Happy Birthday, Reese!

This weekend we went to cousin Reese's 2nd birthday. It's been a whirlwind of cousin birthdays! Hayley celebrated her first birthday in Milwaukee when Casey's cousin Shauna & her husband Eric traveled here with his Aunt Karen to celebrate Nana's 80th birthday. Stephan and Hayley really hit it off! He loved having a little person to chase around who can walk along with him. There are a lot of July birthdays in our families. Stephan, Hayley, Reese, Richard, Hannah & Brian. All different sides of the family though. This afternoon we will be celebrating Richard's birthday at Fun World!

(from the photo above...Norah wants nothing to do with Daddy & Mommy when Grandmas is around!)

Barney came to wish a little 2 year old happy birthday. Reese is one of Barney's biggest fans! Too bad for Barney (aka Jim) that it was 90+ degrees! Barney did his part very well anyway.

Reese was a little shy of Barney at first, but when the music started, she was ready to sing & dance the day away with her purple friend. One of the sweetest moments was when she took her grandma's hand and said "Come on Grandma, meet Barney!" I hope one of the many cameras & camcorders from the FULL mammarazzi crew caught it. It was precious!

"I love you, you love me!"

A handsome Daddy...

Peekaboo! Norah loved climbing all over Reese's playhouses. Dan & Kate's group of friends have many adorable daughters! A few of them had fun playing with Norah. They crawled along side her and pretended to be cats.

mmmm....grass

Stephan & Richard
(Christopher successfully hid from the mammarazzi all day!)

Also, here is a cool article about Aunt Sarah & Uncle Juan's work with birds in Vermont. We are very proud of their dedication and hard work. Sarah was even recognized with award last spring for her work in her master's program at the University of Vermont.
http://www.7dvt.com/2008avian-anxiety

11 months old!

11 months old! Every month I say that I cannot believe how fast time has flown by since Norah was born. And now with her 1 year old birthday coming up, it is bittersweet for me to imagine she won't be a little baby anymore!

Norah is crawling EVERYWHERE! The more obstacles, the better because she loves to climb over, under and through all that stands in her way. And a flight of stairs? No problem, she makes it to the top in a jiffy (with us right behind, of course). She is eager to walk and can stand without holding onto anything for about 20-30 seconds, but she has not yet combined that with taking steps. Her favorite foods these days (aside from cheese, of course) are plums and pasta. I have been teaching her a few baby signs & she finally used one sign on her own..."more." (Have I ever mentioned she loves to eat?!?) She loves it when we make pillow tunnels to crawl through and gets very excited about going to the grocery store where she likes to ham it up.

This was the hardest "official birthday month" picture. She is very active these days and does not want to pose with a birthday sign. I could not get a picture of her anywhere near that sign until....

...Norah decided she had other plans for the sign!

(I never posted a picture of Stephan's birthday cake. I loved it. It's so cute & whimsical!)

Happy Birthday, Stephan!

Stephan turned the big 1-0 this week! Double digits! It is exciting to see the young man he has become, but makes me a little sad too. I am glad he is not growing up too quickly though...he still likes to snuggle with us, read stories at night & thinks it is fun to hang out with his old mom & dad. He is such a sweetie and has a good, good heart.

On his actual birthday, we had a quiet family dinner at home with just the four of us. Then we went to the Brewers game courtesy of Pops & Liza. Stephan had a BLAST. Actually, that is an understatement. He stood and cheered the whole night and tried so hard to start the wave. I just stared at him. It was a picture of pure joy and fun. And although we have been to games many times before and know all the games they play on the scoreboard, Stephan was thrilled when he guessed the correct attendance. It made his night. And Norah, wow, did she have fun. I was a little nervous she would squirm around and just want to crawl, but the game was the perfect place to do her two favorite things...wave & clap. She stood on my lap and waved at the people behind us all night. ALL night! She made quite a few new friends including a little boy named Jack who came to sit near us. Stephan said it was his best birthday.

On the way to the game....

Happy 4th of July!

We had such a wonderful holiday weekend! We were so busy that we felt like we had been on vacation. We also got to spend time with Elliot and meet his sweet girlfriend Laura.

Here we are on the 3rd of July. Milwaukee has a large fireworks display at the lake front that night. We visited Joel & Arlene's beautiful home with a gorgeous view of the lake & art museum.

Another one for the Josh & Stephan collection...

After we visited with everyone at Joel & Arlene's home, we went next door to meet Gramps & Jude at Dick & Judy's lovely home to watch the fireworks on their balcony. I tried to take pictures of Stephan & Ari enjoying the fun, but my camera was on the wrong setting...

The next morning we went to the 4th of July parade. Stephan had a front row seat to collect candy!

sleepy girl...

A familiar image at Young family gatherings!

Pops & Liza

At the parade with Julia, Jack, Grace & Sam
That night we went to a fun gathering at Grandma & Grandpa's house, but I forgot my
camera! :( After dinner, we made it home just in time to catch the fireworks from our yard.

At the pool. Norah is sucking on a lemon if you can believe it. She grabbed it out of my water. Before I could get it from her, she stuck it in her mouth & loved it!

Josh, Sam & Stephan let the "mammarazzi" snap a pic before the went down the water slide again.

summer fun

I am sorry we have not posted new pictures in so long! We had computer troubles. Here are a few photos from the last couple of weeks...

On the farm! We went to a local dairy breakfast where I represented my office. There were hay rides, tractors to climb & cows to feed. And lots of pancakes & cheese curds to eat!!

Norah has been very interested in playing with everything that is not a toy...like empty juice containers, wallets, cups, spoons, etc.

Stephan and his new guitar. The day he got it, he wrote the words to a sweet little song.

And, of course, the "mammarazzi" had to take a million pictures...

Our house in summer. We decided to see what grew & we've been surprised by roses, strawberries, irises, tulips, daffodils and lilies.

Playing in the baby pool out back...

We went to a little festival in our community. Norah slept most of the time while...

Stephan fed animals, we listened to music and ate lunch at one of our favorite new lunch restaurants. We also ran into our old neighbors, Barb & Debbie!

Norah woke up just in time to see Hello Kitty walking down the street. I think she thought it was very strange! H.K. didn't even get a wave from Norah.