The Day Before Surgery

When our beautiful baby came out of the womb hear ears were folded forward, stuck to her head.  Adam remembers gently peeling them away from her head and ever since they have been lacking in the normal ear shape most people unknowingly enjoy.  

We knew one day we would probably opt to get them surgically fixed, creating the fold in the cartilage that wasn't able to form because they were folded forward like they were.

The day came when we finally went to see an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor to consult about a bilateral otoplasty.  He said about the age of 4 or 5 is the best time to do it, before they start school and while the cartilage is still pliable and soft.  And it just so happens that our insurance covered the procedure 100%.  So, after much prayer, fasting and appreciated advice from family and friends, we decided to finally do it.

Here she is the day before her ear surgery!  If you think she was cute before, wait until you see the after pics (coming soon)!

Adalin's 7th Birthday

Adam says we "over-do" birthdays.  I kinda have to agree.  Especially when the birthday is on a weeknight.  See, you can't not do anything on the kid's actual birthday.  So I made Adalin's choice of spaghetti for dinner and we sang to her.  Then, we have family nearby, so we do a birthday dinner and cake/ice cream/gift opening thing with my parents and siblings.  And, the kids have friends too.  What about them?  So, we typically also allow them to have a birthday party with their friends.  Is that such a bad thing?  3 birthday celebrations for one kid in one year?  Hmm.  I know, it's a dilemma.  

Here's the terribly, ridiculously spoiled 7 year-old on... uh, sorry, trying to remember which of the 167 birthday parties it was... oh, yea, the friend-one, where 8 little girls partied and spent the night together.

She chose a Wizard of Oz theme, which was fun.  I made the cake (it was my first and somewhat successful attempt at fondant.)  The girls watched the movie after they made up all their beds on the floor of our (newly finished and carpeted!!) basement.  

At 7 years old, Adalin:

is doing very well at school and is in the top tier for spelling, reading and math

loves to read and do crafty things

loves to shop for clothes and shoes

is very close with her sisters and loves to play with them

has many good friends at both school and church

is going to need some major orthodontic work

like mom, loves buffalo chicken dip and guacamole

like dad, hates seafood and ranch

is excelling wonderfully at piano and loves to play

The Wonder of Shrinkydinks

Ever heard of them?  I hadn't until Adalin got some from a friend for her birthday party.  They are plastic shapes that you color in with colored pencils and then bake, shrinking them dramatically.  Pretty neat.  I LOVE this picture of my 3 little girls completely enthralled with the baking and shrinking process.  Hey, my range even looks clean and free of dust... definitely a plus for this cute pic.

The  

A Marvelous Work

My Aunt Tammy, my mom, me and my cousin, Marcy about to go do some temple work for a few of my grandmothers!

Something different?

Do you see it?  

Maybe not...

We were out and about on a Friday and Adalin requested we go by Claire's to get her ears pierced.  Adam and I were a bit surprised, actually.  It was kinda sudden, but she was confident and calm about it.  We decided long ago that we would let our girls get their ears pierced when they feel they are old enough to take care of them and when they feel like they are ready for the pain! :)

So we went, and she was very brave.  As I was filling out the don't-sue-us-if-her-ears-get-infected form, she was shaking in the high stool she was sitting on.  She was just nervous.  She gets that from her momma.  (When I'm really nervous about something, I can't help but shake!)

She chose some pretty, simple cubic zerconia earrings and BAM!  It was done!

And she's quite proud of it.

Valentines Hearts!

 

Big girl?

She seems to think so!
You can often find her trotting around the house with her sister's backpack on!
 

January 2012 pics

 Silly Goose.

1.3.12

We have had the warmest winter!  There's been some cold days and some warm ones, like this one above.  It was almost 50!  

1.6.12

I guess this was a colder day, and one with a bit of snow!  Michigan weather has been a roller coaster, I tell you! 

1.13.12

 The Stinker.  This is such an Ava face.  

1.16.12

Look closely here... See the pen in her ponytail?  I tell you, she does everything she sees others do.. We were grocery shopping and I often stick my pen in my hair when doing so.  Monkey see, monkey do. 

1.16.12

And... at the carpet store in a HUGE chair that was there.  Who even builds a chair that large?

1.21.12

Flav's 2nd Birthday

Our baby is 2!

Currently she:
-sleeps with a baby doll and her turtle pillow pet and inside her new sleeping bag
-loves to drink milk
-favorite foods are: all fruits, carrots, cold cereal, fruit snacks, pizza, chicken, soups
-runs, jumps and climbs on everything
-copies everything she sees adults do, almost exactly
-knows quite a few words, but is a bit behind where her sisters were in the vocabulary and speech dept.
-is somewhat OCD, everything must be placed, done and prepared the correct way, if its not, she will fix it herself!
-scrunches her face for the camera (see below)
-is 15th percentile for height, 40th for weight, her head is in the 90th!
-lets the dogs in and out the back door (this is her little chore)
-loves to sit on the potty and try to go, and has had success a handful of times

Happy birthday sweet girl!  We love you!

Vegas!

Adam had a fracture course that he had to take in Las Vegas, all expenses (except food) paid, so I decided to buy a plane ticket and go with him!  I'm so grateful it was even an option, thanks to my wonderful mom and dad who watched over my crazy household.  Adam was going to be in the conference for 3 1/2 days, so I was pretty much left to myself to explore the city...

Since Adam was given money for his hotel, we wanted to stay in the nicest one that we could for the money he had!  The Venetian was a phenomenal choice. 

This is the lobby:

And our room:

The Grand Canal Shoppes inside The Venetian (the sky is painted on the ceiling):

There was a rare bookstore in the Grand Canal Shoppes that had this 17th century Bible to sale for $16,000.  I found it quite intriguing:

Our view from our room.  The road (The Strip) is down near the clock tower that you see:

The front of our hotel:

I walked to the mall my first morning there,  A view from a walkway above the Strip:

Now, let me just say right here that Adam has a pretty awesome family.  They all live out west, but not really very close to Vegas, but many of them traveled there to see us, if even for an hour or two.  I'm so glad they did.  

Our second night my brother and sister in law, Justin and Julie, and Adam's sisters, Marta and Melissa, drove all the way up from LA and down from Idaho and Utah to see us.  Justin and Julie treated us all to a wonderful dinner on the patio of the restaurant Mon Ami Gabi in the Paris Hotel.  It was absolutely perfect.  We had a great view throughout dinner of the Bellagio fountains across the street and a hilarious mime that kept scaring people when he decided to break his statue-like pose and jump out in front of someone. After dinner I just had to give the mime $5 to get a picture with him.  He was pretty cool.

The pics of this fab night:

On our drive back to The Venetian we drove by Bally's, the hotel we stayed at for our wedding night! 

One of the best desserts I have ever had: Chocolate beignets with some custard sauce and ice cream, created by Wolfgang Puck himself.  My mouth was in heaven.

Another mime:

St. Mark's square in the Venetian:

On our last day I went for a walk to the Bellagio to pick up our tickets for the Cirque du Soleil show we were going to see that night.  This is in the Bellagio shops (can you see the actual hotel through the ceiling?):

The Bellagio gardens were on my must-see list.  They were a little disappointing to be honest.  I was expeting something a little grander than a small courtyard, BUT their fall display was pretty neat:

As I was leaving the Bellagio I took a few pics of it's surroundings.  Maybe it's because I know it's the nicest and most expensive hotel in Vegas, but I loved it the most (yes, a tiny bit more than the Venetian.)  It was very elegant and beautiful.  Here are some pics I took as I was walking back to our hotel:

(That red awning that you see is where we had dinner with Justin, Julie, Melissa and Marta.)

This is inside the Forum Shops in Caesar's Palace.  Look at that architecture!  I kept thinking that if this looks so magnificent to me here in the 21st century, imagine how amazing this style of architecture was back in the 8th century! 

The Venetian:

Our last full day we got to see Adam's brother, Nathan, and his family AND Adam's parents!  We hadn't seen any of his family for almost 2 years, so it was so wonderful.

  

That lobby was so magnificent!

With Nathan and Misty and their 3 kids we walked down to the Bellagio (my second time on one day... my feet hurt!) to see the fountains at night.  They were one of my favorite things about Vegas.

Our home for 3 1/2 days:

We had a little down time between when we had to check out and when our plane left, so we got to sit in this beautiful lobby and just enjoy the grandeur one last time of our beautiful hotel:

AND... my mom kept us updated, of course, on what was happening 2,000 miles away back in MI!  The girlies were having a blast with her!