Catch up!

A couple of weekends ago we packed a picnic and enjoyed the afternoon at the zoo.

Norah loved feeding the goats with Stephan and laughed when they ate it out of her hand. She was especially fond of the black and white one in the background of the picture below and said he looks like a cow.

We had a fun ride on the train. If the line had not been so long, we would have gone again!

Sorry this picture is so blurry. I could not get a good picture in this building! The zoo has a special bird exhibit where they give you a stick with bird food on the end. The birds literally sit on the stick (or even your hand) and nibble it. Stephan fed quite a few feathered friends.

(This was written last weekend...)

The Little Man. Although he is not so little, that will always be his name. And Norah has caught on to the variations of his name that we use and started calling him Steve-o and Stever.

We have had a great time these past two weeks listening to Harry Potter and the Dealthy Hallows (the last book) on cd. We love the reader. We listen to it all the time in the car and snuggle up at night and continue listening. Last night we tried to catch fireflies in our yard and then turned out all the lights, cozzied up under a blanket and listened while Stephan wore his old pair of Quidditch goggles that he bought for a costume a few years ago. (For those of you who don't follow the story, Quidditch is a sport played by Harry Potter.) Stephan is such a sweetie.

Stephan is doing well on his wheat free diet. We are lucky that gluten free products and cookbooks are more prevalent now because we know anything labeled gluten free is wheat free for him. Grandma has been experimenting with different gluten free baking mixes every week to maintain her tradition of cooking with Stephan. She found some good options. We liked the Namaste chocolate chip cookies and Red River Barn brownies. Stephan and I also recently made Gluten Free Pantry brownies which are nice and chewy and tried two of the new Betty Crocker gluten free mixes. Both of those were yummy as well.

I have been enjoying runs with Norah. Well, to be honest, I enjoy spending that time with her, but I haven't gotten the hang of running with her. It hurts my arms. When I go on my own, I need to sneak out quickly because she will toddle behind and say "I go running too!" On Sunday I opted to take her for a long walk. This is my new trick when I feel sleepy because the walk refreshes me. We walked for about 3 and a half miles "to town" as she likes to chant along the way. We pointed at flowers and flags, crossed the creek five times, looked for fire trucks that were all put away, stopped and watched a train go by, and got ice tea (Mommy) and a special cookie treat (Norah). When we moved to our new community, I worried I would miss walking to the coffee shop or ice cream store. While it takes a little bit longer, I realized how easy for me it is to do that now. The main street and nearby trails were packed with people reading the eating outside with the Sunday paper, cyclists, and families. Norah chats away the whole time we walk and finds everything exciting. On one particularly narrow and shady block where the trees arched very low over the sidewalk, she opened her arms wide and yelled "Ooooooh" until we got to the other end. It's true that the world is more wondrous through the eyes of a child.