Minnesota Visit Jan 2016

I don't know what we were thinking, but Anora and I booked a plane ticket back to Minnesota in the dead of winter!  It did not disappoint, with sub zero weather and snow.  We were warmed by all the family and friends we got to see while back in the mid-west.  It was nice to spend lots of time with Gammy & Grandpa.  Anora liked playing a game of circling up and down the stairs in the house while Grandpa looked for her.  She liked sitting by the fire eating dinner one night, and watching the Vikings v Seahawks game. 

 Walking and playing in the snow was also a highlight.  Gammy helped her build a snowman!

Anora was spoiled by Gammy and got to do Build a Bear.  She made an Elsa bear.  She loves it.  I can hear the "let it go" music playing as I type this.  Not only did Anora get Elsa bear, she also won a bear from the claw machine that she named Lexi Bear after cousin Lexi.

 She got to play with some sweet toys at Peicks house, including this fun drum set.

 Anora loved seeing all her cousins and playing with the big kids!

 Anora got to spend a whole day with both sets of Grandparents!  She was in heaven!

G-ma & G-pa drove all the way from Madison to see her and spend the day! 

 One morning we went over to Choo Choo Bobs Train store.  Lots of kids running around to watch, and trains to push!

 We even made it to Owatonna to watch Laken's hockey game, and eat popcorn!

 On the last morning we caught brunch with Gammy, Grandpa & Uncle Mike.  We shared that huge cinnamon roll between all 5 of us!

Then Anora and I took off on the airplane and flew back home.  All and all she did pretty good.  She was tired and I was hoping she would fall asleep.  Well, she did, right as the wheels of the plane touched the ground...convenient.  Fortunately there was a nice woman next to me who helped me carry all my stuff while I carried my sleeping babe.  We missed Papa, but had such a fun time seeing everyone.  Until next time!!  xo

Christmas time in our New HOME!

We have been in our new house for 2 weeks now, and it feels like home.  It's not super familiar yet, so we still lose things, or trip over stairs, but it's really starting to come together.  It was especially nice this year, to celebrate Christmas here.  We even found time to get a tree up.  It made it really feel special. 
 



 Christmas eve day we went to Winterfest at the Seattle Center.  We got to see a huge train display that was so neat.  There was even a train with Santa on it.  We saw lots of snowmen (though we had no snow) and even watched the kids on the ice rink.  Next year we will take her ice skating, but this year she really enjoyed watching. We did too.  It was pretty hilarious to see all the people skating who have no idea what they are doing.

 
We went to church in the evening and Anora was SOO good.  She even clapped and sang at the end with Mrs. Michelle :)  After church we came home and unwrapped matching PJs!   They all had moose on them.  Anora got a moose stuffed animal and the If you give a moose a muffin book.  She was so excited. 

 Two of Anora's prized gifts: the Little People house & car from Gammy & grandpa and the kitchen set from Santa Claus!

Christmas morning we ate Monkey bread while opening our gifts from family and Santa.  Anora could barely find time to shove a piece of bread in her mouth between gifts.

That night we took a walk around the neighborhood to see Christmas lights.  We stopped by the Porth's house and Anora liked playing with the kids and seeing all the new toys.  It was such a great day. 

But wouldn't you know it, the binkie fairy came the day after Christmas and swooped away all Anora's binkies.  We were expecting choas, tantrums, and lots of tears, but Anora has taken it all astonishingly well.  She asks for it periodically, but gets over it quickly.  She even sleeps just fine without it.  What a relief for mama and papa!  Our Anora is such a big girl.

Potty time

Update!  Anora went pee pee on the potty for the first time last night!  We were all so excited jumping and cheering.  Anora loved that she got an treat (one M&M) for it too and it may motivate her to do more peeing on the potty!  Here's to no more diapers.

In other news we just bought a house, we get the keys tomorrow. 
We literally cannot wait to get in that house!  Last night we signed all the paperwork....here we go.  Homeowners round two!

We have had a wonderful and busy few months.  Anora dressed up as a fairy princess on Halloween and loved the treats and other kids in costume.  We went to a Halloween gathering with our PEPs friends to see all the cuties in costume.

We had a lovely visit from G-pa and G-ma in November.  They spoiled Anora and she loved it!  She also learned how to say TV when they were hear and showed off her spectacular pronunciation of "Sea-hawks!".  Ben's parents really helped us seal the deal on the new house too.  It was so wonderfully having them stay with us.

Over Thanksgiving, we did our annual roadtrip down to Utah to visit the Schauers family.  I love catching up and eating with the Schauers clan.  They sure do know how to cook!  I really enjoyed watching the cousins play together.  Anora said "Lexi, are you?" "Amy, are you?" and "Baby Archer" for days after we returned.  She missed Aaron and Ava too, but those names are harder for her to say.

While in Utah I got to visit the doTERRA headquarters which was so exciting for me since I am soooo into the essential oils now.  I loaded up on supplies when I was out there and readied myself for my second doTERRA class that I held when I returned.

We stopped by to see Santa one night, but Anora wasn't having it...so we have a picture of her crying and Santa saying, "I'm not even touching you."  Hahaha!  Ava decided she didn't like Santa either and started crying for their picture too!  Gotta love the toddlers :)

Hope you all have a very merry Christmas!

Anora's fav song

In case you missed it, here is Anora dancing to her favorite jam - Whip Nae Nae by Silento.  She prefers the video with the little girls dancing so she can copy the moves.

Another year at the orchard

Year Seven!  Our family loves to apple pick.  We've been doing it every year since we've moved out to Seattle.  It's so fun to get in the fall spirit and drink some cocoa and go pick apples.  Anora loves apples, so I thought she'd really get into it this year.  But as things go with willful toddlers, she was having a melt down when we were picking apples, so she was mostly not interested.  She did enjoy the petting zoo (goats, kittens, and hens, oh my!) and seeing the ducks race!  Quack quack!  She also liked the pumpkin patch and picked out two little white ones for her and Eleanor to paint this week.

Plus I have to add this little video I took the other day of Anora saying some of her words.

A year and 1/2 already (18 months)!

Anora just flipped over the calendar on 18 months last week.  I have been saying she's about 1.5 years old for several weeks now, but it's finally official!  She is definitely a toddler and has really started to become her own lady in the last month.  Her vocabulary is exploding, and she communicates what she wants.  She is very good at saying, "no" or "no no no" while shaking her head. Some of her other favorite words are "shoes" to indicate she wants to go outside ("side"), "nose", "eye", "woof woof", "meow", "mama" or any variation "mom" "mommy" etc, "papa", "off", "down", "truck", "Julie" (her nanny), and "weeeeee" on swings.  Her little voice and pronunciation kills me every time.   Her first phrase was "papa's shoes".  She likes to try walking around the house in mama and papa's shoes.  She loves to play and will even go into her playroom and have a tea party on her own sometimes.  But she never wants to play alone when I'm making dinner.  That's when she wants to be "up".  Up on me, on the counters, and getting into everything! Her favorite is using the pepper grinder.

She has discovered some of her own dance moves which involve jumping and flapping her arms up and down. It's hilarious to watch, check out this video here.

She laughs a lot and is learning how to play games like peek-a-boo.  She still loves playing in and with water.  I guess that's the Pieces in her.  She is becoming a better eater, but still can be easily distracted by people, games, or toys.  Her favorite foods are OLIVES, frozen yogurt tubes, grapes, and quesadillas dipped in guacamole. and egg sandwiches.  She also really likes chocolate chip cookies because we made the mistake of giving her one at the state fair.  Now she whines for cookies when she sees them.

Here are the stats on our little peanut:
Height: 2'7.26" / 79.4 cm (28%)
Weight: 20 lbs / 9.072 kg (14.5%)
Head Circumference: 45 cm / 17.72" (17%)

A tribute to Great grandpa Glen

Sadly, our dear great-grandpa Egan passed away on August 8th, 2015.  He was 94 years old.  We regret that he only got to meet his great-grand daughter Anora once in person, but he saw her several times via skype.  He loved seeing her on skype and would always give her big smiles, and touch the screen.  The three of us traveled back to Madison, WI last weekend for the wake (8/13) and funeral (8/14).  Though the circumstances were less than ideal, we were really happy to get some time with family.  Anora did really well traveling and we were all exhausted upon our return.  The sign of a well enjoyed trip.  We are going to miss Glen, but keep him in our hearts and minds.  We know he is happy in heaven and can rest peacefully.