Dance Class

We signed Alesa up for a "Creative Movement" class with the local Parks and Rec department.  She LOVES it!  There are only 6 kids in the class and they spend the entire 45 minutes on Monday morning jumping, running, twirling, tip-toeing & "freeze" dancing to their hearts content.  :-)

After class the first day, I asked the teacher how Alesa did...this is how the convo went:

Me: How did she do?
Teacher: She did great! She really has a knack for rhythm and movement.
Me: I'm so glad she is enjoying it.
Teacher: Yes, she is a good little dancer. She.....also.....likes to.....................delegate.
Me: (sheepishly) Yeah, um.....we are working on that.

 

Questions...

While wallowing in self-pity recently, I was re-reading an old email from a fantastic friend who is currently living proof of the word adventure. I quote:

"I have been trying to find my happiness, my unanswered questions. And what I have found thus far is that life is not always meant to have the answers, in fact I am convinced that is the way the Lord intended it. Who knows where my life is headed, I sure as hell don't, and I probably am not going to know either. The only thing I do know is the here and now, so if that is the only thing I have control over in a sense then that's were I have decided to try and focus all of my efforts. Recognize the goodness in my life that is at present."

I liked this.

Thanks for the words of advice, Rae Rae. Miss you.

Happy Birthday Alesa!

Our little girl is 3!!!

Here are a few pictures from the festivities:

Alesa with her Strawberry Shortcake birthday cake...she was SO happy!

Alesa and Harrison enjoying the party together!

Van was pretty excited with all the kids and noise!!!

Daddy's gift to Alesa...well, a third of the gift.  This is the kitchen sink.  The stove/oven and fridge aren't quite finished...coming soon.

Sorry this is sideways...of course the kids quickly figured out how to make the sink a jungle gym!

We are so happy to have family and friends so close by who could join us for the fun!  Thanks for coming!! To the family that lives WAY TOO FAR AWAY, thanks for all the birthday wishes from afar! Alesa felt SO loved the whole week!

Thanksgivmas Eve 2011

For the second year, we ("Rockville Girls" aka best roomies ever!) got together for Thanksgivmas Eve.  (forgive me, I'm still working through my pictures from last year)  This time, it was at my house!!!  It was awesome!  

We had 6 roommates, 4 spouses, 1 honorary roommate, 3 two year olds, 1 infant,  2 newborns & 1 bun in the oven (Congrats Merrells!)  Alissa, who lives the furthest away, flew in special and Shalise drove with 2 kids under 2 without Frank (he was out of the county on a business trip - we missed you Frank!).  Luckily, Cord and April carpooled from Pittsburg!

Thanksgivmas Eve morning....complete with STOCKINGS bursting at the seams!

The Browns

The Merrells

Most of the group on a treasure hunt in Carlos & Marci's back yard!

Vincenzo

Exchanging white elephant gifts!

I love Thanksgivmas Eve!!!  It gets better and better!  Next year, there will be more spouses and hopefully more kids (we really missed Emi and Hazel)!!!

Thanks everyone for a super fun weekend!  I miss all the fun times and can't wait to get together again....speaking of getting together, I can. not. wait. for the girls weekend in NYC this weekend!!!

Playing Catch Up

Still trying to document all our fun times in Utah last fall....here are a few pictures:

Uncle Joe and a dapper looking Van

Petting a real chicken with Aunt Alissa

Alesa loved farm fresh food!

Having too much fun!

Hazel with her blanket...finally!  It's only taken me 2 years!

Cousins!!!

Yay!

A new teething toy!

Wheeler Farm in Utah

Aunt Kari and baby Van

Alesa is in awe of her cousin Landon

We had SO much fun....wish we could hang out with everyone every weekend!  Anyone wanna come our way this time??

Austin's Children's Museum

Alesa playing in the food kitchen.

Alesa, Van & Presli looking our the train windows

Like father, like son: loving to build.

Melt down at the end of the day.  :-(

The playhouse with such super cute kids!

Look at that face!

Van's Stats:  

10 months (almost)

17 lbs

29 inches

He can wave, crawl, cruise, stand, climb, smiles all the time, laughs at everything, LOVES his mom, eats everything, coos, gurgles and is SUPER cute ALL the time!

We love this boy!

Oh the fun we had

Some photos from our trip to Utah in October.  My oldest brother got married and so this was the PERFECT reason for heading out west!!!  

Thanks to all my family for putting up with us and for giving us wonderful places to stay!

Congrats to Justin & Amber!!!

Straight

A few more recent pictures of Alesa and her eyes...

So far, we are REALLY pleased with how her eyes look. They seem to be tracking together and I haven't seen any crossing since the surgery!

The bad news is that we need to get new glasses AGAIN! Because the eyes were working so hard to correct the placement of the eye, the prescription was stronger, now that the placement is corrected, she needs a weaker prescription. Don't get me wrong, I am happy that her vision is better than we thought, however, I just wish we could get it right so this little girl could see!!!

Surgery Day...

Surgery day went well:

7:45 am - Happy and hungry

8:30 am - In the waiting room

9:15 am - Everyone ready to go into surgery!

10:40 am - In the recovery room.

12:15 pm - At home and not very happy.

4:45 pm - After a long nap and more Tylenol!

Overall, it was a good experience. Alesa was a real trooper! The nurses were really great with her and made sure the one monkey was ready too! Aunt Kasey sent us some pre-op tools (mini oxygen mask, iv catheter, arm board, surgery jammies & very helpful surgery tips!!) to help Alesa and one monkey get ready for what was going to happen when we got there this morning.
It was VERY helpful!

Our doctor was excellent and the anesthesiologist was great too! They both came out when the surgery was complete to let us know how Alesa and One Monkey were doing. The doctor cut and reattached the inside muscle of both eyes to relax it. She said that if this didn't correct the crossing, then another surgery would be necessary to tighten the outside muscles. I really hope that this works!!!

We have a post-op doctors appointment tomorrow morning, so I hope that we get good news!

Pre-op

Alesa had her pre-op doctors appointment today.

Dr. said she is a-okay for surgery.

Now to the eye doctor for final measurements.

Operation is scheduled for Sept 20.

I'm a bit nervous.