Birthday Fun

Phew! What a few weeks we've had. We finally finished the wood floors in the family room and Nora's playroom, the day before her birthday. It was the most exhausting work I think I've done in my life. We couldn't have done it in the time we did without the help from Murf, my Dad, Charlotte and my Mom, and the Walkers. Murf and my Dad helped us with the floor, the rest helped us with Nora. Charlotte fed us a couple of times too! I don't know that my parents are going to be eager to come visit us again soon because of how quickly we put them to work. But we really appreciated it!!!

Nora 'fixing' Grandma's hair.


Dad painting baseboards and shoe moulding

We love the floors, and I think we did an awesome job. We still have to finish cutting and painting the baseboards before we put them in. We're not so happy with the contrast between the old and new floors but hopefully it won't be an issue once we refinish the old floors. Yes, although we took the time to match the new floors to the old, we matched them to the un-sunbleached section, so the contrast between the bleached and new section is significant.

And her playroom...

I think all the fun Nora had with her birthday can be summed up in one photo:

That just takes the cake for me. :)

Nora woke up her birthday morning, ate breakfast, and with all her grandparents here, opened her presents. She was very, very, very excited (understatement) and you can see this by her "flapping." It's something that children with sensory issues and autism do, and I was actually surprised to see her start doing this recently when she's super excited. She definitely has some sensory stuff going on, EVERYTHING goes in her mouth still and sometimes she really seeks out sensory stimulation. :) I usually treat kids who act like this with a sensory brushing protocol, and Murphey asks me regularly when I'm going to start brushing Nora... :)


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Here she is inside her Thomas toy box Grandma and Grandpa got her

That evening we had some friends and family over for pizza and cake. Nora was so excited to have a 'party'. She knew what a party was from going to our neighbor Georgia's party in February. She had a great time playing with all her friends here at her party. I made her a cake using Agave nectar as the sweetner, and cream cheese icing. I was surprised at how good it tasted. It was a little bit dry, but I think that's my fault because I didn't really cover it before I went to bed the night before. Nobody complained about it, and they all ate it, so I take that as a good sign!!


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Levi really enjoyed Nora's new crib...

And Grandpoppa really enjoyed Nora's toys! ;)

Playing a game with cousin Will, she's throwing a stuffed pumpkin up in the air,

trying to hit the balloon. It's what Murphey does when a balloon gets stuck up by the 20' ceiling. (our family room ceiling slopes upwards near the kitchen.)

Birthday skype with Erin

Then to cap off a wonderful weekend, we went to the mexican restaurant on Monday night for Mariachi and good food. The Walkers met us out also! The Mariachi band played "Happy Birthday" for Nora.


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On top of the Mariachi band, there was a balloon artist who made Nora a spider and Levi a dinosaur! Here, Mike, you can try to copy these! They were pretty impressive!!!

And one last cute picture, Nora playing the drum on her birthday balloon.