Two

She's two.  How on earth did that happen so quick?   

 We went to the doctor today and she's off the charts for height but only 40% for weight. My tall skinny girl.  Norah has so much personality.  She is very expressive and definitely lets you know quick what shes thinking.  She also rivals Joel in keeping us on our toes and in being strong willed.  I dont think Joel will have prepared us for this little princess.  In which case many prayers are appreciated. 

 She adores her brothers.  And loves to run and give them hugs and kisses and will do just about anything they do.  She tries hard to keep up with them and their friends. Its made her seem older in some ways. 

 She is such a girly girl and I'm sure no one is surprised that her favorite book right now is Fancy Nancy and she has to point out all the bracelets and necklaces Nancy is wearing on each page.  She loves tutus and a lot of times insists on putting a tutu on over her pajamas before bed.  But she also loves to get muddy and dirty and roll in the mud.  I think she's the best kind of girl - has the best of both. 

 Thats her ghost face where she puts her hands over her face and pretends to make ghost noises. Something her brothers taught her.  She also loves to hide and then will call out for her "BOYS COME FIND ME!!!!" which most of the time they do.  She loves her "boys" and its cute to hear her calling out "my boys."  She also wont go to bed at night or take a nap without saying night night to her boys and hear them say night night back. 

She loves dogs and that puppy on the bed is her doggie that goes everywhere with us.  EVERYWHERE.  So not only do we have her pacifier and 8 blankets every night but her doggie too that she has to sleep with.  I think we need to get a spare doggie just in case we leave it somewhere. 

She is very very attached to mommy.  More so than Colin ever was.  She has to be where I'm at and not just in the same room but on my lap or stuck to me - she wont unlatch herself from me. So she's always with me. Which makes a lot of things take longer or just dont get done. But I dont mind most of the time because I know she wont do this for long and I'm enjoying that my baby wants to always be right with me. And she is such a snuggler. I'm enjoying all her snuggles.  Especially after mom told me Mary was just the same way. And since Mary hardly calls or comes home anymore I'm making sure to enjoy Norah's attachment now. 

Poor girl woke up with a virus on her birthday.  This girl is a dream sleeper - always has been so when shes waking up half the night you know something is wrong. 

So a lot of plans I had for her birthday didnt happen. But we played and snuggled most of the day which is always just as good. 

Joel also cooked and baked with her forever.  Best gift right there for Norah. 

We tried candles again. I put the cupcake infront of her while she was sitting on the bench and turned around and she was halfway of the bench.

She sayed far away from that candle.  She would only come to the table when the candle was taken out of her cupcake.  Dont think I need to worry about her around a firepit this summer. 

 Then all was well.

The horror

Happy Birthday  

 to you

Happy Birthday

 to you

Happy Birthday

 dear Norah

 Happy Birthday

 to you
(the one above is my favorite...almost like she's thinking Whats wrong with you people)

We celebrated the March family birthdays this past saturday.  Norah was slighly tramautized by it. 

Shamrock

 The boys ran their first official races.  Colin ran that 200 yard dash when he was 3 but it wasn't an official race with his own bib number.  So this was a pretty big deal.  Colin school signed up for the shamrock final mile and he's been working on running with me this winter.  He is fast. He'll run three miles with me no problem while I'm dying pushing the double jogger and Colin is never winded. 

I had forgotten that I had signed  up Joel for the Leprechaun Dash until this week.  He was excited but come race day got nervous around all the crowds. 

Pretty ears were rubbed when he started to get overwhelmed and nervous. 

Ant Ant ran with Joel while I took Colin to his starting line and Brent went and stood by the finish line. 

 Joel held Ant Ants hand the whole race.

And then told Ant Ant it was too bad she didnt run fast enough to get a medal too.  He's pretty proud of his medal. 

 Colin started off running in the middle of the pack next to his friend Trey.

 Then something clicked inside him and he booked it. He was around a 7  minute mile we think.  We haven't gotten the official times yet. 

  Here is when Trey's mom said he just started weaving around people and running full speed.

Colin ended up being one of the top 10 in his group of 200+  SO proud of my boy.  Its not easy to get out of the crowd the first mile and up ahead of everyone.  He might have been the top runner for his school but I'm not sure. I'm sure his PE teacher will let him know tomorrow. 

So proud of my runners. 

 

Friends

Destiny came to visit. I think this makes the 4th or 5th time since we've been in virginia beach and have loved having her here. (I told her it's way overdue for me to go visit her!) 

We spent some time at the beach and then meet another friend at the playground for the rest of the afternoon. The weather was beautiful and we spent just about the whole day outside. 

It's always so good to have her come and catch up on life. She's such a great friend.  This time it was way to short!

Slides

We've spent a lot of time lately enjoying this beautiful spring weather we are finally having. Joel and Norah love to go down slides together. You'll typically see Joel call for Norah, "here baby" and she climbes into his lap and down they go. Over and over and over again. A girl at the park yesterday for an hour kept arguing with Joel that Norah was not a baby and he finally said "she's MY baby." 

He loves her. And she adores him. 

Basketball

  

 Colin and the best coach he's ever had. They are sad its ended. 

A princess was there the last game to cheer them on. 

Also my parents were able to come watch. 

 Joel is probably the only one very excited to see it end. 

crazy girl

Winter that wont end

On Sunday morning it was upper 70s and we took the kids to first landing park and beach to play.  Then monday it started sleeting/snowing.  I'll take Sundays weather any day.  But we enjoyed our snow days. Just will ignore the saturday classes Colin will have to make up (or we wont send him...so ridiculous)  Which by the way the news channel stopped by my house today to interview me on my opnion about the make up days.  I declined because I'm not very good on the spot - plus the fact that I had Norah's lunch spilled on my shirt and hadn't brushed my hair in a few days.  But now that they've left I've thought of plenty I could say about it.  Guess its good. Might not be good for Colin's great reputation in school if his mom is bashing the school board on the nightly news.  

One good thing about this winter that wont end is that Norah is starting to love the snow. Today its mostly melted but she grabbed the sled and started towards the street to our sledding hill. She was ready for more.  A layer of ice under some powder was perfect for sledding the other day. 

Tree climbers