A new red Radio Flyer

On Nora's birthday, a package from Grampy and Grammy arrived in the mail. Dane helped open it and put it together for his his little sister!

A new red scooter with a bell!

Two different ways to ride!

Almost 1- party time!

Look who's almost a year old already!

Nora helped Momma make cupcakes on Saturday.
The finished product.

Playing with balloons before everyone arrived for the party.

You can see that she is standing very well, but she refuses to take steps yet!

Kiddos playing with Dane's train set.

The candle is lit! Nora is just a bit unsure- mostly not liking being strapped into the high chair when she would rather be playing!

Momma helps blow out the candle.

A cautious finger in the frosting.

Some encouragement from Brother.

Mmmmm... this isn't too bad!

Little fingers full.

Stop with the pictures, Momma! My face is too messy!

Everyone else enjoyed cupcakes, too!

Cute little Cubby.

Pretty girl.

She found a stray cupcake that someone had left unfinished and helped herself!

Presents!

A family picture.

Dane spent the rest of the evening playing with this little microwave that Renee bought for Nora!

Helping Daddy assemble the rocking horse.

Giddy-up!

A special thanks to Renee for manning (or is it womanning?) our camera for much of the party. She got some great shots!

Playing

The weather has been so mild recently we've been able to keep the screen open. I loved this outline of my kiddos gazing out the door.

Nora has taken a real liking to the playhouse in our backyard. It is small enough that she can hold on to things and cruise around inside quite easily.

Dane has been avoiding pictures recently- too much paparazzi!

PC

Plum Crazy. I have always loved the flowering tree in our back yard. So very pretty, but I thought it was a fruitless flowering crab apple tree because it didn't bear anything... until this year. Some mighty tasty plums! What a lovely surprise. I'm starting to feel like I have a regular orchard in my back yard between these and the figs!

Also, Plain Cute. Nora has discovered Dane's trike, and she sure loves it. Loves to be pushed around the back yard, loves to climb all over it, or just loves to sit on it and look adorable!

Outings with Momma

I have had a couple of afternoons off this weekend, so I enjoyed some fun with my sweet kiddos. Today we went to the carousel at the District. I took all these pictures on my G1 phone, and this was the easiest way to share them.

Monday afternoon, I packed the kids into the bike trailer and headed to a park about 4 miles away. The ride there was lovely- it took only a few minutes and very little effort. We had a fun time playing, and then we had to head home. Uphill and into the wind (pulling 50+ pounds) the whole way home. I almost left them in the trailer when we got home; I was so tired I could hardly lift them out!

Figs and funny kids

Our figs started ripening up last weekend. This was our first evening's harvest, and we have been picking about this many each day for the past 4 days.

They are quite large this year. Most are about the size of a regular pear. Nora has taken a liking to them. I was holding her while I picked them the first evening, and she grabbed one right out of my hand and started chomping away!
Help unloading the dishwasher.

Dane can now climb right into Nora's crib. If he hears that she is awake, he will run in and jump right in with her. They both love it!

Doggy pile on Brother!

Nora is learning how to wrestle. I think she will hold her own pretty well with Dane!

This is her favorite grin recently. I love how she crinkles up her nose!

A new hairstyle courtesy of Teddy! Nora has quite the "doglick"!

Learning to eat with a spoon like a big girl.

Future stunt man?

Nora is learning to wave bye-bye and blow kisses.