March 12th-19th

Rich and Shara Notes for the Week:

• Gonzaga had their first outdoor track meet of the season, at Spokane Falls Community College. It was a good opening meet, and Rich is excited for the what the team is going to do this year, especially the steeplechasers.
• Rich is also back in school after his spring break. His class now is on conflict management.
• I am currently working on getting back into better running shape. I was doing so well last summer - I even made it up to a 10-mile run, but that obviously didn't last. I had to start from almost the beginning again, and I can feel myself slowly but surely getting my endurance back. 

Norah Notes for the Week:

• Norah likes to pretend she can count, except she only knows two numbers: three ("free") and six. And since six often gets forgotten, her counting usually goes, "Free, free, free, free, free..."
• Norah absolutely loves church. She asked literally every day last week for church. We have such a righteous child. I'm sure it has nothing at all to do with the fact that she gets to go to nursery where she plays with toys and friends and eats treats and colors pictures.
• If there is music on, Norah runs up to Rich, yelling, "Dance!" Soon, she demands that he help her climb Daddy Mountain. She loves it, and it melts my heart to see them having so much fun together.

Wednesday, March 12

For mutual last week, Norah and I hung out with the Beehives. They have this tradition of "kidnapping" the incoming beehives in their birthday month, so Sydnie and Aubrey got blindfolded and dragged to the church for a little party.

Thursday, March 13

 There's a huge water tower in the woods by our apartment, and Norah and I lave been checking it out a lot lately. I've been examining it for it's picture-background potential. I want to see if my amateur photography skills can do anything with it for Norah's birthday pictures.

 Friday, March 14

Norah has figured out how to worm her arm through the Grandma's car seat strap. Luckily, she hasn't been able to do it in our car seat. Yet. I'm going to have to start tightening that thing like crazy.

Saturday, March 15

Half-naked Norah. This child insists on stripping off her clothes during nap time and bed time. I wouldn't mind so much if it were warmer, but then she doesn't fall asleep because she's so cold and moves around too much to stay under the covers. Plus, I'm afraid she's going to start working on the diaper soon. I have heard horror stories about kids taking off their diapers in bed. I don't want to face that AT ALL.

 Sunday, March 16

She can't just let you work on the computer. She likes to work right next to you. 

 It amazes me how long a toddler can squat like this.

Monday, March 17 - Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Our green smoothies in the morning, along with wearing green and watching "Waking Ned Devine," was the extent of my St. Patrick's Day celebration. Oh, and I dyed the toilet water green, too, just to see what Rich would say. But, seriously, people are going crazy with holidays lately, and I don't have the energy to keep up with them. I'm glad Norah's not old enough to care yet because she would have been seriously disappointed with her super lame mom. (I liked this article my friend Aubrey posted. I am glad to know I'm not the only one who thinks this way.)

It turns out Rich's old BYU teammate was a Disney Channel star! There are so many things we don't know about Merriman, I guess. Yes, I'm joking, but does anyone else remember this Disney Channel original movie from back in the day?

Ugh. So jealous of this girl's eyelashes.

Tuesday, March 18

I was doing something on the computer yesterday and looked to see Norah like this. I took that as a hint to turn off the TV.

 I managed to get a picture of Norah pouting. She makes this face A LOT.

It didn't last long, though. This girl wants to be happy. 

This is what happens when the cable cuts out right in the middle of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. There was some confusion with Comcast yesterday, and it just happened to come right at the wrong time. Poor girl was devastated.

Wednesday, March 19

 I'll leave you with this gem. I may have actually found a solution to our nighttime stripping issue, thanks to this article. She knows how to get a shirt off on her own, but I'm hoping it's enough of a deterrent at night to keep her jammies on. Or that it will work long enough to make it to warmer weather jammies. I don't think Norah was as enthused about my brilliance as I was, but at least it worked!