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.