Harmonica Lessons

ABCs

I finally caught it on video! She gets a little mixed up at LMNOP, but who doesn't really?

Kansas

I had to give each state its fair post. I can't be giving all the attention to the Missouri cousins. No, that wouldn't be fair to miss Lucy.

Isn't she the sweetest?

It was her birthday after all. And not just any old birthday. It was her very first birthday. She was the most darling little guest of honor.

Opening her present from her Mama: the dolly that was hers as a little girl

Noella had a bit of hard time understanding that not all of the toys/attention/everything were hers and hers alone. It was definitely a challenge for her to come from being the youngest with all eyes and ears on her, doting on her every motion, obliging her every request. On this side of the family, there's a newer kid in town --- and it was her birthday. Which meant presents. That were not Noella's. That she could not open up. Oh my, these lessons are hard to learn. But I'm getting ahead of myself.....

Prior to the big birthday event, the cousins, Aunt Maggie, Nana Carol, Aunt Amy and I all had a field trip to Deanna Rose's Farm in KC.  Even the rainy cold weather couldn't keep us away!

We saw all kinds of animals: pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, turkeys, cows, owls, peacocks, bobcats, horses......

Discussing the pigs and their dirty feet with Nana

Noella spoke to the turkeys (and they spoke back). 

She fed the goats (wasn't so sure about this).

 

After this fun-filled day, they definitely needed a bath, which meant we definitely needed the "kids in the bath tub" photo.

Kids in the bath

And onto the birthday festivities. 

Trying desperately to open one of these gifts

Nana Carol thought ahead: Noella received one present after Lucy had opened up all of her gifts. It was for both of them - different colored tutus. Of course, Noella's is pink and purple. 

We tried hard to get her to sing Happy Birthday to Lucy. She wanted to sing it to herself, and everyone else.... but sure enough, when no one was listening, she snuck Lucy's name in there. In fact, she did it today out of nowhere. She's thinking of you Lucy! We miss you guys!

Noella's Inner Diva

This requires a little explanation. Make sure your volume is turned up loud enough so you can hear the music she's singing to. She's trying real hard to imitate it. And... it's En Vogue singing on Sesame Street. She must be channeling me, as I made up a dance to their song "Free Your Mind" for my dance class approximately 15+ years ago. Hers is much better than mine was....

Missouri

I think I'll just have to tell this story through pictures. Noella just adored her Missouri cousins. Why wouldn't you if you were the youngest by 5 years and all attention was focused on YOU?! 

In a drunken toy stupor.

Noella, do you realize how lucky you are to have such willing older cousins to play with you?

Noella, about to begin her recital. 

Whittle Train Station. Outing with Mimi and Aunt Sara. 

Aunt Sara and Uncle David's house. Hanging with Hopey and "Wow" (Will)

Uncle Dabid (David)

You can't tell here, but she's in pure heaven.

Unfortunately, I was not able to get many pictures with all the other cousins. Mainly, b/c I was busy watching N enjoy her extended family. Thankfully, most of these were taken by Aunt Sara.

We also were able to spend some time with our friend, Knox.  Knox is my great friend from high school, Maureen's, little boy.

He really did like her, I think....

Lunch dates are much less of a commitment

I also did not get pictures of her new friend Roman and his mommy Lesley (also a great friend of high school). When will I learn to be better about this?

Much more to come on Kansas!

Tickling the Ivories

Noella had great fun playing with Hope. And Hope sweetly obliged.... even when Noella orders her to sit on about two inches of piano bench next to her. Oh, Hopey - you are missed!

A Lot to "Bee" Thankful For

Or, it's good to "bee" alive....  I think we could go on all day about the endless puns relating to this story.....

Who recalls this incident?

Adam has some kind of scent in his blood that attracts the most horrible insects: mosquitoes, hornets, yellow jackets.... you know, the ones that bite you. The past few summers, he's been stung by some kind of  yellow jacket, and (in my opinion) his reaction to the stings has gotten increasingly worse (but any doctor might tell you that it doesn't happen that way with stings --- it's not a resistance that breaks down over time after repeated bites).

Well, fast forward to saturday morning. All was lovely in the world: our first cyclo-cross race of the season. We woke Noella up (yes, we are insane people who do this ON A SATURDAY to kick our own asses on bikes) and left the parking lot at 7am to make my race start time in Vancouver. We registered me just in the nick of time. Adam had exactly 3 minutes from the time I was crossing the finish line to get to his start position. I barely got to watch him race, as I was trying to change, wrangle a dog and a wild and crazy toddler all at the same time.  After cheering for him during one lap, we find him after he's done.

The next 15 minutes are a blur, as he's rushing to load the bikes and the stroller in the car, I'm shoving the dog and Noella in the car. He's breaking out in hives head to toe telling me to google ER's in Vancouver, WA. I calmly get us to the main road and luckily stumble onto a hospital about two minutes away. I tell him he needs to check himself in so I can park and get Noella.

When I walk in, the nurses at the registration area are all huddled together talking seriously about a man who'd been stung and "oh my gosh I've never seen someone react like that" and "he really scared me"...... I blurt out "are you talking about Adam?". The lovely lady at the front desk happened to catch Adam as he passed out at reception. He didn't have trouble breathing, but had some kind of shock or panic attack.

She ushers us into his room, where I'm overwhelmed by a dozen people in the room, Adam hooked up to oxygen, IV's, electrodes ---- looking completely out of it. And not totally aware that we were in the room. Just a tad bit scary. No actually, that moment of me just walking in - no one having said anything to me yet - was definitely one of the top 5 most scary moments of my life.  Noella had no clue what was going on. If she did, she probably would have been crying and clinging to me, but she just looked extremely confused and kept saying "Dada, nigh-night?".

Anyway long story, semi-shorter: he is allergic to bee stings. He is fine, other than being slightly itchy still. He will need to see an allergist to receive shots to help with the reactions and he must carry an Epi-pen with him at all times (he already has one for shellfish).

Phew! That was a long story! For those of you who are still with me, here are some pictures of our ER adventure:

Me trying to help Noella wind down so she can take a damn nap already!

Hanging with Dada in his hospital bed watching college football and eating pretzels. Totally normal saturday.