A couple of weeks ago, we had family photos taken. Nora was a little difficult to work with, I must say–but most 2-year-olds are. We bribed her with fruit snacks (something we have actually never given her before) and that was at least partially successful. Otherwise, it was a lot of distracting and tickling and tricks to get her to smile on our part, and, well, miracle-working on our photographer’s part.
Photography is obviously an important part of my life. But even I will admit to making excuses not to have them done by someone else. We take plenty of our own photos, but there is still merit in having someone else take them for you–something we’ve only done twice so far in Nora’s life, which I carry a lot of guilt about. Still, I try to tell myself that I have adequately captured her life thus far–with way more detail than our parents captured our lives, thanks to today’s technology–so I shouldn’t feel guilty.
Overall, my goal is to have photos taken once a year, sometime between May and September. We’ve accomplished that so far, but it’s shocking to see how much Nora has changed since the last time we had them done, yikes!
Anyway, enough talking. It was so hard to narrow these down. We got 70+ photos from the photographer, I narrowed them down to 44(!) for posting to Facebook for family and friends… and now I’ve narrowed them down further here.
(Hey, I didn’t say I did a GOOD job of narrowing down. So bear with me through the photo dump. And enjoy?)
{Nora was OBSESSED with these parasols. OBSESSED.}
{I’m getting those little wrinkles around my eyes! I’m aging! Wahhhh!}
{She’s “roaring” at the photographer, like a tiger. She likes to “scare” people.}
Now, for the hardest part of all… deciding which ones to hang on our walls! Eek!
When I posted about my first experiences with quinoa last month, I asked all of you to share with me your favorite quinoa recipes. A number of you suggested trying quinoa and cheese.
Nora loves macaroni and cheese, so on her birthday last week, I decided to make quinoa and cheese for her birthday dinner. I googled around and found a recipe that seemed easy, still relatively healthy, and incorporated veggies, too.
This one also incorporates bread crumbs on top, which always add some nice flavor and texture to mac and cheese recipes, so it was a nice touch here. The thing with this recipe? The flavor is very mild. It was good, I’d eat it again, but still, I wasn’t overly impressed. And although Nora ate it on her birthday, she wanted nothing to do with the leftovers–so it’s hard to say what she really thought. :)
I want to try some other quinoa and cheese recipes, but if you are looking for a recipe to start with, you could give this one a try. I’ll continue the search for a really good one and keep you posted when I find it!
Quinoa and Cheese
(Source: Around the Table)
Ingredients:
– 1 & 1/2 cups quinoa, rinsed and drained
– Veggies of your choice (optional)
– good pinch of salt
– a few grinds of seasoning salt
– 2 cloves garlic, minced
– 2 large eggs
– 1 cup soy milk or non-fat milk
– 1 1/2 cups grated Cheddar cheese, more for sprinkling
– Optional – Crushed Red Pepper, Panko Bread crumbs for topping
– Toppings (optional) – salsa, hot sauce, sour cream, scallions
Directions:
1. Lightly saute any veggies you would like in this dish.
2. Cook quinoa to package directions. (About 15 minutes.)
3. Preheat oven to 350 F. Coat 13×9 inch dish( or 8 individual ramekins) with cooking spray.Whisk together eggs and milk in large bowl. Fold in quinoa mixture and cheese. Stir very well and let some of the cheese melt. Transfer to prepared baking dish and if using Panko Crumbs or Bread crumbs add now and bake 30-35 mins, until bread crumbs are browned.
It was a good day. We celebrated Nora’s second birthday.
Up until yesterday, we weren’t sure what our plans were for today. Last year, Nora’s birthday was on a Sunday, so there wasn’t any question that we’d be with her, but with it being a Tuesday this year, we didn’t know exactly what to do. Send her to daycare as usual and go to work? Take the day off to spend with her? Half and half?
Ultimately, we made the decision to stay home with her and I am SO GLAD we did. Once we got her out of bed this morning, I knew in my heart that if I had to drop her off at daycare today, I would’ve felt terrible about it. In retrospect, I don’t know why I even considered going to work!
So we made the day special.
We started by going out to breakfast together, and ordered Nora her own gigantic pancake. We brought a couple of candles with us.
Although Nora can be a champion eater–especially when it comes to yummy things like pancakes!–she only ate about 1/3 of this thing. :) The rest came home with us for leftovers… she can eat it for two more breakfasts!
Nora has learned to blow on food to cool it down (or at least attempt to), so she was also a natural at trying to blow out her candles. She doesn’t quite have the wind capacity to get the job done, but it’s sure cute to watch her try. :)
After breakfast, I marveled at how big she looks in her car seat these days. It just kind of hit me in that moment, like holy crap–she is not a baby anymore.
She has had congestion and a runny nose this week, so here she is holding her tissue. Half the time, when we try to wipe her nose, she says her equivalent of “I do it” and makes us give her the tissue to wipe herself. Craziness.
We bought Nora a playhouse for our backyard back in June–which was our early birthday present to her–but yesterday, we realized that because her party isn’t until Saturday, she wouldn’t have anything to open on her birthday. To fix that, we made a quick run through the toy aisle at Walmart and got her a couple of little things. Hey, we couldn’t resist. :)
So when we got home from breakfast we let her open one of her presents.
Yes, that is Christmas wrapping paper. One of these days, I will remember to keep birthday paper on hand.
She actually did a really great job of ripping it open herself, which made me happy–I can’t wait to see her with her gifts at her party!
It’s just a little cash register by Little Tykes. She was pleased. :)
We played with it for quite a while today. It’s been a really long time since she’s had new toys–Christmas, really–so it’s fun for all of us!
We moved into her playroom to play and she made a complete mess of it. She pulled all of her books off the shelves, and “read” by herself quietly. I tried to get her to sit with me to read a few books and she FREAKED OUT. Miss Independent strikes again. She just wants to do everything herself.
After a nap, we got her up and ready to make her first-ever trip to the zoo. We figured that since she enjoyed the aquarium in Boston so much, she would likely get a kick out of the animals at the zoo.
We were right. First stop was with the monkeys, and she was LOVING it.
She made a lot of her animal sounds, and as you can see in some of these pics, she even brought along one of her Little People ZooTalker animals with her. In fact, she brought four with her into the car, but we pared it down to one for the actual trip through the zoo so we wouldn’t lose anyone. :) Before we left the house, we were talking up our visit to the zoo and she ran to her ZooTalker zoo and started grabbing animals.
In other words, although challenging at times, there are so many reasons why this age is awesome. :)
Here she is, waving at the crocodiles. She kept saying “Hiii!” randomly to all of the animals.
When we first got to the tiger exhibit, this guy was pacing back and forth. It was actually a little disconcerting (but duh, he’s behind a fence for a reason). Next thing we know, he goes and climbs into the bath to relax. Ha!
All in all, we were probably only at the zoo for an hour or so, but Nora was eventually DONE. She seemed tired, actually, which wasn’t shocking since she didn’t nap for as long as she typically does.
On our way home, we stopped into the grocery store for Nora to pick out a special treat for dessert. I am making a cake for her for Saturday, so I didn’t make one for today. She picked out a very patriotic cookie. You’ll see. :)
Back at the house, Michael played and colored with Nora while I made her birthday dinner–quinoa and cheese!
Excuse the mess of an open closet behind her. We are still working on getting things back in order around here after the floor installation. I still have to give an update on that!
Nora also chowed down on some corn on the cob, and then it was the moment she had been waiting for… cookie time.
How cool is it that she picked (all by herself) a decidedly “God Bless America”-esque cookie for her birthday on 9/11? :)
Nora made a huge mess of herself with that blue frosting, so it was time for a bath. But first we let her open her other gift from us.
Foam bath letters that stick to the side when wet. They were immediately put to good use. Again, she loves them.
At bedtime, we will typically read her a few books with her in our laps, then turn her around to snuggle with us. Tonight, as I read, she suddenly turned around in my lap to snuggle in and rest her head on my shoulder. She was tired; this was her way of telling me to stop reading, she just wanted to go to bed. :) I took that as a sign that she had a good day.
Despite my best efforts to be strong, I got choked up as I put her into her crib. I held her against me and felt the weight and size of her body, remembering how much lighter and smaller it was last year, and imagining how much bigger and heavier it will be a year from now.
It is so bittersweet that they have to grow up.
On another note… I wrote a post last year about what it is like to have a child born on 9/11. I point you back in that direction now, in case you’ve never read it. It’s a post that I’m particularly proud of because it is so important to me.
People want to reflect and be sad and remember those America lost on 9/11/01. I get that, and I know how important that is. The events of that day were undeniably horrible and tragic. I understand that people don’t ever want to forget. I don’t ever want to forget. But now that I have the perspective that I do, I just try to urge people to remember that there are things on 9/11 that are worth celebrating. The stigma that some attach to the date is unfair.
Since last year, we’ve had a few experiences during which someone has found out Nora’s birth date and made awful comments to us about it. And every time, I just think to myself–that is my daughter’s birthday you’re talking about. Would you want someone to say something like that to you about your birthday? I wish people would instead think before they speak. Truly, my wish for everyone is to have a reason to celebrate on 9/11. It doesn’t make what happened go away–it doesn’t make us forget–but to have something positive to focus on is a blessing.
And now I shall digress for another year. :)
Happy Birthday to my sweet, sweet girl. I love you more than ever.
Football. We look forward to it every year… wishing, hoping, knowing that this season, the Buffalo Bills will turn it around.
We got all decked out yesterday, pumped for the first game of the season. We headed over to my sister-in-law’s mom’s house for a little party, arriving just in time for kickoff.
And then it got ugly. And they lost. Blah.
But hey, we had fun. We had lots of food. It felt like fall. And we took lots of pictures.
Nora ate three deviled eggs all by herself.
Bryce got some snuggling from Grammy and his aunts.
Nora randomly climbed on a scooter and I pushed her around while she balanced on it like she was a skateboarder. Awesome.
Hunter thought that these goggles were on correctly. Bwahahahaha.
Nora somehow knew that this toy screwdriver was to be used on a screw. I have no idea how. She amazes me.
The kids “fixed” the scooter.
Bryce slept most of the time. We oohed and ahhed over his cute little shirt and the adorable football socks. We laughed at his jeans. :)
Nora took a turn with the hat and the goggles. And proceeded to get this tool set added to her birthday list.
Nora had fun playing with her daddy in a broken bounce house.
So hey, it wasn’t all for naught.
Nora ended the day playing the drums… surprisingly well. We always had visions of her being a piano player because she was born with such long, dainty fingers, but the girl has some talent on the drums. Hmmm… who knows. :)
Better luck next week, Bills. We’re not giving up on you just yet.
We said a final goodbye to a wonderful man today.
Michael’s grandfather–known to all of us as Poppy–passed away on Saturday. We actually found out about it in the middle of our family photo session. We had missed calls and text messages from family and feared the worst. Unfortunately, those fears were confirmed.
It was sudden. Although Poppy was 82 years old, he was seemingly in decent shape (all things considered). He was still largely independent, lived alone, and still drove himself around to locations within reason. But on Saturday, Poppy died from a heart attack at home.
Poppy was the sweetest, kindest person. He was quiet–never said too much–but always greeted and departed us with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. In trying to describe him to people, I’ve been telling them to think about the stereotypical “cute old man.” Poppy was the epitome of cute old man. Seriously, they don’t come any cuter than he was.
As his son-in-law (Michael’s uncle) said in his eulogy today, Poppy was a true family man. He loved his wife–who sadly passed away in 2006–and his children, grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. I will never forget the way our nephew, Brendan, would run to him yelling, “Poppyyyy!!”
I will always remember the sound of his voice on the other end of the phone. “Michael? It’s Poppy!” He would end every conversation with Michael by telling him to “give the girls a kiss for me” (meaning Nora and me).
Every time we saw Poppy, he would give us a “care package.” He did this for all of his grandchildren. Rolls of paper towels, windshield wiper fluid, laundry detergent, nightlights, random tools that he picked up on sale at Big Lots. Thinking about it now just kills me because they were the simplest, least glamorous “gifts” to give–just compilations of items stuffed into a Wegmans bag–but could there be any greater expression of love? He thought of us when he bought that stuff. He planned ahead, putting together the bags in advance of seeing us. He took great joy in handing it over, knowing he was helping take care of us. I just… I… wow.
To say that he will be missed and that his absence has already been felt profoundly–it’s just not enough. That is a gross understatement. We know how lucky we were to have him for as long as we did, but it doesn’t lessen the sense of loss. We take comfort in knowing that he is reunited with his beloved wife. We joke that she must already be giving him hell–he had six years of peace and quiet after her death, but no more. :)
As he got older (and after he lost Nana), Poppy truly became like another child for Michael’s aunt and uncle. As I mentioned, he was still independent in many ways, but he needed and appreciated his daughter and her family. He did funny “old man” things–wandered off in the store where no one could find him. Left his car running during an entire dinner out at a restaurant. Accidentally got into the backseat of a stranger’s car. As a result, the “Sibby Stories” were the source of much laughter, and Poppy was the butt of the joke. These stories would be recounted right there in his presence, and Poppy would do nothing but laugh with us. Even he thought his antics were funny!
Poppy was a volunteer firefighter for 37 years, a member of his fire company until the day he died. (You may remember that I made Poppy an insane fire truck cake in celebration of his 80th birthday in 2010.) Actually, he will forever be a member of that fire company. One of the most impactful things that we experienced over the last few days was to see the love and respect bestowed upon him by his fire family. To see all of those people in uniform, saluting and honoring Poppy multiple times–it was awe-inspiring.
We followed Poppy’s casket into church today as saluting firefighters lined the sidewalk on both sides. The funeral procession from the church to the cemetery included numerous fire trucks, and a ride past the firehouse, where two fireman stood at the edge of the street, saluting–a chair with a fireman’s gear between them to represent their lost comrade.
It was so incredibly touching.
It comes as no surprise to me that he was loved by so many, because Poppy was not difficult to love. He was the type of person who was cared for and remembered by people who had only met him once.
I loved him like he was my own grandfather. I feel privileged to have called him “Poppy.”
Poppy, I would say “Rest in Peace,” but we know that with Nana by your side, that’s just not possible. :) We also know that you wouldn’t want it any other way. Much love from all of us who you left behind. We’ll miss you deeply.
About
I'm Heather. I'm 33 and have been married to Michael for seven years. Together, we have two beautiful little girls we love more than anything, and a miniature dachshund who drives us crazy. I'm a full-time working mom who has very little time for my own "stuff" these days, like home improvement, cooking/baking, cake decorating, and photography. Despite the team not making the playoffs since 1999, I'm STILL a Buffalo Bills fan, which I think speaks to my loyalty AND sense of humor. I can't wait to pick up the pace with travel again some day... you know, when we're done being ruled by tiny fists. Welcome to my blog.
