Mimi visits Dallas

Susan came to visit for Norah’s birthday. She was very helpful with party prep and we had a great time while she was here despite the constant rain. We visited the Perot museum and had lunch at Chicken Scratch before she left.

Norah’s Rainbow Art Party

Today we celebrated Norah’s 6th birthday with all the colors of the Rainbow. The set up Mimi made Norah a rainbow veggie platter Kelly Dolezal made her amazing cake We started the party with a craft – here is Frederick and Harper Mimi and FreyaMe with my birthday girl  We played bean bag toss – this is Bryan thinking “How did “can’t get no satisfaction” make it on the playlist?” We played pin the cloud on the rainbow. Brooke spun all the kids around It was a little crazy having 12 kids painting at the same time but I think they enjoyed it Danielle and FreyaNorah specifically requested to have party hats and blowers at her party. Front and center is Brooke, left side of the table front to back is: Oliver, Frederick, Nataly, Willa, Kathryn. Norah is back and center. Right side of the table front to back is: Alice, Nathan, Dania, Harper, Blake Notice the rainbow fruit skewersWe are crazy about this little girl. I’ll have to devote another post to how much I love her later.

Freya at 10 months

Freya will be 10 months in 4 days and I wanted to write this post ahead of Norah’s birthday festivities. Freya is a calm, happy baby. When she wakes up in the morning and when she wakes up from her naps she pulls herself up, walks along her crib to the side near her bedroom door and leans out to reach the door and opens it. This is usually the first sound Bryan and I hear in the morning – the creaking of her bedroom door opening followed by her happy chatter calling us to come get her.

Other random notes about this past month: Freya eats a fried egg most mornings for breakfast along with fruit and cheerios or puffs. She loves to eat! She claps her hands now and loves to clap with others. I moved the play kitchen out of the playroom and into the kitchen and Freya spends a lot of time opening and shutting the play kitchen cupboards and pulling out the play food. She knows that she is not allowed in the bathrooms and that just makes her want to be in there even more. Norah even said “I think her goal in life is to be in the bathroom.” If she hears us coming to get her she just crawls faster to the bathroom while giggling. Freya and I are taking a mommy and me yoga class at the Y and I love it! It’s one hour a week when I am completely focused on her. She mostly crawls around the room and plays with the toys the instructor has out for movers but I enjoy just being able to watch her without thinking about chores I need to do and Freya comes back to my yoga mat to check in with me and there are lots of interactive moments that involve things like counting toys and singing nursery rhymes. Freya is still turning heads everywhere we go and she still draws comments about her pretty red hair. Patient admirers are now rewarded with waves and bashful smiles.

Alice’s Preschool Carnival

On 25th we went to Spanish House’s annual spring carnival for the 3rd year in a row. Seeing Alice perform with her class was a striking reminder of how fast children grow up. Repeating milestones with her that we experienced with Norah is continual déjà vu and it really does seem like yesterday. It is wonderful to get to indulge in a 2nd helping of childhood.

I couldn’t get a good picture of her performing but here she is with her classmate Cooper And another classmate Taylor With Jasper – who is the younger brother of one of Norah’s old preschool classmates Felix And on another day with her kind teachers Yanet and Ofelia