Little Z Turns 4

On the same weekend as Em's bday and K's recital, we had Z's bday. Yes, it was chaotic! Good chaos, if that exists. :-) Her Nana always creates these themed parties and this year it was cowgirl...with a pony!! Yes, that pony was the only way I managed to convince K to wear jeans. She began by telling me that cowgirls wear tights under dresses and after we looked up cowgirls on the ipad, she agreed that none of them were in dresses, but that she could be a cowgirl in a skirt. I had to pull out the ultimatum...no jeans, no horse ride. It worked. Whew!

But then, having just won this battle, Em decided to grace us with her presence after only a 45min nap.   It was not pretty...

She wanted to wear her pajamas.

If you don't have girly girls, thank God in heaven for your blessings!!  We spend at least part of every single day arguing over clothes (now that it is winter, that is - summer was such a nice reprieve since we all agreed skirts and t-shirts were great).

Well, okay, maybe it's not that bad...when they are cute, there is just no beating it.

When Em listened long enough to realize there were ponies and chocolate involved for all who cooperated, she magically felt better.

At the party, Z stayed true to form.  She was perfectly happy and smiling, until she became the center of attention.  Then, you guessed it, she scowled at all of us.  She cracks me up so much!  She even does this in school if you catch her off guard and ask her a question.  :-)

Yep. singing happy birthday and still scowling.  Look at that, cold shoulder and all!

No more scowl so I had to throw it in.

So I went for the side shot.

And then went back to my posers.  They had smores for cake since Z is allergic to dairy and can't have cake anyway.  I am going to steal ideas like this soon.  January, in fact.

All right, so the highlight of the entire day, the horse.

Em was so happy she was getting the unabashed, "oh, ah, she's sooooo cute!" from virtually everyone.

I mean, how can you resist that face?

G-Bear

Z wasn't going to go but did finally take a ride, as long as her mom was with her.

Seriously, after K got in line three times and rode, I don't know how much, with a giant grin on her face, I had to say out loud, "I'm still not getting a horse!" just to remind myself that no matter how happy my kids were, it can't happen.  :-)

Little J

We even got to put on matching scarves and hats.

Em looked like a bank robber but thankfully it also doubled as a bib since she was more than thrilled about her access to two tables worth of food.

Last but not least, I cannot believe I have not introduced you to the newest member of our clan.  A has a little sister...AG...she is almost six weeks now and perfectly healthy.  PTL!

I think that gets me caught up on pictures.  Emily was supposed to start school today but since the paperwork didn't come through, we have orientation tomorrow and then she will start next week.  I might keep her out though until after Thanksgiving so she doesn't catch anything she can take with us over the holiday weekend.  We are assured by more than one source this will be the sickest winter we have ever had and Em will likely miss more school than she makes it to.  I understand that she will be exposed to every single thing coming around but it is not very reassuring to hear others predict her demise and it certainly doesn't motivate me to send her to school either!

Oh well, they only read her medical report, not how many times God has saved her.  I'm the one who has that report in the back of my mind.  In fact, we were sick less on her second winter I didn't try to control anything than in the first winter when I tried to control everything.  It is far more relaxing to just roll with it and life is certainly more fun!  We can only end up exactly where God wants us this winter so it's best not to borrow worry from tomorrow, and I'm not going to!

Have a great day!  God Bless!

K's Ballet Recital

The same day as Em's bday party, we had K's dance recital in the evening. I was one of the Mom's helping out in the back. We had to arrive over an hour before the performance and then keep 20 girls in too toos happy in a hallway while not crumpling tool. It actually went pretty well and the performance went off without a hitch so we considered it a success. Before we left, Nana had to fix the flower on the front of K's outfit.

Waiting in the back hallway...

I just thought this was cute...they are coloring...

Most of the girls in our class...

Waiting patiently to practice walking on and off the stage...this is K...

Since it was practice, I ran to the other side of the stage to get a couple of pics of our girls.

So, here's my sweet little girl!!

And her two BFFs...

Back to the back hallway...you can see our little line-up...and I didn't get it all...they extend behind me.

I used the camera as a distraction tool...we took tons of pictures, most of which were 'accidentally' deleted immediately.

When the program started, not only were we to keep them in line, entertained and calm, but quiet...

As you can see, during the actual performance, I was stuck on the other side and couldn't really see our girls.  I could see clearly that Z had decided to scowl and not perform (as we predicted beforehand :-)...Z is probably not going to be a performer - athlete, yes, she has great form and is faster than the boys already, but on stage?, well, maybe not so much).  I was told that K did really well and have seen at least one video of her waving at the crowd after it was all done.  Ha!  I will get some pics of the performance from my friends and their family but rest assured, it was totally adorable!!

It made for a very long day but we had fun nonetheless!  God Bless!!

Emily's Birthday Part II

We decided to have a little birthday party for Emily so that her family could celebrate with us, so Saturday morning our house looked a little like Sesame Street and six little cousins played together for several hours.

The weather was very cold and it was supposed to rain so before anyone arrived, Mo and I set up the bounce house, hoping to burn some energy in advance of the party...

Mo and I painted the characters while we chatted the night before...I'm pretty impressed with our skills!

We also made rainbow cupcakes with character rings on top.

Oh, and cookie monster bean bag toss...I even made the rice bags with my sewing machine and old scraps of material.  :-)  We did well, spending only a few dollars and still making it look good!

Check out the storm behind that guy!  I can't believe how crazy boys are!  It was cold and windy but all the boys were outside, when allowed.  K was inside, I believe, nearly the entire time.  :-)

Oh yeah, inside dressing up Sammy.

We did pull them inside for a while to do some crafts.

Emily has to get so close to see...

...that she often gets paint on her face too.  :-)

B arrived a little late since Mom had an accident on the stairs and had to go to the ER...we are thankful she is doing well but will have a pretty long recovery and I am sure all your prayers for her would be welcomed.

The kids had fun putting balloons on Poppy's head and watching them stick.

The rainbow...pretty cool!

We even had a chance to facetime with their uncle and other cousin, C, who live in NC.

Ok, it did get warm enough at one point for everyone to be outside for a while.

Em was pretty excited about her presents...

Now she sleeps with all of them...and Shamu and puppy and...

Uncle M got to take most of the day off.  Y is so big, he is almost as tall as I am and he is in first grade!

The fun of small parties, you can play with all the toys right away.

Well, she is three...who knew this would happen?  I am grateful!  Everyone keeps asking how I did this year on her actual birthday.  And the short answer is that it's hard to tell.  This was the first year I tried the strategy of not thinking about it.  I wanted to see if 'ignoring' it 'worked'.  I know everyone out there who believes in 'processing' everything is panicking, but don't worry, I have processed.  Now I have reached the point where I just want to look forward instead of back.

So, to retrain my brain, if negative memories came to mind, I shut them out and traded them for a literal look at her now.  I would literally walk to where she was and then give her a hug or find her in the rear view mirror and ask for a smile.  I told her I loved her and watched her long enough to get absorbed into her world right then or I distracted myself with something I needed to do.  Then in the afternoon it was her IEP meeting so I didn't have time to reflect.  Healthy or not, I wanted to see.  Overall, I think it worked pretty well, even if I had some pretty crazy dreams, - since I can't shut down my subconscious.  :-)

God is still healing her and in His faithfulness I still believe.  God Bless!!  Hope you let this little miracle put a smile on your face today!!