Spending Time Together

Bryan had Saturday off so we spent some time together as a family on Friday night and Saturday.

Friday night we walked down to the neighborhood pizza joint (which is just a block away) and picked up one of their $5.00 large one topping pizza's.....Cheep and pretty good. We took the girls down to the park and we ate pizza, drank cokes (Amelia has juice) and Amelia played on the slides....her favorite pastime lately. Norah crawled around in the grass, I took pictures and we all had a nice time.




Saturday we went to the Annual Blueberry Festival, TONS of people, food, crafts and rides. We wandered around eating Kettle Corn, listening to the music and checking out all the festivities. Amelia found a slide to play on (surprise, surprise) and was excited to see a horse. They were giving rides, but I knew she wouldn't go for that, so we viewed from the other side of the fence. The girls enjoyed themselves, but It was a warm day, so we came home and grilled out. It was a great day for the last weekend of the summer.

All the People at the Festival.

Norah Belle

Amelia stopping for a rest on the slide

HORSES!! She thought they were neat....but from a far.

This was before we left this morning (after they just got up). They are just to cute!

Flowers In Late Summer

Gym Update.....Good news!

Today was a huge step for Amelia. We went to the gym and she did great!

I checked the girls in, and as I was signing them in Amelia's lip starts to stick out like she is going to cry. I hand over Norah and pick Amelia up and told her it was going to be ok. Miss Jenn said, I'm just going to take her and your going to go right? I said yes....she grabbed Amelia (she had to pry her off me) and I took off. She was screaming! But she ended up calming down. I checked her out on the Monitor every so often and she was playing with Norah or the toys. So It made me feel so much better. I was able to work out and not worry today. She actually looked as if she was having fun. When I went in to pick her up she started to cry a little. She was just happy to see me I suppose. But Miss Jenn said she did great.

I'm so happy, now she just needs to make some friends. But she is still young....that will take time.

She Talks!

My baby is growing up! Miss Norah said her first word today. She has been saying it for a few days...we weren't sure if it was a real word or just babbling, but now we are sure. Mama. She says Mama. It's the cutest thing ever! Yes, it's a babble but when she gets frustrated or is alone and doesn't like it, she says Mama. Bryan even agrees that she says it. She is also saying Dada too but that is more of a babble still. However, I think she will be saying that too soon. What an exciting milestone.


Also we went out for a walk today, and I took some extra time and shot a few photos... take a look.

Summer Evening Fun & Gym Update....Day Two.

The past few nights the girls have been able to go down to the school and play on the playground. They love it. Bryan shot some pictures of them the other night and I took some last night.

Happy Miss Norah.

Excited to be on the slide.

Oh come on, look at that sweet face.

I LOVE this smile...I melted when I saw these two pictures.

A neat shot of Amelia on the slides.

Just happy to be outside on a nice summer night.

Yup, we have to keep our eyes on Norah now, she is pulling herself up now....see how proud she is of herself.

Slides are fun! Yippee!!

Update on the Gym:

We tried the Gym again today. It was a little better...but with help. First off, I was armed today with Mike her monkey, her binky, juice and animal crackers. I brought the girls in and checked them in. Norah, once again happy....BUT, Amelia started to cry when I tried to leave. However, my friend Judie was there at the gym today....she was my savior today, she helped me out in a huge way. Amelia calls her Gramma Judie, she loves her....Judie comes over for a visit every few weeks and the girls love her. So today Judie went in and sat with Amelia and made her happy and relaxed about being in there without me. Judie said that she was asking for me at first, but then as time went on, she became happier and she started to play with the toys. I walked in and watched her for a few minutes before she noticed I was there, she seemed happy and was playing. It really made me happy to see her happy.

Hopefully this was good, and maybe it helped ease her in to the time away from me. It was nice because I was able to get at little work out in. Happy mommy!

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On a side note....a few things to add.

A small update on the girls. Norah is getting big! She is 8 months and full of it. Crawling all over the place now. She does the army crawl/slinky crawl. It's cute. She did pull herself up last night while sitting in the wagon. So I have a feeling that she will really be moving soon....Oh how scary! Also, she is babbling up a storm, we think she may be saying ma-ma now too. When she gets mad or can't get to what she wants she will babble the word ma-ma out. It's cute...hopefully this is her first word. We will see.

Amelia is really getting big....saying new things everyday! It's amazing, I really have to watch what I'm saying, because she says everything we say. It's cute, yet....oh my! Her favorite word is still Hi...yes, she says it ALL the time! She is starting to pick up colors, she really knows blue, but yellow and green are starting to stick out to her now. She really remembers things and people all the time. It's amazing to see her learn and soak it all in. She has her first real friend....her name is Rhiley and Amelia really does love to play with her. She is my friend Sara's daughter who is the same age as Amelia (three months younger, and an absolute doll!) and Amelia gets very excited when she gets to see Rhiley. We see them regularly (almost daily) and we both enjoy both of their company.

Bryan is doing well too. He is still working quite a bit, but is able to get a weekend off here and there. It's nice to be able to hang out with him on a Sunday....family time is quite important to us and we enjoy every minute of it. He tries to get some golf in when he can, he needs his time too.

Thanks for checking out my blog, I really enjoy telling my story and showing off my pictures. I hope you all enjoy keeping up on us.

Living My Days With A Toddler....Gym Experience Day One

Last night we decided it was time to join the YMCA, we are all getting a little pudgy around the middle and we need to teach the girls what healthy habits are. We joined our Y and are all excited. Well, Kind of.......

We took a tour...cool. We showed the girls (Mostly Amelia) the pool...cool. We showed her the play area (babysitting area, while mom and dad work out) lots of fun kids....cool. I get up this morning and decide that it's going to be tons of fun, this will be great, I can work out, meet some other moms, Amelia and Norah can make new friends....and tops, I will get skinny!!

I check the girls in...Norah..... happy, happy, Joy, Joy is her tune. Amelia is very excited on the drive there, Kids, kids, kids she kept saying. Then once we got in there her tune changed to absolute....PURE TERROR!!!!! She does NOT like that I am going to leave her with some strange ladies and some weird kids. I get down with her and show her that the blocks are cool, and I show her the crayons and the best of all that World World (her favorite cartoon) is on the television screen....ok, so It might not be so bad. Right? I sneak out, oh so quietly, and start my work out. I'm feeling great! I'm on the treadmill overlooking the river, and walking my butt off...sweating already (10 minutes go by), I happy, I'm working out, It's MY TIME....THEN, I look up and here comes the woman from the daycare. Smiling. She says Amelia has been crying since I left.....do I want to come back in to get her? In my head I'm thinking, NO WAY LADY! I'm having ME time here.....but then I jump back into reality..... Oh No, my baby wants me and needs me, and yes I need to rush to her aide. So, off to my baby, my sweet CRYING, Barely can breathe when I walk in baby. She is so happy to see me. (side note, Norah is having a blast! Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy!) I, show her the crayons again, I show her more toys....nope, she isn't leaving my side. I end up taking her on the track with me and I walked with her and I also rode a stationary bike while she sat on the floor next to me. It got me moving at least and I wasn't sitting on my butt on the couch.

We have signed both girls up for swimming, that will start on the 8th. So once a week we will do that as a family. Hopefully she and her sister will enjoy that.

Well, we will try again tomorrow. Wish me luck. It could be interesting.

Weekend Fun!

We have had a full weekend. We had Matt (my brother) and Felicity (his girlfriend) over for dinner on Friday night, it was nice. We grilled up some Very Yummy burgers and corn on the cob. We hung out and had a few beers and relaxed.

Miss Norah hanging out enjoying the summer evening

Norah giving daddy love

Uncle Matt (my brother)...the girls LOVE uncle Matt

Amelia showing off for us all.

Saturday we (the girls and I) went shopping at the mall with my mom . Amelia played in the kids play area and had tons of fun. Once we were done shopping we went to lunch at Granite City brewery, the food was very good and the service was wonderful too. They were wonderful with the girls.

We brought the girls into the Disney store...Amelia loved it. I love this picture...the color is off, but she thought all the stuffed animals were pretty cool.

Amelia playing in the kids fun area at the mall.

Amelia and Grand-ma-ma coloring while we waited for our lunch

GGGGRRRRRRRRR!!! (looks like she is growling) Norah Playing peek-a-boo....look at that face, What a funny look! She had Chicken strips for the first time, she loved them!

Park time.....

We took a family walk down to the park last night (including Mike the monkey). It was a beautiful night out too! We went to the park by the river so I was able to get a few pretty pictures too. The girls love the swings and to get out and see all the new things.

I'm Eight Months old today!

Norah has turned Eight months old today! YIPPEE! My oh my, how time has flown by already! It just seems like a few months ago she was still kicking around inside me. She has 4 teeth now and is starting to crawl around. She wants to be held ALL time....she just loves to be loved on. Yeah, it's called spoiled, but it's ok. Here are a few pictures and her famous monthly couch photo....her happy smile always makes me smile too.

Wednesday Library Day

Summer fun around our house is relaxing and hanging out as you can see from the pictures of Norah.
However, we do tend to get out of the house and head to the Library on Wednesdays for Squigglers story time.......books, books and more books, Heaven for Amelia! It's so much fun for Amelia to learn and play with other kids.....She has even met her new friend Rhiley there. She has a blast! They learn a new letter of the week, which is teaching her the alphabet, then they will hear a Mother Goose story rhyme. At the end they get to march around the room to the music with an instrument, today she had the symbols. She LOVES her Squiggler story time.... and gets right into it with the group of kids.

Welcome to the neighborhood

I have decided to start this blog, I thought it will help my friends and family members keep up on the crazy life that we endure with two small children. I hope that anyone who reads this will find us a fun, entertaining and also, somewhat normal family.... I hope.

My family consists of My husband Bryan of almost four years, and my two beautiful daughters Amelia who is 22 months old and Norah who is almost 8 months old. Those three are my life, and it makes me super happy!

However, the lessons I have learned though the teachings of of my almost two year old, and my eight month old, can be priceless on certain days. It can be a challenge with Amelia learning to talk, potty train (thats fun) and in general watch her learn the world though her own eyes. Then we have miss Norah learning to crawl and getting new teeth all the time and also learning the world on her own, and scarily though Amelia, it can be funny and frightening all in one instant moment. But we laugh about everything, only because thats the only thing that keeps us sane.

I hope sure you come back regularly and keep up on our lives, we will have fun with it I'm sure.