Yep

I had a birthday.  I'm older now.  It's true.

I was given amazing gifts by friends and family (Thank You!) and I felt very loved!

Carl spoiled me (like he always does) and took me away for the weekend.  We had a wonderful time together, and when we came home I was so happy to see my kiddos.  It's amazing how much I miss my kids after just 2 nights away!  Nathanael made me a beautiful birthday card that he hid under my pillow, but that wasn't my favorite gift.

No, my favorite gift was what happened after we got home.  Carlye and Nathanael had stayed with different people, so when we came home on Saturday night they had been apart for several days.  I was coming down the stairs, and heard something in the bathroom.  Being the nosy good mom that I am, I stopped at the door to listen.  Nathanael was in the bath, and had pulled the curtain closed.  Carlye was sitting on the stairs, and the two of them were just talking and talking and talking and talking.  I sat there for a good 15 minutes, and the two of them never ran out of anything to say.  They talked about their weekends, what they did, what they ate, and all the silly little things in between.  I learned more during that conversation than I did during all of their conversations with me.

And I learned that, even though they fight (OFTEN), they love each other.  But more importantly, they have a relationship with each other.  And that, I love.

Happy Birthday, Noah!

Yesterday my baby boy turned 8 years old!  For his birthday he wanted to watch The Avengers on a big screen in the yard.  We worked for weeks preparing the lawn, getting rid of stickers and bugs and getting everything ready.  

And then it rained.

He was devastated!  We watched it inside the house, though, on a giant sheet.  We had S'mores Krispy Treats (instead of a cake!), caramel and cheese and butter popcorn, and movie theater candy.  Everyone had a lot of fun, especially Noah.  Carlye gave him an Iron Man costume for his birthday, and he wore it too the party!  He looked adorable.  I know I only have a couple more years where he'll want to do that, and we are going to enjoy every one of them!

Happy Birthday, Noah!!!

I'm trying to upload pictures, but it's not working (are we surprised?).  I'm going to try to upload them from Carl's computer.

It's Official!

We're going to Disney World!!!!!!!

On Wednesday our tickets were purchased and confirmed.  Our church blessed us with a trip to Walt Disney World as a thank you for all that we have done.  While I don't think we deserved it, we are VERY thankful for it.  The Saturday after Thanksgiving we are flying into Orlando, and staying for 8 days and 7 nights at the Art of Animation hotel in the Lion King Family Suite.  Carl's mom is going with us so that we have one adult for every kid.  I am so excited!  I have dreamed my whole life of going, and can't wait to get there.  I will probably be that crazy person who cries when they arrive, but that's ok - I'll own up to being a total Disney sap!  We are planning like crazy and counting down the days.  So, now I'm asking for it - any and all advice you have, we want to hear it!  My friend Kristi's information has been priceless in our planning!  The week we are going is supposed to be one of the slowest times of year (except for the first two days, they are some of the busiest!) so we plan on really enjoying ourselves.  And as an added bonus, Disney is running a special so all of our dining plan is free the entire time we are there!

42 days and counting...............

My arms hurt!

This morning Noah came into my room bawling hysterically.  "My arms hurt!  They really, really hurt!  Ow, ow, ow, owwwwwwww," he cried while trying to grab both of his arms at the same time.  Baffled, I hugged him, prayed over him and talked to him.  He kept insisting that he couldn't go to school because his arms hurt.  I told him that he couldn't not go just because of that, and since he didn't have a fever he needed to get dressed and get ready for school.

We left the house at 7 so that Nathanael could make it in time to do the marathon club at school.  Noah's "arms still hurt", so he rode with me to the Credit Union to cash a check.  As we were turning into the school at 7:45 Noah turned and said, "Mommy, I don't feel good.  MOMMY, I'M GONNA THROW UP!"  As he said this he leaned in towards his breakfast bowl (we brought his breakfast with us because he didn't feel like eating when we left the house - in retrospect I should've known then......) and started throwing up everywhere.  It went in between the front passenger side seat and the middle console (you know, the place of no return that only a two year olds arm can fit in), all over his seat and his booster seat, onto my purse, my makeup bag, and, of course, all over Noah and I.

I drove straight through the car pool lane, and pulled over on the side of the road across from the school to clean him up.  Thank heavens we'd already dropped off Nathanael!  He tends to get "sympathy sickness" if someone else gets sick.  I hurried around the car and opened the passenger side door to clean him up.  Noah looked up at me pitifully and said, "I told you my arms hurt."

Carlye

I love having my daughter home with me all of the time - and she won't admit it, but she does, too!  K12 has been a great fit for our first year of homeschooling, and I love that she is still getting a good education.  It's amazing how easily learning comes to young people!

She has almost finished her Suzuki Viola Book One.  I love listening to her play, and her first concert with the HCYO is next Monday.  She makes me laugh because if I turn classical music on in the car (which happens frequently!) she tells me she doesn't like it.

????????

Apparently, she really likes playing the viola, but doesn't like listening to it.

Really?

Calcium

On Thursday Noah fell really from the monkey bars at school.  It was high enough and hard enough and he reacted strongly enough that it scared everyone - including the school nurse.  She told Carl and I privately that she couldn't believe he hadn't cracked a rib.  She checked his lungs 3 times during the day, but said he seemed fine, all things considered.  He came home and took a long, hot bath and went straight to bed after dinner.

Friday morning when Noah woke up he said it hurt to breathe and walk.  The nurse checked him out, and told me that she thought he was fine, but to go ahead and call our doctor.  They (of course) wanted to do an x-ray, so we obliged.

The final diagnosis was nothing broken, but very bruised.  And apparently bruised ribs can really hurt.  Noah's favorite part, though, was looking at the calcium in his bones.  He thought that it was really cool that you could actually see the calcium.  He was very proud of his bones, and told the x-ray technician that the reason he doesn't break his bones is because he drinks lots of milk.  That's why there's calcium in his bones, from the milk.  And the deer meat.

The Grasslands

Nathanael has been learning about the grasslands in school.  Each class was divided up into small groups, and each group had to do a report on what they learned.  Nathanael's job was to create a slide show.  This is the end result.  I was not allowed to give my opinions or input at all, and when I did he would tell me witheringly that it was his report.  I thought he did a great job with it - and I LOVED the music that he picked!