A no picture weekend...

Don't worry....a new camera is coming....

Miss Norah has a yucky cold. I can't remember when she didn't have a runny nose, but it advanced into something more.

As we get ready for Thanksgiving, I have been thinking of how thankful I am for our little family.

I have a wonderful husband who does so much! For example, on Thursday, he got up and left at 5 a.m. to drive very far for work. He had a very physically tiring day. I went to work, went to the hospital with Jessie and Jude, and went to Stephan's parent teacher conference. Although I was mentally drained (not sure why--all I did was sit all day), Casey had a far more exhausting day. Yet when I got home from the conference, he had cooked and cleaned! This weekend, he had another 6+hour day working on the yard & leaves while I had a leisurely day of getting my hair done, running & snuggling with Norah. No matter how sore and tired her gets, he keeps giving more.

I am thankful to have such a courageous son. I am always amazed at how Stephan faces a challenge head on. I always pray that he is filled with confidence as he grows and lives life & it's a routinely answered prayer. I am always amazed that Stephan is willing to fill in as goalie during soccer, which is a thankless and difficult job. And tomorrow he is auditioning at the high school to be in their play. While he is scared, he does not let his nerves get the best of him. Middle school was a hard time for me. I did not know who to be when all I needed to be was myself. Too bad I didn't really know who that was...but not Steve. He knows who he is and what he likes. He doesn't stray to fit in with people who are not his friends. He has a sponge for a brain & impresses me with his intelligence. Tonight I tried to tell him something about WWII only to have him tell me the story happened in WWI and I didn't have it quite right...he filled in all the details!

I have so much gratitude that God gave us our peanut. She is such a happy little girl with lots of spunk. Lately she has showed more affection than usual toward Lily and Stephan. She runs to hugs her brother whenever we get home from school and squeals "Steeeeeeephan, my brudder! I missed you!" And she always wants to know where to find her doggie so she can wrap her arms around Lily and tell us that she is a good dog. She has so much love and joy in her heart.

I am SO thankful it is a short week with lots of time for the four of us to spend together. (And the food won't be bad either!)

My camera broke, but luckily Liza sent me a cute picture of the kids so I have something to post. Pops and Liza had a fun night with the kids last week while Casey and I celebrated our anniversary. We had a delicious dinner and lots of wonderful surprises! We are lucky to have such loving family!!!

We had a fun weekend celebrating Ethan's birthday...again! :) Stephan had SUCH a blast! He and Ethan have a lot in common (like their love of history) and played for hours. Norah enjoyed playing with her older cousin Helena's toys & was quite fond of Great Aunt Kerri. Later that night we visited with Shelly. Norah was thrilled to rediscover all of her toys at Grandma's house, but she definitely did not understand why Grandma was not there.

I also ran in my first 10K (6.2 miles). I ran this distance 5 times before the race, but never did I train on the monster hill that was part of the course not once, but twice. It gave me killer charley horses that I have never experienced when running. And much to the dismay of many runners, they miscalculated the distance & the course was 6.9 miles. It might not seem like a big difference, but when you are not expecting the change, it is! It was a great learning experience for me & it could not have been a prettier area. It was in the 50's, sunny, and part of the way, we ran along a trail, creek, bluffs & Lake Michigan. (Even that killer hill was pretty!)

A few kid updates...Norah is 26 1/2 months. She can recognize numbers 0-8 (9 confuses her...she thinks it's a 6) and almost all capital letters (she gets mixed up by a couple that look similar like E & F). She is a whiz at puzzles & love playing with Stephan's old Brio trains. Norah likes "calendar time" during group time at school. She can tell you the current month, but I don't think she knows exactly what she means. She feels terrible when she does something wrong and talks about it for days & days. When she ripped a book at school a couple of weeks ago, she told us every night for over a week about the book. Poor cutie. She is still our happy girl, but if you need evidence that a stubborn toddler is under that sweet disposition, she does goofy things like refuse to wear pj's to bed because she wants to hold them in her arms like a stuffed animal instead.

Stephan is off to a great start in his second quarter at school. This week he starts Community Service Club and will soon start indoor soccer (no games, just weekly practice). He has a nice group of buddies & seems to be navigating middle school life very well. The high school is performing Les Miserables this year (Uncle Nic was in that play the first year high schools were allowed to do the show!) and Stephan wants to audition. They need three youth, but Stephan isn't sure if he is ready to audition solo. I think he is particularly interested in this show because he remembers the exciting battle scene when we saw it years ago. I'll let you know what he decides.

New camera and new pictures to come.......

ready for her close up

I know what you are thinking....more pictures of this day? We keep getting more photos from this fun day at church last month & I think these are especially cute. Our friend at church who took these likes to tease us that Norah is going to start a fashion ministry at church. (Jessie,
Norah wears these sunglasses or carries them in a purse almost everyday!)

This weekend Casey was away for work. The kids and I had a nice weekend, but I didn't manage to take one single picture! On Saturday morning, Norah and I had breakfast with my friends Katie, Annie, and Annie's baby daughter Taylor. Norah loved meeting Taylor! When Casey got home tonight, Norah told him that Taylor "is SO cute!" Meanwhile, Stephan had some fun Gramps time. Stephan had a blast at his cousin Ethan's birthday party while I took Norah running at Elm Grove Park. Grandma introduced us to a nice trail there that was packed with runners, walkers, bikers, dogs and ducks on the gorgeous 72 degree day. That night the kids spent time with Grammy while I went to the Bucks with work friends.

We are happy to have our Daddy Man home!

Our good student

Today is the last day of the quarter at Stephan's school. Yesterday in a 6th grade assembly, nine kids received awards for outstanding participation and performance. Here he is with his certificate & student of the month pin. We are so proud of his hard work in middle school!

catch up pictures from Shelly

Shelly sent some cute pictures from the past few months & I posted a few favorites.

Here is Norah at Grandma & Grandpa's house one last time before they left for Arizona.

Aunt Shelly and Norah


Norah the fairy


Norah and Aunt Sarah when she and Adam came to visit last August



Stephan & Josh

Norah loves to climb up and sit on the rocks in Grandma's yard.

Speaking of the name Norah....she is one of three Norah/Noras at her school! Nora ranked 216 on the Social Security Administration's list of top 1000 names. Even so, in her little school of 65 children, there are three of them. AND one is going to be new to her class. We didn't think it was an uncommon name, but I am surprised at how many Norahs we have met since she was born.

Norah has been saying cute things to us like "You are a great mom/dad" and "You are the best brother in the world!" Today when we dropped Stephan off at school, she yelled "Goodbye, brother! Goodbye, brother! Good luck!"

They have such a loving relationship....even though he knows how to make her squeal! When Norah was an infant, Stephan used to say that he couldn't wait for Norah to be two so they could really play. Well, he got his wish! Lately, they have played and played off on their own...hide & seek, made up games like "Help me move this heavy boulder" and "I'm stuck in the mud," and Norah's new favorite...Stephan's Jame Bond race car track! It warms my heart to hear the two of them talk and say sweet thing to each other.

I would never ruin bedtime....

....with chocolate! Nope, not me, I wouldn't do that! It was a chocolate kind of day though and fortunately Norah still went to sleep!

I had to show how long Norah's hair is in the back when it's wet and uncurled. If only the front of her hair would catch up with the rest! Stephan likes to tell me she has 80's hair. She's lucky it's curly!

More pictures from Feast of St. Francis....

A sweet couple at church emailed me these pictures they took a couple of weeks ago from our Feast of St. Francis when we were outside at the pet blessing. They said they have over a dozen pictures of Norah and took the time to burn a disk for us that we will pick up next Sunday.

Stephan was not interested in being photographed, but he gave in for just one quick pic.