Nora is 8 months old.....

8 months old and going on 2 yrs old. Nora is learning new things everyday and is always trying to keep up with her sister, which is not very far behind.  In the past month, Nora has learned to crawl up the stairs, stand on her own, talk ( she can say, dog, mama, da da, ball, Jessie, good, Rssss, ), she loves pretty much any food you give to her, and she is finally sleeping all the way through the night (8pm-8am). I love my Nora girl and she truly is such a special daughter of our Heavenly Father. She learns things so quickly and has such a peace about her. I love that she is a Mama's girl and that she will go to about anyone, but as soon as she sees me, she wants to come right back to me. If someone wants to hold her, I give her to them and then have to hide myself so she doesn't see me. Nora is my cuddle buddy and loves to cuddle and watch movies. A habit that Nora and I have started that is one of my favorite times of the day is our parfait time. After Reese goes down for her nap and before Nora goes down for her second nap, we sit on the couch and watch a show and share a yogurt parfait. She loves to eat the frozen raspberries out of the parfait and I eat the rest. It's just a simple thing, but something special between Nora and I. The only bad part is that I cannot eat a parfait now without Nora getting really excited and thinking it is our time to sit down and share it. Another special time of the day that I love to share with Nora is bedtime. At bedtime, we go up to her room and I rock her in her rocking chair while she drinks her bottle and I read my scriptures. I have had a difficult time during the day to find a quiet time where I can really just focus and read and not worry about a million different things. I have really been trying to hold my girls more often and this is a time that I get to do that.  Nora loves Reese and loves to do anything with her. I will often see them holding hands in the car when we're driving. It is the cutest thing and Reese can make Nora laugh harder than anyone else just by giving her a silly look. We love our baby Nora and each day is such a blessing with her in our home.

First real snow fall

Thanksgiving 2013

Happy late Thanksgiving!! We had a bunch of pictures taken of the whole family, but unfortunately..... I do not have any of these photos. Here are a few from Thanksgiving day. I just have to say how grateful I am for all that I have been blessed with. Thanksgiving has been a day to give thanks and reflect upon all that we have been blessed with. It is sad to me how the world has turned Thanksgiving Day into just a day of shopping and thinking of what we need instead of what we are grateful for. The stores used to open up early in the morning on Black Friday, then last year they opened up at midnight, and then this year they started their sales at 6:00pm or all day. People were shopping instead of spending time with their family, which I think is so sad. Anyway, I can never thank my Heavenly Father enough for my amazing family. When I think back on my life, I realize that my Heavenly Father has never left me and has been there for me over and over again. I have messed up so many times and yet I have been blessed beyond measure. This year I have much to be grateful for. Starting off the year, we were miraculously blessed to be able to adopt another beautiful baby. This was not an easy thing and truly took the power of Heaven to bring Nora to us. Not only were we blessed with our beautiful Nora, we are blessed to know her birthmother as well and have built an amazing relationship with her. We were able to go to the temple together and have Nora sealed to us for eternity. We  were able to get our yard put in, we have enjoyed health, blessings at work, new friends, and so much laughter and love. We have so much to be grateful for in 2013.

First time ice skating

Over Thanksgiving weekend, we went ice-skating with Ron's family and had a fun time. This was Reese and Nora's first time ice-skating and Reese was really looking forward to this. It seems like most Christmas movies have at least 1 ice skating scene and she kept telling me, "I want to do that."  Reese wasn't feeling that great, but she was a trooper and had a lot of fun. Reese and her cousin were sitting in the seats and they thought it was hilarious when I would pretend to skate into the glass. Nora loved it when I would hold her and take her skating. She thought it was great.

Happy Halloween 2013

Halloween was a lot of fun this year with 2 little ones. Nora was a elephant and Reese wanted to be Venellope Von Schweetz from "Wreck it Ralph". I think she really just wanted a sugar rush car, but either way, she was excited about it. Ron and I had a lot of fun decorating the car together and it was fun to see Reese's expression when she woke up and saw the car. The first time she saw it, she just sat in it for 30 minutes. Our ward had a trunk or treat, but Reese didn't want to ride in her car so Nora rode in it most of the time. Nora was so tired and fell asleep in the car, which worked out great because I could just pull her. Overall, it was a fun and great Halloween!!

Gynnastics

Reese has been in gymnastics now for 3 months and has loved it. She asks almost everyday if she gets to go to "gynnastics" today? It's funny how when your kids are little, people watch them and say, "Oh, she is going to be a little dancer" or " "He is going to be a great football player". With Reese, everyone has always said she is going to be a great gymnast. Why would they say that........I think there are a few reasons............

1. Ever since she was little, she has always loved to jump and flip

2. She is fearless 

3. She has the highest pain tolerance of any kid I know

4. She is naturally coordinated

5. She is really strong ( she seriously has a little 6 pack)

6. She has lots of energy

7. She is just....BOUNCY

 The first couple classes, I was wondering if I should wait another 6 months before putting her in a class. She had a difficult time listening and was throwing a few tantrums. I quickly realized that the time of the class wasn't the greatest for Reese and so we switched to a morning class and she has done great. She loves wearing her leotard and would wear it everyday if she could. She has really learned a lot and I can tell she is getting stronger at holding herself up. She loves to hold herself up on the bars and kick the balloons that are hanging from the tall bar.  She loves to jump in the pit, diving forward rolls, and walk on the beam. It will be interesting to see if Reese sticks with it. She loves it so far and it has been fun watching her just have fun and make new friends.

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Nora Boo 7 months old

This cute baby is 7 months old and is learning so quickly. Everyday I am amazed at how well she observes things and then figures out how to do it. She is crawling everywhere and pulling herself up on everything. She loves to pull everything off of the shelves. She loves books and loves to sing, which is screaming at the top of her lungs. Nora just is a joy to be around. She is content to play by herself, but she loves to play with Reese. I always thought she would be my quiet, musical baby, but she surprised me the other day when we came home from Reese's gymnastics class and Ron was flipping Reese around and Nora started acting like she wanted to do it. I picked her up and flipped her onto my shoulder and then back down and she started clapping like crazy and jabbering away. She is happy, content, and I am grateful everyday to be her mom.

Nora's Room

I am really excited to finally post some pictures of Nora's room. These pictures are not the best, but I love how her room turned out.  The colors are mint and mustard.

I wanted the crib skirt to match her curtains so I thought it would be easy to just make them. Yes, they were easy, but seriously took FOREVER! It will be a while before I sew ruffles again.I had extra ruffles after making the skirt so I decided to make a mobile as well. I think they turned out pretty cute.

I wanted to make a picture college, but couldn't find the frames I liked (at a good price). I finally found a pack of 5 mirrors on clearance for $20.00 at Hobby Lobby that I  turned into frames and spray painted. The middle frame was a blue clock I found at Ross's. I think it all came together pretty well.

The best part of this room is Nora. She makes everything better!!! One of the best parts of my day is always coming into her room to get her in the morning. She is all smiles and squealing in excitement. We love her!