Christmas Kids

4 months is a really fun age for a first Christmas. Nora loved the pretty boxes and ribbons. She is grabbing everything within reach these days, and she could tear the wrapping paper herself once we got it started for her. She got clothes for Christmas mostly - thanks to all of our family members who know that's what we need for a little lady whose size is more than twice her age (and growing!).

Zeke has been really fun this year too. He has been pointing out stars and Christmas trees and reindeer everywhere he sees them and talking a lot about seeing his cousins and giving and getting presents. A couple of weeks ago he learned in nursery that candy canes remind us of the shepherd's crooks, and he often tells me about shepherds visiting baby Jesus. Zeke had a very Thomas Christmas this year, with most of his gifts from everyone being either parts for his train set or other Thomas-themed items.

It was a very very merry weekend. I love that each Christmas is more enjoyable than the last!

Memory Tree

We have a tree of many varied ornaments, and as I was enjoying its peaceful glow I realized that they each hold a memory. Ornaments Aaron's mom made for her kids, ornaments received as gifts from many sources, ornaments we bought together, ornaments Zeke made at church, and more.

The tree itself holds memories too. We bought it on Christmas clearance the year before we were married. The light strands were once white lights, and we swapped out each individual light on the multi-colored pre-lit tree we bought my mom at the same time. Aaron did custom colors for the lights in our star. And so many other little things. And the beautiful thing is the memories will only grow as the years go by.

Pretty Little Sitter

About a week ago we put Nora down sitting and for once she balanced for more than a fraction of a second.

The next day she was a little better at it.

And even better the next day.

And still better the next day.

She still needs her hands or boppy for balance, but she loves it.

It's been fun to see her progress from day to day. We're so proud of our sweet little miss!

Left In the Cold

Our furnace died last week. A slow death, leaking carbon monoxide at an increasing rate as it went. The first time the CO detector went off, we chalked it up to an old furnace, cold weather, and being gone most of that day. When it went off twice more that same week, we called our property manager and he sent over a serviceman. The heating guy brought a brand new CO detector and instructed me to call him if this one went off. That night it went off 4 times between 2 am and 6:30 am. Fortunately the kids slept through both the screaming alarm and the cold air that came in as we aired out the house. Aaron and I, however, didn't sleep much at all. At 8:30 I called the heating guy and he came right over. After an hour or so he pronounced our furnace dead, shut it down, and we packed up and went to Grandma's for the weekend.

We had an unexpected vacation weekend of playing, talking, hanging out, and relaxing.

Nora discovered she likes to bounce,

and Zeke discovered that Nora bouncing is a great toy.

The new furnace was ready for installation 3 days later, so I gathered up all of our things, packed the car, and took the kids home to meet Aaron who got off work early. The heating guys brought the new furnace in and got it all set up but one part was missing, meaning the installation would have to continue the next evening. So we refreshed our overnight bag and went back to Grandma's for one more night.

We are happy to now be back at home and have more efficient heat. Now to catch up on all the Saturday chores that didn't get done last week...

Need a Little Christmas

We put up our Christmas tree this weekend. Aaron did the assembly and lights with 'help' from Zeke while I put Nora to bed. Then after she was asleep I put on a lot of the ornaments while Aaron built a train track around the tree and living room and Zeke controlled the train.

Now we are all festive and Thomas and Gordon are having a grand old time being holiday trains.

Halfway to Real Food

This week Nora is 3 months. It's gone fast, and she has grown and changed so much in a short time. She is generous with her smiles and sometimes giggles a little. She is very talkative and will carry on a conversation. She has learned to hold her head up quite well, and she likes tummy time a lot as long as she isn't too tired or hungry.

She has shown that she doesn't like slow-flowing milk, being in her carseat, having mommy be away, and being alone. She likes hot baths, eating often, being upright, and watching most anything Zeke and Daddy watch on the computer. She has ditched the binky in favor of her hands.

She seems to want to do a lot of things she can't yet, like sit, eat, crawl, and play. I keep telling her that she just needs to give it some time. If the next 3 months go this fast, she will be doing those things before we know what happened.

More Nora Pictures

as requested :)

Spend, Spend, Spend.

So I got my first paycheck last Friday and kissed the last of it goodbye today. Started by being frivolous buying three pair of pants that don't have holes in them. Then Yesterday the cars brakes started grinding. It's amazing how fast automobile repairs will suck you dry. $600 and most of the day today and the last of my check is gone but I have brakes on the escort again :D

Hangin' at Home

Swing Sleeper

Nora is just so cute - especially while she's asleep - that I could take the same pictures every day. But she's growing every day too, so they wouldn't be exactly the same....

She doesn't really like to swing and certainly doesn't go to sleep in her swing; she just sleeps really well when we put her down there already asleep.

For a while it was the only way she would nap. I think that may have changed but I'm not sure I'm ready to test that theory yet.

Besides, I like having her right next to me where I can fully enjoy her sleeping adorableness.

Halloween Early

We went to a neighborhood Halloween party last night. The parking lot trick-or-treating started just after sundown, meaning it was dark enough to be festive but still light enough to see - and not cold. Then we did the dinner part after. Brilliant!

Zeke seemed to think the whole thing would have been more fun if I hadn't kept stopping him every few feet. He would just get up to running speed when I would have him stop at another car.

Nora slept through the whole party. Thank goodness, because it had been a bad nap day. And trying to keep track of Zeke throughout dinner was more than enough work for Mom and Dad.

Our little sleeping candy corn.

And our train engineer, specifically Thomas's driver.

A Little Autumn

...before it snowed.

Butterfly Release

Grandma and Grandpa found a bunch of end-of-summer monarch caterpillars a few weeks ago and have been releasing butterflies as the caterpillars changed. We were lucky enough to be at their house the day one of the last butterflies emerged, so we took Zeke and Nora and cousins out in the backyard to give this new butterfly his freedom.

Grandma took him out of the jar and showed him around.

Then my sister-in-law had the great idea of doing 'butterfly bows' for the girls.

Love this face....

And Zeke wanted to play too. He stood with his head tilted the whole time, like he was worried the butterfly was going to fall off.

Our butterfly was very accomodating. He flew away twice but let us catch him again until everyone had a turn, then he landed in the top of a tree where we could see but not touch. So much fun!

Blessing Day Party

Nora slept through her party. Which was okay because otherwise she would have been crying and honestly she can't eat the cookies yet anyway.

Because the Loertscher family had another blessing we all had to run to, our party was just a simple mid-morning snack of cookies and banana bread and milk. Aaron gets all the credit for the idea for and creation of the candy corn cookies as well as the cutting and baking of all the fall shapes.

Nora and Daddy

Nora and Mommy

Nora and Zeke

Blessing Day Photo Shoot