Look Mom!

The other day we were driving out of our neighborhood when we saw a man wearing a turban. Nora, having recently watch The Wizard of Oz for the first time, yelled out excitedly, "Look Mom. There's the man that looks into the crystal ball!"

The Rewards of Sleep

Nora is working on staying in her own bed all night. As incentives/rewards when she does it she gets to choose an activity from her jar. Well, we've had two nights of success in the past two weeks and here are some of Nora's fun rewards:

Riding on the local trolley through downtown.

 Nora pulling a Balloo on the palm tree.

 Our littlest daredevil.

And taking a stroll over a walking bridge that goes over our highway.

Keep it up Nora! I'm enjoying the increased sleep and as well as our outings!

I Just Love These Kids!

Christmas Gift!

Last year my sister made a super cute quiet book for my kids for Christmas, so this year I tried to come up with something that her kids might enjoy. I made a paper doll house, laminated it, and put velcro on everything. I also made paperdolls of everyone in our family - I hope that will be a good way for her kids to remember everyone while they are so far away. Sniff! :) Stephanie says her girls liked it enough to fight over it a lot on their long drive to Texas. I guess that means they like it! :)

Christmas 2010

Better late than never, right?

 Ike's favorite Christmas present

 Nora's favorite present (and subsequently, the most USED present we've ever given her!)

Deja Vu

I pulled this dress out from storage the other day. I wish I had a picture of when I wore it as a little girl. My mom made this dress for me and a matching one for Stephanie. Good job Mom on making something that could last almost three decades! :) Nora was thrilled to wear it - she loves learning about her parents when they were little. In fact, several times she has asked Branden to tell her stories of when his older brothers teased him and tied him to a tree as a boy. Not sure why she loves that one so much...

Thanksgiving At Our House

I know this is way behind, but here are our Thanksgiving photos finally. We had my parents, and two sisters and their families at our home for two days. Briana's husband Craig was sick with strep throat the whole time and couldn't even touch his turkey dinner, but I think everyone else had a good time. :)
Reese flew in before her parents and we got to have her with us for a few extra days. I LOVE how well she and Nora get along now! From the moment we strapped her in our car to take her to our house, she and Nora were busy pretending with their little figurines. So fun! I have such fond memories of playing with cousins as a girl. I really hope our girls will have time to build the same kind of memories.


Here's most of us lounging after Thanksgiving dinner. Branden cooked the lions' share of the food and it was delicious! I am so lucky to have such a fantastic chef for a husband.
And here is my son, gnawing on a turkey bone. Classy Ike, classy.
Fun time (?) with cousin play.

The next day the weather was nice enough to head out to a park and enjoy the fresh air.

See how Carter is helping his CHILD play? And look, below how with Branden it is the opposite. Hmm... :) You're great Honey!

On Saturday Briana, Craig, Claire, and Dad took off in the early morning, but we took the rest of the crew to a super cool Christmas tree farm up in Reedley.

Reese riding the train with Gramma!

Nora HAD to be in the cattle car. Before she even saw the train, she was begging to go into the "Dumbo" car. She remembered it from last year when she was not even two and a half! She often surprises me with her memory!



We all took a turn up the tree house which has a great view of the whole tree farm.

This really looks like a safe piece of play equipment, right?

Thanks everyone for making the trip down here! I know it added several hours to your travel plans, but we LOVED having you all here! Christmas at our place next year? :)