Nora Hansen's Journal

Nora ate whole wheat toast and ate mangoes for breakfast. For lunch she ate ground beef with marinara sauce on whole wheat noodles, ate cauliflower, and three servings of fruit salad. Callahan frequently asks kids and me; "How is your day?" Well yesterday at breakfast time he was in his highchair and he said, "Nora, how is your day?" No response. "Nora, how is your day?" No response. He didn't give up. Ha. "Nora, how is your day?" Nora's irritated response; "My day hasn't even started!" Hahah. I about fell off the stool laughing. Uhhh Callahan...I don't think Nora's a morning person. Hahaha. That's only funny because I'm a morning person. Lauralea is not a morning person. When we worked together and had 12 kids in a Group Home, Lauralea would be "awake" to communicate about 10:00 am. It was entertaining when parents would ask her questions in the morning. "I'll have to research that for you...

Greetings! Just a heads-up for everyone. I'm getting my second covid shot today!! CHEERS!! So Lauralea will cover for me in the middle of nap time. Consequently there will be no Blogs today. Blogs will resume tomorrow, March 31. Thank you.

Nora ate bran cereal and raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate chicken, whole wheat pita bread, avocado, cucumbers, and ate pears.   First picture: We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend and Nora very quickly checked out the super hero costumes. She put on this suit from the "Spiderman Movie." I asked her, "Is that Spiderman!?"  She said, "No, it's just from the movie." (I have no clue, but I believe the kids!! Ha.) Doesn't Nora have a great smile?! So cute.  Next picture; Nora has her baby and is carefully taking care of it. What you don't see in this picture is Atley with her "babies." Atley has a row of "sea creatures" lined up across the top of the couch. Ha.  Next picture; Nora and Svea were waiting in the Preschool area (in Lauralea's chair) for someone (either Avi or Atley) to hide the Easter eggs. They played with the eggs a lot again this morning - the three oldest girls each hid eggs at least ...

Nora ate cream of wheat cereal and ate dried plums for breakfast. For lunch she ate turkey burger, no whole wheat tortillas, one bite of sweet potatoes, and ate cherries.    Science with Lauralea today. The theme was "absorption." We did three different experiments and in the first experiment we had 6 different materials and the kids guessed which material would absorb the best. Svea won this round and she was SO proud of herself!! She was the only one who guessed "cotton balls." We had paper towel, toilet paper, two different types of cotton materials, sponge, and cotton balls.  This second experiment involved guessing how much water this diaper could hold. (Svea donated a diaper for this experiment! Thank you Svea! My bad for not asking permission from Parents first!! So now I'm asking forgiveness!) Lauralea used a measuring cup and they all guessed 3/4 cup of water. We knew it would be a LOT more because we used the material out of a diaper during a past Scie...

Nora ate no waffles and ate three servings of fruit salad for breakfast.  For lunch she ate whole 30 chili with meat, peppers, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and tomato sauce. She ate her whole wheat dinner roll and her tropical fruit.  I've mentioned several times in the Blogs we've been working on Spanish words for various colors. The three oldest girls have really been enjoying that and working hard to remember. However, I decided we needed to get the proper pronunciation before we got too far along. We've used Alexa a little bit, but using my computer is much quicker and efficient. You can just poke the button over and over and listen to the proper way to say it. (And we've been butchering a few of them, which is one me.) The girls were doing the Spanish word for "Purple" and the pronunciation hit their funny bones and they were laughing and laughing. It was really really cute and funny!! First picture: Nora sharing her blanket shortly after arrival. Following ...

Nora ate bites of whole wheat English muffin and ate grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate pork roast, two servings of whole wheat toast, ate beets, and applesauce.   I called the IRS on the land line, had it on speaker phone, and of course I was on hold. It was loud and music was playing. Nora said, "That's a nice song." Hahahaha. Actually it was kind of peaceful, soothing, and relaxing - totally out of character for the IRS - but still funny. Cal later added as it continued to play, "Gary, that's your song." Ha.  First picture: We built a cave using the big blocks and as usual Atley's job was to bring as many pillows, blankets, stuffed animals, and dress-up clothes as she could find. I managed to take this picture before Atley got it filled up. I see the static electricity in the blocks on the sides is pulling Nora's hair both directions. Following picture; The kids asked if they could do some more dot painting today.  Last picture; Three girls ...

Nora ate most of corn chex cereal and two servings of peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground beef, toasted whole wheat sandwich thins, ate tomato, avocado, and two servings of mandarin oranges.   First picture: Atley was covering Svea and Nora with blankets, pillows, stuffed animals, and the pink cozy corner rug. Svea is wearing the mask. Next picture: Svea still has on a piggy mask and Nora got her piggy mask on the stuffed duck. Haha. Next picture; Lauralea was waiting to take our Coral girl to the airport and she took time to play and sing with the kids. She was doing the "walk, trot, gallop" song with Svea and Nora. And they were loving it if Nora's face is any indication. :) Nora was being very wiggly and silly during this!!  Last picture: Svea and Nora doing some art work. At the right side of the marker basket - near the top of Svea's paper - is a "ballerina" Nora drew and cut out for Svea. :)

Nora ate half of oatmeal and half of dried cranberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate tilapia, whole wheat elbow noodles, three servings of green beans, and ate applesauce. Hey, just an FYI for Momma and Daddy in case you're curious about how Nora is doing at Little Treasures with the Parents gone. She's doing great and it's all very normal. I'm thinking specifically when Momma went to New Orleans, Daddy went to Big Sky; this is way better. :) Enjoy your time away!! First picture: Nora and Avi were tickling each other. But they were taking turns! Haha. "Ok, it's your turn to tickle me." They were having fun and it's always nice to hear them giggling and having a good time. Sometimes these two get along splendidly and other times....well, not so much. Ha. Good job girls!! Next picture: Nora doing what Nora loves to do. Making a bed for the baby puppy this time. This was actually one that Atley brought to share with her friends. Last picture; Three da...

Nora ate blueberry bagel and three servings of peaches for breakfast. For lunch she ate hamburger & sausage pizza with meat, peppers, pineapple, olives, and tomato sauce. She ate whole wheat pizza crust on the side and pineapple on the side.   First picture: This picture may look familiar. Haha. Like yesterday. Nora and Svea were back in the same spot checking out the neighbor's empty (Svea's perspective) playground. Even though there is only ONE piece of equipment over there, it still looks SO enticing! Ha. Next picture: Nora's just laying on Avilene!?! Yes, but there is more to the story. Lauralea and I were watching these guys and it was pretty impressive that Avi actually did two or three "push-ups" with Nora laying on top of her. That was pretty cool Avi and not real easy! Last two pictures; the kids did some dot painting and in the last picture Nora said this was "Prince Philip from a movie." Then she later changed the story and said it was ...

Nora ate two servings of whole wheat toast and ate grapes for breakfast. For lunch she ate pork roast, whole wheat tortillas, carrots, and two servings of fruit salad. (Just a strawberry/mango mix.) Note about Atley: I noticed Atley was kind of pouting after seeing and listening to Avi and Svea when they arrived with St Patty tattoos. Atley said, "I wish I could be cool like you guys!!" :) First picture: Svea and Nora watched out this window for a long time and were looking into the backyard of the neighbor's house. I asked, "What do you see out there?" Svea said, "A playground." Oh, and what's in the playground? Svea said, "Nothing." LOL! Nora said, "It's Ellie's playground." Yes it is. The little neighbor girl is Eleanor and they call her Ellie.   Today was a fun day with "Science with Lauralea." The theme today was "rainbows." So many different ways to make rainbows. I'll just give you a brief ...

Nora Breakfast: Atley had a big breakfast at Paul's Pancake Parlor this morning with Momma, so Nora decided she didn't want to eat breakfast here either. Which is fine with me; There will be more food available in 2.5 hours so she's not gonna starve! Ha. For lunch she ate chicken, brown rice, broccoli, and two servings of mandarin oranges. Nora asked me if she could snuggle; "of course!" So I was asking her about her day of skiing and going to the candy shop. She said, "Hey Gary! I'm almost done sucking my thumb!" And of course she immediately stuck her thumb back in her mouth. I laughed so hard. That was so cute.  First picture: "Hey Gary! Watch this." Good work Nora! Following picture: This was actually a pretty cool maneuver Svea was pulling off here!! The four girls were all wrestling and Svea was pretending like she was gonna "drop-kick" Nora and Avi. She did this over and over and over. Laughing and loving it. She'd flip...

Nora ate brown rice and raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate three servings of salmon, ate whole wheat dinner roll, cauliflower, and two servings of fruit cocktail.  At breakfast Svea asked Nora, "Nora, are you excited to bounce in my bouncy house?" This first picture is from outside yesterday and all six kids were under the umbrella. (Svea was holding up the side on the right and Avi was on her way out.) Everyone is having so much fun outside getting fresh air. It's awesome. Second picture: Nora sucking her thumb and having some alone time; at a high rate of speed. Haha. Svea and Nora were on the floor laughing and being silly. When I took the picture Nora was trying to smooth down Svea's hair. But the static electricity was winning. And Svea was not helping by whipping her head around every time Nora got it somewhat into place. Ha.  Next picture: We did some dot painting - which they haven't done for a long time - as I got a book of new dot pain...

Nora ate half of her whole wheat English muffin and ate mandarin oranges for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground beef, two servings of whole wheat elbow noodles, ate peas, and two servings of applesauce.    Today was Science with Lauralea and the kids were super excited as always. The theme was "our tongue" and "taste buds." Lots of tasting today! As you can see in the first picture we had a partially completed (ha) diagram of the tongue and we briefly told the kids where their taste buds are located. So we started by having them plug their nose and experimented with them deciding if they could taste better with their nose plugged or unplugged. Then we moved on to lots of tasting. "Is it sweet, salty, sour, or bitter?" And they had to guess what they had just tried. Here are some/most of the ones we tried: mandarin orange juice, coffee, lemon juice, soy sauce, salt water,  sugar water, pickle juice, grapefruit juice. The general consensus: Mandarin orange...

Nora ate French toast and two servings of strawberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a large serving of Hearty Paleo Stew with meat, broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, green beans, carrots, and tomatoes. She ate two servings of saltines and two servings of tropical fruit.  I love asking the kids questions and hearing how they perceive things around them! So I asked the 3 oldest girls what their parents do at their job.  Mommy: "Write notes, work on her computer, and do phone calls." That's pretty good Nora. Daddy: "Work on his computer, do phone calls."  So Mommy and Daddy pretty much do the exact same kind of work. :) During Story Time we read the book, "Madeline." Do they grasp what this book means at the end? I doubt it, but I had to ask. The story ends with all the little girls crying and I asked about that. Atley was the only one with an answer and it was SO typical of concrete thinking. One line in the book says this; "They went home...

Hi Everyone! Just letting everyone know there will not be a Blog today. I am leaving shortly to go get my first Covid Vaccine!! Yes Cheers and thanks to everyone who has been so concerned and helpful to make this happen. Lauralea will cover for me while I'm gone. Blogs will resume tomorrow on the 10th. Thanks Emily!!

Nora ate kix cereal and two servings of fruit cocktail for breakfast. For lunch she ate ground turkey, ate two servings of toasted whole wheat sandwich thin, ate tomatoes, avocados, and three servings of cherries.   (You probably read this in Miles' Blog, but lucky you, here it is again!! Ha!) Well I got one picture downloaded to Nora's Blog. I'm having issues with the picture/computer "thing-a-ma-jiggy!!" I'm also resorting back to pre-technology terminology!! So there's a new word for any of you youngsters!! Haha. Sorry, Lauralea always tells me I think I'm more funny than I really am. Obviously her noted insights aren't slowing me down at all. Ha. I'll get this figured out, but for today the Blog will probably be shorter.  We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend and the kids were loving it like always. I had a picture of Atley, Avi, and Nora playing at the Doll House. However, it was not what you might call a traditional way of ...