Bloomsbury farm

It was cold on Saturday, but we still had a great time at Bloomsbury Farm!  There were many things to see and do.  Here are a few highlights.

Friendly goats

Franken-nora

Pillow jumping with Grandma and Tillie

Spider girls

Alena's favorite activity: the "train"

Perpetual Motion

Here is a photo with an 80s twist.  Who does Nora look like?

Mommy, Daddy, Alena, an aunt, or just original Nora?

Shades

Alena and Nora have been getting along better now that Alena has time with her preschool friends.  She even found sunglasses for Nora and helped her put them on.  

The great outdoors

The weather was so beautiful this weekend that it was manditory to spend it outside.  Saturday morning we went

to a parade. Alena isn't very assertive at chasing after candy and decided to just sit in a chair and eat it.  People in the parade started just setting candy in her lap.

Alena had wanted to have a campfire at our house for awhile, so Daddy helped her build a fire pit out of kiln bricks and Nora helped gather sticks.  We set up the tent in the backyard for the two of them to sleep in.  Did Alena make it through the night?  No, only until 9 pm.  She was so wound up she might not have fallen asleep until midnight.  They had fun, though.

The next day we went to visit Great Pa in Anamosa.  After our visit, we picked up sandwiches and had a picnic at Wapsipinicon State Park.  We explored a cave and went for a hike, but the biggest attraction was the freshly mowed grass.  Alena and Nora worked together to make a giant grass pile to play in.

Alena's first day of preschool

Alena started preschool today.  She will be going two days a week and gets to pack a lunch to eat with the other kids.  As soon as we walked into her classroom, she took a seat and started drawing.  She was so busy she barely had time to say goodbye. Her teachers, Ms Michelle and Ms Coralie, said she was helpful and listened to directions.  It was hard to get much out of Alena, but I did find out that some of the kids pretended there was a new baby.  Alena said everyone was a doctor, but she was a nurse because she was patient.  They went to the school's library for story time and she got to pick out a book to bring home.  And she ate all of her snack and her lunch.  When I asked if she was excited to come back next week she said she was.  

Nora and I, in the meantime, went through boxes of clothes so Nora would have pajamas that actually would fit her.  Nora didn't seem too concerned over Alena's absence, but I missed her!

Fashionista

Alena always picks out her own outfit in the morning and gets dressed by herself.  Fortunately, she only likes to wear sundresses so you don't have to worry too much about her putting together matching outfits.  Her accessories sometimes get a little crazy, though.  Yes, she is sporting a blond rat tail.

Funny Nora

Nora is a little more willing to eat when she can stand on a patio chair during the meal.  

The new "cheese" face.

Who let that baby run around without a diaper? 

Have a seat!  Nora always wants someone to sit on her bench with her.

And they call it puppy love

Nora is in love with her puppy.  If she sees him across a room, she exclaims, "puppy!" while running over to get him.  She is always excited to see him, and is just as enthusiastic whether it has been hours or seconds since she last held him.  Lately she has been carrying him around in her mouth and shaking him.  But it is done in love.  Whenever she hears a barking dog (which is constantly in our neighborhood) she says "puppy!"  When she sees one walking by, "puppy."  If a dog gets close to her she cries.  Real puppies should be enjoyed from a safe distance!

Taking turns with the Kindle.

August

Some things we have been up to this month:

Alena:  She goes by the name "Annie Alena Jensen Mae."  Inspiration, of course, the movie "Annie."  She does a great job of singing the songs and reenacting scenes.  "Let's play Annie," is her constant refrain.  Sometimes she takes a break to play with Barbies.  Today I thought I heard the mailman, so I asked Alena to look out the window to see if the mailman was walking to Kory's house.  She replied, "It's just some people putting in a new kitchen."  That sounded strange, so I went to the window and saw there was a van with a picture of a kitchen on it.

Nora: Loves playing Ring Around the Rosie.  As soon as we all fall down she is yelling at us to start again.  She still calls Daddy "Mama" and calls the cats "puppy."  She carries her stuffed puppy everywhere and every time she sees him she happily exclaims, "puppy!" 

 Everyone has a watering can to help Mommy water the flowers.  Nora watered the sidewalk.

 We call this the slide by slide.

Tooth number 7 is finally through on the bottom.  It is not easy to spot. 

Alena and Nora enjoy some splashing while washing their hands in a bucket.  This was due to Alena making a cake with flowers, basil, and mud.

Lake Superior, Augus 2012

The North Shore

Last week we went to the north shore of Lake Superior with the whole Ossman crew.  Alena's highlight: eating s'mores every night at the campfire.  We also swam, biked, kayaked, hiked by a waterfall, ate wild raspberries, and threw a lot of rocks into the lake.  Alena and Lily somehow managed to put together matching outfits everyday (and every night.)  Nora was too little to do everything that the big kids did, but she did enjoy trying to eat rocks.  And she was even included in a game of tag with the cousins and two other kids staying next door!
 

Two of our condo neighbors witnessed Ben setting up the timer on the camera and took pity on us.  I think Alena had a little more fun than it looks. 

Come on, Alena.

 

Nora's 15 month update

Nora had her 15 month check up today.  The doctor said that everything looks good!  Her stats are 29 1/4 inches and 18 pounds, 1.5 ounces.  She has rocketed up to the 15th percentile in height, though she continues to stay off the weight charts.  She burns calories like they are going out of style as she doesn't understand the concept of sitting still.  Nora continues to be a very loud and demanding eater and will express her displeasure if you forget to give her a fork to eat with.  This weekend she clearly said "milk" for the first time.  But mama and uh-oh continue to be her favorite words.

Alena and Nora play dress-up.

 

Nora successfully got both of her shoes on tonight all by herself!

Nora takes puppy and the magna doodle for a walk. We might have the two sweatiest kids ever.  Though in their defense, they were playing outside in the playhouse tonight.  It was still 100 degrees at 7 pm.

Sharing

Look out, Nora is at the wheel!

 

 

Nora loves sharing her zucchini bread with Alena.

Ta daa!

More summer fun

The girls burned off a little energy at the park after the temperature dropped under 90 degrees.

 

The one thing the two can agree on is that pillow piles are fun.  Alena used this as an opportunity to "accidentally" jump on Nora.  Which Nora thought was funny.

Daddy took them to the splash pad to cool off.

Loud Nora

Nora loves building and knocking over towers.  And laughing very loudly.  She has a strong sense of justice and is quick to scream if she doesn't get her way.