Easter 2012

Our Easter celebration started on Palm Sunday when we were supposed to have Easter with Erik's immediate family.  But, Norah had a fever, so her and I stayed home so we didn't infect anyone with whatever she had (which turned out to be Roseola), and just Kyler and Erik went over to have dinner with Erik's family.  Kyler also got to go on an Easter egg hunt outside while he was there, and brought home lots of goodies and fun things for him and Norah.

We celebrated Easter with just the four of us on Saturday afternoon before Easter.  Erik has to work Saturday evening, and then all Sunday morning of Easter, plus we were going to my aunt and uncle's right after church for Easter with my side of the family, so this was the best time to do it.  Erik and I set out their Easter baskets and Erik hid eggs while the kids took their afternoon naps.  It was funny to see what each kid did when they got up.  Norah woke up first, so we had to try and distract her from taking all of the eggs.  She kept going around and collecting them, it was really funny.  Then when Kyler got up, he wasn't sure what to think, but knew right what to do!  We had hid M&Ms in big plastic eggs and then hid foil-wrapped chocolate eggs around the house.  Kyler only wanted to collect the "big" eggs, but then after  he found all those, he decided he could collect the others too. :)  Here are some pictures of Easter with just the four of us:

 Kyler and Norah's baskets

 Kyler checking things out after his nap

 Sarge!!

 Norah checking out her basket :)

 Look Dad!!

 Kyler looking for eggs...

Norah looking for eggs :)

Saturday evening, Erik had to work at church for the Saturday night Easter service, so after dinner, the kids and I headed over to my parent's house for an Easter egg hunt over there.  Both kids were again extremely blessed by the goodies that were in their Easter baskets and enjoyed looking for eggs once again. :)

On Easter morning we got up and headed to church for the 10:45 service.  After the service, we came home for a quick stop, and then loaded up and headed up to my aunt and uncle's farm, just east of Sumner. At the farm, we celebrated Easter with my entire extended family on my mom's side.  We enjoyed a wonderful meal of ham, potatoes, salad, bread, corn and fruit.  We even had some Scratch cupcakes for dessert. :)  After lunch the kids took naps and the rest of the family played a game of baseball-which was quite hillarious.  When the kids woke up, they played a bit, we had a bit of a "snack" for dinner, and then headed home.  Here are some pictures of our family on Easter:

Best picture of my two kiddos all dressed up!

 Our family on Easter!

 Miss Norah :)

 Miss Norah and cousin Ava!

Kyler being silly and chasing Norah :)

We had a wonderful Easter with our families, and although this post is more about the things we did, we are even more grateful for what Jesus did on the cross for us, and the real meaning of Easter-that Jesus is ALIVE!!!!  We hope you had a wonderful Easter too!!

14 Months Old!

Norah was 14 months old on April 5th!  At 14 months Norah weighs 20 lbs 5 oz (I don't know her height, and only know her weight because I took her to the doctor for a fever and a rash she had, which turned out to just be Roseola).  This girl is a walking machine!  Norah now walks everywhere and it is very rare that you see her crawling any more!  A few more teeth came through for Miss this past month, the two side ones on the bottom and then the other side one on the top!  She now has all eight of her front teeth!  Now we're just waiting for those nice molars to come in... :)  Norah's climbing abilities truly came out this past month as she discovered she can now climb onto out dining room chairs and then onto the table!!  Talk about being a bit frustrating! :)  If anything is on the table, she is usually seen pulling out the chair, climbing the chair and then is up on the table to take a look at whatever is there.  And don't be fooled if you think you are going to just whisk her off and have her be on her merry way...no no, she is usually right back up there about 30 seconds later... :)  Norah's personality is coming out more and more.  She is a very persistent and determined little girl (as noted by the climbing the table example).  She wants to do anything and everything that her big brother is going and gets VERY mad if you try to tell her otherwise.  She also loves to destroy anything Kyler is working on.  She does love her big brother very much though and especially loves to get him up in the morning and from his nap.  She runs to his room, flings open the door and runs right over and tries to climb up on his bed.  Another thing Norah is really into right now is wearing things.  She loves to put on beads or any sort of necklace (like Erik's lanyard for church) and walk around the house.  She also likes to put on glasses or different hats as you can see in the pictures below.  Norah has also discovered the sandbox this month as we have had some nice days outside.  She really enjoys digging with the shovel and running the sand through her hands-can't wait to take her to the lake this summer!!  Here are some pictures of Miss Norah from the past month!  

 14 Months Old!

 Loving the sandbox!

 Climbing the chair...

 Crazy girl!

 Sitting on the dining room table...

Walking everywhere!

 Sitting on the kid-sized table in the play room...

 Silly girl!

Lookin' cool with her shades! 

 This is what Norah does when you ask her to show you her teeth :)

Just having a snack ;)

13 Months and Walking!!!

Norah turned 13 month old on March 5th!  Her biggest accomplishment this past month is walking!!  Yes, our little lady is on the move using her two feet. :)  Walking is definitely not her preferred mode of transportation yet, she probably walks 50% and still crawls 50% because she can still crawl faster than she can walk right now.  She also isn't set on just walking somewhere if she is standing up.  If she is standing at the couch or wherever, her first instinct is still to drop down and crawl.  But, if you set her down in the middle of the room and say, "okay, can you walk to mommy?", she will walk to you!  She has made it across our living room, which isn't very big, but a good 8 to 10 feet!  The other thing Norah showed us she can do this month is stand up on her own without pulling herself up on something.  I'm not sure how it really came about, but one day we were asking her if she could stand up, and telling her to stand up.  She then tried to stand up by just using her legs to push her self up, she couldn't quite do that, so then she bent over and used her hands and then just stood up in the middle of the room! :)  Norah also had another tooth pop through this past month, the side one on the right (right next to her front right one) came through!  The side one on the left is not far behind, as you can see it in her gums, but it's not through yet.  Another thing Norah loves to do right now is re-arrange our chairs in the dining room.  If you leave the room for a second, it is no surprise to come back and find all the chairs moved in several different directions. :)

13 Months! (2 days late) :)

Loving her dinner!

Cheese!!

WALKING!!

Another favorite place-standing on the chair!

Kyler calls this her "Crazy Woman" picture :)  (This is after she just pulled out her ponytail) :)

Climbing on the diapers!

Another funny thing Norah likes to do lately....put her hands in boots/shoes and crawl around with them :)

My two little Valentines! :)

Silly Girl!

Pushing the chairs...

More hands in boots!

Loving her cake!!

Norah's 1 Year Old Pictures

Here are some of Norah's One Year Pictures! Enjoy!

Norah's 1st Birthday Party

We celebrated Norah's 1st birthday with a party with just our family on Saturday, February 4th (the day before her real birthday).  There were about 25 people who came over to help Norah celebrate turning 1 year old!  Norah was not sure what to think of all the people at her house!  She just wanted to stay with mom and have mom hold her most of the time. :)  We enjoyed a great dinner together and then opened presents and had cake and ice cream.  Here are some pictures from her party:

The birthday girl!!

Norah's "smash cake" :)

Kyler and Cousin Ava enjoying dinner at the party!

Norah enjoying her birthday dinner :)

Opening one of the many wonderful gifts Norah received!  (Plus a view of some of the great people who came to celebrate!)

Opening some blocks (with Kyler's help of course!) :)

Norah's cross-stitched name that Grandma Deb made!

Checking out her cake....not sure what to think!

What is this stuff!?!?

Picture with Henry and Geneva (Geneva babysat me at 6 weeks old!)  Henry made Norah a wooden bunny-shaped puzzle for her birthday-very special!

Party is over, now on to tackling Kyler!! :)

On Sunday February 5th was Norah's real birthday.  We went to church in the morning and then came home and had lunch.  After lunch we let Norah open her presents from us.  After presents, both kids took naps, and then we headed to Ashley's parent's house for dinner.  

 Opening presents from Mom and Dad-she's a pro by now!

 Opening her first present...a Cabbage Patch Doll!  I saw this and thought it would be a perfect 1st birthday present, even though she's still a bit little to completely understand all the "baby" stuff :)

 A new pink bath towel!  No more green one! :)

And a big Lightning McQueen!!  (isn't that what every 1 year old girl wants?!?)  The story behind this-we had asked Kyler what we should get Norah for her birthday, and he kept saying "a big Lightning McQueen! (big in reference to his match-box sized one).  So Erik took him to Target and let him pick this out for Norah :)  And she actually loves to chase it around the house! :)

We had such a great time celebrating Norah's 1st birthday.  It's hard to believe she is already 1 year old!  What a blessing she is to our family!  We are so thankful for all of our family that came to help us celebrate this special occasion!  We love you Norah!!!