Veronika Takes on 6th Grade!

Veronika started 6th Grade at Bryant Middle School this year! This is a big change from Elementary School, she has different teachers for each subject, gets a locker, and starts extra-curricular classes like Choir! She loves it so far! She's really blossoming with the added responsibility and doing great academically (as always!)

She also got to start Pointe in Ballet Class a few weeks ago! She was SO excited! I was a little overwhelmed by it all, we had to schedule a 1-hour appointment for the fitting and then I had to sew in the ribbons and elastics! She's doing great, she mentioned this week that her ankles weren't as sore, which means her muscles are getting stronger! Between Pointe and her Running Club at School, she's gonna have  STRONG legs!

The Kissing Hand

Violet (and I) were nervous about Kindergarten this year, and several times leading up to the BIG DAY we read "The Kissing Hand." This is the story of Chester the Raccoon, he is starting Kindergarten and is very nervous to leave his Momma. To reassure him, Momma Raccoon kisses his hand so he can can feel the warmth of his love travel straight to his heart. Anytime he misses his Momma, Chester is supposed to hold his hand to his cheek and repeat, "Momma loves me, Momma loves me." Feeling reassured, Chester heads off to school, but not before he gives his Momma a Kissing Hand too, telling her to repeat, "Chester loves me, Chester loves me." We drew hearts on our hands for the first day of school, and I don't know about Violet, but I looked at mine several times during the day and thought, "Just a few more hours and I will come get you."
Violet has had a GREAT school year so far! She LOVES her teacher (and so do we), she has made several new friends and also gets to play with her friends she has had for years. She loves the routine and all of her "fun" classes like Art, Music, Computer, Library and P.E.! I can't believe how much she has grown and matured in just 8 weeks! I think her biggest adjustment (and ours too) is the school schedule! She is naturally NOT a morning person and really struggles with getting up by 7:15 or so! We are really enjoying our weekends, we really make a point to at least have a night during the weekend where we can just snuggle on the couch and enjoy being together!

1st Day of Kindergarten

 Violet started Kindergarten this year,and she LOVES it! Her 1st day of school was Thursday, August 19, 2013. The previous Sunday we went to a Kindergarten Parent Meeting and got to visit all of the Kindergarten classrooms. Violet is in Mrs. Hill's class and they are a perfect match! Her classroom is very structured and organized, which is wonderful for Violet!

I was really concerned beforehand about what to do if she cried when I dropped her off, but no tears here! I asked her if I could leave, she said, "Yes," we kissed and hugged and off we went!

 Phoenix was a little lonely after we dropped Violet off for school, so we went for a little lunch date to Purple Cow before Speech.

Phoenix's 20 Birthday Questions

1. What is your favorite color?-Blue

2. What is your favorite toy?- Batman

3. What is your favorite fruit?- Apple

4. What is your favorite tv show?- Daniel Tiger

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?- Peanut Butter and Honey Sandwiches

6. What is your favorite outfit?- Buzz Lightyear Shirt and Toy Story Raincoat

7. What is your favorite game?- Wolverine

8. What is your favorite snack? - Applesauce

9. What is your favorite animal?- Zebra

10. What is your favorite song? – Jesus Loves Me

11. What is your favorite book?-  Batman Book

12. Who is your best friend?-  Pierce and Christian

13. What is your favorite cereal?- Fruit Loops at Dodi’s

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? – Shoot my BB Gun

15. What is your favorite drink? – Sprite

16. What is your favorite holiday? – “When my Mommy lets me stay home and I not need to go to therapy”

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? – Rocco (stuffed puppy)

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? – Shake (Chocolate Protein Shake)

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? – Five Guys

20. What do you want to be when you grow up?- Batman

Summer So Far!

We have had the best summer! We've stayed busy, Phoenix has therapy in Little Rock on Tuesday and Thursday, and up until last week, he had therapy in Benton on Wednesday. I tried to plan something fun for us to do each of these days. We've also spent a lot of time swimming at Dodi and Poppa's!

We went to the Circus on a Thursday evening.

Phoenix with his Sno-Cone

Violet got Cotton Candy that came with this silly hat. Veronika got a Funnel Cake for her treat, but I didn't get a picture of her with it.

Memorial Day we went to the Zoo and ended up buying a Family Pass for the year. Our Zoo has really changed and grown the past few years! We went one other time before it got too hot, but Phoenix got sick in the first 30 minutes so he and I had to leave. Luckily the girls got to stay with Aunt Paula and Aunt Amanda.

Several of the theaters around town offer free/cheap summer movies. We've been able to do that a couple of times.

Getting ready to watch "The Lorax"

This was an extra special day! After the movie, we went and had lunch at "Mellow Mushroom." It's a super yummy Pizza Restaurant that just opened up in West Little Rock!

P and I at Mellow Mushroom

One of the main reasons we tried MM was because they offer Gluten-Free Pizza! Violet has been almost totally G-Free for almost 2 months now and she's doing great with it! I try to do it with her, but I eat more gluten then she does. We can both tell a big difference though...when we have gluten we feel really yucky either that night or the next morning.

We've also been doing Story Time at the Dee Brown Library in Southwest Little Rock! It is SO much fun! After Story Time, we go check out some new books and then (because the library is right down the road from Daddy's work) we go eat lunch with Daddy!

We had a goal to read 100 Picture Books this summer! The kids have been really excited about it! They got to go flip over the numbers on our Hundred's Chart as we counted. Last week we bought a Wonder Place Punch Card to celebrate reaching our goal! Now we are working on our 2nd 100 Books!

Last Friday, Veronika got home from her Mom's house for the week. I put the kids' food on the table and went to get mine and Steve's food. When I got back to the table, this is what I found...they miss their Sissy when she's gone :)

1st Dentist Visits for the Phoenix and Violet. We took Phoenix to the Dentist at Children's Hospital, since all of his care is centered there. Violet went to Ms. Andrea at Harris and Reynold's. This is actually Violet's 2nd visit, but 1st SUCCESSFUL visit. She did the whole works...X-rays, cleaning, flossing and fluoride. All with a big smile!

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.