Is your mama a llama?

While Stephan was at his cousin Josh's house, Norah and I went to Possibility Playground in Port Washington. It's right on the lake and was designed for children of all abilities. We took one lap around, but Norah only wanted to swing.

We went to a llama farm with Gramps, Jude, Uncle Dick, Aunt Sandi, Amy and her daughters Nina Mae and Pearl. The farmers sell milk to Cedar Valley cheese and welcome visitors to see their cows, goats, and llamas.

Norah loved walking over this little bridge in the llama area.

The llamas were being sheared while we we there. One llama kept running away & that made quite an impression on her. All day she shook her little finger and said "That llama did NOT want a haircut!"

"Just a swinging..."

Norah's FAVORITE thing at the farm was this swing. She LOVES to swing. During outside time at school or at the playground, all she wants to do is swing.

Norah and her cousin Pearl warming up to each other. Nina Mae was busy loving the many cats on the farm. Later in the day Norah got to play with another cousin, Lily, who just turned 1. (Sadly I didn't get any pictures....)

Casey & the kids traveled to Madison with me at the crack of dawn so I could run in my first half marathon. It was wonderful to have them waiting for me at the end.

(My poor fingers...I swell when I run.)

Stephan and Norah have taken turns wearing my finisher's medal this afternoon.

cousins at the zoo!

We had a fun weekend with great summer weather! Stephan's team won another soccer game, we had a cousin's party at the zoo, Casey & I had dinner with Mark and Liza at Maxie's sans kids (thnx Grammy!), went to church, and Grandma & Grandpa came back from AZ!

Katie and Evie do "1-2-3!" with Norah.


Norah, Stephan, Cassie, Evie & Kate measure their size next to a baby gorilla.

Cassie & Norah in the bird house.

Stephan ready to cause trouble on the train :)

Norah's face as the train started....pure excitement!

We spent the last 45 minutes or so on the playground in the family farm.

They practically had to kick us out...we stayed until closing time!

Fun Saturday

This afternoon Norah and I went to see Gramps and Jude at their cottage near Sheboygan.

Norah loved throwing the zebra shells into the water and making sounds on the wet sand with her shoes.

There was no horizon line between the sky and lake. All we could see was blue.

Norah liked feeding the birds with Jude. She did not want to go home & cried about it until we passed the llama farm on the way home.

This weekend is also the Cedarburg Soccer Club tournament. Stephan's team won both of their games!

After game two....victory! Then he was off to a birthday party.

(Two more games to come tomorrow...)

This was Norah playing house with her doll Gabby. She asked me to take their picture & then said "Gabby is a little shy of you, Mom." Gabby often goes without clothes...Norah thinks the cloth on her body are pj's.

planting with Norah

One of my Mother's Day wishes was to do some planting. I decided I did not want to tackle weeding the garden today so Norah and I decided to plant in some of our pots. We went to the store very early just the two of us & I let Norah pick out all of the plants.

Norah liked scooping the potting soil.

She also examined the roots on each of the plants. She told me they are the straw for the plants to drink their water! :)

Norah dubbed the one on the left "my very own pot." It has a little more dirt and was planted with extra love.

The pink pot was a nice surprise from Aunt Jessie & Uncle Sam!



As I type this, I am listening to Norah play house with one of her dolls. She is having a conversation with her "husband." "Oh, hi honey, I missed you at work today."

She just asked me to take a picture of her family (doll) so maybe I will post that later.

She had us laughing in the car last night on the way to eat pizza with Gramps & Jude. There was a mallard duck in the middle of the road that did not seem concerned with the cars going by. Casey wanted to explain it was a male duck and said "Norah, he has a green head. Do you know what that means?" She replied "Yes, it's verde!"

Mother's Day weekend

We have had a lovely weekend so far. On Friday night I came home to find that Casey brought home one of my favorite magazines (No, we don't live in the south, but this magazine is always full of good stuff!) and he chose a movie at Blockbuster that he knew I wanted to see. (This was a nice surprise because when he & Stephan go to the movie store, I usually hear "Well, we want to see how this action movie looks on Blue Ray.")

On "Mother's Day Eve," he and the kids surprised me with three boxes, which was clearly against my no gift rule. Inside were three watches! It sounds funny to say that he bought me three watches, but I have not worn one in a while, and Casey put a lot of thought into what kind to get. He knew I wanted a white watch, but that's a trend that might not last for a while. He also wondered if I should have a watch with gold in it for days I wear gold jewelry. When he couldn't decide, he bought a silver & gold watch, a white watch, and an all silver watch.

But the REAL gift...........



is that I get to celebrate today because of these two....





They are my greatest gift!

Here they are before Stephan's game with his new France ball. Stephan has major World Cup fever! His team won 7-0 and he scored a goal.

Here is picture of Norah & her friend, Jack, at school. Jack's mom, Megan, sent it to me. She is also in my MOPS group.

Norah loves her teachers!

Norah's class had a little party this week. She was too exited to do anything but jump up & down over & over. Here she is with her wonderful teacher, Miss Holly.

And her other sweet teacher, Miss Kelsey

Norah visited the three year old room again today. She LOVES these days & is very ready to move up. (I know she will miss her teachers though!)

This is her teacher from last year, Miss Liz, who will always be known as "My Miss Liz."

little moments

Some of these pictures are really dark, but I want to remember these moments.

Lately Norah has been asking me to take her picture with Lily, her "furry sister." She says "Take our picture because I love her so much!"

Daddy and Norah always look at this book of black and white photos of puppies.


Norah loves to "play" the piano for us. She tells us to sit on the rug and points out the right spot. When we clap and say "Bravo!" she laughs and laughs.

Stephan and Norah like to be different kind of buddies. When they are both eating fruit, they say "Fruit buddies!" When they both wear hats, they say "Hat buddies!" Here, they are just being silly buddies!

Checking out the weather in the morning...it was about 80 degrees later in the day!

She wasn't making a grumpy face. I caught her in the middle of talking & thought it was funny!

There is no better place....

...than the crook of Daddy's arm. Norah has been a major Daddy's girl lately. She still prefers that I am the one who puts her to bed or comes to her side if she wakes up during the night, but the rest of the time she is a little shadow following around Casey, especially when he works in the yard.

"Make a wish!"

"Look! I blew all of the wishes!"

Norah is currently obsessed with the hose....

I always feel bad that the blog has more pictures of Norah than Stephan, but this is all I could get out of him today...eating an eraser while he did homework. His soccer team won their game today. It was a hard fought game...they are always a little tired when they have two games in one weekend.

PS--sorry if the spacing looks off with this post...I can't get it to work properly.