I have not updated in awhile. I have just been swamped at school, with the girls, & I feel like I'm still recovering from Maddy's birthday weekend and then Halloween. I will post pictures of Halloween soon, but wanted to fill you in on the fact that we have one person in our home with no tonsils now. Maddy had her tonsils & adenoids taken out on Tuesday 11.3. I was freaked out. But, I was the calm, cool, & collected mommy that Maddy needed me to be. :) Her surgery went so well. She took her bear, Jessica, with her. Maddy was so brave. I was so proud of her. :)
We had to be at the surgery center by 7:30. Her surgery was scheduled for 8:30am. I took Maddy while Kevin took Elly to school. The plan was for him to meet us before the surgery, but the traffic was so crazy that he missed her by about 10 minutes. :( Dr. S, the surgeon, was so kind. He went over everything with me in detail, the anesthesiologist came in and told Maddy they were going to play a game called "Space Woman." He told her she would get to wear a mask and if she felt like closing her eyes that would be okay. They inserted her IV after she was under. Thank goodness. That girl does NOT like needles. ;)
The doctor offered a time of silent prayer which I so appreciated and then they wheeled her away. She was able to wear her own clothes for the surgery and was allowed to take her bear with her, too. :) Her bear even got an ID bracelet with her name on it. Ha! They took such good care of Maddy. I was so impressed.
Afterwards, when she was waking in the recovery room, they called us back. She was groggy and trembling (a side effect of the anesthesia wearing off). She said she couldn't breathe, but the nurse said she had good lung sounds & gave her some Demerol. Maddy slept a little and had a grape slushy. About 9:45am, they gave her some Tylenol with Codeine and it made her a little nauseous so they gave her a drug to counteract that feeling. She felt good after that and had some grape juice. She was released at 11am. Can you believe that? It was a quick morning. The photo above is her getting ready to be wheeled down to the parking lot. Our fabulous nurse would not get in the picture even though she was adorable. She also has 2 year old twins named...Madeline & Ella. How crazy is that?
Maddy continues to do very well. She has had no complications & no bleeding. Yay! She has been home since Tuesday and is going to school for a 1/2 day tomorrow. She may also do a 1/2 day on Tuesday. I might bring her to my classroom to rest in the afternoon. That is one of the true privileges of teaching at the same school. :)
Christmas Eve was a little different for us this year... The blizzard had arrived so we did not get to drive around in our jammies & look at lights. :( We did go the night before in anticipation, but it was not the same. We had several inches of snow by 6pm. The girls & I didn't even get dressed that day. We all wore our jammies...here are the girls feeding the reindeer a mixture of oats & glitter. Oats for nourishment & glitter to guide them to our house. ;)
Look how big the snowflakes are! It is the first Christmas Eve that the girls have had to get all bundled up & wear boots! They loved it!
Kevin asked me if I was going to make them wear their snow pants. ;) I thought about it. Ha!
They were so excited for santa to come!
Here's Kevin shoveling for the 1st of 4 times with this snow storm. He decided if we were all going to be outside then he would get a little work done.
This is the only picture I have of the girls in the jammies that santa dropped off about 5pm. Twinkle is in the background. Elly was a little sad to see him go, but they were not as dramatic about it as last year. Ha! I think Elly just enjoys the game of finding him every morning. :)
On Christmas Eve, we were in a blizzard warning! Let's just say that I have lived in this state for 34 (yikes! almost 35 years!) and that has NEVER happened! Here is a picture of our front door. Kevin's FCA supervisor sent us an L.L. Bean wreath. It smelled heavenly! :) Thanks, Ralph & Judy. It is gorgeous!
I captured one minutes later...look at the size of those snowflakes! We ended up getting about 10.5-11.5 inches of snow. Then it snowed on & off for 4 more days. Wow. Simply amazing.
The girls both liked this santa.
A K-State tree even found its' way in... ;)
A tree inspired by the game "Candyland."
I LOVED this gingerbread tree. I think I have outgrown my snowman collection & want to start collecting gingerbread now. They are so cute. :)
A picture from the balcony. Isn't it beautiful? Love this.
Downtown L. is so lovely this year. If I closed my eyes when we stepped out that night...it reminded me of Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Such happy memories there...thanks, babe. :)
I laid it all out today & realized I still have a bit more left to buy. This weekend I am making a pumpkin-shaped cake & icing it to see if I really can do it. Kevin & the Wade girls are excited to be my taste testers. ;)
It was a cold morning and the girls were begging for hot chocolate so I made my favorite breakfast...hot chocolate with toast! My grandma Jean used to make this for me when I was a little girl. It is one of my favorite comfort foods. :)
They both loved it! :)
Kevin is at the Auburn/Arkansas college football game today so we decided to listen to the spooky CD we bought for the party. The girls were so cute dancing...
and trying to be scary! :)