Nora Hansen's Journal

Nora ate most of oatmeal and most of dried cranberries for breakfast. For lunch she ate tilapia, whole wheat elbow noodles, two servings of green beans, and two servings of applesauce.   First picture: Doing puzzles while waiting for Science with Lauralea to begin. She said, "Gary, I just love doing these puzzles." :) Science with Lauralea: today's theme is "Birds." Obviously this is a wide ranging subject, but we talked about some basic things most birds have in common. How are they different from us? The kids (with some prompting) came up with good answers; "wings, feathers, and skinny legs." Ha. We also talked a little about why some birds do not fly; including the subject of hollow bones and more dense bones.  In the first picture the kids are looking at a variety of feathers and examining some differences in feathers; some help them fly, some help keep them warm. Every feather has a purpose. Following picture: We talked a little bit about differen...

Nora ate blueberry bagel and three servings of peaches for breakfast. For lunch she ate most of our homemade hamburger & sausage pizza with meat, pineapple, peppers, olives, and tomato sauce. She ate the whole wheat pizza crust we serve on the side, and ate pineapple on the side.  First picture: Nora was playing here first and then Svea joined Nora at the Dollhouse and these two take their Dollhouse play very seriously. As you well know they get along quite well and frequently play together in several different activities.  Next picture; You can see Nora is busy with her Art picture and she worked at it for a long time. When she decided to call it "done" she held it up so I could take a picture. She ALWAYS makes sure I know when she "did it ALL by myself" and she's very proud of that fact. Again I like how she has a pen in each hand and she's ready for action. She used the guides to trace a car and butterfly and then added her own touch to each of them. ...

Nora ate bites of whole wheat toast and ate grapes for breakfast. For lunch she ate pork roast, whole wheat tortillas, bite of potatoes, and ate fruit salad.   Important Notice (Smiley Face) : Science with Lauralea will be Friday instead of tomorrow. Lauralea will be out of town on Thursday. I've already been telling the kids because they're always asking how many more sleeps until Science. :) First picture: So if you've seen Miles' Blog already you knew there was gonna be a "Nora snuggling Picture" too!! Here it is. Miss Adorable. She even took out her thumb - with a smile - when I asked her to so I could get a "thumbless picture." :) Svea had just finished another puzzle and again Nora was SO encouraging. Nora said, "Oh my gosh Svea you got a match! You are SO good at puzzles." Isn't that sweet? I love how Nora does that and it's an awesome habit to develop. We all develop habits so why not focus on developing  GOOD habits. ...

Nora ate half of whole wheat English muffin and a bite of dried plums for breakfast. For lunch she ate chicken, no brown rice, two servings of broccoli, and ate three servings of strawberries.   First picture: Nora and Svea were playing with the "fishing game" together. And just like real fishing there's always a good possibility of getting their lines tangled when fishing that close together. Ha. At least there's no sharp hook on the end. :) Next picture: Nora was doing some Art so I took a close-up picture so you could see what she's working on. She made a smiley face with the "O" in her name. Then she used some tracing patterns that we have to make the outline of the butterfly. She's dressing up her butterfly very nicely.  Last picture: Well if you saw Miles' Blog first, then you'll recognize this. Ha. I finally had Miles move and go play somewhere else as the temptation to terrorize his sister was just too great. Ha. Nora had worked hard ...

Nora ate cheerios and banana for breakfast. For lunch she ate ground beef mixed with avocado, ate toasted whole wheat pita bread, ate olives, and two servings of mandarin oranges. Sometimes Lauralea or I will pretend to "spank" each other's butt and the kids think it's the funniest thing ever. This morning (while I was in the bathroom) at the breakfast table Atley said, "Hey Lauralea spank Gary's butt!! He won't even notice!" Haha.  I have a picture on Svea's Blog of her wearing the Frog Suit and she'd put it on by herself. Nora was very impressed and said, "Good job Svea." I LOVE how often Nora offers praise, congratulations, and encouragement to her friends. Such a cool and precious gift that she's been using. Nora did the same thing again when she saw a picture Avi had drawn. Avi said, "It's a human." Nora again was impressed and said - with admiration - "Oh my Gosh Avi!!" :) Speaking of Nora's enc...

Nora ate brown rice and raisins for breakfast. For lunch she ate two servings of salmon, no whole wheat dinner roll, ate cauliflower, and ate mangoes.   The first two pictures are from yesterday afternoon. I'm not exactly sure what the "game" was, but Avi was saying, "Ok now it's your turn." And Svea or Nora would hug her. Ha. I took the picture right when both of them were giving her big loves at the same time. Second picture: Atley and Nora were playing on the mattress and you can obviously see what they were doing when I took the picture. :) Nora was laughing so hard as she did different maneuvers on Atley's face. Haha. Next picture: I like how the girls usually get ALL their supplies lined up before they begin doing some Art. Starting from the left it's stamps, colored pencils, markers, decorative tape, and scissors. Ok, now we're ready to start! Their creativity is fun to watch as it takes shape on their papers.  We played outside this morni...

Nora ate whole wheat English muffin and two servings of mandarin oranges for breakfast. For lunch she ate bites of ground beef, most of whole wheat elbow noodles, ate peas, and ate applesauce.  Science with Lauralea today and the theme was "Air Pressure." We should have had Daddy Brad (pilot) lead this session!!  One Experiment: So we did a little 6 second video you can view here:  https://youtu.be/B7JygTPGZAM   It was real easy to set up and would be fun to do at home if you're interested. That balloon was losing air before we got started, but you'll get the idea. The balloon was moving quite slow along the string which we all found to be hilarious. (especially me. ha.) So have the sound on!! Here are some pictures associated with today's experiments. First we used a straw and tried to puncture the little potato. Not happening, but if you put your thumb over the top end to block the air you have a pretty strong tool to puncture the potato. Second picture: This ex...