Cheer Cheer Cheerio

A few days ago Nora got to try her first "real" food.(as in not in the form of a puree or something that melts in your mouth).  For this momentous event she had Cheerios!  And she chowed down on them!

I personally feel when kids can start eating some table food you have a reached a whole new level.  Dinner times are much more peaceful.  If I am out and about I can hold her off with Cheerios and wait to nurse until I get home.  Toddlerhood is getting closer...

Hey, what's this?

Lets shove it in my mouth

nom nom nom, tasty

slippery little suckers

Let's try the double fisted approach

Now I'm a pro

Splish Splash {HH 2012}

I promise this is the final vacation post!

One of Sawyer's favorite activities during vacation was the neighborhood splash pad.  Nora also got in on the action.

And my favorite thing about the splash pad...snuggling cute babies in warm towels after their done playing in the water.

And to conclude our vacation posts I will recount a few memories I don't want to forget.

And don't know if Sawyer's development skyrocketed this week or if it was because we were with other children his age, but Sawyer's vocabulary took off.  He now can say just about anything and he usually talks in full sentences. It just seemed to click this week.

At one point in the trip we all had an illness...high fevers, sore throats, coughing, rashes, etc.  We didn't all have the same symptoms but we had a few rough nights.

Sawyer's friends loved to love on him and Nora.  Nora took the hugs and kisses well.  Sawyer not so much.  When one of them would kiss him he would get disgusted, wipe it off, and repeatedly say YUCK. They all thought it was hilarious...unfortunately now he does it when momma gives him kisses.

One day Sawyer and the other little boy were playing together while we were making supper.  They were playing really well together but we sent the eldest child to go check on them because they were on a different level of the house.  She reported back that they were playing with their pool floats.  Less than 2 minutes later we realized we did not hear any little boy sounds so we sent the eldest child down to check on them again.  She came back and said they weren't there!  We quickly searched the house and concluded that they were not in the house so we frantically ran to the doors...my friend found them down the street at the gated entrance dragging their pool floats.  Sawyer was even pushing the buttons to get out!  Her son said they were running away :) They had successfully put on their shoes, opened the locked (but not dead bolted) door, and carried their pool floats all the way to the entrance.  Praise the Lord there was a gate and they didn't make it to the busy street.  Scary moments for sure, but watching 2 two year olds drag their pool floats down the street on an adventure was pretty funny.

Pool Side {HH 2012}

Nora had her 1st pool experience while we were in South Carolina.  The coldness shocked her at first, but there were no tears and once I put Sawyer in she was all smiles.

I could not get them to look at me!

Bathroom Reveal {Before & After}

We interrupt the vacation photo series to reveal the completion of our big winter project.  Yes, after 3 months the bathroom is finally done!  I say done but we still have to find a new door, hang art work, and buy some towels but for the most part it's DONE.

And we couldn't be happier with the result.  Here's a rundown of the things we (98% of it was Kyle) did:

• Tear down and install new dry wall
• Rip out and install new flooring
• Take out and install new toilet
• Rebuild and paint vanity
• Install new countertop, sink and faucet
• Plumbing the pipes to work with the new sink placement
• Hang mirror and make frame from molding
• Paint ceiling and walls
• Put up new shower curtain
• Install towel rods
• Install new baseboards
• Install new light
• Replace outlet and light switch
• Caulk perimeter of room

We ran into several surprises along the way (stairs sloping into the room, retro-fitting doors 2 inches too small, cracking the original toilet, etc) but we love the result.  In fact both of us will go in the bathroom and stand in awe of the transformation.  And without further ado...oh wait let's revisit the ugliest bathroom in America first...

Before:

Paneling and badly peeling wall paper

no mirror, rusted sink, ugly vanity

rusted vents, peeling baseboards, very poor tiling job with ugly tiles

After:

Bright room with brown and oil rubbed bronze accents

A clean new sink area makes all the difference

Can you believe this is the same vanity cabinet?

Towel racks: we stacked them on a narrow wall to save space

oil rubbed bronze hardware

This room is pretty narrow so it's hard to take pictures, but I think you get the gist.  And in honor of the project being complete the kids got to take a bath!  The first one in months!  And the parents are happy they no longer have to take a kid in the shower :)

This one LOVES her bath and splashing

One of my favorite things: wet eyelashes on my little boy

Water Baby {HH 2012}

Babies are cute, but baby girls in swimsuits are one of the most adorable things ever!  And while I may be a bit biased I couldn't get enough of Miss Nora in her swim wear!  This is also the only time in life it's cute to have rolls :)

She not only loved the sand, she also enjoyed the water.  She would stand up and the waves would push her down.  She thought it was a fun game!  Sorry no pictures of that I was too busy making sure she didn't get swept away.  I was thoroughly surprised that she liked the ocean.  When we put Sawyer in the ocean at 6 months he screamed.  She thought it was great.

Sand Stories {HH 2012}

Sawyer loved the sandy beaches!  He was constantly digging in the sand or going to the water to pick up the wet sand (mud).  He would destroy sand castles and throw wet sand in the air to see where it landed.  We even practiced our letters in the sand.  Nora even got in on the sand action.  She was less interested in playing with sand and more concerned with tasting it.