Here for Something

Just cause...

2011-06-28T21:52:00.000-07:00

We too have our lazy days...

Feeding and holding her 'puppy'

Afternoons at the park with family..

Go speed racer GO!!!

Playing in the water at the pool

Relaxing after lots of fun in the water... oh the thoughts that go through the mind of a 4 year old girl :)

Stay cool out there folks, we have some HOT days ahead of us!

Purple and Pink...

2011-06-27T21:15:00.000-07:00

Just the way she wanted it to be for her when she got home!!! The big girls room all done and ready for her when she got home on the 17th of June.

View from her doorway:

*Yes, those are all her toys! So when I say she doesn't need anything, I'm being honest! As you can see, that is a 5 tier bookshelf full of games, crafts, and toys, and 2 toy bins stacked on top of one another, and the small 4 tier bin area in the bottom right corner...

The view from in front of the bookcase, facing the hallway

*notice the bookshelf crammed full of books?!

The wall next to her bed, her closet full of dresses and shoes, only a girl right?!

And not to mention the dresser and closet shrunk, both also full of clothes! She is all good in the clothes and toy department!

She loves her new room and we are so happy to have our own place! It's new for the both of us, but are are adjusting quite well to all of this. My dad and I were able to make a few other adjustments for her before we moved in, like the shower adjustment and the smaller sink so it's easier for her to reach. Which, she can NOT get enough of washing her hands!!! I'll hear her splashing around in the sink, wanting to wash her hands every 5 minutes and brush her teeth every half hour!

I'm in the process of making light switch extenders for a couple of rooms so she can have easy access to those rooms and not walk in blindly. Oh, and all the door handles have been lowered about 6 inches from the standard height so she can reach them all with ease!

We hope everyone is enjoying their summers and lazy weekends!

Shower Time!!

2011-06-20T18:01:00.000-07:00

Now that Lilah is getting older and wants to be more independent than ever, I decided it was time to go from bath time to shower time! Things in our household have been crazy at times and taking a bath everyday of the week can be very time consuming (and wasteful!) so I started to look into shower head and bathroom adjustments that would make things easier on the both of us!

A complete bathroom remodel was NOT in the works and we are also working on a budget. While looking around Lowe's one day trying to find paint colors for her room, I stumbled across this:

RINSE ASE:My Own Shower

I read the reviews before I purchased and majority of them seemed great in my opinion, so we bought it and were on our way! My dad hooked it up later that night and she took her first shower! Let me tell you, bath time went from 20 minutes down to about 7!

Using the shower head versus bath time is a blessing! She no longer fusses when it is time to rinse her hair because she can almost do it all by herself. Yes, even at 4 years old and all her hair, she still manages to fuss when it comes time to rinse the tear-free soap out of her hair!

Her is the happy girl and her shower :)

And here is what the shower looks like attached:

And my own personal review of the product:

Pros:

-Easy for kids to used (the pros make it easy and fun for Lilah to WANT to take a shower, as before, the 'adult' shower was scary and to much water came out)

-Water flow (if you have a single water source like we have, it is easy to adjust the flow of the water by simply controlling how much comes out so the water is not to hard/rough when hitting the kiddos)

-Easy disassembled & reassemble (after having to take it on and off after each use)

-Adjustable height (for Lilah, I found that the cord was to long as it would hit her straight in the face if I pulled it all the way down. The suction cups help make the right adjustment)

Cons:

-You HAVE to take it off after each shower time (It is easy to do but just an added step as there is no on/off watch switch)

-First attachment to the shower faucet can be difficult (it took use a while to get it on because of the tight fit of the faucet piece)

-The smaller suction cup does not stay on for very long (I have yet to figure a way to keep this on longer than a few seconds, maybe 30, after I have placed it on the wall- it is only a problem if the water is on high)

I hope this helps other LP families! Even when Lilah does take a bath on the weekends, this makes it soooo much easier to rinse her hair after washing!

LPA Regional: Day 2

2011-05-16T20:44:00.000-07:00

For day 2, there was an activity room provided for the little-little's for the parent's to attend the various meetings planned for the day. There were a lot of little-little girls! The boys took over in the teenage department!

The girls with one of the informative and helpful

The adults on the Cessna tour

Ready for food and fun!

Taking some time to enjoy the weather before the DANCE!!!!

And, the most popular girl was...Lilah! Ok, so I'm biased, but she was a hit! I am SO thankful that the Sunflower chapter was able to host this regional, we both had an absolute blast!!!

LPA Dance

Check out the link above for a news review on the conference and dance

It's raffle time!!!

Carson, our Chapter President! For being such a super hero and making it through the dance and for all the support and help he gave to the chapter!

LPA Regional: Night 1

2011-05-15T21:16:00.000-07:00

This year, the Sunflower Chapter was excited to host an LPA Regional meet for District 7! Our area has not hosted one in Wichita for almost 7 years! The hotel we were at worked very well with the needs of those who were attending the conference. We had a blast both days of the conference and I know I am looking forward to many more LPA Regional, District, and National events. Lilah is at the prime age where she is able to gain information from other LP's at the conferences.

I have been waiting to take her to larger Regional and National events because I believe they would have benefited me more than her because of her understanding of knowledge. I have relied heavily on our POLP groups and social networks to handle situations on my end as a parent, but now that she is older, I believe she will want to know their are others who are just like her in stature. She will be able to talk with other LP's, relate to stories and various issues that I will not be able to relate to.

This conference really opened up my little girl socially! She is growing up so fast!!!

Petey, reading a personal story to the girls.

There was a quartet competition in the hotel the same weekend we were there. This group GRACIOUSLY sang for us not once, but twice during the weekend! They were excellent and it was fun for both the adults and children!

My runner!

Taking some time to walk the River and take pics

Katie showing the other girls how to do cart wheels. Looks painful, but she managed to do this for hours! Lilah is practicing to be just like Katie- ahhhh!!! *Can we say mom's pulling her hair out at the sight of this?!*

This is an AWESOME chair that was made available for the silent auction, which I bid upon and won! This is a pretty awesome chair that holds up to 160 lbs., which means Lilah will have it for a very long while!

Girl power! They had so much fun together!

Sesame Street Year 2!

2011-05-15T21:01:00.000-07:00

Another year of Sesame Street fun! This year, I decided to take my 2 nieces plus Lilah because I thought they would LOVE to go since Lilah enjoyed it so much last year. On our way there, one of my nieces had a different point of view and decided she did NOT want anything to do with big characters in costumes! Her brother took her place instead, which was still fun!

We started the adventure with a trip to eat, then off to the show!

"Auntie, are those real people inside of costumes?!"

Hopefully at 5 years old next year she will still want to go to this type of show!

More Cali Photos

2011-04-08T23:04:00.000-07:00

Well, I was going through my phone the other day and realized I have MORE pictures from the Cali trip! On the rare occasions when I did not have my camera with me, I had my phone!!! Enjoy!

We had just arrived and were waiting on our rental vehicle- doesn't she look like she belongs in Cali with the bug eye glasses and sandy bleach blonde hair?!

Doesn't want to sit still long enough for a picture with mom!

Being silly at the zoo eating green Jell-O!

At the zoo with mom

On the cold and foggy Cali beach!

Oh catching this Sunset was the best thing ever! Wish I would've had my camera with me!

It was about 4 a.m. when this photo was taken, as you can tell by my nieces hair! Aunty loves you Syd!!!

Kitchen Helper

2011-04-08T22:59:00.000-07:00

Lilah LOVES to help out, especially when she is with grandma! This day she got to help grandma make Lemon Cup Cakes-which were sooo delicious I might add!!! *Due to grandma NOT wanting to be pictured, the angles are limited!!!*

her sneaky grin!

doing a silly face for mommy!!!

Always a help in the kitchen... so she thinks!!!

A day at the Park

2011-04-08T22:54:00.000-07:00

It was the most beautiful day of the year thus far and we HAD to head to the park! There is a new park, well it was new to us because I noticed it a few weeks earlier while driving. It was the best park ever because it was large and had plenty for her to enjoy and access!!! I didn't have my camera BUT my phone was still charged from the day!

*This was her extent of playing in the sand. There was a HUGE sand box, but I think they are just a HUGE version of stray cats litter boxes and refuse to let her play in public sand boxes* Sorry folks, not happening! Oh and don't get me started on getting sand in her hair!!!

And some scooter riding at Grandma's! We usually ride with the helmet, but this was an unexpected trip to the house with the scooter. She loves that thing and even enjoys riding it in Grandpa's basement! Lucky girl!

We hope everyone is able to enjoy the Spring weather that is on the way!!!

Cali Day 3

2011-03-16T21:18:00.000-07:00

Our last full day in Cali we were off to the beach! This would be the first time my niece and her dad had EVER been to a beach, so they were both REALLY excited!

But when we got there, the temperature decreased by at least 20 degrees!!! It was mighty cold and we were only about to see about a quarter of a mile in any direction! The fog was awesome but did not make for the best beach weather!

As you can see, Lilah still has on her jackets AND leggings! Needless to say, we didn't stay at the beach long because the wind also started to pick up! But the kids were able to swim at hotel pool where the temperature was 20 degrees warmer and no wind!!!

We were sad to say goodbye to Cali, but we all had a BLAST!!! If tickets remain as cheap as they were I'm sure we will be making another trip in the very near future!!!

Cali Day 2 Picture Heavy

2011-03-16T20:57:00.000-07:00

And this is how the morning started! Oh the fun kids can have in a hotel room- it's like a new house!!!

Looks like someone got a hold of my camera so early in the morning!!!

The BEST orange tree ever!!! This is a tree that is growing in my Uncle's backyard, in another corner they have a sweet lemon tree. Fresh fruit with breakfast was sooo good!!!

Lilah with my Unlce...shhhh don't tell him we took this! My dad looks just like him and all day the kids were calling him pahpa!

While my sister took her family to Universal Studios, I opted to stay with my aunt and uncle. We went thrift store shopping and antique shopping. I had a blast and wish furniture shipping was a lot cheaper than it is now because I saw some AWESOME furniture that I would LOVE to have in my house! But, I had to settle for getting books and window shopping on the other products!

After window shopping, my cousin picked us up and we headed to the LA Zoo-talk about a large zoo! They had some really great exhibits and it was spread out fairly well. We all enjoyed ourselves especially since the weather was PERFECT!!!

After the zoo, we headed towards the outside of downtown LA and ate at BIG BOY- this was yummy! I had one of the best burgers and shakes EVER!!!! I know this because as soon as we got back to the house, I fell asleep and so did my cousin!

Day 2 was nice and relaxed. We took a few scenic drives and enjoyed our time there!

Here we come CALI!!! Day 1

2011-03-16T20:41:00.000-07:00

$80 round trip! Yep, that's all I paid for ONE ticket, round trip to Los Angeles, CA for a weekend! When my sister called and told me about the tickets, we went that night and bought ourselves tickets for our families! I am so glad that we went on this mini-vacation. It has been a while since Lilah and I have been on a plan and had a trip together, we all had a blast and the weekend was to short to enjoy all the sights- but we were able to have fun, visit with family and get a home cooked hot breakfast!

The plan ride there, ready to go go go!!!

Most of day 1 was spent traveling on the plane. Lilah is a well versed traveler and if she is not in her car seat, she won't fall asleep. Thus, why mommy made sure to charge the ipod, bring her personal headphones and her early V-day gift, a purple pillow pet!

Unlike Lilah, her cousin can fall asleep anywhere! This was nap time and the perfect time to take a snooze, on her first plane ride!!!

After we landed the kids were able to stretch their legs and enjoy the sunny Cali skies!!!

Oh the divas!!! They are in the right city for all this attitude!!!

This was not the sleeping arrangements we had planned, but they were all tired because of the traveling, they fell asleep together while watching television. We decided it was best to leave them there!!!

Catholic Schools Week

2011-03-16T20:25:00.000-07:00

At Lilah's school, they have a week dedicated to the kids at school. It is similar to spirit week at other schools, with recognition to faith and why they are in the setting they are in. Unfortunately this was occurring during the snow storm days, and she was only able to participate in 4 out of the 5 days.

Nerd Day:

70's Day (My cute hippie has the hair for this era!)

Superhero day: She was the green Powerpuff girl

One day was pajama day and the other was school spirit. They did move pajama day for the students to the following week and boy was that a comfy day at school for everyone!

Snow days

2011-03-16T20:16:00.000-07:00

When there are snow drifts like this in less than 12 hours....

We have snow days and do activities like these:

Look at all that concentration!!!

YUM!!!

A messy haired Kelly doll watching paint dry :)

Full of Family Fun

2011-03-16T20:10:00.000-07:00

In January we have a lot of birthdays to attend to starting on the 1st of January! We were able to celebrate some parties throughout the month and have a school celebration party. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get any photos from the school party :(

Winner winner chicken dinner!!!

Look at that form! The ball still landed at the bottom!

Towards the end of the month we were visited by our family from California. Lilah had been running a fever the day before, which broke in the middle of the night, so she was not at school the day they arrived. She was able to come to lunch with us and it was great because this was the first time she had ever met her second cousins!

We love our cousins yes we do!!!!

Mommy and Lilah

2011-03-16T20:03:00.000-07:00

A mini-photo shoot with me and the kiddo. We had fun doing this and was a last minute decision, but I think the photos turned out well. We're going to need some photos of the Princess and I when we move :)

Thank you Michael Edgington for doing the portraits!!!

Playing Catch-up, Christmas 2010

2011-03-16T19:52:00.000-07:00

Yep, trying to do a full catch up again, so the pictures will be on OVERLOAD! I've been so busy with trying to get finish my degree and getting a new job, then with the holidays, and cutting back on my internet time, the blog has been neglected! :( BUT the camera is always in full swing!!!

Here are some photos of Lilah's time in IL with her dad's family. They all LOVED having her there and she was so happy to see them again! Even though Mommy missed her dearly, I know she had a wonderful time and an overload on Christmas!!!

I just love those slippers on her and she loves to wear them!

Pa-pa's Birthday

2011-01-19T20:12:00.000-08:00

We celebrated my dads 40 + 4 + 5th birthday! Yea, that's his 49th birthday! We love you so much dad! You have been there for us through everything and are one of our biggest supporters! I am so thankful to have you in our lives, I can't imagine where we would be without you today! You mean the world to us and thank you for being there for me..even when I don't want to listen! We LOVE YOU Pa-Pa!!!!

*Please excuse the 'holiday tree' outfit!* Lilah all ready to give Pa-Pa his gift!

Elijah being his silly self!

Now do you understand the 40 + 4 + 5th?! We couldn't find the '9' candle, so we were creative! :)

My dad's favorite cake, Pineapple Upside Down Cake!!!

First Christmas Program

2011-01-19T19:43:00.000-08:00

Oh how I have been waiting on this day for sooo long! Lilah's first school Christmas program! Every day after school I would hear her and my nieces and nephews singing their songs for the program. She was sooo excited to be able to sing that night.

With her cousin Eli, who also sang with his class in the program.

Here she is! (I have more photos, but there are so many children in them I do want to post with out parent permission!) So this is the one decent shot of her that I have. This is how she looked the entire time, while the rest of her classmates sang! She wouldn't sing at all! Then again, they were in front of a packed church of parents! I was very proud of her that she did not cry though!!!

Santa, lights, and Ice Skating

2011-01-19T19:20:00.000-08:00

During Christmas time I HAD to take Lilah to see Santa somewhere. I wasn't sure how well she would do because the past few years have been a bit, well, unpredictable! This year she was SUPER excited to see Santa. She walked right up to him, sat next to him, and before HE could say anything she states:

"I want a Barbie princess and a Dora baby!"

We went to the "Lights on the Lake" show at Heartspring this year. This is the same place she had therapy over half the year last year. (Which they did a great job working with her. She spent all summer learning to button various buttons and cut properly with scissors for an LP. Which really showed when she started Pre-k 3/4 this year!)

Lilah with all the lights...which she absolutely LOVED! This display wrapped around a large tree, which led to the lake.

I had been wanting to take Lilah Ice Skating since I had so much fun when I went a few weeks earlier. Luckily for us a friend of mine was having a get together there for his birthday and I brought Lilah along. Let me tell you, Ice Skating is fun, but I do not recommend taking a little one if you do not have any skating experience!

We managed NOT to fall, not once!!! I was proud of the both of us and she was proud of herself! We made it around the rink two and a half times in an HOUR!

How cute are those little ice skating shoes?! I wanted to look more into getting her signed up for classes but thought we should wait until she is at least 7 or 8 years old before I do that! But, in the meantime, we'll have to go more often!

"Look ma, no hands!" She was very happy that she was able to stand up all by herself OFF the ice. *You can see my hand in fear of her falling!!!*

Making silly faces to prove to me further that she can stand on her own AND make silly faces!

Oh yes, my two most WILLING participants for a photo op! Lilah and her God mother. We had dinner together so that Lilah could get the best Christmas present EVER before heading off to Illinois for part of her Christmas break. Thanks again ma'lady for the Christmas gift, I am sure Lilah LOVED her gift as much as I did!!!

Holiday Family Christmas Program

2010-12-08T17:59:00.000-08:00

For the second year, Lilah and I attended a holiday concert put on by the Wichita Orchestra. This year was more packed than last year, but we always had fun! The music presented is beautiful and well planned, as well as the program. The holidays are among us and Christmas is creeping ever near!!!

Excited and waiting patiently!!!

Who needs music to dance?!

Tried to get a great photo but this is all I got!

It's about to start! Sssshhhhh

Oh, I also can't wait to show Lilah a few of the light shows we have locally, and let her see Santa Clause! Since it is getting dark out earlier I try to take a few detours on the way home and she loves to look at the lights!

LPA Christmas Party

2010-12-08T17:54:00.000-08:00

This weekend we had our LPA Sunflower Chapter, District 8 Christmas/Holiday party. As usual we have a mixed turnout, but we always have fun! This year was more important than any before because we also discussed events for our LPA regional meeting to be held here, in Wichita, KS April 8th-9th. We are so EXCITED about this because there has not been a regional conference here in almost 7 years!

We have a lot of exciting things planned for this regional meet. I have been given the task to help coordinate the teen and parent groups that will be held. Something I am nervous about, but also excited! I am being helped by another brave mom for this task! (Thanks Petey!!!)

Also, I took on the task of being the online coordinator for the Sunflower Chapter! There will be an official website up and running next year, hopefully by the end of January-but that will be spearheaded by a parent-company who so graciously volunteered their time and talents to get this started and running for our chapter. My main focus will be on Facebook and the social networking of the group for now. Look for that page to be up and running by the end of the year!

We always love getting together with our LP friends and are so thankful to have so many local families here for guidance and support with and for Lilah. There is a lot we would not be able to do if it weren't for the support of families!

Looking forward to updating you all on our Chapter regional and the outcome!!!

Thanksgiving...and giving, and giving!

2010-12-08T17:44:00.000-08:00

This year we had the chance to hang out for a total of 3 Thanksgiving! 2 festivities were held on Thursday, and one on Saturday. Boy did we eat a lot of food and have a lot of fun! We LOVE being around family so much!

Three generations! My mommy, Lilah, and myself!

Mommy and daughter!

Cousin love!!!

More LOVE!!!

And this is what 2 days of food, family, and fun do to you!!!

Can't wait for next years festivities!!!!

Birthday Parties!!!

2010-12-08T17:18:00.000-08:00

'Tis the season for more birthday parties! We celebrated my nieces 7th birthday a few weekends back. We had a pizza party, then headed to All-Star Sports, a family entertainment spot. They have arcade games, go-karts, mini-gulf, and PRIZES!!! All the kids had so much fun!

All the gang!

Frustrating, but she still got it in there!

This is how she plays!!! hahaha

Oh how I love you sister!!!!!

We had so much fun! We have so many birthdays coming up this month and next month! Can't wait to have more fun!!!

Trick or Treating!

2010-11-30T21:47:00.000-08:00

This is in addition to the halloween post... we got together at my dad's house for some trick-or-treating fun! It was a little cold this year, but more manageable than years before! We made it around a few blocks before Lilah's legs started to hurt...but she made out with a lot of candy!

Halloween 2010

2010-11-21T20:55:00.000-08:00

Another family get together! Which I can NEVER get enough of! My brother and his wife invited us all over to do some pumpkin carving for the kids. We ate dinner, then started in the pumpkin carving. We all had a blast, although some of the pumpkins were harder to carve than others, my eldest brother helped with that! Oh, and NO, I did NOT touch the insides of the pumpkin, I stuck with my camera!!! The smell just gets to me every time!!!!

Just finished eating and waiting to CARVE!!!

Pumpkin guts...ewww!!!

My older brother and nephew

My Sis-in-law....she decided to make Kai-Lan for my niece, BRAVE women, but the finished project turned out really cute!

Had to get a picture before their hands got to icky!!

These are their SCARY faces!!!

And Lilah's scary face next to her pumpkin!

My nieces scary face!

My sis and her family!

My eldest brother and his family

My brother acting goofy with his family

Oh, see what I have to deal with!! *In the back!!*

Showing us their Cap'tn Morgan poses!

All the kids and their pumpkins!

See, it turned out really well!!!

We all had a blast and can't wait to do it again next year!!!

Friends in MO places!

2010-11-03T22:47:00.000-07:00

In early October, Lilah had another appointment at CMH in Missouri. This appointment was a follow-up neurosurgery appointment from the seizure she had in September. The appointment was a success and failure all in one.

First, we were assigned a new doctor (a good one though!), so she was unfamiliar with him and was not very talkative. Once we were in the appointment, he tells me has has looked at her CTScan from the day of the seizure and cannot notice or see anything that would cause her seizure.

I was concerned that her foremen magnum had started to close again, but he assured me that it was doing just fine and the surgery she had almost 2 years ago was doing its job. What a relief! The not so good news was that even though he did not see anything, did not mean that nothing was there.

So we were referred to another doctor, a neurologist. So, we are scheduled at the end of this month to see a neurologist and get her first EEG done. I am concerned, but looking forward to getting some answers and see what her EEG reads.

After our appointment we headed to further to Missouri to visit our friends from Texas who had recently moved. I must admit there is another benefit to living in Kansas- we are smack dab in the middle of the country! Being here means we are not to far from the many friends that we have made along the years.

Playing as if they have never spent a day apart!

Lilah loved this red scooter!

Little miss Diva at the Big Annual Knobnoster Fall Parade!

Our friends Bryson and Tatum showing school spirit in orange for the Knobnoster football team!

Loud fire truck!

The Air force came out in support of Knobnoster!

Lilah and I had so much fun while in the good ol' Knob! I was not able to catch pictures of baby Micah, such a cute and happy boy! He kept me entertained with all his smiles, giggles, and bouncing around! We hope to catch up with you guys again soon and thank you for welcoming us into your home!!!

Photo Shoot Attempt

2010-11-03T00:15:00.000-07:00

It seems to be harder and harder to try and get Lilah to sit and take pictures for me-thus why I no longer take the time to get her in an actual studio! I try my best to get her to participate and smile for me, but things don't always go my way! Go figure!

At the end I was able to get a few smiles in, thanks to a puppy who did an amazing trick she couldn't keep her eyes off of! Maybe the next photo shoot will turn out better than the start of this one!!!

Each time I look at her I see more and more of myself in her eyes. In a few short months I will have a 4-year-old little girl! No longer my baby with little girls, but my big girl with golden locks!

Trip to Oklahoma

2010-10-26T20:36:00.000-07:00

In September my cousin got MARRIED! Congrats to you cousin! We loaded up the cars and drove to Oklahoma about 3 cars deep! The trip down was not very long and the two little ones traveling in my car did fantastic!

Once we got to our destination, it was off to the wedding! Unfortunately I did not bring my SD card with me and had to buy one on the way to the reception, so I was unable to get any ceremony photos, but I did capture the fun reception! It was held at a bed and breakfast, which was like a mini mansion! It had a game room, huge media room, lovely dinning room, kitchen and the mater suite had two of everything!

Singing and dancing to Michael Jackson

The newly wed couple getting their dance on!

A whole lot of familiar affair!!!

My cousin and I- Love you cousin and may your marriage be blessed with many more happy years!

Lagging but thankful

2010-10-26T20:10:00.000-07:00

So it's come to my attention after reading many blogs that I have been lagging in my blog postings! Also, checking the side post on how many I have done in the past year with the previous year has also gone down dramatically! I've been so busy with taking care of us that this blog has felt lonely and looks that way!

Suffice to say, this past year has been one of ups and downs for Lilah and myself. Considering this is a blog revolved around Lilah and her journey through life, I will make things short and simple! Lilah and I have had to adjust to things being just her and I majority of the time. This is something that has taken some time and is still taking time to get used to. Lilah has been doing well with the adjustments that have been made. Fortunately for the both of us, we have the unconditional support of family and friends!

I know there will be many more changes and adjustments to make in the years ahead, but like everything else, we face them head on. I can say that I am so glad that we have the network of friends who have showed support even when all the facts are not given! I just want to say THANK YOU to every one and anyone who has prayed, laughed, cried, supported, hugged, or listened through this past year. The support means so much to the both of us!!!

With ALL our love,
Sheri and Lilah

Birthday Parties!!!

2010-10-26T19:51:00.000-07:00

*PICTURE OVERLOAD!*
A few days after school started, we celebrated my nieces 3rd birthday at a local park. A lot of the parks here now offer little water play areas for the kids, which is great because they don't get all hot and bothered playing on swings and slides all day!
The water keeps them entertained for hours, especially in Lilah's case! It also saves the parents from dealing with kids wanting to just sit around!!! I'm glad we were able to celebrate Sydney's birthday this year!

Oh and check out the awesome cupcakes my mom and I spent making! They turned out soooo yummy and sorta cute!

The next party on the list was for my besties nephew Davion. He also had a water party with a kiddie pool, jumbo blow up play area, and crazy sprinkler! All the kids had so much fun! *Side note, the water idea was last minute because it was a nice day out, thus we didn't have swimsuits!* But that didn't stop the fun!

She splashed not realizing they would immediately splash back three times as much!

Love this picture! He's such a happy boy!

And the next party we were able to attend was my cousins baby boys first birthday! Late afternoons don't always seem to be the best times for parties because he was sooo tired and wanted nothing to do cake, ice cream, or singing!

Even though he wasn't to pleased with the events around him, everyone was happy to be together!

First Day of School!!!

2010-08-26T07:56:00.000-07:00

I have been planning for Lilah to go to school this year since May. We started the process for possible therapy at school in May with the Count Your Kid In Program for the school district she would be in. We had appointments set and everything was in the works. I go to enroll her for school on a Tuesday, pay my fees and off I go. School supplies bought (out of excitement) the next day, and low and behold, I get a call on Thursday. It's the school district calling to say that Lilah will not be old enough for PreK that year for the public school district, but they would love to have her next year. Very frustrated, and with the school year starting in less than a week, I start to look for other schools. The one she was going to attend was only half day, but that was the most other schools were offering.
I decided that she would go to school with her cousins this year. It is an all day Pre-Kinder program and also offers a Catholic curriculum. So far, she has not been wanting to go, but does very well when she gets there. We're working on the drop-off process and have enlisted a few troops- her Uncle Jerry (my sisters husband) and my mom! Let's hope for a smoother transition within the next few weeks!

We were running late the first day because I wanted to get a few pictures before school started!

All smiles in the morning with Papa Gary and Grandma Barbara

(my dad and step mom)

Even more big smiles on the first day!!!

(Since the smallest size they had for her uniform was a 2-T, I altered her uniform, almost 2 inches up on the bottom and an inch up above the waist)

With mommy...please excuse the workout outfit!!!

And this is 'the face' I get as I tried to walk out the door. The face has yet to get better!

This is Uncle Jerry- I couldn't thank him enough for all the help he has been with getting Lilah set and ready for school in the mornings. Plus helping me deal with the crying! WE LOVE YOU UNLCE JERRY!!!

With Grandma Salita after school. This is Jerry's mom and she lives directly across the street from the school. Which means, after school SNACKS!!! Everyday after school I'm asked if we're going to see Grandma! I watch my nephew's and niece after school for a few hours and our first stop is grandma's!

Eli, Lilah, Syd, and Grandma Love.

Sydney and Lilah. I don't know if any of you can tell, but Lilah's uniform does NOT match Syd's. In my excitement to get her ready for school, I did not realize that the store ordered and mailed the wrong uniform plaid to us. So her first day was in the wrong uniform. Fortunately, the school did not notice and she went all day like this. The next day I went back to the store and had the correct order placed! Off to alter another uniform for next week!

We also had to stop by Grandma's (My mom) house after we left Grandma Love's. Oh how these kids love all their grandparents! First day of school was a success!!! Only 10 more months to go!

Wait, only about 13 more years of first school days to go! :o) She doesn't know that yet! Hope everyone is having a great school year start!!!

Day's with dad

2010-08-26T07:23:00.000-07:00

Lilah has been able to spend a few fun weekends with Trent before she started school. Since he lives in Colorado now, they spend the day together. About a month ago he took her to a place called Tanganyka Wildlife Park, that day they were suppose to have Dora and Sponge Bob Square Pants out, but since it was about 90 plus degrees out, she only caught a glimpse of them!

She got to ride the horsie on her own, she kept telling me how fun it was!

And she was able to pet the goats!

Before school started, Lilah was able to get a weekend in with her dad in Colorado. He's been wanting to take her to see the mountains, and a few weeks ago they drove to Pike's Peak! Lilah had a blast and couldn't stop talking about the mountains....she still does!

We hope you all were able to enjoy your weekends before school started!!!

Summer water fights!

2010-08-15T19:23:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago we celebrated my grandma's birthday. Considering the heat and all the children we had at her cozy house, my mother brought water balloons and water guns! The kids had a blast, even though it was hot outside and the adults, well they enjoyed the inside AC!!!

Here are a few sneak peak photos, but more are attached in the slide show below!

We filled over 100 balloons!

Holding her little balloon

They are all ready to go!

Throwing the balloon and giving it her all!!!

Hope you guys enjoy the slideshow and the end of summer!

Customize your own free slideshow

Mother's Day

2010-07-28T22:56:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day this past year was all to bitter-sweet for me, thus this post shall be short and to the point! We celebrated this year at the park with family, friends, and food!!!

My earth girl running (from the camera) to play

My older sister and her daughter having a moment!

My sis and her 3 beautiful children! Happy Mother's Day sister! We love you!

Lilah and her cousin trying to play and pretend that they are not in desperate need of a nap!

"Mama watch me! Mama watch me!"

I want to make a side note that I did take pictures of my mother and my grandmother while we were there, but I know if I post them, my mother would find a way to delete them!!! Thus, I leave with saying I love you mommy and thank you for teaching me the values of family, faith, and love. You have given me something which no one else can, the heart of a mother!

Hutchinson Salt Mine and Underground Vault

2010-07-28T22:41:00.000-07:00

Wow, I so much dislike when I get on a roll with posting blogs and then they fall to the wayside do to life expectancies! Instead of boring you with details of the past few months, I shall overload you all with photos! Besides, who really takes the time to read what I have to say, most want to look at Lilah anyways!

In early May, we met up with the Sunflower Chapter of LPA for some food and fun! We met up at a local restaurant (the name escapes me because it has been so long!) for some great home cooking and conversation before heading to the Salt Mines.

Lilah and her friend Katie Scheer. Fortunately for us, the Scheers live close, and the girls are only 2 years difference in age, Lilah is 3 and Katie is 5.

We visited the Kansas Underground Salt Museum in Hutchinson, KS. Although I live less than 45 minutes from this place, this was the first time I had ever been here, and I was VERY happy that we made the trip to see this place! It was a great place to learn and explore. The girls had so much fun and looked so cute in their hard hats!

Look at that cute miner! ;)

This was one lesson in history. If you look closely to the left of the photograph you can see where it says "Our loss, Great National Tragedy, Death of the President" The price of this paper was 20 cents!!!

I thought this was pretty funny, having a Miss Salt Queen Pageant. How would you liked to be crowned the Queen of Salt, almost has the same ring to it as The Queen of Corn as held by Birdee Pruitt!

Taking a nice tour through the Salt Mines. We were lucky enough to stop and pick up some large salt rocks of our own to take home. This was the part I think Lilah enjoyed the most!

I don't think anyone wanted to be photographed wearing their hard hats! *Thus why I stayed BEHIND my own camera!!! Clever!*

Lilah looking for the rocks she wanted to take home with her. Side note: As an embarrassing reflection of my childhood, I used to collect rocks. It did not matter how plain they were or if they were cement, I would come home with my pockets full of rockets, which would then be placed in my junk drawer or if I really liked them, on my book case. I have since passed such collecting on to my child!

We had a blast hanging out with our LP Chapter and can't wait to get together again before the school year starts!

Drive-In Time!

2010-05-18T12:54:00.000-07:00

It seems that I am completely OVER due on posting these photos or this post, no thanks to the daily reminders on my Facebook account from my sister! Without further ado, here are some sneak peak photos of our infamous annual Drive-In movie night with all the kiddos!

Please don't mind the dirty car! I wanted to get a photo of the LARGE movie

screen and the kiddos playing.

Oh, look at all those TREATS! To make your own: Gather 4 car loads of children, approximate ages 1 year to adult, go to your local food store, do a grab and go down the snack aisle, load all the snacks into the car along with said children. Drive to your local drive-in theatre, throw a large blanket on the floor, empty food store products on the blanket: ENJOY!

Yep, of course the kids had to gather around the snack blanket! We had hotdogs, popcorn, candy, fruit, cookies, chips, juice boxes, and so much more there!

We're lucky enough in Wichita to still have a drive-in theatre. It has been closed on and off over the years, but we always continue to go each summer! We used to go as kids and I still remember having so much fun! The kids always enjoying going, even if we only stay for 1 movie! (They usually do a 3 movie showing!)

There are a lot more photos on the slideshow, so enjoy!

A free slideshow design by Smilebox

Sunday Easter

2010-05-18T12:05:00.000-07:00

To continue from the previous post, we spent Easter Sunday at my mommies house! Let the pictures roll!

My mommy made chocolate dipped strawberries, they

were sooo yummy!!!

The girls on Easter! They look so pretty

in their Easter dresses!!!

A little bit better pose, it's VERY difficult to get

2 and 3 year olds to sit still for what seems

to them a 'long' period of time!

Also, for Easter, my nephew's got to read an Easter scripture

passage before we ate. Elijah did very well!

I was able to get lots of gorgeous pictures of the girls outside...no captions needed!

I do realize that I am waaaay overdue on posting things on time, but we've been uber busy with life! As we all know things just get ahead of us! Yes, yes, I am trying to play catch up at this point, so the following post will be filled more with pictures than words!!!

Saturday Easter

2010-04-19T20:44:00.000-07:00

We usually have two Easter Celebrations in my family-one at my Dad's house and another with my Mom's side of the family. The weather was starting to get a bit chilly and windy outside before we hid the Easter Eggs', so inside we went for the Easter Egg hunt this year.

Here come Syndey and Lilah all ready for the hunt!

*side not, these are the outfits the girls got for Easter, thus the mismatching on their parts! hehe They loved the dresses so much they did not want to put their other clothes back on!*

And along comes Micah!

Sydney, I found one Auntie!

Lilah had a secret advantage this year-majority of the eggs were at her level! Yep, there is a benefit to being a Little Person besides being so darn cute!

Mom, look at all this candy inside the eggs!!!

Mmmhmmm, gonna have to figure out a way to eat this while Moms not looking!

Look what I found inside my egg Auntie!

Sydney asking if she can eat her candy!

Jayce is counting his eggs and comparing the number with his brother...

sibling rivalry, even over the number of Easter Eggs!

This is my brother-in-law Jerry catching Esater candy in his mouth! 3 out of 3!

Such a cutie here! Micah posing for the camera!

I know it's waaaay late, but hope everyone had a very happy and fun Easter!

Spring Weather Play

2010-04-18T20:54:00.000-07:00

Since the weather has started to warm up this past month, we've taken advantage of Papa's deck and the interesting finds in his back yard! Lilah found this pink and purple car in papa's back yard, sitting all by its lonesome! Mommy had to take some water and a scrub brush to it, but it's practically brand new!

Ok mom, the sun in directly in my eyes! Hurry up and take the photo so I can drive outta here!

On this day, we stopped by the park for some play time.

My cool girl in her new Hello Kitty Shades from God-Mother Teresa!

She wasn't to sure about what this was or if she even wanted to ride this bull-dozer. She would walk back and forth about 5 or 6 times, look at, touch it then walk away. I finally convinced her to get on and she loved it!

I was so excited because she was going to go down the slide and was hoping for a great picture. Instead the slide faces directly to the West and the sun had been hitting the slide for the past 4 hours or so- no condition for sliding! She's pointing to the slide and saying "Mama it's hot!" You can see the "hot" face!

I love spring weather, all the pretty flowers and photo opportunities! I need to get some cute spring photos before the rain washes all the pretty colors away!

Straight Hair

2010-04-10T10:56:00.000-07:00

I am sure most of you have already seen these photos, but I thought I would do a mini blog about them. It has been almost 2 years since I had attempted to straighten Lilah's hair.
The first time I was so scared to straighten her hair because I thought it would not go back curly after I did-boy was I wrong! As soon as she started to sweat, as with most achon's, it curled right back up! That straight hair episode only lasted about 30 minutes or so!

This time I wanted to straighten her hair to see how long it really is. When she was taking a bath, her hair was floating in the water! And the water only sat right to her belly button when seated-so you can imagine how long it really was!

She was great while I straightened it-sat and played in my jewelry box the entire time, and I think it took almost as long to straighten her hair as it does to straighten mine! A whole 20 minutes or so! Glad all those who saw the photos before liked them-and I hope you all enjoy them here as well!

She was so ready NOT to take any photos!

I asked her to turn around so I could take a photo of the back of her hair, this is the pose I got instead!

Heartbreaker??!

And this is her hair from the back! Look how long it is!

She looks so much older in these photos-I'm so happy she still has all her curls!

Chuck E' Cheeses!!!

2010-03-30T20:50:00.000-07:00

The place where Lilah goes to OT I think is STRATEGICALLY placed right down the street from Chuck E' Cheese! Every week we drive to OT and Lilah ask if we are going there! Not today, no baby, not today- so this past week I caved!

Previously in the week we were able to play outside and this day was wet and icky, so we headed into Chuck E' Cheese for some fun, photos, and PIZZA!!!

Oh, and because I was running late, as usual, I forgot to grab my good camera and had to settle for my camera phone! Oh well, she's still so cute!

She got to take a picture with Chuck E'Cheese himself!

And she also got to talk to the big cheese himself also!

Is it really him mom? Barney?!!!

I think she was looking at some of the boys playing!

After about 10 seconds of driving Mario Cart she was done, but mom had to get our tokens worth!

So she sat and sat as mom poorly drove 3 more laps, but hey, we won!!!

Pizza break! As much as she loved pizza, she wanted to play the games more!

Future Equestrian? She rode this pony about 4 times!

Still needs A LOT of practice though!

We had such a great time at Chuck E'Cheese that day! Wore ourselves out climbing, playing, and spending tokens! Now I need to find an alternate route to her OT!!!

Surprise for Lilah's Great Grandparent's!!!

2010-03-20T11:07:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Lilah and I traveled North to visit Trent's side of the family in Illinois. We surprised what would be Lilah's Great Grandparent's for their 50th Anniversary party. Grandma and Grandpa Ward were really surprised when we both came walking in the door! I was able to capture some great moments with everyone:

Lilah with Grandpa Danny

Uncle "Ry-Ry" and Tiffany

Grandma Judy and Grandpa David,

50 years and still going!!!

Grandpa Danny and his Princess

Lilah with Uncle Shane

Looks like Shane is getting a talking to by

Grandma Judy!

Uncle Ry-Ry didn't know what he was getting himself into

letting her 'see' his phone...

This was about 10 minutes later...

And about another 20 minutes later-see how Uncle Ry-Ry is now holding

her phone? Not as cool because it doesn't work!

Ballon time!

Grandpa Danny got a perfect shot in with the ballon!

We had so much fun this past weekend being around friends and family-everyone loved seeing Lilah, all eyes were on her. It was nice to get a little extra sleep while I was there also! Thank you everyone who welcomed us while we were there.

Happy 50th Anniversary Grandma and Grandpa Ward

We love you!!!

Sesame Street Live

2010-03-20T10:22:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago Sesame Street Live came to Wichita and this was a new experience for Lilah! As soon as I heard they were coming we got tickets! I didn't get as many photos as I would have liked to but the show was awesome and Lilah loved it!

This was the beginning of the show

*She didn't get a nap in before the show, thus the VERY tired look!*

This was the next morning, she grabs my camera and says,

"Mama, take a picture of me!!!"

"Ok, wait, lemme get Elmo!"

We had so much fun at the show! The Elmo 'thing' spins and lights up-I'm so glad I waited until the end of the show to buy this things! I would have been getting hit in the eye during the whole show if I would've bought it early!

Sometimes I cry

2010-02-24T00:10:00.000-08:00

in awe with Lilah's achievements. Some parents rejoice when their child learns to roll over, crawl, walk and sit up on their own- I know I did, with the exception of crawling. But I find myself rejoicing over other achievements.

We took pictures of the first time she held her own head up for more than 3 seconds. On our trip in 2008 to visit friends in Germany, she sat up on her own for almost the entire flight! (A 13 hour flight!) The countless days and nights spent laying on the floor, couch, mommy or daddies laps were finally over! She could see the world from a whole new view and enjoy the comforts of self support!

More recently she was able to open a door on her own! My mother has a screen door with a lower handle. I let Lilah walk to the door and when I look up, there she is, standing with the door opened behind her. I asked her, with a sort of shock, "Did you open the door baby girl?" "Mama I did it!" was her reply. All I could think to say was "Good job Lilah!" cause I have been waiting for this day to come. Her response to me was that of pure delight as well, "Yay me! Yay Lilah!" She clapped and had the largest smile on her face! My heart just melted! Her cousins, who are almost 9 months younger than her, have been able to reach doors since the age of 2, and here, Lilah was at 3 years old, able to open her first door!

It is tough at times to see children younger than her hit milestones before her, but I have to remember what many parents told me in the beginning- She will do things in her own time, at her own pace. At the time I did not think to much of it, but now it is a constant phrase etched into my mind, a sense of peace for me.

Another example is, she figured out how to turn on the light switch without the use of adding anything to the switch itself. How you may ask-for her birthday she received a star princess wand, where the star is outlined in plastic, so it forms a hole. She holds the very end of the wand and either places the hole around the switch or uses the "v" shape of the star to push the lever up! Creative indeed!

She truly amazes me at times when I least expect! I have learned so much from her in all 3 years of her life than I could ever imagine! She teaches me new ways to do things, although at times it frightens me, but I know she has to try it on her own.

Just the other day at OT, while explaining various things Lilah can do to the OT- I said to her, "I let her try things her own way, then learn from her. I assist with what she is trying to do, not try to fix her to do things the way I do them."

I know there will come a time when I am unable to help her in certain areas, or she may want to quit or not try at all- but when that time comes, we will get through it together. I'll have to remind her of how much of an influence she has been on me, instead of how much I have influenced her!

We love you baby girl!

Suppose to be in her own bed, but decided mommies was better!

Lilah's Photography

2010-01-25T23:32:00.000-08:00

Looks like I have a mini-me in the works! As an early Christmas gift, Trent brought home a Fisher-Price Kid Tough Digital Camera and she LOVES this thing!!! This is one tough camera and so easy for her to use! Here is some of her work, for the eyes of Lilah:

'Pawpaw in his chair'

'daddy and mommy'

'am I bothering you?!'

'holiday shoppers'

'backseat driver'

'pedal to the seat'

'MICAH RUTH!!!'

"SISSY!!!"

'happy Godmommy'

I am sure she will have many more photos to share real soon! It all depends on how fast mommy is to upload the photos before Lilah deletes them off the camera!

LPA Christmas Party

2010-01-25T00:48:00.000-08:00

Yes, I am WAAAY late on my postings, but the end of this year has been a very busy one! Over the holidays I was working, going to class and trying to deal with all the stresses that is NOT suppose to come with Holiday Spirit and Joy!

In the meantime, our family blog was left to sit and collect 'dust' to say the least! Let me catch you up, blog by new blog, massive amounts of photos and as few words as possible! :o)

To start off with, since we moved back to Kansas, we have been enjoying everything that our local LPA chapter has to offer! In San Antonio, there was a surrounding chapter, but not as close to home as we have here. In early December, we went to the Scheer's house for our annual Sunflower Chapter LPA Christmas party, where Lilah had a blast! *As did all of us!!!* We were able to catch up with families that we missed over our nine month stay in San Antonio!

Here is my observer, Lilah, watching Katie and Blake take hits at the stacking cups.

There goes Katie, speeding up the stairs another time!

... and Lilah trying her hardest to keep up with Katie. The whole time going up she was saying, "Katie, wait! Katie, hold on! Katie!" It was so cute, and you can see Katie waiting for her!

Blake, showing me how much time I have left to take his photo!

Lilah found this cute shopping cart full of hand puppets and stuffed animals....

and this is what she picked out! No smile because it was getting late, over an hour past bedtime!

Duane and Misty (Blake's mommy) watching the kiddo's play with a toy garage set. They were so nice and knowledgeable! I felt like I was playing 20 questions with them, asking if I should do this with Lilah, not do that, what works, what doesn't work and all almost anything else you can imagine! They gave me great advice for her, for now and later in life-so sweet and understanding!

Maddie, Katie's sister, and Ashley-they tried to sneak out of having their picture taken! HA, gotcha girls!

Oh, did I mention there was a game on that night?! So where was my daddy and Dan Scheer (Katie's dad)? Yep, lounging watching the game!

And another picture of my Daddy, with Carson in the back-I think he was trying to get out of a picture as well!!!

This was one of the better pictures we were able to capture at the end of the night!

Denise Hayes, Misti Morley, Duane Jewett, Carson Hayes, Blake Morley, Gary Boykins, Myself *bleh!*, Lilah, Dan Scheer, Maddie Scheer, Ashley Sayer, Katie Scheer and Kate Scheer

We were so happy to be able to celebrate the holidays with our extended family!!!

Holiday Crafts

2009-12-14T00:08:00.000-08:00

Since Trent is away for part of the Christmas season, I thought it would be fun to make some crafts for him to have while he is away. Lilah LOVES to do crafts at home, especially anything with stickers! This craft project was so much fun to do with her and you can find these little foam things at any craft store!

I like how the reindeers noses are REALLY sparkly red! Don't mind the drunken eye look, that is where Lilah wanted to put the stickers! My little crafter!

If you can't tell, I had to think of something to stick the reindeer too and it also had to be able to hang. What better to do than recycle?! I found an old gift bag and just cut the sides and bottom off, then attached the reindeer to the outside of the bag! It is perfect for hanging on the wall or even on a tree!

This tree took a bit more work than I thought! Because the tree has sparkles on it, the surface is not as smooth as is needed to stick all the way on! I also had to get used to the idea that the tree will NOT look like that in the picture if a 2 year old is crafting it. Who knew that snow could stick vertically?!

The star is also stuck down with double stick tape!!!

The imbalance of everything makes it that much more adorable!

Happy holidays to everyone!!!

Giving Thanks!

2009-11-30T00:02:00.000-08:00

To start this blog off right, if some of you have not heard already- Lilah's doctor told us that her results from the MRI all looked good-but she will still need to be followed up in about 3-6 months. We usually go around the 5th month mark-just in time for a new doctor in Colorado! Ha! But, since our doctor is so great in TX, she has given us high recommendations for a doctor in Kansas and another doctor in Colorado- now just to inform insurance that these are the individuals that we will NEED to see-another mission!

On other news, we weren't able to celebrate Thanksgiving with Trent this year, but we did spend the time with most of my family. I only have some pictures below, I guess my Nikon's flash is a bit much for some of my family to handle! hehe- and trying to get a great shot without Lilah pulling on my leg is a bit difficult to deal with as well! I hope you all enjoy the photos!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Like I mentioned before, we weren't able to spend Thanksgiving with Trent because he is now in Florida. But, he will be with us for Christmas this year, which I am excited for! Until then, we will be praying that he makes it through TACP tech school, Go baby Go!!! We love you!

MRI-AGAIN!!!

2009-11-18T20:12:00.000-08:00

Yep, that is coming as no surprise for me. Lilah had an appointment with her Nuerosurgeon, Dr. Aronin today. For some reason, in the back of my mind, I had this feeling that she would have to get another set of MRI's done- not for the fact that we could ever go one whole year without having any type of medical something done - but I have been noticing she is snoring more often, louder than usual, and her shirts are even more difficult to get over her head than they usually are.

Well, I tried to attach a chart to here, but couldn't get the points plotted like I wanted to, so here are some stats on her head circumference:

5 March 2008: 51 cm 50%tile

24 September 2008 : 54 cm 98%tile 75%tile *this was also one day pre-op*

7 Oct 2008: 53.6 cm 98%tile

18 November 2008: 54 cm 98%tile 75%tile

18 November 2009: 56 cm

As you can tell, I do not know what percentile some of her numbers are, but going by what the other numbers are, they are higher than what they should be. If you were to see her numbers plotted on a chart, they would continue to peak and not curve smoothly like they should along the average curve (it does not matter if they are plotted on an average head chart or achon chart) the numbers just are curving right.

I am not sure what the next step is beyond her MRI's. Dr.Aronin wants to be sure that her brain is doing well, especially involving fluids on or around her skull and brain, and make sure things are developing the way they should be.

We picked a perfect time to move back home again! NOT! Although I do LOVE my family to pieces, and hate it when Trent has to leave- but her doctor is such a WONDERFUL doctor to have, and she knows what is going on involving her. Having to change doctors for only 6 months is very frustrating, especially considering what is going on right now- which no one knows! *BREATHE* that is what I have to keep telling myself! One thing at a time, one day at a time!

I will be sure to keep everyone posted as to what is going on, and how well she is doing. She is a trooper when it comes to getting MRI's done- I can't wait till she is at the age where she does not need them often and/or she does not have to be sedated for them! Grr, this tugs at my heart for her!

Please continue to keep her in your thoughts and prayers! Thank you for the support, hugs and love to you all!

Beautiful Colors...

2009-11-04T19:13:00.000-08:00

Oh, the beautiful colors of fall! I have been wanting to take photos of Lilah and all the colors that have been outside, and the other day, the weather was to nice not to!

I wish the tree was smaller, this way she could have gotten closer to it, but all the smaller trees had no more leaves on them :o( so we had to make due!

I had to bribe her with candy to get her to stand on this rock. I'm also glad for good neighbors not running outside and yelling at me for being in their yards!

Look how big this tree is! It's hard to capture all of it and her in the same shot!

If the weather holds up, we'll be heading to the zoo soon enough! She loves being outside, and soon enough it'll be to cold to go outside! Oh, and mommy does not do snow! :oP

NATIONAL DWARFISM AWARENESS MONTH

2009-10-04T21:19:00.000-07:00

I am 'stealing' this from another LP blogger friend, Tonya Sweat. You can find her blog at: http://knoahsarc.org/

She has a TON of useful and helpful information regarding LP and various links for support groups and programs offered.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:
October 1, 2009 Gary Arnold
Little People of America
1-714-368-3689
GArnold@accessliving.org

LITTLE PEOPLE OF AMERICA RECOGNIZES OCTOBER AS
NATIONAL DWARFISM AWARENESS MONTH

October has been declared National Dwarfism Awareness Month by Little People of America. Little People of America (LPA) is a national support organization for people with dwarfism and their families. LPA provides peer, parent and medical support for the dwarfism community.

LPA began in 1957 with actor Billy Barty and 20 short-statured friends. The first LPA meeting was monumental for a group of people who were severely mislabeled and misunderstood by society. Today, Little People of America is a thriving international organization providing much needed support, education, educational scholarships, and community outreach.
In declaring Dwarfism Awareness Month, LPA hopes to raise positive awareness around dwarfism, address common misconceptions, and increase opportunities for people with dwarfism around the country.

“People with dwarfism are no different than any other person. We may just need a well-placed stool. Our members are children, college students, business professionals, doctors, engineers, mechanics, artists and teachers. We can do anything an average-height person can do,” says Lois Lamb, LPA President and a person with dwarfism.

“Raising a child with dwarfism is new for most parents. Being part of LPA has made a tremendous difference. My daughter and I both have great friends and role models. High school is not an easy time for most teens, but neither of us feels alone in dealing with any extra challenges,” says Joanna Campbell, average-height mother of a teen with dwarfism.

More about LPA and dwarfism:
* There are over 200 distinct forms of dwarfism and skeletal dysplasias.
* People with dwarfism are generally not taller than 4′ 10″ at adult height. The typical height range is 2′8″ to 4′5″.
* Eighty percent of people with dwarfism have average-height parents and siblings.
* There are an estimated 30,000 people in the United States and 651,000 internationally with a type of dwarfism.
* In July 2009 the word “midget” was declared inappropriate and offensive. Preferable terms are: having dwarfism, short stature, little person, lp, and the medical terminology use of dwarf. A person’s name is always the most preferred.
* LPA has registered a complaint with the FCC over the use of the “m” word. Our goal is to raise awareness around the offensive impact of the word in order to eliminate use of it in media, popular culture and in everyday language.
* LPA has 6500 members across the United States and includes 70 chapters active in all 50 states.
* Skeletal Dysplasias affect bone growth, but generally do not affect cognitive abilities.
* LPA hosts an annual national conference each July which draws 2500 attendees for a week of activities, including educational and medical workshops, sports, and social networking and events.

For more information about National Dwarfism Awareness Month, please visit www.lpaonline.org or call 1-888-LPA-2001. Events supporting National Dwarfism Awareness Month will be occurring throughout the United States all during the month. Contact the chapter in your area, or the Regional Coordinator for Dwarfism Awareness Month listed on the website.

The National Dwarfism Awareness Month program is dedicated to increasing public knowledge about people with dwarfism.

Mission of LPA “LPA is dedicated to improving the quality of life for people with dwarfism throughout their lives while celebrating with great pride Little People’s contribution to social diversity. LPA strives to bring solutions and global awareness to the prominent issues affecting individuals of short stature and their families.”

The LPA National Office is located in Southern California. You may also contact Joanna Campbell, Executive Director at info@lpaonline.org or (714)368-3689.

Are we there yet?!

2009-09-29T20:10:00.000-07:00

Ok, this is Lilah at the VERY beginning of our trip! See how happy she is to go see family!

Trying to keep herself occupied with colors and paper... see Zeus?!

Yep, he's still trying to find a comfortable position to lay in...

Poor guy, he's to big for the back seat of our car! Oh well, they both did great on this long trip!

And right here folks is the navigator of our expedition! I love this man so much, he only made me drive about 2 hours! Hehe Oh how I love you!!!

Thankfully that loooong drive there and back is OVER! We had a great time with family, love you guys!

At the lake in Illinois

2009-09-29T19:37:00.000-07:00

Yep, I found more photos folks! Like I said a few weeks ago, I am going to try and post more blogs, which means I have to space out the photos that I take!

Lilah and her boys at the lake: Uncle 'Ry-Ry' (Ryan), Uncle Philip, and Daddy. Oh this girl is sooo spoiled!

Yep, this is what her and daddy like to do now! He can spin her twice while she is in the air, and this is the best shot I could get of her spinning!

Lilah LOVES to do the ittsy-bitsy-spider, thus the reason why Grandma Vonda is patiently singing this song over and over and over again!

Waiting for the boat ride to begin!

Here with daddy, still waiting to see if this is the boat we are going to ride, or if we need to move on to the next!

This is the view of the lake from the balcony of a friends house. It was such a nice night out, the weather was perfect!!!

yea, I know that there are not to many pictures of me on here, but Trent actually captured a decent photo, so why not post?! I'm usually the one Behind the camera, not Infront of the camera!

I hope you have enjoyed our photos thus far! Oh and I want to send a very big

WELCOME HOME to our cousin Jeremy Ward. He just got back from his long deployment - WE LOVE YOU!!!

A Little 'Petti'

2009-09-24T13:09:00.000-07:00

Recently my mom and I have been making pettiskirts for the little girls in our family, and most of them have been worn on their first birthday. Well, this time I made one on my own! Whoot! It was a real time crunchers because I had about 2 weeks to do this, all while on vacation and working on school! You would think I would have more time considering Trent was on leave, but no sir!

Here is my most recent pettiskirt that I did for my little cousin's 1st birthday!

Her mommy got to choose the color scheme, and I think it turned out very well!

I hope to do a few more of these in the future, but for now will stick to here and there. They are very time consuming, as is any sewing project-but once you get the first few done, they get easier with time! Now if I can only finish the 2 quilts I have been working on!!!

Trip to Illinois

2009-09-19T22:03:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, we spent some time visiting with Trent's family. It was a great visit with them. Liah and I went to visit over Thanksgiving break last year while Trent was deployed, so they were waiting on Trent to get back from deployment before he would be able to see them again. The trips really aren't about us anymore, but we still enjoy our trips there! As you will see from the photos, the trip is all about LILAH!!!

I think at this point, her Papa Danny was ready to get off of the merry-go-round!

Lilah's face here was to priceless! She loved to go on the swings!

Spending more time with her Papa Danny.

Here she is with her Great Grandparents David and Judy Ward.

And even more photos with more Great Grandma's! Great Grandma Judy Ward and Great Grandma Monnabelle Beadles.

Looking so innocent on Grandma Vonda's lap!

And Grandma Vonda and Gary had to get there photo's in also! Oh goodness, she was full of photo's that day!

Thankfully the swing set and cousin Caryn were near by to help save the day from photos!

I wish I would have gotten more photos while we were there! But I was not able to, we were to busy chatting away and catching up with friends and family! I will have to 'steal' some photos from other family members in the near future and post those as well!!

New Brick!

2009-09-19T21:50:00.000-07:00

I meant to post this before we left for vacation, but got bogged down with all the packing we had to get done! Lilah decided that she did not like the color of the brick on our house, and decided to recolor it! Yes, she was determined to get as many bricks as she could reach, unfortunately, it was less than 3 feet of coloring done to the brick!

First, she had to get the window seal area, the easiest to reach!

Next she was on to the column infront of the house!

Still working on the window seal area! The most important part I assume!

We hope that you all had a great weekend... on to more post! Oh, we did get lots of rain while we were gone, so Lilah's 'paint' job did not stay for long! Thank goodness for that pink chalk! ;o)

First Day of School/MDO

2009-09-03T10:21:00.000-07:00

As promised, here are the photos of Lilah's first day at MDO! She was VERY excited to be going to school-I think more so because she finally got to carry her back-pack and her lunch bag!

Daddy not wanting to take her to school. His words were, "she can't go to school yet!"

This is a funny face, but she was trying to lift it up so I could take a picture of it, whiel she was lifting she was saying "Heavy!" Guess I packed to much for the first day!

Waiting patiently in the car to go in! Daddy is a stickler for time, so we were almost 30 minutes to early to even go in the classroom!

Yep, Daddy getting to walk her in on her first day. We're not to sure how many times he'll be there for her first day's of school, so we made sure that he was able to go to this one atleast!

Ok, here is her teacher for the classroom. She was trying to show Lilah that that was her chair, the one with the pillow on the back, but Lilah is clearly not interested! She'd rather play with the baby dolls! This is a bad shot because Trent was literally pulling me away as I tried to get some photos of her in the classroom!

All in all, the teacher said she did great the first day, no tears at all! She ate all of her lunch and her snack for the day, only one accident also! YAY! Bu the other two days, she did just fine, without any accidents either! She loves going to school now and we don't have any trouble when we drop her off.

We are in IL for the next week, so look for more post between now and then! Until next time, have a fun and safe Labor day weekend!

Strawberry Kiwi Truffle

2009-08-31T12:58:00.000-07:00

How I made this yummy dish:

Into this yummy dish!

I saw this recipe in the H-E-B Texas Life Magazine. I am all for trying new recipes and desserts, and this one has two of our favorite things in it, strawberry cake and strawberries! This is also a figure friendly version because there is NO oil in it!

ingredients:*
1 box (18 1/4 oz.) Strawberry Cake Mix
3 large eggs
1/3 cup Strawberry Jam
1 can (12 oz.) Red Soda, regular or diet
1 container (16 oz.) Frozen Whipped Topping, thawed
8 kiwi fruit, peeled and thin sliced
1 package (16 oz.) Frozen Strawberries, thawed (or you can use fresh strawberries sliced to whatever size you prefer)

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 9" x 13" baking pan with nonstick cooking spray or grease with softened margarine and dust with 2 tablespoons ﬂ our, then shake out excess.

2. Combine cake mix, eggs, jam, and soda. Mix for 2 minutes on medium speed with electric mixer. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake on center oven rack for 35 minutes or until done. Cool completely in pan on cake rack *and then cut into 1-inch cubes.* since I don't have any nice truffle dishes, I let the cake cool completely and left it in the pan.*

3. For assembly: Cover bottom of large trifle or punch bowl with half of cake pieces. Spread 1 1/2 cups whipped topping over cake pieces and sprinkle with half of kiwi slices and half of strawberries. Repeat layers and top with remaining whipped topping and fruit. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 15 minutes or more.

Alternate: Since I left this in the baking pan, I put about half the container of whipped topping on the cooled cake, then spread the kiwi and strawberries on top. I left the rest of the whipped topping for individuals to place on top of the cake if they wanted extra!

Add-ons: 1/2 cup sliced Almonds or Pecan Pieces

*I took off all the brands of the ingredients and went with more budget friendly ingredients!!!*

I hope you guys enjoy this just as much as we did!

Yoga at Enchanted Rock

2009-08-29T15:10:00.001-07:00

I have been trying to convince Trent for the longest time to take me somewhere, just the two of us, and this weekend, he decided that he wanted to go to Enchanted Rock. It is located about 20 miles outside of Fredericksburg, TX, and old German based town. We decided to take the summit trail, the shortest trail up to the top of the rock. We had a blast, and I must say the walk up and down was a lot easier than I had imagined it to be!

Trent taking the first breather of the walk, from far away this rock looked like a baseball glove.

This was about 300 feet or so from the very top of the rock. If you look far enough back, you can see how far up we are, and the beautiful rocks behind us.

We decided to walk to the other side of the top of the hill, the steeper side, where I choose to sit down, kick off my shoes and enjoy the view!

Yep, this is the part where I decided to do Yoga! It was way to hard to resist! The hike up there was so refreshing, the view was amazing, and the feeling to do some deep breathing was overwhelming!

More breathing, focused, very focused! Ahh, that felt so amazing!

This rock makes Trent look so small! This was one of the steeper rocks that we stood in front of-as you can see, it looks almost straight up and down.

Hehe, my mountain man! This photo reminds me of the new book that I am reading called "Danger Close". It is a book that Trent got a while ago, which will describes in very great detail what his new job will entail. All Trent needs in this picture is the beard and more gear around him!

I did not notice this rock until we were on our way down, but by the way I looked at it, it appears to be an angry fish! hehe! Trent attempted to climb this one, but the spaces were to close for him to get into!

I had a blast today, and I am hoping he and I can do this again. We are thinking about taking kiddo on one of these hikes and camping out there. They have quite a few trails and camping grounds that are child and pet friendly. Oh, and I want to add a BIG THANK YOU to KELLIE and her family for watching Lilah for us while we were hiking!!!

Open House!

2009-08-25T19:16:00.000-07:00

Playing in her 'new' indoor swing set

This is what she likes to do now. One day Trent put her in one of her toy bins, and since then, she likes to dump out all the toys, climb in and put the toys right back inside with her!

Yep, that is right, Lilah had her first open house today for her Mother's Day Out (MDO) program. I have decided to enroll here this year for something, I wasn't sure at first because she is only 2.5, and I did not think pre-school was the answer this year, and daycare was not really an option for us either.

The program that she is enrolled is a great one! She will be in the older 2 year-old group, those that will be turning 3 years old towards the beginning of next year. This is also a great program for us because the curriculum is Christian based (without the price tag), and she will be going 3 days a week.

This will also allow me more time to get classwork and my crafts done! By being able to work on class during the day, I can spend more time with Trent being lazy at night! And, I've been trying to work on about 2 quilting projects! I want to start another, but I don't seem to have the time right now! With this, it will free up some of my day time, in order to get things done that I WANT to get done, not that I HAVE to get done!

I wanted to attach the letter that I sent to her teacher and director, but will post the general information here. We, Trent and I, have chosen to take the "one-day-at-a-time" approach to telling others about her dwarfism. We have made a note to tell her teacher, so that we can make the appropriate simple modifications in her classroom.

Our daughter, Lilah, is attending VPBC Mother’s Day Out Program this year. She was born with a form of dwarfism known as achondroplasia. We have found that in many cases, children and adults alike who are new to Lilah’s

condition are interested in increasing their understanding of dwarfism. With this in mind, we have compiled the following information which should answer many of the most frequently asked questions that should help you and the children in your classes understand Lilah’s dwarfism.

- Lilahs’s growth disorder, achondroplasia, is the most common form of dwarfism. It is a dominant genetic bone disorder that affects the long bones of the arms and legs, the spine, and some small bones in the head. Achondroplasia affects one child in 40,000 births. Dwarfism affects all races and nationalities equally.

- 80% of children born with dwarfism are a 1st generational phenomenon, which means that neither parent is a dwarf nor is there a history of dwarfism on either side of the family. Lilah is in this category. First generation dwarfism is a spontaneous gene mutation that is presently unexplainable; no cause has yet been found.

- Lilah’s adult height will be approximately 4 feet. Her life span should be equivalent to “average-sized” people.

- Dwarfs are not mentally handicapped in any way. The median I.Q. for dwarfs is, in fact, slightly higher than the median for “average sized” people.

- The difference between a dwarf and a midget has to do with physical proportions. Midgets are perfectly proportional, short-statured individuals. Dwarfs have average sized torsos, shortened limbs and slightly larger heads. Many people with dwarfism find the word “midget” offensive. This word is no longer used to describe people with dwarfism. The term “little person” or “person with dwarfism” is perfectly acceptable. Some individuals do refer to themselves as “dwarfs” and this also acceptable and not offensive.

Please don’t think that we are asking you to treat Lilah differently than her peers, but if questions or comments arise, please don’t hesitate to talk with me or look for further information at lpaonline.org (Little People of America). In talking about Lilah, the best route to take is to be open, honest and direct. For example, if your children comment that Lilah’s head is “big”, tell him “Yes, Lilah’s head is a little bigger than most kids, isn’t it? People come in all shapes and sizes!”

If there is any special treatment that we would like for Lilah, it is that he be treated according to her age and not her height. Please let your children know that they should not attempt to pick up Lilah. We celebrate Lilah’s differences and the opportunity she provides us to teach our community about tolerance and understanding toward people who look different than they do.

Sincerely,

Trenton and Sheri Ward

(we also added our contact information at the end)

Such as putting a step stool at the bottom of her chair so her feet don't swing when she sits, and having a pillow behind her back to allow for more comfortable seating. Fortunately for us, they have a little potty there, literally! It is one of those potties that all young children should be able to use with ease; of course she will still need help to get up on the seat, but her teacher said even other children her age still need help with that adjustment, so no modifications will be needed there.

They are also going to add a few more step, step-stools around the school. They have a single step stool that is position in-front of a low height sink, but even with this already made modification, she still cannot reach the flowing water to wash her hands. Thus, they said they will either add another step-stool in the bathroom, or buy a multiple step to put in the classroom for them to fold up and leave in there.

I did not take any pictures because I didn't want to seem like the over bearing mom at Open house! But I will have pictures for her first day there! So check back for updates next week!

Most recent project

2009-07-12T22:17:00.001-07:00

Like most you today, we are a little strapped for cash and birthdays seem to come every week in the summer! So instead of running our account dry on buying gifts for all those little and big ones, I have decided to start making gifts!

This is one of the more fun parts I think, sewing on button holes! This little button hole foot makes it so easy to sew and cut a button hole!

Almost finished by this point, sewing the bottom (skirt) to the top, button down shirt part.

And the finished product! The buttons are little flowers, which I thought was a cute touch to add!

And a good thing about this pattern is I can make button down shirts for Lilah! This is a multi-use pattern, which is great because there are so many options to use! This will come in handy when I need to start to make more or alter some of her clothes!

She's growing up!!!

2009-07-06T18:09:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes...here is dear miss Lilah! She is starting to show so much personality now it is becoming scary to watch her grow! She loves to try and walk around in my shoes, heels, flats, 'clop-clops' (flip-flops)-or even daddy's shoes!

These heels are pretty easy for her to walk in since her foot fits just right on the base of the foot part of my shoe! She takes the smallest steps as she clops through the house!

Learning to balance in mommies 'pretty shoes'

Ohhh, look mommy! I have on your shoes!

This is Lilah doing her impression of the old-school Teddy Graham commercial. Do you guys remember then, with the little kid and the bear on the edge of the milk glass? Where here is Lilah and he debut commercial acting skills!!!

Oh, on another note, medically speaking. She is now 28 1/2 inches tall, head circumference of 55.5 (doc says she's doing ok) and 25 pounds! We have another appointment with the Neurosurgeon in November, and will have more measurements done. Let's hope her head does not grow in excess between then and now. She is not concerned with the growth right now, but if it continues to grow (even after having the decompression surgery) we'll have to talk about doing something again!

Summer Fun

2009-06-28T21:41:00.000-07:00

Another update on when the boys were here. Lilah loved having them here so much! She would say, "My Jayce!" "My Li!" (My Elijah). It was the cutest thing! Jayce enjoyed having her around for the first few days, then after a while I think he got tired of her! lol Which is what little boys do! They all had such a great time together, and Lilah was sad to see them go!

But I am sure that their mom and dad missed them just as much as she does now!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Poolside

2009-06-28T21:31:00.001-07:00

Theses are a few pictures of one of the many days we were able to make it to the pool. As I recall, they asked me at least twice a day, everyday if we were going to the pool! Even after a long day at the beach, Elijah still wanted to jump in the pool! They had so much fun in the water, and could've stayed there for hours!

We always went after 8 p.m., which may sound late to some, but it was the summer! On some days, it was still 98 degrees outside that late at night; and stayed that way for another hour or so after the sun went down! The water was a great temperature, and was comfortable most days. They were on vacation, why not swim for hours?!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Six Flags

2009-06-28T21:11:00.000-07:00

"More flags, more fun!"

While my nephews were here, we ventured over to Six Flags in San Antonio for a whole afternoon. My mom was in town by that time, so she and Lilah chilled at home while we spent our days in the SUN!

I was only able to capture a few photos because most of the rides we all rode together. We also rode a few water rides-much needed- and was not about to risk getting my camera wet! Enjoy the mini slide show!

*many of these photos are on facebook as well*

Make a Smilebox slideshow

"Hello...

2009-06-28T20:52:00.000-07:00

My name is Sheri and I am addicted to Facebook!"

Yes, it has been a long while since my last post, and I will start tonight with some updates on why we have been so busy!

1. I decided to take my nephews (ages 5&6) from my sister for a couple of weeks. This was to give her and her hubby a nice little break since they just got out of school. I kept them for about 2 weeks and they really loved *So I think* being her in San Antonio, TX. Everyday and night they would ask me if they could go to the pool! We went to the beach one day and my younger nephew, Elijah, asked me if we could go to the pool after we got home! Oh, how I miss them already! While they were here, we went to Six Flags, the pool, Rockport Beach, Play group, the park, made pizza, catfish, and potatoes just to name a few fun things!

2. After they left, I still had another week of class, (or was it two weeks) to finish. I attend online classes at the University of Phoenix, which can be life and time saving at times. This class on the other hand was not! I found out mid way through this class, RES/341-Research and Evaluation Studies/341, that another common name for this is known as STATISTICS! Oh such a shocker, but no so much because I did not do to hot in that class! But, I am currently working with a tutor to improve that grade and get my GPA back up! That (and all online math classes) are no JOKE!

3. Oh, let me go back about a week or so. While my nephews were in town, Trent was still working 10-12 hour shifts. not by choice mind you. He was unfortunately not able to join us for many of our outtings and was very tired during this time. He was working such long hours because the bases here (Lackland and Medina) had a base wide inspection. Like most jobs, there are people that come in and check guidelines and standards for each and every department. Mind you this is a training base and a very large one at that!

Fortunately, these hellatious hours aid off for Trent and many other Squadrons-who scored an Excellent (the highest there is to score)! Since they did so well, they were given about 10 comp days to use (at a supervisors discretion of course), but this is still a good thing! YAY 37th LRS!

4. As many of you know, I have been taking opinions on whether or not to cut my hair. Many of you voted, and if you're a FB'er like I am-you saw the pics! Oh, this was such a great decision to make! I love my new hair, I now have time to wake up and put my makeup on before I leave the house! *Which saves a lot of people from the scary side of me!* Trent even told me today that he is loving the new do!

5. And yes, we did get into a fender bender with a 16 year old girl who only had a learner's permit, driving her friends car, and not having her permit with her!!! I will post a blog on this as well as pictures to follow!

6. Yes, I also got a tattoo! My first ever! I like the tattoo, but getting it was more annoying than anything I have ever been through! It didn't hurt, but felt like cat scratch after scratch, and I wanted to smack the tattoo artist!lol He was great though, and it wasn't his fault though!

I believe this catches everyone up on what I have been up to lately! lol As for Lilah, that girl is becoming a handful! Blog to link about that also!

Puppy!

2009-06-01T19:17:00.001-07:00

Yes, we got a new puppy! This is our next new member of the family, Zeus! After some great thought, we (Trent and Lilah) decided on him. He is a boxer mix, but still cute! He grows a little on me, bit by bit and day by day!

Oh, did I mention that this adorable dog has chewed through half of our front curtain blinds, one of my new sandals, my new laptop cord, and our outside patio stand!!! Still growing on me!!!

Shelves

2009-06-01T18:45:00.000-07:00

Although we are renting, we still like to make improvements to what we consider OUR space! We don't have to much in our garage, but what we do have is on the floor and in boxes. For some reason, little clutter gets to us now! Luckily, Trent was able to get a good deal on some wood, and built some shelves in the garage.

Trent determining whether or not he is doing this right...

A good start so far!

Lilah decided that she wanted to help daddy make cutting lines...

Cut here, and here and here daddy. Ok?!

Daddy said to measure 1 foot from the end!

And this is the partial finished product!

He put a wood border around it, and then built another shelf at the bottom of this one. It is a bit shorter and he is able to put his tools on it. One thing, he wants to paint the shelves white, but I say to leave them the way they are and just put a protective coat on them. What do you all think?!

Dallas LPA Meet

2009-05-11T20:45:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, we went to Dallas this weekend for an LPA event, and to meet the Johnson Family. We all had a great time there. Unfortunately for both Katie and I, Cole and Lilah wanted nothing to do with one another! There are pictures to prove that down below!

Enjoy the slideshow! And Katie, maybe in a few years, they will like each other! lol

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Lake House

2009-05-05T06:59:00.000-07:00

This weekend, we were able to go to our first local LPA event! We were really excited to meet other LP families in our area, to have people to talk with and Lilah to have someone close to talk with. We went to a Lake house, they have meetings there most of the time, and the kids love swimming there. But, this time, we did not let Lilah swim. Mommy is not much of a water person, daddy is, but the water was really cold that day, so we decided to forgo the swimming this time. Here are some pics from the day.

Lilah loved watching the other kids swim and play in the water.
This is Emily (5 y/o) and her dad Mark, just taking a nice cruise in the water.
This is Megan Grace (9 y/o), she stood there for about 3 minutes before she decided to jump!
Lilah and the girls trying to dry off in the sun!

Emily just relaxing on land!

And here is my handsome husband Trent, I told him he looks like a SEARS catalog model right here!
We had such a great time there this weekend and can't wait until the next get together! We are going up to Dallas this weekend for another luncheon, and hopefully will be able to meet the Johnson family! More pictures to follow next week as well! Have a great week all!

Pay it Forward

2009-04-30T07:13:00.000-07:00

A few ladies have started this on their blogs, so this is my time to do the same! I do like making and doing crafts other people, so this is a great chance to do so!

Pay It Forward

1. Be one of the first THREE bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me.

2. Winners must post this challenge on their own blog, meaning that you will Pay It Forward, creating a handmade gift -anything!- for the first THREE bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!

3. The gift that you send to your 3 friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember: It’s the Spirit and the Thought That Count!

4. When you receive your gift, please feel free to blog about it, sharing appropriate linky love! If you are not one of the top three commenters on this post, you can still play along. Go ahead and start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same! SO, REMEMBER...Pay it forward!

FAMOUS!!!

2009-04-27T15:29:00.000-07:00

YEAH! Our little girl was published in our local "Our Kids" magazine. I submitted her photo a few weeks ago, and our neighbor's brought over the magazine. I was unaware that

it was published, but Lilah just loved seeing herself in the magazine!

Yep, that is the famous Lilah and puppy picture that was published! Such a cute girl!!!

Yard work...

2009-04-27T14:40:00.000-07:00

Wow what a turn around! When we first started renting this house, I initially asked our management company if I could rip out these bushes because they were such an eye sore! We recently discovered why! The people who had this place before us did not seem to have a green thumb in their body at all! So, here is the before and after wards of our work and effort!

Here is the before, notice the HUGE eye sore of weeds and over-growth!

After about 2 trash bins full of over-growth, and pulling, this is partially done! This is almost done, not mulched yet, but getting better!

Here is hubby doing his duty, mulching!

The flower's Lilah and I, or more so she watched and threw dirt, and mommy planted!
My new pride and joy of my mini garden! This is the small bush on the far left of the first picture, notice how it blends into the rest of the shrubbery and over-growth.

Now it's full of green and looking beautiful and ready to thrive!

Planting...

2009-04-27T14:15:00.000-07:00

As a belated Earth Day celebration, Lilah and I planted some flowers and mini trees today! (Last week Trent and I were given a tree growing kit from our Body Flow class that we take at the gym. ) She also let us take one for Lilah, and we decided to pot them today since it was so rainy outside today!

First, mommy has to set everything out!

Then Lilah gets to add the water...

This is what happens when water is added to condensed and dry soil!
Next we mix the water and soil together, and put the mixed soil into the little pots.

Now we have a potted plant! Just have to set it by the window and watch it grow!!!
This project was so fun and inexpensive! I believe she got them at Target for about a dollar a piece! And all it takes it some water and a little bit of time! We're definately are going to have to do this again!

Easter and News

2009-04-15T10:14:00.001-07:00

This year for Easter, we didn't do much. We went to church in the morning, and spent the day like a normal Sunday. We did give Lilah her Easter basket, but I didn't catch any pictures of it.

The reason being, is we are still in potty training mode, and have decided to let her sans the training pants while at home. Yes, we have an almost nakey girl running around the house during the day! This makes things easier on all of us. We don't have to follow her to the potty to help pull her pants and undies down, and she doesn't have to wait and struggle with pulling her pants down herself.

She is trying to learn to put them on by herself, and majority if not all the time, she can get them on and off. But have yet to fully master it all completely. With more time, she will completely figure everything out, and with some help. She's still very independent and like to do things for herself, so we let her try.

Oh, and she doesn't like to take a good smile picture for mommy! So these are the best that I was able to get!!!

Trying to walk away from mom while I snap the photos.
Doing a little twist both ways to be cute!
I am not sure what this is suppose to be!
Lilah also had a dentist appointment yesterday, and the dentist said that he teeth, so far, look good. She has another 4 teeth that need and should erupt before she is 3 years old. I do hope these cut like her other ones, in her sleep and without us noticing!!! She was a great teether, and we had no issues at all. One concern the dentist did have is because her teeth are so close now, that when her adult teeth start to come in, they will be crowded also. As I have found out with other achon children, she will have some crowding, and we will have to deal with that, when the issue comes. For now, she has a healthy and bright smile! :)

On another note, Trent officially has a class date now. He will leave again in December, this year, for about 4 months. Fortunately this year, he will be able to come home for Christmas, but that will be out of pocket for us. It is worth the money though to have him home this year! If all goes well while he is in tech school, he will graduate on our anniversary next year! So, an anniversary trip to Florida this year! YEAH ME!!!

Here for Something

Just cause...

Purple and Pink...

Shower Time!!

LPA Regional: Day 2

LPA Regional: Night 1

Sesame Street Year 2!

More Cali Photos

Kitchen Helper

A day at the Park

Cali Day 3

Cali Day 2 ***Picture Heavy***

Here we come CALI!!! Day 1

Catholic Schools Week

Snow days

Full of Family Fun

Mommy and Lilah

Playing Catch-up, Christmas 2010

Pa-pa's Birthday

First Christmas Program

Santa, lights, and Ice Skating

Holiday Family Christmas Program

LPA Christmas Party

Thanksgiving...and giving, and giving!

Birthday Parties!!!

Trick or Treating!

Halloween 2010

Friends in MO places!

Photo Shoot Attempt

Trip to Oklahoma

Lagging but thankful

Birthday Parties!!!

First Day of School!!!

Day's with dad

Summer water fights!

Mother's Day

Hutchinson Salt Mine and Underground Vault

Drive-In Time!

Sunday Easter

Saturday Easter

Spring Weather Play

Straight Hair

Chuck E' Cheeses!!!

Surprise for Lilah's Great Grandparent's!!!

Sesame Street Live

Sometimes I cry

Lilah's Photography

LPA Christmas Party

Holiday Crafts

Giving Thanks!

MRI-AGAIN!!!

Beautiful Colors...

NATIONAL DWARFISM AWARENESS MONTH

Are we there yet?!

At the lake in Illinois

A Little 'Petti'

Trip to Illinois

New Brick!

First Day of School/MDO

Strawberry Kiwi Truffle

Yoga at Enchanted Rock

Open House!

Most recent project

She's growing up!!!

Summer Fun

Poolside

Six Flags

"Hello...

Puppy!

Shelves

Dallas LPA Meet

Lake House

Pay it Forward

FAMOUS!!!

Yard work...

Planting...

Easter and News

Cali Day 2 Picture Heavy