Oh Iowa, Oh Iowa...

Noteworthy observations and events from the Iowa Trip:

- Norah was an angel on the flights to and from Iowa. As in no crying. At all. We read books, used the iPod Touch flash card application, colored, and slept. Norah did throw a book at a lady sitting next to us on one flight. But to be honest, I can't really blame her.

- Arby's is still delicious. Now if only we could have Arby's in NH.

- Norah quickly warmed up to her Grandma (my ma) and was quite slow in warming up to Grandma (my pops). Grandma and Norah read quite a few books one morning, allowing me to get in a nice long shower. And a few times Norah eagerly gave Grandma goodnight hugs. How precious!

- Without the internet and cable TV I played a crap ton of Bejeweled on the iPod Touch. I also was able to read quite a bit (I'm currently reading "The Red Tent" - SO GOOD).

- Norah LOVES blocks. My dad made a large set of blocks for me when I was growing up. Having Norah play with those same blocks was SO special.

- Grandma Kole (MK's mom, also know as Momma T) and Great Grandma Mabon (MK's grandma) came down for a visit. Most memorable moment: After observing the way Norah's pants were falling off her bum, Grandma Kole stated, "She looks JUST LIKE Marshall!". HAHA! I guess you had to be there...

- Norah was able to see her Great Grandma Wiley (my gma) not once, but TWICE! I love my grandma like crazy...she is one of the best people I know. For the second visit Great Aunt M came down too and gave Norah some wonderful (SANTA-FREE) Christmas books. THANK YOU AUNT M!!!

- Nothing beats my Ma's tater-tot casserole. YUM! Well, maybe Arby's.

- I did not have Dairy Queen. Much sadness.

- I got to see my Iowa bestie, Amy. She made me a pendant with Norah's name on it. Love you bugaboo.

- Norah and I bonded, but we definitely missed our Papa Bear (as I'm pretty sure he missed us too).

- Norah was reunited with her sock monkey once we got to the car at the Boston airport. I'm not sure I've seen her THAT excited in a while. Norah and Monkey talked and giggled almost the whole hour drive home.

Love and miss you all.

Will post pictures soon of our trip!

Thursday

I am thankful that I don't have a lot to be worried about.
My wife makes me a better husband than I want to be most days.
My kid is, like, super stoked to run across the room to give me a hug when I ask for one.
My job comes naturally to me and feels productive.
We have some money in the bank.
It's football season.
I feel at home in New England.
I feel like God is moving out of my head (most days) and into my heart/gut.

I hope you've got something to be feeling good about right now, too.
Have a happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Stay Gold!

MMK

WWMXD?

A good sort of advice for all people. Just something to think about...

"Now I hope you'll forgive me for just speaking so informally tonight, but I frankly think it's always better to be informal. As far as I am concerned, I can speak to people better in an informal way than I can with all of this stiff formality that ends up meaning nothing. Plus, when people are informal, they're relaxed. When they're relaxed, their mind is more open, and they can weigh things more objectively. Whenever you and I are discussing our problems we need to be very objective, very cool, calm, collected. But that doesn't mean we should always be. There's a time to be cool and a time to be hot. See, you got messed up into thinking that there's only one time for everything. There's a time to love and a time to hate. Even Solomon said that, and he was in that Book too. You're just taking something out of the Book that fits your cowardly nature. And when you don't want to fight, you say, "Well, Jesus said don't fight." But I don't even believe Jesus said that.

Also I am very pleased to see so many who have come out to always see for yourself, where you can hear for yourself, and then think for yourself. Then you'll be in a better position to make an intelligent judgment for yourself. But if you form the habit of listening to what others say about something or some one or reading what someone else has written about someone, somebody can confuse you and misuse you. So as Afro-Americans or Black people here in the Western Hemisphere, you and I have to learn to weigh things for ourselves. No matter what the [white] man says, you better look into it."

- Malcolm X, 1965

Hey Everyone! Come See How Good We Look!

Our friend Beth took our pictures back in September. She posted some of them on her blog, but we didn't post any here. We wanted to wait to post them until we figured out which of the photos we'd end up using for our Christmas card this year. Having ordered our cards today, I figured I'd share the rest with y'all here.

Sarah Art (well, and Norah stats)

Yep! I can do art, too!

I made the above picture for Kate. Kate is one of my best friends here in New Hampshire. The wording you see in the middle is the "Lord's Prayer". Kate and her husband are expecting their first baby, due the middle of December. Another friend and I succeeded in surprising her (which is not easy to do) with a baby shower on Sunday. It was lovely.

We all are SO EXCITED for baby to make his/her grand appearance!!!

In other news - this is the best ponytail yet for Norah!

Norah, can you say "milestone"?

Norah has been talking up a storm. Learning to speak at least 1 - 2 words per day. Her most recent words have been help, butt, what, and cracker. However, her understanding is outstanding. She LOVES to read and has quite a few vocab books (books = Christmas gift idea. hint. hint.). When asked "Where is the ___________?" Norah almost always points to said object. Norah has also become better at performing short commands and will now throw her own diaper away. Hooray! She is also starting to understand the concept of timeout which is more of a bittersweet hooray.

Norah also had her 18 month old check up yesterday. She is 33" tall (95th percentile), weighs 24 lbs (50th percentile), and has a head circumference of 19 (95th percentile).

To sum it up - Norah is tall, lean, and has a HUGE head good for learning.

Doctor says she is normal.

And I'll leave you with a few of pictures to sum up the afternoon I had with Norah:

Sticker ART! Kisses? More like fish face. Sassy Pants.

And this is normal?

I love being Mama, especially since God gave me a kid like Norah.

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU.

You do have good plans for me.

Love you all.