The Birthday Cake

 

Enjoying the Train

 

On the Train

 
Nora, Brian, Nana, Papa, and Auntie Pea rode the Northwest Railroad this weekend. Mommy stayed at home to rest and fight off a cold. There were some amazing views of the Snoqualmie Falls from the train!

Sitting next to Auntie Pea

 

Birthday Cake

 
Nora chose a gumdrop birthday cake from my cookbooks for her cake this year. We had a really good time making it together. Oh how things have changed in one short year!

Birthday Present

 
Here's Nora in her BIG birthday present: a Love Sac. We knew we needed to move the rocking chair into the Little Man's room but wanted to find something for Nora that we could sit in with her to read books to her. Nora's nanny and her family have a 5 person Love Sac that Nora is IN LOVE with. We decided this would be the best option for her and us. She took her nap in the Love Sac this afternoon!

We're Going on the Santa Train!

http://www.trainmuseum.org/SantaTrain.asp

I just bought tickets for the famous Santa Train on December 15th. It is a twenty minute train ride on the ancient Snoqualmie Valley Railroad with Christmas cookies and hot chocolate followed by a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus at the North Bend Depot.

Nora is going to love this and the little man is going to have his first Christmas outing!

Changes

Nora is doing very well with the change of having a new nanny and pre-school. Yesterday was her first day with the nanny and Baby Georgia and she was an excellent helper. Georgia is only 4 months old, so it seems that this will be great practice and 'break her in' before her brother arrives in a few months.

I also got a good report on her performance in pre-school this morning. I even got an email from the director of the pre-school that said she had a great day!

Smiles, smiles, all around!

Nora and Mommy in Seattle

 

Cool sculpture

 

Posing in Queen Anne

 

3 and a three-quarter Remfreys

 

Kerry Park

Jay, Jessica and baby Joseph came from Milwaukee to visit us this weekend. We spent most of the day on Saturday visiting different places in Seattle. This picture was taken in Kerry Park, a beautiful spot on Queen Anne hill that has one of the best views of the Seattle skyline.

Cuddling with Sydney

 

New Pre-School

 

New Dancing Outfit

 

Jammin'

Holy Freaking Cute!

 

This is a move inspired by Auntie Pea

Ballet Shoes

Nora is not only going to love being with Dydy as her nanny, but she is going to get to do some pretty cool experiential activities too. On Mondays and Wednesdays she isn't going to go to pre-school because of a snafoo with with pre-school. The cool part is that on Mondays she will go to the library for Japanese Story Time and on Wednesdays she will be in a ballet class! One of the requirements for the class is that she come with ballet shoes! She is going to absolutely LOVE it.

She's going to have new moves to show everyone soon!

NANNY!!!

We have a new daycare situation figured out around here!

It is a situation that I couldn't be happier with! It will let Nora go to pre-school part time and be with her most favorite non-family member for the rest of the day while I am teaching. Then I can take off from when the baby is born until mid-March which is the end of the second trimester. Nora and the Little Man will be sharing their time with Dyanna with Georgia, a three month old that is the daughter of a third grade teacher in my building.

I wish that taking more time off was doable, but the finances are just not allowing it to happen. Hopefully with this situation lined up, it will make the transition back to work much better for both me and the Little Man.

Playing with Auntie Pea

 

Nora loves to visit random dogs while we are out and about

 

Auntie Nessa and Uncle Dan came to visit!

 

Auntie Nessa and Nora enjoyed the Sculpture Museum

 

Cuddling on the floor

Sydney and Nora are starting to become best pals.

BIG tree

Auntie Pea and Nora sitting at the base of the world's largest Sitka Spruce tree, near Lake Quinault.
The tree is 191 feet tall and measures 58 feet in circumference. It is estimated to be around 1000 years old.

Fireplace

This fireplace is all that remains of a 1920's-era vacation cabin on the north shore of Lake Quinault.

Hiking with Mommy and Grandma

Obligatory waterfall picture

From our hike in the rainforest last weekend. The weather was absolutely beautiful, and it was amazing to see how clear the water was coming down from the mountains.

Chocolate Treat

Making s'mores with Auntie Pea

Last weekend we ventured out into the wilderness again with Grandma, Grandpa and Auntie Pea. We stayed in a cabin on Lake Quinault, on the Olympic Peninsula. Nora got to see some really cool bananna slugs in the rainforest and enjoyed making s'mores with Auntie Pea!

First Theater Experience

Nora and I went to see a movie on a whim this morning: Ratatouille. It was fun to see her wide eyes in the theater. It was also quite easy to take her at 11:10 in the morning because there were only three other families in the theater and all the other little kids there were asking questions throughout the movie too.

All in all, it was an enjoyable experience.

Grandma and Grandpa come to visit

Our summer adventures continued with the visit of Grandma and Grandpa this week. Grandpa and Mommy headed out to Tacoma last weekend to go fishing for salmon, and ended up bringing home dinner!

We spent a weekend in the Olympic Peninsula, on the north shore of Lake Quinault. Even in the short time that we have lived here, Lake Quinault has