Staying close to home ~ Nov. 17-24th

The week was a quiet one, as we enjoyed being at home, with the usual routines and a few shifts thrown in for me as well. With the weather getting colder, Nora enjoys wearing her bunny slippers inside... I always love dressing little ones in velour. :)

Whatever the boys leave lying around, Nora is sure to find it...

Things changed for us late Sunday afternoon, when Nora refused to nap. My frustration quickly turned to empathy when I saw her flushed cheeks. Fever time! Unfortunately we had to cancel a dinner out, as well as a chance to see Nora's cousin Isabelle the next morning. (She was visiting from Winnipeg for a couple of weeks while her Dad was working here.) No one wants to share germs, we understand! So, we "bunker"-ed down to endure the next few miserable days (and nights) with Nora. She is not a happy camper when she is sick, so there was so much more screaming every morning than usual. We've managed to escaped unscathed ourselves, so this is good. Here's Nora in one of her happier moments trying out a new toy from her birthday.

In one of the lower points of Thursday with Nora being very unreasonable, the phrase went through my head "My name is Nora, I blah blah blah...", likely in a mocking kind of tone. But before I knew it, I was thinking of a favourite, very catchy song by Suzanne Vega called "Luka", which sadly is about child abuse.  Shortly after that, I penned my own two verses to it, and I must say, I did feel much better. :) Hope to finish it later... which I have now done. (Dec.5th)

My name is Nora
I'm as stubborn as they come~
Sweet talk or bribes don't work
Just go ahead and ask my Mom.


If you hear screaming in my house
It's not because I saw a mouse~
Just don't tell me what to do.
As you know, I just turned two.
It's just a stage I'm going through.


So I've been sick this week
It hasn't been a lot of fun.
Keeping everybody awake
I cough, I sneeze, my nose starts to run~


Mom tries to give me cuddling 
But I prefer to do back flings!
Just don't tell me where to go.
You know my favourite word is "No".
But still I know you love me so...


My name is Nora
I live on the second floor~
I have everything I could want,
Clothes, toys and books, and then some more...


But all I really need is love
The kind that comes from up above~
God's love will always show the way,
To make it through another day
He'll give you strength if you just pray~


It's not that hard to understand
We're all just part of God's big plan.
Just remember whose I am.
One of Jesus' little lambs.
He placed me in this fam-i-ly.


My name is Nora... 

 A little brighter by the 24th

Random Sunday photos ~ Nov. 13th

These literally are random photos, as Scott is playing with his camera. Nora is his favourite photo muse for some reason....

Charles... Any one have a job opening for this friendly young man? I can no longer satisfy his shopping desires.... he needs his own cash! :)   Call us...

Lewis is always eager to make his own dinner of Sapporo Ichiban... not so keen about photos.

The new flash shows Rosie's eyes up better... just need to get her to look less pained!

Thomas... after a Sunday nap. And yes, he's wearing eye goggles over his glasses. Don't ask me why!

Scott and I headed out for a rare dinner out with my family to celebrate Mom's recent birthday at Horizon's restaurant... Yummy!

We had a wonderful time out without our collective kids, catching up on Mom's trip to Israel, Rome and Greece. November birthdays are officially over!

Visiting Papa ~ Nov.12th

The last of our November birthdays to celebrate was for Scott's Dad, which was on November 10th. Dad has recovered remarkably well from a stroke that he had at Thanksgiving, and we are all so happy to see his progress. With Stewart and Charlene in town again, en route to a trip overseas, it was a perfect opportunity for Dad to come home for a few hours. He's been recovering in a rehab. facility for the past few weeks.

The boys were happy to see Papa; he always looks so fine. He did very well for his first time home.

Lewis had helped pick out this cane with Scott, and was excited to give it to him. 

Always nice to see Charlene. (She's on a step up from me!)

Nora's such a busy girl... we have to keep an eye on her so she doesn't break any of Nana's nice things!

Papa's new football spreaders and the bow were entertaining for awhile...

James was finally able to see Papa, as he's been so busy working most weekends.

It was a short but sweet visit... always good to be together. Happy Birthday, Dad!

Boy Invasion ~Nov. 11th

After observing Remembrance Day in the morning, Nora and I got busy with preparing for Thomas' upcoming  party with his friends. Even though she's only helped a few times, baking seems to be one of Nora's favourite activities. She'll start pushing a chair across the kitchen to wherever the mixing action is.

She's only pretending to lick the spoon. Scott is trying out his new flash for his camera, which he tells me is his early Christmas gift.

Five very animated Gr.8 boys joined us for pizza... talk about loud! They later went to see the movie "Puss and Boots", which they all gave 5 stars to, even if it was a G-rated animated movie. Apparently Scott will see it again if I want to go, as it's that good.

Nana came over too, although with all the ruckus it was pretty hard to visit!

It is definitely interesting to watch the interactions of 13 year old guys... we get to see a very animated side of Thomas, and you can tell that he's in his element. (Nora's cake turned out pretty well...)

They weren't so animated after a late night sleepover, and somehow we ended up with an extra set of boxers that mysteriously don't belong to anyone?! :) Also, no one had any idea how the stair banister came off the wall in the basement. Welcome to teenage-hood, Thomas! (Whoa... now we have 3 teens in the house...)

Nora's Portraits ~ Nov 8th

Here are Nora's portraits from October 21st. I was happy with how they turned out, even though Nora really wasn't that cooperative in terms of being too active. (We could not get her to stand still for anything!) This is from when the photographer and I asked her to smile, pointing at our cheeks, which Nora then imitated.

When Nora refused to sit up, lying on the platform, the photographer moved the camera above her. The left side is the original direction, but it can work either way. I thought it was pretty cute in the end...

This is Nora's serious pose, which I couldn't resist for myself, as it makes me wonder what she's thinking about.

Lying down again on the platform, the photographer coaxed out a smile. I must say, it's not an easy job to take children's photographs... especially with parents hovering by wanting the best results.

Here is one of our favourites. Feel free to save any photos from here, or send in your request for which one you want me to send to you. I can now rest easy that I survived another photo shoot, phew!

Extending the Birthday ~ Nov. 7th

Monday morning I rolled out of bed, earlier than usual, to head off to the "Stay & Play" drop-in at the local recreation centre with Nora. We enjoy meeting up with Megumi and her daughter and have gone a few times now. These pictures are from the end of October, showing Nora with her favourite car. She doesn't get the concept  of sharing, and so I have to forcibly remove her from the fire "coupe" after awhile when the other children start chasing her around for a turn.

Nora doesn't take kindly to picking up passengers either! Overall, she does enjoy running freely in the gym or walking on the toddler-size balance beams and stairs. (Mom is always close by to help!)

This week, we enjoyed meeting up with another co-worker and her sweet daughter. The girls enjoyed a snack time together... Megumi spoils us all with her endless array of treats! :) It's fun to be together.

After school, we were pleasantly surprised to have Charles come to the van with his girlfriend, Cheyanne, who had a gift for Nora! As you can see from these photos, Nora had a great time opening the gift later. She really likes lotion and anything that smells nice, so Cheyanne's gift was very popular. I long to have that sense of appreciation and joy that comes so easily to a child. It's a pleasure to see...

Thomas and Lewis also gave their birthday gift to Nora, as too much was going on yesterday. Here they all are using the baby sign language for "train", as it's one of Nora's favourite signs to do. (Living so close to the railroad tracks, we hear and see the train all the time.)

The boys thought it was "cool" that they could still give a train to their sister!

Nora may not know what turning two was all about, but she definitely enjoyed every aspect of it. Thanks, everyone!

Celebrating November Birthdays ~ Nov.6th

Sunday was definitely a busy day, in celebrating Nora's birthday as well as other family members at an evening party.

James had his own gift opening with Nora after her nap, before he had to get to work for the afternoon.

We were excited to have Julie and Anna join us, especially as Anna had recently turned 1 a few weeks prior. She looks lovely in red!

Anna is much more compliant in tolerating getting her picture taken!

The girls both find the kitchen a fun place to play.

Giving Anna a birthday hug!

Now Anna has a matching hat like Nora and all her girl cousins!

Auntie Kellie is always fun to hang out with...

 Lewis enjoys cuddling with Nana.... great to have her with us, too!

The cousins... they are always happy to see the little girls, as well as play with the toys.

Scott and Anna

Happy Birthday Nora, Thomas and Mom!

Nora gets her own cupcake, while Mom has a carrot cake.

With not having a "3" candle, Thomas has suddenly aged quite a bit. Nora's getting the idea here...

A cupcake for Anna, too!

Nora's definitely enjoying this birthday "concept", she's right in there 100%.

Nora pretty much just devoured the icing and candy. Typical! Thomas is enjoying another round of birthday attention also.

Uncle Rob!

 Bring on the costumes...

We re-enacted Halloween to charm everyone that missed the girls at the time. Anna is adorable!

Love those red shoes!

 Opening gifts is very intense business, which Nora takes very seriously. :)

Thomas is happy to lend a hand...

I can already tell that Nora will be the type of person to slowly unwrap gifts... no tearing allowed!

"Grandma" (AKA "Dee-dee/Di-Di" to Nora, because she's Wen-dy) is having fun opening Nora's gifts, too. She also shared gifts with everyone from her recent, and first ever, cruise to Italy, Greece, Turkey and Israel. We'll get together later to view her 2000 photos! Welcome Home!

Thank you to everyone for the lovely gifts. It was great to be together again, although we certainly missed Ann and her family. (That's why I'm posting so many photos!) And yet, the parties aren't done yet... :)