Monday, July 28, 2014

Weeks Twenty-Nine and Thirty

During week 29, I was in Indianapolis for a work conference. We had to drive, and I traveled with 3 other teachers from my school. It was a good, worthwhile conference, so while the driving was a pain and I hated to be away from Brad and Nora, I was glad that it wasn't a waste of time.

While I was away, I got to Facetime with my 2 favorite people a couple of times. Brad was also good to send me some cute photo updates.

Here is Nora hanging out near Dede and Grandpa's pool, her new favorite summer hang out spot.


And here she is one early  morning when Brad said she was being a "little stinker", not wanting to get ready for Ms. Tracy's house.


I think he sent me that last one the day before I was going to be home. I was so ready at that point to see this sweet face.

This past week was our last week of summer vacation. Brad took the entire week of, and it was my last before being back on contract. We had a nice staycation that involved lots of quality family time, including, of course, some pool time...


... and banana flavored popsicles.


Saturday, July 19, 2014

Weeks Twenty-Seven and Twenty-Eight

I am getting behind on some of these posts because it's so easy to lose track of time now that I'm on summer vacation!

During week 27, we celebrated the 4th of July with friends. We had an old-fashioned cook out in our own back yard complete with kids, dogs, fireworks, and an all-American meal of hot dogs and baked beans.

Showing off her red, white, and blue.
Sweet ride.
Too cool!
Kaitlyn says "cheese" while holding up a piece of cheese. Hardy har har!
This is Nora's reaction to the bottle rockets.
Brandy sporting her patriotic bandana.
Bailey basking in the sun.

Copper wasn't cooperative, so I have no holiday pictures of our beagle boy.

Outside of our 4th celebration, Nora and I had a "girls' day". We went to a movie, had lunch, and played at an in-door play area. The movie was Despicable Me 2, and I think the plot was a little too complex for a 3 year old, so we ended up leaving shortly before it ended. Regardless, we enjoyed our special day together. I got this picture on our way out the door. Girl knows how to do fashion. :)

Striking a pose
Bad selfie

Something else I've been enjoying on vacation are Nora's afternoon naps. There have been several days when she has fallen asleep on me in the recliner.


Sometimes I transfer her to her bed, but sometimes I just enjoy the snuggles.

Friday, July 4, 2014

Weeks Twenty-Five and Twenty-Six

Nora is now in a 10 week summer session at The Little Gym, and instead of doing strictly gymnastics, she is now taking a dance/gymnastics combo class. That means the first 30 minutes is a combination of tap and ballet and the second half is in the gym. The first week was kind of tough for Nora because it was the first time she was in an independent class as opposed to a parent/child class. She didn't want to leave me, so she pretty much just watched the dance portion of the class and then reluctantly participated in the gymnastics.

Weeks 2 and 3 were much better, though.

Here are some pictures from week 2, which is the first week Nora willfully participated.


I think there were 2 things that contributed to a better week. First is that her BFF Amelia joined the class. The second is that we talked all week not only about the class, but about what she was going to wear. I know this sounds silly, but she was so fixated on wearing this little green dress that every day she would point to it in her closet and tell me that she was going to wear it to ballet class. I jumped right on that train and played it up for all it was worth.

Here is week 3. I love that more than half of the girls are wearing the same sweet little dance outfit from Target. It was so cute seeing them all come in one after the other in the same dress.


I am hoping Nora loves it enough that we can continue with the dance/gymnastics combo for the regular season, too.

I also have to share this picture of Nora "jumping in muddy puddles". It rained a lot this week, and thanks to her "friend" Peppa Pig, puddle jumping, especially bare-footed, is one of her favorite activities.