Six Weeks and Smiling

Oh our sweet baby Alice is just getting sweeter
And bless her heart she still does lots of this:
These are Alice’s thoughts on waking up after being unwrapped from the above pictured swaddle (BTW: I imagine she thought all these comments with a British accent because she and I have been watching Downton Abbey together)
Oh dear. How long did I sleep?
Really? That long?!
Well time to get going then – err get this arm up there
and the other one too. Yes, much better.
Oh my. Hello there – where did you come from? Yes your quite right I “woke up.” I was just stretching and if you’ll excuse me a moment I’ll just throw on some jammies and then perhaps we could talk over a blanket in the living room.

Snow Day with Daddy

Norah is one of the few people I’ve met that enjoys having snowballs thrown at them. She would puff out her chest and say, “Daddy, throw the snowball at my soup(suit)”. By the way, Norah did not make either of the snowballs featured in this blog post.

Posed shot of Norah “making” a snowballNorah admiring “her” handicraftNorah found who she first thought was Jesus but when I told her it was Mary she was even more excited

We spent a lot of time with Mary. Norah had a hard time leaving. She may have felt a special bond after playing Mary in the Branch nativity.

Finishing up a great snow day playing on the see saw.

Christmas comes in 2s

Grandpa Guy and Norah: Perfect playmates. Norah easily persuaded Grandpa Guy into almost any kind of playtime except for getting him to go to the pool with her.Mimi and Alice: Perfect opposites. While Mimi worked overtime to make Christmas magical for all of us vacationers, Alice just lazed about and slept the holiday away. Mimi was happy to accommodate this.Kimball and Bryan: Christmas Connoisseurs. Enjoying the best of what the holiday has to offer (orange rolls)Kelsey and Alice: Two very cuddly girlsNorah and Greg: Kindred spirits. Greg generously shared his stickers with NorahCourtney and Norah: BFF’s. Norah worships Courtney and loved exploring her bedroom (with and without Courtney’s supervision) to learn more about her.

Just Like Old Times!

The Monday before Christmas we met up with Hillary and Lincoln for a play date.

Christmas

Christmas is more and more fun every year for us thanks to Norah. We tried really hard to explain to Norah the true meaning of Christmas in terms she could understand. We talked about how Christmas was Jesus’s birthday but this alarmed her because she feared all the presents under the tree were not for her so she started insisting “No, Norah’s birthday.” Eventually we gave up on it and just enjoyed the secondary meaning of Christmas: Presents. We even had Norah put out Oreos and carrots for Santa and his reindeer.

Santa was very good to Norah – here she is wearing her princess dress, apron and chef hatGrandpa Guy giving Norah a beat to dance to in her princess dressCourtney with her two nieces in their Christmas dresses from MimiWe had church at 1:00 and by the time we were home and giving Norah lunch she was completely exhausted and fell asleep

Alice’s Blessing

Bryan blessed Alice with his dad and Kimball on December 23rd at his parents home. Alice wore her Aunt Courtney’s blessing dressAhhh, life with a big sister.Norah gave Alice lots of kisses once she realized how much attention she’d get for it. When we were done taking pictures of her with Alice she promptly pushed her off her lap. Fortunately we were all near by to catch Alice.Ashley, Matt and Louis came down for the blessing.Norah with Baby Louis. He is soooooo cute.

Norah's Nutcracker

Norah decided that she couldn't let Courtney take all the limelight and decided to do her own performance of the nutcracker.