Emy's Tea Party

The girls making crowns

Having a "tea party". I think this was the best part. we had a buffet of little foods out and the girls were able to go and get what they wanted and sat and talked and giggled. It was very sweet and really fun to do!

All Girls are Princesses!

This barbie cake may be the last one you will ever see me make. It was a ton of work and took a great deal of time and patience. I had a couple of friends come over and "support" me through it all. One of them even made all the small roses that went all over the base, I have great friends!
The party was great and I am glad that Emeline got a special day!

Sorry no pictures :(

I am sad not to be able to post pictures of our most recent adventures but our camera has gone missing. The last person to have been see with it was Cassie. I am on the look for it but until then a narrative of our dealings will have to do.
Emeline has her very first friends birthday party. We invited 8 girls for a "tea party" and had 7 of the girls come, not too bad. I ventured out and even made Emeline a barbie birthday cake (with a lot of support from friends) The party was great and in the end Emeline said it was her best day ever!! It was a big undertaking for me, it took a lot of my time and energy to do. I think I will be taking a friends idea and going to friends parties every other year. It sounds really good to me :)
With all focus on the birthday party, I forgot about Easter until Grandma and Grandpa Nelson's package showed up for the kids. They were so excited to get something in the mail. While the kids were opening it Micah asked why would they send us a package... was there a holiday that we missed? (the Nelson Grandparents are awesome about send a package for holidays) upon opening, and seeing the Easter goodies, Micah asked me if I had forgotten Easter. I told him that it was this Sunday and he was relieved to know that he did not miss any Easter egg hunts! (Thank you so much for the reminder Nelson's) The kids gobbled up the treats and were very happy!

Quick Update on Hannah & stuff...

I just wanted to do a quick update on Hannah.
We went to the eye doctor yesterday and I am happy to say that everything is looking awesome and perhaps she will not even require glasses later (not that I would hate that but it is nice not to need them)
Hannah has been having issues with weight gain and growth in the last few months, she either holds her weight or she looses.. neither is good for her. She is a very active girl but she should be able to slowly gain weight and grow at a normal rate.. this is not happening. I have talked to the feeding and growth clinic and we have tried a few ideas to fix this. We added calories to her diet, but this made her reflex more and throw up. Since we do not want to have a negative association with eating we had to back off again.. this made her loose some weight and we are back where we started. after discussion on where to go from here, the doctors and I have decide that her reflex needs to be addressed further. He reflex has always been a problem but we have been able to control it with medication up to this point. Her reflex has hindered her growth and her breathing and with that we are being referred to a pediatric GI specialist.. there is only one in Spokane and at first we were going to be scheduled for November... yikes! Luckily God intervened and They had a cancellation while I was on the phone and we will be going in the end of April, otherwise I would have been heading to Seattle for a GI doctor. Until then we will just be keeping an eye on her and playing with her diet a bit to see if we can find some stable ground.
Hannah's speech is delayed by a bit even for corrected age and has a speech therapist that comes in a few times a month to work with her. Hannah also gets to go to a Kindermusik class every week as part of her therapy.. and Cassie gets to come as well, which the both really enjoy.
All of the children are doing well. Micah and Emeline still are enjoying school and Cassie loves it when they are gone. Cassie and Hannah are starting to bug each other on occation. We have had to have many talks about not hitting and sharing with both of them.. and a few time outs :) We are still working on Emeline and her reading, but I know it will come, and she will be on her way reading in no time.
Trent and I are doing great, we get to celebrate our 10th Aniverary April 2nd. We decided that this was reason to celebrate! We are lucky enough that Leanna agreed to come and be with the children so we could get away for the weekend about an hour away in Orifino. We have never been away from the kids for a vacation (hospital stays do not count), and I guess after 10 years, we can do that :) Leanna comes in this weekend and the children are so happy! (so are we)

SICK

So the sick bug visits out home again! Cassie and Hannah came down with pneumonia this last week and so far both are responding very well to medication. Cassie never sounded as crappy as Hannah, and has recovered very, very fast! Hannah is taking longer and besides being on an antibiotic she is also on an oral steroid to open up her lungs. I am also doing nebulizer treatments every 4 hours even at night to keep her breathing well. She is taking fluids and eating good and at this point we are very hopeful that we will not be taking her to the hospital! She is taking a bit longer to show improvment but has not gotten any worse.. and that counts for something!
March 23, Monday, Hannah has an appointment with her eye specialist in Spokane. I will let you know how it goes!

Happy 7th Birthday Emeline!!!

Emeline-Fall 2008

Emeline at about 9 0r 10 months...
I am amazed at how old my kids are getting. Emeline is the only one in our family that does not have a birthday in the month of June and there for gets very singled out with attention.. which she really loves!
Emeline is an amazing little lady that had just grown up so much in the last year. I love her sense of humor and her amazing creativity. She is our little "sugar"
Thank you so much to all the grandparents for the wonderful cards and gifts (she thinks she is rich now because she has 50 dollars) more pictures to come of her fun day!

Some times you just need to make cookies

My helpers (they really liked the dough..)

Nicely done, ready to go in the oven

Licking the spoon is the BEST part...
Some days you just have to make cookies. Emeline and Cassie love to help in the kitchen, and cookies are no exception. I was feeling like chocolate and had all the ingredients for my choco, peanut butter chip cookies. They are a HUGE favorite in our house and so needless to say, when I thought to take a picture of the finished product.. they were gone :)

This is what a 3 year old does with a camera...

A book

The laundry in the laundry basket

Sometimes it is fun to see through the eyes of a toddler. I asked her to take pictures of important things in the house, this is a few of the many, there were also a few pictures of walls and the floor. She took a picture of the trash too... Cassie is so funny sometimes. Her pictures did get better and she ended with Hannah's pony.