Merry Christmas!

These are the shots that didn't make it on the Christmas Card. These are actually kinda cute. I'll find the ones that weren't.

Merry Christmas!

Drummer Boy

Some cool things about the little drummer boy...even though I think it's the most god-awful song ever made...

• It was playing the night Nick was born (yep, Christmas songs playing while babies being born on December 24th)
• Chris thinks it's the most beautiful song ever
• Nick surprised us at his holiday concert this year - check out the drummer boy on the right hand side! He rocked it!

Happy Birthday Little Man!

Tooth!

Nick has had a loose tooth for ages now. He woke up one day to just spit it out in his hand! Lucky he didn't swallow in overnight. Mostly bc that's just gross. Now he's got a giant adult tooth growing on the bottom, with his little kid angel face. The two don't fit yet, but they look cute! $1 is the going rate for a tooth. Luckily they only have 20 teeth total.

Underwear

Guess who’s wearing underwear?! Peri is apparently the last girl in her class wearing diapers. I should note she’s also the youngest girl. She started showing a lot of interest in the potty, so we said “why not?”. Dora and Princesses were her picks for underwear. Her little butt looks so cute in her pants now that she doesn’t have that bulky diaper. I could eat it up! Most days she does pretty well. But it’s been two weeks full of us running to the bathroom, asking her every 15 minutes if she has to pee, washing a LOT of clothes when she didn’t make it in time and hoping that we didn’t rush this.

Pencils

Nick came home from school a few weeks ago talking nonstop about these cool metal pencils a friend had. Turns out there were mechanical pencils. Told him we could buy some for him if he wanted. OMG – he skipped around for days until we finally made it to Walgreen’s to buy them. We spent 10 minutes in the pen/pencil aisle while he decided on the classic metal look or the multi-colored packs. Metal won and $2.98 later we were out the door with one happy boy! The little things in life…

Tough Girl

It's hard to tell here, but she's got little skulls all over her shirt. Tough, eh?

Learn to Play

After years of learning to skate, guess who just got bumped up to learn to play?

Tiger Scout

Guess who's a Tiger Scout? Look how cute he looks. So far it's been lame - racing to 6pm meetings every other week, forgetting his handbook, not selling any popcorn. But the soapbox derby and raingutter regattas are coming up. And camping - did I mention camping? Not sure who will have more fun, Nick or Chris.

Posting

So you don’t care how busy we are and why I haven’t posted in so long. You come here for ridiculous stories and cute photos. So my new resolution is to commit to posting once a week with a photo each time. And with that, I bring you…Peri!

Haircut

Peri desperately needed a haircut, but wasn’t too excited to go. Nick goes to the barber, but I talked him into going to P’s place so she could see how easy it is. She’s been twice before. Cried once, was lured with a lollipop the second time. I had no idea what we might get this time. We got more than we bargained for! First Nick got his haircut while P watched. Then P peed on the floor (potty training wasn’t so good that day). When it was her turn she screamed. I thought we were going to have to leave. He finally said she could sit on my lap and he’d cut her hair that way. Fine, except she was still pee-soaked. Blah. Turns out P likes having her hair played with as much as I do. So as soon as he started combing her hair and telling her how pretty it was, she quieted right down. What a girl! 30 minutes, 1 lollipop and 1 overpriced barrette later, we were out the door with a smiling girl. A smiling girl who talked for DAYS about “Hair cut. Man cut my hair.”

Nutjob

NJ - that's what we call Peri. She's just a nutty little thing and you never know what you're going to get from her. A screeching howler monkey or an adorable little girl singing "Twinkle Twinkle" at the top of her lungs. She stepped right in with a rendition of "Tonight's Gonna Be a Good Night" by the Black-Eyed Peas last night with Nick.

Here she is with stickers on her forehead. In case you couldn't figure that out...

Learning to Tie

Nick doesn't know how to tie his shoes yet. Mostly because a group of moms keeps saying we're going to take our kids to the class at Nordstrom where they learn in an afternoon...We tie them and he just slips them on/off while they're laced. Except sometimes he tries on his own...

Soccer

Nick is narrowing down his choices in sports. Soccer and hockey are winning at the moment. Basketball is on it's way out. When asked one thing special about himself, Nick proudly answers "I'm a fast runner." So maybe cross country will excite him too. God knows he's run enough miles up and down our hallway. "Mom, time me!"

His soccer team the Volcanoes has been undefeated this season. Until this past weekend. They'd gotten so cocky they couldn't even believe they lost. Nick is itching to get his first goal. A little better every week.

Strawberry Jelly

I was making P a PBJ the other day and all was well. Then I put the jelly on and all hell broke out. She was throwing a fit on the kitchen floor, I was quickly loosing my patience. Finally, I sat on the floor with her and told her it was ok. Told her it was ok to get mad and not be able to use her words (not sure where this wisdom came from). She calmed down and I asked her again what the problem was "Don't want pink jelly." Wow. I explained that it was strawberry and I thought she might like it. Coaxed her into taking a bite and she yelled out "I LIKE PINK JELLY!" Well what do you know?!

Fortune Teller

Remember making those paper fortune tellers when you were in elementary school? Well, it's making the rounds of first grade (or possibly aftercare). Nick is a whiz at making them, except his fortunes leave a bit to be desired. "Mom, how do you spell 'You Will Poop'?"

He was having Grammy pick her Fortune (pick a color, pick a number, count out the number, pick another number, count out the number, here's your fortune) and I could tell when they got to her fortune because she replied with an "oh!" and then giggled.

Cranbabies

Peri LOVES dried fruit. Who wouldn't? It's sweet, it's chewy. Yum. She's been working on some trail mix as her "car snack" this past week and loves the dried cranberries. "Cranbabies" she'll yell from the back seat. "CranBERRIES" I'll yell from the front seat.
P: Cranbabies!
H: Cranberries
P: Cranbabies!
H: Cran
P: Cran
H:Berries
P: Berries
H: Cranberries
P: Cranbabies

What the...

New 1st grade phrase going around - "What the..." Nick was using it so much that I finally told him what it really meant. But by then it had become as natural to him as saying "Can I have another snack?" By which point it was way too late because Peri was walking around saying "What the..."

Once again, photos that have nothing to do with the story. I just thought P looked pretty. Her hair has straightened out a bit with the fall weather.

Dancing Queen

Peri’s got rhythm – our little gal is a dancer. She’ll use any excuse to dance and seems to have some rhythm. Her little hips start moving, then her feet. Sometimes her hands. One day she had her hands up in the air and her eyes closed as her head moved all around. That one was a little too free love for my liking, but whatever works for her.

Timing

Soccer/Hockey/Basketball – Nick usually has 2-3 sports going on at any one time. This is the age to let them try it all out and then they can decide in a few years which one/two they want to focus on. Our Saturdays are now a mad dash from soccer to basketball. And making sure he’s got enough energy for each one. I’m exhausted just getting him to/from each game. We got to the first soccer game this weekend and Nick yelled out “Mom, we’re not late!” as if that was a first. Which it kind of was…

BTW - these photos have nothing to do with this story. I just found them on the camera yesterday and they made me laugh. Nick grabbing the camera and doing self portraits. Notice the crooked bottom teeth getting ready to fall out?!

Scary Dinner

Chris put on the Chronicles of Narnia a few weeks ago. None of us had ever seen it before. Kinda scary stuff. First there were the four kids getting shipped off because their country was being invaded by Germans. I almost cried at that part! Then there was the mean witch who was freezing everyone. Nick seemed to enjoy it, but continually asked questions that I couldn’t answer (“Why is this happening? Where are they going? Is he good or bad?" I DON”T KNOW SINCE I’M WATCHING THIS FOR THE FIRST TIME WITH YOU!) We decided to finish watching some of it one night when Peri was up. Well, we came into a scene where the good lion is getting beat up by all sorts of odd creatures. Nick starting asking his questions. Peri started pointing to the tv and crying “No! Look! Hurt! Nooooo!” Disaster. We had to turn it off ASAP. One day maybe we’ll finish the movie…

The photo below has nothing to do with this story. It's just the way Nick entertains himself when our wait at a restaurant is way too long for two kids.

Loser

Nick was in bed trying to go to sleep the other night when I heard him crying. Ran into to see what was the matter. It was the sad kind of crying that usually comes out when he’s had his feelings hurt. He explained that he’d been playing his Leapster game and didn’t win. Seriously. Tears over losing. I tried to coax out any other troubles (school ok? Friends being nice to him?) but nope, they were truly tears from a video game.

Singing

Peri outgrew her old daycare this summer (they go up to age 2) and had to move to a new center in July. Her new class contains ages 2-3. You cannot believe how much her vocabulary has increased in the two months since she’s been there. She’s singing ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, BaBa BlackSheep, counting, etc. So cute. Even better is her not getting all the words right, so it’ll be “Twinkle twinkle little star, wonder you are, yes sir yes sir, bags full…”

Babysitter

We went to an out of town wedding a few weeks ago. We brought the kids but got a sitter for them during the reception. Adorable 13 year old boy who came recommended from family in the area. Nick was excited to have a boy to play with. Peri, not so much. So it shouldn't have been a big surprise when the sitter called to say Peri had pooped and refused to let him change her diaper. Chris told him if her could stand the smell then just leave it til we got there in a few hours. You cannot believe the smell that followed her up the stairs when we got there. No idea how the boys lasted that long!

Snow cone

Think this snow cone was bigger than her head!

Camp Pop Pop

My dad came in town this week to spend the last week before school with Nick and Coop. From what I can tell there was lots of sugar, movies, potty jokes and fun.

Yes, I realize these photos are sideways. I'm trying to blog on my phone...

No Share

Don't ever offer to share an ice cream sundae with Nick. He somehow believes all the cherries are for him and no one else likes them. We now order "extra cherries" on his so that we can all savor our own cherries.

Air & Water Show

We made it downtown on Sunday to watch the Air & Water Show. We were lucky enough to watch from a 32nd floor balcony. What a view. Everyone jumped when a Thunderbird buzzed right by the building. Possibly even a few wet pants, and I'm not just talking Peri. We enjoyed the show while Grammy worried about all the grandkids going over the balcony.

A$$

Kindergarten was all about learning bad words."Stupid" was the biggest one they learned.

Then the F word. Almost. Nick and his friend C (have I already told this story?) one day asked if I knew the F word. I told them I did and they begged me to tell them. I explained I couldn't because they would go and tell all the other kids in their class. They then claimed that all the other kids already knew the word and they were the only two who didn't know it. Apparently no one would tell them. Classic case of everyone pretending to know the word, as you know they wouldn't have been able to keep it to themselves. I told them I'd discuss it with C's mom and see if we could tell them. We decided "no".

Then the A word. That one spread like wildfire through Kindergarten. The other night Nick was playing with some friends. He accidentally got hit with a ball and attacked the kid who hit it. Yes, we've got to work on that reaction. Well, the kid he attacked is much bigger and stronger than him and likes to use fingernails. So Nick got hurt pretty quickly. I separated the two and between screams/cries Nick yelled "You're, you're, you're an assey!" The kid yelled back "Well you're stupid". That sent Nick into a rage. If I hadn't been trying to break up this nonsense I think I would have laughed at N's attempt to use ass in a bad way.

Gag

Went to the amusement park with our friends in late July. The first night we were at the park pretty late. The kids hadn't eaten dinner. We were waiting for N&C to get off the Scrambler. Peri was playing with the metal contraption that measures the height of kids to get on the ride. I looked at her and she licked the metal pole. Gag! I yelled out some firm "No! Dirty!" remarks and then Chris then looked over to see what all the commotion was about. Only to watch her do it again! Agghhh! My sweet baby licking a dirty metal pole! I moved her away from the area only to have our entire group watch her lick a trashcan. Gasp! She's never been a licker. I have no idea where this came from. Peri kisses were off limits for a day. Gag.

Early bird

Peri used to be an early bird. 5am - hello! A few late nights and we fixed that!

I love this photo for so many reasons...

• It was taken from C's car at 8am one weekday morning
• It was taken from the parking lot of P's daycare - she couldn't stay awake long enough for the five minute trip from home to school
• It was taken in May. Please note she has a jacket and vest on. And tights. Now, she probably only needed one of the jackets, but went through a period where she insisted on wearing two, but still. It was May and we were wearing jackets.
  

Vacation

Just found these photos from Paris on my phone. Peri was introduced to the fabulous Chupa Chup. The lollipops that buy happiness despite jetlag and hunting for food. Love how you can fly kids halfway around the world and all they really want is to run around in a courtyard with their parents watching them jump/run fast.

Tball

Tball season starts in the chilly spring and ends in hot July. Luckily they had a mister at the last game.

Fear!

We headed to Cedar Point amusement park with some friends this past weekend. Watched our little guy grow up before our eyes! First time on the Mine Ride roller coaster he asked me to put my arm around him. Second time he rode with me. Third time he road with me. Fourth time he rode with Cooper and Chris behind him. Fifth time he rode just with Cooper. And the sixth. And seventh. And eighth. Number nine found him and Coop in the front car of the ride. Coop with hands up. Rock on little man! He also made it on the Magnum, but not by choice. It was night, the line was short and we didn't realize what we were getting ourselves into.


Peri meanwhile loved the swings, hated the cars and loved the snow cones.

Best Day Ever!

What constitutes a best day ever for a six year old? Winning at BINGO. Twice. And getting to pick two prizes. Sour string candy and sports silly bands. He even shared with us!

Carriage and Hot Chocolate

We got Mary a horse & carriage ride with a hot chocolate treat afterwards for her Birthday this year. That was February. Well, she finally cashed in on it this weekend. We went for ice cream instead of hot chocolate. Peri was not too happy to be pulled by a horse. But she perked up in time for the ice cream.

Happy Birthay P!

Peri turned two today! Guess what color her cupcakes were...


She was not happy to have fire near her or her cupcakes...


She started the day by opening a present from Aunt G, Uncle G, H and H...

Bon Jour!

Hello! We'll we've been back from our European adventure for a few weeks now, but haven't sat still long enough to blog about it. Also doesn't help that we got to Paris to find our camera wasn't working. So forgive the cellphone quality photos.

We met up with my friend R and her family outside of Paris. They live in a fabulous, old farmhouse. We spent many hours on their patio eating and drinking to our heart's content. Nick and Peri loved playing with Noah. After two nights there we headed into Paris to spend the days walking around and eating. Yummmm. We met up with a familiar face while walking to the Louvre one day. If Nick's segment airs, he'll be on the Late, Late Show the first week in August.


An overnight train then took us to Florence, Italy. Muy bueno! (that might be Spanish). The overnight train was one of my favorite parts of the trip. Or was it the gelato? We walked around all day and then took a taxi to meet the rest of our clan at the villa Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop had rented for everyone. After a very curvy ride up a mountain we found ourselves in a fabulous villa overlooking Florence and the countryside. Bellisimo! The first night was a fabulous reunion with lots of Chianti and laughter.

Mango Smoothie

Typical Saturday in the Nordloh house: Morning t-ball game, quick trip to Target for something needed (today needed a gift for upcoming birthday party). 4pm birthday party (most bday parties are later these days because they're all scheduled at the bounce house places). Squeeze a few meals in there and they day is gone.

We left t-ball with Nick in tears because I wouldn't buy him ice cream from the evil vendor who waits outside the games. Half the kids get a treat. Half don't. Nick focuses on the half who don't. We grabbed a smoothie and icee while at Target. Peri didn't make it far...

Tired

Some days, Nick talks from the moment I pick him up until I go to bed. That's right, some days I go to bed before he does. He'll be talking a mile a minute. I'll get him into his car seat. I'll close the door. Go around to the other side of the car to open my door and find that he hasn't stopped talking. He'll talk all the way to pick up Peri. He does stop for the few minutes it takes me to go inside and get her (mostly bc he stays in the car) and then he keeps going as soon as I'm back in the car. We get home and he's still going, standing by the door waiting for me to unlock it, talking the entire time. Meanwhile I'm still unloading the car. My god. My ears are tired.

Farm Animals

This video is a little old and shot from crazy angles in the car. But a cute rendition of Peri and her farm animal noises.

http://youtu.be/VgS2dGhIkIs

25 lb weights

Peri has been insisting I carry her everywhere. My arms are not that strong! We hit the beach a few weeks back and were walking to meet our friends. I had a chair, umbrella, bag and Peri. Which would have been fine if she'd walked. But she didn't. So there I was stumbling across the sand with all our gear and the giant baby. I finally put her down. Done! But she whined and whined and wouldn't walk on the sand. I walked ahead and she cried after me. I finally relented and picked her up again. She planted a huge, wet kiss on my cheek as if to say "Thanks Mom!" Sigh.

First Swim Lesson

We went to a friend's house for a bbq Memorial Day weekend. We hung on their deck while Nick and his friend tossed a ball into the pool. His friend (who can swim) was slowly working his way into the chilly water. Then his dad came and pushed him in. We all had a laugh at his expense. Nick had his pants rolled up, but still had his socks/shoes on. Not sure what he thought he was doing. At some point, there was talk of pushing folks into the pool and his friend didn't take Chris's "push Nick in!" the right way and pushed Nick in! We all just stood there in disbelief. Nick popped his head up but hasn't a clue how to swim. Poor little guy was so scared. Chris used his long arms to reach out but couldn't get him. I finally said in a panicked voice "Get him!" and Chris jumped in to save our little guy. The two of them just stood in the chilly water for a while until we could get them towels. Nick came out and heaved a little. Chris came out looking like he was wearing skinny jeans. They drove home to get changed, but decided to call it a night. I asked Nick if he wanted to talk to his friend and he gave very short, but decisive "No's". Poor little friend got carted home and couldn't come out the rest of the night. Chris told Nick we'd sign him up for swim lessons pronto. Nick told him that mom was already on it and then said "That was a crazy first lesson!" Ha! All was forgiven the next day.

Bloody Mary

Remember at slumber parties when you used to try to scare each other? Send someone in a dark bathroom where they turn around three times while saying "bloody mary, bloody mary, bloody mary" and when they open their eyes to look in the mirror they see a woman covered in blood staring back at them. Well, some kid in Kingergarten (who of course has older siblings) watched some horror movie called "Bloody Mary" and came to school to tell the kids all about it. Apparently made one of the kids cry. Nick couldn't even get out of the aftercare door before launching into this story. He couldn't believe that one of the kids tried it and was still living! I told him I'd done it before and would do it with him to show him nothing happens. Nick was having none of it. Bedtime found me sitting on his bed til he fell asleep because he couldn't stop thinking bloody mary. Man, I need a bloody mary after that one!

Birds and Bees

We had Juno on a few weeks ago while Nick was busy playing. He saw the pregnant main character and asked if she was a teenager. Then he asked how a teenager could get pregnant (I think I told him a long time ago that babies are made when a mommy/daddy love each other, so a teenager getting pregnant just wasn't registering for him). I told him the same way a mommy/daddy can. Then he asked how that happens. Didn't we go over this when you were three?! Chris somehow kept his attention on the tv the entire time this conversation was taking place. I stumbled my way through enough of an explanation for Nick to reply "oh" and then go right on playing. Jeesh.

Tooth Fairy

Guess who has wiggly teeth! Nick went to the dentist a few weeks back and she said the bottom front teeth are a little wiggly and his adult teeth are ready to come in! I think he might yank those teeth out just to get some money! I dread having the conversation about the tooth fairy coming into his room to give him the money. We have this conversation about Santa every year. "Is he going to come in my room? Can he see me right now? What about when I'm getting my pjs on?"

Pancakes

Summer is here and so is every meal outside that we can muster. Peri has figured out how to climb onto her booster chair all by herself. Those would be chocolate-chip pancakes on her face. And bed head. Not much different from her regular hair. Her cousin in NY recently saw a photo of Peri and asked "Why is she wearing a wig?"

Graduation

Announcing Nick Nordloh - official first grader!

Getaway

Guess who got away for a long weekend with the girls at Preakness?


Guess who was attached to my hip for the next three weeks after that long weekend? "Hmph. Never letting her out of my site again!"

Water Table

Why do they make waterproof phones? Because when you hear Peri playing at her water table and then see her walk over with a dripping phone to her ear, you realize why. Rock on Motorola.

Dark

One night a few weeks ago found me rushing home to pick up the kids, trying to get everyone fed, in bed on time and myself packed for a long weekend trip. The plan was totally working until the electricity went off. I was in the home office putting on my Out of Office when everything went dark. I thought it was just the back room, until I heard Nick in the front room, “Moooommmmmmmmmm”. I hustled in there and he latched onto my leg. We couldn’t find a match in the house to save our lives. Thought I’d light a skewer from the gas stove to then light a candle. Others have since poo-poo’d this idea, but I still think it was a good one. But the stove wouldn’t light. Which doesn’t make sense since its gas…but whatever. So we went upstairs in the dark and found his rechargeable night light ready to go. I explained we could have fun with it and pretend it was like the olden days when they went to bed as soon as it got dark. Nick was having none of it. He just wanted to crawl in my bed and pretend none of this was happening. Coop's dad was running by our house that night and saw the street had lost power. He called his house to tell them and Coop got all worried. “Oh no, this isn’t good. Nick doesn’t like the dark. He needs to see everything in front of him. This isn’t good.” How sweet is that? A friend who totally knows you. At age 6. I love it.

Princess

Peri isn’t into Princesses. But I guess she just didn’t know what they were until now. She has a huge sticker book and one of the stickers was a big tiara. I put it on my forehead and said “princess”. Then Peri walked around with it on her forehead for hours saying “princess”. Cute, but scary.

aghhh

I meant to load some photos before these posts hit...stay tuned...

Headband

Headbands. P’s hair is out of control. We’ve tried barrettes/bows but they just come out and end up all over the house/car/school. Even her teacher finds them in her pockets. Pigtails are cute, but those mini rubber bands are a pain to get out at night. That’s why sometimes you’ll find P wearing 3 day old pigtails. Yes, that also means P doesn’t get her hair washed every night. So we went with headbands. And she loves them! Has to point out anytime she sees a person or picture wearing a headband.

Spiders!

One of the perks of having a Papa Jack who works at the museum is that he can get you insider tours! Nick and his friend C spent a recent day off school with Grammy and PJ and got to hold a tarantula!! It looks like the man is holding the spider, but he's holding N's hand, who's holding the spider. Guess in case N freaked and dropped him.

Adorable

Found this adorable photo on Nick's camera of Peri and had to share. Must be at least a year old. The short, brown hair cracks me up since she's now a curly blonde.