Happy birthday to Nora!

Nora celebrated her second birthday on Saturday.  Both sets of grandparents came as well as her local cousins.  Some of the present highlights were a marble run from Grandma and Grandpa Jensen, a pull behind puppy from Gisele, and a rocking chair made by grandpa Ed.  Our neighbor Kory brought over a new pink and white dress that Nora immediately wanted to try on.  Alena claimed the Furreal puppy and named it Sophia.  Ruby is freaked out by the puppy.  Nora loved opening her presents and Alena and Tillie were very excited to try to help.  We had pizza for supper and a special chocolate puppy cake for dessert.

Easter

The girls had a fun Easter hunting for eggs around our house and then at Grandma and Grandpa Jensen's house.  Alena woke up and saw the eggs and was excited to get to looking for them.  We went to wake up Nora first.  Nora didn't want to get out of bed, but when I handed her an egg full of coins she was eager.  Not many eggs were collected before they started opening them and eating jelly beans.  Nora's favorite find was Reese's eggs.  She was unwilling to share them (I don't know how she knew they were the best candy.)  Alena was excited by the money. "How did the Easter Bunny know I wanted money?"  She was also impressed that the Easter Bunny knew she wanted a hula hoop.  Other Alena quotes: "That was a funny place to hide an egg" (on the toilet paper roll.)  "Yay, matching dresses!" (these were Lily and Alena's dresses three years ago.)  "I will help Nora get eggs that are too high for her to reach."  Both girls got rainboots and chalk and a kite to share.

Alena gets crafty

Alena has been getting into art more lately.  We were at the grocery store this morning and they had pictures for a coloring contest.  As soon as we got home, Alena got her crayons and headed up to her room and shut the door.  Half an hour later, she came down with this masterpiece.  She does not want to take it back to Hy-Vee.  Alena and I also made a lego garden.  I made flowers and and hearts and she made stems for the flowers and arranged them.  It was a pretty cool garden!

Annie Nora

Nora has picked up the Annie bug from her big sis.  Her favorite book is Alena's Annie book, she is constantly singing "Tomorrow," and she calls my cell phone "Annie" because the background is Alena in her Halloween costume.  This has been going on for several months.  This picture sums up Nora's loves: Annie, Puppy, puppy outfit, and baby dolls.  Nora's nicknames right now are "ya do" and "me too."  Anything that Alena does or eats Nora says, "me too!"  She is lucky her sister is a pretty good sport about it.  She is always saying "Thank you, ya ya," or "No, ya ya," depending on how nicely her sister is treating her. She still is referring to herself as "me" with no attempt at saying "Nora."

Snow castle

Two snowstorms this week gave us the opportunity to build this cool snow castle.  The first picture is from the first storm.  Improvements were made the second day including an escape tunnel and a smaller door on the other side.

Daddy turns 34

We had fun celebrating Daddy's birthday last week.  Nora and I made granola and Alena decorated the package.  Everyone was excited to sample the birthday cake!

Both girls had to show off the birthday cards that they made at Ms. Pam's.  Alena also added to the festive mood by drawing rainbows on paper and hanging them up in the doorway.

Haircuts

Alena had the great idea to cut her own hair Wednesday after preschool.  She cut off most of her bangs to 1 inch, then butchered some side hair.  She was very proud of the haircut, but it was driving me crazy looking at it.  She said that her bangs were in her eyes and that the hair "fell out."  Then she started carrying the hair around in a ziplock bag like a trophy.  I think the stylist did a pretty good job of making it look decent.  As long as this never happens again!  I thought it would be a good time to introduce Nora to a haircut while big sis was doing it.  She actually did a great job!  She sat pretty still and didn't scream. It probably helped that "Lady and the Tramp" was playing on the TV. Her hair is so pretty and not too mullety so we just got her a little trim.  There are no after pictures, because she had to go straight to her nap (and it is barely noticeable.)

Dressing up

Alena's favorite thing right now is dress up and pretending.  Nora's favorite thing is anything Alena does.  Here are some of the costumes they have worn this month.

Fairy (Periwinkle from her favorite move, Tinkerbell and the Secret of the Wings.)

 Baby Skirt (Super Girl and Blanket Boy not pictured)

Fairy Princess Crystal

Annie with the birthday girl

Ladybug Girl

Little Annie

First snow

 We had the first snow of the year the week before Christmas.  They were calling for up to a foot of snow.  We lucked out and got more like 5 inches.  It started snowing at 6pm the night before and Alena really wanted to get outside to catch a snowflake on her tongue.  The next morning we woke up to a blizzard.  The girls still wanted to go outside and they had to be dragged back in.  Nora does not like walking in the snow.  It is hard to manage with her little legs and she is always falling down.  She also does not like sledding.  She really does not like being photographed in her little red snow suit. The novelty of snow wore off quickly.

Christmas

We had a great and busy Christmas.  Alena and Nora opened presents at two Christmas parties, Aunt Julianne had a baby shower, and Grandma Dee celebrated her 60th birthday!  Best of all, we got to see all of the cousins, aunts and uncles.  And no one was sick!  Nora was excited to hear that there was a baby inside Aunt Julianne's tummy and did her best to pamper her by making sure she was always wearing shoes.  In just a few months there will be two new babies, ending Nora's reign as the youngest of the Ossmans.  She is ready to meet her cousins!  Nora's favorite Christmas present was a new baby doll.  At the end of the day, it is always puppy though.  We will miss Nora saying "sansa, ho ho ho," now that the season is drawing to a close.

Alena's Christmas wish to Santa came true and she received her fairy wings and her fairy dress.  She really loves them.  Her name is "Fairy Princess Crystal."  Alena also got a new big girl doll named Sandy who has lots of outfits to change into.  Grandma Diane sewed most of the outfits.  She even sewed princess dresses for all of the girls, including Sandy!

Nora being cute

Nora is very excited for Christmas.  She is in love with Santa!  He sent her a video which she insists on watching whenever the laptop is out.  She can say "Santa" and "ho ho ho."  She is also very interested in Christmas cookies.

Nora Lou Who

Christmas town with a few extras.  Nora insists that Noah from Noah's ark is also Santa because of his white beard.

Babies having babies!

Preschool performance

Alena got to sing in two preschool performances this week.  The kids sang some holiday tunes for parents and grandparents to enjoy.  The group had kids from 2-5 years old, so there was quite the range of abilities and attention levels.  Alena did a great job!  See her in the back middle?

Santa Claus

This morning we had our traditional breakfast with Santa at Hy-Vee.  Nora didn't want to sit on his lap, but Alena took up quite a lot of lap time.  He must have been asking her some hard hitting questions according to her expressions.  Alena was so excited to see Santa!  She decided last night that she would wear her purple dress with the ruffles to impress him.  She asked him for fairy wings and a fairy dress.  When I told her to tell Santa what Nora wanted, she said "probably the same thing as me." Which is probably true.  Nora finally showed some excitement when the elf brought out the bowl of candy canes.  She grabbed a handful.  Fortunately her big sister was there to make sure all but one went back into the bowl.  Santa invited the girls to come back on Thursday night when he will be reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and serving hot cocoa and cookies.  What lucky girls!

Christmas tree

We got the tree decorated tonight.  Alena did a great job of putting ornaments on, and Nora did a good job of taking them back off again.  Ruby has taken a lot of interest in the tree.  She is on a reign of terror right now.  In an effort to chew on foam bath toys, she jumped onto the bath frog that holds the toys and knocked it off of the wall.  Twice.  Good luck, Christmas tree.

The girls helped put the tree skirt out

The Christmas cat.  Ruby is too fast for a camera.