Forgot

Yesterday I forgot to post this link to a short video of Nora skiing!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCbgzUOtGiI

Thanksgiving 2011

Please excuse the glut of photos; we purchased a new camera and have been awefully snap happy recently!  Jeff, who normally never even picks up the camera, has taken more pictures in the last 1 1/2 weeks than the last year...  Every once in a while, we even take a picture that makes us look like we know what we're doing (which we do not)!

Just hanging out at home.

 Nora loves to wash the dishes, if only they didn't need to be rewashed every time.

She'll even wash the floor if you ask her to.  Unfortunately she is using the washcloth generally reserved for her face.

We have somewhat intentionally shielded Nora from the knowledge that Starbucks serves hot chocolate (and that nearly every restaurant has chocolate milk).  She loves chocolate as much as her parents!  An afternoon walk to Starbucks last weekend found us with Sophie in tow, who is well aware that Starbucks offers delicious treats for kids too.  Since Nora mimicks every one of Sophie's moves, we had to get her her first Starbucks.  She drank every last drop and will remember it is there each and every time we go back!  Good thing it's only occasionally.

As previously mentioned, we drove UT to spend the Thanksgiving weekend with Jeff's parents and brother.  We have so much to be thankful for, and really enjoyed our weekend there.  We couldn't have asked for a better traveler, once again Nora shocked us with her perfect behavior strapped in a car seat for 7 hours each way!!

Thanks to ski equipment from Rich and Carol's friends, Nora had the opportunity to ski three days at Snowbasin!  That's three more days of skiing than her parents have done this year.  I'm not sure who had more fun, Nora or us adults watching her and taking (many) photos!

The first day, she wasn't so sure about it and didn't want to stand up to support her weight.  She started whining, and the whole thing lasted about 5 minutes.

So, we went home and got sled rides from Uncle Scott instead.

And walked around the neighborhood while Carol worked a holiday shift.

It seems we have a photo of Nora playing PlayDoh with everyone these days!

 Day two of skiing went much better.  Nora enjoyed getting pushed around with the Hookease, a children's learning tool invented (and just newly available) by someone Carol knows!

Nora kept looking at the chairlift and telling us she wanted to go on there.  We weren't sure she was ready, but eventually gave it and she went for a ride with Papa.  As he glided her down, she said 'Papa go fast!'

Nora cuddled with Nanny all weekend, including in the lodge.

Day three of skiing was even better.  She got a style upgrade when Nanny bought her these crazy cute goggles!

She took two rides on the chairlift, and even went down using the Hookease both times!

All this skiing leaves a girl tired!

 We also got up close and personal with some chickens that Nora had met last fall while staying with Nanny and Papa.

In addition to all this outside fun, we also saw a holiday parade in Ogden and ate lots of turkey (and the fixings too.)  We're home for just a week, then it's off to Florida for a week!  It will be a while before I can post those pictures, but there will be many I'm sure. 

Happy Holidays!

From Halloween to Snow

In fact, several of these pictures were taken before Halloween, when we had our first storm! We've had substantial snow twice already this year, hopefully not an indication of the winter to come. The first snowy morning, Nora was just in awe when she looked outside; she couldn't even eat her breakfast and instead had to go outside and walk in the snow while Jeff fed her oatmeal! The snow was long melted before we could convince her not to wear her boots outside. It's been a dry couple of weeks and I'm sure Nora wouldn't mind more of the white stuff soon.

Auntie Claire came for a brief visit, and Nora couldn't have been happier to have someone else to play playdoh with, drag to the bathroom and direct which chair to sit in.

Nora got a cupcake just her size at the cupcake shop!

We made muffins one morning. Nora should have been wearing the cute apron from grandma Carol, it would have saved her pjs from being covered in flour!

Last weekend, with no visitors around, we went to the zoo. Unfortunately it was open for free and therefore very crowded, but we found some quite spots to enjoy the animals. Nora's favorites were the monkeys, elephants, giraffes and zebras.

The more Nora talks, the more funny things she says. While looking through the American Girl catalog, she said 'fancy dolly.' I didn't know she knew the word fancy, but couldn't have used in better two-year-old context!

She is so excited to go to the beach (we're going to Florida the first week of December.) She keeps talking about going to the beach and playing in the sand with Nanny and Papa. She's going to find her goggles and put on her swimsuit, etc; sure hope the weather cooperates. Last night she was looking at pictures on my phone and came across some of her on the beach last year. She was so confused and said 'No go to beach yet."

We're planning to drive to Utah for Thanksgiving, weather permitting. So, we'll see how Nora handles a 7 hour car ride!!

Halloween 2011

Nora had so much fun preparing for and partaking in Halloween this year! She thought these teeth were just the greatest.

We had one small 'inside' pumpkin that she colored on and put stickers on during multiple occasions.

We waited to carve the 'outside' pumpkins until Sunday. She wasn't so sure about the insides at first...

but got over it!

They had a class party at daycare on Monday afternoon-turns out Nora was not the only cupcake in her room, so was friend Myra. And Myra's mom bought the right size costume...

A class photo-they all look so enthused!

Following a parade through school, it was time to begin the 5 continuous hours of sugar intake. Nora and I made 'pumpkin' cakes on Sunday-Martha Stewart's looked so much cuter...

Nora was not very cooperative with getting her picture taken, and Finn was not very interested in wearing his costume, so we have no pictures of the two of them this year. The Shaw family hosted a pre trick or treat pizza party and the weather couldn't have been nicer-breezy and 70! As usual, our neighborhood was just buzzing with families, adults having just as much fun as the kids. It truly is a fun night to live here. The only dilemma is that nobody wants to stay inside to hand out candy-everyone wants to go out. Six houses worth of us sat in front of our house under the Shaws' heater handing out candy, the best of both worlds!

Since I had purchased the cupcake costume for Nora, I decided to dig out my culinary school gear and be a baker this year. It was easy, and worked well, pregnant and all.

Ummm, I'm not sure what to describe Jeff's 'costume' as...

Kerry and Paul came over with Ellie.

Nora loved her, as always.

Trick or treating with Lily.

Back home, sitting on Diane's lap.

I have no idea how much candy (particularly Kit-Kats) Nora had, but a good time was had by all!