Remember the Virgin Mary in the Grilled Cheese Sandwich?

So remember a while ago, someone sold a grilled cheese sandwich on ebay that had the image of the virgin mary burnt into it? Well I think NOra has the knack for discovering images in food as well. She was eating this apple in her car seat one day when I heard her say "Baby Ike! Looks like baby Ike, Mommy!" She showed me her apple and she was right.
I had drawn her a little paper doll of baby Ike a few months ago that had the exact same shape as the bite marks on her apple. She was remembering the pciture that was something like this:

What a talented eye (and mouth) she has!

Moving Day!

We have moved! We know live in the middle of nowhere, even though our actual town of Visalia is a pretty good size. Visalia is about 45 minutes south of Fresno and an hour north of Bakersfield. Branden got a job down here at the local hospital as a nurse in the ICU. He loves it and says it is a great opportunity for him.

Last Friday was the big day and it was the easiest move we've ever made. Probably because we didn't have to do a thing. Branden's company paid for movers to come in and pack up all our stuff. Nora was estatic to see the huge truck and she even got to climb inot the cab and honk the horn. She brought Gramma outside with her so she wouldn't miss anything as the movers went in and out of the house.






And here's some pictures of our new place. We are obviously still moving in, so its kind of cluttered.

Family Reunion

Branden's Grandmother passed away a few weeks ago and although that's a sad reason to get together, Grandma's funeral amounted to a big family reunion. I finally got to meet all of Branden's cousins and his aunts and uncles. It was great to see his parents and sisters again. I haven't seen Wendi and Trina for two years! Nora found a couple of babies to play with and she surprised me by being actually quite gentle and careful around them. Except for when she tried to pull one of them up on her feet to get her to walk. Whoops!

Potty Rewards

At the end of Nora's potty chart was a Chuck E. Cheese Logo - her big prize for all her hard work. It was really packed and she got a cold the next day from all the germs but she loved it!

The Potty Training Princess!

For the past three weeks, Nora has been potty training. She picked up on it pretty quickly - probably because we tried it several months ago without success but she learned the concept. For the first two weeks we were averaging one to two accidents a day, but this past week she had three "no accident" days in a row! Way to go Nora! I know it's fairly common for kids to relapse once a new sibling comes along, so we'll just have to see what happens in November, but for now she is doing great!

Scrapbooking Ideas?

What are you doing to chronicle your children's lives past one year old? I wish they made baby-style memory books for the 2-5 year range. I want milestone lists and pre-made prompts to fill out, but I haven't found anything like that for older toddlers. I'm not really into full-on scrapbooking with all the cutouts and stickers - that just gets too pricey. Any ideas? I have heard about turning blogs into scrapbooks and I know there are some cute online photobooks, but nothing seems all inclusive. And when you have more than one kid do you make one photo book per year for each kid? Or just a family memory book for each one? I would love to hear what you are doing!

Robots from the Kitchen Cupboards are Invading!

While we were making dinner yesterday, Nora apparently wasn't getting enough attention. So after digging in the cupbarods, she emerged as this cute little robot.