He's a Caribbean Amphibian...

...a Frog in the Coconut Tree! Do you remember that Kermit song? Norah's school had their annual spring celebration & every class did a little performance with a tropical theme. Norah's class wore frog t-shirts and danced to Caribbean Amphibian. I tried my best to record it, but I had a bad spot on the opposite end of the stage. If you watch very closely, you can see Norah dancing behind a few kids who got stage fright. The cutest part is not on the recoding. She and her friend Adam (also dancing in the back) danced while holding hands!

The kids were so excited to see each other outside of school. While they waited for their turn to go on stage, they kept pointing at each other & saying their names.

This morning Norah woke up with a fever of 102. It is not the worst virus she has had, but it is the most sick I've seen her. Her fever went even higher and she slept for hours and hours. She seemed so lethargic that I finally made her get up and talk to me because she worried me so much. The latest dose of fever reducer did its job and hopefully she will get better soon!

SNOW!

It might snow 4-7 inches this weekend! If you look back to March in my blog last year, it snowed 10 inches on Good Friday at the end of March. Now, I love snow. I actually do, but Mother Nature has her seasons mixed up. Maybe she is having a senior moment. It is SPRING. My irises are coming up! I will be sad if they get ruined. I hope the weather man is wrong & I really hope that snow the last weekend of March doesn't become an annual tradition!

Dis & Dat at 19 months

Norah is 19 months old! One more month & the real countdown to 2 begins!

She loves to ask "whadat?" and "whodat?" She interchangeable points to and asks for "dis" (this) and "dat" (that).

She likes to point to pictures of children and tell us which ones are boys and which ones are "goils," but when she sees a child of any age out in public, she announces the "Baby!" She had one little boy object and loudly let her know that he is not at all a baby. Men are men, but women are mamas. Yesterday when I picked her up at school, she pointed to her friend Michelle's mom and said "Dell mama," looked at me and said "Rorah mama." It was so cute!

She loves to bring us anything and everything just to say "Here go!" She has also caught onto our pet names and often says "Huhneeeey!" when she calls to us. "Daddy. Daddy. Huhneeey!" Funny names she has for objects..."Ah-bup" is cup and "A-peop" is chip.

Norah is finally sleeping better. She still tosses and turns enough that it wakes me, but she is not crying out throughout the night. Four molars poked through her gums all at once, perhaps teething had disrupted her sleep? For now, we're all sleeping more soundly, but I think she will take after her father & brother and talk in her sleep. I have heard her a few times now...

Norah knows "bwoo" (blue) and "gween" (green) pretty well. She will usually point to something red if you ask her to find it, but she won't say red if you ask her the name of the color. She recognizes about 5 or 6 letters of the time, but if you ask her the sound any letter makes, she says "D! d-d-d Daddy!"

She has a great memory. ONE day we saw a cow on the way home from school. Now whenever we get in the car she says "Cow? Moo? Cow? Moo?" during the entire car ride!

She is our funny, happy girl!

Steve the MC

My camera batteries are dead (Why does this happen at the worst times?) but I wanted to post about Stephan's big night as an MC in his school talent show. He was one of 5 kids who announced the acts during the 2 hour show. Stephan did a great job and stood on stage with a lot of confidence. (And he is even getting over a virus & fever.) He was thrown off a bit during his first moments on stage because Norah SCREAMED "Beeven! Beeven! Beeven!" on top of her lungs for the whole theater to hear. I could hear a little chuckle in his voice, but he kept going. It was a fun show & Stephan seemed to have a great time back stage with his friends. It's nice to see him adjusting well to his new school.

A moment to gush

(I thought this was hysterical at our condo in the Dells. Big Chair. Big Table. Tiny Foot. She was so relaxed.)

I have to gush for a moment. It is just one of those days when they kids are so sweet & fun that I can't stop thinking about all the things I love about them. Norah is so joyful & silly. She makes us laugh all the time.

She "upgraded" our family names. We're now Daddy, Mommy & Beeven. The more she strings words together the more I feel like we're having little conversations. In the morning she likes to wake up Stephan. She says "Mommy! Beeven. beeping. room. UP! UP!"
That's how she says Stephan is sleeping & she wants to go in his room to wake him up. He prefers her wake up calls to mine :)

"Wha dat?" and "Who dat?" are her new favorite sayings.

I love this kiddo. He is a FANTASTIC big brother.

Last weekend he had his first evening group outing. (Supervised, of course, but it wasn't a "play date" like the old days.) The boys went roller skating. I was happy for him that he continues to adjust and make friends at his new school, but of course, the water works started as I thought about how fast he is growing. He called home several times that night. I loved it :)

Even though he is almost as tall as me & his feet are bigger, Stephan still loves to snuggle and give me hugs.

He has an exciting history presentation this week! I hope I am able to take a few pictures. He will also be one of the MC's at the 5th grade talent show next week.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

St. Patty blessed us with summer weather!

I love watching them together.

May your day be touched
by a bit of Irish luck,
brightened by a song in your heart,
and warmed by the smiles
of the people you love.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

"Some kind of lunch!"

Over the weekend, we enjoyed a visit to Rocio's house with Pops, Elise, Josh & Rocio's children, Bela & Elias. (We missed Hannah who was busy being a successful teenager. We're proud of all that she does at school!) We have many fond memories of holidays and gatherings at the Yousif house. Rocio is a wonderful cook. Mark said it will be some kind of lunch! And it was....family, great food & a beautifully set table.

Elise & Norah catch up on life & play a game of bouncy horse.
I can't wait to take Norah to visit Romeo on one of the days Elise rides him.

Norah climbing up the back stairs. If she wasn't there, she was climbing up the front stairs.
And she was quick! She was excited to run from one end of the house to the other, dig out all of the toys in the play room, and go up and down the stairs over & over.

I can't believe I didn't get any new pictures for The Official Josh & Stephan Collection,
but those boys were on the move!

Signs of Spring!
It was a beautiful sunny weekend.
Our inches & inches of snow are now gone. We found new life coming up through the
old leaves. I love this time of year when the first green tips
poke through the ground, we can drive with the sunroof open for the first time,
and the robins return. This season in Wisconsin means we'll have quite a few more cold days before it it consistently feels like spring, but it makes me so happy each time we get a day like this. It is something to look forward to....

We stood on our deck and watched 5 or 6 deer hang out in the trees on the edge of our yard.
Norah pointed and said "Who dat?" over and over. Stephan told her they were having lunch and she said "eating. eating. eating." enough times that she decided she wanted food too. Stephan got very close to the deer without scaring them away.

Keeping up with the news.
Norah loves to read my parenting magazines.
She waves to the pictures & says "Hi baby!"
She likes to point out "Mommy" and "Daddy" when she sees men & women
in the magazine and immitate the facial expressions of the children.

Coloring time!

Norah loves to color. I found her dinosaur coloring pages that she really enjoyed. She loves to play with the little dinosaurs at school these days. Her teacher did a few dino related art projects this week so Norah has been extra excited to tell us what sound the dinosaurs & T-Rex make.

I asked her to smile and this is the look I got.....

We had a really nice night. We typically do, of course, but Norah stayed up just a little bit later. She was full of cheerful energy. She and Stephan played so nicely with her wooden color sorter. She slowly pretended to put the wrong color shape on the peg in order to get Stephan to make a silly face. Then she laughed and laughed before she placed it on the right peg. When they read her big word book, she told him different objects in her book (like table) and then took off to find the real thing in our house. I am so thankful for their special bond.

Norah loves to find certain letters in the alphabet around the house. She has more letters memorized in the ABC song (she loves to sing!), but is now able to recognize a few letters when she sees them on magazines or kitchen magnets.

Stephan took Lily out to play for a while as the sun went down. You can see our flooding is back. (And I can't wait for the grass to turn green again!) We are lucky that we don't have as much as some people in the area.

Norah loves to say "Lee-lee down!" even when Lily is already down. Poor Lily, it's probably confusing!

Visit to the Dells

Last weekend, we visited the Wisconsin Dells....

the mecca of water parks.

Great grandparents Betty & Jim invited us along with Gramps & Jude to stay at the beautiful condo they rented. The recession is not hurting this resort.

It featured several indoor water parks, an arcade

& laser tag. It was absolutely packed!

The kids had a great time in the water!

Norah enjoyed playing with her great grandmother.

She liked to peek over the arms of her big leather chair & climb on her lap.

Norah on a swing in the pool.

For the rest of the trip, if she heard us mention the swing, she said "Weeeee!"

Stephan & Gramps ran off to enjoy the big slides.

On the Lazy River....

Testing the waters....


Stephan wasn't done swimming so he hopped in one of the three tubs in our condo.

This is our version of the famous Annie Leibowitz photo of Whoopi Goldberg.

Norah making herself at home. She can find the pots & pans in any kitchen.

She is wearing Stephan's goggles around her neck.

They were one of Stephan's prizes

after Casey won the ticket jackpot at the arcade.

Stephan, Norah & Gramps

Growing so fast....

Stephan recently attended an event with me.

Holy cow is this kid tall! (Or maybe I am short.)

Stephan, I've said this before & I'll say it again. Just once.

Please. Stop. Growing. Thanks.

Sniff, sniff. I see baby picture viewing in our near future.....

It's my potty & I'll cry if I want to....

This picture isn't winning me any photography awards (very dark hallway, I took this with my arm stretched out in front of us), but I had to record this moment. I am officially one of those moms who grabs a camera when their toddler melts down!

This weekend we bought Norah a potty chair. She has been very interested in the seats the older toddlers use at school & our big toilets at home. We did not know what to expect, but Norah immediately took to her little seat. When she thought he brother was going to touch it, the toddler in her yelled "Mine! Mine! Mine!" Every time we put her on the seat yesterday, she used it. We had our timing down right! And then came the evening...Norah wanted to do nothing but sit on her new seat in the bathroom. So we sang and we read, but eventually, I had to say enough. She cried and cried and cried. "Poddy on!"

She has a long way to go before she is potty trained, but I am thankful she is at least so interested! Perhaps it will be an easy process.

And now a few notes about Stephan....he mentioned this weekend that most of the pictures on my camera are of Norah. I reminded him that he does not let me take his picture. I hope this means more pictures of Stephan are to come.

He is still doing well in school. He is an excellent test taker and does very well (as in 98-100%!) on his language arts, social studies & science tests. Math is a little bit of a challenge, but he is trying SO hard. He has given up a few recesses to voluntarily get help from his teacher. There is a group of them who do that. How nice of their teacher to give up her break time! Gramps helps Stephan on their Wednesday afternoons together & he must explain it better than we do because Stephan prefers math with Gramps. Stephan also started a fun new class at our gym called Speed School. It teaches running techniques & agility. They do track exercises (sprints, running sideways, etc.) and core strengthening on a mat. It was a lot of fun to watch!