9!

 Norah turned 9 on March 3!  It was a school day, but we were able to celebrate with cupcakes that evening, and spread out the celebrations.  

Dave's parents stopped by with a DQ cake the next night, and my parents surprised Norah (and Abby) that Saturday by bringing up the new bikes we had ordered for their birthday presents. 

That night, Norah had three good friends from her class (Emma, Breia, and Ava) over for a Harry Potter-themed birthday party/sleepover.  She made cupcakes with different colors inside, so the girls could see which house they were in.  Abby had made a scavenger hunt for them to do, they painted, played, opened presents, ate pizza, and watched a movie.  Lots of 9-year-old girl energy!  I don't know how their teacher did it this year...  😆

At Norah's doctor visit, she was 49 inches tall (8th percentile) and weighed 50 pounds (7th percentile).  At 9 years old, Norah LOVES to read and finishes books so quickly.  She is creative and loves to make things with anything she can find.  She has learned to play the ukulele this year, and is doing really well!  She is a homebody who loves spending time alone or with family, and is a sensitive soul who has lots of empathy.  Last year of single digits, here we go!

Norah's 9-year interview

Favorite color:  blue

Least favorite color:  white

Favorite book:  A-Z Mysteries

Favorite fruit:  apple

Favorite vegetable:  salad

Favorite tv show:  Dog with a Blog

Favorite movie:  Yes Day
Favorite animal:  dog

Favorite food:  ice cream

Favorite school lunch:  pancakes

Favorite thing to wear:  jammies

Favorite snack:  Goldfish

Favorite zoo animal:  zebra

Best friends:  Ava, Breia, and Emma

Favorite cereal:  Cinnamon Toast Crunch

Favorite drink:  Sparkling Ice 

Favorite thing to do with Mommy:  read Harry Potter

Favorite thing to do with Daddy:  cuddle

Favorite thing to do with Abby:  play

Favorite thing to do with Sadie:  play tug of war

Favorite store:  Target

Favorite toy:  Barbies

Favorite game:  Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza

Favorite song:  "Savage Love"

Favorite thing to do outside:  jump rope

Favorite holiday:  Christmas

What I want to be when I grow up:  doggie daycare owner

What makes me happy:  family

What makes me sad:  when Mommy and Daddy leave for a long time

What I like about Daddy:  he's kind

What I like about Mommy:  she's smart

What I like about Abby:  she plays with me

What I like about Sadie:  she's friendly

Now that I'm 9:  I can have a later bedtime (or so she thinks!)

Distance Learning 2.0

After a hybrid start to the school year, our schools switched to distance learning in mid-November.  This time around, it was more of a regular school-day schedule, with many more Google Meets.  Abby still had her hybrid schedule, with live meetings only 2-3 days per week.  Norah and I were busy all day long each day, and luckily, she and I had the same lunch break most days (the girls had an early release once a week, with a different schedule those days).  It was definitely nice to not have to commute through most of winter, but it definitely wasn't easy keeping 26 3rd graders engaged every moment of the day from a computer.  It was definitely a learning experience!

Building

 Norah discovered this winter that she loves assembling and building furniture from kits.  She helped me build a console for under our basement tv, and had so much fun that she helped build a storage shelf for her closet!

Willow River winter getaway

 For Christmas, my sister's gift to Dave and me was a night of babysitting so that we could have a little getaway.  Dave and I both had Martin Luther King, Jr. Day off, so we took a little trip to Hudson for a night.  We hiked the snowy/icy (steep!) trail to the waterfall at Willow River State Park and took the trail up to the top overlook.  

Winter Break

 This year's winter break was quite a bit different than usual, because we weren't traveling to Iowa or really going anywhere due to Covid restrictions. 

We did lots of puzzles:

Norah used her new science kit:

The girls set up their new Christmas village from Grandma and Grandpa Nass:

Abby tried on her new clothes:

We did lots of Legos...Dave used some money from his uncle to buy the girls the Disney castle:

We watched lots of Hallmark Christmas movies and read new books:

We went to the drive-through light show at Valleyfair:

We spent New Year's Eve playing games with the Pakiz family:

Sadie and I started walking outside every day (we made it almost all the way through the month of January before it got too cold!):

We had our own New Year's celebration on New Year's Day, complete with a snack meal and the "wheel of games":