Preschool!

Much to her delight, about a month into the boys starting school, we started Nora's preschool. We've got a great group -- they play sooo well together.

Lily Harding, Nora, Zach Reed, Remy DeShetler, Lizzy Carlson

 They are all either only children or the youngest in their families so you better believe they ALL are strong-willed little kids. But it's been great having them play together, I think they all needed it (and so did the moms!).

A is for Alligators and Apples

B is for Bee and Butterfly 

We had a little Halloween party where we played games and decorated pumpkins. Nora's had to be pink and sparkly.

Nora's Nursery class

Burning off some energy during preschool

F is for Frog

Apparently, preschool is exhausting

With 4 of the dads working on the base, naturally we had to have a field trip to visit the Global Hawk, F-16s, trainer cockpits, and flight simulators.

Those engineers are getting younger and younger! 

We also stopped off at the museum on base and managed to get a shot of everyone -- at least whenever Sammy would zoom past :) 

And here's my favorite: Nora pretending to break the sound barrier in front of the SR-71

Labor Day, Soccer, and Braces

One..Two..

THREE! 

Benji played soccer again this season for the Picachus and had a blast! I loved watching him play -- he was so enthusiastic and had some amazing assists. 

When did this kid get so grown up?

Braces milestone unlocked and Peter is pretty resigned to the change -- even he got them right before Halloween and cannot now have a lot of the best candies! 

Life and Times of Nora

With the boys back in school, Nora and I have been having some fun together.

Travis changed out all the locks on the house and Nora spent at least a week tinkering with the old ones. Every time I'd try to throw out the old ones she'd say, "No! I still working on them!"

Apparently we have another engineer in the making.

We've spent quite a bit of time at Apollo Park riding bikes while I ran.  

Finally. Finally I got Nora signed up for a dance class. After months of begging and asking me, I signed her up for a ballet & tap combo class. Every Monday, from the time she wakes up she asks me when it's time to go to dance class. She practically lives in her leotards and tutus and it's adorable. 

She also begs me to let her watch classical ballet on YouTube and will sit enthralled watching 'they toes!'

I have to say, this is my favorite stage.

Ventura Beach

I'm a bit behind on posting, but here are some hilarious shots from a trip to Ventura Beach last Labor Day.

Nora's poses from this day crack me up. I have no idea where she comes up with this stuff.

Okay. I guess I don't know where any of my kids get it from. 

  

And then this is how Nora and I watched the big eclipse! Cookies!