Happy Birthday, Pop and Cassidy!

Today was Pop and Cassidy's cheerleading birthday party!  We had a small crowd because of the snow - some areas are doing better with snow removal than others.  We missed those that couldn't join us!  We had a great time celebrating Cassidy's 5th and Pop's 90th birthday!

The cake!

The girls making edible megaphones out of ice cream cones, icing, and candy.

Sergeant Sexy asked Ashley to make Uncle Butthead a very special balloon hat... do you see it?!?

Cassidy and Nana

Campbell sat still so Ashley could paint her face... amazing!

Blowing out the candles under Pop's watchful eye

The birthday boy, birthday girl, and the two generations in between.

Our friends and family were so generous with Cassidy again this year.  She got some FANTASTIC gifts, and every single one was perfect for her. 

I couldn't help it... I had to get my face painted!  I asked for something crazy, and I got a tire mark across my face.  AWESOME!!!

Snow Storm 2010

Look out your windows, folks... the pigs must be flying.  We rarely get measurable amounts of snow here, but we got hit with a good one this time.  The local weather people are saying it's the most snow we've seen since February 1989 - 21 years!

Although the snow had been falling at the Evil Empire Headquarters for hours by the time my plane took off, I was back home before the storm got here.

We woke up this morning to a winter wonderland!

The house in the snow

Campbell wasn't a big fan of the snow and refused to walk in it.

Cassidy loved it, but only until her pant legs got wet.

Cassidy slid down the slide into the snow, and was immediately ready to go inside for hot chocolate!

We postponed Pop and Cassidy's birthday party until tomorrow.  I'm already ready for the snow to melt so we can get back to normal life!

I Was Stressed, But I'm Okay Now

When I get extremely stressed out, one of my eyes turns red. It makes me look like I have pink eye, but I don't - it doesn't hurt or ooze or itch. It just looks red and ugly, and provides a good amount of embarrassment.  This doesn't happen very often because it takes an awful lot to seriously stress me out.  The Evil Empire trusts me to manage an enormous amount of moving parts, therefore my stress tolerance is rather high.  


Speaking of the Evil Empire, I had to make a trip to Evil Headquarters this week, which requires a short plane ride.  I was gone for 48 hours, which would normally not be a big deal.  However, in that 48 hours I missed gymnastics, dance class, Campbell's school fund-raiser, and Cassidy's first game of the basketball cheerleading season.  Add the pressure of knowing there's a HUGE winter storm on the way, and if the timing doesn't work out just right I would be stuck at the Evil Empire Headquarters until the snow melts.  Add more pressure knowing Pop and Cassidy's birthday party is planned for this weekend, which not only requires a TON of work but is also scheduled to occur in the middle of the snowstorm.  I was STRESSED.OUT.
 
Sure enough, I got to the hotel Wednesday night, and my left eye was bright red.  Hooray!  Just in time to meet co-workers I've never seen in person before.
 
Luckily, we are blessed with an amazing network of friends and family willing to help.  Everyone got where they needed to go, Sergeant Sexy took lots of pictures for me, and my flight made it home with only a few hours of delay.
 
And of course, my eye looks completely normal now.
 

Cassidy's Birthday, Continued...

We gave Cassidy the choice of what we'd eat tonight, and she picked pizza from the local pizza shop.  Once we'd polished off the pizza, it was time for birthday cake!

5 candles on Cassidy's tiny cake

Blowing out the candles (it took a few tries to get them all)

Check out Campbell using her fork!

Hooray for cake!!!

And that's when the REAL fun started.  Cassidy would make a face...

... and Campbell would copy her.

Cassidy would make a sillier face...

... and Campbell would copy her.

We just let them keep on like that until they were tired of it, making sure to take plenty of pictures (of course).  These pictures will come in handy 10-15 years from now... I'm sure of it!

Happy Birthday, Cassidy!

Today is Cassidy's 5th Birthday!  Happy Birthday, Cassidy!!

I decided a few days ago that it might be a fun tradition to have birthday cake for breakfast on the girlz birthdays.  It's only two days out of the year, and it seems like a fun way to start their special day.  So that's what we did.

Last night when we were at Sam's Club, we bought a box of 30 cupcakes for Cassidy's class and we also picked up a tiny cake with 10 cupcakes circled around it.  PERFECT!  We'll have the cake as a family tonight, and I can give each princess a cupcake for breakfast.

They thought it was fantastic.

Even with her hair all messy, you can still see the mullet.

I dropped off the cupcakes at school this morning, and Mrs. M said Cassidy was having a great day.  The kids were having PE in the gym with Mrs. F when I got there, and it sounded like they were having a ball.

What a great day!

Cheer Practice!

We had cheer practice last night, and we got the game schedule.  All I can say is WOW.  We're going to be extremely busy over the next few weeks... I hope we can keep it together!

After cheer practice, I took Cassidy to Sam's Club so she could pick out the cupcakes for her school party tomorrow.  She's so excited about her birthday, and I'm determined to make it as special for her as I can.  Turning 5 is a big deal!!

Favorite Bible Verse

Because Upward Cheer is a Christ-based program, the children learn memory verses throughout the season.  I'm working with Cassidy every night to learn her verses.  For each memory verse she learns, she gets a sticker on her megaphone!

Personally, I have a few favorite verses...

1 Corinthians 13 - Read at our wedding.

2 Corinthians 3:2-3 - Was the basis for the last Youth Retreat the Youth Council and I put on... it was called "Written on our Hearts" and it was AWESOME.

Psalm 15 - ADPi memories

Psalm 23 - The first super-long verse I ever memorized.  At about 8 years old, I was able to rattle this bad boy off in one breath!

What's your favorite Bible verse?  Hopefully it's not Psalm 38:7...

Happy Birthday, Bestie!

We went to Marissa's birthday party this afternoon, and had an AWESOME time!  Marissa had her party at Build-A-Bear Workshop, which was great because we've never taken the girlz there.  We feel like Cassidy is just now getting to the age where she can understand and appreciate stuff like Build-A-Bear, and were glad she got to experience it for the first time with her bestie.

Besties!

During birthday parties, each child gets two hearts.  They make one wish and put the first heart in their bear.  They make a second wish for the birthday kid and put the second heart in the birthday kid's bear.  This is Cassidy as she was making a wish for Marissa.  Isn't it sweet?

Cassidy sees her bear for the first time after it was stuffed.

Cassidy and another child giving their bears a bath.

Cassidy dressed her bear in a Cinderella dress and silver high heeled shoes!

After the party, we went to the Food Court and had birthday cake.

And when it was all over, we stopped by the Disney Store and Gymboree.  Cassidy rode a ride on our way out of the mall.

What a GREAT day!

Happy Birthday, Marissa!!!

We Almost Matched... And It Would Have Been Fun

I dressed the girlz in matching dresses for church this morning.  They looked PRECIOUS.

I chose my clothes without consulting Sergeant Sexy, and when he came downstairs I was so excited! Once I put my sweater on top of my oxford shirt, we would match!

I immediately said "Aaawwwww!!!! We're all going to MATCH!! The girlz will match each other, and I'm going to match you!".

Unfortunately, he didn't share my excitement. And instead of wearing a happy smiley face, he was wearing a look of horror.

He really wanted to wear his black sweater today, so I grudgingly went upstairs and chose a different top.

Whatever.

Ballerina Girls

Check out these ballerina girls...

Aren't they gorgeous?!?

Baby Mullet

Big Girl School was dismissed at Noon this week for exams, so Cassidy came home 3 hours earlier than usual.  She did okay all week, but got herself into a bit of mischief today.

I was on back-to-back conference calls all afternoon, and I noticed something odd on one of Cassidy's many visits to the office.  It turns out, she decided to cut her hair and gave the front pieces many variations of a chin-length trim.  She left the back alone, which effectively gave her a mullet.  She wouldn't let me take a picture of it, but I certainly tried.  I tried HARD.

Why did she have to do this the day after Upward Cheer season started?!?

I wrapped up my day early so we could make an emergancy stop at SuperCuts before we picked up Campbell.  The stylist did the best she could to angle the sides and salvage as much length as possible (for ponytail purposes).  But honestly, there's just no getting around it.  The girl's got a mullet.

Business in the front, party in back ya'll.

Preferred Member Status

Dear Dr. OBGYN,

Lemme give ya some feedback.

I had my once-a-year visit with your office peeps today.  After eight years, four pregnancies, and three surgeries under your care, I prefer to think of myself as a Preferred Member of your network.  As a Preferred Member, I feel it's my duty to give you some feedback.

1. Preferred Members should be allowed 3-4 social visits per year in addition to the annual check-up.  Do I really have to get pregnant in order to hang out with your office peeps more often?  That seems unnecessary.

2. Preferred Members should be given double appointment spots.  I'm trying to catch up on a year's worth of stuff with the Office Staff, Midwives, Nurse Practitioners, Phlebotomists, and Medical Aides.  I don't want to be bothered with silly things like body temperatures and blood pressure readings while Carol is telling me about her new house.  Seriously.

3. Preferred Members should be given upgraded Exam Wear.  How can anyone take me seriously when I'm wearing a giant paper towel?  Good Lawd, my 2000 parts are hanging out!!

I do appreciate your attention to these suggestions.  You know I'm not trying to be high may... if I was high may, I doubt I'd be a Preferred Member.  I'm just sayin'.

Hugs and Speculums,

Your Most Favorite Patient Ever

Singalong with Campbell

Campbell has gotten to where she'll sing certain parts of the Dora theme song with me.  Right now, her favorite part to sing is the "Hey! Hey!" that comes after "you can lead the way".  You have to listen close because it sounds more like she's singing "Ha! Ha!".

Hmmm... I wonder if she's laughing at ME?  Noooo, that's impossible.

Enjoy!

Surgery Day!

Today was Surgery Day, and we were on the road before dawn.  Campbell was not happy with this, but let it slide and didn't fuss much.  Unfortunately, she wasn't as gracious throughout the remainder of the morning.

We got to the hospital at 6:30AM, and checked in.  $350 later (ouch!!!), we were seated in the waiting room with tons of toys.  She started getting grouchy during the extra-long wait, and decided the waiting room needed to know about it.  Here she is in a quiet moment playing with the kitchen.

We were called back for vitals at about 8:30AM and that's when the fun began.  They took her weight (22 pounds!), and she was okay with that.

They measured her height (30 inches!), and she was okay with it that too.
 

 
But then it was time for the dreaded pulse ox and blood pressure cuff.  She was not a fan of these when we tried this two weeks ago, and she hated them even more today.  She was not impressed, and made certain the nurse was aware of her dissatisfaction.

To add insult to injury, we then had to dress her in ugly yellow Surgery Wear.  She really hated that, and made sure the nurse knew about that, too.

Then the doctor came to see us and mark her eye.  I think she'd have been angry with him as well, if she'd known what he drew on her face.

Yep, it's an arrow.  And guess what?  It didn't come off in the tub tonight.  We get to carry Precious-Precious all over town this weekend with an ARROW pointing to her left eyebrow.  Sweet.

She was in the Operating Room for about an hour, and the doctor said there was a boney mass that made the procedure somewhat difficult. He didn't push through the mass, but was able to create a channel that allows the duct to drain into her nose properly. He said he's 99% sure this will work, so I guess we'll see.

When Campbell woke up after the surgery and realized those crazy people had put an IV in her leg, she was HOT.  It was the last straw, the icing on a really bad cake.  She screamed as loud as she could for the better part of the hour we were in recovery.

Although everyone was kind and said her behaviour was age-appropriate, I'm certain they were happy to see us go.

Have I mentioned how deeply irritating I find the term "age-appropriate"?

This Is How We Roll

It's time to start preparing for Pop and Cassidy's birthday party!  I've actually been planning this party for months on one of my nerdy spreadsheets, but now is when the real action starts.  I created the invites and sent them for printing this weekend, and we're finalizing the menu.  The theme was chosen months ago, and it was about that same time when I contacted my super-talented face painting friend to reserve her time.

Mama and Papa stopped by this evening to say hello.  They had gone to see Pop today to be sure he was doing okay.  He seems to be fine, and he had given them a package for me.

It looks like this:

In case you can't tell what that is, it's about 100 plates and cups, plus about 25 fork/knife/spoon sets for the party.  JACKPOT!!!!  Thanks, Pop!

Does it matter that it was given to Pop to use for Lydia's funeral reception and came to us in a bag like this?

Hell, no.  We're using it ALL, thankyouverymuch.  We're not prissy, and the colors for the party are red/white/black so this wonderful gift of paper products fits in perfectly. 

This is how we roll.

Lunch With Pop

We had lunch with Pop today, and I took my camera along to see if I could get some good pictures for Pop and Cassidy's birthday party invitation.  I got some really good shots, but the one that came out the best (in my opinion) didn't even have Cassidy in it - it was of Pop and Campbell!!

Three generations, with the fourth behind the camera.

Papa and Campbell

This was my favorite picture of the day.  I love it like this, but what I REALLY loved was then I cropped it from this...

... to this.  This is probably one of the most favorite pictures I've ever taken.  I love how Campbell's fat little hands look so smooth and round next to Pop's knobby weathered ones.  This one's a keeper, for sure.