Things were so crazy this Summer that the blog was all but forgotten. We were still doing fun things and taking pictures, though, so I'm going to do my best to catch up. I really want to have these events documented, so please forgive the fact that it is almost Halloween and you are reading about Easter. In a year it won't matter!
We had a fun Easter this year with two littles who (sort of) knew what was going on. We kept their baskets simple with just a few treats and small toys that we knew would get a lot of use over the summer- sandbox tools, bubbles, etc. The Easter Bunny came to our house on Saturday (in the afternoon . . . fingers crossed that next year we're more on top of things?) so that Easter Sunday could be focused on the Savior. It worked out really well, and I think it's a tradition we will continue. Some highlights in picture form:
Nora's basket
Joey's basket
Nora was in LOVE with her Jessie doll!
Joey is our champion digger- these items have been well used.
It's hard to believe that our NorNor Girl is two! (Or maybe not so hard to believe- she's kind of two-going-on-sixteen some days.)
We celebrated with cowgirl book cake at Grandma and Grandpa Erdmann's the Sunday before:
Nora loves Toy Story lately, and always wants to watch "Cowboy and Buzz." Most birthday requests were centered around cowboys.
The actual birthday was on a Friday, but because of some crazy busy-ness we did the bulk of our celebrating on Saturday. First, we went swimming at the Orem Rec Center- love the sweatsuit!
We came home and opened presents . . .
And of course her favorites were the cheap Party Land cowboy-themed favors :).
She wears this hat everywhere. She even sleeps in it occasionally.
We ate her favorite meal, pizza and bread sticks with chocolate milk, before digging into a much simpler version of the boot cake. Isn't she sweet?
We sure love our Eleanor! Some info about her two-year-old Self:
* Nora loves dance parties. We turn on some music in the living room and rock out!
* She loves her daddy. When I try to give Dave a kiss when he comes home from work, Nora says, "No Mommy! My Daddy! Go play with JoJo!"
* She loves to sing. She sings along with all of her many bedtime songs, and we hear her singing songs she's only heard a few times. (Favorites include the Gilmore Girls theme song and "O Christmas Tree.")
* She has several "journals" that she has filled with drawings and "writing." Her favorite thing to "write" is her full name and the names of every family member she can think of. This includes "Daddy Ray Burton" and "JoJo Boy Burton."
* Whenever Nora walks down the stairs to our front door, she exclaims, "Here comes me!"
* She can count to ten, knows her colors, and can recite the entire alphabet.
* Any time you ask her a question, she says "I don't know," followed by the (usually) correct answer. "What color is this block?" "I don't know. Blue!"
* She adds -Girl or -Boy to the end of all of our names. Daddy Boy, Mommy Girl, NorNor Girl, and JoJo Boy. She has also been known to call for "Davey" to come help her.
Ok- I'm trying to figure out the whole Picasa/photo-collage thing, so if this is kind of crazy, please forgive me. Anyway, we had Christmas!
The Traditional Christmas Eve Pajama Shot
It was so much fun to have two kids this Christmas, especially with Nora being old enough to know what was going on. We had a smallish, simple Christmas, but it was amazing to see the magic through their eyes!
After opening gifts, we realized that due to moving/Christmas craziness, we had nothing planned for breakfast. The solution? IHOP! We headed over, pajamas and all, and discovered that Christmas morning breakfast at IHOP (in your pajamas) is a tradition for a lot of people. There was such a fun, festive feeling, the food was (of course) delicious, and we didn't have to wash a single dish. In short: Awesome. Nora was in heaven.
I think it's about time I dedicate a post to the monster that has been taking over our lives for the past four months- The Scarlet Pimpernel. The minute the Hale announced that Pimpernel would be a part of their 2010 season, we knew Dave was going to try out, and we knew he was going to play Chauvelin. He's always been good at playing the bad guy, and this particular bad guy has *really* good songs. It has been a truly grueling process, but we have had a lot of fun along the way. We joke that putting on a play is like having a baby- rehearsal is the pregnancy, tech week is labor and delivery, and opening night is the birth of the baby. Wonderful! Joyous! And then the sleepless nights begin . . . Anyhow, I wanted to share some of the high points with you all.
First off- the FABULOUS reviews (obscure though they may be- the big newspapers never seem to see Dave's cast):
"As evil Citizen Chauvelin, Dave Burton . . . brings fire-breathing charisma as he tries to discover the identity of his rival. . . Burton has the cast’s best singing voice: He has a strong baritone and sings with fervent modulation. His “Falcon in the Dive” is a masterful interpretation of the soaring ballad. He can be demonic but also shows great tenderness in “Where’s the Girl?”"
- Utah Theater Bloggers (full review here.)
“. . . Burton has the best voice in the cast, and he’s given some of the best songs, especially “Falcon in the Dive,” where he declares his intentions . . . [Chauvelin] is far and away the most complex character in the show, and I found myself looking forward to every one of Burton’s songs.”
- Provo Orem Word (full review is kind of hard to read, but if you really want to, it's here.)
Next, the T-shirts. We joked from the beginning that we should capitalize on the "Team" phenomenon- we're Team Jacob, btw- by making some Team Chauvelin shirts. I found a fantastic tutorial for DIY screen printing, and the shirts turned out better than we could have imagined! PS- if you're wondering how I did the super-cool silhouette, I used this tutorial.
And last, The Dress. When the Hale last did Pimpernel (starring Melia Erdmann, cough cough), the costume designer, Maryann, made a tiny dupicate of the fabulous "Riddle" dress to fit her three-year-old daughter. Well, Nora was asked to come join the official cast photo shoot to model it! It took a lot of M&M's, but we got some fun pictures. When the professional ones come back we'll share them, but these will have to do for now!
And so, just like our pregnancy analogy, this is the part where we swear up and down that it will be a long, LONG time before we do this again. And then, in a few weeks or months, we'll see auditions posted for Hairspray or Seussical, and all of the pain, the exhaustion, and the sleepless nights will be forgotten. Sigh. Will we ever learn? ;)
Since I only just posted our Halloween pictures, I find it perfectly acceptable that I document Dave's birthday a week after the fact. Or I justify it because we are crazy busy trying to close out Pimpernel this week (5 shows!) and preparing to move next week. Either way.
Because of our crazy schedule, we got to spread out the birthday love. On Saturday we enjoyed a nice cozy evening together as a family. We had a yummy dinner of Thai beef, jasmine rice, and a Jell-o cheesecake with blueberry topping. Nora helped me wrap all of the presents and practiced singing "Happy Birthday" all afternoon. It was WONDERFUL to have a quiet evening at home.
Joey was bummed that he didn't get any cheesecake.
We celebrated with family on Sunday, and on Monday we were able to go out to lunch- just the two of us!
Dave- I love you forever and ever and never stop. I'm sure glad you were born!!
I finally got the pictures that Keri took on Halloween to share with you all! I was so incredibly proud of how fabulous we all looked :).
Nora's love of Tinker Bell was the jumping off point for our costume theme. I don't know how it happened, but this little girl is obsessed! She loves all things fairy, and every fairy is named "Tinka Bew." I made her dress by copying her shift from the Renaissance fairs, then made her wings with wire hangers, nylons, and glitter fabric paint. I wish we'd gotten more shots of the wings- I was so proud of how they turned out!
She was a big fan of the whole Trick-or-Treating thing. She kept saying, "More candies? In the bucket!"
Joey was a very convincing Mr. Smee, sporting a striped sleeper, navy sweatpants, and a hat I made from an old sweater.
And, of course, Smee's favorite teething ring . . .
Dave's costume was pieced from a few things we already had plus a few items from the Hale. His awesome hook was donated to the cause by Michelle and Tyler. My hat (originally for Robin Hood- I turned it sideways for Pan) and corset came from Michelle, of course, and I threw together a skirt to go with it all. My Ren Fair belt and a Disneyland sword complete the look!
It was crazy, busy, and stressful, but it was so fun to get all dressed up- even if we kinda had nowhere to go! We had so much fun this Halloween- pictures of our pumpkin carving escapades to come!
