Norah's oil company

Don't I wish Nor owned an oil company!

Party day

The girls had friends over today for Nanny Teresa's birthday....a whole couch full of girls over for pizza and ice cream cake.

A funny thing...Nancy had placed the ice cream cake in the refrigerator because it wouldn't fit in the freezer. When she got it out, it was runny. Lolo told me Nancy was going to throw it out. Norah heard the news and started to cry. She really, really wanted cake! My poor girl was inconsolable thinking that the cake had been thrown away. Anyway, Nancy didn't throw it out. Norah stopped crying as soon as she saw the cake. And yes, she got a piece of cake today after her good quiet time.

Monkey

YaYa got the girls monkey shirts. Norah is in love with her shirt...the eyes move. When I first showed her the shirt, her eyes got so wide and a big grin just broke out on her little face. She couldn't wait to put on her new shirt!

Back from Utila

Jim and I had an amazing time in Utila. It look a while to get there, but the effort was worth it. Photos above are of our nightly entertainment. We had a half board package at a "hotel" that seemed more like girl scout camp. Hummingbirds at the feeders during the day; bats at the feeders at night.

Not a lot of fish life, but interesting things to see. 4 seahorses (including one baby), 3 pipefish, and an octopus feeding at night. But the most important sighting...the whale sharks. Yes, we got to see them and snorkel with them three days in a row. Took photos and have had one (H-049) identified (we'll be getting emails tracking "our" shark)...we're still waiting to hear back about the id of our other shark photos that got submitted. Amazing experience. Since this blog is all about the girls, I won't bore you with the details, but it was a top 10 experience for me.

Whale shark video below (we haven't yet learned the identity of this one yet...it wasn't tagged but we think a marine biologist who hitched a ride on our boat managed to tag it shortly thereafter).

It was good to get away, but very nice to be back home with the girls. So, back to the girls...they had a great time with Gramma Peg & PopPaul. Lolo filled me in on ALL the details yesterday. I've been trying to catch up on kisses and finally Lolo had enough and said "no more."

So we're back to our regular schedule...swim school this morning. Our curly haired mermaid has a 6 year old in her class and wouldn't you know it....(my moment to brag) but Norah can out "swim" the 6 year old.

Costumes for Circus Performance

Check out our cutie pie with her best friend, Willem.

Circus Preview

Check out Lolo doing a stunt in her class. I'm going to try the climbing video later once I get packed. Right now, I've still got a lot of packing to do for tomorrow.

Climbing

Sometimes, I can't believe this amazing kid is four years old. Lolo and I went climbing this afternoon. This time I remembered my camera. Here she is climbing to the top of the wall. We had several people watching her stop me and ask how old she was.
I have been trying to upload a video this evening but the file must be too large. It's not going up. I'll try again tomorrow and see if I can get something to work.

In a bit of unrelated news...Jim and I are headed to Utila (one of the Bay Islands of Honduras) on saturday morning. We're hoping to catch a glimpse of a whale shark. Anyway, it's 3 flights plus a ferry ride to get to Utila, and then we're going to dirtbag it; so we're not taking the kids.
It's our first trip without both girls. Our first time away from Norah Kate. I've been suffering from girl-withdrawal all week just thinking about it. Seemed like a good idea when we first talked about it and planned it, but now that the trip is upon us, I'm having a slight twinge of....I don't know what...."regret" is not exactly the right word....But I'm missing the girls already. Peggy and Paul are going to be here with the girls this week (and so is Nancy).

Clean or Dirty?

I can't tell...is this load of laundry clean or dirty?

Politics according to Norah

The other night at dinner, Jim and I are discussing politics. Norah was listening intently. Apparently there were points she didn't understand and so she piped up "What you talkin' 'bout?!" Jim relied "We're talking about Bill Clinton." Norah responds "Oh. I don't like Bill Clinton."
PopPaul, I thought you'd enjoy that one!

Climbing Wall

Yesterday, I took Lolo to the local climbing wall. Since the ski hill has closed, the climbing wall is going to be our new mom/daughter activity. When we started, I'd watch her go up and come back down. After a while, she got quite good and so I clipped in to the auto belay and climbed next to Lolo. About 15 feet up, Lolo looks at me and says "Mom, why didn't you remember to bring your camera?"

A little break

Did you notice I took a little break from blogging? Jim's home.
He arrived on saturday and we girls have been giddy about having him back...Norah has been especially "daddy-ish". Norah's constantly "no, that my daddy."
We're on a regular schedule this week. Swim school was this morning. I'm kicking myself over forgetting the camera. I just can't get over my two little mermaids. Both girls were beside themselves with excitement over wearing their new swimsuits to school. They got up and immediately put on their swim suits before breakfast.

Check out this turtle

When the Cat's Away....

PoPo called and commented that "Wow, since Jim's been gone. You guys are never home." Oops. Busted. Yep. We've been out and about having fun this past week. I haven't had a chance to get in too much work (except in the evenings...and even then, I'm blogging). Plus, I've got a really bad case of spring fever and am itching to get out of the house.

So yes, while the cat's away....the curly haired mouseling and her sister have been at play. We went to the children's museum this morning. Check out Norah ice fishing...only in Minnesota would there be an ice fishing play station. We've also been outside riding bikes, drawing with chalk and splashing in puddles.

Milestone - 1000 posts

I just logged in and noticed there are 1000 posts to the girls' blog. Time flies when you're having fun.

Easter

In other news....I realized today that Lolo's waiting for the "real" Easter. Yep. She asked me today when Easter is really going to happen. Upon further quizzing (and trust me, I had to ask a lot of questions to get down to the bottom of it), I find out that Lolo doesn't think Easter has really happened because the Easter bunny didn't leave eggs OUTSIDE OUR HOUSE for her to find. DOH!!! We had an egg hunt inside Willem's house and another egg hunt inside Eileen and Julia's house BUT the bunny has not yet left eggs OUTSIDE OUR HOUSE!!! Holy Smokes.
Norah seems to always think it's her birthday and sings "Happy Birthday" to herself all the time....We're still singing Christmas songs at bedtime every night, so I don't see why we can't do Easter all over again. We'll see if Gramma Peg & PopPaul would like to celebrate "Easter" with us when they come up for a visit.

Spring Fever

We've got a bad case of spring fever. It was gorgeous spring day. The girls got new swim suits and decided to run around this afternoon and evening with their suits on. Norah's swim bottoms are a little big...it looks like she's sagging (even though she's wearing a diaper). We also went out bike riding and Norah has been itching to "play hopscotch" (translation: she wants to draw on the sidewalk with chalk) so we went out after dinner to draw for a while. No, I didn't let them outside with only their swim suits...but they didn't want to take off their suits. So, we compromised....they put on their clothes OVER the swim suits. Lolo wanted to take a bath in her new swim suit, but unfortunately for her....at some point, mom has to draw the line and rain on someone's parade.

In other news...Nancy has come down with strep throat. We're praying the girls won't catch it. Nancy, if you're reading the blog....we hope you feel better soon.

Circus Day at Preschool

Lolo's learning about the circus this week at school. She got her face painted this morning. Apparently, a clown came in to visit and they were painting clown faces on the children but Lolo balked and said she wanted to be a cat.

Lolo's Snowman in April

This goes in the category of hard to believe, but true. We had a great snow yesterday and Lolo wanted to make a snowman. After she came back home from preschool, she and Norah stayed outside and built a great snowman. Unfortunately, it was very warm today and the snow was melting rapidly. Before I had a chance to get my camera out and take a picture, the poor snowman collapsed and toppled over.
And, no, this is not an April Fools posting.

One piece swim suit

Yesterday was another swim school day. Norah was beside herself with excitement...she asked "I go swimming too?" I replied "Yes, you get to swim today too." Norah bounced around happily saying "Yay!" In getting Lolo dressed, we realized she all of a sudden has outgrown all of her swim suits too. I was instructed by Lolo that she wanted a one piece swim suit just like Nancy. Jim and I are thrilled. I'm sure there will come a time when she wants a two piece and I'm going to be nixing that idea.