Cousins at the zoo

Nora and I went to the zoo on Friday with a few of my cousins. When we were little we would go every year. We looked like a mob of loud Italian ladies with a bunch of crazy kids running around and a 6 foot sub stretched across a couple of wagons. This year, only a few of us went, and no ridiculous subs. It was really fun to resume the tradition, however we chose the hottest day of the year to go-go figure.
All the kiddos.
Nora with her cousins Taylor and Avery.

Nora was so cute holding Sean's hand. She is developing such a funny personality. She talks ALL the time, makes "funny faces", climbs on everything, understands SO much of what we all say, and constantly makes us laugh.
NOra loved the monkey's. Uncle Jim and Aunt Melissa thought this would be a cute picture.
We took a picture in front of the Buffalo for daddy. I kept telling her, "Daddy is from Buffalo". :) She was really tired by the end of day. I am never able to move her from place to place when she sleeps without her waking up. On Friday, that wasn't a problem at all. She was zonked.

In other news, TJ is working feverishly on our kitchen. It has been a nightmare. TJ's dad came in this weekend to help tear up the kitchen. Turns out, there were many more problems then expected. Nora and I have been staying at my parents until the dust literally settles.

taking time to smell the roses

Nora and I came home from the store yesterday and she spotted that daddy left the sprinkler on. It didn't take her long to run to it and start playing in it. Before having Nora, I would have most likely tried to avoid a moment that deviated from "my plan". However, I find myself doing less and less of that and just enjoying every new experience she presents to us. She loved playing in the sprinkler and I loved watching her.
This pic. was taken before the sprinkler incident. She LOVES these books and carries them Everywhere!
So, the kitchen remodel has begun...YAHOO!!!!!!! Nora found it quite funny that she could crawl into the cabinet.
I can't get over how grown up she looks in this photo-not to mention, hysterical.
A much more serious pose. :)

As you can tell, there is no avoiding "it" - this girl is gonna have a fro like her mama!

Almost forgot to mention...Nora's new favorite thing-STiCKeRs! Yeah, she thinks they are great. She puts them all over her notepad and then wants me to take certain ones off so she could put them back on. I never really got the whole "sticker book" thing when I was young.My friends had them and I thought it was silly to have stickers in a book, but now that she is so into it- I think it's pretty cute. Her favorite stickers are the doggy ones of course.

she cracks us up!

I have been loving EVERY single moment of time I spend with Nora and this summer has been a wonderful treat. I get to wake up and know the whole day I will be with my little girl.
She has recently discovered that she likes the garden and grass in the front of our house. I was weeding the other day (which I do NOT do often), and she was having a ball hitting the plants and playing in the dirt as though it was sand. I actually was impressed with myself that I let her do it. Then, she just decided to sit like a lady in the grass so I snapped a picture.
Friends of our stopped by for dinner last week. The girls had fun playing and reading. I think Nora believes that as long as a female is sitting down, she has the right to plop herself in the person's lap if she feels like it. Which, is exactly what happened in the picture above.
This picture was taken because I couldn't get over how funny she was being. I was cleaning some things up in TJ's office and Nora dumped a pencil holder. She found this rosary in the bottom. I looked over at her and she was trying to put it over her head. I put it on her wrist instead and she was SO proud. She was walking around ever so carefully with her arm up as to not drop it. She did this for a good 45min. Then, I put a real necklace on her and she wore that the whole afternoon.
She thought it was quite funny that I put her truck on the couch today. Now that she could climb onto our couches, there was no way she was going to let that truck stay up there alone.
Little stinker. She knows she is being mischeivious.

Nora also surprised me today when I was cleaning the bathroom. Her room is right down the hall and she was playing in there while I was cleaning. All of the sudden, she is standing at her door whining for my attention. She then points to her rocking chair. She put two of her favorite books on the stool and wanted me to sit down and read to her. How awesome is that?

To add to my shock, I also quizzed her last night. I bought her these cards with sesame street characters on them. I thought she would like to look at them. She doesn't even watch the show often, maybe once a week. Anyway, I put Grover, Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Big Bird on the floor. I asked her to find each one. NO KIDDING- she got them all right on the first try. I knew she knew Cookie and Grover because she loves her stuffed animals of them, but I didn't think she would make the connection to little cards and know the other puppets as well.
I seriously love watching her grow. It is amazing!

Nora on the phone

So
So, we caught Nora playing with the phone when we stopped in Toledo on our way to Buffalo. I have a longer, much funnier clip but blogger is giving me issues on uploading it. So, for now, I will post this one. I just think it is funny how she shouts into the phone.

Fun Fun Fun

This was another pic. from 4th of July. Nora was so funny. She LOVES little kids. I think because they are more her size. Well, as soon as this little one, (Alex) was in sight Nora walked right over to her. When Alex sat down, Nora crawled into her lap! Alex doesn't have little siblings and thought it was a little weird but she was a good sport. Nora was pretty pleased.
On the ride back from Buffalo we were able to stop in Cleveland to see a college friend of mine and her precious new baby Ella. We were so happy we were able to stop. Ella is simply adorable.
I took Nora to a Splash Park on Tuesday. We met a few of her cousins there. She LOVED it. I actually thought she would hate it, but turns out our little walker is becoming quite confident.
She thought Spencer was very funny taking a rest and would not leave him alone. I think the poor kid was just hot and tired, but he seemed to enjoy Nora patting him. :)
Right in the midst of the water and loving it!

Proud to be American!

Happy 4th! We took a road trip to Buffalo for the 4th. Nora did a great job traveling. It was a LONG drive, but she is a trooper.
She is such a happy girl. The weather was great and she was thrilled any time she could be outside over the weekend.
We all went to a little beach and relaxed on the 3rd. Nora absolutely love the water and sand. The water was a bit mucky but it didn't bother her at all!

We stopped in Toledo on our way out and spent the night. Nora spotted the phone and I had to unplug it because she wouldn't stop talking on it. It was so funny. We got a video of it. I will try to post it later. I have a couple of videos to post actually, so I will do my best to get them up this week.