Cute Picture of the Day

How on earth she went from baby face to toddler face to almost little kid face, I don't know...

Kids grow SO fast.

I tried to get her dressed in some grubby pants and jacket to go outside...the boots are easily washed off...and she loves the fact that she stays dry in them when she goes puddle jumping!

Roofin'!

We planned to get the roof done this spring, and boy, did it happen quickly!

We had a couple of bids done this winter (during the three leaks we fixed ourselves), and as SOON as I was off of school, I called one of the guys I had chosen and asked if the price was still good...

Well, being that we have a small house (so we didn't require much time), and they had a crew done early on another job, they offered to come today and get started...
At 8:30 a.m., we had a truck in the driveway with a trailer for the old roof.

By 10:30, most of it was torn off...

By lunch time they had put on the new decking...

By the 2:30 they were putting on the new comp...

And by this evening (they worked just past dark) they had ALL the new sheathing in the back.

We got 50-year guaranteed materials, including a new pond-liner quality roofing for the flat part.

Monday, they put on the new gutters.

As much as I've felt ambivilent about this house, I feel like I LOVE it now that I know I won't be calling my poor mom to come babysit while I go up on the roof and try to sludge some tar around while Brian's gone, so we can stop a leak for the short term.

Problem SOLVED!

Our Little Bean Pole...

Well, all of you who know our story of how hard it was getting our girl don't hear me complain much, if at all...

But DANG PEOPLE, CAN WE GET HER TO STOP GROWING 3 inches every 6 months?!?! PLEASE?

Here we are...spring is coming, and the pants I made her that were just above her ankles (originally meant to be capri-style pants) are just below her knees this spring.

If she hasn't worn them out this year, they'll be short-shorts next summer.

As you can see above, I have some pajama pants on the far left that are too short for her now (also taken in to 18" in the waist), some 3T pants and a pair of 4T leggings that I took in to 18" so she can wear them now, and some 5T pajama pants she can wear soon, if not now.

She's not even 2 1/2 yet!!! That's next week, sure, but REALLY? 5T anything at 2.5?

I jokingly call her my Glamazon...but dang, that's almost "too short" of a name for her.

Bean Pole.

To quote Shaun White: "Freaky Deaky".

Cute Zoo Pictures of The Day

I have two weeks of classes and finals left, so today, Brian dropped me off in downtown Portland to study at a different Starbucks than my usual, and he took Nora to the zoo.

We've discovered this is a fun thing to do that a) makes me feel like I'm doing something fresh and new in a new location and b) allows me to join them when I don't need a whole day to study, but rather a few hours.

PLUS, I can take the Max (light rail system in Portland) out to Wash Park and meet up with them without interrupting their fun.

So today, on the first day to crack more than 60* in 6 months in Portland on a Saturday, WE, and the REST of the city/region decided it was time to go to the zoo.

It was crazy packed. Nora was SO excited to see me arrive, and we walked around and played and found some cracks and crevices in the zoo (under a large cedar tree) that didn't have other people crawling all over it...


And we saw the elephants, and enjoyed a few other animals before heading home for the day...and a lucky picture or two on my camera, including this one and the one at the bottom, made today so fun.

And when I accidentally deleted them, I paid for a program that someone said would recuscitate my computer's disk, and sure enough, you CAN save deleted files. Here's another one:

Spring Has Sprung!

The weather was nice enough today that I went out to do some yardwork after I was done with my homework. When Brian and Nora came back from the Kids Club, they came in the backyard and Nora and I went through looking at all the flowers including the newly bloomed crocuses and daffodils.

Nothing quite melts a Mommy's heart like having my little one show me a daffodil and "gasp" as if it's just the coolest thing ever.

It is.

(Click on the picture for a bigger view)

Cute Picture of The Day

Brian dropped me at a downtown Portland Starbucks yesterday and took Miss Nora to the zoo this weekend. She thinks the place is her personal park, and we enjoy it more when the weather's crappy just because it keeps the crowds in check.

I met up with them after I was done studying, and found Nora wearing boots for the very first time! She LOVES the fact that they keep her feet dry...being a puddle jumper AND a clean freak who (like most of us) doesn't like wet soppy feet, that's a great thing!

Our Daughter The Flugel Horn

I was watching a video with Nora about letters, and the H had "horn" and a horn would blow. I told Nora "You're from a trumpet and a trombone" (I played trumpet in band, Brian played trombone), and from across the room comes Daddy's quote of the day "That makes you a flugel horn."

Poor kid.

Well, at least she'll be able to march at band camp.

What I'm Doing...

I'm taking Microbiology this quarter from a GREAT teacher I enjoy very much -- especially compared to the rather painful last quarter of Anatomy & Physiology.

I turned in my nursing school application last week, and will hopefully hear that I made the first cut in March. Sometime after grades come out for Winter quarter, I should hear I made the next cut, which brings us to some other stuff like essay writing, and ultimately the lottery that will either put me on hold for a year, or shotput me into nursing school this fall.

I can't wait for the next phase of my life as I learn the skills to be a nurse, and start clinicals to work with patients.

Movin' on!!!

In Case Anyone Wonders: "Does Nora Need a New Stuffed Animal?"

I can't tell you that ALL of her friends are in this picture, I can only tell you that the vast majority of them are here.

Brian likes to pose them all like they're looking at Nora when she comes home.

We're not sure really who's sicker, but I'll tell you, I've bought maybe FOUR of the beasts in this photo...the rest are gifts.

Amazing how they proliferate on their own, isn't it??

Zooists

It was nuts at the zoo today.

N-U-T-S.

During the winters, they have $2 Tuesdays on the 2nd Tuesday of the month, so the parking long was all but FULL by the time Nora and I got there at 10:15.

We squeaked into a spot and headed in...

The Train was running (a rarity in the winter),

We had a blast with all the people there, fabulous weather, and warm enough to go without gloves in February.

But my favorite picture of the day was one where Nora looks like a little celebrity kid walking around in her little shades...

Afterwards we took the long way home by driving through Washington Park to the kids playground, and stopping at a downtown grocery store before hitting the road for home.

A great day in Portland!

Amazing Age

There really isn't a bad age...at least not yet.

Yes, she's almost 2 and a half. A lot of people like to remind me of her age when she's gone "wet noodle" on me and is freaking out because it's bedtime, or whatever else she doesn't want to do.

Nora's 3'3" tall now. Yes. 39 inches of tall skinny fireball energy that goes from 7 a.m. til 8 p.m. without a nap.

And today she wow'd me.

I mean WOW'D ME.

Miss Nora loves to paint and color. She's plowed through three sets of water colors, one set of tempura-style Crayola (thank god they're washable) paints, and a full set of crayons and fingerpaints, colored pencils, and several coloring books.

Today, as she peeled me away from the computer studies, saying "PLAY! PAINT! PLAY! PAINT!"

I decided to rebel and play with the crayons.

I started to draw letters just to see how far we could get.

A, "A" she said.

B, "B" she said.

I draw C, and "C" she said (this is about as far as she's gotten before.

How far did she get today without making a single mistake today?

R.

That's right.

R, as in RIDICULOUSLY AMAZING!

My kid knows letters A-R without struggling.

And she knows S...And T...the rest, well, they're a little harder.

Besides, T looks like I.

So today as I went through about 15 letters past where I thought she was, I praised the bajeezus out of her and couldn't believe it.

After that, I found an awesome site for learning letters and sounds (reading through Phonics) at Starfall, an educational website...and she watched it with rapt attention (take a look at the alphabet part and you'll see all of Nora's favorite animals being listed...TIGER goes ROAR T, TIGER (Sound T)

She danced around my room while I played each letter, circling around and around the room, in an alphabet tizzy.

Then she collapsed into bed at 8 p.m., exhausted from proving her mettle.

My girl knows an awful lot of her ABCs, and her Mommy couldn't be prouder.

What an Amazing Age.

Really.

Lucky/Cute Picture of The Day

With the warning from Brian that Tuesday would be the sunniest day this week, and with no school today and no hope of studying because my kid is almost 2.5 and won't leave me alone to study...I decided to take her to the zoo.

We went all around...and took a turn we normally don't towards the eagles.

Nora can say "eagle" just fine.

And when we hit the play area with the eagle's nest, she said that too.

And we played there for almost half an hour.

She also noticed when I said that it was a "big bird's nest" that she kept saying "Big Bird's nest" too.

It was a great day...more pictures to follow, but this was my favorite.

Crazy Enough

My little brother Joel's birthday is tomorrow, and this past weekend, I got the privilege of flying out to New York and surprising the bajeezus out of him at the restaurant Mojo in Harlem!

It all started last November around Thanksgiving, when we realized Joel wasn't coming out for Christmas due to scheduling problems. I looked on Orbitz and found a good price on a ticket, and asked Brian to make that my Christmas present...

Then I e-mailed Joel's partner Dave and asked if it'd be OK...and that I wanted it to be a SURPRISE!

So last Thursday, I flew from here to Seattle, then Seattle to Newark...I texted Dave and we had a problem that Joel was home from work, so our original plan to dump my bag at their apartment then head to a restaurant was out.

I met Dave at the 72nd street subway stop, then we headed to Mojo, while Joel was kept thinking that Dave and he were meeting Dave's new boss.

Joel, knowing Dave was running late, was wondering WHAT was going on with his normally fastidiously on-time boyfriend.

Dave and I arrived at Mojo just MOMENTS before Joel did. Dave told me to sit a few seats down at the bar. I ordered a drink, and started texting my family to tell them where I was, and how close we were to seeing Joel.

Joel arrived and went to Dave, completely unsuspecting...then a few moments later, Dave said "That gal at the end of the bar sure looks like your sister..."

Joel agreed.

I looked up and smiled.

Joel's eyes got REALLY WIDE -- almost like he'd seen a ghost..

He yelled and threw his menu on the bar. He cried a little as we hugged for the longest time.

The bartender later thanked me for telling her what was going on -- because everyone else in the restaurant was wondering WHAT the hell we were doing!

We sat down and had a WONDERFUL dinner. They served a wonderful Bordeaux wine, and I had their skirt steak, which was FABULOUS.

The music, the atmosphere, the service was perfect....and it was the beginning of a wonderful weekend, where Joel and I seemed to wake up each day and pinch ourselves since we couldn't believe I was there!

I saw friends on Friday while Joel and Dave worked -- a great tour of The Museum of Modern Art and a little wine place in SoHo before dinner in the West Village with my girlfriends who were able to get in from Connecticut...

Saturday with Joel and Dave included a trip down to Ground Zero, Wall Street, the courthouse, and the Museum of Metro New York before a fabulous dinner and a show -- "Memphis" -- and a leisurely walk through Times Square and a to-die-for Chocolate Mud dessert on the Upper West Side.

Sunday morning came too soon, but I was glad to get home to our girl.

My bag followed a day later.

But boy, was that a FUN weekend, and one Joel will probably not forget. He told Dave he hoped to see at least one family member for his 40th, and when Dave asked who he thought could/would come, Joel said "Well, Jeff and Jill and Jer are all working or coming another time...Julie's crazy enough to do it, but she IS in school and has a 2-year-old..."

Yeah, well. Let's just call me Crazy Enough.

Happy birthday little brother.

The world is a better place with you in it!

Words The Twirp Can Say

I have to list a few of the words/sentences Nora can say lately. She'll TRY anything...and some of it we can understand! Here's a few:
"NO, MOMMY NO!" when asked if she wants to go to bed...
And then the more pleasant ones:

"Hi Orgun!" when we arrived in Oregon...
The names of most if not all family members and many friends have been mastered too.Then there's:

Chocolate
Bath
Paint!
Head! (for Mr. Potato Head)
DVD!
NEW DVD!
Eggs
Pancakes
MAC CHEESE! for Macaroni & Cheese, her FAVORITE dish...
Bnana
Apple
Cheese
Juice
Please!
Daddy Home!
Mommy Home!
Book
1, 2, 3!
A! B! D!
8! 9!
H, M, O!
Red, Green, Blue
Elmo
Cookie,
Big Bird
Ernie
Zoe
Grover
Bed
NO!
Yes!
Wuv You! *awwww*
Kid Cub (for Kid's Club)
Booboo
Hungry
Dinner
Lunch
Diaper Change
DIRTY!
CLEAN!

And a few verbs:
HIDE! (she likes it when I hide under a blanket so she can find me)
PLAY!
Zoo
Turtle
Tiger
Lion
(OK she can name pretty much any animal in the zoo and make the appropriate sounds...we'll just stop there).

Imp Update

Nora's quite the little troublemaker these days...

Fortunately none of it hasn't been able to be picked up with a vacuum cleaner or a good dose of soap and water...

Whenever she gets ahold of a pen or pencil, she draws on MOSTLY paper, but once in a while you find that she's drawn on herself or her clothes.

I have to sing the praises of Crayola's TRULY "washable" markers and paints, because that girl has had that stuff in more places and it's come off with ease.

She asks to play with "Head" every night (Mr. Potato Head was a gift from Aunt Julia for her birthday), and asks to PAINT every single day too.

Tonight I was trying to make a list of things to do this week, and apparently I should have added "keep an eye on Nora for when it gets quiet..." because the following picture I posted on Facebook pretty much describes our life right now...Click on it to see the full effect:

Cute Picture of The Day

Brian's been taking Nora to the zoo a couple of times in the past couple of weeks, and just keeps getting these super cute pictures of Nora.

She apparently doesn't look at him with disdain when the camera comes like she does with me.

Because here's another one...

And another one....

And another one.....

Daddy Time!

Zoo Adventure

Cutie Pie Update

Nora turned 27 months old (2 years, 3 months) a couple of weeks ago...and with this past month has come a CASCADE of words and communication from her.

Today's demands, in no particular order were typical of the past few days:

"HELP, MOMMY!" and "THOSE PLEASE!"

"HUNGRY!"

"LOVE YOU!"

"PAINT! ART! PLEASE!"

"COME PLAY!"

She helps me put toys and books away when I ask her. She causes total chaos.

And if you leave her alone with crayons within reach and a book with white pages, this is what you see when you get back.

A "What to Expect, The Toddler Years" parental advice book, covered in crayon.

Yup.

Christmas Break

What a great holiday weekend we had!

Brian and I are both doing some traveling in January, so we took it easy on ourselves for under the tree presents...we limited ourselves to a waffle maker and a very inexpensive BluRay player, and only the waffle maker made it under the tree.

Miss Nora, on the other hand, had several gifts -- mostly from us and Bestema, who spoiled her with a play stove and cooking tools. We got her a set of food items to go with it, and a few things for her train set and Sesame Street friends collection.

Christmas Day we went over to Jeff & Judy's house, where all available family gathered. It was SO neat -- a very relaxing day -- and a very low key Christmas in terms of presents.

It's amazing to me how there can be so MANY presents under a tree (which is all but inevitable when you have 27 people gathering for Christmas), but this year we had "only" 15 people, and many of us only got a present for the kids, still others like Peter chose to write us each a personal note about what makes us special (nothing quite gives you a good lump in your throat like that!) and Jeremy & Stephanie gave money in our names to a charitable organization that helps people around the world become self-sufficient.

We took Nora our for a walk, joining other family on a walk in the countryside near the railroad tracks, where Nora announced "CHOO CHOO!"

All in all, it was amazing day.

The rest of this Christmas Break has been spent doing lots of practical and fun things around the house...I have been painting the bathroom from what was supposed to be a spa-like mango color (which turned out more like ORANGE ORANGE) to a good, old-fashioned elementary school boy's bathroom blue color, which strangely enough, seems MUCH more relaxing...

I have managed in the last couple of nights, to saw the moulding after Nora went down, then put it up this afternoon while I let TV babysit her (shoot me now, or just hand me that dang Mother of The Year Award), and tonight after she went to bed, I painted it.

I have a lot more to do this break, but dang, this was a BIG project, and one I am especially proud of...High Five!