TWINNERS

On the first day of our trip I mentioned to my mom that I liked that girl's shirt.  So of course she went and bought me and my sister MATCHING ones.  I jokingly mentioned to my sister we should wear them together the next day.  When I woke up the next morning she was ready to go in her matching shirt.  I insisted I had been joking.  She insisted that she already got dressed and I must put on my shirt too.  So we were not only dorky tourists, but we were dorky tourists wearing matching outfits.  Heather got lots of compliments from 8th graders on what a cool shirt she had.  (Hey Heather, we should both wear them at the reunions this summer!)

The little girls were also twinners.  My mom bought them matching outfits.

After naps we drove into the city. Parked in a super secret cheap parking spot Greg found.  If you want to walk for over an hour to get to the Capitol it is perfect.  We checked out the Supreme Court first.  It is  under construction, but they put up this big drape thing over it to make it look like the actual building.  It reminded me of Despicable Me.

Then we walked by the capitol on our way to the American History Smithsonian.

Hanging out while everyone else took a tour of the Supreme Court.

Hanging out at the American History Smithsonian.  I was too tired to really look at anything.  We just found a place to sit and the kids climbed all over everything.  Autumn also rode the escalators with Evan for 15 minutes.

Even bigger tourists.  And now this was not a planned shot.  I was sick of the boys using their phones for directions, since they were only giving driving directions.  

Sea food place.  Greg picked it.  I ordered steak.

Autumn just chillin' taking a break from dragging the chairs around all over the patio during dinner.

Best shot I have of all three of the kids...and Evan

She hasn't mastered the "duck face" yet, but she is pretty good at "selfie" shots!

Family Vacation

Evan had a week off so we headed to Washington D.C.  I told my sister to come.  So she did.  Then I convinced my parents to come too.  The first day Evan took Autumn to the Air and Space Smithsonian with the other men and children.  My sister Heather, my mom and I went to the Holocaust Museum.  The Holocaust Museum is on my "want I want to do before I die list".  Side bar:  When I was in college I had a professor suggest that we write down 100 things we want to do before we die.  So that when we have a midlife crisis we can look back on our list and realize we have done lots with our lives.  I thought this was a cool idea.  I could only think of about 25 things, but I keep adding to it here and there.  Anyhow then the movie "Bucket List" came out and all of a sudden it was super trendy to have a bucket list.  Well since I'm ahead of the curve I'm sticking with my original list title...even if it is long and cumbersome.  Back to DC Heather and I took the kids home to "nap" even though it took us 2 hours to get home from the exchange point to get home and Alice slept in her stroller.  I stand by the fact we should have taken the metro in that day.  Then the "men" went to the Natural History Smithsonian and the National Art Smithsonian.

The beginning of Autumn's stair obsession...You don't realize all the places that have stairs until your kid insists on climbing all over every stair she spots.

Climbing on Heather's stroller

Sitting in a strangers stroller

Autumn makes strangers very uneasy...Love the ladies face in the back!

Mom and uncle Mark

Natural history

BBQ that night

Ok I guess we do kinda look alike..Holocaust Museum

All good things must come to an end

Since Evan accepted a job offer as a second year family medicine resident in Cheyenne we'll be moving...again.  The move this summer will be move number 5 for the Norby family, and that doesn't include the move we made to move into our first place together.  Anyway we are making preparations to move across the country again.  Last time we hauled my little car across the country this time it is going on to a better place.  My little car has been just chillin' in the parking lot for months, because both of us were too afraid to drive it for fear it would be its last drive.  I bought this car while I was in college and spent all my money to do so.  It was harder than I thought it would be to part with it.  To me this car symbolized freedom, independence  and hard work.  Ok that's going a bit far, but I am going to miss seeing it in the parking lot!  And now a photo shoot for you enjoyment.

 Autumn decided to join in the fun.  And as you can see by our attire it got cold again after a couple teaser weeks of Spring.

In case you were wondering we sold the car and it didn't even cover the cost of our hotel for our anniversary.  Is that because we stayed in a SUPER nice place or because the car wasn't worth anything...hmmm more on that later.

Mother's day 2013.

How'd she get that bruise?

I get asked this often. Answer: not sure I think she does it while she sleeps.  She is always so calm when she is awake!

It is finally here!

SPRING is finally here!  I was beginning to think it would never come.  We went to the Toledo Zoo with the Anderson girls.  They bought a pass so we got in for free!  I now know why people are pass holders.  It is really difficult to "get your monies worth" when you go with kids.  We met are friend Nicole there and her two kids.  We enjoyed just letting the kids roam from exhibit to exhibit, playing on the playgrounds, and playing "musical strollers".  It was mostly Autumn but she likes to try out everyone's stroller.  If we had to "get our money worth" I would have strapped Autumn in the stroller and wheeled her around the park and force her to see all the animals. It was a good thing for those passes. We saw enough animals to classify as a trip to the zoo, yet still had enough play time in the toddler areas for autumn.

I'm not sure why Autumn has started to do the "mug shot" smile, but maybe "it's just a phase".  (I tell myself this all the time when Autumn is doing something unpleasant...just a phase...just a phase:)

Nora photo bombing my picture!

Autumn's current favorite.  OK she can't talk so I don't know what her favorite animal is, but it is the only animal noise she makes consistently...along with an adorable arm/truck gesture.

Totally didn't mean for it to look like the fish is eating her, but kinda funny right?

I organized a park play date with some people in our ward since we have a few new families.  Oh how I love being outside in the sun (with my sunscreen of course).  I love getting reacquainted with the sun after a long winter.  Anyway I did Autumn's hair all fancy.  She looks like a toddler these days instead of a baby.

We went to Greenfield village on Saturday 5/4.  And by "we" I mean Autumn and I.  We were invited to the special "Day out with Thomas the Train" by a doctor Evan worked with a few months back.  Evan wanted us to go and represent the family even though he was on call and couldn't go.  The doctor invited 2 other residents and their families, coincidentally I knew both families.  There were a few communication errors so we ended up waiting around for about 2 hours before getting on the train and Autumn had breezed threw all her snacks by then so the train ride was a bit long trying to keep her on the train and safe!

Here is the doctor Evan worked with and most of the kids that came along.

This is what Autumn did most of the time we were there.  Climbed all over other people's strollers.

Autumn tried ice cream for the first time.  She liked it fine, but didn't ask for more so I stopped giving it to her so I could eat it.  Again with the "mug shot" face, not sure what's up with that.  I guess she was just focusing  Also take note this is a different stroller than the one above.

Tax Returns

Evan's sister, Sara, decided to spend (part of) her tax return on a flight to visit us!  Yahoo for tax returns.  Sara's baby Charlie was born only a couple weeks after we moved to Michigan so this was the first time we got to meet him.  Evan worked a bunch the week they were here and I didn't get a single picture of "uncle Evan" and Charlie. BOO!  Most of the week involved hanging out while one of the kids was napping, but we did make it out of the house a few times...even though the weather was crazy all week.  Cold/snowing, sunny/warm, windy/rainy which involved our power going out for several hours.

Meet 10 month old Charlie

Autumn stopped taking baths after visiting her cousins in North Carolina who take showers.  She has now rediscovered a love for the bathtub.  Charlie was a little frightened of Autumn's "Spunk".

Charlie and his snot bubble!  We ventured to the park one afternoon, because it was warm.  By the time we walked there it had gotten chilly.

Autumn and our neighbor "Kate".  Autumn says "Kate" and points to her apartment whenever we go outside.

Autumn outgrew her tennis shoes, so she was sporting her church shoes for a few days before her new ones got here.  Autumn enjoyed using Charlie's stroller, sitting in his car seat, and using the high chair we borrowed for Charlie.

We took the kiddos to the "Hands-On" museum in Ann Arbor.  They had a great preschool section.  Autumn really liked the little staircase with the railing that she could hang on to.  The only problem is now she thinks she can use the railing to climb the stairs up to our apartment...which doesn't work the same when you have to stand on your tip-toes.

Charlie's favorite was a trail thingy that plastic balls traveled on.  You could pull levers, pull switches, etc. to change the course the ball was traveling.

Light table with magnetic shapes.

Autumn also enjoyed splashing in the water.  (Check out that crazy face!)

Another one of Autumn's favorite things was this magnetic thingy?  The adults thought it was cool that her hair clip kept getting stuck and even got "ripped" out of her hair by the magnet.

Play time at home.  Autumn likes to rock her baby back and forth if I sing, "rock-a-bye baby"

Autumn had some good lessons in sharing.  By the end of the week she screamed less and didn't hit Charlie as much.

This is one of my favorite pictures of the week.  I was trying to get a picture of the two of them and obviously Autumn didn't want to.  That kid is always in motion.

One of Autumn's "new things" is playing with my costume jewelry.  So Charlie joined in one morning while the moms got ready for the day.

Saturday Evan finally had a day off so we went to the mall play area.  Autumn just wanted to sit in Charlie's stroller.  Charlie had fun playing though.  After the mall there were many naps to be had.  We attempted to visit a "Diners Drive ins and Dives" restaurant, but after getting lost and waiting for over 45 minutes at the hole in the wall restaurant with no waiting area with two babies we came home!

Playing with the plastic food.  The kids loved when Sara would hunk the fruit at them!

Almost exactly 6 months apart and pretty much the same size.

Playing outside in the nice weather.  She is quite the rascal.  I thought she looked kinda funny this day so I took a picture.  She always insists on using the neighbor's sippy cup!  Please notice despite her dorky hat and her belly showing, her new shoes arrived from aunt Jess and I LOVE them.

 Love the matching grump faces from these cousins

Last photo before we had to say goodbye :(

Another one of those photos

Oh my Autumn bottom!  She is so full of spunk.  Yes, sometimes I wish she would sit on the floor and play with a bucket of rice for 30 minutes so I could clear off the kitchen table that has squished peanut butter sandwich, gram cracker-strawberry-water paste and whatever that goop is that the Tornado Autumn created 2 hours earlier, but I am so grateful she is not boring. 

The following photo just about sums up our days lately!

1. I am SO ready for Spring.  After Autumn spilled cinnamon all over herself while we were making oatmeal cookies I changed her into this super cute romper.  Since it is still way cold I put this sweater on top of her bare shoulders. (I'm sure she'll be wearing this a lot this summer IF it ever gets warm and you can see the full cuteness of it.)

2. Autumn is OBSESSED with shoes.  She loves to sit on the floor and put her own shoes on (always on the right foot, but can be a left or right shoe)  She also tromps around the house in mine or Evan's shoes as well.  It is super funny to watch her "run" in my wedges.

3. I decided to mix it up today and try a new activity.  Painting Autumn's toe nails.  I used the quickest drying paint I have.  I only got one foot painted before I gave up.  All that blue on her hands is nail polish;)  (I later got her other toes painted and she kept trying to eat it off.  Silly girl!  I think she was doing it because she was getting a reaction out of me.

4.  It is near IMPOSSIBLE to get a picture of this very active girl who is in love with looking at videos of herself on my camera!