90th on the 4th

We had a busy 4th of July. It started with my Grandma's 90th birthday celebration at the farm,

It was fun & hot & very special. Eleanora spent the 50 minute car ride singing "Happy dirtday to youuuu!"

Then we went to Grandpa Ron's for swimming plus fireworks. He lives near the Edina fireworks and has a balcony that faces them. I hate hate hate crowds, parking with crowds, driving in crowds, not having restrooms near, sitting outside getting bitten by bugs waiting and waiting, so his condo is perfect. We can just pop outside when we hear the fireworks start, a fridge stocked full of food/beverages, and no crowd to fight to get back to our car and drive home. Plus, Eleanora took her first steps there last year on the 4th before the fireworks, so it was kind of fun to be there again. (see that here )

First she kept saying "Loud!" and was scared,

But soon she was in awe and shouting out the colors she saw "Purple! Boo! Lellow!"

And gave them a clap when they were finished,

The next day we went to visit Keaton and his fam,

 Nora was very jealous of Keaton's wheels,

So she got Nisa to give her a turn,

She was in love, and as you can see she can reach the pedals (wasn't expecting that), so it's already been purchased by Grandpa Ron for her birthday (in pink!).

And so for some randoms...

In case you were wondering who this child's father is, look no further.

Behold these dorks,

We've discovered the St. Louis Park splash pad, and it is awesome,

And the adjacent park is ridiculous (look at this huge slide!)

 Eleanora takes my not-so-nice camera all the time now and snaps away, here are some of her photos,

And finally, snuggly on her bean bag chair that we covered in "Mommy's bankie", with all her lovies,

Some stories: Bryce was laughing very loudly yesterday and she got in his face and said "Hey!! Stop! Too loud". We haven't changed a poopy diaper in something like 5 days! After she pooped the other day we were doing our "Nora went poop in the potty" song and dance and she stopped, knelt down with her face inches from her potty and said, "Nora went poop! Awwwww, cute!" She colors people, she'll scribble a little and say "It's Mimi!" or "It's Daddy!". If another kid wants something that she wants (or is genuinely hers) she says "No, it's Nora's" and quickly turn her shoulder in their face so they can't touch it. This morning I was trying to decide what to wear, when she walked in the closet. I asked "What should I wear today Nora?" She said "A shirt." Me: "Ok, what color?" Her: "Lellow!" Me: "I don't own any yellow shirts, how about red or blue?" Her: "Red shirt, Mommy" And so I'm sitting here in my red shirt. I asked her what she wanted to wear and she said "A dress!". Very opinionated little girl. She still devours books, sometimes wanting us to read to her, but just as often wanting to read it aloud to us in her "mommy voice". 

Ok that's all I got for now!

You're so vain.. you probably think this post is about you

So I was recently given a vanity from my friend Andrea (thanks Andrea!) and we made room in our walk-in closet for it. I use it for, ya know, tending to my vanity (make-up, hair, etc) and I knew Eleanora would quickly become excited about the vanity given her love of make-up. The first time she saw me sitting on the stool, applying my make-up she could hardly contain her excitement for a turn. So, I let her have a turn,

For now, I'll use it for make-up, Eleanora will use it for dress-up/play and when she's old enough to treat it nicely she can have it in her room.

That's all I wanted to post, but I wanted to share some funnies from lately b/c I don't want to forget these things later. So we often tell her to "be nice" and she copies us in a very mocking tone "Be. Nice." Well today while riding in the car, someone honked at me because in their idiot opinion I was waiting too long to turn right on a red light. I can't stand people honking at me. If I didn't see it turn green, ok maybe, but honk at me because I am driving cautiously b/c I have precious cargo in the backseat? Hell no. You can wait 20 more seconds to turn. So I yelled something mean/threatening that involved cursing and Eleanora chimes in from the backseat "Mama...Be Nice." Yes, yes, I know I hardly ever curse in front of her, but man something about being honked at just drives me nuts.

She shouts "Ball game!" whenever she sees something remotely related to baseball (you can imagine Bryce's delight). Today she pulled a baseball card of Ron Gardenhire out of the bag Bryce got at the game Tues night and she said "Grandpa!" She's pooped and peed in the potty and she is oh so proud of herself. You can ask "What's your name?" and she'll say "Eleanora!". I love it, something about her saying the name we so carefully picked out for her, it's just adorable.

Stay tuned for some 4th of July/Grandma's 90th Bday pictures. I'm interested to see her reaction to fireworks this year!