Halloween!

Finally- the long awaited Halloween pictures! Sorry for the delay- we've been offline the last few days as we switched internet plans.

Halloween 2010: Norah is a little lamb

Norah had a fun Halloween- after some initial skepticism about the costume. I think some of the fuzz from the hood got into her mouth at first. (If you look closely in the pictures, you can see that it got all over Dan and me, too!) We went trick-or-treating at Grandma and Grandpa's (and a few other houses on their block), since most of our neighbors didn't have their lights on. She got the hang of trick-or-treating pretty quickly, and loved looking at all the pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns at everyone's houses. She was even nice enough to give all of her candy to her Daddy! Maybe next year she'll get to try some of it!

Are ewe kidding me?

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!



Pictures of Norah in her real costume to follow!

To the Fair

We took Norah to the fair a couple of weekends ago. While she was pretty uninterested in the art and textile displays, she did have a lot of fun seeing all the animals up close. We stayed away from the rides this year, but Dan did get a chance to get his corndog and funnel cake. Lucky him!

Firetrucks and Farm Animals

Norah and I have been going to Mommy and Me gymnastics since August. She really enjoys the class and the chance to play with the other kids who are in it. In the process of taking the class, we have realized that we have a bit of a climber on our hands. Norah gets to try out new things at the gym, but then she practices them on pretty much every piece of furniture at home. There might be a bit of a genetic connection in this trait, since I've heard her Daddy was quite the climber, too. She is turning into quite the independent big girl!

Look what I can do myself!

Norah's Pumpkin

So many to choose from!

To help get ready for Halloween, Dan, Norah, and I headed to the pumpkin patch on Sunday. She got to pick her pumpkin out of the field, so it took us awhile to find the perfect one. Of course, we got a little side-tracked checking out all the dirt clods, pumpkin vines, and various other weeds. (Norah was really interested in all the dirt, but as soon as it got on her hands she would wrinkle up her nose and frantically brush her hands together. Dan blames me for this. I don't know what he's talking about.)

After harvesting our pumpkin, we got to take a hay ride around the farm and see some farm animals. Norah had lots of fun!

We walked way out into the field to find our pumpkin... then Daddy cut it off the vine and we carried it back to the car

A Busy Fall

September has brought beautiful weather to Fresno, though some days are still hot enough to swim. Since it's never too early to start embarrassing your kids, I thought I would share these pictures of Norah in the pool. She's grown a little bit since last summer:) After her swimming lessons at the beginning of the summer, she has loved being in the pool. Now we've packed away our pool toys for the season, so she'll have to wait until next year to practice her swimming skills again.

Summer 2009 and 2010

Dan and I are working hard to get our yard under control- a project that has been ongoing since the spring. Weeds have overwhelmed the lawn and flower beds (I guess that's why we shouldn't have ignored our yard last summer!), so we spend our "free time" on weekends trying to reclaim those spaces. We also recently started a bathroom remodel on all of our bathrooms. The walls had strange texturing when we moved in (along with colors that were not exactly our style), so we brought in some professionals to re-float and paint the walls. Even they are having a tough time removing all the old texturing, so Dan and I are glad we didn't take it on ourselves. Next up- new mirrors, faucets, and towel bars. As with all of our projects, we tend to move pretty slowly, so it may be Halloween before we're done with everything!

Finally, the Irish football season is once again underway. Dan's Saturday class is getting in the way of his ability to watch the games, but luckily he can catch up online when he gets home. (Of course he would never consider watching the game during class- he is much too responsible for that!) Norah has her own version of "The Shirt" this year, so she and her Daddy had matching outfits on to celebrate Notre Dame's first game. So cute! Love to all!

Go Irish!

Happy first day of school to Dan!

Today is Dan's first day of school! He's now officially in his last year of his MBA program. Norah and I are so proud of how hard he's working to finish his degree- we'll all be glad when he's done!

Sandbox time

Norah turned 15 months old on Monday. She has had a wonderful summer- visiting the beach, seeing her family in Missouri, showing Pop and Granny her house, and playing with her Aunt Laura. Since it's back to school time, she has started a gymnastics class and goes to story time. What a big girl! Now she's looking forward to her second Notre Dame football season. Go Irish!

Pop and Granny McCoy come to Fresno!

What a great weekend! Dad and Fran came out to visit, so we tried find some ways to beat the August heat in Fresno. We spent some time swimming in the pool, had a day at the beach and a day in the mountains at Bass Lake. We were ready for a lazy day at home on Sunday. Overall it was great family time. It's always nice to have visitors, but Norah really loves to see her grandparents. Thankfully, she got to spend lots of time with them over the long weekend.

The coast was great with lunch in Santa Cruz and some beach time in Capitola. The weather was great and we had plenty of time to soak up the sun.

Posing at the Santa Cruz Harbor

The time at the lake was a great time for everyone. We were glad to have Jim, Janis and Laura join us for an afternoon on the water. By Sunday, though, we were ready for easy time in the pool.

The trip was over with too quickly, but we hope we can have them visit again soon. Norah likes the way they read stories.

Come back soon Pop and Granny. I love you!