Nora Hansen's Journal

Nora ate oatmeal and half of dried cranberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate tilapia, a large serving of whole wheat elbow noodles, two servings of green beans, and a large serving of applesauce. This first picture was taken yesterday afternoon and I was amused how 4 out of 5 of my kids (Avi wasn't here) were using such a small area of the room!  And they played like this for several minutes.  Believe me, sometimes I need and use every square inch of the area!! (Especially when kids like Nora need lots of space!)  Other times like this I only need a spot 4' x 5' and that's enough! Every morning when Nora comes in, if the music is on she says, "That's Gary's song!"  Regardless of what song is playing.  Ha!  Another Nora "phrasing" from this morning: She was laying on the mattress and I asked her, "Are you poopy?"  (Earlier I'd seen her sneaking around behind the big box.)  She said, "Uhhhh.....I'm laying down....

Nora ate several bites of whole wheat bagel and ate peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of hamburger & sausage pizza, whole wheat pizza crust, with olives, pineapple, peppers, tomato sauce, and ate a large serving of pineapple on the side.  Two or three times (including yesterday's Blog) I've talked about the digital picture frame on the wall by the table and what a HUGE hit it is with the kids, especially at meal times.  Well it quit working yesterday afternoon!  Haha!  (It's several years old and we've had trouble with it in the past.)  So a new one will be here on Tuesday, but the kids were like "what the heck happened to our pictures!?!"  :)  Some things just have to be replaced immediately!! First picture: I took this when Daddy Ryan was driving by.  I didn't capture them all waving, but Linnea was also saying, "bye bye bye bye" along with the other two.  So cute.  Picture number 2:  All you really need ...

Nora ate two servings of whole wheat toast and two servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate pork roast, bites of whole wheat tortillas, bites of carrots, no potatoes, and ate fruit salad. These first two pictures are from yesterday afternoon.  Nora, Avi, and Atley were working hard at doing some stickers and they had lots of fun with it.  Nora also did some drawing and said, "I make a tree!"  And she added, "I have a Christmas tree at my house."  Also in the first picture I want to again mention the digital picture frame you see on the wall.  This is a HUGE hit with the kids especially at meal times.  They talk constantly (while eating) and identify who is in the picture.  There is a picture of Emily and every time it comes on Nora says, "Emily Emily Emily!!"  Haha!  Then she'll turn to one of the other kids and say, "That's my Mom!"  (Like they have no clue who it is!)  Ha.  Second picture - They were playin...

Nora ate toasted whole wheat english muffin and dried plums for breakfast.  At breakfast time Lauralea walked out while the kids were eating and Nora said, "Hi Lauralea! I go to Gary's!!"  Haha! For lunch she ate chicken, no brown rice, ate half of stir fry vegetables, and two large servings of oranges.  At lunch I asked Nora if she was done and she said, "Uhhmmm....no, I wanna eat Atley's oranges."  LOL!  Ok, why not!?  Atley was done eating and she hadn't touched her oranges!  :)  Cracked me up. First picture: Ok, this also cracked me up!!  Avi had been here maybe five minutes (they'd all just waved to Daddy Andy) when she looked at Atley and Nora and said, "Ok, come and get some water." She didn't ask if they were thirsty, nope, no reason to do that, just told them what they needed!!  :) By the way, I have the water bottles (sitting in the basket like you see in the picture) available for them to grab and drink whenever they want. ...

Nora ate chex cereal and two servings of bananas for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground beef, bite of whole wheat pita bread, ate olives, tomatoes, avocado, and strawberries. The funnest thing about returning from a trip is the excitement and joy with the Little Treasures children.  Lots of loves and snuggles and they're so excited to be back with their buddies.  I want to thank all of you again for allowing me to extend Thanksgiving time-off to include the entire week.  So precious to be with our family and new grandson Gideon - six weeks old on Thanksgiving Day.  We had Thanksgiving dinner at Gideon's Great Grandmother's house.  (20 relatives and very special time to meet them all.)  We had something I bet none of you had!?!  A 5" lizard climbing up the side of the tablecloth right beside Lauralea!  So hilarious!  My Son-in-Law grabbed it with his left hand and kept on eating with his right hand!!  I about died laughing! ...

Nora chose not to have brown rice and raisins for breakfast.  (Momma said she'd ate at home!)  For lunch she ate salmon, whole wheat dinner roll, bites of riced cauliflower, and ate lots of mangoes. First I want to remind everyone that Little Treasures will be closed for ALL of Thanksgiving week. I want to say a very heartfelt Thank You to all my families for allowing me this opportunity to be with my Daughter, her Husband, and their new Baby Boy.  I can hardly wait to get my hands on that little guy!!  Thank you all so much.  The Blogs will resume on Monday, November 26th. In the first picture Nora is feeding the teddy bear a cupcake.  She was excited when she found the cupcake and she said, "I got pink!"  Haha!  So it wasn't the cupcake that was so exciting, but as long as it's pink, life is good!!  :) Here are two more pictures from this morning's activities.  The kids are loving the new bigger mattress.  Atley and Nora w...

Nora ate bites of toasted whole wheat english muffin and ate oranges for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a large serving of everything: ground beef, whole wheat elbow noodles, peas, and applesauce. First picture: I guess the mattress was their "swimming pool" this morning and Svea was the "ducky." They were all (Avi, Atley, and Nora) jumping and saying, "We got out ducky out of the water, we got our ducky out of the water!"  Look how much air Avi is getting at the back of the picture.  Nice jumping Avi!! Things were a bit different for about 45 minutes this morning.  Lauralea watched the kids for me while I went and got a new (used) king size mattress for the kids to jump on!  It's considerably bigger and they were all thrilled!  Avi said, "I like this new mattress Gary!!"  The old mattress had years of use and abuse and was pretty worn!!  :)  Now I have to go get some fitted sheets tonight!  I took this next picture right before I l...

Nora ate bites of french toast and two servings of strawberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate paleo stew with meat, broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, and green beans.  She ate two servings of crackers and ate tropical fruit. The lady that monitors the Food Program was here this morning making sure I'm following procedure and feeding the kids what I am suppose to be feeding them, checking temperatures in freezer and refrigerator, see if menu is posted, check attendance records, etc and etc..... Everyone did great with a stranger here except I had to get Linnea's pacifier for her.  Nora came out to where she was at and said hi to her. This next story isn't as bad as it may sound, but it kind of hit my funny bone.  Nora and Atley were playing on the the little step and may have bumped Svea and she fell off the step.  It's only a 5" step and carpeted.  Anyhow, I saw it happen, it wasn't a big deal, and she only whimpered for a few moments.  No...

Nora ate waffle and two servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she chicken, bites of whole wheat tortilla, ate corn, and baked cinnamon apples. Well, today was lots more play in the boxes!!  I always tell my families; "Why buy toys when all kids really want is one or two boxes!!??"  :)   Second picture: You can see Atley's hand closing the "door" to their house.  And that's why I cut "windows" in the sides; when they shut the door I can still see in! Next picture; Nora was laying on the floor and Linnea kind of tossed a toy and it smacked Nora.  Oh man, the look on Nora's face said it all!!  And she started howling!!  She couldn't believe that her friend Linnea was hit her with a toy!!  So I told Nora; "She's just a baby Sweetie and sometimes babies toss toys and it accidentally hit you!  If I were you I'd sit on the couch because the babies will not toss toys up there!!"  So here's a picture of her sitti...

Nora ate half of kix cereal and half of mixed fruit for breakfast.  For lunch she ate turkey burger, bite of whole wheat hamburger bun,  ate tomato and avocado, and ate cherries. We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend (in Daycare and Preschool rooms) and the kids stayed busy all morning.  They are so busy on "Toy Exchange Monday" that we rarely do anything like art or special activities.  Even during Story Time they chose to keep playing.  Avi sat for several books, but no-one else wanted too!  Which is fine - just trying to give an example how busy everyone is with all new stuff!!  :)  The kids love the ice cream toys and in the first picture Atley and Nora are "feeding" their babies some ice-cream! Thanks to Brad and Megan (Atley's family and their friends) for the big boxes to play in!!  The kids love big boxes and these are large sturdy boxes!!  I cut "windows" on both sides of this box and the kids played in thei...

Nora ate most of oatmeal and most of baked cinnamon apples for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a large serving of hamburger stew with meat, carrots, green beans, and potatoes.  She ate half of whole wheat tortilla and ate apricots. In yesterday's Blog the last picture I posted was Nora and Atley at the couch playing with these phones and I couldn't figure out what they were playing and what was making them laugh so hard!  This morning Atley did it again (picture below) and said, "going potty" when she sat the little person in the phone.  (They fit in there just perfect!)  Ok, that's what it was!!  Then I heard Nora doing it again too. We had a fun morning and Nora was happy most of the time; only a minimal amount of screams at Atley, but anything less than 6 is Way Good!!  :)  My frequent reminder to Nora is "use your words" and I do the sign for "use your words!"  In this next picture Avi is under the box and they played with it several ...

Nora ate french toast and a bite of dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of pulled pork, most of whole wheat toast, most of peas, and tropical fruit. I was in the middle of feeding Svea her bottle and Nora was reading books in the preschool room just beyond the gate.  She started howling and screaming and I immediately realized she had her own finger pinched in a book.  "Just turn loose of the book Nora and let it fall to the floor."  Nope, she was too traumatized to even hear that.  Ha!  She just kept on squeezing it with one hand while the other hand stayed pinched and continued to yell!!  "Avi, will you please help Nora get her finger out of the book?!?"  Awesome, thank you Avilene!!  Moments later, Linnea is closing the lid to the barbecue and sure enough the same scene is repeated as she has closed it on her other hand.  "Lift the lid Linnea."  Nope, that's not happening.  She too needs to be rescued! ...

Nora ate half of whole wheat toast and ate mangoes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a large serving of ground beef with marinara sauce on whole wheat spaghetti noodles, no cauliflower, and ate fruit salad. First picture: I always like getting all 5 kids in the same picture when I can.  It doesn't happen very often.  The kids were being a bit rowdy on the mattress and Linnea and Svea were trying to be right in the middle of it!!  I've mentioned this several times before, but it's pretty amazing how they watch out for each other and we have minimal conflict or accidents on the mattress.  Nora is trying to "tickle" Linnea.  Avi is giving her sister a loving pat. Nora had a good morning and has been listening to me really well.  I'm pretty proud of you Nora.  Keep up the good work.  We (Nora and I) have this bib routine we do at every meal so she gets her bib on the correct way.  It's pretty cute and it also helps her to listen and fo...