The Blanchard Family: October 2012

"Who hears these words of mine & puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, & the winds blew & beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine & does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, & the winds blew & beat against that house, & it fell with a great crash."

Matthew 7:24-27

Monday, October 22, 2012

Norah is 20 Months!

Norah turned 20 months old on October 5th! She is becoming quite the little girl who knows exactly what she wants and gets mad when she can't have it or you won't let her do it. :) Erik and I joke all the time about how if this is the way she acts now, how is she going to act when she is a teenager!? :) Norah still loves to be outside. This past month we finally got the hanging bar part up of our swing set so we could hang up swings. Norah loves to "ride" in the swing and kicks her legs like crazy whenever she gets in. Norah has had kind of a hard time with Kyler going to preschool. About a half hour after he leaves, she will say "Kyler, home", like that Kyler needs to come home. :) Even though usually they are fighting within 15 minutes of him coming home, you can tell she misses him. She also thinks that she needs to go to school with Kyler. This has gotten better as the month has gone on, but she still has a hard time playing by herself and finding things to do without Kyler at home.

Also this past month, two of Norah's eye teeth came in!! The bottom two appeared this last month, I'm not exactly sure what day, but the right one first, and then the left one was through shortly after. Only two more to go!!! Norah's hair is also getting so long. I hadn't noticed how long it really was until I have been looking at some older pictures. We still haven't cut it yet, and I don't plan on doing so any time soon. :) Here are some pictures of Norah from the past month!

20 Months Old!!

Loving the swing!

Trying out Kyler's hat :)

Enjoying a s'more in the backyard

Cheese!!

Loving the cozy coupe! Norah loves to drive this around the yard.

Love this little girl!

Doesn't everyone need 3 pairs of sunglasses on?!?

Waiving "bye-bye" to Kyler on his first day of preschool

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Kyler's First Day of Preschool

Kyler had his first day of preschool on September 6th! This was actually the fourth day his preschool was in session, but we missed the first 3 times while we were in Minnesota. Kyler goes to preschool at the church on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Tuesdays, Erik usually takes him and then I pick him up. On Thursdays, he gets to go to work with Erik, and then Erik takes him to preschool and brings him home when he comes home for lunch. The first 3-4 four times were a little rough, as Kyler would cry every time Erik dropped him off. As I said in the potty training blog, we didn't find out that Kyler got in to preschool until just a couple weeks before it started because we were on the waiting list, because we weren't sure if we were going to send him or not. Since it was kind of rough at first, I started to think that we maybe didn't make the right decision. But, when we got to about the 5th time, and they were learning about farms, Erik said he took Kyler and he was so excited to play with the farm animals he didn't cry at all when Erik took him, so I now think we did make a good choice. :) He has done pretty well ever since, except when he's tired. :) We hope you have a great first year of preschool Buddy!!

Norah is 19 Months!

Norah turned 19 months old on September 5th! She continues to be our crazy little girl and there is never a dull moment with her! Norah still loves to climb everything. It is not uncommon to find her sitting on the dining room table, or headed up the stairs. Norah has also mastered climbing the ladder on the swing set to get up to the "tree house". Norah's vocabulary continues to grow every day. This last month she has started to put words together. She now says things like "mommy's shoes", "crying, Kyler", or "airplane, commin' ". Norah also continues to want to do everything Kyler does. If Kyler is playing with cars, so is Norah, when Kyler went fishing in Minnesota, Norah thought she needed to go to. Although Norah idolizes Kyler, she has also started to get somewhat mean towards him. Norah has begun to "fight back" against Kyler if he does something she doesn't like. For example, if Norah is playing with something and Kyler comes and takes it, she might go up to him and start to hit him. Or, she has done this also when Kyler has not instigated something first. Another example is if Kyler has something Norah wants, and he was playing with it first, and she wants it, but I tell her she has to wait her turn, she might start to hit or attack Kyler. Norah still doesn't have any new teeth this past month, we are waiting for those four eye teeth to come through. Here are some pictures from the past month!

19 Months Old!

Hanging out in the "tree house".

Doesn't everyone wear a helmet and boots?! :)

Trying on Grandma's shoes

Hanging out with Grandma Nadene!

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Labor Day at the Lake 2012

We headed back up to my parent's cabin in Northern Minnesota for one more week at the end of August. We left on Sunday, Aug. 26th (which also happened to be Erik's 30th birthday!!) :) to head North. We got up there just in time for a late dinner and then unpacked and headed to bed. It was just the four of us when we got there since my parents were back at work. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday we had awesome weather. It was just the four of us on those four days as well. Our days mostly consisted of getting up, going running, having some breakfast, heading down to the beach to play and hang out for a while, eating some lunch, heading back to the beach for a little bit more play time, taking an afternoon nap (the kids napped, I actually read a book!) :), heading back to the beach for more play time, having dinner, and then hanging out in the cabin until bed time. It was so nice up there for it being so late in August. Last year when we were up there at this time, we had a couple nice days, but the rest were cooler, and rainy. The neighbors that live up there all the time said this was one of the nicest "end of Augusts" that they could remember in a long time.

Thursday evening my parents and brother arrived at the cabin. They had left after they got off work. Friday morning the kids were very excited when they got up because Grandma, Grandpa, and Ben had arrived! :) Friday morning we were invited to the neighbor's for coffee and rolls, so we went over there and enjoyed talking to everyone. Friday afternoon we enjoyed more time at the beach and even got in some water skiing. Saturday morning Erik, Ben, and I had to run 16 miles (in preparation for the Chicago Marathon at the beginning of October). The kids hung out with Grandma and Grandpa all morning while we accomplished this small task, :) and after we made it back, and had spent some time recuperating, we enjoyed another beautiful day at the beach and water skiing. Sunday was another great day, and our last "full" day with everyone there, so we enjoyed one last ski and boat ride in the evening. Kyler also had been asking and asking to go fishing, so Sunday evening, after we finished skiing, Grandpa and Ben took Kyler out fishing. I don't think he caught anything, but he had a great time! Norah was extremely mad that she was not able to go fishing (since that's what Kyler was doing!) :), something about a 1 year old with a fishing pole just doesn't quite work so well. :) So, my mom and I had to take her out on a paddle boat ride just so she could go in the "boat" too. :) We also had a quick bonfire before bedtime! Monday (Labor Day) we enjoyed our annual "breakfast at the pot" at the neighbor's. Like I said on the 4th of July post, I always love this meal as we cook eggs and bacon over the open fire, and have LOTS of other yummy fruit, potatoes, coffee cakes, and cinnamon rolls. After breakfast it's time to go to work-well, I watched Kyler and Norah, but everyone else went to work. :) We had to take both boats out, take the dock, and get everything packed away. After this happened, my parents and Ben headed back home, and the four of us enjoyed one last evening at the cabin. Tuesday morning we got up, packed up the truck, and headed home! It's always kind of sad to leave this time since everything is put away, and we know we won't get to enjoy the beach again until next summer. But, time moves on, and we had another great week at the lake! Here are some of our pictures from our trip!