HAPPY 11th BIRTHDAY VERONIKA!!!

For Veronika's 11th Birthday we took all the bigger cousins to see Monster's University 3D! Wyatt and Gwen stayed home for naps.

MONSTER FACES! After the movie, we went back to Dodi and Poppa's for Swimming, Pizza and Cupcakes!

Today, we went to Purple Cow to celebrate again! Then we went to Shake's for dessert!

Graduation and Dancing!

 The last week of school was SUPER busy! On Tuesday night, Veronika graduated from 5th Grade at Bryant Elementary School!

We are SO proud of her! She got several academic awards, so many in fact that I can't remember them all! She is very excited and nervous about starting Middle School next year. She was accepted into the G/T Program, so she will be enrolled in Pre-AP classes!

Tuesday night was also the girls' Dance Recital Dress Rehearsal. Veronika couldn't go because of her graduation, but Violet went to rehearse her dance, then we high-tailed it to Bryant and made it just in time for Graduation!

Wednesday night was the dance recital. Violet had 1 dance, a Ballet routine, to "Pollyanna's Song"

There are not many feelings in this world like seeing your children perform on stage! It makes my heart swell with Joy and Pride every time I get to watch my little dancers!

Veronika had three dances. This is the costume for her Jazz Dance, "500 Miles." She got to move up to the Jr. Line this year, and we are so proud of her! She has kept up with those 7th-9th Graders so well! And she has become an even better dancer!

Little Rock School of Dance is a GREAT Dance School, but their recitals are LOOONG!!! I think this one was around 3 1/2 hours, and they had to work to keep it that short! Amanda took Jackson and Fiona home after Violet and Veronika had both performed one dance.

Violet, Phoenix and Kalyssa lasted the entire time too! After Violet's 1st dance she got to come sit with us.

Poppa, Dodi and Aunt Paula came too. Bless his heart...sitting in a Dance Recital is not how Poppa would typically choose to spend his evenings. I am so thankful my kids have such wonderful Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins. 

*Sidenote-Uncle Josh and Uncle Brad stayed home with the babies...they would not have appreciated the recital.
*Sidenote 2-I include this mostly for my memory someday...I'm sure I will find it amusing one day. Wednesday morning, I woke up SICK with the Stomach Bug our family had been passing around. Now, if you have any experience with Dance Recitals, they are hard work for the Momma's! It was a rough day for sure! Thanks to Phenegren I was able to make it through in a half-alert, nauseous state. When we got home around 11pm after the recital I went STRAIGHT.TO.BED. I am so thankful for Steve, he stepped right in and did everything that needed to be done! Little did I know, that was just Day 1 of what turned into a 5 day Stomach Bug!!!

Family Time!

Steve's brother, Arden, got married on May 10. All of Steve's family lives in Montana, and Arden is a Marine and was stationed in Japan at the time...and lo and behold, he met a girl that lives in Heber Spring, AR! Becca is so sweet, and perfect for Arden! We are so happy to have her!
The wedding week was full of fun! We haven't seen Steve's family in almost 5 years! Violet was 6 months old the last time we got to see them, so Phoenix had never even met them! Steve's sister and brother-in-law Brandon have 5 kids (and 1 on the way:)) We had never met the 3 youngest ones! I LOVED watching the 8 cousins play together! They acted like they saw each other every day! It was so sweet!

A few weeks before the wedding the kids and I went to Heber Springs for Aunt Becca's Wedding Shower!

We went to the Nature Center downtown!

Grandma and Grandpa and their 8 Grandkids! Ranging from 10 1/2 years (Veronika)- to 18 mths (Madison)!

Steve, his Dad, and Arden

Phoenix's Surgery

I am roughly 6 weeks behind on my blogging! Back on April 25, 2013, Phoenix had surgery to remove a Cholesteotoma in his right ear. We've been following some mild hearing loss in that ear for about a year now. No one was ever sure what was causing the hearing loss, we saw Dr. Hartzell at ACH in March and he diagnosed the Cholesteotoma. Although the growth has been there since birth, it was just now large enough to see it. We also decided to have a Preauricular Ear Pit on Phoenix's left ear removed at this time. This is a harmless little "sinus" near Phoenix's ear, but since it sometimes had discharge we decided to have it removed since he would already be under anesthesia. Both the Cholesteotoma and the Ear Pit are related to Phoenix's Chromosomal Disorder 22q11.2.

The Resident initialed the Ear Pit on the left ear

and behind the right ear...don't want them cutting on the wrong ear :/

After surgery in our private recovery room.

He had to wear the cup in the above picture for 24 hrs., then he could take it off and wear it while he slept. Oddly enough, he preferred to wear it most of the time.

Mrs. Joy, our Preschool director, came by with some goodies for P! He was so happy! It is HARD to keep a 3 year old boy entertained with quiet, calm activities!

He had to keep a Cotton Ball in the ear for 2 weeks!

We had to clean the incision twice a day for two weeks! We used a Hydrogen Peroxide Solution and Neosporin. We are so proud of our big guy, he handled this surgery and recovery like a CHAMP!

Wyatt came over to play for awhile one day. They were laying like this watching "Daniel's Tiger Neighborhood." Every few minutes Wyatt would turn around and look at Phoenix and go back to watching TV.