It Sure Has Been A While

Hello to you all. I know it has been a while since my last post, this is mostly due to two things. Norah has been staying up later into the evening therefor I play with her later and makes for less time to write, the other reason for my lack of writing is the serious contempt I feel for the computer I am forced to write on. This dinosaur has to be the slowest computer imaginable and yet I can't justify buying a new one because the only time I use it is to make these posts. So there, that is my excuse for my lack of posting.

Norah is doing extremely well. She definitely is defining her personality these days and its great to see how she reacts to things. Its actually very entertaining to watch her figure things out on her own and the look of excitement on her face when she succeeds. Unfortunately as of right now it appears she may have inherited her mothers palate. She has  become rather picky when it comes to feeding her. Allison and I have realized Norah will no longer eat fruit and veggies while sitting at the dinner table but she will eat them in between meals as a snack. Norah is an outdoors girl. We have a small children's pool on our back porch that she loves to play in. so far this sprig it has been to cold to fill the pool with water so Allison had a great idea to get Norah some sand and use the pool as a sand box style container. This was a great idea although one of Norah's favorite activities seems to be to empty the sand from the pool onto the deck. Summer babies are much easier to dress, in fact some afternoons Norah thinks it is appropriate to run around bottomless. Oh to be so free.

Allison has still been quite busy as of late. Norah keeps her days and nights pretty eventful as well as trying to keep up some semblance of a personal life. The town we live in is quite small and community orientated. This affords us some great opportunities to take advantage of, mostly within walking distance of home. Allison has been participating in a free outdoor fitness club 3 times a week. Its been good for her well being both physical and mental. So far she has been happy with the amount of progress she has made and is even planning to enter a 5k run sometime at the end of summer. The fitness club also gathers one day per weekend to run bleachers at the local football field. Norah and I have been tagging along for the weekend session. I have to say the bleachers kicked my butt and forced me to realize that maybe I wasn't in as good of shape as I thought.

I have been quite busy at work, it seems like when it rains it pours and I have had one job after another. I like the fact that I don't do the same thing everyday, I have had a nice mix of welding, tiling, carpentry and fire inspection. I have realized that although I like this type of work now it is not what I want to do when I retire. I really hope I am able to finish my degree in the next few years so that I have some options. I went to the doctor a while ago for a check up and found out that I currently have high blood pressure. This was a bit of an eye opener for me and Allison and I have been focusing on eating better and working out more. I have lost 14 pounds in the last month or so and look forward to continuing leading a healthier lifestyle. Now that spring has finally made it I have been outside quite a bit, on the golf course or fishing on the lake. Being able to get outside after such a long winter has done wonders for my mental state. Today Allison has headed to Grand Rapids, a close family friend have had a baby boy on Sunday and Alli has been itching to go meet their new addition. I had already taken today off from work so I get to watch Norah. We are going on our very first Father - Daughter luncheon. I think we may even get some ice cream but ssshhh don't tell mommy.

I think that is all that is new with us. We miss you all and I will try to update this more often, hopefully I still have readers.



All Dressed Up For Mothers Day

Tearing up a tile floor to be replaced.

Our little dare devil, I didn't have a single grey hair before she was born.

Mommy and Norah at the Whitehall annual Easter egg hunt.

Allison's Mothers Day presents, a new outdoor rug and umbrella. They sure make our back porch much more enjoyable.

Norah and I ready to hunt some Easter eggs.

Waiting for the Whitehall Memorial Day Parade.



In amazement at the Grand Rapids Zoo

Winter Doldrums

Winter is still here and shows no signs of departing anytime soon. Winter was cute and fun in December, it was just fine in January, in February Winter was getting old but we went on a trip to New Hampshire and got to go snowmobiling which made it bearable. It is now March, Snow and Negative degree temperatures are unacceptable. Our family is going stir crazy due to it being to cold to go outside and play. I am having serious spring fever and yet there is no spring in sight. I'm sure Spring will fly by and Summer will be too hot which will give me something else to complain about.

The Michigan Croteau family had a great trip to New Hampshire. We all had so much fun. Its great so see and spend time with family. Sometimes we forget how great it is to have family around, we really wish we could raid your refrigerators more often! It was great to see the Durant side of my family and the Whites, Suni we will see you again one day. There were way to many highlights during our trip to name them all but being able to ride snowmobiles with my dad meant a lot to me. It is something that I won't ever forget. On a side note, if dad never forgot anything our trips would be much less exciting.

Allison and Norah stayed in New Hampshire while I had to head back to Michigan for work. My flights were packed with excitement. First off my flight from Baltimore to Grand Rapids was delayed by an hour. Then we boarded the plane only to sit there for a while before the pilot came over the intercom to inform us that our plane was broken and we should deplane. I left the plane and waited in the terminal for an additional hour. We finally took off for GR only to circle the city a few times before the pilot came over the intercom yet again to inform us that our plane was broken again and we are getting diverted to Chicago. We sat in Chicago for an hour or so before they found  us a new plane and finally got us home. Southwest is easily my favorite airline and its because of things like this; The day after my flight I received and email from SW apologizing about the delay in my flight and gave me a $200 travel voucher. It was a long trip but Southwest's customer service will keep me flying with them.

This lead to two long weeks alone for me. Now that I am married and have a little girl I find being alone to be much less fun then I remember. Coming home to an empty house is not something I enjoy these days. I also had to chisel and shovel the ice and snow from our driveway before I even was able to get the car in. I did however manage to have a little fun while they were gone. The first weekend included an outdoor fire, a nice snowshoe through a local state park with Stella and some garage organization. The second weekend I went to the Grand Rapids boat show and filled my head with thoughts of open water and summer only to be disappointed by walking outside and into the freezing temperatures. I had lunch and drinks at the Grand Rapids Brewing Company, one of the finest restaurants I've had the pleasure of eating at here in Michigan.

After two long weeks my girls are home with me again. I picked them up at the airport and it was enough to melt my heart seeing my daughter run into my open arms. I missed her so much and I was happy to see that she remembered me. It was also nice to see my loving wife. This is their first weekend back and we are again bored as ever trying to come up with something to do in these frigid temperatures. Spring can't come fast enough for this family.
                                                      
                                                    Quickly What's New With Us:
Allison:
She is teaching Norah new things everyday so it is always interesting when I get home from work. Allison is also signing up for her very first photography class this Spring so everyone so look forward to seeing some awesome new pictures on here.

Cameron:
I have started studying for my upcoming May advancement test. I have a good feeling about this one. I have decided to start looking into making better sauces in the kitchen, hopefully they will make some of our more mundane meals a little bit more exciting.

Norah:
Norah is growing at a rapid pace and now has quite the mouthful of teeth. She is very able to climb her way onto my chair and our couch now. She is much more vocal and getting very good with her sign language.

Stella:
Stella is now tormented by birds and squirrels eating from our families new bird feeder. I was letting her chase the squirrels out of the yard until today. Today she surprised Allison and I and actually got one, she bit it playfully and flung it into the air. The squirrel ran off without injury but we decided that the game wasn't fun any longer.

Nanny's gaggle of grandkids.

Kavi is a Texas kind of guy.

Chris Craft, if anyone is looking for a Bday present for me. It will only make you around 90k lighter.

Over The Mountains & Through The Woods To New Hampshire We Come.

           First off I hope everyone had a happy holiday season this year. This Croteau household is very pleased with the way things turned out. We had plenty of snow for a white Christmas due to a 22" storm on the 23rd. Allison and I did some night shoveling by headlamp while Norah slept. It was actually kind of fun. Christmas Eve is when we make our big meal, mostly due to the fact that on Christmas I like to relax and snack on leftovers. We had Prime Rib, green beans and shallots, sweet potato casserole, and stuffing. Everything turned out really well!!!

My new Christmas Eve shirt thanks to Nanny White.

                   Christmas eve was fun but I was too excited to sleep. I tossed and turned all night waiting for it to be time to get up for the morning to see if Santa came. Fortunately I am happy to say that jolly ol Saint Nick was able to find our house. We spent the morning with Norah while she opened all her presents. Norah was an unwrapping master by Christmas morning because aunt Courtney and uncle Kyle sent her a book to open each day for the 25 days of Christmas. It was such a great Idea and we were very grateful. Allison and I each got some wonderful presents that we very much appreciated.

Christmas Day all tuckered out.

Grampie Durant carved me this Bass. One of the best presents I got. I love it!

SOOO happy with her Christmas toys.

Before Norah stared tearing things apart.

                 The day after Christmas I went ice fishing with friends from work. It was fun and we all had a good time. It was a cold wet day and I only caught one fish but it was a lot better then being at work! I had about two weeks off of work for the holidays so we spent a lot of time as a family. A lot of our family time has been spent outside, shoveling and going for walks.

Went to an antique shop in Grand Haven and spotted this beauty. I thought I was the first person to bring this glorious elixir to Michigan, I guess someone else in this state has good taste.

                 I am writing this blog in the midst of a west Michigan cold snap, tomorrow we are looking at temperatures as low as 30 below. The cold temps coupled with blizzard like snow conditions have given me a snow day tomorrow. I love my job and look forward to another day bundled up at home with my girls. I'm sure many of you already know but Allison, Norah and I will be coming home for a bit in February. We all have been rather home sick and are very much looking forward to getting back to the Granite State for a bit. We can't wait to see everyone. Stay warm out there.