Alyssa turns 10

Here is Alyssa at three weeks old3 Months old

Almost 2 years old
Kindergarten

It is amazing how one tiny little person changed my life so completely. Before I was a mother I knew it all! Come on! Really, I did! After all, I had a degree and all of my Early Childhood Education units AND I taught second grade AND I had worked in a day care for three years. What more was there to learn. Well, I know now that I knew nothing and still know nothing!! But really, I remember the moment it hit me that my life had changed and there was no going back. Alyssa was about 2 weeks old and Jared, Alyssa and I were driving all over the US for Jared's job. We were in Indiana I think (we went through 19 states in ten days with a two week old baby, call me crazy!) and I looked a tiny, under 5 pound Alyssa asleep in her car seat and I realized that my life would never be the same and that life had just begun. I don't know what the previous 25 years of my life was, but my life had just begun. I love my little ones so much and each day life becomes sweeter becuase I have them. Happy birthday my big 10 year old!!

Easter Egg hunting, April 2009

Alanna Turns Four!

Alanna turned four today. We had a party for her on Friday and told her that Friday was her birthday because I wanted to keep Mother's Day all to myself (and she is four and doesn't know any different!) We have a tradition that on the child's birthday they get to come into our room when they wake up and we tell them the story of their birth. I wrote out all of the stories a few years ago, added photos, and had books printed with it all through Walmart. Pretty cool. So, we read her book. Her birth was the toughest we have had to deal with. She came completely by surprise 10 days early. The labor and delivery was a whole 2 hours, twenty-one minutes from start to finish and completely free from pain relieving drugs. (NOT my choice, but that is another story). After we had her for about 12 hours we got a call that something was wrong with her blood and they came and took her to NICU where she stayed for a week. This was awful. Any mother that has gone through this knows the anguish of having to leave the hospital without your little new baby, and it is terrible. This is my favorite picture of her during that time. Her little 'sunglasses' were adorable. Well, four years later and she is a spunky, sassy, opinionated, ray of sunshine. She heats up so fast, but can be soothed just as fast with the right touch. She loves her friends, her family, and especially loves Cinderella.

Here is Alanna with her very best friends.

Cinderella cupcakes. I thought they turned out really pretty for my first time piping the icing on.

The top photo is Alanna at one year and then four years. She is a much neater eater, but still loves her chocolate!! Happy birthday my little Lanicake!!

Cupcake Voting

Voting just opened for the cupcake competetion that my AMAZING friend Vanessa enters each month. Go to her blog, read about the three really yummy cupcakes she made, and then go vote!! Here is the link to her site. She is truly amazing. Pass the word along. http://vanessacontessa.blogspot.com

Click the cute picture above to go vote. Vanessa is at the very bottom of the voting on the right. She has three entries; vote for all three or vote for one three times! (You are allowed three votes).

The Miracle of the Bible

My page

Alyssa is in her first Musical Theater performance. She is a page in Once Upon A Mattress. (She is the 6th from the left.) Each year her school puts on a performance. Children in 3rd through 8th grade can be in the show. They have auditions and practice for 5 months, 5 hours a day. The last few weeks they rehearse more. The last week they rehearse and preform for over 30 hours! Last night was her first show and she loved it! She loves being on stage. She has a very small part, but is onstage a lot. She has a performance tonight and two on Saturday. I need to get some photos of her in her full costume, but here is a link to the photo that was in the newspaper today. http://www.nctimes.com/community/ scroll down to Community Photos and the photo and tiny announcement is there.

. . .and this

I just love these photos!

I just have to post this

I know, another picture of this kids, but they are so cute!! I am so biased becuase they are my kids, but I just love them! I wish they would stay this age forever and never grow up!!