Over and Out

I couldn't resist posting a couple of pictures of what Norah's been up to today. While I was sitting at the dining room table, she decided to encage herself in the legs enclosure under my chair, and play with mommy's ankles.

Never one to pass up a good photo op, I freed my ankles from my cherub's death grip, and quickly produced the camera, just in time to capture my little Houdini's escape act.

While it would have been all too easy to crawl out on all fours (the same way she got in there in the first place), where's the fun in that? No, instead Norah decided to find another exit route.--over and out! She stood up and then bent herself in half and flipped over the bar to her "freedom". She did this entire maneuver quite gracefully, landing carefully on her hands and then pulling her legs behind her (in a rather snake-like fashion). I assure you, folks, I was 2 feet from her, and she was in complete control of her limbs. It totally reminded me of Catherine Zeta Jones' training excercises in "Entrapment" (except we don't let our daughter wear skin-tight, black leggings). And you should have seen how proud she was of herself. Yes, I definately have to keep my eye on this little acrobat--I never know what she's gonna try next!

Well, Houdini and I are off to JoAnn Fabrics for the final touch for her Halloween costume...which, I might add, is pretty much the most fun thing I've ever sewn! (Feel free to post your guesses...unless you are one of the few who really knows what she's dressing up as....maybe I'll use you ideas for next year!)

Sisters, Shopping Sprees, and Saltgrass

Jason, Norah, and I took our first family roadtrip last weekend. Truth be told, it was the first time Jason and I have left town in over a year and a half! (I know, I know, we really should get out more) My little sis, Amanda, moved to Austin back in August, so this was our first trip to see her in her new environment.

We left for Austin (followed by my brother, Johnny, in his truck) Friday around 7pm. Amanda and Trae were both working at Carino's until late, so we let ourselves into Amanda's apartment, where I was totally impressed with how clean, cute, and well-decorated her place was. Amanda had made a big posterboard that said "Welcome Jonathan, Angela, Jason, and Norah!" and hung it on the door to her apartment. It was so huge, we could read it from the ground--and her apartment is on the third floor!

When Amanda and Trae got off from work, they came and met us at Amanda's apartment. We hugged and visited, and the old people with the baby (that would be Jason and me) decided we needed to go to bed! Jonathan and Trae headed over to Trae's apartment (on the other side of the same complex) and stayed up til who know's when watching "Tombstone".

The next morning, Amanda, Norah and I went shopping at the new outlet mall in Round Rock. The guys headed over to Wells Branch park to play a half round of disc golf. (Jason lost one of his beloved discs on top of a nearby building--but he assures me, the line was PERFECT--it would have been a great shot, otherwise)

Meanwhile, at the outlet mall, Amanda and I were having a blast finding all kinds of great deals. (I, by the way, highly recommend this shopping locale--it was huge, and had a ton of stores that I loved) Amanda's big purchase of the day--a t-shirt for her mini chiahuahua, Bob Marley, that said, "Only Child". I walked away with several bags of loot, too. (None of which included any puppy-wear)

Norah was a trooper, she stayed in her stroller from 11am until about 4pm without a complaint. Amanda and I laughed because at one point, I took her out to my car to change her diaper, and while I was cleaning Norah up, she found a little birdhouse Christmas ornament that a friend of ours had made. She played with it happily throughout the diaper change, and I failed to notice that she stowed it along when we put her back into the stroller. She held on to that little birdhouse like it was her prized possession all day long--even when she fell asleep! (I'll bet it'll be her favorite thing on our Christmas tree this year!) If you look closely at the photo, you can see it clutched between the tiny fingers of her left hand.

After our long day of shopping (and the guys' adventures with disc golf and the batting cages), we were famished, so we decided to try a new (to us) restaurant for dinner. When Gramps and Grandad used to live in Lago Vista, Jason and I watched a cool steakhouse called "Saltgrass" being built, but we never ate there. We decided to give it a whirl before we headed back home. Much to our dismay, there was a 45 minute wait, which we quickly determined was due to the fact that it was Round Rock's Homecoming weekend (judging by all the high school kids in formal wear), as well as being a UT home game night. I'd like to say the food was worth the wait, but in actuality, it was really just ok...and the prices were outrageous. The portions were big though, and we had a really cool waiter who taught us how to say, "Please don't eat me!" in Japanese. (And we had WAY too much fun taking digital pictures...we were probably more immature than the aforementioned Homecoming highschoolers...but we had fun!)

After dinner, Jason and I headed back to Bryan for a good night's sleep so we'd be fresh and ready to teach the 2-year-olds Sunday morning (Jason was my co-teacher this week since my regular co-teachers were all out of town...and I must say he did a fantastic job--he learned the kids' names a lot quicker than I ever did!)

One other highlight of the weekend I just can't help but mention is how proud I was of Norah. She was a good girl all weekend long, and even slept in her pack-and-play all night! (It was her first time away from her own bed)

Thanks, AA & Trae for a fantastic family weekend, and thank you so much, sweetheart for your very generous gift of spending money for a super-fun shopping spree!

13 Older Hymns

My good friend, Sara suggested I have a "favorite hymns" topic, but I love so many, I decided to make it a two-parter. So, this week's T-13 is a list of my 13 favorite older church hymns and I'll follow up next week with my list of favorite newer hymns.

Hope these songs have you singing and smiling like they did me when I made the list. It really lifted my spirits! Have a great Thursday, and feel free to add your favorites. I really had so many more than 13...it was hard to choose! I only made it halfway through "Songs of the Church" before my list was full. And no, I didn't steal a copy of our church hymnal...(actually, it was more like 2..but they're being put to good use! Please don't turn me in!)

1. Sing and Be Happy
   
2. Our God, He is Alive (AKA "728b"to my CoC affiliated friends)
3. Jesus Paid it All
4. A Beautiful Life (Life's Evening Sun Is Sinking Low---love those deep bass voices!)
5. O Sacred Head
6. Paradise Valley (This one gets stuck in my head all the time, but I don't mind because I love it!)
7. O Lord, Our Lord (When else do the sopranos get to bust a high A?)
   
8. There Is Sunshine In My Soul (When I was in the AFC, I sang weekly at Sherwood Nursing Home. There was a sweet woman named "Miss Evelynn" who wasn't well enough to leave her room, so we would make a special trip to see her each week and this was the song she always requested. To this day, when I sing it, I always think of her and how in awe of her joy--despite her circumstances--I always felt. I wish I could show you the radiant smile she had every time we sang to her--it was truly a blessing to me to meet her)
9. It is Well With My Soul
10. The Lord Bless You and Keep You (Our church traditionally sings this as our "parting song" after devos, bbqs, or other times of fellowship, and also when we say "goodbye" to families who are moving away. It makes me want to cry, and feel peaceful, all at the same time...and I love that "7-fold Amen"!)
11. The Great Redeemer (He is ev'-ry thing-to-me-to-me)
12. Blessed Jesus, Hold My Hand
13. The New Song (which, ironically, is now considered an old song)
    

Mommy's Back!

Whew! It's been a rough past few days. I (along with my cousin, Donna, who had the misfortune of dining with me Saturday for lunch) am finally over a really bad bout with food poisoning...and let me just say that if you've never had it before, you're definately not missing out on anything good.

I dont know what I would have done without my sweet husband and my amazing mom these past few days, but you'd better believe I've said a lot of thankful prayers for them this week!

As today is the first day I've felt worth beans all week, I had a lot of catching up to do. Norah and I had to go to her favorite place, Walmart, to get some badly needed groceries. (We were neck-and-neck with Old Mother Hubbard as far as bare cupboards go) After putting all the food away, I went through Norah's closet and put away all of the 0-3 month clothes (finally!). A closet purge always does my heart good. Norah and I have also been catching up on our play time together since I hadn't been the most attentive mommy over the past few days. She was more than content to read stories with me and crawl up and down the hallway together. (She thinks its pretty funny that Mommy can crawl, too)

I think her promotion day for Bible class is quickly approaching. There are so many new babies being born, I'm sure she'll have to move to the next class soon, simply for the sake for no more room. She loves her teachers so much, I know she'll miss them. Her favorite songs from class right now are "The Trees are Gently Swaying" (she grins EVERY time we start to sing it, even if she's mid-cry) and "I Can Make My Hands Patt-Patt-Patt" (She even patts her hands when we sing it to her!)

I am so thankful to have such a sweet, healthy, happy baby girl. (And I am SO happy that she didn't seem to suffer any of the effects of my food poisoning adventure) It feels good to be back in the saddle. I'm looking forward to cooking dinner for Jason for the first time this week! (And I'm sure he's looking forward to not having to eat fast food, again!)

Norah's Special Place

We've had a great week. Norah has been such a good girl! She is really learning how to entertain herself, and be content playing on her own, which is a huge help to Mommy, when I have things to do like housework, cooking, or dare I say it?--Hair and makeup!

She's been exploring all sorts of things--and even experimenting with letting go of what she's holding on to while she's standing...but only long enough to switch to someplace else (like from the love-seat to the couch, etc.) She's walking around holding onto everything she can find, and when she can't get somewhere that way, she just lets go, and crawls the rest of the way.

This week, while I was working on a cake, she was playing quietly, close to the table where I was working. Then, I couldn't find her for a moment, so I turned around, to be greeted by what I thought was a pretty cute sight. She had somehow managed to gracefully nestle herself under her highchair, which was propped against the wall. It really is a wonder she didn't knock it over on top of herself getting in there. And to my even greater surprise, she exited her "special place" as gracefully as she had entered (I watched her, in wonder, as she delicately placed her hands and feet, just-so, as not to disturb the chair's legs)

I had to laugh at the second picture. That is the look she always seems to have when I find her doing something new to her (that she thinks might be a "no-no"). I promise, I don't beat my daughter--but doesn't she really look like she's expecting to be in trouble?

In addition to achieving acrobatic greatness, Norah also succeeded in occupying herself with no complaints, for the duration of my cake exploit. (Which is progess for us--I usually need Grammy to be here when I work on a cake because Norah has a tendancy to get jealous.

Another big milestone we've been working on this week is bedtime. We have been very blessed for most of Norah's 8 months, to have a sweet baby girl who likes her bed, and sleeps all night long, but sometime last month, she started fighting bedtime. Not fun. A few nights Jason would rock her to sleep (after we'd let her cry for 45 min. with no sign of stopping). But this week, we seemed to turn a corner, and the apparent solution was pretty unexpected.

It seems Norah needs a late nap--like around 5-6:30pm. When she wakes up from that nap, she'll play happily for an hour and a half, and then its time for bed. And for the past 4 nights, she's gone willingly. I guess she was just getting so tired between her afternoon nap and bedtime that she was fighting sleep because she was so tired...if that makes sense. At any rate, I hope we're out of the woods because it is SO much nicer to just put her in bed and walk away!

13 Favorite Chick Flicks

For lack of any "less shallow" ideas, this week's T-13 is a list of some of my favorite "Chick Flicks". (In order to preserve his dignity, I wont devulge how many of these Jason has actually sat through with me...I'll just say he's a good sport, and I love my husband!)

1. Sabrina--I like both versions, but I'm partial to Harrison Ford as Linus. He plays the uptight, self-centered, arrogant business man too well!
   
2. Raising Helen--I laughed, I cried, and Kate Hudson has perfect hair.
   
3. The Wedding Planner--Yeah, I know...its a JLo flick...but I thought it was cute.
   
4. 13 Going on 30--The "Thriller" dance scene is the funniest thing I've seen in a LONG time!
   
5. The Lake House--just watched this one over the weekend and loved it---although it ended a little abruptly.
   
6. A Walk to Remember--this one is definately worthy of a box of tissues.
   
7. An Affair to Remember--the Carey Grant version. One of my favorite movies, ever.
   
8. Steel Magnolias--This one still makes me cry every time I see it...why do we torture ourselves with super-sad movies and love every second?
   
9. Fried Green Tomatoes--Ta-Wanda!!!
   
10. My Best Friend's Wedding--So many funny lines in this one ("You're never gonna be jello")
    
11. To Catch a Thief--another Carey Grant favorite...and I love Grace Kelly too!
    
12. Ever After--great take on the Cinderella story. I loved it...but I haven't seen it in years.
    
13. Runaway Bride--It was great to see Julia Roberts and Richard Gere back together again (I loved Pretty Woman too--even if it was a "Hooker Cinderella Story")

PS--Any T-13 topic suggestions you can come up with would be welcomed...I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel over here!

Guess What Norah Found Today

Now if you think really hard, I'll bet you can guess what fun new toy our darling 8-month-old found to play with today. That's right...the door stopper! I was in the kitchen working on a cake, when suddenly a loud, vibrating, "Do-oi-oi-oin-g!" pierced the quiet on the other side of the kitchen wall. I didn't even have to look. The door stopper spring has one of those sounds that is completely unmistakable for anything else. I just grabbed the camera and got ready to document Norah the Explorer's latest "discovery".

She was having a ball...and then she saw me. It was priceless--she was completely intent on making her music there with the doorstop, then she looked up and saw me towering over her. Her elation melted as she looked up at me with questioning eyes, as if to ask, "Am I in big trouble?" I couldn't help but laugh, and she knew from that, that everything was ok. She laughed too. (She's started doing that this week--if I laugh at something, she mimmicks me...so funny!) She even made her funny "Sniffy-Face" (She has taken to milking that face for laughs every chance she can get...and she will now do it on command, which is pretty fun when we want to show our friends!) Then she went back to her playtime with the door stop. I'm just thankful she didn't put it in her mouth. (Although, I did go and give all the door stops throughout the house a good wipe down, just to be safe)