Gobble! Gobble!

On Thursday I went to a Thanksgiving lunch party in Norah's class. They made us hand print turkeys. Parents brought in cranberry sauce, stuffing, potatoes and turkey. Norah enjoyed the feast & is by far the messiest eater in her class!

Today I watched a Martha Stew*rt thanksgiving special while Norah ate a snack in her chair. Every time Martha said "turkey," Norah turned to point at her hand print turkey that is hanging in the kitchen.

Norah at 14 1/2 months

bundled up and exploring the yard...

Norah is at such a fun age! She is still such a cheerful little peanut & we love watching her grow into a little girl with her own personality. It is fun to see how differently she plays than Stephan did at her age. Her play is much more about imitation like pretending to cook. She has a musical circus train with animals that Stephan also had when he was little. Stephan played with it like a train and was fascinated by how the wheels moved & quickly learned to say "choo choo!" Norah prefers to dance to its music. She lines up the animals, points to each one, kisses them and pushes them around in her walking toy as if she is giving them a buggy ride. She also loves to care for her dolls and "Melmo." She brushes their hair, feeds them with an empty sippy cup and rocks them.

Norah is saying a few new words like baby, "boo ball" (which is football...courtesy of Stephan...and she uses it in the right context) book and apple ("bapple").

peek a boo!

cozy nights

Winter weather is officially here! We have enjoyed the fireplace every night. Our neighbors have been making a lot of fires too and sometimes Casey & I stand on the deck at night just to smell the air. (We love that smell!) We have not retired the bonfire pit yet. Casey made a huge fire to bundle up and enjoy yesterday after the Packer game.

Happy Anniversary!

We miss you, Daddy-Man!

Casey was on a work trip this weekend & when he is gone, it is hard not to think of all of the little things we love about him...

Casey sets a great example of hard work. He has always given his job 110% even when it was a challenge. When he was a senior in college and a new dad, he completed a double major while working full-time as the editor of the school paper. He has worked long, terrible hours over the years. And I can honestly recall just one time he called in sick. MAYBE two. The only other times involved surgery! Stephan takes notice. From a young age, he has always pretended to be Casey's profession while playing at home and understands how hard Casey works to provide for us.

Casey is very romantic. He does the icky jobs around the house and in the yard. He brings us little surprises every time he goes to the store. He cracks us up. He is our family rock. He makes a mean burger on the grill. He is always willing to toss the football even after a very long day. He lets me rent Jane Austin and other "chick flicks" from time to time and actually watches them without complaint. (After all, I have watched more than my fair share of action adventure movies.) He is thoughtful and always reminds me to do nice things for myself when I get too busy. He has even more patience than I do to sing Itsy Bisty Spider with Norah three dozen times. He gives the best hugs.

Only in America

I aim to keep my blog bipartisan because we have family firmly on both sides of the aisle who keep up with our photos. But no matter how you voted, it was a historic night. Since this blog seems to have replaced any hope for a scrapbook or photo album after Norah's birth, I want to record this event for the children to remember. I plan to turn the blog into a keepsake book for the kids.

I remember the election in the year I was in 5th grade as Stephan is now. My class went to see both of the candidates speak. I hope Stephan will always remember this year when an African American became the candidate for president, a woman nearly did, and a woman was also chosen as the vice presidential candidate. Both tickets offered a historic choice.

We enjoyed watching the night's results with Pops & Liza, Leslie & Jackie and Diana & Gil.

"Only in America

Dreaming in Red, White & Blue

Only in America

Where we dream as big as we want to

We all get a chance

Everybody gets to dance

Only in America"

-Brooks & Dunn

"Listen to the Mustn’ts, child,

listen to the Don’ts,

Listen to the Shouldn’ts, the Impossibles, the Won’ts.

Listen to the Never Haves, then listen closely to me.

Anything can happen, child, Anything can be!"

-Shel Silverstein

"Few will have the greatness to bend history itself;
but each of us can work to change a small portion of events,
and in the total of all those acts

will be written the history of this generation."
-Robert Kennedy

"Call him Dr. Jones, Doll."

Here he is in all of his Indiana Jones glory! Stephan had a fun filled Halloween week with his party & parade at school and Trick or Treat in our new neighborhood. It was pitch black! All of the kids wore glow sticks and we carried flash lights. But if anyone said "mom" or dad" we had no clue who was calling for us. Even though we stuck to just our street, Stephan received a boatload of candy, a slinky, a sharpie & religious materials to boot.

Below is the only half way decent picture I got of Norah that night. I tried to dress her up again today & she would not sit or stand still for me. I will keep working on it. She was a cute little flower fairy. Although you can't quite tell in the picture, she is wearing a green & yellow tutu with white flowers along the waist. I saw a felt flower headband in PB Kids that I liked, but I made something similar to attach to her winter hat because it was chilly! It has a yellow pom center with a bumble bee. Norah rode in her stroller for just a moment & then wanted to walk as fast as she could to keep up with the big kids.