Nog+Chog

He’s into cats as well as mice I guess.

Well, not really. The other afternoon we went to the park. Charlie is not walking yet and the ground is real squishy, so when he does crawl and gets things on his hands then he usually stops to pick it up and has always been real good about handing me things like little rocks, pebbles, wood chips, garbage, and NOT PUTTING IT INTO HIS MOUTH. Charlie was about 10 feet away from me, and I was keeping my eye on Norah on a slide, and then looked over at Charlie and could tell that he had something in his hand. I walked towards him and as I got closer, I realized that he was holding a DEAD BABY MOUSE IN HIS HAND! Part of me wanted to scream, but the other part of me said to myself, remain calm. I told Charlie to put it down and he dropped it, and I kicked it over to the side with my shoe, as I was squirming inside beyond belief. Then to add to the fun, Norah came running over as she could tell something was going on. She was VERY interested in the dead mouse as well. Ewwwww. And as she was bending down, staring at it, she says to her dad, “DAD-I think that I just saw it’s eyes open.” Ryan then said, No, the mouse is dead and his eyes are not opening. And then our sweet little girl says, “Should we smash it?”
We both tried so hard not to laugh, but Ryan politely said, “No we are not going to smash it. It’s already dead.” Sigh…..

On Tuesday, we took Norah to her pre-school. It was not a full day, as the parents had to fill out a bunch of paperwork, and it was a good opportunity for the kids to play and get to know the classroom, as well as one another. So her official first full day was on Wednesday, and she did FANTASTIC! On our way in, we ran into a good friend of hers from ballet, so I snapped a quick photo of the 2 cuties. (Norah and Stella.) And as you can see, she did manage to pick out her outfit all by herself, (something that she has been doing a lot of lately) but I DID tell her that she could NOT wear the grass skirt and cowgirl hat, and she understood, that the other kids might be jealous of her stylish outfit. I mean….who wouldn’t?!?!
When I dropped her off, I gave her a big hug and told her how proud I was of her. Trust me, I didn’t want to let go of that hug. And when I picked her up on that first day, I asked her how her day was, and she happily said, “It was Fantastic, Great, Mama….I didn’t know that it was going to be so Fantastic, Great!” Our little girl is growing up soooo fast.
Daddy surprised Norah with a special little treat of some “fairy tattoos”, that she is proudly displaying. She was absolutely thrilled!

We spent the long holiday weekend in Ryan’s hometown, and caught up with many old friends and Ryan’s extended family.
Here are some photos with our friends Chad and Heesoo and their daughter Zadie. They live in San Francisco, but we wish that they lived closer, as Norah and Charlie loved Zadie.

We got a surprise visit by Mike and Jen (Ryan’s childhood friends) and their 3 daughters, Aria, Allie and Naomi. Norah was thrilled, and Charlie was as well, as Naomi, (their youngest) is a potential future girlfriend!

Norah loves Aunt Kelly and Jon’s dog, Zeke. She definitely wore him out. The other is of Ryan’s cousin, Mary Lou on their farm, and a friendly cicada on the back deck, as well as Charlie chillin’ with dad!

Here is a collaboration of photos from this past month. If you can’t tell, Norah is pretty dominant when it comes to playing with Charlie. Both Norah and Charlie love each other a lot and we just hope that they continue to love each other as much as they do now.

Let me explain the one with our cat, Bailey. I was in the other room, and I could hear Bailey meowing, so I knew that Norah was doing something annoying to her. Then there was silence. And then I walked out to the living room, and discovered Bailey on the couch as is. Need I say more!

Norah LOVES to cook! Here she is helping Dad cook her favorite, potato soup. And then the rest is a small photo shoot, that she requested!

We were back in Des Moines, IA in early August to spend time with Melinda’s side of the family. And, in case you were wondering; Melinda, her older brother Ryan, and younger sister Michelle were all adopted. That’s why we look, NOTHING alike. We got to spend some quality time with Melinda’s brother, Ryan and his family visiting from Alaska. It was a blast, and Norah and Charlie got some quality time with all of their cousins. Here are a bunch of photos from our visit.

I (Melinda) finally took Norah today to see the movie, Wall•E and as I was standing in line to get some popcorn, she noticed an older man with white hair. She then started tugging at my pants, and looked me very seriously in the eye and then asked me, “Mom….is that John McCain?” Man, I tried so hard not to laugh, but it was the cutest thing!

On a side note: we still need to post lots of pix from out trip back to Iowa. Lots o’ fun was had, spent with cousins, my big bro, and my all time favorite, the Iowa State Fair.

On Melinda’s dad’s side, her grandmother turned 99 TODAY! And here is proof that there are 4 generations of Gamble’s. My grandma also has 5 generations with some of her other kids, as my dad is the baby of the family. It’s quite amazing and she is still sharper than a tack! We love you grandma!

Just thought I’d share some pix of our beautiful flowers on our balcony. Norah is very helpful by watering them everyday. Enjoy!