Mother's Day (and More)

There's not as much to say today, but I just want to stay up-to-date with my pictures so my next post isn't as long as my past few have been (although the next one is already guaranteed to be long since we've got a certain little girl's birthday coming up). So, here is what we've been up to the past week.

 This is actually an older picture, but I just found it on Rich's phone. You see the sock monkey? One of Rich's runners bought it for Norah while they were on a trip. Super sweet of him, right? Want to know what's even better? You can't tell from this picture, but that's a BYU sock monkey. The runner bought it in the Salt Lake airport on a layover. Norah loved it immediately - as you can see from this picture, it instantly joined the elite club with Mickey and Elmo. We've decided to name the monkey Cecil, in honor of former BYU president Cecil O. Samuelson.

My two favorite people made me pancakes for Mother's Day. Daddy is so much more patient when it comes to having Norah help. He even let her use the beater.

Norah got a great surprise when she got her pancake.

 I'm terrible at getting family shots on the special days, but at least we got one of Norah on Mother's Day. (I am still so in love with how this dress turned out.)

These are just some pictures from a bedtime routine this week. Norah loves to be cuddled in her towel when we get her out of the tub. This is by far the best time she cuddles, probably because she knows it's a great way to stall bedtime.

We have come a LONG way in the tooth-brushing department. I used to have to pin her down to get it done, but now it's almost fun for her. We play what I call the "Ah Game." I just copy her anytime she says "ahhhhhh." She thinks it's hilarious.

Norah's favorite book has to be "The Monster at the End of This Book," but we didn't have our own copy so we only read it at Doug and Edie's. Well, Grandma and Poppa surprised Norah with it, as well as the sequel "Another Monster at the End of This Book." She has these books memorized and would choose them for bedtime every night if we let her.

On Tuesday night, we came home to two fire trucks and two police cars on our very quiet street. As we were walking to our apartment, two of our neighbors passed us and told us what was going on. Apparently, there was a hit and run, and the car that got hit followed the car that hit them. The hitter sped down our road (I've heard reports that they were doing 60, but that seems a little extreme), only to find out too late that the road dead ends to a steep drop. They ended up crashing into an apartment.

As we heard the story, I kind of started panicking because I knew that the apartment they hit belonged to a dad and his twin 2 1/2-year-old daughters. Those girls are always out playing in the dead end - Norah loves to go over there and play with them. Luckily, the girls had just gotten into the bathtub and the car hit the kitchen, so no one got hurt. I can't imagine how terrifying that would be. We talked to the dad, Chris, and his first thoughts were an earthquake or a meteor. Because who actually expects a car to run into their apartment, especially on our quiet road? I am so glad no one got hurt. (I think in the end the two people in the hitter's car ended up getting arrested, though. From what I've heard, they deserved it.)

Norah got to be an honorary firefighter that night. She didn't understand what was going on, but she did enjoy the fact that it delayed bedtime. 

 As we were walking into our apartment the other day, Norah passed the spot where we had taken the picture of her on Mother's Day and said, "Nuh Nuh [Norah] picture." And she did this little pose all on her own. I'm not sure where she learned to pose, but I can tell she's got some sass.

Post-bathtime cuddles. My favorite.

I told Rich what I wanted for Mother's Day was to get the white gold redone on my ring. We have a warranty on the ring through Samuel's Jewelers (where we bought it), so it's free to get it done. If only you can find a Samuel's Jewelers. (When we bought the ring, they claimed they were all over the country. Well, there aren't ANY in Washington state.) The nearest one is in Coeur d'Alene, so we made the trip out there last Friday, and I picked the ring up on Thursday. (The jewelry store was really only like an hour away. An hour drive used to seem like nothing when we lived in Utah - we used to make the hour and a half drive from Provo to Ogden at least twice a month. But three years in Spokane has gotten us used to driving no more than half an hour at a time. The trip to Coeur d'Alene and back seemed to take forever!) I love how shiny my ring is, once again!

Just a little Norah dancing.

And this last picture is from this morning. Who does she think she is, acting like she owns the place? Love this girl!