If only

If only I could buy for "just because" reasons, I would spoil my kiddos with these fabulous items from Etsy. Oh, do I love Etsy!

Two-Day I am Two!

Toddler toddler toddler two

Two is the number just for you!

Happy, happy 2nd birthday, Norah!

We love you so very much!

(I love the black and white above,

but also love the blue eyes below.)

These days Norah does so much, says so many funny things, has tons of words we never thought a new two-year old would ever say, has such a personality and loves to have fun. Life is full of joy every day with our little Shamrock.

So as we are enjoying Norah's birthday, a little bit of happiness is wished on you this St. Patrick's Day. Because everyone is Irish for a day

Thank you to all who love, adore, enjoy, and pray for our little girl!

Embracing Winter

Cabin Fever set in our house in major doses recently. During the winter olympics we reached our max capacity for tolerating the indoors. So, off we went to Lombard Lagoon. We hoped to ice-skate, play on the playground, walk around the lagoon, and play in the snow. Since the ice rink was covered in snow and not yet shoveled, we did all of the above except the ice-skating. All of the outdoor activity tuckered out our little ones. Norah's eyelids became too heavy for her on the way home, and she remained asleep through the transfer out of the car, onto the couch, the winter clothes removal, and into her crib. Definitely a pooped little puppy!

Bottoms Up

Cookie Monsters

Norah is the sneakiest cookie snatcher ever! I will bake a batch of cookies and she will sneak one from the cooling rack. So, I have learned to do the following.

1. Take cookies out of oven and place far back on stove to cool for a few minutes.
2. Remove cookies and place on cooling rack on counter
3. Push cooling rack far back on the counter, out of reach for little hands
4. Repeat for each batch

However; I sometimes forget step number 3, and the following happens. Norah is seen munching on a cookie. This time it was a green Shamrock Spritz cookie. I due have to say she has good taste, as warm, fresh cookies are truly the best. But she would snatch them all day long if she could. Oh, my little cookie monster. And then because she had a cookie, I cannot say "no" to Simon. So, then he gets in on the cookie monster action.

Just look at these sneaky eyes!

Hearts to You

I enjoy Valentine's Day. Mostly because I have a tradition of making Valentine's Day cards for my girlfriends. This started years ago pre-kids, and I still enjoy it. The cards go to my sisters, sisters-in-law, nieces, nephew, girlfriends, and sometimes to my girlfriends' kids. I do have to limit myself and sometimes need to choose groups. But really, how does one do that. Here is a picture of the lovely Valentines all together, prior to being sent on to Loveland, Co, to then be dispersed to my near and dear ones. Oh, and if you did not get one this year, perhaps next year.

Thanks to my dear Aunt Cindy for sending these adorable crayon wallets to my little ones. They L.O.V.E. them! We use them at home and mostly during church services. Norah claims hers as hers as she loudly states "mar-kers". Really, they are crayons. And her scribbles are "name" and Simon writes "A-B-Cs".

And we made heart pizzas on Valentines Day. Yummy in our loving hearts!

And then packages arrived in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa 'Sota. Simon announced that by walking through the house with muddy boots to tell me. They opened them up on the phone with Grandma and have loved their heart rubber duckies ever since!

Snip Snip

A while ago Norah had her first haircut, at 22 months of age. She began to resemble a rag-a-muffin post naps and in the morning if she bathed at night. As you can see in the pre-hair cut pictures, she sported a cute little pony. However, her real hair started to grow and she had very little hair on top, with one long section in the middle-back. So, the hair-less top with the mow-hawkish mullet needed some snipping.

The pre-hair cut looks.



Quite the entertaining haircut, if I do say so myself!

She's digging the experience so far.

An experienced snipper for those under 3 feet!

Enjoying the pampering.

Quite the pretty lil' girl. Oh, and Mommy is soooo happy that her curls stayed.

My curly girly.

Here is what Simon thought of Norah's first haircut.

Past or Passed

Help Please!!!

I am writing something and cannot figure out the proper past tense. So, hopefully one of my readers is a grammar expert.

Is it:
He has weaved.

or
He has woven.

Which one is right?
Knot witch won is write.

Thanks

Christmas came and went and I never shared the great events. Here are the grand gifts that are still played with daily, heirloom quality I presume.

Grandma and Grandpa found this beautiful doll bed at a garage sale for lil' Norah. Before I knew they found it, I found the doll high chair at a flea market. I made her that doll (my first Amigurumi project) and determined she needed a handmade pillow and blanket. Luck has it that the blanket and pillow fit the bed perfectly, without planning!

Norah initially thought the miniature sized furniture was for her!

A big gift for the both of them.

Eric built an ark, for their collection of animals that has been growing. All animals need a place to play. Now Simon's jungle animals and Norah's farm animals have more to do and can co-exist! Believe it or not, around New Year's we found the perfect Noah figurine - at the dollar store! Simon kept saying he needed a Noah. Prior to Christmas I searched online; all I could find were super-hero styled Noahs. Who would have thought the dollar store would have just what we needed!

And of course the box from Grandma and Grandpa was also a gift of fun. Two fit quite snugly.

Of course the blue flashlight from Santa was necessary!

All the excitement tuckered out two precious kiddos. Norah needed her snowman pillow and blanket from Simon. Simon needed his new stuffed big dog, now named Ruff Ruff, from Grandma and Grandpa.

In these pictures, Norah is wearing a dress made by Grandma Wiens and her new slippers from Mommy bought at the MN State Fair.

Not My Learning Style

Not so sure about this on-line graduate course thing. Sure it is two credits, and done quite quickly. I started the class January 19th, and my final project/paper needs to be in the mail by March 2nd. But seriously, major bucket-loads of reading each week.

I do not think I am cut out for independent learning. I miss learning information presented by the expert. I gain meaning out of emphasis, tone, repetition, visual, and auditory presentation. Reading and deciphering on my own what is important is not so easy. Plus the on-line program logs me out as "my session will soon expire". Like every 20 minutes. Even though I am clicking and perusing.

Commenting does not equal interacting and conversing with my classmates. Can't quite get a handle on 'em. Even with the photo gallery.

So, SPE 525 Child Word-Finding: Intervention for Students with Language and Learning Disabilities, your saving grace is the hands-on completely applicable features to my job. My students have already improved because of you! And by the end I will be able to help them even more.

Soon, my free time will once again be my sleeping time, hubby time, play-time, and hobby time! Not frustrating computer class time!