Dance Recital

My friend Emily Wankier taught dance classes out of her home this year. She did an amazing job and my girls loved them. 

Arabella was in the Kinderballet class and learned so many great ballet words and techniques. She love dancing with her friends and has held dance class for Lily at home on multiple occasions. 

Lily was in the creative movement class and I loved dancing with her. Miss Emily said and it is quite true that for a 2 year old Lily has grace in her movements. She would tag along during Arabella's class and learned an impressive amount of ballet moves. She is a little dancer for sure. 

We experienced some camera difficulties - dead battery- during Arabella's dance. I have a video on my phone and I will get around to loading it one of these days. 

Lily was loving the flowers.  Arabella reminded me lots of times that I needed to make sure she got flowers. 

Oh I love my pretty little dancers!

This is a long video but it is fun to watch the kids move. Lily gets a little stunned by the lights and audience and stops dancing.  It is hard to see in the video maybe but three little girls in pink skirts and pink leotards always stayed by each other- so funny. 

Field Day

Last Friday we walked back and forth to the school twice so we could enjoy some of Field day with each of the boys. K-2nd was in the morning and 3rd-5th in the afternoon so we went to both sessions so we could see both boys.  I realized that I will be lucky enough to have kids in both sessions for the next 7 or 8 years, so much fun!

Lily just wanted to play on the playground so I had a hard time getting pictures with Jon but Arabella had a great time playing both times. 

In the end, Joey soaked Arabella and there was very little water in the cup. 

Joey through his pool noodle javelin the farthest! 

Lily was way into the water sports in the afternoon and had a great time through wet sponges at Arabella.

I love how the school runs field day. They have a bunch of different stations with some water activities, and some regular activities and some activities in the gym so the kids are not outdoors all day. They also have kids from Lewisville High School volunteer to run the stations. I think they are part of the student government class- they do a great job! 

It was a great, overcast day and I was glad to spend some time outside watching my kids and packing Samantha in the bjorn.

Arabella Last Day of school

Arabella has absolutely loved school this year!

She loves learning and coloring and cutting and gluing and making friends.

Her teachers told me that at the end of the year when they were trying to get all of the "scrapbooks" (a collection of all of the work the kids have done throughout the year) they would have Arabella help them with some of the gluing.

The Last Day of School was a field day and it was warm but there was a breeze now and then.

Our favorite babysitter Emily had asked if she could come and play with Lily one day.  She came on this day and that meant I was able to give all of my attention to Arabella (and Samantha who came along).

She did pretty well with the hula hoops.

This sand relay was so funny to watch. The kids would get a huge scoop of sand and then as they ran to the bucket, most of it would spill out on to the grass. 

On Arabella's turn she dumped her sand in the bucket and then had to run past the other team's bucket to see how full their's was getting. She has a bit of a competitive spirit in her that peeks out once in awhile. 

This little girl is Isabella and if ever I was taking a picture she wanted in on the action. 

Mrs. Hammond- we have loved you. Maybe Lily will get you when it is her turn to go to CCDC.

Popcorn, shaved ice (they actually get ice from sonic and put flavoring on it - not quite the same) and then they had pizza and cupcakes. 

This little cutie slept through most of it.

Remember that time...

when I was still trying to manage my new life with 5 kids so that I could post regularly.  Why yes I do because I am living it now. 

Anyway I do remember that time when...

Grandma Rabner came and stayed for a week to help out. We were really glad because Samantha was still figuring out how to be a good eater and so Mom (me) spent a lot of time shut up in my room with her. Also, Dad ended up being out of town multiple days (and nights) while she was here. 

 I also remember that time when Peter signed up the family to do a 5k when Samantha was 3 weeks old. 

It was a really warm day but we all survived. Peter pushed Arabella and Lily in the jog stroller and actually ran. I pushed Samantha in her stroller while running and walking with the boys. It was a long 3.2 miles for those boys but they did it! I somehow even earned a medal- literally. 

 It was a drill team fundraiser for Peter's boss's daughter.  

They had face painting.  When Jon asked for a dragon, they did not know if they could do it but it turned out really good.

 There was also that day in May (May 5th according to the data of the pic) that it was 90 outside and so mom said the kids could play in the water. They filled the swimming pool about half full and then the hose went to the sandbox.

They were trying to make quicksand. 

 And of course there have been plenty of times that mom has tried to capture Samantha in all of her cuteness. 

 Kind of a smile. 

 Sleeping naked baby

Holding on to her monkey pacifier. 

Oh these are happy times!

Arabella in the Spotlight

 In April, Arabella's school had a spring concert and carnival.

She was a great singer! She seems to always shine!

 Samantha enjoyed sleeping through the event. 

Grandma Rabner was in town which we were thankful for because dad was at a camp out and the carnival part was much easier with 2 adults following kids around. 

 In other very exciting news, Arabella rode without training wheels and without help last night!

She has been practicing a lot on her bike pedaling fast.  She will do laps around our house- which means she rides down the alley from our house and around the sidewalk to the next entrance to the alley and back to our house. Her hard work and Dad's patience paid off last night. I had worked with her some before and Peter tried to help her a few weeks ago and she basically freaked out and said she wanted me to do help her but since I had just had a baby about a week before I was not up for it. Last night they figured it out and voila she is a bike rider! 

She had been practicing so hard so that she can ride her bike to school next year with the boys and now she will most definitely be able to! Way to go Arabella!

Jon's 2nd Grade Program

The second grade students at Valley Ridge performed Zomo the Rabbit this year.

It was great! Jon sang well and played on the xylophone. 

 Jon is so focused and waiting for the time to begin. He is next to his friend Reagan. She lives in neighborhood and has a really nice family. 

 So ready to sing he can hardly wait. 

 Reagan is watching Jon closely to make sure he does not play too soon. 

All of the kids helped make group posters for their shows. Jon loves to pose with his mouth open. What a silly kid! We were super proud of him. 

Samantha One Month Old

She is one month old!

We love having her in our family and she gets plenty of love from her older brothers and sisters. 

She came with her own challenges and blessings.

Challenges: weight gain- we did 3 days of weight checks before it she was having good weight gain. At weeks she had regained her birth weight plus 2 ounces.

She also had to have her bilirubin checked for 3 days but it resolved too. She has a pretty color to her skin thanks to the jaundice.

And finally she has not been my best nurser but we have worked on it and things are better. Thank you to the lactation specialist, herbal supplements, and lactation cookies.

Story about cookies: they are a basic oatmeal chocolate chip cookie with added flaxseed and brewer's yeast to boost your milk.  The kids enjoyed them and Peter sent them in lunches one day. Jon offered some to his teacher with a promise that it would help her milk.  She said she was good but he assured her it would help. She again said no thanks- her youngest is 10 so I am sure she is not worried about her milk!

Blessings are: she sleeps for a 4-5 hour  block of time almost every night since she came home. It has been the most helpful thing being she is number 5.  Another blessing is that the kids are really helpful and love her to pieces. 

Story: Lily pushed the rocking chair over to the bassinet and picked Samantha up out of her bassinet and carried her down the stairs when Samantha was just 5 days old. Angels were in our house that day. Lily would not listen to me telling her that she could not do that. She just kept saying over and over "I did it Mommy." We have since had a few conversations about what she can and can not do with "Manfa" as she calls her. And we put a child lock on our door so that she can not get to Samantha when she is sleeping in her bassinet and we are elsewhere in the house. 

We love you Samantha/ Manfa/ Munchkin!

Easter 2014

Easter was full of life at our house. 

Peter had taken the Friday before off and was going to help me get some things done-errands and what not with all of the kids in tow (the boys did not have school for Good Friday).

Arabella had complained of some pain when going to the bathroom for 2 days so at the last minute we decided to take her to the doctor. That led to strange results that caused us to think she had diabetes.

We then spent the rest of Friday afternoon and evening getting blood drawn and awaiting results- which in the end did not come back until Monday morning but we were told they could be back at any time and then we would need to be ready for the possibility of being admitted to the hospital for a few days. Super fun with a one week old!

 But, I digress, it was Easter weekend and we wanted to make the most of it. We made Easter sugar cookies and of course dyed eggs. 

 Samantha remained calm and collected during the whole ordeal.

 Easter morning.

 You have to hunt fast when you have 8:30 church and so the Easter bunny was kind enough to leave the baskets in plain sight and not do his usual follow the different colored yarn for each child throughout the house to find your basket.

 Above is a photo of before church! They look lovely!

 And after church, when I had a chance to get Samantha dressed. 

Samantha in an Easter outfit in a basket-ha ha!

Oh and in the end, Arabella's lab results were normal so we returned to the doctor on Tuesday morning with her fasting. She was no longer complaining of pain when she went to the bathroom. At the doctor her fingerstick blood sugar was normal but her urine sample still looked way out of whack.  So we left the office with the pediatrician making a phone call to the nephrologist and then she would call us.  Instead in about 15 minutes, I received a phone call from our doctor saying she had her nurse give a urine sample and her results were bizarre so they opened a new package of test strips and voila, normal results for both the nurse and Arabella (it did show she had a slight urinary tract infection).  The weekend of prayers and blessings I truly believe came into play when she chose to double check and not send us to have more blood drawn and possibly more invasive tests.  The Lord answers prayers especially the prayers of a 5 year old girl who prays that she will feel better! (A tender moment in my life as a mother.)