More projects

This may not look like much. This is the view from our deck. Until Saturday it was dirt and weeds. It was so shady under those bushes that not even grass could grow. We cut down the two end bushes, to the left in the photo. We weeded, put in a brick edging, planted hostas and ginger, and mulched it all! The exciting part was that we didn't even have to buy any plants. One of Scott's buddies brought some over and we divided many of our own hostas. Our back door neighbors were so happy that we were cleaning up their view that they brought us homemade cookies while we worked!

Projects

The big beautiful pictures of the kids and our family are the ones that we had taken back in December! They are finally on the wall. The wall with the collage is in our dining room. All of those pictures have been in cabinets for years. Some of them have never even been up on a wall. It is so exciting to walk by these pictures every day, many times a day. (If you noticed that the frame on Scott's senior picture needs painting, I know. I was trying to save money on frames. I was able to get all the frames 50% off at Hobby Lobby! Yeah!)

13 TODAY!

May 28th is my mom's birthday. So Noelle was scheduled to be delivered on May 29th. She was breech and had to be delivered by cesarean. My kids are not known for respecting schedules. Noelle Madison Larson was born at 4:52 am on May 28th. She was born in Waterloo, Iowa, weighing 7 pounds and 13 and 1/2 ounces. On September 5, 1996, I wrote, "Noelle is a dream baby. She sleeps all night. She talks and smiles lots, especially for dad. Everyone thinks she has red hair and looks like me."

October, 1997

17 months

August, 1999

Just over three years old

March, 2002

Almost six

July, 2003

Drama camp, age seven

School picture

5th grade

Birthday girl!

Noelle is: AMAZING, brave, curious, daring, enthusiastic, flashy, GREAT, helpful, ingenious, jazzy, KIND, limber, modest, nice, outrageous, pretty, quick, radiant, silly, tender, unique, virtuous, winsome, x-rayed, youthful and ZANY!!

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Fun in the sun

Scott, Sabrina and I had a great time yesterday afternoon. Scott surprised me with some hanging baskets, five huge ones! So we hung those and some outdoor lights that I purchased in June 2006! So our deck looks ready for a party. We added sand to Sabrina's sandbox, her new favorite place. She loves it when we bury our feet and the sand was so dirty! She is still not walking more than a couple steps on her own. And that is only when we really encourage her. But she has a great time pushing things around, like the shopping cart that her therapist left for her.

One more week until my other princess turns 13! Where does the time go?

Pimpin'

I cannot believe my son is at prom, right now! I cannot possibly be old enough to have a son old enough to go to prom! Doesn't he look handsome? His date's name is Sarah. This is their first date, which I guess makes them friends. She is a senior and she is a great golfer. (Jake is a junior and also a golfer. I tease him about if she could beat him or not.)

Oh, yeah, don't be offended by the title. Apparently, pimp has a new meaning?!

April Showers

Earlier this week, we got a whole bunch of rain! The pickup is Jake's. The view is from our front door. Our neighbors got 16 inches in their basement, Yuck! We have a little dampness in one corner but we are pretty sure we will be OK. Noelle, right, and her friend Lena felt the need to play in the rain. Silly girls!

For JoJo

Sabrina loves to go to Clive and Dawn's blog and look at pictures and videos of JoJo!