Rochester

Last Saturday we braved wind and snow to drive to Rochester to visit our friends the Vogels.  We considered canceling the visit because of the weather but Tiffany had promised to make Café Rio salads for us and I was not about to miss out on that.  Tiffany and I were both members of the illustrious “Team Aloha” at Ft. Herriman Middle School in Utah along with Leslie Allen.  We all taught the same students (they rotated through our classes (I taught S.S., Leslie taught Sci. and Tiffany taught L.A.)) and we had a common prep period to use for weekly team meetings . . . or to go out to lunch at Café Rio together as we usually did.  So eating Café Rio with Tiffany again brought back good memories.  We both lamented that Leslie wasn’t with us and reminisced about how she used to order her Café Rio salad:  Whole wheat tortilla, sans beans and rice.  We never could support how she ordered her salad but we loved her anyway and thrived under her leadership.

While in Rochester we toured the Strong Museum of Play and Norah had a blast.  We saw Sesame StreetWe went shopping at Wegmans. Norah took her grocery shopping very seriously but she definitely loved itBryan scaled some buildingsNorah hung out with the Berenstain BearsAnd then we went to the Vogel’s for lunch and Norah and Sofi played together.

Valentine’s Day 2011

I meant to post a picture of Norah in this adorable outfit her Mimi (Bryan’s mom) sent on Valentine’s Day but Norah was feeling pretty crummy all day.  She must have had a 24-hour stomach bug because she seemed fine the next day – and then I came down with it.  Luckily, there is nothing to say that little girls can’t sport red hearts all year round because this outfit is too cute to wear just once.

Norah has figured out what cameras are all about and she happily posed for me in front of her kitchen.  She also decided to wave to the camera without any direction from me.

Favorite Parent

Tonight Bryan and I were trying to figure out who Norah’s favorite parent was and we were each making the case for the other (how precious right?) using specific bits of evidence.  Finally I asked Norah if her favorite was Mama or Daddy – without hesitation she said “ELMO!”  So there you have it. 

Happy and Sad

Norah’s language improved dramatically over winter break.  She easily doubled her vocabulary and it seems like she learns at least one new word every day.  Two relatively recent additions to her word bank are happy and sad.  The first time she said sad was when we were on the plane another child was crying.  Norah kept pointing and saying “sad.”  Now when Norah doesn’t get her way, in addition to crying, she tells us she is sad – just to make sure we understand that we are ruining her life by not giving her fruit snacks for breakfast.  Fortunately she is just as apt to tell us that she is happy and Norah is very good about appreciating the simple things in life – like popcorn, flexible straws, and singing songs.  Lately Bryan has been working long hours to meet a deadline and hasn’t been home before Norah’s bedtime.  That has made her “sad” but tonight Bryan came home in time for dinner and Norah was so excited that she exclaimed “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy back Daddy back”  and then “happy happy happy happy happy.”  She was so loud everyone in the dining room heard her.  She loves her daddy very much.   

 

Here are some unrelated pictures:

Cyprus: Kyrenia (Girne) and my mom's garden

Okay – I’m really almost done.  Here are just a few more pictures from our trip to Cyprus.

My mom with Norah in her  gardenNorah picking oranges in the gardenPretty Kyrenia