Recital Time

Today was a much anticipated day for Miss Ella Kate. She adores dance and she adores the spotlight, so you can imagine she was practically giddy about the opportunity to dance on stage at her recital. We snapped a few pictures before show time.

The recital was a Disney theme and it was precious. Disney music is my thing and add in a whole crew of teeny tiny ballerinas and it was pretty much the cutest thing ever. EK's class danced to "A Whole New World."

Emma and Walker both were really great and clapped and waved throughout the show. Walker was especially smitten when the company dancer dressed as Jasmine came out because you could "see her belly."  Oh geez!

EK got to hang out backstage with her BFF Ellie James. They are the sweetest!

We took some family photos after Ella Kate finished. We are so thankful to have all these folks to support EK do her thing! Between Kay Kay and G, Nana and Pop, and Aunt Carolyn, Ella Kate had quite the cheering section!

After seeing the big girls do some lifts, EK wanted to try one out too. She so wants to be able to dance on pointe!

We are so proud of our little dancing queen! She did an amazing job today!

And we so love getting to watch our girl do what she loves to do!

This and That

There is quite a collection of pictures on my phone that have accumulated, so here is a random assortment of our life lately.  After all, if it isn't blogged about, it never happened....right?

We ate dinner one night with my parents, Haley and Robert and Aunt Carolyn at our 'go to" restaurant Trace Grill. Always nice to share a meal and visit with this crew!

J's mom spent the weekend with us before Emma's surgery. The weather was nice so they spent a ton of time playing outside. 

Walker went to Columbus while Emma was in the hospital. He had a big time!

Ella Kate was beyond thrilled to receive her very own medal at her last dance practice. She loves to dance and we can't wait for her recital this weekend!

EK and Em were superheroes for a while. The picture on the far right of EK kills me. She said it was her "serious business" face. Obviously.

We had a super low key Memorial Day weekend which was fabulous and we sported our red, white and blue to church on Sunday

Haley came and picked up EK one day for a special date day. They ran errands, ate Lost Pizza and read book after book at Barnes and Noble. EK loved getting to do something that was just for her and we so appreciate Haley giving her some undivided attention!

Our realtor held an open house for realtors yesterday, so the kids and I had to stay away for a while. We spent the day playing at Kay Kay's and had a blast!

Yeah...the picture on the top right....that is a fairly accurate depiction of what it is like to get a picture of all three kids cooperating for a picture at the same time....it just doesn't go well.  Thanks Walker.

I guess that's about it for now. Have a happy Thursday!

Zoo Day

The weather was lovely and we didn't have any plans, so we decided a day at the zoo might be a fun little outing this morning. 

The kids laughed, made animal noises at the animals, and seemed to have an overall grand time.

Walker is obsessed with alligators...like to the point that he googles images on the iPad to see all the different types. He was beyond thrilled to see the giant alligator in the little play area by the alligator exhibit. (Sorry he is flashing his big boy boxers in the photo. Oops)

The giant eggs are always a fun place to play.

J and Walker were laughing about something and the birds in this cage started making some crazy bird sounds back at them. Walker thought it was awesome that he made the birds talk.

Ella Kate's favorites today were the birds and the sheep.

Walker loved the alligators, of course.

Emma had the best time saying "oo oo ah ah" to all the monkeys.

Silly boy!

There is just not much cuter than a baby in a smocked bubble...even with those fabulous "no no" splints as an accessory!

After we saw all the animals, the splash pad was necessary to cool off our crew.

They had a blast and asked to go back tomorrow!

No trip to the zoo is complete without a train ride. By the end of the ride, their hair was all dry and it was time to load up three tired kids into the van!

Yay for summer and lazy days where we can just play! It was really great!

Ella Kate's Last Day of Kindergarten

And just like that, it's summer! Today was Ella Kate's last day at the kindergarten and I seriously can not believe how much she has grown in just a few short months! She was pretty pumped up today at carpool for "no more school, no more school, no more school" (this chant got louder and louder as we drove away) but I give her about a week until she is so bored that we have to pull out work and have school at home!!!!! First grade will be here before we know it!!!!

Surgery #2

Emma had phase two of her cleft palate repair done on Monday.  J and I were both feeling good going into the day due to the fact that we have all the confidence in the world in our team of surgeons and an incredible community of friends and family that spent the day lifting up of baby girl. Things went very well and the doctor was pleased with how she did. He mentioned that she has a short palate, so another surgery may be necessary to elongate her palate in a year or two. However for now, we will just take it a day at a time, one surgery at a time.  Emma was a champ all day and far exceeded our hopes for how she might do in recovery.

She did some playing in the waiting room before heading to pre op.  Thankfully things moved along much faster this time, so we didn't have to keep her distracted for too long.  It's hard work to keep a baby's mind off food when her mind is usually always focused on food!

Pre op...she was being so silly. When the nurse called to tell us that the surgery had started, she laughed hysterically about getting Emma to sleep. I'm not exactly sure what she meant by that, but I'm thinking this fiesty little booger put up a fight!

Post op.....Emma slept hard for several hours after we got to her room.  When she woke up, she seemed to be feeling more like herself. She immediately started drinking her juice which was a fabulous sign!

Post nap playing! By Monday night, Emma was eating, drinking, talking, smiling, and trying to escape from all the wires and her bed. She was feeling so great in fact, that she partied hard (ie jumped up and down in her crib) until 2:30 am!

Tuesday morning, she was all smiles because we got to ride around for a while and get out of the crib. The resident came by and was amazed by how well she was doing. She even told us that we would probably get to go home that afternoon! Say what?!?! We were in the hospital 4 days last time and were told this would be about the same. Our little rock star patient wanted no part of that, so she met ever milestone necessary for discharge in turbo speed.

By 5:00 in the afternoon, we were home!!!!

There is no place like home!  Emma was so thrilled to be back in her bed that she slept until 9:30 this morning!

We are so very thankful that everything went so smoothly during her surgery and that she started feeling better so quickly! She is such a tough little girl and we still have more of these ahead of us, but for now, we feel so blessed to have this one behind us!