Beautiful Pinky

I'm sitting here after a long day. It's only Tuesday and it's already been a busy week with more busyness to come, but I have to take a break from my SYTYCD tour review (in the works I promise) to mark one more monumental moment on this journey of parenthood.

First hospital visit!

In almost six years it was our first trip with one of the girls and I am pretty thankful for that. Also very very thankful that it was for something as relatively minor as a potentially broken finger.

I was dropping Catherine and her friend Wyatt off at Wyatt's house for a playdate. Ella has a weekly rotating playdate with school friends and this was the week for us to host them at our house. I thought it would be nice for Catherine to have a playdate with one of her friends and much easier for the four older girls to play without me constantly trying to figure out how to distract Catherine or help her to fit in. So I needed to get Catherine and Wyatt from preschool get them to his house and then get back to my place to meet the girls at the bus stop.

Easy, right?

Well the little snafoo happened when we went in their side door, one of those heavier spring doors that you usually see at a school or church that close automatically. Catherine must have put her hand up on the door frame to steady herself as she kicked her shoes off. And then the door shut. She started screaming right away and my first reaction was that she saw something that startled her. Yes, it is the same exact scream she'd make if she saw a big scary bug. So it took me a second to realize what had happen and open the door.

I still feel slightly sick to my stomach when I think about seeing her finger when I first got it out. It definitely didn't look right.

We got back in the car and headed home, with constant crying...her, not me (although I was close). I was frantically calling Matt so he could help since I knew I couldn't take Catherine to the doctor and meet Ella and her friends at the bus stop. Of course after call five I remembered he couldn't find his cell phone when he left that morning and was at his weekly breakfast meeting with the other two pastors. Thankfully I also remembered that I had suggested they try out a new restaurant down the road from our house...as I drove by I saw them walking in the parking lot to head to their cars. Definitely a God thing! I apologize to Tim and Bruce for not offering any greeting other than beeping to get Matt's attention and then telling him he needed to come home.

Everything worked out alright. Catherine and Matt went to the peds, then down to the hospital to get an x-ray while I supervised four hyper kindergarten girls. We debated cancelling and having the moms come but it just seemed easier to have Matt get going with getting Catherine checked out and not delay things.

Catherine did great on first hospital visit. Matt said she sucked up all the attention of everyone telling her how cute she was and all and in all it went pretty quickly.

Now we're heading to an orthopedic doctor tomorrow to find out for sure if it's broken, apparently the x-rays showed "suspicion of fracture".

Did I mention it was her pinky finger? Poor baby! When we were waiting for Matt to get home, she was laying on the couch crying "my beautiful pinky!" A good reason to smile in the midst of the pain!

I ask you to pray for us tomorrow for an appointment that gets Catherine's beautiful pinky all straightened out, preferably no break while you're at it! Thanks :)

It's coming...

We're trying to regain our sanity after a long night and not much sleep, but soon and very soon Renee and I will post our recap of the So You Think You Can Dance Tour last night! It was definitely a great night - can't wait to share it with you guys!

Sisterhood returns

It's my first week of recapping this season of SYTYCD. Just a reminder to all you out there that you can jump in at any point and start watching and commenting.

So I have to be honest here. I have not been feeling these past two weeks of auditions. I feel like one hour a week, dragging auditions out over six weeks is just waaaaay too long, and when I realized that tonight was only halfway to Vegas week I was even less excited.

But I have to say that Boston really brought it. I feel like we finally saw some different interesting dancers. Ok, I am sure there were a bunch the last few weeks, but LA felt like a ton of interchangeable (but still awesome) contemporary dancers

Here are some of the dancers they highlighted...

Teddy, 18yr - we were already treated to his unique audition during last season, but it was still fun to see it again. I agree with the judges that he definitely has the personality and style for the show. Was it crazy to watch an audition to "If It Kills Me" and not have it be Jason and Jeanine?

Jean Lloret, 22- can I get an AMEN? Thank you for bringing some hip hop, his moves were amazing! Hope he does well in Vegas!

Channing Cook, 18 - could be this season's Kherington? Definitely has the potential for it, maybe not as dynamic with her dance, but I liked her personality, she seemed like a goofball and I always love the tom boy! Another Mraz song, "A Beautiful Mess" (don't quote me on that though)

Ryan Casey, 18 -AKA Tall Tapper (What I had previously typed until they flashed his name) - I wasn't sure what we'd get from him, but I was surprised, he was definitely a good tapper. Not good enough in choreography, but a pleasant surprise b/c I thought he would be one of the joke ones.

Russell Ferguson, 19 - Heck ya, lovin' the crump! One of my favorite auditions so far - what can I say, this past season was sorely lacking in styles other than contemporary, I hope this guy does well in Vegas and we see more of him.

Then Tyce goes crazy. With his foot. And then farting. Pretty hilarious actually. You'd never see those Idol judges in tears laughing over someone's stinky rear!

Breezie - So entertaining and suprising. I love how he covered up his fall! Too bad the injury put him out of the choreography.

Karen and Matthew Hauer, 27 husband and wife - They were latin dancers and we haven't seen many of them so it's always a nice change of pace. They were good, but honestly they didn't blow me away. I bet they'll make it to the end and then only one of them will make the top 20!

Gene Bersten,21 - Kind of a weirdo, but I think that is the persona that often goes along with latin dancing - alot of "face pulling" and overexaggerated expressions. But he was definitely good and I thought it was pretty interesting that he did Boom Boom Pow as his song and was all alone. Have we ever seen a ballroom dancer try out with out a partner? If he can reign in the eyebrows he might have a chance!

Well there is really nothing to say about the final audition. Matt summed it up perfectly "why do they have to give so much press time to this guy and his bulge?"

So on that note, I will sign off for the night, having enjoyed tonight's episode more than I was expecting to and looking off into the distant horizon when we get to see this season's top 20 perform on stage!

Wait.

I almost forgot one very very important thing. This Saturday Renee and I are going to represent the Sisterhood at the SYTYCD tour!!! We promise to give a full recap when we get back and will pass your love along to Brandon, Jeanine, Evan, Kaitlyn, Melissa, Jason, Kupono (Rachel, I'll pass on some special love from you to him ;) ) and all the rest of the dancers! Woohoo!
Hip Hopper

Summer Memories

During our family vacation at the beach (I am a pretty big vacation blogging failure...) we had a little photo shoot courtesy of the talented Renee . She got some great pictures of the whole family, individual family units, cousins, couples...and I'm sure I'll be sharing them with you.

Right now though I want to share some of the candids she took that captured some priceless moments!

We have no idea what she's laughing at, but we love it!

Definitely up there as one of my all time favorites

All three girl cousins

Kissing cousins (ok, and sisters!)

So that last one might have been staged ;)

Since I'm posting this Wednesday night I'm going to give it a go and link up with Wordless Wednesday (ha! wordless? me? never!). Go here to check out more pictures and post your own!
Oh and another one...go here for WordFUL Wednesday (for people like me, who can't resist the urge to type a few things!).

First day of kindergarten!

Yesterday was a mon-u-mental day in our household. It was the day that I sent my first born to kindergarten!

We've done preschool for two years now so you would think that it would make it all easier and I'd be used to leaving my child behind in the care of her teachers, but nope, not easier at all (for me at least, for her, yes I do think that the two years of preschool helped!). Somehow it just seemed like the start of a new era, of a time when the end of August rolls around and you get that funny feeling in your stomach that's part excitement, part nervousness, that signals it's time to start school again. It just feels more official when you start elementary school, and it's weird knowing that we're embarking on a journey that will last, at the very least, 12 more years.

Of course I have to document it with pictures....here is Ella with her big yellow crayon that her Nama gave them to use to save money for the beach, I thought it worked well as a first day of school prop.

Looking thrilled isn't she? I can't tell if she's giving us just a bit of attitude for taking her picture, or showing a bit of nervousness.

Now she's happy, getting the traditional front door-first day of school picture.

This has to be my favorite picture of all. I laughed so hard when I saw it!

With mom and dad, getting ready to head over to the school. Notice the pink peeking out from her dress? I put some shorts on her after I realized that the size 6 dress was just a bit short (I swear the sign said "dress", not shirt).

One final picture before we hop in the car to head to school. Looking like a kindergartner with her backpack on!

On the way to the school entrance I asked Matt to take a picture of us from the front walking in and this is what he did:

Nice. He claims to have not heard me. Riiigggghtt.

Matt and I walked her to the main entrance, we were greeted by the school counselor who was waiting there and she said, come on let's go I'll take you to the gym (where the kinders gather for the first week). At that point Ella looked at me with the sad-about-to-cry face and gave me a big hug which made my tears start (hidden by my sunglasses of course) and then she was swept away and that was it (Matt was bummed he didn't get to hug her good bye as well). I may have shed a few tears as we drove home, but since Matt doesn't make appearances in the comments section, there are no eye witnesses to say one way or the other!

We decided to drive Ella to school for now. I don't know if I posted about this before but she isn't going to the school she's districted to go to. They had more kids than they could take so about 16 were sent to other elementary schools. We weren't happy about it, but it works out that she's going to school with some of her best preschool friends for at least one year. But it also meant that she'd be getting on a bus by herself with no one else from our neighborhood. So we figured that by taking her in the morning, we'd help the transition go smoother and also make our morning less hectic (15 minutes extra to get ready!).

But coming home she's just on the bus with other kinders (that's what they're called!) so it wouldn't be as intimidating.

Her bus was due at 12:15 so Catherine, my mom (who stayed an extra day from their Labor Day visit to be a part of Ella's first school day) and myself all walked to the bus stop to wait.

Matt even came down and joined us a few minutes later. We waited. And waited. And waited. For 30 minutes we waited for the bus to come. I started doubting myself, that maybe I had the wrong bus stop, that I put the wrong bus number on her bus tag, etc, etc. Thirty minutes is a long time to wait for your first born to come home from her first day of kindergarten on her first bus ride (very weird trusting that she would get from her class to her bus to our house. I know, I know, you experienced moms are laughing at me, but it's my first time!!!)

I may have sent Matt back to house to call the school transportation number just in case there something going on that we didn't know about (I have no idea what though.) Again no eye witnesses.... :)

Finally we spotted the bus!

My heart soared when I saw Ella get out of her seat and make her way off the bus.


One day down, one hundred and seventy nine more to go!

Overall she enjoyed her first day. She had a few complaints like, recess was too short, art class was only once a week, she sat next to a boy she didn't like, but nothing major. She was nervous again that night but completely fine in the morning and when I dropped her off she gave me a big smile said "Goodbye mom" and walked off. I didn't feel one bit sad either! Just excited for all she's going to learn and experience throughout this year!

10 years and counting

Friday was Matt and my 10 year wedding anniversary! Both of us are still looking at each other going "10 years?!" Ten years seems so long and in some way when I look at the pictures it does seem a lifetime ago, but in other ways it seems likes it all gone by in a blink of an eye and here we are with a house and two kids (one about to start kindergarten, just one more that has me in shock!)



Of course I have to take a moment to remember that day, that day that was really the start of the rest of my life.


Here are a few pictures that I just scanned in....



My wonderful family all dressed up!

My wonderful bridesmaids....yes, I had eight of them!

My dad and I reinacting a pose we did before every prom!

Me. Before the ceremony, already tired of smiling!

Matt surrounded by the girls! I totally forgot to scan in a picture of the groomsmen. I feel so bad. When Matt sees this and complains I will totally add a picture of them. I'm too tired at the moment.

My dad and I walking down the aisle. I was so nervous that I would cry (I didn't) and I never like having all the attention on me so I was just happy to get to Matt at the front of the church (because of course I wanted to be with my hubby to be)

We're married! 3 and 1/2 years after we started dating! This is the picture I posted on facebook on Friday and I got lots of comments on Matt's hair. He's definitely changed his style in the last ten years. I think there were some that didn't recognize him without his longer hair. One friend wrote that must because I'm a good wife and I don't cause him to pull his hair out!

Stealing a kiss...

I am pretty sure this is from the end of the evening...completely out of order! Starting on our new journey together (can you say cheese....can't help it!)

Matt and his mom during the mother son dance. They danced to Phil Collins "You'll be in my Heart". One of the things that we did that I loved was halfway through the song have all the other mothers and sons (and when my dad and I danced earlier, fathers and daughters) come and join us. It was special because it's not often that you have a chance to dance with your mom or dad. I know my mom was so excited because it would get her dad on the dance floor. I love finding ways for people to participate with us as much as possible!

Cutting the cake, not an outstanding picture...but still a moment to capture!

That mob of people there...that would be the dance floor! Seriously, there was dancing all night long. So fun to be having a blast, surrounded by friends and family. Our first dance to Bebo Norman's A Page is Turned (Just an aside that the song we always consider "ours" was Hand Draws Flowers by Harrod and Funck. To this day it is my favorite love song. But we decided it would be too hard to dance to. When my brother Matt and Chrissie got married that was their first dance. Maybe she'll let us know if it was or not.) It's a beautiful song about how God leads us through the dance of life, to Himself, to each other....very touching....but apparently for whatever reason in this picture we are both cracking up about something.I just love this picture because over the past ten years Matt and I have shared many laughs together. Often times our arguments involve laughter because at some point one of us realizes that we're being ridiculous. We really do have fun together and laugh over things that probably no one else would find entertaining (usually things the girls say). Despite being very different in many ways we have the same sense of humor, something that makes being married to each other very fun.

I am thankful for Matt, the person I trust most, the person I miss the most, the one who comes home to me and the girls every night. He is a partner in every way, always helping, never bothered when I'm worn out after a long day with the girls and the house is a mess and dinner is sub par. He even drafted my Fantasy Football team for me when I wanted to get on the treadmill instead and was honest enough to pick the best choices for me rather than for himself (I was one pick before him, ultimate temptation).

I love the Proclaimers "500 Miles" and one of my favorite lines is "when I got out you know I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be the man who comes back home to you. When I grow old, you know I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be the man who grows old next to you."

Those words speak to me because I truely feel that despite neither of us being great romantics and super expressive with our words, we feel at home together and always will. If I could rewind ten years I would do it all over again! Love you Matty!