Have you ever?

Have you ever been so proud you cried? Well,  I have and it's a magical and wonderful feeling. I'm so proud of my kids that I just beam when I talk about them. They amaze me everyday. They have so many talents and strengths. They are truly blessed with God given abilities. Jake is really developing into a well rounded ball player. His new love is pitching. He's gotten really good and can't wait to get on the mound. I love his confidence and determination. At 10 I would rather have died than do something like that in Front of lots of people and with all that pressure. But he seems to flourish. 

Emma was invited to be on our first competition team for her dance school. Millington school of dance has become our second home. We love our dance teachers and the environment they have created. This year they started a competition team. Emma was invited as the youngest person on the squad. She has been performing a jazz number in a group of 10 dancers with all of the rest being 9 and 10 years old. She and Abby are the youngest but its hard to tell that when they dance. My heart was in my throat when we competed in our first competition. We showed up with our one costume and went back stage amongst people with costume racks and makeup stands. Think dance moms and you get the picture. But our group doesn't need all that. We dAnce from the heart with our logo being a tree. Ms. Bing and ms. Mandy are changing the way people see dance with age appropriate costumes and quality dance moves. The girls did awesome. And continue to grow and only get better and better. I get tears in my eyes every time I watch her dance. She's so graceful and elegant. I'm just so proud I cry. 

Can't wait for next season! More tears of pride and joy. :)

Got braces?

So this year Emma has delved into the world of braces and palate expanders. She got her palate expander first and bottom bumper. As we cranked it twice and day for 2 weeks we quickly noticed it was doing its job. The two front teeth have separated greatly moving her upper palate forward to correct the underbite she had developed. First problem corrected, we moved on to the second. Being her canines were coming in at her front teeth and not down where her canines should even be. Problem with  that can be nerve damage to the permanent teeth she already has. So to fix this she had to have oral surgery to remove the baby canine teeth she still had and open the gum area to expose her permanent canines. Attach a button to those teeth under the gum with a chain which would attach to her palate expander. Thusly allowing the orthodontist to pull on those teeth and guide them into proper position. Whew! What an ordeal. And you wonder why I went back to work?  Insert answer here. Anyway, she is a trooper. Oral surgery went great but was much more complex than I had imaged it would be. A mouth full of stitches and 2 weeks of healing. But through it all she never slowed down. She is a tough cookie who rarely complains and smiles all the time. My angel girl. In the end her gorgeous smile will just be accented by her beautiful teeth. 

Poor thing looked like she'd been beat up the day after surgery. We called her Cindy Lou who. Her face was so swollen.  Braces are the next step once we get the canines in place then they can starting pulling those teeth together and close the gAp created by the palate expander. Keep on smiling pretty girl! 

Concert anyone?

One of Jake's Christmas gifts from mark and I was tickets to see Luke Bryan in concert. This is one of Jake's favorite singers besides Fun, of course. He has never been to a concert but I just knew he'd love this one. I just knew I wouldn't mind taking him either. ;) Anyway, o. Christmas morning he opened a package with tickets to the concert in January and Emma opened tickets to Taylor Swift  in Nashville in September. They were fired up to say the least. My friend emily had purchased tickets for her and her boys as well so we decided we'd make a night of it and have a blast. One of the funniest things is when I pulled out the ear plugs before the concert started and jake said, "I won't need those!" I looked at him and said , "We'll see..." . The stage lit up and the music started and he said, "I'll take those ear plugs now!"  I smiled and he smiled back. Closest I'll get to you were right, mom. He loved the concert and I loved watching him sing all the words to his favorite songs. It was a great night just me and my big boy. Here's some pics of our fun night. 

Who'd of thunk it?

St. Louis in spring.... Sounds great. That's what we thought when we decided to take the kids to St. Louis for spring break. Just a 3 day trip for some city museum fun, American girl doll store, and a trip to the arch. Before we head out we check the weather and see that it's going to be cold. But worse than that it's going to snow. No problem for Mark of course... In fact he's like heck yeah I get to see some snow. But as we always do we think the weather guys are crazy and think how bad could it get really? So we head out. But somewhere in the back of my hubby's northern lizard brain he decides it's probably a good idea to just throw the snow stuff in the back of the pilot. Why not? It turned out to be a good  idea. We hit the city museum the afternoon we arrived and spent 5 hours climbing, sliding, and crawling through tunnels and caves. I can honestly say I'm glad we are still young and healthy because all the kids kept saying was "What's taking so long?" But trying to crawl and squeeze thru was no easy feat. Good thing we have all our caving experience to help us! Anyway, go to sleep that night and wake up to a winter storm. It dumps a foot of snow on St. Louis. AMAZING! It was beautiful. Well as beautiful as it can be for snow... Yuck! I hate snow and cold weather. But we braved it and snow suited up. We ended up driving to the snow hill where everyone goes when it snows. We had fun despite the snow pelting us in the face and freezing our butts off. St. Louis knows how to handle this for sure. Roads were plowed and safe for travel.  We hit the cheesecake factory, and cant come that close to sikeston and not go to Lambert's. Oh those rolls! Could make a meal on those alone. We also went up in the St. Louis arch. That was very interesting. On our way out of town we stopped and toured the Budweiser brewery. Saw the Clydesdales and tasted free beer. It was a great trip with lots of good memories. It will forever be known as the spring break with a foot of snow!  Here are some pics I took of our fun trip in SL! 

Christmas 2012

What another blessed Christmas! Family together happy and healthy. Can't ask for more than that. Santa found his way to our house this year. Jake and Emma must have been really good this year because they got some wonderful gifts. Emma got her newest American girl doll plus a very special Vet table her daddy made her. Complete with X-ray equipment and bandages. Jake got the wii u he desperately wanted plus Legos that might keep him busy for a day or two. We loved seeing their surprised faces on Christmas morning. They are the best images burned in my brain. Christmas really is for children. We are so blessed to be able to give our children such a loving home. I thank God everyday for my wonderful life and family. That's the best present to me.