Roadtrip

We're leaving for Tennessee Saturday morning! I have so many things left to do before we leave. I really need to make it a goal to not be such a procrastinator! Maybe later I'll add that to the list :)

Lacey has her interview with our bishop tonight. Her baptism will take place there in Tennessee on Sunday evening. We will finally have the chance to meet some more of Ryan's family and to catch up with Matt and Alison, some of Ryan's friends that he worked with at ACN.

On the way, we plan on stopping in KY. Ryan's Mom and possibly JM will be meeting us at a water park near the Tennessee boarder. The girls love water, and Lacey is a huge fan of water slides! The girls are loving the new pool. It is much bigger than I thought it was going to be, but thankfully it isn't over Lacey's head. The first thing she does in the morning is put on her bathing suit!


Lacey's optometrist appointment went well and they want to see her back in August when school starts. She will be getting her new glasses then, also.

The weather is so nice right now! The high is only 78. I have opened all of our windows to let the breeze in, and our plans for today are to finish up the laundry, steam clean the carpets and pack for our trip!

Reminising

Lily turned 11 years old today. I am so proud of her and all of her accomplishments and goals. She is very intelligent, comical and caring. She does great in school and although she has some trouble with math she always puts up her best effort. She loves church, her primary friends and learning about the Gospel. Next year she will be ready for Girls' Camp. Lily is so well behaved and such a blessing to have in our family. I was browsing through old photographs on the hard drive and I can not believe how much they've changed over the years. I miss the days when I could just pick them up and hold them! I aim to cherish every moment and to take as many photographs as possible!

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003 - in photo albums - will scan later! :)

2002

A video of Lacey, Christmas 2007. She loves to dance!

Birthday Picture Blog

The weekend has been very eventful. Friday evening we celebrated the girls' birthday with a small get-together at my Mom's. The girls really enjoyed their gifts, the pizza, cake & ice cream and the presence of the ones they love.

Beautiful Lacey

Pisanello's Pizza The best Pizza in Town!

The Presents

My Handsome Husband

Lily & Lacey Opening Presents

Lily & The Cake

Lacey Eating Cake

Jordan Eating Cake

Xavier Eating Cake

Garden is growing!

We have the first tomatoes on our plants! Everything looks like it is growing well especially the weeds! The last few days have been really hot and humid so I haven't pulled any weeds and cleaned up since planting them in the beginning of May. We planted Watermelon, Zucchini and Cantaloupe along with our Bell peppers and Tomatoes. I think we were a little late at planting. Mom's garden is so much fuller and more grown. This was the first year we have attempted a garden and I wouldn't be disappointed if nothing was edible.

Going today to finish up the birthday shopping for the party tomorrow. The girls are excited, and hopefully they will not be disappointed as this party was kind of planned at the last minute. The "theme" is summertime and the cake is so cute, with a beach scene and candy flip flops!

No cavities!

Many plans for the next few weeks. Lacey's birthday was last Friday and Lily's is coming up on Sunday. We're having a joint birthday party on Friday. Next year we will most likely have two separate parties as they are getting older and have totally different personalities. We always celebrate their actual birthday on the day by letting them chose the dining place for dinner and an activity. Lily is undecided about her birthday dinner but would like to play miniature golf for her activity. Granny gave them $50 each to spend and tomorrow I am going to take them to a place called The Lazy Squirrel. They sell WebKinz and have a buy one get one half off sale going on.

Yesterday the girls had their dental check-up. No cavities! Although, Lacey did have three of her bottom baby teeth pulled. The x-ray showed that the adult teeth were still in the same position as 6 months ago and pulling the baby teeth would help the adult teeth grow in normal and straight. She wasn't in pain, they numbed her really well and the numbness didn't wear off until late last night. She wanted to eat Apple Jacks for breakfast this morning and that went well so hopefully she will remain pain free. Lily was able to have her retainer removed. It was placed 4 years ago to help her bottom teeth become aligned so she will never need braces. She was very happy!

Next Monday, Lacey has an appointment with her optometrist. She is in need of a new pair of glasses and some of the frames are so cute! I really like the Vera Bradley frames, but Lacey gets her pick.

We're STILL waiting on report cards to come in the mail. Lacey's progress in 2nd grade was tremendous during the last quarter. The first three were not so great, but I am praying they place her in the 3rd grade. She has one-on-one throughout the day and she is very smart WHEN she focuses on the task. I don't like medicating, because all of the medications we have tried have side effects that are very apparent. Weight loss, lethargy..constipation. I am impressed with our new school system and have faith that they will help Lacey learn and grow to the best of her ability without the need for meds.

Today, we are just hanging out at home. Going to try a new recipe for Italian Spinach Meatballs for dinner and then work on the garden, the weeds are taking over :)

Withered

I knew that today would be tough to get through without thinking about how much I miss my Dad on Father's Day. Thankfully, most of my day was occupied with the great time we had at Chuck E Cheese for Xavier's birthday party. Afterward, we went to Mom's for dinner and then to the cemetery. I was saddened by the sight of his grave site, the beautiful $290 bouquet of flowers that laid atop his casket at the funeral were withered and the dirt was sinking in. The other graves that were laid the same week had a mound of dirt, but also had withered flowers and trash on top. I had plans of purchasing a wheelchair ramp for his van for Father's Day and Ashley was going to get him an automatic change counting piggy bank. I have the van now, since Mom doesn't need two vehicles and I think I am going to take it through "robo" car wash soon, because he would have said it needed it. I still have the bag from the hospital in the back of the van...and the clothes he was wearing when passed, and his shoes. It's hard to look at, so I've avoided it. What do I do with them?

Italian Mafia vs. Big Giant Mouse

Chuck E Cheese is a great place to have a birthday party :) Xavier, one of my best friend's son, turned 5 today. Ryan and I took our girls and Jordan to his party and they had a great time playing games, eating pizza and playing with their party gadgets. Lee was very creative with the Mario theme and even made hats for all of us to wear. Of course, I wore the Toadstool Princess tiara instead :) Everyone wore fake mustaches to support the theme. The cake was decorated perfectly - my pictures do it no justice! Lee's sister Cary and her family came in from Tennessee and Rana, Ethan and Callum came. Callum had his first taste of cake and loved it! Lily and Lacey opened their gifts from Lee and Xavier at the end of the party and when we got home we made necklaces and bracelets with the bead set they got. Xavier and Jordan got into the birthday ticket blower to catch as many tickets as they could and it was pretty comical. Jordan's safety goggles were on upside down and when he caught just one ticket, he held on to it tight and just stood there. Xavier tried his hardest, and together they gathered 10 tickets. Watch the video!

Blowing out the birthday candles

Splash :)

Lacey turned 8 years old today! I can't believe it has been 8 years since I used to swaddle her up in a blanket and hold her all night long. When she was born, she was 10 pounds and had the chubby cheeks and legs and jet black hair. Now, she is the complete opposite, although she has became a little pudgier over the past year.
She wanted to go swimming so we went to the water park in Miamisburg with some of her extended cousins. She had a lot of fun and thankfully didn't get a sunburn. We finally found a sunblock that's worth using. The park has water slides, one you can go down with a big yellow inner-tube. The height requirement is 48 inches and she is exactly that! She was super excited to be able to use the tubes.
After swimming Lacey choose to eat at Max & Erma's for their ice cream bar, and for birthdays they give a huge piece of chocolate cake with a lit candle. They didn't sing to her, but Lily said she was glad because it would have been embarrassing. Lily is almost at the age where everything is embarrassing...LOL.
We're planning Lacey's baptism for July 10th. We are hoping Ryan's parents can come up and be there for her. Lacey is excited about it and loves learning about the gospel.

Guilt

It has been a rough few weeks. I am finding it hard some days to just get through and accomplish the required daily tasks of being a wife and mommy. Spaghetti O's for dinner?! I know that the grieving process is different for everyone, but I never imagined that it would be like this for me. Life is so different without my Dad here on this earth. His being consumed much of my thoughts on a daily basis for such a long time. He was my inspiration for becoming a nurse. I wanted to learn about what was physically happening to him. My knowledge of that has left me feeling guilty. Guilty for not talking about it with him, and telling him that he was dying. I find peace in believing that he knew it was his time, and that he really wasn't in pain as he stated moments before his passing. Guilty because I didn't talk to my Mom and sister about it just days before. I could have given them a chance to say goodbye. I just couldn't break their hearts by forcing reality. I know in my heart that I will be with him again one day as our Heavenly Father gave us the gift of eternal families and that makes me happy.

Daniel's 18!

Today we celebrated my cousin Daniel's 18th birthday! He is my only cousin on my Dad's side of the family. He is autistic and we thought he would really enjoy a surprise birthday party! He was told, as a plan to get him out of the house for his surprise, that there was a raccoon behind the shed. He wanted a gun to shoot it and was fixed on killing the raccoon, and was able to ignore the girls jumping and screaming at him...I wish I could ignore them like that sometimes! Here is a short video of the girls trying to "surprise him".