Halloween 2010

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!

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

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

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

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!!!

*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!!!

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!!!