Projects

So, as I mentioned before, I got a little excited about my new sewing hobby this week...in addition to the tote bag I made on Monday, I also picked up fabric for two other projects that I had found tutorials for on Pinterest.

An apron--a little more complicated than the tote, but fun to make and I love how it turned out!

Wednesday--camera strap cover with a lens cover pocket--I loved the patchwork look, and while this was the most complicated of the three projects of the week, the completed product was the most satisfying!  The pictures aren't the greatest of this, but you get the idea:

5 months old

Norah turned 5 months old today!  It's been such a blessing to have had the last 5 months off with her, and I'm lucky to get one more month before I have to go back to school (trying to stay positive about summer ending!!).  Norah's personality has really blossomed this month, and she is truly such a happy baby.  

She loves people, especially when they smile at her, and all animals.  Her favorite is when she wakes up in the morning or from a nap and Abby goes in and says hi to her from behind the crib bars.  She gets so excited.  Just seeing Sadie can calm her down if she is a little overtired and fussy.  Norah's happiest laying on her back, as long as she has something she can stick in her mouth (toys, feet, etc.).  She's learned this month to roll over both ways, so we'll sometimes find her crying on her tummy in bed because she flipped over and can't quite figure out how to get back over.  Norah's been working on developing a taste for rice cereal this month--she's still not a huge fan, but actually finished what I gave her tonight.  Hopefully, she'll find some foods she likes better next month when we can branch out a little bit.  She's doing great with being flexible about eating now, which will make the transition to daycare so much easier and means I can leave her for a period of time and not worry about her not taking a bottle.  Everything Norah can get her hands on goes straight into her mouth, and she has now discovered spitting.  

For the past few weeks, Norah has been really congested--no other symptoms, just her sinuses bugging her. It's most noticeable when she can't breathe through her mouth (while eating, sleeping with her pacifier in, etc.).  I took her in yesterday to see her doctor, and he thought it could be allergies (apparently ragweed is really bad right now), so he told me to give her children's Claritin.  We'll see how that works out!

One last pic of our sweet little peanut:

5 months old--12 pounds, 13 ounces

County fair

For the past couple of years, it's been tradition for us to spend an afternoon/evening at the Freeborn County Fair with Dave's family.  Abby's at the age this year where she really gets into it, so she had a blast.  It was HOT, of course, but we stayed in the shade and were happy when the cloud cover came and cooled things down around 7.  Big hits for Abby this year:  pig races, baby animal barn, riding the pony and merry-go-round by herself (she would not allow any of us to stand by her on either ride), the elephant show/getting to ride an elephant with Dave's mom, and a race car ride.  She has definitely gotten much braver and seemed so grown up this year.

This year, Dave's mom entered some of Abby's photography from our June fishing trip and flowers that she and Abby planted together.  Abby was excited to earn two blue and two red ribbons for her photography and a purple Grand Champion ribbon for her flowers.

I realized that I took one picture of Norah the entire night--she was such a trooper, enduring the heat and happily hanging out while Abby had lots of fun.

Abby already can't wait for next year's fair!

Birthday weekend

I am definitely a lucky girl--I had the chance to celebrate my birthday with lots of family over the weekend and had a great time.  On Friday, I woke up to some thoughtful gifts from Abby and Dave--they had made a video of them playing guitar and singing "Call me Maybe", made a card with several "coupons" enclosed for things like free chores, back rubs, 30 minutes of "mommy time", etc., and gave me a cute handmade purse/bag that I had admired at a craft fair.  After breakfast, we headed to Stillwater for the day.  Abby thoroughly enjoyed the Teddy Bear Park.  We ate lunch at Leo's Grill and Malt Shop (SO delicious!) and spent some time walking around and checking out a few shops.  We ended the Stillwater visit with one last visit to the park before heading down to Rochester.  The weather couldn't have been more perfect for our day!

We celebrated with my mom, brother, and sister that night--my mom made a delicious birthday meal and Abby and Dave made a yummy birthday cake.

On Saturday, my aunt Miriam and cousins Ben and Sarah came up for the weekend to hang out and play some games.  So much fun!  A new favorite this time was "We Didn't Playtest This At All" and we all enjoyed "Minute to Win it" on the Xbox 360/Kinect.  Abby and Norah loved the extra attention as well.

Miriam brought up an old sewing machine that had been at my grandma's for me to use for a project that I needed to work on.  After a sewing tutorial from Miriam, I was able to complete the project over the weekend and am excited to work on a few of the ideas I've pinned on Pinterest.  I definitely need more practice, but had fun picking out fabric and creating this "20-minute tote" bag for Abby today:

A couple more projects in the works soon--making the most of the time I have before school starts!

Watermelon Day

On Saturday, we had fun at Stanhope, Iowa's annual Watermelon Day.  We lucked out and had cooler, cloudy weather for the morning parade--even the few sprinkles we got felt nice after such a dry spell.  After the parade, Abby wanted to be sure to get right on the rides.  She's definitely a lucky girl--her great-uncle, great-grandma, and grandma all gave her some money for tickets, so she was all set for the day.  Over the course of the day, she rode the train and airplanes several times, and even tried the swings and bouncy house a few times, too.  She loved them all!  Another fun new thing for Abby this year was a nickel hunt--the police officers threw a bunch of nickels in a pile of sawdust, and had different age groups hunt for nickels for an allotted amount of time--a good way to earn money for more tickets, the duck pond, or the ring toss!

After lunch, Abby enjoyed "helping" my dad and aunt Miriam at the ring toss:

We're lucky to have a nice place to cool off and have lunch, right across the street from everything at my aunt Lori's.  Norah spent quite a bit of time there, and enjoyed hanging out with her buddy Trice, my cousin Megan's little guy.

We always enjoy the free watermelon, of course!

Abby usually doesn't like face-painters, but this year, she decided to get a watermelon painted on her arm like my sister and cousin Jessica:

Before they started closing up the rides, some of the cousins decided that it would be fun to all go for a train ride and take the babies on their first ride.  Luckily it didn't derail!  Then they thought it would be fun to go on the swings...seriously, I don't think I've gone on those since I was probably 10 years old...  They needed me to help balance it out since there were more adults than little kids, so I took Norah on her first swing ride.  We were definitely a little motion-sick afterwards and decided that something must happen as you get older, because we don't remember that from when we were kids.

I'm glad that the girls are getting in on some small-town fun, making memories like I did growing up!

Connor's visit

Last week was a busy week at our house--my cousin Connor (age 12) and Dave's parents' golden retriever Jessi stayed with us for the week.  I planned lots of fun, cheap/free activities to keep us busy, and Connor did an awesome job taking the time to play with and entertain Abby while we were at home.  Here is what we fit in during the week:

Monday:  Dave had the day off, so took Connor to Albert Lea to do some fishing--it was hot, but they had a good time!  To cool off, we went to the Northfield pool for their "Twilight Swim" (after 5:00, it's only $2.75 per person).  We all had a blast, and Abby was finally brave enough to jump off the side into our arms.  So brave that she told us she wanted to jump in by herself at the end.  We love this pool because of the zero-depth entry and the little splash pad area that you can go in even when they have the lifeguard break.

Tuesday:  In addition to lots of playing, Connor, Abby, and I baked chocolate chip cookies and we played out in our kiddie pool.  Dave and Connor took Abby to her first t-ball practice in the evening.  Abby also needed to turn in her completed summer reading log at the library, so she took Connor to help her pick out some new books there.

Wednesday:  We went to the free movie at the Lakeville theater, "Puss in Boots" with Abby's friend Olivia and her mom, Tiffany.  All of the kids enjoyed it, and Norah even did really well and ate/slept during it.  After a rainy afternoon and an unexpected cool-down, we went over to Tiffany's family's place for dinner and a swim.  We are so thankful that they invited us over--Connor and Abby had a blast, and Abby even tried the diving board once!

Thursday:  Dave took a floating holiday at work, so took Connor fishing in Dundas at the river.  After naptime, we headed out to the zoo for our bank's special night at the zoo--free admission to both the zoo and the dinosaur exhibit.  It was pretty crazy there--the most people we've ever seen there--and hot, but we still had a good time.  Abby enjoyed cooling off in the splash pad at the end, and we all enjoyed some yummy Raising Cane's chicken fingers on our way home.

Friday:  We went back to Tiffany's family's pool for another swim before Dave had to head to work.  After naptime, we loaded everyone up and met my parents in Owatonna, where they took Abby and Connor down to Iowa (we met up with them Saturday, since Dave had to work late).

We had a great time!  Connor kept Abby entertained, Jessi kept Sadie entertained, and we found some fun things to do throughout the week.  We're looking forward to planning Connor's visit for next summer!

Girls' cabin trip

Every summer for the past several years, my college friend Kristina and I have been taking a trip up to her family's cabin for a few days or a week--just the girls.  It started out being us and our dogs, then we added Abby for a few years.  This year we added two--Norah and Rhua, born just four days apart.  We weren't sure about how we'd get up there with one vehicle, but we made it!  Thank goodness for the extra row option in our car and the fact that all floor space in the back two rows was available.  The babies were well taken care of by Abby in the middle, and the dogs slept in the back row.

We enjoyed two full days up there--went to the beach to swim/picnic twice, went for a walk with the babies in Kristina's Chariot stroller and Abby in our Bob stroller, danced in the rain--the only little bit of rain the whole trip, played with the dogs by the dock/lake, played some games, relaxed, and I even managed to read a book while up there!

On Saturday, Kristina did a triathlon nearby, so her husband, Matt, came up to help with Rhua.  We took the kiddos to cheer her on, then Abby, Norah, Sadie, and I took off after lunch.  The ride home was long, but we made it 3 1/2 hours before needing to stop to feed Norah, then survived the last hour home.  All in all, a successful, fun, but fast trip!  We proved that we really can keep up the tradition, even though things are a little busier up there...we'll see about next year, when we're keeping one-year-olds off the dock and out of the lake!