Elmo's World

Yesterday, as Norah was watching Sesame Street, she looked at me and said longingly, "Mommy, someday I want to go to Elmo's World!"

Moving: according to a 3-year-old

Norah has been a real trooper during our whole moving process (which has been lengthy to say the least). She patiently looks at houses with us (we still haven't found that "perfect" house for the Family Band), she endures long 4 hour drives back and forth between Chicago and Iowa City, and she acts excited when we give her an air mattress to sleep on at Daddy's place.

The other day, I was talking with her about moving, and she said some cute things.
Me: "What does our house look like?"
Norah: "It's purple."
Me: "What do you like best about our house?"
Norah: "It has toys in it."
Me: "What do you want our new house to have? Do you want a big yard to play in? Do you want your own room?"
Norah: "I want it to have a big-girl bed and toys."

Also, for the longest time, she had the words hotel, dentist, and apartment mixed in her brain. She would say things like, 'I want to go see daddy at his hotel' or, 'When are we going to see Daddy at the dentist?'

I think she is starting to get frustrated with all of our looking at houses, because this last trip, she went into a house, and said, "Oh, I really like this one. I think we should buy it!"

All in all, I don't think Norah will remember much about our house on Linden Court, but James and I will. It's where we watched her and Luca grow. It's where we had great times with our family and friends. It's where James and I learned how to be homeowners. It has been our home and we will all miss it.

Halloween 3

Late October020-1_edited-1, originally uploaded by Chiara and James Hemsley.

We really made someone else's Halloween memorable:

When Norah got home from trick-or-treating, she was about to eat her 3 pieces of candy (since she's 3) and the doorbell rang. It was some more trick-or-treaters. I asked her if she wanted to hold the bowl for them, and she did. As one boy was reaching into the bowl, she puked all over the bowl, the candy, and his hand! The poor boy didn't know what to do! I kept saying "I'm so sorry!" to his mom, and she was really calm about the whole thing. They came inside and washed the boy's hand off. Sadly, Norah didn't get to eat her candy until a couple days later--when we were sure she was over the stomach bug.

Halloween 2

Late October017-1, originally uploaded by Chiara and James Hemsley.

Norah was a purple dragon, and Luca was a clown. The clown outfit barely fit him because I bought it 2 months ago and didn't anticipate his "robust" figure!

When we went to people's houses, they would say to Norah, "And what do we have here? A dinosaur! How cute!" Norah got more and more annoyed the more she heard this, and soon we could hear her muttering under her breath, "I'm not a dinosaur, I'm a purple dragon!"

Doesn't Luca look pleased in this photo?

Halloween 1

Late October005-1, originally uploaded by Chiara and James Hemsley.

We celebrated Halloween with our friends and here are all the people who dressed up. Rear left: Drew as a Ducky, Tim as Spendler from Ghostbusters, the Movie, Claire as some roller skater girl, Luca as a clown, Amelia as the Sun-Made Raisin Lady, Eli as a frog. Front Left: Hannah as Belle, Norah as a purple dragon, and Cade as SuperWhy.

The kids had so much fun trick-or-treating!

What are you trying to feed me?

Late October024-1, originally uploaded by Chiara and James Hemsley.

A typical Luca look...

He does love him some cereal, though!