Memorial Day Weekend '09

We ran up to Michigan for a couple days over the holiday weekend......a few pictures.....

Grace and Alison tangled up in Papa's hammock....
After they became untangled.....

Grace, Papa, and Alison hang out in the back yard.......

The girls (especially Alison) liked playing in Papa's motorcycle trailer....Alison would pop out of the back door from time to time to see what was going on.....

Alison helping make some Amish Friendship Bread.....looks like she's had too much batter.....

"I didn't eat it all.......I swear......would I lie to you?"

Nana had a little bit left to put in the bread pans......

Getting a few last swipes in.......

Ready to go outside and play......

Grace, scared of the first fish she'd ever caught......

Grace watching her bobber waiting for fish #2.....

Still waiting...........

Alison and I sitting on the dock........

Waitin' for the Big One.......

Alison and the first fish she ever caught.....she helped reel her in.......

Grace's LAST day of Pre-K

This school year flew by quick....Grace had another year of pre-K this year.....different than last year's in that she was A) One of the oldest and not one of the youngest, B) She went every afternoon not just 3 days a week, and C) She had Mrs. Griffin last year (last year was Mrs. Mikesell....both of them were A+, top notch teachers). Here's a few pictures of her last day.

Grace the morning of her last day of Pre-K.....
.......and Alison the morning of Grace's last day of Pre-K....

The mom's had a little Happy Meal picnic before the day started....here's Grace with a couple of her good friends......

Mrs. Griffin had a Pirate theme for the last day, and here she's helping Grace on with her bandana....

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhh.......

Handing out some pre-class hugs........

This was snack time towards the end of the day.....Grace is the teeth in the middle.....

Here are the Swashbucklers with their teacher......

Group Hug with Mrs. Griffin.....except one, apparently....

Mrs. Griffin said Grace was sooooooooooo ready for Kindergarten in the last report card.

Wrapping up Alison's surgery

There were a few photos that I didn't get a chance to post while Alison had her bandages on, and I wanted to get these up here.

Here is Alison eating her breakfast and wondering why someone would take a picture of it.
She did better than we thought she would at feeding herself....she just went a little slower.

If you can't count on your big sister to do your hair when your hands are all wrapped up, who can you depend on?

I don't think it was too long after I took these photos that I heard Ashley ask Grace, "where did all this lotion in Alison's hair come from?" Grace's response, "From the bottle!" Technically true.

Alison getting ready to drop The Hammer.

This was the day that she got her bandages off....

One last cheesy grin before we head out....

She's definitely learning to ham it up for the camera......

Grace's Ballet Recital

A few months ago, Ashley signed up Grace for "real ballet" at a local ballet academy.....she's had a lot of fun, but she told us a few weeks ago that she wanted to try something else's. So, this coming Thursday, she has a swim test to start swim lessons. But, we did ask her if she could stick with ballet thru the recital, and she said yes. The last couple weeks have been filled with extra practices (with a bout of strep throat in the middle there), backpacks filled with snacks and water bottles, and a lot of hard work. Here recital was today and we thought she did a great job and were really proud of her. The teacher told us she did great and the parents volunteering in the back during the show (the recital was for ALL the kids at the academy) said she was really well-behaved. (Cuz she saves the rowdy behavior for home : )


Here's Grace before the show in her make up and hair....
On stage, and in position.....

Running across the stage so fast, she's a blur...

I'm not sure of the technical term for the move, but I call this some fancy footwork!

The routine was winding up here......

Coming in for a landing......

Grace is the third one from the left in the front row.....this was a larger group of dancers that all danced at different parts of one segment of the show....the little girls in blue were the Tiny Tots (3 and 4 year olds) and were so cute doing their moves.

A proud Ashley and her little ballerina, Grace.....

Grace in costume after the show......

Alison's Thumb Surgery Day

Alison had thumb surgery this morning! A few months ago, her thumbs started locking every once in a while in a slightly bent position......you could pop them back in place pretty easily, but we wanted to get it checked out by a specialist. We went to a pediatric orthopedist thru the Children's Hopsital of Illinois, and he diagnosed her with "trigger thumb" (and the name of something else that basically means she's double jointed).....he suggested a simple surgical procedure that widens the sheath that her thumb tendon slides through....the tendon is not supposed to "catch" anymore and her thumbs shouldn't lock up on her. We took a few pictures of the day....

This morning she couldn't have any food or milk (which is like denying her "morning coffee"), but she did pretty well without it.....
One more big cheezy before we hit the road.......

This is the play area while we waited for the doctors.....

Getting her vitals checked by one of the nurses.....

Fun yellow PJ's and a big box of blocks.....

She loved this car......it's what they took her back to the doctors in....

"Where do you guys wanna go?"

The surgeon said she did really well during the whole procedure....she had to be put under, had a tube to help her airway, an IV in her leg, etc......the nurses kept telling Ashley how beautiful Alison was and that she looked like a little angel while she was sleeping.....here she is about an hour after the procedure.....still pretty groggy....

She perked up quite a bit while I was out getting a Rx for her.....

She's got to keep the bandages on for 5 days.....so far so good.