Norah loves to "swim" in the pool with her princess.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Concentration Station
How much concentration does it take for a 1-year-old to put a toy into a bucket without making the bucket spill? Apparently, a lot!
Swimming pool
I took advantage of this hot day to fill up the kiddie pool and let the kids splash around. Luca loves to splash the patio, himself, me, and Norah!
XTreme Trampolines!
James, Norah and I ditched Luca last night to go to XTreme Trampolines with my college's alumni group. Norah had never been on a trampoline, but she got used to it really quickly, and soon was unstoppable!
The peanut and the walnut
Tim dubbed Eli and Luca "The peanut and the walnut"--because they are only 2 months apart, and Luca is almost twice as big! He is looking at Eli like he wants to eat him! I can't believe how different babies can be.
Me and Eil
Here I am with Eli. What a cutie he is! He slept through his whole party, but woke up just as we were leaving for a photo shoot!
Norah and Cade
Norah had a blast hanging out with her old pal, Cade. Here they are being silly. She also got to see her friend Hannah, and her old babysitter, Amelia! What a red-letter day it was!
A handful and a half!
We were honored to be our friends' son's sponsors for his baptism. It was so nice to go back to our old church in Iowa City....it felt like we never left. We can't wait to find a similar church here. Here's the family: Becky and Tim, and the three boys: Cade, Drew, and Eli (who we sponsored).
A strange girl....
I came across Norah the other day, sleeping on the sofa, having hung all her princesses by their heads from the coffee table. She is a strange girl! By the way, she uses the shoes for beds for her little princesses.....
Friday, August 12, 2011
Dance Party
Family Band youngsters Norah and Luca took a break from their busy schedule of destroying the family room to have a dance party! They get a bit tired at the end, but there are some good moves at the beginning, namely Luca's twist and Norah's use of her arms.
Norah the Singer
Norah loves to sing. Here she is singing "Doe, a deer" from The Sound of Music. Enjoy her unique take on the lyrics!
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Little Miss
Norah: "Hey Mom. Why don't I go over by that fountain in the shade, and you take a picture of me there?" Me: Okay!
English Walled Garden
Norah loves the English Walled Garden, and I do, too. It makes you feel like you are in the book, "The Secret Garden."
Weeping Willow
Norah loves weeping willows. In the Japanese garden, there is one near the water that she can walk to.
How did you...???
I looked away for a minute and the next thing I knew, Norah had jumped to this rock on the pond. She was pretty proud of herself!
My little scientist
Norah checked out a discovery backpack with a magnifying glass, binoculars, and some tree/flower guides included. Here she is showing Luca how the magnifying glass works.
Just practicing
Luca doesn't usually wear shoes, but I am trying to get him used to them for fall. Here he is walking around and trying his hardest not to tip over!
Another day at the CBG
Norah and Luca and I went to the Chicago Botanic Garden yesterday. The lilies were blooming, and they were spectacularly purple and pink. Beautiful!
Explorers
Norah became more and more daring the longer we were on the pier. Daddy convinced her to jump out to a rock to explore with him, and she did it!
Nonna and the kids
It was Nonna's idea to go to the beach despite the weather, so she had to pose with the kids. Luca looked less-than-impressed with the whole experience, but he tolerated it....
A lovely day at the beach
We went to MI recently and decided to go to the beach--rain or shine. Turns out it was rainy, so we just walked out to the end of a pier, Norah got to see her first lighthouse, and we got to be outside.
Ha!
Luca laughing/screaming with Norah. Probably not the best idea since he was eating, but he was having fun!
Luca laughing
Norah was making Luca laugh one day at lunch.He just thinks she is the funniest person EVER. PERIOD.
Flamingo Dress
Norah calls this dress her "flamingo dress." James brought it for her from Spain. Here she is showing me a twirl.
Mosquito Magnet
Here in IL we have some voracious mosquitoes--they bite during the day, in the sunshine, and they are quickly able to hone in on areas I miss with the repellent (i.e., Luca's face and around his eyes). Consequently, he has been a bit of a mess lately; his mosquito bites swell up and weep fluid--let's just say he has looked better!
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Birdwatching
Bree gave Norah some binoculars for birdwatching....so she was doing that instead of posing for this photo with Nonna and Jeri. It's better than nothing, I guess!
A-Mazing!
When Norah first got to Nonna's (on the fourth of July weekend), she would hover by the ladder of the pool and scream whenever anyone splashed her. By the time she left, she was "swimming" in the pool with no swimmies, and even perfecting her floating technique, seen here. She can jump in the pool, get to the ladder, bob underwater, "swim" underwater, and more! I predict she will be full-on swimming next summer!
Nonna and Luca
Nonna and Luca relaxing by the pool. Notice Luke has a shovel. He always needs to be holding a shovel, or some other similar object.
Bensons and Hemsleys
Our friends from Iowa, the Bensons, were in MI for a family reunion. They came over one day to hang out and swim. Here are all the kids together!
Foggy but nice
Norah, Luke, Nonna and I went on a river walk one morning. When I took my camera out to take this picture, the lens fogged up because it was SO HUMID! But, it's still a good photo of the kids and the Grand River.
3 Little Ducks
Don't the kids look like little ducks following Nonna out into the lake. Norah has a perpetual wedgie as my sister did when she was little!
The next step
Luca was comfortable shoveling sand, but how would he feel about the water? He loved it!
Luca and his shovel
Luca's security object at the beach (and other times, too) is a shovel. He quickly learned that the shovel has a practical use, and started moving sand around. He tried to eat some once, but after tasting the sand in his mouth, he didn't try THAT again!
Little Tent
Luca wasn't so sure of the sand at first, so he stayed by his little tent. As the day went on, he became more and more adventurous, as you will see in the next posts.
At the beach
We had a wonderful day at the beach at Lake Michigan with Nonna, Jeri, Bree, and me and the kids. We got there so early, there was hardly anyone there. It was great!
Lucy Lou
Lucia was pleased as punch that her parents threw her a birthday party. She would have liked some more streamers, but the two kinds of cake made up for that. Doesn't she look happy in this photo? :-)
Lucia's birthday
Lucia turned 1 on the 30th of July, but we had a pre-birthday party to celebrate. Here are all the kids. Why is it so difficult to get a good picture of young children? Because they have the attention span of sparrows, that's why!
Norah and Bree
Norah had so much fun playing with Bree, Jeri's granddaughter. They played animals, horses, and lots of other games while Norah was visiting.
Intrepid Explorers
Don't Norah and Luke look like they are on a ship in the ocean, scouting for dry land? That might be how Luke felt, surrounded by the sea of green grass that he hated so much. By the end of our visit in MI, he was happy to walk on grass just like other normal children!
Michigan!
The kids and I (and James on weekends) spent some time in MI in July. It was a good thing, too; that heat wave was just barely bearable with the pool at my mom's house!
Here's Luca and Lucia giving each other a "kiss" in the playpen by the pool. They had fun together, until Lucy figured out how to pull Luke's hair.
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