A Fractured Arm That Isn't and Fireflys

Happy Birthday to Jorie on the 21st! It's sad after the first child how little I have done for the others on their first few birthdays. Garret woke up on Jorie's B'day expecting balloons and streamers that were not there. I guess a 5-year-old wouldn't understand Jorie is only 1 and has no clue it's her birthday, and that his Mom is going to get away with not having birthday parties as long as she can...We did sing to her and got a cake. She just played in it

Until

That's enough of that. She really didn't know what to make of the whole cake thing. We got her a forward facing car seat that she just loves. Every time we look back at her she just gives us the biggest smile. Here is a singing video for anyone who wants to hear Happy Birthday being sung to my baby:

I don't know how many times I've thought over the last year how happy I am that she's a girl, and not a boy like they first told me she was. I'm just more comfortable with boys for some reason, and another girl really made me nervous. She is such a tiny thing, but so strong willed and almost as intense as AJ. Sometimes she just looks at situations around her as though she is trying so hard to understand everything, and has eyes that seem to see right through you. There is a certain smile of hers that is reserved for when she knows she has done something wrong and you say her name. I am scared. She is a joy to her sister and brothers, who just love her so much. Happy 1st Birthday Angel! We love you!

Last Thursday, Cora told me about how she wished she could break her arm. I told her how lucky we are that no one in our family has ever broken anything, and that instead of wishing for bad things to happen to her, she focus on being thankful she has such a strong body. Then, last Friday:

Yes, that is our son lying on a hospital bed with a supposed fractured wrist. The doctor since then has told us he can't seem to find anything wrong on the latest x-rays, but AJ still has a cast on for the next 3 weeks. AJ tried to do a trick on the tramp and it didn't work out so well. Mark took him to the emergency room on Friday night, and, of course, I ran out the door after him with the camera so he could take pictures for the blog. Almost every picture Mark took, AJ was doing a karate kick or punch with his good arm. Nothing slows this kid down except sleep!

In our backyard are many mating fireflys, whose butts light up every night around 9pm. Last night we got some video of the kid's and their fascination with these cool little bugs. Mark is just as excited about them. It's fun. You can hear Air Force One (one of the planes are stationed here) in the background, and we often see it up in the air with pilots practicing special flying things. It's pretty cool to see.



And hey!! There's our backyard!
The other night while I was tucking Cora into bed, she told me she left me a HINT for someplace she wanted to go on the computer. I walk into the office to find this SONG taped to the computer:


(I don't wanna wait, wait, wait. It's bader then pait, pait, pait. I wanna go to the zoo, zoo, zoo. So come on...Let's do, do, do. Do you want what I want? I bet you do oo oo. So come on let's go, go, go to the zoo!!! So come on man! Can we go to the zoo please with puppy dog face?)

I'm still trying to figure out where she wants to go...
I love that child, and I'm so glad she was born first. She is so resilient and has really done a great job of compensating for my lack of enthusiasm at times. I guess I need to start planning our trip to the zoo.