Cerneka Family Adventures

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Are You A Princess?

On Saturday the 8th, we took the kids and my mom to the Kansas City Renaissance Festival. We stolled around, shopped the booths of pottery, leather goods, and lots of costume shops. We ate turkey legs and drank ale. We listend to strolling minstrels and watched the court dress a Maypole. Madeleine got to meet several princesses, fairies, pirates, gypsies, the Queen Herself, and even a Fairy Godmother. We listened to a pirate singing ensemble that called themselves the Jolly Rogers. Mom, Madeleine, and I attended a tea party with the Queen, attended by gypsy boys and entertained by Mother Nature on her harp. Poor Noah had a teething fever and was not feeling well, but he did well as long as he got tylenol. Gramma bought Madeleine a pretty princess hat that she just adores and will only take it off to eat (we have a rule about no dress-up clothes at the table), to sleep, or to leave the house (but I really have to convince her to leave it behind so it won't get lost or damaged). The weather was beautiful and we had a really good time.

Madeleine meets Sir Francis Drake and Princess Scarabella, a Vulgarian

Enjoying our turkey legs!

Madeleine too!

Gramma took Madeleine on a Swan Swing

Poor Noah-boy.

Madeleine as Puss-in-Boots

Shannon as Puss-in-Boots

Madeleine saw herself in a mirror at a costume shop and spent several minutes admiring her new princess hat. Here she is curtseying to her reflection.

Madeleine receiving a blessing from the fairies. They sprinkled glitter on her arms that she couldn't stop looking at for the next several minutes, even as we walked on to our next destination, resulting in her running in to everything from other people, to trees, to other people again.

This is how Noah spent much of the day, dozing in the stroller. Huzzah.

Shannon and Madeleine played a homemade skeeball. It might have been due to the homemade-ness of the game, but Shannon did not do very well. The next day, Madeleine said, out of the blue, "Daddy is not very good at skeeball. Mommy is." (She and I play skeeball alot at Bonkers)

Madeleine is fascintated with Fairy Godmother's wand, which bore a strong resemblence to PVC pipe.

Madeleine shows off her new princess hat.

A gypsy boy attempts to escort Madeleine to her seat at the Queen's Tea.

Me with my princess!

The Queen and her court.

Madeleine enjoys a chocolate covered strawberry. Actually, she only enjoyed the chocolate, and left the strawberry on her plate.

A belly dancing gypsy boy entertains the Queen.

Gypsy boys dancing on tables.

Mother Nature entertains on her harp.

Mom is wooed by a gypsy boy.

Still More Birthday Fun

We had Noah's big party a couple weeks earlier to accomodate schedules, but on his actual birthday, August 29, we had a small dinner with Gramma and Granpa Ramsay, who live locally. Granpa brought Noah one of his favorite toys - a mylar ballon, and I gave him a small gift of a toy cell phone and car keys. Madeleine picked out a half dozen "Cars" themed cupcakes, which were chocolate and decorate with blood-red icing and little plastic rings that featured either Mater or Lightning McQueen.

Chocolate cake and blood red icing.

And a one year old.

The results are below.

Shannon said it looked like he devoured a live squirrel.

"Here we are, fam-i-ly!"

Noah's First Year

On August 29, Noah turned one year old!

It's been a wonderful and fast year with him.

Noah loves his family, Homer, "talking" on cell phones, mylar ballons, pushing objects across the floor, looking at books, climbing into and sitting in child-sized chairs, music and singing (he claps, bounces, and sways), opening and closing doors, anything electronic with buttons (remotes, phones, cd players, laptops), putting things in and taking them out again and any kind of water play (including dumping out Homer's water bowl). He eats anything you put in front of him, except lettuce, and especially likes pasta, cheese, and grapes. He still nurses on a regular basis and does not yet sleep through the night. He is giving kisses and likes to play "bonk" - which is exactly what it sounds like - you bonk heads with him. He can say mama, dada, and bye bye as he waves. He recognizes the signs for "nursing", "more", "mom"and "dad". He is has taken several independent steps and is this close to fully walking. He crawls super-fast, and is cruising around furniture. He can stand for several seconds on his own, and will bend his knees to lower himself to the floor, rather toppling over. He hates getting changed, having his hair rinsed, and big dogs. He is 29 inches long and weighs 20 pounds, which is between the 25th and 50th percentiles. He has one dimple and his eyes have turned the same chocolatey brown as his dad's and sister's. He has two bottom teeth, and his top incisors will be erupting any day now. His hair, which started out as dark, almost black, is now a honey-colored blond. He has this funny thick patch on his anterior crown, which has this crazy little cowlick. He is sunny and smiley and totally chill, although his frustration level is begin to lower as he approaches toddlerhood. He makes this "ta-da" gesture with his whole arm whenever he sees someone or something he thinks is cool. He likes to play "Oh No!" and puts his hands on either side of his head. He is awesome, and I am a better person for being his mom.

September 2006
Baby announcements photo shoot.

Keytar onsie!

October 2006

Boo!

November 2006

Playing guitar with Daddy.

December 2006

Christmas card photo shoot with Santa hat.

January 2007

All bundled up!

February 2006

Naked baby!

Smiling for the start of spring training.

March 2006

Ole!

April 2006

Sitting in the sun in Orin and Erin's backyard.

May 2006

Poop face!

June 2007

At Medieval Times. Also, a little doppy from the Benedryl I gave him for his nasty cold.

Noah discovers he can combine his three favorite skills of standing up, opening doors, and pulling stuff out in the plastic container cabinet.

Starting to experiment with getting out of high chair lapbelts. He's totally a Houdini at it now: I'll turn around and he'll be standing up in the highchair or grocery cart having wiggled out of the belt.

July/August 2007

Crazy daisy bathtime hair.

A clean and dry boy!

div>

Monday, September 10, 2007

Updates

We've been insanely busy lately (another typical cerneka fall) and I've had little time to post. I've got a ton of pictures to put up, from Noah's birthday, the Cards game, the RenFest, Creek Club and more. I also need to get some video of Noah walking. That's right, the boy is taking a few wobbly steps away from babyhood and into toddlerdom. Within the week, he'll be an old pro. Stay tuned!

Friday, August 31, 2007

I don't think she was talking about a BOGO sale...

Madeleine: Mommy, are you married to Daddy?
Me: Yep.
Madeleine: Oh! That must be true love! Two for one!

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Look Out Cubbies!

The Cardinals in second place in the NL Central, just 2.5 games back! Woot!

Congratulations, Dr. Puck!

On Saturday, our brother-in-law successfully defended his doctoral thesis and emerged from the meeting as Dr. Andrew Puckett, PhD of Astronomy. We are very proud of Andy and pleased that we have a built-in math and physics tutor for our children! The Pucketts leave Friday for the Great White North, as they will be living in Anchorage so Andy can teach and do some post-doctoral research. Good luck, Becca, Andy, and Maia!