July Catch-Up

I'm going to do this extra long post with way too many pictures, and then I'm going to be up to date. For a little bit, at least.

Here goes:

 I really don't know how he does this? In the first place, that doesn't look comfortable. In the second place, there was a toddler constantly crawling up and down those stairs, getting in his face, and pulling on his legs. And yet he slept.

More fan talking. Trying to stay cool.

 I try to run with Norah in the stroller twice a week. She's happy to go along for the ride since we stop at the park halfway through. I get a run in, and she gets to play. It's a win-win. Except it takes at least two hours. Which is why we only do it twice a week.

Rich, Norah, and I like to head over to run on the Centennial Trail on Saturdays (when we have time). I usually hit the trails while Rich takes Norah in the stroller, but this time we ran together. I didn't feel so bad about being so incredibly slow since Rich was pushing the stroller. Isn't the scenery gorgeous?

This is pretty typical for our house. All the sports we can get. (That's World Cup soccer on the computer and I think the Mariners on the TV.)

Norah's first braid! It's not much (can you even see it?), but I'm so sick of the ONE hairstyle I can do with hair. This is a pretty big deal for us.

 Old Navy knows how to keep the chilluns (and dads) entertained while the moms shop. Norah did not want to leave when I was all done.

Unfortunately, we had a sick day a couple weeks ago. As always, it was pretty sad to see her sick, but I did think it was funny all the places I saw her laying down. This child rarely lays down, so this is pretty rare.

 All of these were taken at different times throughout the morning. I didn't get a shot of her just laying on the bathroom floor. It's so weird to see her be so still.

Just reading stories on my potty. No actual pottying going on, though.

Norah's version on the scoob dance. You're going to have to ask Rich to show you the original scoob dance.

Norah got invited to another birthday party. This one was for bestie Alivia. It was a super hot day, and the water toys in the backyard were the perfect thing for everyone. Except Norah, of course, who treated this a lot like the splash pad. She didn't mind getting her feet wet, but, anything above the knees and she freaked out. Oh, child.

See those teeny tiny water spouts? Yeah, that got in Norah's face and she was out for the rest of the water time.

The best part of the party, though, was playing princess dress up. Aubrey made Alivia a beautiful wardrobe for her princess dresses, and Norah's eyes lit up as soon as she saw them. Norah has never played dress up before, but it's like she was born for it. She got to wear the Belle dress, and Belle is now her new favorite princess.

 All of these cuties playing dress up. Evan is playing the part of prince charming. It seems like these girls have a lot of competition with only one prince (though we all know he's betrothed to Norah anyway, right?).

 Norah got a tiara as a party favor, and she wouldn't take it off for the rest of the day. I think we need some more princess stuff up in here.

Speaking of princess stuff, my sister Carrie gave me a little project I'm pretty excited about. She sent me a link for this Etsy shop and asked if I could copy some play aprons for my niece Lola. I was a little hesitant at first, but I really liked the challenge. So I went for it.

My first attempt was at the Rapunzel apron, which turned out okay. Definitely not perfect. And probably too small for Lola. But you gotta start somewhere.

I'm currently working on the Anna apron, and you can get the idea of how it will look from these pieces. I'm pretty excited about this one because I know more of what I'm doing.

Norah had her very first lollipop the other day. Obviously, she loved it.

Watching some of the MLB All-Star Game with Daddy.

We went to the splash pad, and all Norah and Alivia wanted to do was play in the dirt. Whatevs.

We finally we went swimming in our apartment complex's pool last week. First time in the three years we've lived here. Why did we wait so long, again? Norah absolutely loved it. I thought it would just be the splash pad all over again, but we could hardly get her out of the water, even when she started shivering and her lips turned blue.

Just a little bedhead.

This is Norah's thinking face. I absolutely love it. (By the way, she's talking about Alivia and Evan and how much fun they have at church.)

And, finally, we went to another Spokane Indians game last night with Doug and Edie. (Rich needed to go to a sporting event for an assignment for his class, and he thought it would be a little creepy if he hung out around a Little League game.) It was supposed to be a fireworks night, but with all of the wildfires and the wind, they had to cancel them. (Those fires are pretty bad. It's crazy how much and how quickly they're burning. And the wind is spreading the smoke all over the state, not to mention making it even harder to control them. Spokane has smelled like smoke for the past four days. Since we have no A/C, we have to keep our windows open when it's cooler out, and our apartment is constantly covered in a thin layer of ash. I really hope they can get them under control soon.)

 Norah was amazing for the whole game, content just looking for Recycle Man and Otto and Doris the Spokanosauruses.

 I love watching these two play together. She loves her daddy so much.

She got pretty sleepy towards the end of the game, but she just cuddled up to me and had a great time. (She can sit through a three-hour baseball game, but she can't do an hour and ten minutes of sacrament meeting?)

4th of July '14

Last year we had perhaps the most boring 4th of July ever. Spokane is pretty lame when it comes to celebrating our nation's birthday. Rich and I had become used to Utah, where there's a parade in every neighborhood, and there are fun fairs like Cherry Days in North Ogden and Freedom Festival in Provo, and practically anything goes with fireworks. Spokane might have a parade downtown, but it's obviously not a big deal because I don't even know if there is one. There are no fairs. And there are NO FIREWORKS. Except the the show downtown. We're talking not even sparklers allowed. All of the public school reader boards remind everyone of the $513 fine if you break the law. (Although, with the wildfires all over Washington state right now, it's hard to stay too mad at this rule.)

I just realized that I already went through this same rant last year, but I'm keeping it here anyway.

This year, we decided that we were not going to have the same boredom fest as last year. Forget a toddler's bedtime - we will fight traffic and toddler tantrums if we have to to make it to the fireworks show. Luckily, our friends Matt and Aubrey Heath had had the same boring experience last year, and they invited us over for a BBQ to make the day even more fun.

So much better than last year.

Norah and Alivia immediately got to playing once we got there. These two are such cute little besties, even though they fight over toys half the time. (Thanks to Aubrey for most of these pictures. Yes, I did raid your Facebook for them.)

 Alivia instructed Norah on the proper way to have a tea party. And Norah proceeded to spill her tea (aka water) all over her dress.

 Then Norah played the chauffeur.

 Inside, the adults and sweet little Scarlett enjoyed our hamburgers. This adorable little girl was not going to leave the eating to the big kids, either. She let her mommy know she wanted some of that hamburger.

Before leaving for fireworks, we made sure we got some pictures.

These two! So stinkin' cute!

Aren't these girls adorable?

Aubrey caught this shot of Norah. A perfect 4th of July shot. Oh my goodness, I love this girl.

Trying to get a good shot with Norah. I do kind of love the glare face one.

 Yeah, I'm laughing in this picture, but it's the only one of the three of us where Norah is looking at the camera.

 After the BBQ, we headed out to watch the fireworks. The show takes place over Riverfront Park, but you can see it from practically anywhere downtown. We parked by the Boy Scout office and camped out in the back of Matt's truck for the show. The fireworks started around 10, and Norah was absolutely spent at this point. I thought she'd love the show like she'd loved the fireworks at the Indians game, but all she wanted to do was snuggle up to me while I covered her ears. I think it was just too late for her. At least she didn't scream through the show (like a kid a couple cars away from us).

Since Norah was in desperate need of a cuddle, I didn't catch pictures from the show, but I did steal this last one from Aubrey.

Another perfect 4th of July shot.

Such a better holiday than last year. Thank you, Heaths, for the fun time!