow.  Most towns have their summertime parades, but here there is a Santa Parade.  Can't Wait!

 

Happy Birthday Ben!

We were quite busy around Ben's birthday trying to decide what the near future would hold in terms of employment, but we did make time to celebrate a little. We've hit the point in our lives where birthdays are now geared towards what our children would like to do to celebrate.  Birthday's start to get a little dull as you get older anyway, so we hit up the petting zoo at Thanksgiving Point again and Norah just could not get enough of the animals.  She was feeding the baby goats straw from the ground, but would flinch and freak out just a bit every time their lips touched her fingers.  We couldn't pull her away from it though, she loves animals and can tell you what every farm animal says.

 

I didn't have time to make Ben a cheesecake this year, in fact my pans were even packed away.  We bought a cheesecake from the store instead; I owe him one.  And then the 2nd reason why we are missing being near family, we were lucky enough to have my mom babysit while Ben and I went to dinner and a movie.  We finally saw the last Harry Potter, and dined at Costa Vida.  Oh how we are missing our Costa Vida's, Cafe Rio's, Training Table, Rhumbi, etc.  C'mon Washington, get with it will ya?!

 Happy Birthday Benjo!!

Settling In

Boxes are unpacked, pictures are hung. We are here to stay...for now anyway.  Life changes quickly. 

These pictures are from the last week before we moved.  It was hard to say goodbye to our family after enjoying them all summer long. Hoping to see you all again real soon!

This is the only way my brother David could get Norah to sit by him.  She has a fear of all men besides daddy.

She can already play the primary songs ;)

Both of Norah's grandma's have piano's; Norah loves the piano now.

She's a dragon, raarrrrr!

oh joy!

We now have internet!  It's really pretty pathetic, because I have been able to use internet on my phone, but still it's just not the same as a computer.  I feel connected to the world again.  This is just a short post to share my excitement now that I am able to.  We moved!  Well, I guess the exciting part is not that we moved, but the hubby got a job.  So proud of him and all his hard work.  The last few months have been quite stressful, but things are finally starting to settle down.  We packed up our belongings and said goodbye within a few days and headed out to Seattle where Ben started work as an Office Manager for a dental company.  We gave ourselves a week in a hotel to find a place to live(talk about crazy stressful), and I am finally finished unpacking.  The next step is to find another car as we sold the jeep back in utah.  Being without a car is tough! I'm feeling like I'm stranded in the middle of nowhere here.  Missing my family tons and tons, but I think this is going to be great for us.  And Norah  is already making herself right at home and says 'hi" to everyone she sees.  Enjoy the pictures from Norah's first experience in a hotel.  

Baby Einstein is Norah's new love.

Getting our sillies out after a long day of house hunting.

Getting ready to hit the streets again the next day.