Happy Birthday Baby!

Today is my amazing husband's birthday! I'm sad though, because we hardly got to spend time together today. With all the craziness of a regular Tuesday for the Norman family, his birthday got set aside until Sunday! Of course we said a number of Happy Birthdays, gave him lots of love and went out to dinner with him, but it wasn't what we really wanted to do to make him feel special on his day. We'll be sure to make up for it this weekend! More pictures to come!

Happy Birthday my sweet husband!

I love you more than words can say!

Happy Birthday Jessica

My sister, Jessica celebrated her 34th birthday on Thanksgiving this year. Pretty special considering she was born on Thanksgiving Day! We tried to make it a little more special this year because of all the craziness of the holiday. One of our sisters made her a big birthday sign, another sister bought her balloons and I made her a cake. This, all on top of a really cool gift that we KNEW she wanted! I hope she knows how loved she is!

Happy Birthday Jess!

A boy and his dog

I can't express to you how much our boy loves our family dog, Ruby. It's a sweet thing.

Busy family

It's amazing how busy our family can be, and we don't even do nearly what some families do. I work only 3 days per week and Greg works about the same. The kids each have school Monday through Friday but their after school activities are very limited aside from homework. That in and of itself seems to take up sooo much time each weekday. Cole just started a Lego club on Wednesdays after school and Aria has Ballroom dancing, and Choir 2 days a week, plus we have Girl Scouts every other week plus extra activities! That doesn't sound like much but MAN does our house feel busy! I'm looking forward to a nice 4 day weekend with the kids and my hubby!

A boy and his Bionicles

The kids just gave us their Christmas lists this weekend. Cole's included Bionicles with a little notation next to it that said, "(e-bay)" because he knows that they are hard to come by now-a-days. This boy is very consistent with his likes and dislikes. Here he is the other day with his Bionicles all lined up and pozed. So proud! It's hard to believe he got his very first one when he was only 4! He put it together too- with just a little help from Mom and Dad. This was telling of his big brain and manual dexterity at an early age because, if you look closely on the box you can see, they're intended for ages 9+.



That's my boy!

                                                             

Melissa's Baby Shower

So here are some pictures from Melissa's Baby Shower. I really wasn't happy with the way this one turned out, except for the little baby sea creatures I created from the invitation to sit on the cake. Originally I wasn't going to make them because I didn't want the cake to look cartoon-ish. But when my design didn't pan out- in many ways- like I planned it to, I thought they could be the only thing to salvidge this cake!  And they did- they stole the show! Aren't they darling? Pictures just couldn't capture how precious these guys were! I know I probably included too many pictures of them, but I couldn't resist! I just couldn't capture in pictures how stinkin' cute they were! I have also included a picture of her invite so you could get an idea of where my inspiration came from.

As cute as these guys were though, nothing could compare to the way these cakes tasted! Once again I am told that this is "the best carrot cake" these people have EVER tasted! I'm not suprised..... Grandma Norman's recipe is the best. She says the recipe came from Greg's Great Aunt "Ted" from Kentucky! Grandma got the recipe on a visit out there when Greg was only 4 months old! Wouldn't it be special if we could have the origin of each special recipe that we use??

Anyhow, I have included a pic of me and Melissa at the end. She was my preceptor at Good Sam. She is a fantastic nurse and a great person and I'm so glad to call her "friend".

Thanksgiving tree

Last year I put up this paper tree in our playroom. I wanted to do it again but I haven't had time to make one yet. It was really special because beneath it was a bowl of Fall leaves and a marker for our family and our guests to jot something down that they were thankful for as they felt led. I loved looking at it- even when I wasn't close enough to read what the leaves said, it was a representation of all we have to be thankful for.

Cake

Today I am working on a baby shower cake for my friend Melissa who's baby is due to be born on MY birthday!! eeee! She has tasted some of my best cakes and is requesting my carrot cake- Grandma Norman's recipe! Ummmmm. I hope it turns out looking nice. We KNOW it will taste amazing!
I'll have to post pics tomorrow.
AND, I got put on call tonight! So I get paid for my shift plus $3.00 an hour more to spend a little extra time with my babies! oxoxo

Girl time

I had such a wonderful day today with my girl! After school, we went to a store and ooh-ed and ahh-d at all of the magical Christmas decorations and displays we saw. But the best part of it all, was that she held my hand almost the whole time! HEAVEN!  Then after she was finished with her homework, we went on an errand to deliver some Girl Scout paperwork to a fellow leader’s home- Aria riding her bike while I ran alongside her for about 3-4 miles. We talked the whole time.

I wish everyday could be so nice!

Waffles anyone??

My super-smart husband had this great idea one morning after I had used up all my waffle batter making my family breakfast and there were too many waffles left over. He suggested we wrap them, stick 'em in the freezer and pop them in the toaster the next day like the store-bought variety. Well, we gave it a try and voila! Home-made, much more nutritious than store-bought, toaster waffles!

I know you must be thinking, "Wouldn't it just be easier to buy them??" Well, I know my family likes waffles- they are a delicious, EASY, warm breakfast to fix on a cold morning before school- but I just can't stomach the idea of feeding my family the store-bought sort. Even the healthiest brands are, nutritionally, nothing short of cheap, white bread that we then pour liquid sugar onto! I might as well give them doughnuts for breakfast!

So yesterday, I decided to make a few batches to freeze for future breakfasts. Now my kids have a variety to choose from in the morning: plain, blueberry, chocolate chip, cinnamon-brown sugar, apple cinnamon and banana cinnamon. Plus, each one is made with whole wheat flour and flax seed for an extra nutritional boost! They are quite yummy- I must say! Greg and I were fighting over the scraps!

Man! That looks uncomfortable!

For all of you who have heard us rave about "beer-butt chicken" and wondered what we were talking about.... this one's for you!
Can't you just picture a live bird on this thing?? LOL!
Seriously though, it's some of the moistest chicken you'll ever sink your teeth into!

30 days of crazy hair

Starting just over a week before Halloween, I bleached Cole’s hair blonde in preparation for the purple hair he wanted to go with his costume. After only a few days of VERY blonde hair, we dyed it a lovely shade of purple that he got sooo many compliments and comments on for about 2 weeks. I have to admit, I was a little sad to see it go. Then we had to dye his hair brown again to cover up the permanent purple color for our family photos. It turned out so much darker than his original sandy brown hair. (But at least it wasn’t purple.) I am interested to see how it will grow out! No matter what his color hair though- he is still my handsome boy!

Before he went blonde.                            Doesn't he look thrilled??

My platinum boy!                                       He really liked the purple!

Waiting for the brown dye to set.             And this is Cole today!

104 Flavors??

The Pei Wei near our house has this new soda dispenser by Coke that is really run! In fact, Cole and Aria have asked to go there for dinner simply to partake of a new flavor soda combination! I think it’s pretty cool myself!  Let me explain…..

There are 18 different drinks to choose from, ranging from flavored water and Power-Aide to Coke (Diet, caffeine free, and Zero varieties) and Fanta. Once you select the drink on the touch screen, a new screen appears with your selection in the center, surrounded by all of the different possible flavor additions! Tonight the kids and I went there for dinner and I wanted a Diet Coke with my meal. I had a Vanilla Diet Coke, but I COULD have had one with raspberry, cherry, grape, lime, or orange! And let me tell you… there isn’t one that I have tried that has been anything BUT fun and delicious! 104 flavors in one machine?? Leave it to Coke!

Happy Christmas to me!

Yesterday I got an early Christmas present- a family photo session with Diana Rothery. Diana is an AMAZING photographer that I discovered through an old friend a couple of years ago, and I feel so incredibly lucky to know her and to have her take my family’s pictures. Her talent is unlike any I have seen…. outside of a magazine. The blog’s new intro picture is just a little sample of what beautiful and creative magic she creates, and I just can’t wait

to see the rest!  

Happy Christmas to me!

Braids on You-tube

I’m sure that by now, everyone knows how amazingly helpful You-tube is. You can find a tutorial on how to do just about anything on that site! I LOVE it! I must admit…. I am the  girl who checks out “how-to” books from the library. Now I don’t need to! Here is one of our latest finds… new braids! Aria’s beautiful hair makes a fun playground for my practice!

This is called a zig-zag braid.

This one is called a waterfall braid. It LOOKS like a french braid, but the bottom portion of the braid falls down rather that getting braided in with the rest.

Fun! Fun!

My crafty girl

A couple weeks before Halloween, I had just finished up Aria's costume and she expressed an interest in sewing something on her own.

FINALLY!   YESS!!

I started sewing at a young age and I had always hoped my girl would want to do the same as it has been a tremendously rewarding and entertaining skill to have had throughout the years.

We decided that a bag to carry her trick-or-treating bounty would be the easiest and most gratifying project for her to start with... lots of straight lines....

With a little help from Mommy to put the grommets in and instructing her how to loop the roping, she created a lovely bag that she can use long after Halloween is gone!
This was a proud moment for Greg and I and especially for our little Aria.

By the way.....

NO
MORE
BRACES!!!!

And here's my handsome, daring Trunks!