Definitely

Norah is definitely walking. Watch out, she's on the move.

Elmo Museum

Another day off, we took the kids to the Louisville Science Center. They have a new exhibit from now through the end of the year: Sesame Street presents The Body. There are many exhibits and displays featuring the Sesame Street characters teaching kids about their bodies, inside and out. What could be more fun than Elmo, Big Bird, beating hearts and poo.
Nathan had such a good time with all of the interactive play things and even Norah had fun.

Nathan dressed as a giraffe in the KidZone

Norah playing in the Baby Crater

Jeff and Nathan building with blocks

Marengo Cave

Jeff has been wanting to visit the caves around here for some time. We had several days off together and decided to go to Marengo Cave for a walking tour under ground.
Marengo Cave is in southern Indiana about 45 minutes from Louisville. The cave system was discovered in the late 1800 and has been open to the public since then. They have done a great job of making it accessible to the public without disturbing the live growth of the cave formations from the natural limestone. We saw a lot of really cool rock formations. An added bonus to the day trip: it was over 90 degrees outside with a heat index well over 100 degrees so the cool 52 degree temp in the cave was great.
This is definitely a must see for visitors of all ages.

Norah was worn out by the end

Silly Nathan

The many adventures of Nathan:

Nathan was communicating in the back seat
of the car with Norah via a pool noodle

Nathan getting ready to ride in the speed boat at the lake
He had such a blast on the boat

Nathan watching movies on the iPod in the car

Nathan decided to wear his fireman costume all evening one day
He even wore it to the dinner table

Story Time in Nathan's playground

Unwanted guest

For several days, we were hearing scratching coming from the floor vent in the kitchen near the garage door. Jeff was sure it was a little mouse that had squeezed in under the door (there is a very tiny crack) and had dropped down into the vent and gotten stuck in there. He had eluded several traps and Jeff kept getting more and more mouse traps and setting them up in the kitchen in big elaborate patterns hoping to eventually catch the little creature.
About a week into the ordeal, Jeff went into the basement storage space and was face to face with a full grown squirrel. The squirrel was frightened and jumped into the HVA/C unit which is what we had been hearing. This is what had been causing all of the ruckus. We bought a raccoon trap and finally captured the squirrel and released him back into the wild (the backyard).

Cake

I have to give a shout out to my sister-in-law Jenni, who made Norah the best birthday cake ever. She is a pastry chef and does great work. I had a specific idea in my mind of what I wanted for Norah's cake and Jenni made it exactly like I wanted. It turned out wonderful and tasted delicious (although the bow is not for eating which Jeff found out the hard way). Awesome cake!!

Water Baby

Norah loves the water. This is quite the understatement because she will dive head first into any water if given the chance. This is completely different from Nathan's initial approach to the water so I hope this continues as she gets older.
At the pool (at the Y) Norah will crawl into the pool from the zero entry point until her face reaches the water line and keep going. If I pick her up to move her back, she will crawl right back in. No fear, this one.
We got her a small blow up pool for her birthday and she is crazy about it. Jeff had it set up in the backyard and she had so much fun crawling in and out of it.

While at the lake celebrating Norah's birthday, my dad got her in the water briefly and she was trying to let go and get in the water the whole time. My little water baby.

VBS

Jeff and I worked as volunteers at Highview's Vacation Bible School (VBS) - theme: Saddle Ridge Ranch (James 5:1). We were snack coordinators for one of the 3 snack groups. Each evening we had to collect the snack supplies provided and prepare the snack for our group of kids, 1st and 2nd graders. We had a great time working with the kids.
Before snack time, all the kids got together for the Worship Rally where they learned the songs and had a great time in worship. Nathan's class even got to participate in the Worship Rally, which was new from last year.
VBS was a big production and wouldn't have been possible without the nearly 100 volunteers. It seemed like all of the kids really enjoyed it and many lives were changed because of it.

Jeff and Joe preparing snacks

Nathan's class is in the front row
enjoying the Worship Rally
at Saddle Ridge Ranch

Cousins

We spent an awesome day at the lake with my cousins. Thank you to Greg and Karen for having us up to your house to celebrate the holiday. We tooled around the lake in the pontoon boat and took a spin on the speed boat. Nathan loved riding on the boats and hanging out with his cousins, Michael and Lucas.

It is quite a coincidence that my cousin Chris' son, Tim's birthday is the same day as Norah's. They were both born on July 2nd, 19 years apart. It was fun to celebrate their birthdays together.

Happy Birthday Norah

My baby girl, Norah, turns one year old today. We went up to Fort Wayne to celebrate with family. This evening everyone got together for dinner then Norah opened her presents...well... Nathan opened the presents while Norah crawled around the living room.

Norah's new shopping cart
(to go with the kitchen we got her)

She was very interested in the blocks
Uncle Andy and Aunt Jenni got her

Norah was so excited about her birthday celebration
that she stood independently for the first time

Yummy cake!!!

Mamaw Camp

Last week Nathan went up to Fort Wayne to visit with my mom for a few days. He had a great time at Mamaw Camp. They went to the splash park, saw the new Toy Story 3 movie and went to the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo. Thank you mom fo taking such good care of Nathan, he had a great time!!!

Walking the puppies

Riding the ponies at the zoo

Brushing the goats at the petting zoo