Sunday evening

It was finally decent outside this evening so we headed out to the backyard (ok, we really were dragged out there by Norah. If it had been up to Glen and I we would have become one with the couch). Norah likes to trim on the trees and shrubs in the backyard. All you have to do is give her a pair of safety scissors and she's off. She is also a good weeder. I sure do hope she likes to help this much when she gets older.

I LOVE the way her hair looks in the sunshine and her skin is such a beautiful gold/brown.
No, I am not biased at all......she seriously is gorgeous....it's a fact!

There was a breeze blowing and the sun was going down. Only thing missing was a frozen margarita.

She hates these exoskeletons that are all over the backyard. You can always tell when she finds one because the yelling gets really loud. I have tried to show her that they are empty but its hard to catch her and get her to calm down enough to explain. I guess they are kind of creepy.

Best swingset we ever bought. She plays on the trampolin part and twirls around the bar more than she plays on the swings or slide.

The many faces of Norah. (While making cinnamon rolls)

If your squemish you may want to pass this post up.

Seriously. Another title for this one could be Arkansas Post-op. Ok, I warned you. Scroll down.














Glen had a spinal cord stimulator put in on Tuesday for a trial run to see if it would help with his ever present back pain. We go Monday to have the temporary leads removed. So far the trial is a bust. It doesn't relieve pain where he needs it and he says it feels like he's holding his leg up against an electrified cattle fence. It also likes to shock the snot out of him if he steps down with his heel to hard, coughs, sneezes, farts, or even talks loud. Needless to say he has been a little cranky. The doctor and the rep for the device could not get the leads fed up to where they needed to be because of some sort of blockage or scar tissue in his back. They also had trouble "dialing in" the device to give him relief from his pain without shocking him to the point his legs would draw up on their own. We were really hoping that this would work and that Glen would be able to go back to work or at least have a better quality of life with less pain. For now though it appears we are going back to the drawing board.

This is Norah, trying desperately to see the tv around me trying to take her picture and get her to smile. She is VERY glad that none of the doctor stuff has had anything to do with her this week.

My Mom had her knee replaced last week. She got to go home on Saturday and we spent Saturday night and Sunday at her house. She is doing very well. Norah wanted absolutely nothing to do with my Mom while she was in the hospital bed, with everything Norah has gone through I can't blame her.

Hopefully everything slows down a little for a while because it has been non stop around here lately. I've left alot of things out but at this point the highlights are more than enough.

Lazy days of summer......HA! Fat chance!

It is actually hotter than the face of the sun today with the heat index putting it well into the 110's. So we are spending the day indoors. We went out early this morning and got movies. Came home and did a little face painting and tent building in the living room. Norah is having a ball! Even after all that and playing with some homemade playdoh she was still looking for stuff to do. Everyone keeps telling me she will keep me young, but I'm starting to wonder if she just keeps me running so much that I don't have time to think about anything else.
The next activity was to paint some eggs. That's right people it's not just for Easter anymore. I should have some pictures of that later. Then we may build a castle out of paper towel rolls. After that .......holy cow! After that we may just have to take her to Nana and Popie's house to swim or see what they have up their sleeves. I will be so glad when it cools off enough to play outside again.

Making noodles

Happy 39th Birthday!

Glen got to go to a class on saltwater reef tanks that also showed him how to aquascape his tank and take care of live corals last weekend. He got a bunch of free stuff from the raffle. We will never have to buy fish food again and he got a protein skimmer for his tank. He also bought some Duncan (sp?) mushrooms and more live rock for his tank with his birthday money. He hopes to be able to have a really big salt water aquarium one day but for now his little 24 gallon aquapod will have to do. Happy Birthday Glen!

Crafty Birdhouse Fun

Norah is always happiest when she has something to do. This little birhouse craft kept her busy for a couple of hours. It's made from a half gallon juice box. Norah painted the whole thing and then strung the bead handle while we waited for it to dry. Then she covered the front with beads and glued the sticks on top for the roof. We filled it with bird seed and hung it up. So far it has held up well, which is saying alot seeing as how the humidity has been so bad here lately that the air actually has some texture to it. We will definitely do this craft again. It was relatively easy and Norah was able to do 90% of it herself. (For those of you without 5 year olds that is a HUGE deal to them.) Good job Sister!

Books and Sunday Funnies

When Norah first joined our family it was obvious that reading (looking) at books had not been a part of her life. She dismissed books as ..... those awful things that you have to sit down and quit running to look at. We never forced her to sit down and look at books or to watch us sign the book to her because we didn't want to make her feel like it was a chore. Glen and I LOVE books, and really enjoy reading and wanted Norah to love them as much as we do. Boo was read to alot when he was little but didn't really develop an appreciation for books until he was around 10 or 11. So we didn't push it. We just continued to read and talk about our books like usual. We would get out Norah's books and look at them with her at her pace (usually lightning speed) and sign about what was going on. I also moved her books to the 2 cabinets under the entertainment center so that they were easy to get to and kind of front and center in the most used room in the house. We lost quite a few books before we could make her understand that we don't tear up books. Approx. 2 or 3 months ago she started bringing us books to look at and read to her! She can actually look through a book now and sign about what's going on and talk about the story without having to jet off to the next big thing. We have also "caught" her sitting down and looking through books on her own. She will also go get her books and come sit next to me or Glen on the couch and read her books while we read ours. The Sunday funny paper is also one of the things that she likes to look at and talk about. It may seem like a small step to some but for us its HUGE! Developing a love for books can only lead to a love of reading and from there the whole universe can open up for her.

Happy 19th Birthday Boo!

Boo, only a couple days old. You can tell because he still has a real conehead look about him. Surely everyone still remembers the Coneheads from the Saturday Night Live skits.

If I remember right Boo was about 6 months old here. He had a ring of hair that went around the base of his head so that he looked like a little bald business man. We used to call this his "Bowtie Bandit" outfit.

He has come a long way from tiny little baby to being a good foot taller than his Mom. We have always known he was great kid but now it looks like he is turning into a good man. Really that's all we can ask. We all kind of grew up together. A real bunch of guinea pigs in one giant experiment. Here's hoping all his therapy bills are covered by insurance. Love you Boo! Happy Birthday.

Best friend and playtime

Somebody REALLY loves Vegas! It's a good thing he is so docile.

Glen and Norah made homemade playdough. She played for a good 2 hours at the kitchen table with the playdough, her metal dollhouse and trucks.

Flips in the living room + wooden end table - 1 trip to Children's ER = 2 Lime popsicles.

Norah is fine. Just a nice big goose egg to show for her trouble.

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July! After taking dinner to our friend Kammy who just got back from China with Mari-Grace (Congratulations!) we headed over to my parents house for the 4th. There was BBQ, with an insane amount of meat. There was enough there to feed 20 or 25 people instead of the 10 that were there. Everything tasted great and NOBODY went hungry.

This is from a lightning strike a couple of years ago not from fireworks.

Pretty daylillies from Mom's flowerbed.

Brandon shooting off Roman candles.

Mom and Norah. Norah really liked the fireworks. She even clapped at the end.

The whole gang outside playing with explosives. The carpet cleaner in the picture was being passed along to the next group that needed it.

Brandon, Jess (Boo's girlfriend) and my sister-in-law Brawyn (I hope that I spelled that right).

Brandon and my brother's legs. When it comes to fireworks or anything for that matter that these two can get into they will do their very best to go overboard. They really should have been brothers. Everyone had a really good time.