16 Months / Happy Valentines Day!

Nordo and her Bookdo

Nora loves books. The girls have no less than one million toys, and she always goes straight for the books. Her favorites are "Happy Baby 123" and "Flip, Flap, Fly". The following pics are stills from a video I took of her reading "The Grouchy Ladybug". In the last pic, she finally realized I was filming her and she threw the book down a dove for my phone.

Cape Girardeau

I had the pleasure of taking a day trip to good ole Cape Girardeau today! A coworker of mine and I called on some clients in Cape, and it was a successful trip! We stopped by the university, and two other clients, updating them on some new products. And joy of joys, I finally visited the brand new Isle of Capri Casino! A big, controversial addition to Cape, since I left there over 6 years ago. I think it's a wonderful thing! ...bringing over 700 jobs to the city. While inside, I took special notice of the finishes, since my company had a small part in the final installation. It is, without a doubt, the least casino-y casino I have ever seen. I wasn't even overstimulated .... For awhile I thought I was just in a nice new retirement facility or something. Until I stepped on the game floor. Then it was the familiar flashing lights and dinging slot machines. And the people you see at a casino at 2pm on a Thursday... Oh boy! Then I proceeded to lose $10 on the penny slots, while my coworker almost doubled her $10! Victory! I LOVE being in Cape. And I also really like casinos, however, I rarely go. So being in Cape's new casino was definitely the highlight of my busy week!! Do you recognize the other landmarks in the pics below?

Nora Got Her Hair Did

We broke down and took Nora Girl for her very first hair cut! Her hair was very long in the front, and in her eyes a lot unless we swept it to the side or put it in a pony. I didn't really want her to have bangs, but it is really the only option unless we were willing to fight with those long bangs (no bangs). So here is the before, during, and after. See why she needed it?

New pictures

I have been very lax lately at taking pictures. I feel really bad about that since the girls are changing every day. Years from now, we are going to cherish EVERY picture, even if the lighting isn't great, the girls aren't looking at the camera, or it is a tad blurry.

So one of my New Years resolutions is to take more pictures. Starting tonight... So without further ado, here are some recent pictures.

Words With Babies

We are very excited and proud of Nordoo. She has said her first word! She said BABY. My cousin came to town, and she has a dog who is named lily, but sometimes she calls lily Baby. And Nora caught onto that because Nora pointed to her and said "baby!" And then, that evening, we were looking at Nora's Christmas album from last year, her first Christmas, and she pointed to one of the babies in the book and said "baby!" We, of course, know this means she's brilliant. .... Until Lucas was holding her and she pointed to the Christmas tree and said "baby!" And I think she has called other things baby, as well. The picture here of Nora is from a video that I took of her, in which I was trying to get her to say "baby". I mouthed the words: baby. Baby. Baby. And then what did she do? SHE mouthed the word "baby". Brilliant! I tell you! Brilliant!

Margaret is brilliant, too. She says two words. "Do" and "due". She likes to point out to the side and declare "DO!" Or, sometimes she says it like, "Do?!" Okay, it's not really a REAL word, but it means something to her, I think. :). Another cousin of mine, Joanne, took this picture of Margaret at the Houts Family Christmas on Dec 8th.

14 Months

Well, clearly we haven't been blogging!  Because we've got two fourteen month olds now... two walkers... two good eaters... two curious little tots... they love bananas, spaghetti, and playing with their older cousins. 

Margaret is our little Magic 8 Ball.  I ask her questions and she either nods or shakes her head in response.  She points to things and shouts "Da!" (... she's a little German baby.)  We call her "Little Grandpa" sometimes because she's a little Vennie... Something about her... her face and her hairline.  Actually she is finally getting hair.  Daddy says she's getting "that little girl mullet".  It's long on the top and back, and short on the sides.  Sounds attractive, huh?  She clings to us when we're in new situations around people she's not used to. And she loves shoes.  Hers, mine, anyone's really.

Nora is fun and spunky and full of life!  She is always up for new experiences... like the swings at the playground.  Or dominating the big staircase on her first try.  It is so easy to make her laugh.. and she has the sweetest giggle and the deepest belly laugh.  She's always smiling with her big teethy smile.  She is probably the most happy when she is walking to the stairs and I am chasing her.  She loves her freedom (walking) and she LOVES the stairs... or she loves being upstairs... one of the two.

Lucas and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary on Nov 11!  We had a nice night out while Lucas' aunt babysat.  We went to a couple wine bars and then to get steaks.  I think the highlight of the evening was the cheese tray we ate at our first stop.  We were pretty much full after that.. but thought we should stay out longer than an hour on our date night!

We moved into my mom and stepdad's basement, and we our renting our house out.  This is to save money for our next house, since our Kirkwood house is so small with no room to grow, and we aren't in a position to sell at this time.  Living in Wentzville has been great.  My mom watches the girls full time, and it's so wonderful that we don't have to pack up the girls every day and take them to day care. 

We had a renter who lasted 45 days....  I know, I know, but conducting illegal activity in our home was just not something we could live with, so he had to go.  (I know, we're those kind of landlords... ) So now we're in the process of finding a new renter.  It's only been a week, but we have already had quite a lot of interest.

I am very much looking forward to Christmas. :)  It will be a lot of fun this year with the girls!

Hopefully our next post will be sooner than 8 months from now!

Much love,