Summer fun!

We had a very busy weekend! Luckily Stephan brought his camera along when we went to Casey's work picnic at his boss' lake house. The kids enjoyed boating and tubing on Little Cedar Lake.

On Sunday, we each had a great day with one of the kids. Casey and Stephan golfed with Pops at the Bog. Stephan has been very enthusiastic about his golf game lately and has been asking to play on a daily basis. This is music to Casey's ears, of course! Norah and I did fairly routine things...ran errands (she went potty at EVERY single store...I think she likes to check out the bathrooms everywhere we go) and cooked a few meals for the week, but we had such a nice time! She was so sweet and funny all day. I mean more than usual. I just wanted to write down everything she said because she had me laughing the whole time. We also had a wonderful first day at our new church. It was not an easy choice to make this switch, but we both agreed on our way home that this is the right place for us. We look forward to September when the youth programming starts. Norah is very excited to begin Sunday School!

Cousin time with Hayley & Jenna

Before we left for our vacation, we had a chance to visit with Casey's Aunt Karen, Cousin Shauna and her daughters Hayley and Jenna who traveled from Nebraska. Hayley celebrated her 3rd birthday in Milwaukee. Norah and Hayley had a lot of fun together, and Norah still asks to play with Hayley. Hopefully we can all see each other again soon!

Make a wish!

Fairy princess time!

George

A picture that Pops took of Norah entertaining a crowd...this was either when she said "I have a mommy and a daddy" or when she sang "Old MacDonald."

Wow! I have not blogged in a LONG time...almost a month. I promise that vacation pictures are coming. As we approach Norah's 3rd birthday, I have been thinking about what she has been up to these days.

Norah LOVES ballet. She likes to dance in general, but she is particularly excited about ballet and cannot wait for her next class to start. She regularly asks to perform a ballet show for us and flutters around the house. She does it with the most serious look on her face too. She also enjoys singing non-stop (this is how she entertains herself on car trips!) and recently told Casey she wants a stage for her birthday. When he took her to jump in the fountain at Bayshore, she didn't pay much attention to the water and climbed up on a stage instead to sing "God Bless America" for anyone who would watch. I should also add that every day she asks to ride her bike and paint.

Norah is very observant and in ways that I don't always notice. For a while now she has thought it was fun to look for letters in the signs of stores and tell me names that start with those letters. Well, yesterday, I was on the Kohl's Department Store website checking their hours when she walked by and said "Let's go there." I asked "Where?" And she said "Kohl's, Mom!" I asked her how she knew it was Kohl's on the website, and she said "K is for Kennedy. It's next to Michael's and Costco!"

I am almost afraid to say the words because I feel like I might jinx myself, but let's just say that Pull Ups are not on my shopping list. On one of her most "victorious" days during the process, I told her I was proud. She replied "Mom, I always knew I could do it!"

To say that Norah is excited about her birthday is an understatement. When we left for vacation, I told her that when she went back to school it would be August. That morning, when I woke her up for school, I reminded her that it was now August and they would have a new calendar during calendar time. She said "August?!? It's my birthday!" She knows it's the 25th, but everyday between now and then she reminds us that it's her "birthday time." Some people have a weekend. Some people have a week. I guess this little girl wants a whole birthday month! She can't wait to be three. During our vacation she said "Awww, I'm becoming a grown up now."