Date night

...not for me and Joe.

It was Kylah's turn to go on a date with daddy! She was pretty excited to get to spend some alone time with daddy. She wanted to put on a pretty dress, and she also wore the new necklace that Nana got for her.
(I couldn't get a good picture of Kylah's whole outfit because she kept giving me really goofy smiles.)
Giving daddy some sugar.

Joe took Kylah to Shogun. He said it went really well...until the chef started the fire. He said Kylah ran behind his chair and laid on the floor crying because she was afraid of the fire! :) I think he eventually got her to sit back at the table and enjoy her supper. She came home with an ice cream cone and a smile on her face.

5 and 3

Joey and Kylah both got their yearly check-ups last week.
Joey had to get his 5 year shots. I told him before going in that he was going to get shots. I didn't know how many. He was hoping for just one...he got three. He actually did really well. As soon as the doctor left he started quietly crying because he knew what was coming. A kind nurse took Kylah out of the room because she was crying that she didn't want to watch. Luckily Norah just happily sat in her carseat without a peep! I just held him and cuddled him while the nurse gave him the shots. He cried, but then calmed down quickly as soon as they were over. He was so proud of himself, and I was proud of him too. We headed to Steak 'N Shake afterwards to celebrate! :)

Here are their stats:
Joey-- Height was 3 feet 9 inches (90th percentile)
Weight was 41 pounds (50th percentile)

Kylah-- Height was 3 feet 1 inch (75th percentile)
Weight was 35 pounds (75th percentile)

It's funny because I always think that Kylah is so much bigger than Joey was at his age. And, she is, but she is actually the one that is proportionate to her height and weight. Joey has just always been the tall, skinny one!

Happy Birthday Jennifer!

After a week of peace and quiet (kind of), we headed to get the kids this past weekend.

Friday night we headed straight to a concert that Joey and Mackenzie were in from their week at music camp. It sounds like they had a great time at the camp in the mornings. It was fun seeing Joey doing something like this!

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On Saturday we had a birthday party for Joe's mom. Jennifer is the big 5-0 this year. I know...hard to believe she is only 50, and she has 6 sons, 4 daughter-in-laws, and 8 grandkids (with one on the way!)

I thought this was a pretty cute picture of Grandpa and Norah.

We had a lot of family at the party. Grandpa and Grandma Manthe were there.

A picture of the food table...yummy cake, fruit, dip, and punch.

Of course we had to sing Happy Birthday to the birthday girl!

After Jennifer blew out the candles, we re-lit them and let the kiddos have a turn.

Nana had a little bit of help opening her present from all of us kids...a meat slicer!!

Uncle Jeff got to feed Norah.

There was a lot of this going on this weekend: the little kids were quite enthralled with all the smart phones and the games.

Mackenzie was into it too.

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Of course we had to have a cousin/twin picture. :)

It looks like they are having another conversation with each other. It goes a little like this:

Norah: "Do we really have to do this every time we're together??"
Naomi: "They think we're just so cute together because we're so close in age. Remember, you taught me last time that if we just smile, then they'll stop."

Naomi: "Norah, listen to me. I said we have to smile!"

Naomi: "See, you just do it like this."
Norah: "I'm not too sure about this."

Norah: "It. is. really. hard. for. me. to. keep. the. slobber. in. my. mouth. when. we. lay. like. this!"

Norah: "Well, that's a little better, but I'm still not smiling!"

Naomi: "Why won't you just learn. Listen to me. I know what I'm doing."

Naomi: "There you go!"
Norah: "I'll give them one!"

Both girls: "Are you kidding me?! I thought we were done!"

Naomi: "Norah, just look here like I am. Look where I'm pointing. The camera is over there."

Naomi: "Yeah, now she smiles..."

We had a great weekend with the Manthe family. Lots of food and fun, as always. :)
It sounds like Joey and Kylah had a great week with Nana and Grandpa, and they got to spend a lot of time with Mackenzie and Hannah as well. So fun!
We loved getting to see our niece Mackenzie. Next time we see her, we'll be seeing her whole family. We can't wait!

While the kids are gone, the parents will play...

Well, not really. But we have been enjoying our quiet week around here with only one kiddo. Joe and I were laughing about how easy it is to only take care of one child. When we only had one kid, we thought it was so hard! Little did we know.... :)

You would think that with only one kiddo to take care of I would be getting a lot done around the house. I have not. I have really been enjoying just relaxing, playing with Norah, and watching TLC (opposed to PBS...)

We went out to dinner last night with Norah last minute. Since we could.
We put her in a high chair for the first time.

Yeah, she only lasted about 5 minutes. She kept sliding further and further down, and I was a little worried that she was going to slide on out! But she looked pretty cute while she was in it!

We got to Skype with Joey and Kylah tonight. Man, I do miss those little boogers! We will head to Kansas tomorrow afternoon, so I'll be looking forward to some good Joey and Kylah hugs!

Fun, Family and Minute To Win It

We got back a few days ago from our big trip out to my parents' house. It was a long trip, but it was so fun to be there with everyone. On the way there, we left our house about 3:30 pm, and drove straight through and got to my parents' at 2:00 am our time. We made ONE stop on the way. It was great. (If only the way home would have been so great...)

Anyway, my parents have been wanting to take their grandkids to the Cars 2 movie. The kids loved it. Well, Joey loved it, and I think Michael and Kylah got a little bored part way through. :)

On Friday the little boys got to go golfing with the big boys. How cute are Joey and Michael?!

This is a toy car that my parents have had for a long time. It's fun to see my third child play in this car!

Friday night was pizza night with Papa. Yes, we actually ate the pizzas that the kids helped to make. :)

Making smores is always a favorite part of being at Papa and Gramma's.

Doesn't Norah look like Strawberry Shortcake?!

Fun playing (or pounding) on Gramma's piano.

The girls got to go out (by ourselves!) to a fun tea place for lunch on Saturday. We missed Gina!

We celebrated Joey's and Luca's birthdays, which are only a day apart. Luca wasn't a fan of the song, but I'm pretty sure he liked the cake! :)

Blowing out the candles.

Gramma knows how Norah likes to be held. She likes to face out and watch all the action.

Gramma got the kids these fun Cars 2 matching shirts. (Mom, we forgot to get a picture of all 5 of the grandkids together!)

OK, this was probably one of the most fun things we have done together. We played Minute To Win It---like the game show. It was Kelly's idea, and mom spent time getting all the things and getting it organized.

Andy balanced eggs on a plate while walking.

The kids got to play too!

During this one you had to move an oreo from your forehead to your mouth only using your facial muscles.

I did it!

So did Esther! (Sorry, Joe, maybe next time!) :) Actually, we think Esther and I could do it better because of our chubby cheeks. Joe has really high cheekbones, so we think that was why he couldn't do it.

Tony had good balance.

So did mom!

Kelly looping pasta on spaghetti without using hands.

Joey was pretty good at it too.

No one could do this one. You had to get the marble in the center square of a tennis racket with the racket between your legs, and not using your hands. Dad gave it a good try!

The pencil bouncing into cups.

Kelly making the kite fly that was attached to a hat. We didn't get a picture of it, but we had Andy going for quite a while thinking his time wasn't up yet! :)

Joey and Kylah were actually really good at this too!

Cheerios puzzle. Yep, I won... :)

Norah and Auntie Esther.

Mommy and Norah.

Ah, doesn't she look so cute and sweet. Don't let her fool you...she was in a time-out.

Auntie Esther gave Joey and Kylah a bath because Gramma was in the middle of a card game. When Joey was told that Esther was going to bathe them, he looked at her very seriously and said, "do you know how to give baths, Auntie Esther?" So funny!

Cards. We had a double-elimination Pitch tournament over the weekend. This was the final game. I guess Andy and Tony won the whole thing. :)

And this is what Kelly and I did while us girls were playing a game of Pitch (we weren't quite as focused!) These were made from those Pull-and-Peel Twizzlers.

Norah loves her Papa!

A little pre-fireworks snack. I forgot to bring my camera to the fireworks show, but it was really fun. Andy, Joe and I took Joey, Michael and Kylah. Joey and Michael loved it. Joey even kept his ears uncovered for most of the time! Kylah was quite scared at first. She kept asking to go home. Once she realized that they were harmless she sat back and enjoyed the show---with me tightly covering her ears, of course! :)

We had a great time with my family. Like I said, the trip home was pretty long, and we were so happy to finally be home. Everyone went to bed early that night (although not all of us actually stayed asleep all night. But I won't name any names....NORAH!) :)

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Speaking of Norah, I gave her her first taste of real food today besides rice cereal. She doesn't seem to be too fond of rice cereal from the spoon, so I thought we would try something else for fun. And, I was really wanting to try out my Baby Bullet that my mom got me before Norah was born. I love the Baby Bullet!!
Norah didn't eat a ton, but she seemed to enjoy the peas a little better than the rice cereal. (And I would like everyone to take note that Norah DOES have a bib on!) :)

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Joey and Kylah are on their way to Kansas right now to spend the week with Grandpa and Nana. And, a big bonus is that their cousin Mackenzie is there this week! Mackenzie came back from the Philippines with Jennifer, and we are all so excited she is here! Joey and Kylah were so excited to see her. There was a lot of chatter! :)
Mackenzie couldn't wait for Norah to wake up so that she could hold her. I think she is going to be a big helper for you soon, Val! :)

Joe and I are looking forward to a semi-quiet week (Norah's still here, and she's actually pretty loud!) :) We actually have zero plans for tomorrow, so that's kind of nice!