Our Weekend

This weekend was a first for us. Dad came out to visit alone. Mom has been in an in-patient rehab facility for the past 2 weeks. Her health has declined considerably over the past year or so and it was recommended by the doctors that she get into this rehab facility, so she could work intensely on getting some of her strength built back up. It was originally scheduled for a short 20-day stay, but that stay will be extended for another 20-days once that time is up, as was recommended at her last evaluation. Not sure what will happen when that next 3-week stint is over, but we're praying for wisdom as we move forward in making decisions. Anyway, because mom is at the rehab facility at the nursing home, dad decided to take a couple days off and come visit and get some down time in. We had a really fun time with him too! Because all he does now is eat out, we had some yummy home-cooked meals for him. We went for a walk together, watched a movie, relaxed and just enjoyed each other's company. He and Pete went golfing too. Dad doesn't get much time off. Between being a pastor and caring for mom, he had a hard time relaxing. When he comes out here, the agenda for those days is just that! Relaxing! There were some growing pains with mom. It's not easy to have your support system gone, even if you're getting great care from qualified staff, but hopefully now that they've been apart for those 2 days, they know they can get through it and will be able to handle it a little better each time. So, thanks Dad for coming out and spending some time with us. We really enjoyed having you out here. Please continue to pray for mom as she continues to adjust to her new surroundings and pray that she gains back some of the skills she's lost as her health has declined. All we want is to see mom as healthy as she can be - both physically and emotionally. And, we pray for that same thing with dad.

My Graduate!

Today was a very special day. My baby girl, little Livie, graduated! All three of my children have successfully graduated from preschool and I could not be prouder!



Of course, with every graduation, come a cute outfit. I usually buy them a new outfit for the occasion, but Livie just got this one for the dance recital last weekend, so we used this. I know I made the dreaded "don't wear an outfit twice for special occasions" faux pas, but I think it's forgivable when they're 5. So, we left early and got ready for her big afternoon!

To celebrate we joined her buddy Jack and his not-in-school family and had lunch together. I know you see this place in my pictures a lot. I swear the waiters should know us on a first name basis by now. We're there all the time! It was so fun going out with them and celebrating our fantastic kiddos. We don't see them nearly enough!

Since the restaurant is just a block away from their school, I left early and walked the kids down. First we had to stop and take a picture by the Mary shrine. These two are best buddies and I hope they always will be. He's a great kid!

We went inside the sanctuary and waited for the kids to start commencement. They had the classes hang up these signs on the wall. Livie's hand is the green one in the top right corner. :-)

Here the graduates come down the aisle!!

Every time they have a graduation, they have a slideshow of things the kids did this year. It almost always brings us moms to tears. I'm proud to say I made it through without a single one!

Then they call the kids' names and have them come forward and accept their diplomas. They read what the kids want to be when they grow up. Livie said, "I want to hunt for Yeti bones to see if they're real." Yep! A regular 'ole "Palentogolist". That's what she calls herself. They are a little different than a Paleontologist. ;-)

Her graduating class in all their glory! She had a terrific class too. Really sweet and wonderful kids.

Here is her buddy Jack again and her sweet, little friend Calie. Calie's the quiet, shy one that Livie tried to help get out of her shell this year.

I was and am so proud of my little girl!!

So is her daddy!

See? It's official! A real diploma and everything. Miss Olivia had graduated!

And, here are her wonderful teachers too! Mrs. T is the one on the left and she was also Noah's teacher. The tears came when I hugged her and thanked her for being such an important part of my kids' lives. I am so thankful that my kids have had such wonderful teachers in their lives. They make all the difference in the world!

Livie is having her "Mary Tyler Moore" moment and throwing her hat in the air. HAPPY GRADUATION, LIVIE ROSE! We love you so much and can't wait to see what a great kindergartener you're going to make!

Videos

I took some videos during dress rehearsal, but not full footage of their performances. Here are a few scenes from 2 of the girls dances. Didn't get Madie's tap number recorded, darn it!! Livie is the 6th one from the left and Madie is on the far left in hers. :-)

Recital

Whew! Recital weekend is over! So much busyness, but so much fun too! I tried to take pictures this weekend to kind of show all that we do to get through recital weekend.



Noah had a game on Friday night, so it was up to me to get the girls ready and out the door. That included getting their hair in ponies and sprayed with enough hairspray to impress someone from 1983, so it wouldn't budge during their dancing AND getting that crazy make-up on. Without their lipstick on, they look a little scary!!

I had to grab all their costumes and bags with their shoes and extra make-up and drinks and everything in it. Then I had to carry all that as well as my purse and camera up to the school to get ready. I was a little sorry I didn't rent a pack mule to accompany us!

The girls were supposed to get ready in 2 different rooms on 2 different floors, but I just had Livie get ready with us, then I took her upstairs when it was time for her to get ready to line up with her "co-stars". :-) Look at my sweet girls!!

One of the girls in Madie's group was also in the opening tumbling act "Thriller", so Livie wanted a picture with her, so she could act like a zombie too. Nothing like a little girl in a pink tutu acting like a zombie. ;-)

Eventually, like I said, I took Livie up to her room - which was the nicest room, because it was air-conditioned! Really nice! Nearly all the preschoolers got ready in this room.

They were the 2nd performance of the first Act, so they got lined up right away. This is a picture of their teacher Miss Jessica giving them each a flower. How sweet was that?! I didn't get to watch the first night, because I was a room mom. I snuck in and watched Livie's performance, but I had to wait until Sat night to watch them both. Em and Jeff came to watch them on Fri night. They really thought they did a great job and it was so fun having them there! They even got both girls a gerber daisy as a congrats gift. :-)

Saturday, Nana and Papa T came and joined us. We went out to eat at our favorite mexican restaurant, which is down the street, so the girls and I could leave early and start getting dressed. I got them matching (yes, that's right Michelle!) outfits for their recital that night. They were so excited to be matching. :-)

All of us got ready to enjoy the show! Noah wasn't QUITE as excited as we were, but he managed to make it through until almost the last performance, before exclaiming that he was bored out of his mind and ready to leave. Recitals just aren't his thing. ;-)

Livie had gotten a flower from her teacher on Friday night and then the little boy in her number got all the girls flowers, so poor Madie was feeling a little left out. So, I got her some sunflowers and she was really excited!

Since her performance in the 2nd act isn't until about halfway through, the girls do a lot of chatting and coloring on the board.

This is what it looks like when they are gathering the acts together back by the classrooms. It can be so chaotic back there! But, this gives you a glimpse of some of the other costumes.

We had our last performance today at 1:30. Before we had to leave to get to the school, Nana and Papa left. Figured we'd better get a picture of them before they did! Just mad I didn't think of doing that with Em and Jeff too! Thanks to everyone who came out and supported them! It's a pretty big deal that they work hard for. It's only every other year, so we're always excited when it rolls around. :-)

Brookfield Fun

Yesterday I went with Noah on his field trip. We spent a few hours in the chilly weather at Brookfield Zoo. BUT, the good thing about the weather being on the cold side is that the animals seemed to love it! They were all really active and walked up so close to us. It was really cool!!



This is the closest I've ever seen the rhino. He was right on the edge of his space. If we had had a stick, we could've touched him!

This little pygmy hippo also got very close. He wasn't as close in this picture, but he got up right nex to those logs behind Noah and his buddy Nick there. Again, we just needed a stick!

Noah was insistant that we check out the wolves. Madie really wanted some pictures of them. Noah found this sign that talked about wolf poop. It was his favorite sign in the zoo! ;-)

Here was the wolf area. Can you see them on the top of the picture there to the right of Noah's head? They actually also got much closer and all were together in a pack. I've maybe seen a couple together, but not all like 7-8 of them! It was amazing! Didn't get my camera out fast enough to take a picture of that. Darn!

The one Noah wanted to see the most was the polar bear. Look at how tall they get! Couldn't believe it!

The polar bear must've known that we came just to see him, because he got up right next to the glass window and sat there looking at us for several minutes. I don't think I would've used a stick with that guy though.

We stopped for a quick bite and watched the peacocks behind us.

Then had to play in the playgym area. I know they can play on playgyms anywhere, but they needed to burn off some energy, so we didn't get to see the lions and tigers, but they had a great time regardless.

Check out these awesome jellyfish!! They are some of the most beautiful creatures of the ocean, if you ask me!

When we were walking past the monkeys, we saw this peacock just hanging out on the rocks by us, so we had to go say hi.

Here are some silly boys acting like gorillas.

Here I am with my boy by the big fountain! :-)

More goofballs.

The camels came after a quick trip inside the Austrailia house. I knew it said it had bats inside, but didn't realize that they meant LOOSE BATS! I, in a panic, tried to stop the boys from going inside. I am terrified of bats!! But they really, really wanted to go. I kept telling them I couldn't, but a guy with his son walked up and reassured me and said he'd walk beside me to make sure I was ok. So, I made it through at record speed, looking down the whole time, and survived! I told Nicky that if I had stayed in there any longer than we did, I knew I'd get attacked by one of them and then he'd have to call their teacher and tell her that I passed out and was currently on the floor of the bat house and they'd have to drag my body out of there. He and Noah thought that thought was hilarious. No sympathy from those two at all!! ;-)

We only got to spend about 3 hours there, but it was a lot of fun and glad I got to spend the day with my boy! :-)

Technical Rehearsals

Friday began what we will now refer to as "the busiest week of our lives!" The good thing is though, it's all fun stuff! :-) It started with Madie having her first sleepover with her bestie Ella. The girls had a ball together and didn't argue at all when I told them at 10:30 it was time for bed.


They watched a movie, but got to hang out in their room until it was time to go to sleep. I wouldn't have made them fall asleep at a certain time if not for our 6:30 wake-up call the next morning.

Why would we be getting up at 6:30 on a Sat? Dance technical rehearsals were at 8am and since Livie is the 2nd performance of Act 1, we needed to be there on time. Ella was supposed to have a softball practice at 9, but it was POURING rain, so she got out of it and came along with us. Livie was sooooo excited about getting up on stage! I tried to convince her not to wear the crown, but she insisted. She's a diva to the end!

Madie sat with her group and Ella and I were able to sit right behind them. Ella loved watching all the acts! I told her it'll be even better when they are in costume, so hopefully she can come tomorrow night with us and watch again.

Livie is right in the middle, by the teacher in the black. You'll notice the crown. ;-) She did a fantastic job! Can't wait to see her up there on recital nights!!

Madie has 2 performances this year and has improved SO much since her last recital 2 yrs ago. So impressed at how much she's grown in her dance skills! She too will be so fun to watch on recital night.

Tomorrow night begins dress rehearsals. Thus, the busy week I spoke of. Saturday was spent doing tech rehearsals from 8am-3pm. At 1pm I left Madie at the school and headed over for an elder retreat. Today we had shopping to do, church to do, and whatnot. Tomorrow is dress rehearsal at 5 for Act 1, so Livie and Madie will be there for that. Noah's first game is tomorrow night and I will miss that, but at least Pete will be going. Tuesday is dress rehearsal for Act 2 at 5pm. Wednesday is a field trip and speech therapy appt for Noah. Thursday I'm getting my hair done and have my girls night. Friday begins the recital, another of Noah's games, and company, which will pretty much be the total of our weekend - company and recitals! Busyness, but way too much fun!! I like that kind of busyness!! So, hopefully I'll be on my game enough to keep this blog updated on everything we're doing, so you all can share that with us as it happens. :-)

And, So It Begins....

Here is Madie:




Happy, grinning Madie. What you don't see from the outside, you see on the inside.





Madie got her extender yesterday. She has begun the long journey known as orthodontics. She gets the extreme privilege (note the sarcasm) of getting to wear this apparatus for 6 months, before heading into the next stage where she wears a retainer. At least a retainer is removeable. This this is cemented in and crossed the back of her mouth, so she's talking funny and having a very difficult time eating right now. Hopefully she'll get the hang of it soon and it'll stop hurting her. We have to take a "key" and insert it into the bar and turn it a hair each night for 6 weeks or so, then leave it there the additional 5 months, so her mouth is where it needs to be. We're hoping it'll be out by Thanksgiving. So, here we come orthodontics! It's a sucky journey, but with the best results ever!

Mother's Day

My Mom's Day yesterday was fantastic! The best one yet, I think. Started off by receiving lots of homemade cards and hugs. Noah gave me $5, which I felt bad taking, but he was so excited to give me his piggy bank money. Such a sweetie. We headed off to church where we had that special time as I talked about in the previous post. Went home for a quick lunch and headed to Starved Rock!




Last year we went there for Mother's Day for the first time ever. We had such a great time that we decided it should be a new tradition that we go there on M-D. Last year we saw so many people there that day - most with their dogs in tow. I remember turning to Pete and saying, "Next year at this time, I want a dog to bring with us." and you'll see, our van has an extra passenger this year! We were so excited about bringing Tater with us. We knew he would have a great time there with us. :-)

The place was busier than last year was! Probably because it was so beautiful out and it has been so awful. Everyone wanted a chance to get outside and enjoy themselves. I took Tater at first, but he was so excited to be there, that I couldn't control him as well as Pete could, so Pete took the dog, while I took the kids. :-)

We took a new trail this time and got to see some really pretty canyons and creeks along the way.

Noah was freaked out for the first 10 min or so, because he doesn't like poison ivy. He's studied plants and every poison plant out there in order to educate himself, but that didn't keep him from being scared. He got over it by the time we got to this creek, but still didn't want to be in the picture yet. So, took one of my girls instead. :-)

We crossed the little creek and let the kids climb up on this rock.

You'll see the creek bed was fairly dry, so there were rocks to walk across, with puddles around them. Tater went NUTS in this place. I tried to take a video, because it was so hilarious, but my camera wouldn't do it. Said I didn't have the battery strength for it. So just imagine this nearly 4 month old puppy, jumping and splashing and prancing around this creek bed and getting himself covered from head to toe in soggy, muddy water. It was GREAT!!!!

My three reasons for celebrating Mother's Day!!

Because there were lots of canyons and hills and rocky onclaves, we walked up and down a lot of stairs on the trail and walked over several bridges.

Isn't this a great photo?! My 5 favorite people (and puppies) in the world!

This bridge overlooked a little waterfall.

Like I said, just a little one, but a pretty one!

This little spot overlooks a deep, deep canyon. I didn't like getting by the edge, so Pete took our picture away from there a bit. The people below us looked like ants!

When we got to the end, we had to head back up a very long staircase to get to where we started from, so Pete carried Tater up these stairs. I swear, he was Mr. Popular yesterday. Sooooo many people stopped to pet him and ask about him. Even when he was wet and covered in mud, they wanted to pet him. Some even took pictures of themselves with him. Especially when it was a parent taking pictures of Tater with their children. It was really cute. :-) He loved every minute of it too, let me tell you! Nothing he likes more than being outside, getting dirty, and meeting new people.

We went back to the lodge and met up with our friends. Brett, the dad, has already moved to AZ, but came back to be with his wife and kids for M-D, so we got to hang out with them for a while at the lodge. The kids ran around and played together while we sat outside and chatted.

They invited us back to their house to cook-out and roast marshmallows with some friends of theirs, so we did that and had a great time! We basically spent from 8:30am - 9pm just doing one special thing after another. It was perfect!!

We were all a filthy mess when we got home, but it was late, so we sent the kids to bed covered in dirt. WE, on the other hand, all got showers and that included the messiest one of all, Tate! Look at that clean, curly puppy of ours. :-) It was one of the best, if not THE best, Mother's Day I've ever had. I love my family!