tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1860988420484990939.post-90987768181417343472008-05-21T17:28:00.000-07:002008-05-21T18:03:44.440-07:00<div><br /><br /><div><a href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_HaxWTvl2bP8/SDTEOS6SHyI/AAAAAAAAACw/P17RIg4gBxI/s1600-h/noraparty.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202999219393273634" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_HaxWTvl2bP8/SDTEOS6SHyI/AAAAAAAAACw/P17RIg4gBxI/s200/noraparty.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_HaxWTvl2bP8/SDTEiS6SH0I/AAAAAAAAADA/USifSajnc94/s1600-h/2502855346_a44e3dc0a0_m.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202999562990657346" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_HaxWTvl2bP8/SDTEiS6SH0I/AAAAAAAAADA/USifSajnc94/s200/2502855346_a44e3dc0a0_m.jpg" border="0" /></a><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202999365422161714" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_HaxWTvl2bP8/SDTEWy6SHzI/AAAAAAAAAC4/3cEwlfe8MJg/s200/2502029407_1e80ccc007_m.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div>It's been a whirlwind of activity the last two weeks in our family. Nora turned three last Monday, she received a "big girl" bike like Logan's, all pink and white and shiny. She hasn't quite figured out the mechanics of pedaling to make herself go forward but she's got pushing backwards on them to stop and is quite content to let us push her around on it. The excitement of the bike was quickly overshadowed by the small cake Charles brought home for us to share and the icing fight that ensued thereafter...most meals at our house these days seem to end with food being thrown or smeared on others. Saturday was her party at Bounce U, thankfully unlike our experience last year with Logan's no one got injured besides our wallet and a good time was had by all. The birthday girl had to be carried out kicking a screaming so I'd say that was a success and at least this time we didn't have to pay extra for adults to bounce. I look at her and just can't believe she's three already, seems like I was just pregnant with her, seems like Charles was just playing basketball while carrying her around in the sling, seems like we were just settling in as a family of four, now I can't imagine it any other way. She's just so big these days, her vocabulary, her empathy, her desire to be so much like Logan and all of her friends, Nora just doesn't see herself as "little", but on even keel with her older sister, even when she isn't quite there, she's not willing to give up the fight. Gymnastics starts in two weeks for her, it will be interesting to see how she takes to her first organized activity, she's certainly not a go with the program kinda kid.</div><br /><div>This week the show has been all Logan, last night was the spring musical at Hope, our last one...again something I can't believe. This <a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_HaxWTvl2bP8/SDTEtC6SH1I/AAAAAAAAADI/-ee_pEK_1QQ/s1600-h/2503641312_0f339274b5_m.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202999747674251090" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_HaxWTvl2bP8/SDTEtC6SH1I/AAAAAAAAADI/-ee_pEK_1QQ/s200/2503641312_0f339274b5_m.jpg" border="0" /></a>year she performed not only with Room 7 but then with the Kindergarten at the very end. For the last month she has been singing "On Top of Spaghetti" at the top of her lungs over and over, there were 4 other songs she performed last night but apparently that's the one that really meant something to her. Not the pledge to the Earth, not giving out hugs, not being thankful for everything, but meatballs and sneezing...that's my girl. She sang with great expression and confidence, her teacher Misha told me that she had been practicing very hard the last few weeks and at the rehearsals she had done a very nice job, she certainly was confident. I was struck though at just how much she has grown over the last year, listening to her talk about all she has learned this year in Kindergarten, looking back at where she was when the year started and mostly just how old she looked up there on the stage, well it made my heart hurt a bit.</div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div>Tonight was her gymnastics performance, she was nervous about performing in front of all of the parents which I thought was a little ironic since she had no qualms about it the night before but once she got out there she was great. Having seen her progress since the beginning of the year I am again amazed at how far she has come, it always seemed to me that she was just out there being silly, I know her teacher Miss Gretchen said she loved having her in class but it never really looked like she was getting much out of it but she had fun so that was all I cared about. But as she went through the opening routine with the big kids too she kept right up with them and then as they went through each apparatus I saw just how much she has learned this year, she can now do a forward flip over the bar on her own, she can walk on the beam forwards and backwards, pivot, kick her legs up, dip and do a v-sit when for most of the year she wouldn't even get up on the high beam and when she did she made her teacher hold her hand. She can do a bridge up, forward rolls, an almost cartwheel and kick up almost all the way to a handstand on the floor. Not bad for someone who just started and was pretty unsure of herself for the first few months. Her confidence in herself has just grown in leaps and bounds over the last few months and it is showing in everything she does. I used to worry a lot about her, but after the last two nights, I know Logan is doing just fine, she's Logan and that's all she needs to be.</div><br /><div>I'm pretty proud of my two girls, the people they are becoming, they are such different personalities yet each one of them is a truly incredible person...I am blessed thoroughly! I'm just not ready for them to be so grown up yet.</div></div></div></div>Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16316500304136455413noreply@blogger.com