1st Cut

Kolter has never had much hair. Plus, it is super blonde making it even more difficult to detect. While his dome looks fairly bald from the front he did have some growth in the back. And those little curls were starting to resemble a mullet. So much to mommy's chagrin, daddy made the call that it was time for a cut.

before

As you can tell from the blurry pictures he was a moving target, but a few minutes later the back of his head matched the top of his head.

There's not really any after pictures because you honestly can't tell much difference, but we had to document those first snips.

4 is fun

Oh my favorite girl! You bring such joy, light and drama ;) to our life! We are so thankful for your life and can't wait to see how God will use you for his kingdom!

Stats:
Weight: 34 lb. 9 oz. (48%)
Height: 39.5 in. (46%)
Nora is (and has always been) normal/average in stats…for this we are so thankful

As for her personality…it's far from normal

You are:

a social butterfly--for your birthday party we told you to pick 1 friend to invite. After several minutes of thinking you said "Can I invite 5 friends? Or 100?" We stuck to 1 friend, but you love to be around people!

a middle child

love men! It's a strange quirk. She adores her daddy and all of her papa's. She asks about them all the time. If she is on the phone with a grandma she always requests to talk to papa. She has also attached herself to one of Kyle's young coaches. He has been gone all summer and one time we thought we saw him and she was so excited, but when it wasn't him she melted into a pile of tears. She says he is her best friend ;)

a person that loves to go--she always asks where are we going next or what we are going to do for fun

ask to make a craft multiple times a day. Thankfully she is pretty creative so she can come up with most of her own "crafts."

creative

full a drama and eye rolling…already

our comedian! She makes us laugh all the time with her one liners.

always giving compliments…to me, her brothers, stopping complete strangers on the street

loving Jessie and Lambie as your favorite stuffed animals

a self-proclaimed decorator! You love to decorate (your room, for a party, it doesn't matter)

colorful! Your favorite color varies between pink, purple or sparkly

are fancy and love to wear dresses (the fancier the better)

a good eater

have a sweet tooth

wear size 4 clothes and size 9 shoes

a flower child! You could look at flowers all day!

have some sensory issues. You don't like clothes tags. You resist the feeling of jeans. You hate the way your car seat feels between clothes and legs. It's really the only thing that makes you lose your mind ;)

Beach Baby

As I mentioned in my 1st vacation post Kolter had a rough week. He encountered several physical ailments that resulted in a pretty fussy baby, but that just made us cherish his moments of joy even more. Here's a look at this 1st time at the beach!

He did enjoy the sand

Due to his sickness there were many outfit changes…which sometimes resulted in just wearing a diaper…and getting his paci when he normally doesn't ;)

I'm not so sure about these waves

Uh-oh…they took my feet out from under me

Hey, this isn't so bad

sunset on the beach

those little feet in the sand

Water & Waves

Our Nora girl was constantly pulling on my arm to take her out in the waves. She so wanted to be out in the ocean, but often the waves were too big. She would hang on for dear life as she got pummeled by a wave. I would inquire if she was ready to catch her breath and take a break from the water and her response was always "NO!" She couldn't get enough wave jumping!

Sand, Sun & Sawyer

Sawyer's always been a bit timid around water, but this trip to the beach may have helped him overcome the fear. The fun of the wave "surfing" boosted his courage and he was all in all the time!

Ready to ride the waves ;)

He did some sand playing…we call this image Skeletor

But then it was back in the water

silly sawyer

Hilton Head 2015

**Warning** picture overload!

Last week the kids and I spent the week in Hilton Head, South Carolina with some wonderful friends. My friends family owns a condo on the island and she graciously asked us and another friend to join her for the week (sans husbands). 

There were 3 moms and 8 kids (all 7 and under), so most of the time it was crazy town, but we had so much fun! The kids are a great age for the beach (well except Kolter, but more on that later) and they loved everything about it (sand, waves, water, birds, etc).

I know this is super blurry, but I had to document the crazy…everyone in an elevator

We started the trip on Sunday evening and drove late into the night. We stopped at 1 am in North Carolina. This was quite comical because all 11 of us stayed in the same room…the kids were beyond exhausted…I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. One baby would fall asleep and then another would cry and wake them up…this round robin continued until 3 am when it finally calmed down. Thankfully, my kids did really well and all of them fell right to sleep. I just felt bad for the other mom's who were trying to console 1 kid while trying to let everyone else sleep.

In the end we survived and hit the road again on Monday for the 2nd half of the trip. We made it to Hilton Head Monday afternoon and we quickly unpacked so we could jump in the pool!

On Tuesday morning we hit the beach. This was Kolter's 1st time at the beach. He enjoyed the sand and getting his feet wet, but he didn't want to travel too far into the water.

Sawyer wanted to "surf" so he grabbed a boogie board and went for the waves. He did great riding the waves and jumping the waves until he saw a fish then he was done in the water for the day ;) But every time we went to the beach he would jump back in. In fact the last night at the beach it was high tide and the waves were pretty large, but we could not pull him away. He was fearless and just wanted to stay in the water!

Nora also loved the waves. She would grab an adults hand and run for the waves. She loved to jump the waves even if they were large and pummeling her in the face. She too was fearless and would have stayed out there all day if she could.

We typically went to the beach in the mornings. We also enjoyed some pool time each afternoon. This was usually during Kolter's nap time so I enjoyed playing with the big kids. Sawyer took a big step when he jumped off the side and swam back to the edge with no floaties. That is a really big deal for my boy who is scared to swim! Nora also enjoyed jumping off the side. They played a lot of Octonauts and Wild Kratts in the water.

This picture sums up Kolter's week. He was really off the whole trip. He was fussy, had diarrhea all week, had terrible diaper rash, didn't take well to having other babies in "his space," and developed a pretty bad case of hives (of which we do not know the origin). Plus mommy's attention was pulled in lots of different directions. Thankfully, he slept really well, but when he was awake he was not himself :( Poor guy! I am happy to report after a few days at home and some benadryl he is back to his normal happy self!

Several evenings after dinner we would head back to the beach for high tide. It was a wonderful time to enjoy the big waves and watch the sun go down. The kids would expend their last bit of energy then we would run home for showers and fall into bed.

One evening we were all going stir crazy in the condo so we went out for ice cream. That was a hit!

One morning instead of the beach we decided to visit the light house and a park

all the kids near the lighthouse

It was gorgeous weather all week until the last day. It rained all day so we decided to pack it up early and hit the road. Again we drove half way…this time we got 2 rooms ;) Then we made the final leg of our journey on Saturday and the kids were so excited to see Daddy and tell him all about the beach. It was a wonderful trip full of great memories for the kids! It was a great reminder of how fun beach vacations can be…hopefully we can go as a family next year!