Exploring New Mexico!

   Almost hard to believe, but this week, Nick will celebrate the one year mark of living in New Mexico (Nora and I moved one month later but you get the point). Although it does seem that time has flown by, I do feel like we have sure done a lot in those short 12 months. As a family familiar with moves, we enjoy the opportunity that we get, to go and experience new places. Since we found out we were moving to the Southwest, we had already made a long list of things we wanted to do while living here.

  Someone posted on their facebook awhile back about the number of weekends you have with your child before they graduate from high school and usually leave you alone....(only 940) this just confirmed the fact to me that we need to make each and every weekend count with our baby girl. Of course, we along with everyone else have the normal weekend chores we need to get accomplished, but we make sure to schedule in our family time first!

I am always on the lookout or have my ears open to hear of local events, festivals or hot spots we need to check out. Of course, they all need to be kid friendly but the beauty of having a well behaved and adaptable toddler, makes it easy for us to maneuver pretty much anywhere around the city :) A few of our latest adventures include; hiking in the National Park called Tent Rocks, sight seeing in the scenic Placitas, attending the ABQ Food and Beer Festival and making a road trip to the Santa Fe Children's Museum. All of which we thoroughly enjoyed! ( I have included my favorite pics below)

I thought I would do a little year in review for the Steffen's as we close the one year mark of living in the land of enchantment...

June:  Moved from Texas to Albuquerque NM. Moved into temporary housing. My mom was here to help. Made our first trip to Santa Fe. Rode the Tramway and explored the Sandia Mountains. Ate New Mexican food for the first time.

July: Celebrated 4th of July with a parade and fireworks show. Attended the ABQ Lavender Festival. Spent many days soaking up the very bright sun and lounging poolside. Bought a house and moved across town.

August: Got settled into our new house. Nick's parents and grandmother came to visit. Made a road trip back to Kansas for a week and celebrated Nora's 1st Birthday.

September: Nora officially turned 1 and we had a big shindig to celebrate. Tailgated several UNM football games with the NYL crew. Continued to meet new friends and get familiar with our new area.

October: Attended the International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta! Also checked out the ABQ Arts Festival. Celebrated Nora's first Halloween Trick or Treating and she took her first steps!

November: Celebrated Thanksgiving with my parents here early and then made a week long trip to Durango, Colorado for the holiday. Began all our Christmas decorating and shopping (my favorite time of the year)

December: Nora and I flew back to Kansas for a week. Celebrated my 31st birthday! Had our first Christmas alone as just our family of 3 (we survived and even started some of our own traditions)

January: Celebrated Nick's 31st birthday! Attended the NYL black tie kickoff event.

February: Celebrated Valentine's Day together, Nick and I traveled to Florida for a week while both Grandma Mary's traveled here to watch Nora.

March: Nora turned 18 months old. Celebrated St. Patrick's Day. Had a visit from Nick's buddy. Did all our spring house cleaning and yard work to get ready for summertime!

April: Took a road trip back to Ft. Worth. Went to Great Wolf Lodge, the zoo and spent time with many of our great friends there. Celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary. Bought our zoo/aquarium pass and are frequenters there.

May: Hiked through Tent Rocks National Park and the Placitas and checked out the Santa Fe Children's Museum. ** Nora and I will be flying back to Kansas for a week after Memorial Day Weekend.

The rest will be updated as we continue with more adventures! Stay tuned as we have much more fun to come!!

20 Months going on 20!

Last week Nora celebrated another milestone by turning 20 months old! By this time last year I was already eagerly planning her first birthday party, but this year I find myself trying to slow time more and more and savor every little stage with her....(ok ok, I must admit, I already have picked out her party theme, but that's it).

Today Nora went to her weekly music class and as I sat there watching her interact with the other kiddos around her age, I wasn't sure to be extremely proud or a wee bit embarrassed.... Although still short in stature compared to several of the other kiddos, she seems to run the entire class. Let's just say, she is the "mini teacher"..lol, There were several new moms and toddlers there today and Nora was the first to show them the ropes. She insisted on being the first in line for every activity, she made the rounds of sitting on all the other moms' laps, she wanted to sing into the microphone for longer than her turn and she helped Ms. Brenda clean up and hand out each new instrument or toy.

These last couple weeks for us have been super fun! Nora is such a smarty pants and just amazes us with what she already knows :) Our two newest milestones are that Nora knows all her colors now (recognizes and can say them) and of course we have said good bye to her "baba"! It is amazing to hear her shout out the colors of nearly everything she sees. She knows that a school bus is yellow, mommy's car is white and daddy's car is blue and so on. As for other language developments, she can also name off nearly all the animals and the sounds they make along with all her favorite characters from Micky Mouse and Bubble Guppies :) She can say "Tipp" for Tripp and loves to play boss to him all day. She has also started counting and we have heard her count aloud to 3 several times now!

This past month, Nora has also gotten her 4th haircut and has finished cutting all of her baby teeth except her last set of two year molars.She has learned a couple new songs and can now jump on command. Her favorite songs these days include the Itsy Bitsy Spider and Row Row Row Your Boat. Her favorite color is yellow and her favorite food is still anything with cheese :)

 Another funny trait Nora has developed is some of her mommy's OCD tendencies, oh my! She likes everything to be neat and tidy and in the right place and she is also a creature of routine. She has our schedule down pat and knows exactly when she is supposed to eat, sleep, play and go "bye bye". She gets irritated if the rugs are messed up, her hands aren't cleaned thoroughly after eating and if she is not wearing the "right" pair of shoes, lol. I am sure this is only the beginning but she is definitely my daughter, haha!

 Each and every day I find myself falling more and more in love with her, if that's even possible! I often wonder how we could ever love anyone else the same as we do her. I am sure we will be able to when that time comes but as you can tell, for now, she is our little princess :) We have lots of fun activities and trips planned for this summer and continue to look forward to watching her grow and develop.