Week 13- Happy Easter!

This was a pretty busy week. It was my spring break, and Brad took a couple of days off, too. That means we got lots of extra family togetherness time, which was wonderful.

Earlier in the week, Nora got her first haircut. I mean, her first professional at-a-salon haircut. I did a terrible job of trying to trim her hair months ago, and she's still suffering the consequences of that little fiasco. However, Traci at the hair salon did a great job trimming Nora's bangs, and even though Nora wanted nothing to do with the chair, we still managed to get the job done.

Before- playing in the yard with Daddy:

During- sitting on Mommy's lap:

And after- shorter bangs, but the same sweet curls in the back:

I think the Easter pictures we had taken at Portrait Innovations really show off her haircut nicely:

Something else that happened this week is that Nora decided her blocks are the best toy ever! She was entertained for a long time building the tallest possible tower and then watching it fall apart. Again and again and again!

The Easter Bunny got the memo and included some new Legos with Nora's Easter basket!

Easter was nice, but unfortunately, Brad had a little stomach bug. After Nora spent the morning with her Easter goodies...

...she and I went to church where she participated in an egg hunt before the church service.

The Easter church service was lovely, and our pastor gave a passionate sermon that is resonating with me still this evening. While he was speaking, I couldn't help but smile as a hymn I used to sing as a child came back to me:

 I am the resurrection and the life;
He who believes in me will never die.
I am the resurrection and the life;
He who believes in me will live a new life.

We had plans to have dinner with friends tonight. Brad was still too sick to join us, but Nora and I enjoyed a big Easter dinner with Jessica, Jason, and Kaitlyn (Kiki, as Nora calls her)- Ham, hashbrown casserole, kale greens, roasted carrots, pineapple casserole, and chocolate cake to celebrate my birthday, which is tomorrow.

By the time this week is over and I am posting our next blog entry, Nora will have celebrated her 2nd birthday. I am willing this week to go by sloooowly because I need more time with my ONE year old baby girl. 

Week 12- Seasons Changing

This past week was a long one for me because it was the week before the long-awaited Spring Break! Thankfully, we made it through, and today, Nora and I are resting lazily at home.

Last week, I packed away a lot of Nora's winter clothes, but this week, it has cooled down again, and today, we even got some snow! Despite the cooler temps this week, Nora spent some time playing in our yard, dressed in uncoordinated light layers.

While inside, Nora has taken to running around nekkid this week, especially after bath time. Here she is all curled up in her Daddy's lap. How adorable are they??

As my work week came to an end and spring break was beginning, we took the opportunity to meet up with some friends at Brixx Pizza as a part of a fund raiser for LLS. Brad and I had fun chatting with Allison, Hugh, Patty, and John, while Nora and Amelia had a blast making each other laugh.

So, today was the first official day of spring break, and Nora and I have not left the house at all. As the week goes on, I'll get us out, but for today, we're as snug as 2 bugs at home in our PJs.

Week 11- Spring Has Sprung

This week, Daylight Savings Time went into effect, springing us forward into what feels like longer days since the sun stays up later into the evening. We also had some beautiful weather here in Knoxville, so we were able to spend more time in the great outdoors.

On Friday evening, Brad and I took Nora over to one of the local playgrounds so she could have some fun. This is something we like to do, in theory, but once we get there, it always ends up being stressful because there are bigger kids being big and rough-housing, completely oblivious to my toddler who is innocently trying to take her turn down the sliding board. On this particular day, we called it quits when they started filling their shirts up with gravel and throwing it down the sliding board. In the mean time, Nora had a grand ol' time.

Taking "Big Tep" (big steps)

As a Facebook friend of mine said, this is the fine line between pure joy and sheer terror.

On Saturday morning, it was my day to sleep in (yay!) so Brad and Nora took a little trip up to UT to walk around. Brad always takes her out of the house on Saturday mornings, and I think she's begun to look forward to that time alone with her Daddy.

Something else fun that we got to do on Saturday was visit with Laura, Isabella, and Amelia who were visiting from Birmingham. Once again, Penny played hostess, and a small group of Pratts were able to get together for a couple of hours. Isabella is 8 and Amelia is about to turn 6, so you'd think they wouldn't be too interested in playing with a 2 year old, but they were so sweet and played really well together.

Today is St. Patrick's Day, and since it's Sunday, we went to Dede and Grandpa's (Papa according to Nora) for lunch. While we were there, we celebrated Elisabeth's birthday. Nora and Elisabeth were both dressed festively in green.

Cutest little shamrock I've ever seen!

Week 10- Mommy's Big Trip

This week, I had to travel to D.C. for work. It was my first time away from Nora overnight, and I was actually gone for 3 nights! I was pretty anxious about it, and I did miss her and Brad a lot while I was gone, but we all survived. I didn't take my camera with me to D.C., so I have just a few fuzzy cell phone pics from the trip.

The MLK Monument.

Georgetown Cupcakes. We worked hard to get there. Apparently they are the focus of a Cupcake reality show on TLC. I had no idea, but one of my co-workers was not going to give up until we found this place! The cupcakes were good, but maybe not so good that they were worth the miles we walked to get there.

While in D.C., we found out that our district won an award for District of Distinction. We were one of only 2 districts to be given this honor. Here is a very small and fuzzy picture of me and some of my co-workers with the award and our school Superintendent, Dr. MacIntyre.

 

So while I was doing tons of things to keep me busy while on this trip, I was missing my family terribly. I was very thankful to Brad and Ms. Tracy who sent me several pictures each day.

 

Nora and Dontae being sweet.

 

 

 

Nora admiring herself in the bathroom mirror.

 

 

 

Nora and her Daddy just saying "hi". How beautiful is she??? (He's kind of cute, too, right?)

 

 

Outdoor play time because apparently Knoxville got some beautiful weather while I was away!

 

 

 

Finally, an update on our Copper dog. I mentioned last week that he seemed off. Well, he got worse, so we called the vet, and I'm so glad we did. The poor boy had pancreatitis!! After an overnight stay at the vet's office, lots of rest, and some antibiotics, this poor pitiful dog is starting to get back to his old self.

 











Week 9- Low Key and Perfect

This week brought nothing new or special to the table, but it was a good week anyway. After several quiet evenings at home, we decided to try to get Nora out this weekend. Friday, we decided to take her to the in-door play ground at West Town Mall, and then we met Auntie Elisabeth for dinner at Brixx pizza. On Saturday, we took Nora back to the play ground, this time at East Town. She loves to climb in and out of the "car" and "airplane", but she especially loves to go down the little slide. It can be frustrating when there are a lot of bigger kids there running wild (with what appears to be no supervision... grrr!) but Nora seems to do fine, just the same.

One thing that Nora has been struggling with, though, is tantrums. I guess she is sneaking up on the "Terrible 2s", and so we see a lot of this these days.

Some things she has thrown tantrums over lately include being given the "wrong" snack (gold fish crackers instead of graham crackers) and being told "no" when she asked for the bazillionth time to watch Elmo. Brad took this picture, but he said he doesn't even remember what she was protesting in this specific moment.

While she has been a bit of a drama queen, she has also been extra snuggly lately. She spends a good amount of time curled up on me or Brad, which I love. Here we are snuggled up together this weekend.

Cheese!!

Today, we did visit Dede and Grandpa for lunch. I keep meaning to get some pictures of Nora with them and with whoever else happens to be there for lunch that day. (This week, it was Elisabeth, Brooke, and Tori.) I always forget, though. Here we are leaving our weekly Sunday lunch get-together.

Finally, for something different, Copper had a rough evening. He didn't seem to have much of an appetite and was whimpering a bit. Brad was worried something was wrong with him, so he took him out for a little walk around our yard. He seems fine now. I think he was just trying to get some one-on-one time with his Daddy.

You can't see it, but he is on a leash. Copper would be long gone on a great adventure if we let him roam free.