Pretty Princess Has a Birthday

Unbelievable enough, Abrielle turned 6. That just sounds old to say. 6. How is that so much older that 5? It doesn't make mathematical sense, but it is true. There is something infinitely more mature about 6 than 5.

Traditional Birthday Breakfast Cake

Birthday Lunch at School (Homemade Mac n Cheese, Grapes, and Chocolate Milk per request)

Birthday Kindergartener

See the wall behind her? That's the birthday wall. In her class, the sign goes up on your birthday and you get to write you name on the board for the day. Every other student has just written their name. Abrielle used every color available to not only write her full name, but to decorate and illustrate it as well. That's my girl. Always a little something extra to make things pretty.

Birthday cupcakes at school. Chocolate with pink and black frosting in sparkly silver cupcake wrappers...per request.

Hmmm....Wonder what's inside.
(Background = McDonald's...per request)


Yay!! A Secret Password Journal...per request, of course.
It can be programmed with a password of your choice and will only open to your voice saying it. Here that Carsten and Alyssa? You can scream "Polly Pocket" at that book all day and it WON'T OPEN. (So please stop screaming "Polly Pocket" at that book.) Abrielle is enjoying a little private space to draw and write and loves the secret compartment inside.

I'll post her birthday pics a little later. There are a lot of them.
Until then, here is a little snippet of Abrielle...

Age: 6
Colors: Pink, Purple, Black
Toys: Polly Pocket, Barbies, Razr Scooter
Food: Mac N Cheese, Chocolate Milk
Activities: Dancing...If there is music playing, some part of her
is bopping along. She can't help it.
Cupstacking (she's on the competitive team at school)
Friends: Everybody....Really, the girls is friends with everyone. Her besties, though, are Abby, Abby, Aubrey...and, of course, Alyssa.
(Note: Who would have thought that it a Kinder class of 18 there is an Abrielle, Abby L, Abby K, Abby ?, and Aubrey. No joke...That almost 1/3 of the class.)
Traits: This kiddo just wants the world to be pretty. If she could, she'd put ribbons, lace, and bows on everything. She is super competitive and can get pretty intense. She's my super helper and the best big sister ever...She loves helping take care of Greyson and Lyssi and is really responsible. She is also really independent and opinionated...but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Overheard...

Abrielle, "Mom, you know Greyson only eats the food you make to not hurt your feelings, right?"

I'm Back....With a Little Poetry

I know I haven't blogged forever. I have excuses. We moved to a new house that was a very blank slate and has consumed much (all) of our time with renovations and decorating. Add to that childbirth (c-section -- UG!!), unexpected stays in the NICU (for Greyson) and ER for(for me), starting school, going back to work, teaching seminary, laundry, meals, etc, etc, etc.......you get the idea. Blogging took a backseat. But I vow to be back and to keep up with everything going on and, at the least, record the birth of Greyson aka Doodle. (Not a manly nickname, I know...I'll come up with something else before he gets too big.)

Until my full return, however, I leave you with a poem by Carsten. Ahem....

rn! rn! rn! goes the Alarm.
vroom! vroom! vroom! goes the Vehicles.
Boom! goes a Building.
BOOSH! goes a gun.
"Roger that" goes a spy

And that is the CIA.

The Difference Between Boys and Girls -- School Edition

Mom: "What did you do at school today?"
Son: "Stuff--I can't remember."
Mom: "Really? Can you tell me just one thing you did?"
Son: "Ummmmm Nope."
Mom: "I'd really like to hear about something you did today."
Son: "Sure...the same stuff we do everything. Think about something else I told you before."



Mom: "What did you do at school today?"
Daughter: "I hung my backpack on a hook by Morgan 'cuz she was wearing a pink shirt today, too. Then we got to play for a little, then had circle time where T.I. got to be the window looker and tell us about the weather, but I don't think he should have got picked 'cuz he wasn't nice to me last Tuesday. Then we had a story and it was about a boy that lived where there was lots of snow and he used trees to make snow shoes so he could see his animals and his Grandma so next time we see Grandma and want to cut down her trees to make shoes. Then we got to have art and painted with our fingers. I used these two fingers because Miss Michelle said to not use our thumbs or pinkies but Jackson used these two fingers then Gwen said that wasn't nice fingers to use but I don't know why. They're just fingers. Then we had number time and we counted all the way to 50 but I can go more. Then at stations I did blocks and bears and did my whole sheet all by myself 'cuz I can do it. But it was too cold and muddy outside so we played inside and learned how to golf and I told them that my daddy had been before and they said their daddy had too, but I don't think that's right. Then Miss Michelle showed me how to told my hands and I hit the ball and got it in the hole and all of us cheered. Then it was lunch and Miss Michelle sprayed the tables and we had Macaroni and Cheese and milk and no one knew what the brown stuff was but Jackson said it was poo and other people said it was poo too so we all tried it and the boys still said it was poo but I said it wasn't 'cuz it didn't cuz it didn't taste anything like poo. Then it was nap time and I didn't go to sleep because I wasn't that tired because Monday had went to sleep and then I slept good last night because I was in my warm fuzzy jammies so I didn't take a nap today. But Morgan did because I think she doesn't have warm fuzzy jammies but I do. Then when we woke up and put our napping stuff away we had another story and talked about letters and then .......

You get the picture....

Overheard...

Abrielle edition:

"Mom, why does Carsten have to taken medicine everyday?
"Because he has allergies and if he doesn't he gets a runny nose and itches all over."


Long pause.....


"Mom, I have allergies, too."
"Really? What are you allergic to?
"Roofs. But not the inside where you sit, just the outside that's black and dirty. They make me sneeze and be grumpy. I think we need to get away from them."

And then there was light........

Dr. Evil did not show. In fact, it was Dr. Mann...the younger. Full head of hair and no air quotes. Definitely not Dr. Evil. Which is good, 'cuz really I probably would have chickened out if any of Mike Myers personas would have walked into my surgical suite.

Funny, that you can go for 25 years seeing one way, then 10 minutes, 2 lasers and an obscene amount of pressure in a left eye that didn't want to numb, and voila....20/40 immediately after surgery.

Keep in mind, before surgery, I was worse than 20/400. What's that like, you lucky, perfect-eyed, non-myopic friends ask? Check out this link for a descent simulation.

http://www.syracuse.com/graphics/index.ssf/2008/03/interactive_simulation_of_gov.html

Honestly, I was a little worse than this simulation. The outlines of the people are way too defined.

By 2 days post-op, I was 20/20. 20/20!!!!

A few weeks out now, and I'm realizing that there is a good and a bad to this high-priced miracle.

First, the good.

1. When thumb-sucking toddlers who physically place all germs directly into their oral cavity for ingestion wander into my room at 2 am coughing and mucousing (Real word, in Shelly-land), I don't have to put my glasses on to determine the color of the mucous or redness of their febrile skin.

2. When I am awakened by loud, suspicious, frightening sounds at 5am on Saturday morning, the kind that result in springing from the bed in fear, I don't have to squint or flail my arms about to find the culprit (Why, oh, why are you awake?)

3. Jason can no longer amuse himself by moving my glasses 12 inches from their designated spot. Pathetic, I know, but for 13 years he has found this activity unbelievably humorous.


And the bad....

1. When I'm really tired at night, I can't buy myself another hour by taking my contacts out.

2. When I'm really tired at night, I go back and forth to the bathroom 10 + times habitually attempting to take my contacts out.

3. I live in fear that one night, then I'm really tired, I'll forget that I don't wear contacts anymore and pull my corneas from my eyes.

I am improving as I have only found myself in the bathroom, staring at the mirror, wondering why I'm here 3 times tonight, so far, and my corneas are still firmly in place.

I think I'll go to bed now, just to avoid any mishaps....

Doctor ???

I am having a little elective procedure done tomorrow and can't seem to get THIS image out of my head....

I have been assured by the consultant, assistant, and optometrist that this is NOT who I will be seeing in the morning.