Busy & Messy

I like to think if my computer wasn't 12 years old, if it didn't freeze up every time I tried to load a picture, I might update my blog more often. As it is, it has taken about half an hour to load the nuggets of cuteness below.

 I hope someone sees this and enjoys the results of hair pulling frustration I have endured to post this :)

Little Miss Norah has been loving her dry erase books. She's getting very good at tracing letters and shapes. Her 'guys' are also getting more detailed with hair and glasses lately.

Norah drawing 'guys'

This young man, oh my, he is BUSY. We try to fill our days with activites and outings. For Norah this planning used to just be to alleviate boredom, for Owen its more focused on burning energy!

Little O enjoying the sunshine

Norah reminds me almost daily that her birthday is coming closer and that she gets to go to school when she is a little older. We have registered her for preschool in the fall and I know she is going to love it. I can already tell she is getting bored with our usual activites. I think preschool will be a welcome change for both of us! She will be going to a small school in Hood River three days a week 8am-2pm. Until then, we are looking forward to sunny weather adventures and maybe a few summer day camps this year.

Cheesey grin while getting messy

I'm getting better about picking battles with her. While we were playing outside with chalk she found out it 'melts' when you rub it in water. While my initial reaction was to stop her since it wastes the chalk, I had to stop myself. Why not melt the chalk? It was fun, it wasn't hurting anything, she was thoroughly absorbed in what she was doing...and we've had the bucket of chalk for two years, not like we're wasting big money on it.

'melting' her chalk into gooey fun

I've tried not to direct my kids towards too many gender specific toys or activites. So I find it very interesting that Owen is already facinated with all things trucks and airplanes. A few weeks ago he started saying Big Truck while watching and listening the log trucks that pass near our house. I'm sure we have pointed them out and told him they were big trucks, but I don't feel like we've made them any bigger focus then other things. Now anytime he hears a truck, train, or airplane he must tell me about it. What a boy!

watching an airplane

he likes to point at everyting just to be sure we know where to look!

Owen is 16 almost 17 months now. I have plenty of mommy guilt over not documenting his milestones as well as I did Norah's. I console myself knowing he is a happy healthy little kid and that's more important then remembering which day he cut each tooth or added a new word.

While I'm talking teeth and words....He has four front teeth on top, cutting both top molars, and three front teeth on bottom. His vocabulary has been increasing rapidly in the last two months. It's both fun and frustrating since he still won't say Momma!

So far he says, Uh oh, nono, Kitty, dog, meow, woof, truck, duck, sis, daddy, thank you, car, dropped, stuck, pants, socks, shoes, binky, ball, hot (and will blow on hot foods)...that's all I can think of at the moment but I know there's more. I'm trying to teach him to say help instead of screeching like a stuck pig when he gets upset with something. He's about 26lbs, probably more now since I weighed him a few weeks ago, and mostly wearing 18-24mth clothes.



16 months

This year started out a little bumpy for us but things have settled down. George is enjoying his new job and we are both happy he found something local. The relief that we didn't have to move has been replaced by the want to move to a house of our own. Patience is the name of the game at this point. There was a building moratorium in our area for several years due to the inadequate water supply from the city. Although the moratorium was lifted over a year ago when the new water supply was set up, the housing prices are still rediculously high. We're very comfotable in our rental, but we are extreemly frustrated by the pot smokers that are living below us. We have confronted them several times and spoken with our landlords about it, but it seems nothing is going to come of it and we're stuck living above 'the skunks'.

Until we are able to move, we're trying to focus on enjoying life in the beautiful Columbia Gorge. The weather is warming up, the flowers are blooming, and we're starting to plan summer hikes and trips!

crazy cuties! Owen stylin his new shoes (size 5 1/2 !)