Yo Gabs

Monkey slipper socks from Mim

Nora LOVED Yo Gabba Gabba. We had kinda crappy seats but she still danced and wiggled and clapped and sang her little heart out. I think her fave was when they dropped a million balloons from the ceiling and we went and got one. She still has it. She pretends it is a baby and rocks it or has it talk to her (it has a face on it). She is so stinkin' cute.

We have to start looking for kindergarten classes for her. Yow. I am not looking forward to it. The EEU has a K that she may be able to get into but there are limited spots. The Seattle spec. ed. has started integrating all the sp. ed. kids into their home school regular classes with resource room pull outs. Umm yeah, don't think that will work for her. They also have self contained classrooms dispersed throughout the district. It is so hard to know what will be the best place for Nora. I want her to be in pre school at the EEU forever or stay there until graduation.

Alex has been gone since Friday and comes back Sun. Actually hasn't been that bad b/c we've been super busy and Grandma has been helping out every day!

Then on Monday Mim and Grandfather come for Thanksgiving!!! hooray!!!

We can't wait.

Hope you all have a fab turkey day.

Lori

Halloween

Cowgirl and Ron Burgandy





Fun times had by all. Hope your Halloween was bountiful! Thank goodness Emma's school collects "extra" candy to donate to the troops! We had a lot! And we had no rain for trick or treatin!

Thanks for checking in
Lori

Random pictures

Emma's second grade school photo-cute but a goofy side smile

Polaroid app on my phone

My new cowboy boots from TX!

Pumpkin princess

Batgirl!

Dancing in the sun

eating lollipops


We were hoping to go to a pumpkin patch today but we woke up to rain. May just have to go buy one at the store and do some carving today. Emma is getting very excited for Halloween. All else is well in our house.

Thanks for checking in
Lori

Madsen bikes

I think I need one of these!

How awesome would it be to be able to ride a bike w/Nora in the bucket? She probably would jump out every 5 minutes but it would look cool! Ollie might like it too. He's getting old.

I'm off to Austin for the weekend!

See you later

Lori

Yay for school!

This is our 2nd week of preschool and we are finally back on a schedule. And I finally get a few minutes to shower alone. Nora has a new teacher this year, a new bus driver :( and lots of new friends to meet. She is doing great with potty training-at least peeing in the potty when asked to. She still isn't letting us know when she has to go. And she is still refusing to poop on the potty. But she is staying dry mostly which is a start.

She lost her other top front tooth this weekend so is looking quite cute w/out her teeth. That is 5 total!

We had a great weekend at our friends' house in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. There were 4 families-9kids and we had a blast.


Emma and I are going to Girls Scout camp for the weekend. She is excited. Hopefully it won't rain!

I'll try to post some pics soon.

Lori

still waiting

I am still waiting for Nora's pre school to start. One more week to go. We have had a lot of mommy and nora time. We are so ready for some structure in our day. Emma started 2 weeks ago. 2nd grade! Alex left for China yesterday so I have a week solo parenting. That's always fun and totally a piece of cake. Especially when I don't get a 5 minute break from Nora! For 7 days straight! fun times.

I have been trying to get Nora to use the potty all the time but she still freaks out if she has to poop. She won't do it. She refuses to even try. But at least she's staying dry for the most part. I am still putting a pull up on her when we go out so she doesn't have an accident -she doesn't even try to use the pot then. Hopefully school will help get us on track. And the screaming and whining... hopefully that will get left behind as well. Good luck Teacher Laurie!!! New teacher this year. Although she was in Nora's classroom last year as an assistant so Nora is familiar with her.

Nora's new obsession is Oobi. She uses her hands to talk like Oobi all the time. It's pretty funny for a while but she wants us to do it for hours on end. Gets a bit old. And there is something very creepy about the show.

As you can tell I am a bit weary of having Nora 24/7. I love her to pieces but she is a handful. And an earful. The day the bus pulls in front of our house I will be dancing a jig! 3 1/2 hours of quiet all to myself! whoohoo!

I'll post some pics soon. Maybe of a bus!

Lori

Trip to NY

Snuggling with Mim
On the helicopter at Hoffman's Playland
Eating a big lollipop
Hanging out at Uncle Mark's camp in a tent with Katie and Lhara
Emma aka MJ
Emma with "Toady" ( she also found a caterpillar and a dead fish)

We were gone for 2 weeks but it felt like more. We did so much. Even though I don't have any pictures of most of it. I was awful about taking pictures. Partly because every time I bring it out, Nora has a fit. She hates the camera now. She used to love it and yell cheese. AND because I just plain forgot to take pics.

We had a great visit with my folks. We played in the backyard (fenced in thank you very much), swam in the neighbors pool everyday, made s'mores in the fire pit, made Mim's house very messy, went to my brother's house on Loon Lake, had Emma's 7th birthday party Michael Jackson style, played with Katie and Brynna, ate lobster, saw lots of family and friends and just spent time with Mim and G-gather. It was very relaxing, or at least as relaxing as it can be with Nora in the mix. I guess not very relaxing but at least there were at least 3 adults to 1 Nora at all times.

Alex and I got away for a night and went to Boston. We saw our good friends Laura and Justin for dinner and had some laughs. It was so much fun. Now THAT was relaxing. This was only the 2nd time, yes 2nd time we have gotten away from the girls-together. Ever. The last time was when Emma was 1 and we went to NYC. Alex travels all the time and I've taken a few nights here and there for a girls weekend or something but we really haven't gotten away with the both of us leaving at the same time going to the same place. Crazy I know. We should do it more often.

Anyway, it was great to see everyone in NY. There was lots of other stuff we did but I can't remember right now.

We are back home and getting ready for Emma to start 2nd grade on Monday. Nora lost her 5th tooth tonight before bed. Her bottom fronts are starting to pop through. So weird. We saw the dentist today actually and Nora does not have any cavities and they look good, for the amount of grinding she's done.

Thanks for checking in

Lori