I love my beautiful Norah

Norah looked so sweet in her Sunday dress, I had to take a few pics.

Taking a break to read a book (ok, every book she could get her hands on!)

Flowers! One of her latest sign language words...

Lunch with Robert and Mindy

On Saturday Norah, Grandma Peggy and I had lunch with Robert and Mindy. They even invited us over to their studio apartment, which they have made seem so open and airy! Mindy has a stockpile of toys that Norah really enjoyed playing with.

Its a baby!

Uncle Neil and Aunt Dannelle called to let us know they are expecing a baby in September. Yay! They will be wonderful parents to the little one. I am voting that they name her Heather, but I think they have other plans. If its a girl, she'll be little Josie Butler...as Neil wants to name a boy Rhett (yes, like Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind) Dannelle is probably praying for a girl. :-)

I couldn't find a pic of Neil and Dannelle, but I did find one of all my brothers! L-R = Robert, Lee, David, Kodiak and Neil. Neil is sporting a sassy pose...

First time 'round the Carousel

Don't blink - there goes Norah!

Grandma Peggy treated Norah to a couple of trips around the Carousel at Jantzen Beach this morning. Wow, did Norah love it!

You can see her stretching out to wave at Mommy - she's such a good sport. :-)

As you can see from this face, the only part she wasn't so keen on was getting off the horse.

Grandma and the Golden Monkey!

On a different note, today Norah told me "no" for the first time - and meant it. She tilted her little head, said no, and took off running the other direction. It took everything I had not to crack up laughing. Is this a harbinger of things to come??

My Three Cousins

Norah and I stopped by to visit Solomon, Sophie and Sara on Friday. Sophie and Sara are getting so big - and they smile all the time. Sooo cute! Solomon modelled his T-Rex costime for us (even sharing the hat!) and Aunt Marla Gave Norah her first cupcake. Yummm....

Justice's Big #1 Birthday!

Tonight Norah and I visited the 'Couve for Justice's first birthday party. Wow, was it a packed house! We had dinner, played with all the kids and then opened presents and enjoyed cake. Uncle Robert made Tongan style chicken...oddly enough that involves boiling the chicken...but even more oddly...it tastes good!


Clair shares Bob the Builder's hat with Great Grandpa

Great Grandma snuggles with Skye

Justice, Clair and Norah test out Justice's new chairs

Tribute to Kristin

Norah, enjoying her Starbucks apple juice...

Sporting her patented Starbucks napkin bib and munching on pumpkin bread

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Knee Socks

TOday is Norah's first day in knee socks...don't know why, it made me a little veclempt. I think she's getting to be a big kid! In a little kid way :-)

Hey...That's me!

Norah discovered herself in a mirror today...you can see how delightful that was to her!

Today we picked up Grandma Peggy and then went to Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa's house to take them out to lunch. Norah had her first German food experience at Gustav's. Except she had a quesadilla. She showed off several of her sign language words as well as her extensive animal sound repertoire (my favorite is the snake) - its nice when she can impress the grandparents... :-)

Grandma Peggy let us drive her fun new car!

Around the Block

Tonight we took a walk around our block - and for the first time Norah walked almost all the way. There was a lot of stopping to inspect things, especially people and their pets. I think she's ready for a marathon!

Visit with the Blinns Revisted

Today Ryan, Norah and I drove to Corvallis to visit with Gramma Joyce, Grandpa and the Blinn family. It was so good to see everyone!

Lynne, Carson and Dillon

Dillon, Carson and Norah - trying to steal puzzle pieces from the boys

Grandpa and Aunt Lynne


Norah with Gramma and Grandpa (sporting her Christmas outfit from them!)

Grandpa helping Norah open presents from the Blinns and Grandma Carmen!

C-Dog and Satur-Monkey

Tonight was an especially fun night! Misty and I babysat our young cousins, Sean and Chris. Or as we like to call them, C-Dog and Satur-Monkey. Aunt Kaye made us a delicious, healthy soup for dinner...then we took the boys to taco bell, Coldstone Creamery and a movie (with treats). hehehe - I'm sure Aunt Kaye will seek revenge next time she watches Norah.

C-Dog and Satur-Monkey, battling it out at foosball.

Misty played a video game...that involved shooting things. Very Twilight Zone. Ask her about the meth lab she busted.

Coldstone - yum!

Sweet Girl

Kodiak the Russian

Norah and I went to a playtime group at a library near Grandma Peggy's house on Friday. Thats two storytimes in one week - but they were both really enjoyable! We then stopped at Grandma's house to play for a little bit. Kodiak kept Norah quite entertained - playing the keyboard, pulling her around for some indoor sledding, as well as dressing up in his snow camping clothes and his Russian hat (he was headed camping for the weekend). In case we're invaded by a Red army he'll blend in.

Lunch with the Blinn Family

Aunt Lynne, Uncle Todd, Dillon and Carson stopped for lunch on their way through Portland!

Lynne gave Norah lots of snuggles

After lunch we had Mrs. Field's treats and watched the ice skating. Norah kept trying to climb on Dillon's lap, much to his dismay. :-)

We're looking forward to a longer visit with everyone on Sunday!

Show Me The Monkey!

Wow, look what we found...

A-hoy Matey

Norah spent some time on Wednesday captaining a foam pirate ship... There is a fun, foam play place at Washington Square Mall and she seemed to thoroughly enjoying playing on the toys and watching the other kids. Aunt Kaye met us for the fun - then treated us to lunch and an adorable outfit (for Norah) from my new favorite store, Janie and Jack!

We have a little table and chair that Norah has learned to climb up on (actually, she's learning to climb on everything, its hard to keep up with her!!). The process involves some funny bending, scooting and twisting around, but once she's up there she is quite pleased with herself. Yes, in the 2nd photo Norah does indeed have a dog bone. She likes to play with it more than Jonesy.

Its a big day - for a happy car ride

Today was Norah's first day with her car seat turned around to the front! This makes for a much happier little monkey. She spent the day at Grandma Peggy's house while I was at work - and refused to take a nap. Its way to exciting with Grandma! So she completely conked out by the time we had left Grandma's driveway.

Although we stay away from teh TV as much as possible, there is a new show on PBS that I've been TIVOing for emergency television viewing. Its called "Its a Big, Big World" and I think I love it as much as Norah seems to. If you have little ones, I highly recomend it. We watched a bit while waiting for Grandma and Kodiak to arrive. Norah has a funny habit of walking up to a foot or so away from TV, folding her arms, and watching. She looks so serious!

Mom and Kodiak stopped by with dinner so Norah stayed awake long enough to kiss them goodnight. She was so exhausted - fully asleep by seven. Such a sleepy pumpkin...