Graduation

Alyssa has officially graduated from preschool.  Her teachers, Miss Lynne and Miss Sue, had a little ceremony with her class and it was adorable!  She wouldn't wear the 'morterboard' hat, but she was so grown-up looking in her skirt, headband and pearls.  

Admiring her diploma. She was so proud...and so are we!

 Next stop...KINDERGARTEN!

Princess Party!

Since it was the big '5' for Aly, I wanted to make her party super, extra special.  Here are some shots of the 'royal' occasion...

The cake was just a regular round cake, but I cut out, baked and decorated sugar cookies to go around it like a 'crown'.  Some really cute glass slippers from Happy Hostess and a sparkly candle topped of the cake.  That was the easy part.

Then, instead of making cupcakes like I did for Hannah's party, I decided to try cake pops.  Bad move.  It was not nearly as easy as the directions and online video portray it to be.  Let's just say after 3 days of cooking, 6 loads of dishes and a lot of frustration I was too invested to give up.  Those little devils were going to be displayed...NO. MATTER. WHAT. Eventually I figured out a secret and got them presentable enough to display and eat.  Now that I have mastered the 'Art', I will definitely make them for another party...they were so convenient to give out and made  great 'decorations'!

The most special part about the day was that we invited a Disney Princess to Alyssa's special celebration...and she accepted! {One of our friends from church, who the girls don't know, agreed to be Sleeping Beauty for me at her party.  She looks so much like the princess that all I had to do was buy the costume online.  She was absolutely p-e-r-f-e-c-t!} The girls LOVED her and Alyssa was on Cloud 9!  The only problem is that I set the bar a little too high, too young.  Now, Hannah is expecting Ariel to come to her party next year :\

 Alyssa with the Princess...this is going to be framed!

She was so smitten with the fact that Sleeping Beauty was in our house...

Jump house fun: Princess style.

Playing 'Pin the Tail on the Donkey'...it was going to be 'Pin the Crown on the Princess', but I ran out of time. Stupid cake pops ;)

Opening presents...

Singing Happy Birthday...they were so ready for cake!

 Evie stayed with us longer because Melanie was being dropped off at the airport for her trip back to Australia.  The girls were having so much fun and I got a great shot of them hugging each other.  I love all of their expressions!

After everyone left, Aly was putting on lip gloss using the stuff Sleeping Beauty 'gave' her.  She had no idea I was taking this and I am quite sure she will hate me for it in 10 years ;)

Kissable lips...

 It was one magical, princess filled day!  Sure, I may have bitten off more than I could chew, but it turned out great. And, it was worth all the effort to see the huge smile on Alyssa's face.  I hope it is a day she will always remember.  I LOVE having little girls!

One 'Whole' Hand

Man, what a difference 5 years makes...

I still can not believe our little Aly Bug is 5 years old. One. Whole. Hand.  It seems like yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital.  Yet, at the same time, I don't remember what life was like without her!  She brings so much joy into our lives it is unreal!

She is the most beautiful, vibrant, smart and sassy little 5 year old I have ever met.   Your would think she is turning 15!  She loves school, church and her sister so much!  She is  a complete princess...always wearing dresses, fixing her hair, coordinating her shoes and accessories and pretending to do her make up.  She is so excited to start kindergarten this Fall and ride the bus.  It is so sad that she is growing up, but it is also fun to watch her turn into a beautiful young lady!

Of course, she couldn't wait to open her presents...as soon as her eyes were open she was asking about them!  She got a ballet outfit (shoes, tights and a tutu) for her Princess dance camp this summer, a Rapunzel night gown, sparkly princess flip flops, a 'Tangled' game for her Leapster Explorer, some new headbands and a moon dough pizza kit.    

I got to go to school with her yesterday and take a special birthday snack.  She loved that I was there and had so much fun with her friends.  We got there a few minutes late and her friends had chairs all set up for the 'birthday girl' so they could play 'birthday party'.  They are so excited to come to her party this weekend.  She got to go up in front of the class and get 5 high-fives from Miss Lynn and the whole class sang her 'Happy Birthday'.  The, she got to pick her seat for snack first.

We made homemade chocolate chip cookies...with mini-chocolate chips!  They were delicious!!

After school, we met Daddy for lunch and the went home.  The rest of the day we just took it easy around the house and played together so Hannah could rest.  When Daddy got home we had her choice of dinner...tacos!  Then we had cake!!

 

She still refusing to try to eat...not that she would have eaten tacos anyway.  So here is Hannah waiting to sing and have cake...

 

She put all 5 Candles on her chocolate cake with fresh strawberries on top! Yum!

Making a wish...

New Rapunzel nightgowns!  That is such a typical Hannah face...

Being so sweet before club...

Thank you for being born, Princess!!  We love you more than you will ever know!  I hope your birthday was everything you have been dreaming about!

Goodbye Tonsils and Adenoids!

Today was the big day...Hannah's surgery!  I have been so nervous and anxious about it for so long that I am relieved it is over.  I know it wasn't and 'risky' surgery, but my mind would tell me lies about her going into a coma from the anesthesia or her abnormally bleeding and hemorrhaging.  But despite my irrational fear, thank God, the surgery went smoothly!!  They took out her tonsils, but had to leave a little bit of her adenoids because she had a small split in her palette and Dr. Hart was afraid that removing them all could make the split worse and create speech problems.  They were also going to drain fluid from her left ear, but when they got in there the fluid was gone so they just removed a thick layer of wax from her ear drum. 

It was done at an outpatient surgery center.  The place was packed when we got there and they were moving families through like it was just a haircut.  Very weird.  Despite their abnormal busyness, they were exactly on schedule and she went in for her surgery at 9:45.

Waiting to be called back...Look at the birdie, Daddy!!

Meeting the anesthesiologist...

They gave Hannah a cute little bear after she took her medicine to sedate her.

She didn't want to take the pain stuff though because the other stuff tasted so bad. Eew, GROSS!

The medicine was starting to kick in and she was getting a little loopy...

In LaLa land!  The video Dan took is hilarious!  It was sad, but it was so hard not to laugh...

The surgery itself only lasted about 15 minutes.  After she was out  and in recovery we got to go back and sit with her.  It was not the best experience.  She was completely freaked out and hysterical.  She tried to pull out her IV and we had to hold her down.  It was so sad and we felt completely helpless.  When they took her IV out and she was bleeding everywhere I almost passed out...seriously.  Good thing Daddy was there to keep things under control!  Finally, they let us go home so she could actually get some rest. 

We had a rough start once we got home too.  She refused to drink anything or eat popsicles or ice cream.  If she was awake she would just cry and hold her mouth.  She fought us and screamed when we had to give her her medicine, but she slept most of the day.  Finally, around 7:30, she started moving around, drinking a little bit and using the bathroom.  She even had a few bites of tomatoes and a bunch of mini M&M's.  Hopefully once the anesthesia is out of her system she will feel even better.  We will see how the rest of the week goes...

Hannah 'Picasso'

Hannah has become quite the little artist lately...her specialty is people.  I love how she clearly distinguishes gender by pink lipstick.  So sweet! And, pretty stinkin' good for a 3 year old...

Good Night, Sleep Tight

After the girls and I had strep, nearly two months ago, Hannah couldn't seem to kick the virus and ended up adding an ear infection to the equation.  Even after two rounds of antibiotics her tonsils were still swollen and she had fluid in her ear. Dr. Heiny referred us to an ENT for both of them.  It was not good news for the girls.  Hannah has to have her tonsils and adenoids removed.  They thought Aly might need the same, but before they made that determination we had to do a sleep study to see if she has sleep apnea or is just struggling with the allergies at night.

We talked it up and she was excited for her 'sleepover' at the hospital.  They had to hook her up to a zillion monitors and sensors, but she was soooooo brave!  This is only about half the monitors...they hadn't even started gluing them to her face yet.  Even though she looks miserable in the picture, she was in good spirits and was so sweet.

We finally got the results back this morning...no apneic periods.  Besides 23 minutes of snoring, her sleep chart was completely normal!  Because of that, she gets to keep her tonsils and adenoids...for now. Lucky girl!  However, it also means we still don't have any  solid answers...we just have to continue waiting on the allergy shots to start taking effect.  That is at least 6 more months :(  If there is no change, we will re-evaluate.

Hannah's surgery is going to be on the 16th.  Even though it is a routine procedure, we are nervous.  Plus, I don't want her to be miserable still for Aly's big Princess party.  But, the doctors have assured me that it will be harder on Dan and I than it will be on her ;)  I hope they are right...pray for her...and us!!