Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Memorial Day 2012!

We had an AWESOME Memorial Day with our friends on the lake!


Tuesday, May 29, 2012

G-ma!

We celebrated my Grandma Ellie's birthday with a lunch at Houlihan's and a cake from Dino's 24karat Bakery! Lauren and Lane came in town with the babies, so it was a very special lunch! For some reason my other pictures didn't turn out well, but I did get these of G-ma with her cake!



Happy Birthday to my Wonderful Grandma!

Shelley

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Joseph!

Me and my wonderful mom with the kids at Sight and Sound for Joseph. It was awesome!


Shelley

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Family

We were so excited to spend the day at SDC with Lauren and Lane, all three babies, and the rest of the fam!



Perfect memories!!!

Shelley

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Papa Kenny!

The kids with my Grandpa, "Papa Kenny", on his birthday! We celebrated with a yummy strawberry cake from Lola's!  So good!


Shelley

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Last day!

An impromptu meeting with two of Annie's sweet first grade friends on the last day of school. It was a wonderful first grade year, and we will miss it!


Shelley

Saturday, May 19, 2012

A Sporting Chance

Ellie participated in a track meet today.

That's a sentence I honestly never thought I'd say. I mean, to be realistic, the girl hates being hot, and tends to avoid physical activity. The whole "coordinating my body" thing is pretty difficult at times for her, and sports have never been her forté. A few weeks ago though, she brought home a form to sign up for the "A Sporting Chance" track meet, and said she wanted to try it out.

Today was the day, and she excitedly stepped onto the field at 9:30am to compete in her first event, the standing long jump.




And she took first place.

First Place!




The grin on her face made me cry.

She participated in two more events; the 50m run, and the softball throw. She received two more medals for those, one first place and one third.




Here's what surprised me. This is a special needs track meet. It was quite a mixture of different levels of special needs. They did a great job of organizing the kids according to age and ability level, but I still wondered if Ellie would really feel proud of herself. I worried she would discount her achievements.

Boy was I wrong.

After her meet she excitedly called her daddy to tell him the news. Her smile was huge, the pride she had for herself was contagious. She needed this. She needed to win. More than even I knew.

So to the wonderful people who made this happen; her teachers, the staff from Branson, the A Sporting Chance organization...I sincerely thank you. You made my girl feel like a winner, which is priceless. We will never forget this and Ellie can't wait to participate next year!

Shelley

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Field Day!

Field Day for Annie is a LOT of fun! She loves the games, the outside fun, the time to be crazy with her friends. I love seeing her love it. :)




Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Mother's Day '12

As Mother's Days go, this one wasn't too bad. (I have issues with this day). We spent Mother's Day eve with my mom and dad and saw Joseph at the Sight and Sound Theater! The show was fantastic and everyone had a great time. Which, with our kids is a gift in itself! :)

Sunday we overslept and didn't make it to church. I was thankful though for the extra sleep! Then we decided to spend the beautiful day at SDC.

My kids are my kids, so... no, the day wasn't perfect. There was fighting and whining and grumpy faces. We had a pretty good time though, and I did get this really cute picture!



Yep, I love them through it all! :)

The evening went well too, with a stop at Nana and Papa's, where we watched their adopted pet ducks waddle through the yard and eat some corn Nana had put out. Highlight of the kids day!

So yeah, a pretty good day all in all. And I'll take that any day. ;)

Shelley

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

I have ear drops under my arm.

Yet another thing about being a mama that I did not expect. :)

Austin has had an ear infection for at least 6 weeks now. After one round of oral antibiotics, several chiropractic adjustments, 2 ear "vacuuming" procedures, and two rounds of antibiotic ear drops...we're back at square one.

Today's ear "vacuuming" hurt him, which just about killed me. He's had it done so many times, and is incredibly tolerant of all the pokes and prods and people messing with his ears, that usually he lays completely still and barely flinches. Today though, he screamed at the end. A, pierce-me-to-the-heart, big giant tears, scream.

It took all I had not to cry with him.

So now what? Now a new, stronger, oral antibiotic. And another round of ear drops. But why are they under my arm??

Simple. I have ear drops under my arm to warm them up. It really bothers Austin when the drops are "cold" (room temperature). One day I'd carried them around in my hand for awhile before I put them in his ear. When I finally got around to administering the drops, he looked at me surprised and said, "Day are WARM mommy! Day feewl betta when day are WARM!" I realized they had warmed up as I'd carried them, making them much more comfortable! At first I'd hold them for awhile in my hand, but then realized they warmed faster under my arm. So now, twice a day every day, I have ear drops under my arm.

The things we do for our children. :)

We'll see the ENT again in two weeks. Austin's 4th appointment in 6 weeks. We're looking at a third set of tubes, but we have to clear his infection up first.

I don't know what to do besides pray. And administer medicines. And pray some more. I think about the mama's out there who have very sick babies, and my heart breaks for them. This has worn me down, I can only imagine what they've been through.

Praying for them, and us, tonight.

Shelley

Friday, May 11, 2012

Red Carpet Worthy!

Ellie was excited to participate in her school's Red Carpet Assembly for the third year in a row! She wore my junior prom dress and she looked beautiful!



Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Growing up...

This girl just won't stop growing. Her legs keep getting longer, and another birthday is around the corner.
She wanted her hair cut shorter a few months ago, so I allowed a couple of inches to be snipped off. She insisted she wanted it even shorter, but I wasn't sure.
Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, and another hair cut. This time she convinced me she really wanted it short, so I conceded.
The result:





Adorable. But way, WAY, to old looking.
Sigh.
I do love it though, and she does too. Love this beautiful girl!
Shelley

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Unexpected TIME?!

Well that's rare! So rare that I'm not even sure how to proceed! I had planned to volunteer at my daughters school today for a few hours, and due to some miscommunication, I ended up not being needed there, so.... Now what? Oh I kid, there's obviously lots of ways for me to spend a few hours. But on the recommendation of a friend, I came to Panera. Ahhh.... It's getting crowded now though, and I'm feeling a little self conscious, but I shall persevere. :) I'm going to do a little bloggy catch up for 2009 and '10, and enjoy some sweet tea. Just wanted to throw a shout out to God first. I've been really stressed lately, trying to fit everything in with the last day of school looming closer and closer. With all the end of the school year events, I have very little time left to myself. But I want to do it All. Volunteer, attend the field trips, continue the therapies, make gifts, plan ahead for next year... So I'd resigned myself to no personal time, and said a little prayer for God to give me strength. And He gave me this. He's awesome like that.

Friday, May 4, 2012

School Fun!

Annie has had a GREAT year of first grade. She's had a wonderful teacher who's helped her learn to read like a champ, and have a love for school. I can't believe school will be out in just a couple of weeks! Some school highlights for Annie this Spring have been...

Art Show! Annie's Chinese Lantern made the Elementary Art Show!


Spring Concert! The theme was "Summer Fun" and they did a great job! Papa and Nana with the girls...


Grammie and Grandaddy with Annie...


Annie with Mrs. D! They adore each other.


And then a field trip to the local indoor water park! Annie with a friend...


Annie's teacher isn't done yet! She has some super fun, end of the year activities planned for the kids. I am in awe of her patience and bravery! :) We will miss the first grade!

Shelley