She's Moving to Australia

As I stated in my previous post, Norah chose to wear a dress today because Savannah was coming over and Savannah loves dresses. Norah took the dress off for nap because she had leggings and a shirt under the dress.
After her nap as she was putting on her dress and having issues, she says, "I'm leaving. I am not coming back and where I'm going they have lots of dresses. I'm going to Australia and I can wear whatever dress I want to. Good-bye - I will not miss you!"

A few minutes later, Kevin called and asked what was going on. I told him that Norah was moving to Australia. From the other room she yells, " I am not moving to Australia because don't have food there. They have NO food there and I am hungry."

Thank goodness there is no food in Australia or I might not see my daughter again.

I think she looks cute in her dress. I would post a picture, but I don't think I can with this crazy computer - maybe Kevin can do it later.

Fun with Friends

Yesterday, the girls and I went to play at my friend, Alisha's house. She has a little boy Micah - he's about 9 months. The girls had fun and Micah seemed to get a kick out of them. Norah let Alisha see her nasty side - she had a couple of fits while we were there. Yes - I said Norah, my almost 4 year old - not Lucy as some might expect.









Today, the Morrison's came over for a couple of hours. I told Norah on Wednesday that Savannah might come over on Friday - since then Norah has been talking about what she is going to wear. Savannah loves to wear skirts and dresses, so Norah often wants to wear a dress when she is going to be with Savannah!! LOL!

How Colorful is Your Diet?

I'm using the old computer, so we'll see how this goes. (I actually started this on Wednesday - in case the computer shut down on me or was too slow!)


My Thursday Thought is about nutrition. This is a subject that I feel quite passionate about because as Americans - we are horrible eaters. Everything is supersized or fried. Our country is significantly overweight - more kids than ever are obese. Parents often teach their children to "clear your plate" - encouraging children to over eat. Then we have the opposite side of things - young girls starving themselves, detox diets, misuse of diet products for quick results.

Also - this may be a passion of mine - but that doesn't make me an expert. I enjoy reading books/articles on fitness and nutrition. I have as big a sweet tooth as anyone I know, but I try to eat in moderation and I try to live a well-balanced, healthy lifestyle. I enjoy finding new ways to cook something to make it healthier and I enjoy learning new exercises that challenge me. I love that feeling of being so sore I can hardly move - knowing that a new workout that I tried challenged me that much.

Anyway, I could go on and on and even get a little fired up about things - so I am going to ask one question.

How colorful is your diet? The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that for the average 2000 calorie diet you eat 2 1/2 cups of vegetables and 2 cups of fruit. Do you regularly follow this suggestion? Also, our fruits and vegetables should take up about half of our meal. We have so much produce available to us, but are using a variety of them in our meals?

What are your favorite foods that are colorful?


I try to make colorful meals. I am trying to encourage the girls to eat a variety of fruits and veges - it's a little hard because Kevin is not a big fan of vegetables (he likes corn, green beans, and lettuce). I also try to add extra vegetables in certain recipes/foods. I make my spaghetti sauce with shredded carrots and zucchini. I buy vanilla yogurt and add fresh pureed fruits. My girls do like their sweets, but we are trying to teach them "everything in moderation." Norah knows that too much sugar is bad for her body and teeth and she reminds us of that regularly (like last week when Kevin brought donuts home one morning).

We always have a fruit with breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We have vegetable with lunch and dinner - sometimes 2 at dinner (salad and something else). I should probably try to get another serving of vegetables in and maybe not as much fruit. Although, for me, eating the extra fruit is better than filling up on carbs or extra meat.


I LOVE berries, pumpkin, green beans, tomatoes, zucchini, and squash.

Blogging Vacation

Well, it looks as if I will be going on a vacation from the blogging world. Kev's laptop has officially died! He was able to get an old computer working temporarily, but it is SO SLOW that I don't think I will be wasting time trying update my blog. I may try to read and comment if I can - we'll see. Kevin is thinking of sending the computer to my brother, Rick, in Chicago to see if he can fix it (he does that sort of thing - builds computers, fixes them, etc). I think he will be getting a new one - we'll see!!
Bye-bye!!

Ahhh. . . a Much Better Day!!

After a rough several days with Norah - we had a great day today! The girls got along great all day (Lucy doesn't feel 100% and Norah was very sweet to her!) and Norah was very agreeable most of the day. She had her moments, of course, but we had no major freakouts!!!!

Norah has been wanting to paint, so we dug out the paints and brushes today. I wasn't sure how Lucy would do, but she loved it and she kept her paint on the paper!

So, Lucy's favorite new trick is to fake burp. Norah thinks that it is hilarious, I, however, can do without it. Seriously, I thought that was a boy thing. I'm trying to ignore it, but then Lucy gets right in my face and burps over and over.

We are supposed to have GREAT weather this weekend - mid-50's to 60. Yea!! The girls and I went outside for a little while this afternoon. It was a little breezy so I made Lucy wear a hat - I don't know if it makes a difference, but thought with her cold - it couldn't hurt.

She's the Boss!

As I mentioned in my previous post, Norah was a little grumpy today. On the days when one of the girls is grumpy, they struggle to get along with each other. Today they fought over the little people. Norah gets the people set up into a school or church setting - she makes them talk to each other and has this make-believe story going. As soon as Lucy notices, she goes right over to Norah and either knocks everything down or snatches something away. Norah then freaks out and screams at Lucy and hits or pushes her. They both end up going to their rooms for bedroom time.
This went on multiple times and no matter what I did or said, the girls could not get along. I finally decided that they needed to be separated so I sent Norah to the basement to play. I was working on dinner and I just wanted 20 minutes without fighting. Now let me say that our basement is not a dungeon. Most of the toys (except the little people) are downstairs. Norah starts to go downstairs, but cries that she doesn't want to go down. I verbalized to Norah that I just wanted her to play downstairs while I finished dinner. She stands about halfway down the stairs crying, "But I don't want to stay downstairs all day! I don't want to be down here all day!"
Lucy was standing at the top of the stairs yelling back in this mean drill sergeant voice "ALL DAY! ALL DAY!"
As if Lucy makes the rules, Norah yells back, "No - not all day!" To which Lucy again yells, "ALL DAY!"
I must admit that I was cracking up - which probably just encouraged Lucy. I just couldn't help myself.

She's Never Eating Lunch Again!

Norah was a little on the grumpy side today. She started out happy but as they day went on Norah just got grumpier and grumpier. After a lot of crying and a breathing treatment WITHOUT a movie, Norah ate lunch. She ate most of the food that I gave her, minus 2 baby carrots and a slice of a peach so I gave her a girl scout thin mint cookie. After she ate her cookie, When Norah told me she was still hungry, I told her she could eat more carrots and peaches. Apparently she wanted another cookie and when I told her that wasn't an option, Norah said, "That's it! If I can't have another cookie than I am NEVER eating lunch again!"