A New Toy!

Brad bought me a 4-wheeler for our anniversary!! We had been talking about buying a brand new one, but decided not to after we found out that Gin needs braces. He came across this 2001 model at a customer's house a couple days ago and the guy offered it to him for a ridiculously low price. We couldn't pass it up!

Ginna was excited...

Avery was excited...

And, Sydney was excited. Until...

Avery accidentally scraped some skin off of Syd's little ankle. Somehow, I captured the moment. Poor Avery felt bad - can't you tell by the look on her face?!

Daddy made it all better...

And I got this sad but sweet picture of her. All is well...

Metal Mouth

I took Ginna and Avery to the orthodontist this morning and left with a $2,500 cloud hanging over my head. Ginna will be in braces by the end of November. Poor kid - her teeth are a mess. Avery's going to have to have some work done too, though not nearly as extensive as Gin. Pray for us if we cross your minds. There will be a lot of extractions, spacers, x-rays and molds leading up to getting the braces on. Ginna is my sensitive one, so I'm especially concerned that she'll be traumatized by the process. Good times, ya?

Sarah Palin

My day started at 4:30 this morning, when I woke up to get ready to head to the Sky Sox stadium to see Sarah Palin. I'm not much of a morning person, but I didn't have too hard a time dragging myself out of bed for the occasion, as our country is in dire need of change and I happen to believe that John McCain and Sarah Palin are the people to bring that about. Today only reaffirmed that belief. It is so clear that Gov. Palin loves her God, her family and her country. She supports families of children with special needs, the rights of unborn children, small business and free enterprise, among many other things that are so important to me. I believe that she is actively seeking out God's will for our country and that she will continue to do so after she is elected.
It was an honor to be there to support her this morning. Surely she's much more exhausted than I am right now!

Parent/Teacher Conferences

Today's happenings have really provided me with a long overdue ego boost. According to the girls' teachers, they are all beautiful, intelligent, respectful students. I'm just so overwhelmed by my incredible family. Considering some of the things that happened in our lives a few years ago, we are very blessed that we have such happy, healthy, well-adjusted children. I mentioned in my last post that Ginna made the honor roll. I found out at my conference with Avery's teacher that she also made the honor roll. How great is that?! The following is a letter that Av's teacher wrote for us to keep:

Avery works eagerly and diligently on all Language/Reading assignments. She is becoming creative in her development of stories. She has a confident approach to Reading that comes from the number of high-frequency words she now recognizes. In addition, she has started to rely on sound strategies for approaching unfamiliar works, using context and her own experience to predict text.

Avery has sound math skills firmly in place. She does well and is a good observer. This grading period has been a more challenging math program. She has to work harder to grasp new concepts. She has the persistence and willingness to accomplish a lot. Avery's achievement is commendable.

Avery has many friends and does not lack for partners at lunch and on the playground. Avery is cooperative and well mannered. I've been blessed to teach both of your daughters.

AAhhhh.... I needed that.

Ginna Rose

My oldest daughter, Ginna, made the Honor Roll! She has struggled with some of her school work this year and has really worked hard to keep her grades up. We're so proud of her!!
As some of you know, Ginna had some pretty obvious sensory issues when she was younger and wasn't able to join her classmates on stage for any kind of chapel performances or school plays. I can't even recall how many times I had to make my way up to "rescue" her from herself and the paralyzing fear that she felt on stage. The transformation that has taken place in her over the past 18 months or so has been nothing short of miraculous. She and Avery attended a music/drama performance camp over the summer and loved every minute of it. The night they perfomed is one of my happiest memories. I'm sure the other parents thought I was a little unstable, seeing me cry like an idiot throughout the entire thing, but it was awesome. Yesterday, her class presented the chapel message and Ginna gave a very strong performance as "Shepherd #1." Her pre-school, kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade teachers all made a point to find me afterwards to express their amazement at her progress. We've come a long way, haven't we? (o:

Good Friends and Birthday Fun

Brad and I got together with some of our favorite people last night to celebrate my birthday. It was a fairly low-key evening and we had a nice time.

Me, Brad, Rosie, Josh, Carmen, Judah and Noelle

Josh, me and Rosie

Carmen, me, Brad and Noelle

Nazareth, me and Robert

Me and Naz

Me and my best friends

31

Today, I am 31. I got so caught up last year in the struggle between the desire to hold on to my precious twenties and the even stronger desire to finally become an adult that it hardly crossed my mind that there would be life after 30. Here I am, a year later, wondering how time could've passed so quickly. That being said, I think I can safely admit that this past year has been one of the best of my life. I am more in love than I thought possible with a man that I don't deserve and I have three amazing daughters that keep me in awe non-stop. My husband wrote me a beautiful letter and left it for me to find this morning and my daughters let me sleep in until 7:00 a.m. before they came in with 3 really lovely homemade birthday cards for me. Life is good...
Tonight, we'll meet some friends and family for dinner and drinks. I'm sure I'll have pictures to post later...

Pictures

The girls are out of school today and tomorrow for Fall Break, so we went with Carmen to Monument Valley Park to take some pictures of the girls. They're posted on Carmen's blog:
http://mycrazylife-carmen.blogspot.com/2008/10/such-beautiful-girls.html
Check 'em out and let me know what you think!
Thanks, Carm! I love you!

Another Field Trip... (o:

Today was Avery's field trip to the Butterfly Pavilion. Once we got through the nightmare traffic, we had a fun day!

I offered Avery $20 to hold the tarantula; she countered with $25 and I agreed, but was still beyond shocked when she actually did it!

Avery's Field Trip

I got uninvited to participate in the "help Ginna with her science project" party, so I'm blogging and feeling like I have to include each of my daughters equally on the blog. So, here are a couple pics of Avery's field trip a couple weeks ago to Mueller State Park.

It wasn't exactly my idea of a fun field trip - bees and animal skins aren't so much my "thing." The kids had fun, though, and I'm glad I got to go with her!

Ginna's Science Project

Gin's first science project/paper is due tomorrow. So, we of course got started on it yesterday. Ha ha. Flashbacks to your own childhood assignments anyone? She did a great job with a little help from dad and she's very proud of her work. Her teacher this year is tough and has very high expectations, so I'm curious to hear what she has to say about it. I guess we'll find out soon!

Sydney Rayne

I had to share these pictures of Sydney... My naughty, naughty baby... (o:

One Tough Cookie...

My little Sydney had to have her school physical today. Little did I know that she was due for 4 vaccinations... I felt so bad and tried to explain to her that she was going to have to get some medicine in her legs and that it wouldn't feel very good. Her response? "Ok, mama." Unbelievable. I figured she would change her tune once the first injection was given, but she didn't make a sound. She made it all the way through all 4 shots without even a peep. She continues to amaze me every day. (o:

Farewell, Crummy Week...

I had a terrible week and I'm so, so glad that it's over... I'm taking this weekend to settle down and relax with my family and gear up to face the week ahead. Monday marks the first day of my new "job." I'm officially a stay-at-home mom again!

1st Day of School 2008

These are my sweet daughters on the first day of school this year. Avery is in 2nd grade, Sydney is in Pre-K and Ginna is in 3rd grade.