Week 42- Boo at the Zoo

Nora experienced the joy and wonder of "trick or treating" for the first time this week. On Friday, we took her to an early Halloween event at the Knoxville Zoo called "Boo at the Zoo".

We got there at 5:30, and there were kids of all ages dressed in costume ready to start collecting an early stash of candy. Of course, Nora had no idea that she was about to fill her little purple bucket (the same one she used to collect Easter eggs because I hadn't thought this whole trick-or-treating thing through...) with sweet treats.

She came upon the first booth, got her first piece of candy, and she was hooked.

She practically ran from one booth to the next once she realized what was waiting for her. Here she is, on a Halloween mission.

On her own...

And hand-in-hand with her butterfly pinata bestie, Amelia...

They attracted their fair share of attention. I know I'm biased, but I don't think it's hard to imagine why. She was a cute little tiger, wasn't she? Even without the head piece that she flat our refused to wear UNTIL she took a candy break on a bench and I sneaked it onto her head for a few pictures.

I'm on to you, but I'm too busy eating this candy bar to care.

She even humored me with a couple of family pictures while in full head gear before she got back to business.

Since we were at the zoo, we even had a chance to spy a few animals. We were most impressed with the elephants and the zebras.

We ended the Halloween adventure with good music (from these lovely recorders- thanks zoo people) and a little dance party before we headed on for dinner.

Hot Cross Buns in perfect harmony. Or not.

We landed at Puleos where Nora ate pizza (shocker, I know), Amelia ate noodles, and they had a fascinating conversation about cookie monster swimming and what would happen when his fur got wet. Oh how much fun it must be to be inside those little 2.5 year old heads.

The rest of the weekend brought some typical family fun:

Watching Tennessee football on TV. Go Big Orange!

And our standard Sunday festivities- church and then lunch with Dede and Grandpa.

Lovely weekend- I wish it could have lasted a little longer.

Week 41- We All Fall Down

Nora had her first playground "incident" this week. Blood was drawn, tears were shed. It was a sad moment. We were at a birthday party for one of her church friends, Jon Loran. There was a playground jungle gym that was really meant for older kids, but of course, it was impossible to keep the little kids away.

Nora LOVES climbing right now, and while doing so, she lost her footing. She was up pretty high, but thankfully Brad and I were standing right next to her. Unfortunately, we couldn't quite reach her torso, so we grabbed her legs. That slowed her fall, but she still fell. Face first. Into the gravel below.

The cuts aren't deep at all, but those first moments when blood was streaming down her face were stressful. We are thankful that it wasn't worse, and she is on the mend.

This weekend was a birthday party extravaganza! We had Jon Loran's 3rd birthday party on Friday and then Kaitlyn's 6th on Sunday. It was held at a petting zoo, and Nora had so much fun seeing and feeding all of the different animals.

Emu!

Baaaaa

Checking out the tigers... rawr!

More interested in this turtle ornament than the real ones

The sign says, "Spitting zone".

There was also some typical birthday party fun to be had, including some spectacular chocolate icing cupcakes.

Waiting not so patiently to dig in to the cupcakes

2 licks of icing, one bite of cake, and then she was ready to go see the animals

All of the kiddos

Nora loved petting and pretending to feed this tiger

All of the running she did around the zoo must have worn her out because she slept for 1.5 hours in the car (We drove around and sat in the driveway until she woke up), and then she slept another 1.5 hours curled up on me in the recliner chair!

Besides all of the fun of birthday partying, our other big happening this weekend was this:

Yep, we turned Nora's car seat in my car to forward facing. She has outgrown the rear-facing limit for height. Her seat in Brad's car is still rear-facing because she still has plenty of room to grow into it.  She did enjoy riding like this, though, and she had fun narrating for us, "I see the moon. I see a car. I see the W." The "W" is the Weigels sign. She's obsessed with the letter W, and she needs to point it out whenever possible.

And as a complete off-topic side-note, here is one of our super-cute dogs. Bailey, our first baby who is still, 2 more dogs and a baby later, unhappy that she is no longer an only child.

Week 40- 2.5 Years

Nora turned 2.5 years old yesterday. Today, she is closer to 3 than 2. I'm sure any parent can relate to my mixed feelings. It's hard to watch time pass so quickly and wonder if I'm making the most of each day. How long will it be before I forget what her little 2.5 year old body feels like wrapped around me or how sweet her hair smells when she is curled up on me before bed time?  I'm trying to just soak it all up like a sponge because I know the next time I blink, she will be a little bit bigger than she is right now.

We took Nora to see Disney on Ice on her half-year birthday (complete coincidence!) and we had so much fun. We stopped by one of the booths filled with Disney "stuff", and Nora picked out her very own princess. "That one", she told the cashier with confidence. I was pretty proud of her assertiveness. She's been carrying "Cindella" around with her pretty much ever since. Once the show started, she spent the first half awe-struck, much as she was when we went to see Sesame Street back in April.

She had a "moment" during the Aladdin scene that made me giggle. I can't blame her for being kind of freaked out.

I think her favorites during the first half were Nemo and when all of the princes and princesses were on the ice together.

Mommy might have teared up just a little bit during "It's a Small World". I was not expecting it to be a part of the show at all. It's definitely a favorite of mine, and I can't wait to share it with Nora when we go to Disney World in a few years.

The second half of the show brought a wardrobe change (a minor potty incident.. sigh), popcorn, and a more lively audience participant in Nora. She danced and pointed excitedly at the different characters.

Here she is waving goodbye to the whole gang.

On our drive home, Nora talked excitedly about Minnie, Mickey, and the princesses. I sat in the back with her to try to keep her from falling asleep as it was so close to nap time.

Cinderella for Nora; tiara for Mommy. I bought the tiara for her, but she refused to wear it!

Also, notice how close her head is to the top of her car seat? That means we have to turn her around. Mommy is having some anxiety about this, but at this point, it becomes safer for her to ride forward in this particular seat. I considered getting her a new seat with a higher rear-facing limit, but I don't think it's in the cards at this time, so around she goes. I think I'll go hyperventilate into a paper bag now.