Little Egypt

We spent this past weekend in Salem, which also happened to be the Little Egypt Festival. My brother, Jim, and his family were in town and we all had a great time.  Ethan and his cousin, Josiah, were all about each other! I didn't see Ethan for most of the weekend! He was playing with Josiah and Paige in the basement and having a wonderful time.

Wrestling like cousins are supposed to do! 

The 3 of them playing Smurf Dance Party

Friday afternoon, we took the kids to the see Hotel Transylvania.  Everyone enjoyed it and the popcorn!  Saturday morning we went to downtown Salem for the annual big wheel races (a race in which I won as a 4 or 5 year old!).  Paige and Josiah raced, and Ethan decided he didn't want to.  And then Saturday afternoon was the big parade.  2 days in a row with candy and no nap!  He was a happy boy...until he crashed :)!

Josiah cruising on the Big Wheel

Paige is a serious racer 

Alex, Abby and Nora watching the races...it was cold!

Parade time!  Ethan and Tyler, it was still cold!

Sunday was a typical Sunday in Salem.  Church and lunch.  It was a great weekend and so nice spending time with my brother before he deploys next month.  

Ham and Waffles!

Nora and Jim got along great!  

Max, Ethan and Nora :)

Jim and I.  Be careful over there and I love you!!

Photo Friday...Week 5

I generally take tooth brushing duty.  It looks like I pin him down in this picture...I guess maybe I do!  Haha! Guess, I have to get it done right, whatever that takes :)!

Helping your child get ready for bed

Apple Picking Fun!

Today was Ethan's very first field trip with school.  I (along with most of the other parents) went along.  We went to the Okaw Valley Apple Orchard.  It was so much fun, and all the kids had a blast.  We first had a tour into the orchard.  There were no apples this year due to a hard freeze in April that killed their entire crop.  The woman giving us the tour said this was the first time in 10 years that she had to pretend she was picking an apple, while showing the kids the ladder and picking bag.  And usually the kids get to pick the apples from the trees, but this year they got to pick them out of a box.

Listening very intently :)

Each person got 4 apples and Ethan has already gobbled up one!

After all the kids got their apples, we headed back to the picnic area for some snack.  We all got apple cider slush and an apple doughnut.  YUM!

We had to bring some home for Daddy :)

Then the kids headed to the playground.

Running like a crazy kid on top of all the hay bales

Nora had fun too, but no doughnut for her...maybe next time.

The whole class! (Minus a couple, I think)

My Cute Pre-Schooler!

Surprise!!

Last week was my sister, Abby's, birthday.  It was her 'Golden' birthday, meaning she turned 23 on the 23rd.  She made a big deal about it (or tried to).  So, those of us who love her, decided to make a big deal about it too and throw her a surprise party.  She tried to ruin it, since the date we planned it for, she was unavailable.  We didn't let that stop us and planned it for today.  Alex and I had been texting back and forth for weeks, but thankfully, Abby doesn't snoop and it truly was a surprise!  (Or if it wasn't, she is a great actor).
We all met in Edwardsville at Dewey's Pizza and got everything set up.  We really got into the 'Golden' aspect of the day.  Gifts included golden grahams, goldfish, golden delicious apples, golden chocolate coins (complete with a gold bar bank to store them in), golden oreos and various other golden things.  It was a great time, and I think Abby had a good day!

A Surprised Abby

Happy Birthday Lunch Party

Haley giving her gift of Golden Oreos

More presents!

The Party Group
Abby, Alex, Josh, Katie, Haley, Libby, Becky, Nora, Jared, Ethan, Wayne, Linda, David and Terri

 After lunch, we took the party back to Abby and Alex's apartment for cupcakes, ice cream and hanging out!

Happy Birthday to Abby! Happy Birthday to You!!

Haley and Ethan- 2 cute cupcake eaters!

Ethan and Abby with their mustaches :)

Pop and Nora having a good time!

Sisters!

Photo Friday...Week 4

This week's photo...

Making Silly Faces At Each Other

And Nora wanted in on the camera action too...so we took one of the 3 of us :)

She was very interested in the beeping and flashing light on the camera (I used the timer setting)

11 Months

Nora is 11 months old today.  She is a ball of energy!  She goes non stop, it seems.  I took just about 100 pictures of her today, and did not get too many good ones.  I guess that's why I'm not a photographer.  Anyway, here are a few things about Nora at 11 months:

She weighs 21.5 lbs (according to our scale).
She is stalled at 7 teeth, but is constantly drooling.
She crawls, pulls up to everything, cruises along furniture, and 'walks' behind things (see video below).













She is eating all kinds of finger foods, but still has baby food to supplement and nurses 2 times/day.

She is finally getting some hair, just not in the front yet.  I'm sure she will be sporting a baby mullet soon!
She loves bath time, her brother, his toys and climbing on things.

Climbing on the fireplace hearth, a favorite place

Emptying the cabinets...another favorite.

She is developing quite the personality, and is pretty funny!

Here's a video of Nora 'walking' :)

11 months have gone by way too quickly!  Now, onto planning the party!!  We love you Nora D!

Are You Ready for Some Football?!?

Ethan got a new football yesterday...He's been having fun :)!

Pinteresting...

I have a few projects to share!  I'll not bore you with words...just pictures!

 So, I have been kind of obsessed with pallets lately.  I found a bookshelf I wanted to make here, so I nagged Jared until he brought me home some from work!  I didn't take a picture of the 'before', but this is basically what we started with...

After a little sawing, prying and hammering, A LOT of sanding (I mean A LOT, like sanding with a grinder), a coat or 2 of paint we ended up with this!

Ethan was so excited about it!

A place for his books!

It's amazing what people come up with to do with pallets!  Total cost...$5, for clearance paint at WalMart.

This next project was a garbage day find!  I opened the garage door on trash day only to get super excited about what I saw across the street!

 I've been looking for something for our front porch!  I'm sure I looked crazy dragging, literally dragging, this thing across the street with a Ethan standing in our driveway next to Nora in the stroller watching.  I was really hoping there weren't any neighbors looking out their windows, but oh well.

I started by taking the iron backs off and scrubbing!  It was pretty disgusting.  I sanded it just a little and then started painting.  I used the same FREE Ace Hardware gray paint that I used on the entry way table.  And spray painted the iron black.  We needed to get some new screws to hold those in since several were missing.  

I have foam and fabric to make a cushion, but I'm not sure when I'll get to it.  I'll post a pic, if I ever get it done.  Until then, we will enjoy our new, old front porch bench!

Perfect fit!

A cushion would make the look...someday!

Photo Friday...Week 3

I love this week's picture.  Nora is becoming quite adept at pulling up to everything, especially me.  I got this photo of her wanting me to pick her up :).

A Child at My Feet, Wanting to be Held

Visit to the Park

After nap today, I thought we would make a quick trip through the zoo.  So, we got loaded up and when we got there it was closed.  Boo!  According to the sign on the door, it was supposed to be open, but oh well.  It's a good thing there is a very nice playground just outside the zoo.  So, we spent our time there, enjoying this fall-like weather!

Ethan and Nora in the tunnel

Coming through the train

She loves the swing.  She laughed and smiled, I just couldn't seem to get those on camera...

The ground is rubberized, which means I can let Nora down without fear of her eating mulch.

Pretty girl, playing at the park

Ethan at School

Today was my first time to help out in Ethan's school.  So, I did what any crazy, picture mom does...I took my camera!  We were both really looking forward to it.  My mom got up and left  her house at the crack of dawn to make it here by 8:30 so she could stay with Nora.  Thanks Mom!
There are 18 kids in his class and each day has 2 parent helpers and the teacher.  They start the day off sitting in their proper spot on the carpet and talk about the weather.  There is a song for everything!  They 'dress' a frog on the bulletin board in the right clothing for the weather.  Then they move onto the day of the week, the letter of the day and the number of the day.  With several songs thrown in.  It was cute and fun to see the kids getting into it.  After 'carpet' time comes 'centers'.  There are snack, math, writing, art and play centers.  I was assigned to the art center, where we made an 'M' mouse (M was the letter today).  I busted out the camera when I could, so here are a few pictures of Ethan in school.

Math Center with Mrs. McDevitt.  They wrote the number '1' today :)

Art Center with me!  Being very precise putting the eyes on the M mouse.

After they finish with the art project for the day, they are allowed to move to the sensory table.  They all love this.  It's a big table filled with rice!

Writing center.  They practiced writing lowercase m's.