Life as a Leach

We said goodbye to Anna after getting to spend so much quality time with her. There were hugs all around!

I'm a wish kid, and I wish to be Elsa!

Both of my kids love to dance.  Seriously.  Have you ever seen Caleb's "Irish Dancing?"  If not...you are in for a treat!  :) Anyway, when Anna asked if she could teach Caleb a traditional Arendale dance, he wholeheartedly agreed!  He was such a good sport! First, they bowed and curtsied. She taught him a few moves... Then he dipped her! Abby sat like this watching them the whole time.  It was so cute! When it was Abby's turn to dance, there was lots of twirling and cape swooshing involved! I know I've said it a million times already, but this experience was so magical!  Anna was absolutely perfect and the kids were just in awe of her.  So was I, honestly!  I couldn't stop smiling from behind my video camera!

Digging for dinosaur bones!!   They'll be done in a few years! :) We just found out that schools are closed tomorrow, so we have cousins coming over for a sleepover, with lots of outside play in our future again tomorrow!

I was drying Abby's hair tonight and she was smiling and giggling over something.  I told her I loved her smile and she commented that she didn't like her smile because it looked weird.  This isn't the first time she has said it, so I decided to have a more in depth talk with her instead of brushing it off with, "I love your smile!" like I had in the past. I turned the dryer off and stooped down in front of her.  I shared with her a verse that has become one of my favorites since she was born: We talked about what that verse meant and I reminded her that God created her cute little nose, her adorable smile, and her deep brown eyes. Then I said, "You know how your ribs are in pieces and Dr. Campbell had to fix them with the VEPTR?"   She nodded.   "God created those ribs to be just like that too.  It's hard for us to understand that, but He did, and they are perfect.   They may not seem that way, but they are.  Do you know wh...

Telling secrets!

We had a "little" snowstorm (and by little, I mean a raging beast of a blizzard dumping 2 feet of snow and 75 mph wind gusts!) this weekend.  Actually, it's still snowing and will until 7 am or so.  Here are our snow predictions: It's way too windy to go outside today, so we have been hunkering down in the house.  Right from the start, Chloe was not impressed!   Friday night, 7 pm Saturday morning, 10 am Saturday, 7 pm.  That path was cleared for Chloe this afternoon! To fight boredom, I wrote some fun activities on strips of paper and put them in a cup.  We pull one out every now and then!  This Valentine's craft was one of them. I also created a Bingo board for for each kid.  We do something from here a few times a day and they will get a prize when they get 2 Bingos!  Abby is just one away from winning! I'm expecting to not go back to school until Wednesday.  Hopefully, the wind will die down and we can play outside with the neighbors...

To cement how wonderful Anna was, she found a book in the room where our meet and greet was and asked if Abby would like to read it.  Then she read the book (still in character the entire time!) and talked about it with Abby.  It was SO sweet!

This sweet girl has been home with us for 5 years!  I will never forget the day we brought her home--so many happy tears! Thank you, Lord, for 5 years of having laughter and joy fill our home!

Abby was refusing to put her coat on to walk into Young Athletes the other night. Me: Abby, it's really cold.  You need a coat on! Abby: Mom. (Eye roll and dramatic pause). I'm Elsa. The cold doesn't bother me anyway!

Abby got a picture frame that spells her name from Grammy and Pop for Christmas.  I wanted to do a little collage of her Wish Day pictures in it, so I put it together tonight.  I think it turned out really cute!  I can't wait for her to see it tomorrow! You couldn't see this one as well in the whole frame picture, but I liked the way it turned out.  This is her official Make a Wish picture with her "I'm a wish kid and I wish to be Elsa!" Sign. 

Make a Wish had set up a private meet and greet with Anna.  Anna would greet Abby as Elsa, finally getting to meet the real  Elsa for the first time (in forever...)!  It was such a magical experience! Abby's first glimpse of Anna She was a little shy at first, but Anna was wonderful and chatted enough for the both of them. Caleb did a lot of the talking in the beginning too! Mostly, Abby stood with this dumbfounded grin on her face, in total shock that she was actually meeting Anna! Anna checked out Abby's Pixie Dusted wish pin! Abby warmed up really quickly though, and soon they were playing Checkers with Caleb! Double high fives! I want to do this experience justice, so I'm going to break this meet and greet up into several different posts.  It's way too magical to share in just one post! 

Abby is post-op day 7, so it was time to remove her bandages.  This is never fun, but tonight was absolutely miserable!  They used a different kind of bandage and it was impossible to get off.  I always soak it in almond oil to loosen the stickiness, but the oil did nothing to help this time.  She was absolutely sobbing and shuddering in Matt's arms while I tried to be as gentle as possible.  There were three sets of tears falling by the time we were done.  :( So tonight after Abby was asleep, I decided to work on a project that someone had shared on our VEPTR support group.  I used the dot paints to document some of Abby's medical challenges that aren't so fun.  We will keep adding to it as a way for her to show off her bravery! Red = hospital admissions (just admissions, not the number of days--that would fill up the poster!) Orange = blood draws Purple = surgeries Green = xrays and ct scans I had to estimate a bit on the blood draws...