halle end of year roundup

Halle loves to keep busy with activities and friends.  This school year (2012-2013) she went to preschool, continued dance, and played on her first soccer team.

Dance

This was Halle's second year of dance and once we get past putting on those darn itchy tights she really enjoys herself.  She loves to perform and the thought of being in a recital and wearing makeup just thrills her.  This year her class danced to "bushel and a peck."  She was wonderful, definitely the tallest in her class, and knew all her moves.  She even kept that stage smile the whole time.  I love seeing her confidence in her abilities blossom through dance.

Preschool

This was Halle's first year at a true preschool.  She didn't know any of the children in her class at the beginning of the year, but came away from it having made some great friends.  She loves to learn and loves to be with other children and I loved all the special singing programs they did.  By the end of the year she had passed off all of her bead achievements and mastered every skill except holding her scissors with the correct grip.  Of that her teacher wrote, "she twists her hand around in an interesting way." She has come a long way since the beginning of the year and has become an emerging little reader.

Her teacher had this to say about her, "Halle has been a delightful student in preschool.  She is eager to learn and grasps concepts and directions easily.  She is kind to her classmates and a quiet leader.  She will do very well in Kindergarten next year."  I feel like her teacher nailed it when she called her a "quiet leader."  There is something about Halle that calms other children and as she participates so enthusiastically in school activities, the others want to participate as well.  We loved Pinnacle Preschool!

Soccer

Watching Halle play soccer this year was a treat.  She literally would run circles around the ball and hardly ever run in to actually make a stand and kick it.  She mostly loved being with all her neighborhood friends on her team.  She loved going to soccer practice to just run and be with all those great kids.  The Blue Sharks were the nicest little team around. And let's hear it for dad, who made it to almost every single game in the midst of chemotherapy. One day I will tell her and she will know just what that meant.

Our Halle just loves life and trying new things.  She has a zest for life that I hope never leaves her.

p.s. hellooooo! no posts since june.  playing major catch up over here!

beautiful mornings

Most mornings I wake up to Lily lying in the crook of my arm asking for chocolate milk and Mickey Mouse. I get up, feed the girls, and strap them into our hand-me-down jogger. I put my head phones in and begin to jog pushing 8o pounds of bed head, pajama clad girls up and down the hills in our neighborhood. I watch as they chatter to each other with their heads together and point out the sights, or an exceptionally loud truck. Sometimes they pull hair, hit and scratch which is bound to happen when they are strapped in such close proximity to each other. It's our routine. They have come to accept it and sometimes look forward to it. These days I can't help but think what a beautiful thing it is to be doing normal things.

Up until a few months ago my mornings terrified me. Almost every single night I would send Wes to bed in pain and/or nauseous. I would lie in bed wondering if this night would end up as another very early morning racing to the emergency room, filling out paper work, watching him throw up in a bucket or if he would get any sleep that night or if his pain would resolve itself. If he did make it through the night I would listen as he would report how little sleep he got and how much he hurt. How does he get up and go to work day after day? My little heart worries and worries about him. These nights and mornings were full of so much anxiety. A far cry from beautiful.

Elder Bruce D. Porter spoke in the April general conference about beautiful mornings. He told the story of a roommate who was always optimistic. One day his friend was walking across campus early on a cold and snowy day. His friend spotted this roommate in the middle of this dreary morning spreading his arms out wide singing,  "oh what a beautiful morning!" Of that story Elder Porter said, "In the intervening years, that bright voice in a dark storm has become for me a symbol of what faith and hope are all about. Even in a darkening world, we as Latter-day Saints may sing with joy, knowing that the powers of heaven are with God’s Church and people."

I sometimes imagine myself as that roommate in the middle of the storm of our family's trials singing at the top of my lungs, convincing myself and those around me that despite the darkness and bitter cold it is a beautiful morning.  It is always a beautiful morning because of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Elder Porter said, "Trials may come, and we may not understand everything that happens to us or around us. But if we humbly, quietly trust in the Lord, He will give us strength and guidance in every challenge we face. When our only desire is to please Him, we will be blessed with a deep inner peace." I have felt this peace in my life even on the most chaotic and confusing of days. It is the only reason any of us slept so peacefully the day Wes was diagnosed. Wes is especially known for having trouble sleeping, it was a tender mercy indeed. This deep inner peace is real and it comes from a loving heavenly father. Our Heavenly Father is in the details of our lives, all we have to do is look. 

President Uchtdorf said, "If life and its rushed pace and many stresses have made it difficult for you to feel like rejoicing, then perhaps now is a good time to refocus on what matters most."  What a powerful statement. If you don't feel like rejoicing it is not because you don't have a reason rejoice. I can choose to see the storms or i can choose to find something to rejoice about. Some days i have to dig much deeper than others, but there is always a blessing to be found. I have found myself driving to LDS hospital for the hundredth time to visit my 28 year old husband suffering from cancer, slowly withering away in a hospital bed with a smile on my face, simply because I had felt my Heavenly Father's presence in my life that day.  I have discovered even in the midst of great trial there is always a reason to rejoice, you can always find the hand of God quietly leading you along if you stop, refocus, and look. 

It has made me realize that truly, every morning is a beautiful morning, even the scary ones, the hard ones, the confusing ones, and the dark ones.

I love my normal mornings and I am grateful for the things my hard mornings have taught me. I hope to always be the girl in the storm singing at the top of her lungs. I know I can be with the knowledge I have of Jesus Christ and His atonement.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is a reason to rejoice and wake each morning singing, "oh what a beautiful morning!"

life, lately.

halle loves to fill her days with school, soccer, friends, and ballet.

 more cancer surveillance.  five more years of this.  are we there yet?

ice cream and the tulip festival

 uncle ryan and aunt haley graduated, lily did not enjoy the outfits

 Me and my fella at the nickelcade

 always together

 a day at the zoo

 the sunshine is back, blessed day

me and my sweet girl after her mother's day program at preschool

exotropia

At the end of January I started to notice that one of Lily's eyes would drift outward when she was daydreaming or thinking about Rapunzel.  It happened a lot when we were traveling in the car.  I asked her pediatrician about it and he did a simple eye test.  He noticed the drifting when he tested her and referred us to a pediatric eye specialist.  At the end of April, Lily had her appointment with the specialist at the Riverton Primary Children's clinic.  She loved playing in the waiting room with dad.  

After a few tests she was diagnosed with intermittent exotropia.  This means sometimes, not all the time, her left eye drifts to the outer corner.  This can cause double vision.  Usually there is a weak muscle, that can get weaker and can even lead to blindness with time as the brain trains itself to block out that weak eye.  Apparently it is fairly common for eye weaknesses to show up around the age of two.  

The good news is that for now Lily doesn't need surgery or glasses.  The doctor asked us to begin patching her stronger right eye in order to make her weaker left eye work harder.  

We are supposed to do the once a day for an hour.  After a few months she will be checked again to see if the patching is helping.  Obviously she doesn't enjoy it.  

I thought eventually she would realize this is an every day occurence no matter how much she protests, but she still fights it.  In the beginning she would just whimper as I put it on.  I started bribing her with outings, gum, and treats which all worked for awhile.  However, now she makes sure before every outing that there will be "no bandaid" and she doesn't care for gum anymore.  Some days we end up chasing her around the house and pinning her arms to her side as she screams, "no bandaid."  Hopefully it will all be for her good.  Bodies are sure wonderful, but terribly imperfect.  Oh how we have learned that lesson this year.

 Wes tries to make bandaid time fun and one day even patched himself to help her feel better.  

I think Halle secretly delights in the fact that Lily has to do something that she doesn't.  And one day I walked past Lily's picture to find this.  

It was Halle.  She thinks she is hilarious.

lily's rapunzel birthday

Lily has been obsessed with Rapunzel for the last few months.  She knows the songs, she loves the dolls, and has a teensy little crush on Flynn Rider.  She is ready to talk about Rapunzel with anyone at a moments notice.  This made her 2nd birthday party a piece of cake (cake...ha!).  

I planned a little Rapunzel adventure and enlisted the help of the family.  

I had sissy make wanted posters of Flynn to decorate our house and she painted purple flags with suns on them.  Wes is always a good sport and is so willing to follow along with my silly ideas.  He played the part of Flynn all tied up in Rapunzel's long hair.

 I sent the girls downstairs and they soon heard Flynn's cries for help.  They ran to the stairs and found his poster.  

The only way up, was of course to call for Rapunzel to let down her hair.  They climbed the hair and into the tower to find Flynn.

 They had to set Flynn free and untangle him from Rapunzel's hair.

He showed the birthday girl what was inside his satchel and to her surprise it was a crown just for her.

She put it on and said "I'm the lost princess."  I told you she knows this show.

Flynn swept tiny birthday Rapunzel off to the snuggly duckling for something to eat.  On the menu?  Pizza, of course.

 The girls discovered that Rapunzel's birthday cake was missing and were on the hunt.  After the snuggly duckling they entered the kingdom and couldn't leave without dancing with Flynn.  My girls love to dance with dad like this.

Flynn led them to Mother Gothel who was guarding the way to the stolen cake.  Birthday Rapunzel hit her with a frying pan to enter a room filled with lights.  And there at the front with the lantern glowing all around she found her cake.

This little girl is sunshine.

 After cake she opened her presents.  The thing about this girl is that anything she opens she has to use or try on for at least a minute.  Everything must come out of the box immediately or clothes must be tried on before she moves on to the next present.  It sure is fun celebrating someone who is so enthusiastic about everything!  Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate her!

Happy Birthday Miss Lily, you are so loved!