Homecoming 2012

First Day of School 2012

I can't believe we have a First Grader and Cade is 4 1/2!!! Where is the time going?   Too fast that is for sure! Meet the Teacher went really well for both Cade and Lily and they woke up really 

excited about school! 

                       Here is a picture of Lily on the first day of Kindergarten and Cade when he was 3. What a difference a year makes!

Lily and Cade woke up to a special
back to school breakfast. They loved the "special" treatment so much that they requested
it each morning the first week of school. (ha)

 

  Miss Lily...pretty girl.... with her new matching backpack, lunchbox and water bottle! Our little Fashionista!

                  A quick pic with Daddy and Cade before we head out the door! No tears today! She was holding up really well!!!

               Oh, Little Man.....my handsome boy!  Obviously into Super heros these days with his new backpack and lunchbox! It's all about Spiderman and Batman, tickle fights, wrestling, soccer and baseball! Boy all the way! So excited for you in preschool this year! It's going to be a GREAT year!

Meet the Teacher 2012

Lily's Meet the Teacher

Lily received a postcard in the mail a few days before Meet the Teacher night at her school.   She found out she got Mrs. Gonzalez for First Grade!!!!  We couldn't have been happier!  She is an extraordinary teacher with over 20 years in the classroom and Reading Recovery! She is super organized, structured, fun and loving.  She will be great for Lily this year!!!  Lily had been very anxious all summer about First Grade and told anyone who asked about school that she was going to be home schooled. I just smiled... knowing there was not a chance of that happening this year :) Haha After she met Mrs. Gonzalez, took the tour of her classroom and met her classmates she was fine and excited! She was especially excited that she had her own desk this year, own crayon box and she got to pick out her own notebook!  It's going to be a GREAT year!!!

                                                     A little treat for Mrs. Gonzalez  :)

                           Lily with Mrs. Gonzalez and her Student Teacher Miss Ramirez.



Cade's Meet the Teacher 

Cade is attending preschool 4's this year at our church. It is 7 minutes from our house, we are meeting lots of Mom's and friends through the program and getting more involved in our church community lately! It has been a welcome change and has felt so right for all of us this year!

 Our church is under currently under construction so the theme throughout the preschool is "Under Construction." Each of the kiddos were given a construction hat with their name on it and we walked around the classroom to see all of the stations and cubbies.  Very Cute!

Cade is also in the "Penguin" room.  

                                               Cade's teachers: Mrs. Lillian and Mrs. Mary

 Each morning the parents will read the morning message on the board and the kiddos will answer a question by placing their named penguin under the correct answer.  Example: What color are your eyes?    Blue  Green  Brown    It's a good way to get an extra cuddle in before we leave the room!!

                                                                      Love this!!!

                                              The Library Center

                                             Too cute!!!

Lily Turns 7

Lily celebrated her 7th birthday at the Great Wolf Lodge this year! She had several other friends with late summer birthdays so we all booked  fun rooms and celebrated together! Lily was allowed to invite one friend and she chose Allie! :)  We drove down the day before to celebrate Allie's birthday at Lake Cherokee. Then we drove from there to The Great Wolf Lodge and met Chris and Cade. Wow, the place was BIG and a bit overwhelming! People everywhere. The kids were so super excited!!!

What a fun room! It had a special area just for the kids to feel like they were in their own little cabin!

Peek-a-boo!

Here's the water park!!!  Let the fun begin!!!

The girls

Here's the birthday crew!!

We rented a cabana so we had a nice place to meet up together!

We headed back to our rooms, got changed, and all met back up to open presents and order pizza.

Then we headed down to the arcade.

Here is Lily begging for more time at the arcade. She's workin it pretty good wouldn't you say (ha).

Fun times and great memories!

 Happy 7th Birthday Miss Lily !!

So..... that is what Lily will always remember! 

 I, on the other hand, have a different memory of The Great Wolf Lodge Birthday Experience!

It started with our very first ride! Yes...of course it did... because that's how I roll! If it's going to happen we're going to do it up big and big it was! A big hot mess I am, I tell you! (ha)

So we checked in to the GW, walked up to the coolest room ever, kids were running around super excited, we all changed into swimsuits and headed downstairs to the water park.

We walked around for a bit to see what we wanted to tackle with 3 kids in tow and how we were going to keep an eye on all of them. We decided to head over to the lazy river. We grabbed our tubes! Chris and the kids headed out first. I grabbed my tube and hopped on ready to float. I decided to lean my head back into the water to get it wet. Something I've done a thousand times! When I raised my head back up both of my arms felt like needles were poking them from my shoulders to my pinky fingers. My arms burned and the last couple of fingers on each hand hurt.  I couldn't imagine what had happened. I shook my arms out, put them in the water...even the touch of the water hurt. I caught up with Chris at the end and told him what happened. He thought I might have pinched a nerve. 

Great! How do I get the nerve un-pinched so I can enjoy Lily's special day? OMG! It's the Great Wolf Lodge for crying out loud! We have waited to take the kids and now we are here and I hurt myself!!!

I stood and watched the kids, Chris rode with them down the water slides and I waited for my arms to feel better. I raised my arms over my head, pulled on my fingers, and shook out my arms. Nothing helped. I decided after our friends arrived and we rented a cabana that I would sit and watch. I didn't say much about it other than I may have pinched a nerve so I was going to take it easy.  That night, we ordered pizza and opened gifts and went to the arcade. My arms did not feel any better. They burned, tingled and felt like my fingers were bruised. I knew something was wrong by the time we got back to our room (which was 8 hours after our lazy river ride) and had Chris call his brother, Jeff. Jeff told me to come in to have a MRI in the morning and to wrap my neck with a towel to brace it through the night.  

The next morning Chris took the kids down to the water park for about 2 hours and then we drove to Arlington for my MRI. I walked out of the room and Jeff handed me a neck brace! I said..."seriously?"

"Yep, you did some damage to C5/C6," he said "You will need to be in this for a few weeks, no driving, no picking up anything heavier than a coffee mug,  you need to sleep in it too, and make an appointment with a neuro-surgeon!" 

I ended up having a herniated disc or central disc bulge between C5 and C6! Essentially I hyper-extended my neck when I leaned it back to get my hair wet.

  

 ONLY I could get hurt on the  lazy river leaning my head back to get my hair wet! That's not even a good story! I'm going to have to come up with a better story to tell people!

 Lily started school the next week and Chris would be out of town for a week so Chris' sister Kathy came down from Missouri to stay with us and be my chauffeur/cook/co-parent for 2 weeks (ha).  We made it through! It was hard to sit and not do much but I am so thankful for the time she was able to help out so I wouldn't damage my neck more and it could get back on the path to healing! 

And here's the proof....... from "The Lazy River of Death," as my friend Celena now calls it. I have gotten many a phone call and text letting me know that my friends have made it through ok while at the GWL. (haha)