March Madness

more March Madness?

I really wanted to get a picture of Nora in her fancy winter coat and "peek-a-boo" gloves, but kept forgetting. Michigan, though, obliged w/ one more snowy day in April to provide an accurate background for the picture!

Nora surprised us by being VERY interested in the Easter Bunny at the Easter Bunny Breakfast. She couldn't get enough of this guy.

Easter

I love this bunny!

Statue of Liberty... with an attitude

just about washing the new seed away w/ close range watering

first hotel stay

on the Toad Hunt at the Henry Ford Estates... missed Toadatopia by a day or two (yep, that's a Goonies wristband Nora is wearing)


still had a nice Nature Walk on the grounds of the Estate

So, April kind of got away from me... but I'm getting the jump on May. I'm always hopeful that I'll post more than once a month, but I can't make any promises. I know if you're peeking in on the blog, you're pretty much looking for pics of the kids, so here you go:

We all headed outside as soon as the weather started improving

Nora hugging the "baobob tree," ala Jules the cat in "Hug Time"

Nora helping me push John (I'm off to the side), right before she stepped a little too close and took a swing to the face. Ouch.

John slowly accepting the idea of chewing food... extremely skeptical at first, but he's getting a lot better now. We rounded the corner this weekend and he's really doing quite well eating baby food with texture (minimal texture).

He is crazy about cups... particularly ours. He's dumped beverages on me a few times when I thought the cup was out of his reach. He's getting very good at drinking from a sippy cup (throws his head back so that the cup is vertical), so hopefully we'll be moving towards cup drinking more and more soon.

Nora is an excellent helper... though sometimes she's helping when I don't realize it. I opened the dishwasher to load it with dirty dishes to find that she'd put her sippy cup (still fully assembled) inside).

Nora and Brett decked out in MSU stuff for the final games of March Madness (she's wearing an old shirt of Andy's... still way too big for her)

Working in the yard w/ Dad

Safety first... though with John getting the ride, it seems he should be wearing the helmet

At the very end of March, my cousin Michelle and her family welcomed their new baby girl, Madeline, and a week later, we showed up to say howdy, too. Michelle has a magic camera that always takes great pictures of her kids, so she took some of mine while we were there. Her son Lucas was gracious enough to share his high chair with John while we visited with him and his little sister (he and Nora were best buds, but unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of them together).

Nora and Madeline

I know those last few are sideways, but I'm out of time... I'll try to fix them next time I'm on. I have pictures from Easter/ April on the camera ready to be loaded onto the computer (the camera is sitting right here, hooked up!), so I'll try to post more later tonight/ tomorrow. For now, as always, thanks for thinking of us!

Instant Smile

If you haven't yet seen this video, check it out. I don't know how it cannot make you smile... I'll even go so far as to say you'll love it.

Dancing Matt 2008

:)

Just an oddball assortment of pictures, some go back as far as Brett's birthday in November. The kids are doing great. Nora has really become pals w/ John, and they generally crack each other up. When she can tell I'm getting frustrated w/ John's complaining, she says, "It's ok mom, that's just how he talks!" and also has nominated herself as their collective spokesperson... when I'm making smoothies she asks me to do the blending out on the back porch "because we're kind of scared of that noise." John is sitting up now, rolling around and getting annoyed that he isn't more mobile. It can get frustrating (for all of us!) but will be the motivation he needs to start figuring out how to crawl. He's eating everything -- except that delightful meat paste they make for babies. I gave him some the other night and in what may have been a terrible coincidence, timing-wise, he later threw it up all over me... twice. I'm getting the heebie-jeebies just thinking about that again! In any event, we just decided to hold off on meat in case that was the problem. Enjoy the pictures, we'll try (as always) to post more frequently so I don't have to put 4 months worth of pictures up in one shot. Enjoy the extra hour of daylight!

making Brett's birthday cake: "look mom, they put this little handle here just for kids!"

Happy Birthday, Dad!

shoes out, waiting for Elves

Nora's first treat from the Elves (they come to the house the month b/f Christmas to help Nora get ready for Christmas, then hitch a ride back to the North Pole w/ Santa when he comes to our house Christmas Eve. Good day = elf treat, bad day = no treat)

Nora playing "baby Moses:" the doll is Moses in the basket, and she's the princess who finds him hidden in the tall grass (I was assigned the part of narrator/ Moses' birth mom/ audience).

Christmas

Couch potato

trying on Christmas gifts, decided to take a break for some pants-free dancing w/ leopard cat

birthday girl

"I'm a helper!" (John looks thrilled)

still no teeth

John's been practicing w/ the water bottle, Nora's been helping

the corner sniff

drool fangs

matching hats - it's the whip