Dear Noah....update on those books you saw at the bookstore.....

they were steamy ROMANCE novels!!! Sorta like this one:




You were talking about those racy images on the COVERS! You said this one author had so many books......all covering these shelves.....and ALL the covers had half naked men and women on them......

and you of course.........want to go back and see more!!!!!! haha

this makes so much more sense......and I figured it would be something like this.

Noah......yeah.......you are such a boy.......which is a "good" thing as Martha S. would say.

I love you!

Mommy
XOXOX

Dear Noah.......our trip to the used bookstore.....

Wednesday we went to the graveside services of my great uncle who had passed away....and your cousin Audrey was also there. She went home with us to spend the day with you while I finished work.

Before going home I took you both to the local used bookstore. Stepping inside the door you blurted out in front of the owner "Boy this place gets messier and messier each time we come!" (because this particular used bookstore she does not have everything on the shelves and some books are just in huge piles on the floor...tossed here and there).

We all really enjoyed that immensely and all took home some treats.

While standing in the checkout with Audrey....you Noah disappeared back into the side room to look at more books. I kept telling you we were getting ready to leave. Finally it was time to go.

Once outside the store on the way to the car you proceeded to tell me about some author who had written all these SEX books which had pictures of men and women doing "sexual things."

I flipped around quickly and asked you "WHAT??" I started asking the million mom questions and asked if they were men and women and you said yes. I asked if they were naked and you said only on the top. I asked if you if they were doing anything and you said "sort of." I am not sure what sort of meant and I am not sure what type of book you saw....whether it was an art book or something else entirely. This is not a bookstore that carries porn of any kind so I have no idea...yet.

You then told me you wanted to come back soon because you wanted to "see some more" and "look at them all!"

OH YES...you are very much the boy with hormones. Once back home apparently you also pulled your cousin's top of her dress out and said you could see her boobs.

sigh...........haha

well....next time I am going to have you show me what books you were looking at in the bookstore so I can see for myself exactly what they were. I cannot imagine it is anything too bad....but....who knows. We are pretty open and up front in our discussions about the human anatomy and sex so it should not be a big deal. I did find it funny that you were so excited about the books and wanted to go back and see more. Typical 10-year-old boy stuff I think.

You did well at the funeral...this was the first one you went to. We walked over to see grandpa C's grave first....and I told you that is where grandma C. would be buried too one day if she passes on. You said "if she ever dies I will really cry a lot!" I told you everyone would.

I love you Noah. I have had a migraine for 2 days...but think tonight it is finally starting to clear up. Thanks for letting me take a nap today!

Mommy
XOXOXO

Dear Noah........we have been busy!

We had a very nice 4th of July holiday weekend. My birthday was squeezed in on Sunday. We shared a piece of a tiny birthday cake I had purchased at our local store. It was so yummy. Of course you only ate the icing!

Ever since Michael Jackson died you have been thinking a lot. The other day you came out and asked if your daddy was now 55 years old since his birthday on June 2. I told you yes he was....to which you replied "I need a younger daddy!" When I asked you why you said "well what is he dies early?" I think the Michael Jackson death has made you think about things like this. I told you that you cannot change the age of your dad...and we talked about it for awhile.

Monday when we talked about it again.....you said his age was now fine and you did not need him to be a different age.

Saturday we went to grandma and grandpa L.'s house for a big birthday/Father's Day/Fourth of July party/cookout. We had a good time and lots of good food. You really enjoyed playing with Audrey like you always do.

Sunday was my birthday and we spent a quiet time here at home. It was a time of reflection for me since my great uncle passed away Saturday night at 10:30 and my aunt is still not doing well in the hospital. We will go to the services at the cemetery on Wednesday and this will be the first thing of that sort you have ever attended.

Monday you did not want to venture too far from home so I got a lot done around the house. You have apparently set personal goals for yourself to record exactly 25 videos per day and if you don't...well.....you can barely go to bed and sleep.

I cannot believe it is already July......the first week into July. I have still made no real time to sit down and make up a schedule for you this summer and I need to seriously do that this week.

Otherwise though...all has been going pretty well and smoothly this summer. I love you Noah...very much!

Mommy
XOXOXOX

Dear Noah........I cannot believe it is July 1 already!

Monday we were super busy! We spent all day running around. You were exhausted by the time we got home.

We started off with breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Then to the mall. While at the mall we came across these 2 photo booths and I asked if you could sit down and have your photo taken at this one where after your photo was taken the machine then sketched out the photo into a drawing. You were NOT wanting to do this...but I said look..for 2.00 this could be my birthday present from you to me. SO you sat there.

I then found a booth where we could both squeeze in and have little snapshots taken. You did that too. You enjoy the end results now back at home more than you did the actual process.

After the mall we went to Home Depot as you wanted to see one since you had not seen one since we lived in Colorado. Then you wanted to check out a different Big Lots.

Then lunch at Long John Silvers...and Wal*Mart...then the Goodwill. FINALLY home after hitting up Walgreens for these amazing sparkling balls......among other things.

Last night on the way home from grandma C's house you saw a man walking down the street and said "look mom....he is wearing a girl's shirt!" I glanced over and it was a man wearing a muscle T-shirt.....sleeveless tank type kind. I had to laugh...and tried to explain that to you.

Cousin Audrey came over with Aunt Melissa on Sunday for a cookout and swim in the backyard pool.

Time is getting away from me and I realize I am not always updating this as often as I want to or should.

Regardless Noah you are changing.....growing up....and I love you very much.

Mommy
XOXOX

Dear Noah......you are enjoying summer so far!

I have not yet made time to make up a school schedule of events this summer.....but you are not unhappy about that. So far your days have been filled up with swimming and computer games, playing with me and going places. AND more swimming. You unfortunately got sunburned on your back Monday at the pool.....so you are going to be spending most of your time indoors the next couple of days. BUT otherwise you are having a good summer I think.

Saturday we spent time at Uncle Sonny's wonderfully magical place...as he invited us along with other relatives out to his house for a cookout and paddle boating. Everyone had such a wonderful time and the weather was gorgeous!

Monday cousin Audrey came over to spend the day and went swimming with you. You have also been swimming here and at Aunt Angela's big pool at her new apartment. You love the water though in one video clip I will post another time you did panic as you were drifting to the deeper end of the pool.

All in all I think and hope and pray your summer will be filled with many magical moments and memories you will treasure a lifetime!

I love you!

Mommy
XOXOX

Dear Noah.....your cardiology followup.....

Was Monday afternoon at Children's Medical Center. Your bicuspid aortic valve is about the same and the stenosis there is about the same; however, the leaking (aortic insufficiency) has worsened a bit. So the cardiologist is more worried about that right now than the stenosis or aortic valve itself.

You are going to have to go back in 6 months for another echocardiogram to see if it has worsened again or stayed the same. We will then go from there. I won't get into a lot of details now about things but you may face open heart surgery one day unless they can come up with a new way to do a couple of the surgeries you might one day have to have done. If it has worsened in 6 months we will start checking into options....and it sounds like they would try you on some medication first. BUT I would have to really do some research even on that....the long-term side effects...etc...before ever agreeing to something they could probably just go ahead and fix and get it over with. Time will tell. You did well but cried throughout the echo as you had a sore chest and stomach from swimming at your Aunt Angela's house Saturday night. You apparently fell on the concrete and hit your chest and stomach. Here I thought you had hit your knee.

We have been pretty busy so far this summer. I have not yet even had time to come up with a schedule for school work and field trips for summer and as fast as the months are going by I better get to it or summer will be all over before we know it!

We went to your Aunt Angela's to swim Saturday night and to see her new apartment. We had a really nice time there.



We have stopped over to see grandma C. We stopped in to see Audrey and Grandma and Grandpa L. on Monday on the way home from your cardiology appointment. Then while at Grandma C's house we got a call to come to the hospital as my aunt was there in really bad shape (she has cancer in her lung, spine and brain and now pneumonia and other infections). So we took grandma C. to the hospital and called some other family members to be there too. You did very well..being very quiet as she was in the ICU. You did entertain yourself a couple of times by going into the bathroom off the side of the ICU Waiting Area to flush the men's toilet. So there we all sat talking and every so often we could hear a "SWOOSH!"

You were exhausted by the time we left which was almost 2:45 a.m.!

We saw a gorgeous moon on the way home so we pulled off to snap a few.....



Yesterday we stayed home and rested up a bit...same today. I will have to mow soon. We will need to water the vegetables tonight and give the animals fresh water and seed.

I love you Noah.....As usual you have made some very amazing comments over the past few days and because I got behind and did not record them right away or jot them down I hope I can recall them to post here soon.

Meanwhile...I love you a lot.

Mommy
XOXOXO

OH! YOUR SCHOOL progress reports and tests! You are doing amazingly well. I will post your scores later...but you took the test for 4th grade and were in the ADVANCED level on Math and Reading...so I am less worried or wondering how you are doing now!

Oh The Places You'll Go! by Dr. Suess (read by John Lithgow) appropriate for us all to read!