loose tooth

 Kylah discovered her first loose tooth yesterday. She has been so excited and has been telling everyone. What a big girl!

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Joe goes in to work early now so I am the one that drops the kids off at school every morning. We have been avoiding the (LONG) car line and dropping the kids off on the sidewalk that goes up to the school. There is a crossing guard too so it is perfect.

This is my view every morning as I watch them walk up to the school. Precious.

me and my baby

Now that Joey and Kylah are both in school, Norah and I have had much more time alone together for the past few weeks. I am with her during the day on Tuesdays and Fridays. It has really been fun. Norah is not one to play by herself for any prolonged period of time (like her big brother Joey...), but she has become my little sidekick. As long as I give her a "job" to do, she'll let me get a few things done around the house. Dora is always a fall-back too. :)

But, it's also been fun just to hang out with her and play. She loves the park, and she loves when I take her there alone so I can push her on the swing for however long she wants. :) I can see how the baby gets a little spoiled....

She looks so old in this picture! 

Her new saying is "I have a pony tail like you, mommy." I love that her hair is long enough to do so many fun things with it!

In this picture Norah was really wanting Simba to come and "cubble" with her on the couch, but he wasn't at first. Finally when she stopped calling him he hopped up there. She was so happy and kept petting him. So cute.

we love our school

 The kids were all dressed up for Spirit day at school the other day. We love Baker!!

 We really have been so blessed to have our kids at this new school. The change has just been awesome, and we feel like this is really where God wants our kids to be. The atmosphere at the school is great, and both kids love going to school every day.

The other great thing about going to Baker is the friends we are surrounded by. We have our best friends, the Adair's, which is so so fun. We see Dave dropping off Connor and Audrey in the car line almost every morning, and the kids love waving back and forth. We also are blessed by having Leigh's kids and Tricia's kids there. 

This past Thursday was Tricia's birthday, so Meredith, Leigh and I (and Christine!!) surprised her that night with a DQ cake. What a fun night!

biking

 The kids didn't have school on Friday, and it was a beautiful day, so we met some friends for a fun biking adventure. We met Mere and her kids, Christine and her kids, and Tricia and her kids. That's 13 kids, 11 bikes, 4 moms and 3 strollers (one stroller mainly to carry things...) :)

We looked a little crazy with all these kiddos, but we had a blast.

 This is the first time Norah rode her bike with us. She has learned how to pedal and keep herself going. It is the cutest thing. She is definitely slow, but we had other little kids walking so she kept up ok. She was just adorable. I love that look of determination on her face. She definitely wants to be 5 years old already! (I think she thinks she is 5 already!)

We hiked for a bit up on the trails and by a few caves. How cute are these little people?!

changes

 I'm back! We have been without internet for about a week and a half, but we are up and running now, so you should get some good blog posts this week. :)

We'll start with some changes we've had around the Manthe house.

This little girl has turned into a big girl!

 She is potty trained! She completely potty trained herself in a matter of days. She has been asking for a few weeks to wear underwear like Kylah. If any of you know our woes of potty training Kylah, I was completely NOT ready to potty train another child. Joe actually made me put her in underwear on one of my days off with her 2 weeks ago. I was very hesitant and not ready, but apparently Norah was ready! It has blown my mind how easy it has been to potty train her. We don't even tell her to go potty. She takes herself when she feels like she has to go. She has the bladder of a 5 year old already! And she poop trained herself the first day too!  I was (and still am) shocked. She stays dry at nap time, but still wears a diaper at night time (much to Norah's dislike, but she doesn't stay dry consistently at night time yet.)  I have two very stubborn little girls and one was stubborn and did not want to potty train and one was stubborn and wanted to potty train. Norah, we thank you so much for being so easy to potty train!

 

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The other big news around the Manthe house is that we switched up the kids room. Joey now has his own room and the girls are sharing a room. 

Joey is loving having his own room. He has taken a lot of ownership in it so far and keeps his room clean and picked up, which we love!

It has taken a little bit of adjusting to have the girls in a room together, but they are doing great. Norah loves being in with Kylah, but Kylah doesn't always love how much Norah chatters at her at night. :)

Yes, Norah is still in her crib. We didn't feel like she was ready for two big changes at once (and we aren't ready to fight the battle of her staying in her bed yet!) And yes, she still gets a pacifier, but only at bedtime. I think that will go sometime in the near future...  

We are enjoying the fun changes around here!

sweet girls

 And while we're being nostalgic, let's take a look at these sweet little girls who have also been friends since they were babies.

Such beautiful girls!

sweet boys

 Seeing the picture of Joey and Connor on that last post got me a little nostalgic. How sweet are these little boys?!

 They look the same yet just a bit bigger these days. Still such great buds.