Do you want to hold the baby?

We asked Nora if she wanted to hold the baby, and she sat down excitedly in her chair. Should I mention that the baby (my niece) is 7 months younger than Nora and just about weighs the same amount. But Nora was excited so we let her have a go.

But then Nora got tired of holding the baby and wanted a turn of her own to be held. So she took a seat.

Silly peanut.

Now these next series of pictures are the EXACT reason why I'm not putting any presents under the tree until Christmas eve. It seemed awfully quiet so I peeked behind the couch where Nora had taken a present she found. She's such a sneak.

What, Mom? Isn't this for me?

Daddy's been gone for work so I was trying to think of fun things we could do for girls night. I thought I'd build a fort. Nora seemed to dig it. For five minutes anyway.

Then she needed a rest.

Nora has started saying quite a few things. When I'm looking for her binki I'll say "Biiiinnkkiii, where are you?" Now Nora walks around with me looking saying, "Kiinnkkii, uuuuuu aaaaaa uuuuuu?"

She says cute, cheese, shoes, Hi Diesel and a bunch of other mumbo jumbo that I haven't quite deciphered yet. She loves Baby Signing Time and signs a lot of the things when I sing the songs.

At almost 13 months she still doesn't have a single tooth. The girls been gumming her steak for months.

So excited for Christmas! Only 10 days away. I've loved having lots of time to enjoy the holidays this year. Hope your Christmas is wonderful!

Muffin Pan Advent Calendar

So excited to finally have this project done! I searched the internet for homemade advent calendars and this one was BY FAR my favorite. It only took me a couple days to put together and really turned out cute! All you need is a 24 count mini muffin pan, a roll of extra strength magnet, and all your shiny scrapbooking supplies! A little creativity doesn't hurt either.

 You can put treats, scripture verses, money, whatever fun little things your children might love in the cubbies. No more lame Wal Mart advent calendars anymore!

I can't wait for the many memories and traditions we'll create with this throughout the years to come.

As far as this lady lady is concerned, I just can't keep up with her. By the time I've picked up all her messes in one room, she's gone and terrorized the next! She's so stinkin fast.

We're already enjoying the holidays so much. We went and visited Santa at South Towne Mall yesterday. Nora was a tad irritated that we had to wait in the line for so dang long, but she wasn't even scared of the jolly old man. Going to the festival of trees tonight. Hope everybody has a wonderful weekend!

To My One Year Old

I can't express the joy you bring to me every day sweet Nora.

When I was pregnant with you I had no idea the amount of love I would feel for you in just a short year.

Each and every day I look at you and wonder if you could be any more beautiful or special to me.

You're so smart and independent. You've been walking for a month and a half. You adore Elmo and Baby Signing Time. You sign "Drink" and "All Done". You give Mommy kisses by coming at me with open mouth and tongue out. I love your sloppy kisses and try to get at least one a day. Sometimes you amaze me by trying to plug cords into outlets or picking up phones to talk on them.

You still don't have a single tooth and we wonder if you'll have to gum things your entire life. It doesn't seem to slow you down though. You love eating everything from fruits and veggies to steak and chicken. That's why I thought you'd go nuts over your birthday cake. But I guess my little girl is too dainty. You took a few bites and that was enough for you.

But don't let that fool anyone. This girl loves her ice cream and throws a complete tantrum when it's gone. But I can't get you to drink juice. You love your water and I'm fine by that.

You still have two naps a day and you've been sleeping through the night for awhile. (9-8)

You love your crib and won't sleep many other places.

You love to play with other kids, and especially love stealing whatever toy they have.

You're quite the hoarder. You love sticking toys and snacks in little hidden spots.

I love finding small toys in random places. In the pantry, hiding in a shoe, in the bathroom drawer.

You're so perfect to me and I couldn't love and adore you more.

The Party

We're grateful for friends and family who love Nora. Thanks for making her birthday special.

Seniorita Norita

We had such a fun time in Costa Rica! The trip started off rough. We forgot Nora's plane ticket in my sister's car who dropped us off and barely made our flight, we lost my cell phone on the way and we had a few other things go wrong. But it all turned out ok and we had a great time! I won't bore you with all the details but I want to share a few of my favorite pictures.

The scenery was all to die for. So many brightly colored farms off the mountain roads.

Nora almost fell out of her high chair once during the trip. I caught her by the bum of her swimsuit. So terrifying.

I wish I would have taken more pictures of the streets. I loved all the little shacks. This gives you a general idea though. You can see the stray dogs in the bottom left of the picture. They ran around everywhere.

Zip Lining was amazing. Our last cable was over 2200 feet long! The view was like nothing I've seen before.

Of course I got some flower shots. So so many beautiful plants and flowers.

Our backyard at our first hotel.

Probably my most favorite part of the trip. We were driving to our second hotel and crossed over a bridge over a huge river. Darin said there was a crocodile. And I said it was a log. Some logs right? 16 MASSIVE logs. Probably 13 feet long.

Nora loved the beach. And eating the sand.

We went to a beach that was in Manuel Antonio State Park. The monkeys were so used to people there that they'd just come up to your towel. They even tried to steal some of our friends stuff and when we tried to get it back they bared their teeth at us. Little thieves. We saw a ton of other monkeys in the wild that weren't used to humans too.

And my little monkey. She was such an angel on the trip. I didn't even have to drug her on the plane. I'll never say she's naughty again. She was a complete dream.

My little world traveling baby.

Nora's 1 year post, coming soon!