Nora Hansen's Journal

Nora ate brown rice and most of raisins for breakfast. For lunch she ate two servings of salmon, bite of whole wheat dinner roll, ate cauliflower, and two servings of mangoes.  For anyone following these Blogs I want to remind everyone that we're leaving for Southwest Washington tomorrow and the Blogs will resume on July 12th. We've rented a place for a few days southwest of Mount Rainer National Park and we're looking forward to a time of rest and relaxation!! Hiking and reading for me; reading for Lauralea.  On a solemn note I should mention that Atley and Nora overheard (I was totally caught up in the moment and this was unintentional) me talking to a neighbor at the gate and I was telling them that our precious neighbor - Big Willie - died last night. Earlier, Willie's wife came to the gate to give me the news as soon as the kids and I went outside this morning. I mention this because Atley said, "Did Big Willie die?" Nora said, "How did Big Willie di...

Nora ate two servings of whole wheat English muffin and two servings of mandarin oranges for breakfast. For lunch she ate ground beef, most of whole wheat elbow noodles, ate a large serving of peas topped with a large serving of applesauce.  This first picture is left over from yesterday afternoon when the girls were all very busy with various projects and activities. Look at Avi's hands over her mouth and Nora's hands over her mouth. Bet you can't guess what they're doing!?! Ok, here's the answer: Avi was trying to teach Nora how to mimic Avi's newly acquired "duck call" skill! Haha. Avi actually does it quite well. Atley, although she's focused on her activity in the picture, finds the "duck call" sounds to be very very hilarious and earlier she was laughing hysterically! :) Science with Lauralea this morning had a bit of 4th of July flair! We told em it was gonna be "fireworks in a jar" and Nora's eyes enlarged about thre...

Nora ate half of French toast and ate strawberries for breakfast. For lunch she ate a large serving of Hearty Paleo Stew with meat, cauliflower, broccoli, sweet potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, and carrots. She ate saltines and ate tropical fruit.   Lots of phrases we use as adults do not translate for "concrete thinking" children. They may be able to understand a few of the phrases if you take time to explain what it means, but generally speaking that too is a waste of time. Haha. One of the most obvious would be "it's raining cats and dogs." So Avi was yapping at me about something and I told her she sounded like "a broken record." "What does that mean?!?" Uh, never mind. (I remember lots of old records getting stuck!!) First picture is left over from yesterday afternoon. I was sitting in the chair so I'm much lower than my usual pictures. It certainly makes it look like Nora is getting some major height on this jump. Haha. Her eyes jus...

Nora had no waffle and ate grapes for breakfast. For lunch she ate chicken, whole wheat tortillas, ate corn, and three servings of baked cinnamon apples.   These first two pictures are from yesterday afternoon and I loved the amount of supplies and hard work the girls were putting into their work. Good job everyone. In the second picture Nora was showing me her finished product and I can't really remember what she was telling me (maybe a "pumpkin"), but she'd finished both sides of her paper and the other side was a "haunted house" she said. As you can tell she put lots of hard work and effort into this piece. :) Next picture: This was pretty cute and sweet; Atley told Nora she could have this baby and take it home. Atley said, "I gave Nora this doll because I don't like dolls anymore." (She really never did like them here.) Nora was thrilled. Atley likes "stuffed animals" and makes a point that they are not the same. :) Next two pict...

Nora ate kix cereal and fruit cocktail for breakfast. For lunch she ate two servings of ground turkey, ate toasted whole wheat sandwich thins, ate avocado, tomato, and two servings of black-raspberries. She said, "These are SO Sweet." Avi said, "Too Sour!!" So that's how the different taste buds work!! First two pictures - Atley and Nora were at the window looking at the neighbor's yard and saying things like; "Those are so beautiful!!" "I like them SO much!" So I peeked out and took a picture of some beautiful roses so you could see what the girls were enjoying. Our ONE rose bush in the front yard has ONE full rose (that's very pretty) and another one it's way! Nora and Atley said the rose was pretty, but they like the neighbor's better. Haha. I do too. Next picture: Atley said, "Gary I'm not doing any pictures today!" Ok, that's your choice. That lasted until Nora arrived and Nora wanted to do some art and ...

Nora ate oatmeal and three servings of baked cinnamon apples for breakfast. For lunch she ate a large serving of hamburger stew with meat, carrots, tomatoes, green beans, and potatoes. She ate two servings of fruit cocktail, and no whole wheat dinner roll.   Nora told me 2 or 3 times this morning that "Mom says I have to take a nap." (And Nora is already asleep!) One of the times she was reminding me about the nap she elaborated: "Mom wanted me to tell you that she wants me to take a nap. AND she doesn't want Atley to bug me while I'm taking a nap!!" Haha. Ok, I got it! (Don't wanna get in trouble with Mom!!) This first picture is leftover from yesterday afternoon and the story behind this is pretty cute. Nora asked, "What does the number 100 and the number 2000 look like." So I grabbed a piece of chalk and I said, "I'll show you what they look like." Nora and Atley were impressed. So I did 3 or 4 different numbers and said, ...

Nora ate half of French toast and a bite of dried plums for breakfast. For lunch she ate pulled pork, whole wheat toast, peas, and two servings of strawberries. This isn't about Nora, but she giggled about this at lunch. Svea came in time for Lunch and she said, "Gary, when I eat it makes my teeth hurt." Atley, with an immediate answer, said, "Well maybe one of them are rotten because you haven't been brushing your teeth." Haha. Wow, go straight for "worst case scenario!" And of course Atley loved it because she made Nora laugh. I took this first picture yesterday afternoon when Atley and Nora were working hard on some Art papers. They have lots of supplies on the table and they get those all laid out first before they begin. They were back at it this morning before breakfast with even more supplies this morning. The table was basically covered!! :) I took the following picture while Nora was checking out the scene in the mirror. If I was half as c...