RIP Little Gabe...

With a very sad heart I read on facebook this morning that this sweet little guy, Gabe passed away yesterday from Ewings Sarcoma (the same cancer that took our nephew, Shawn in April 2009). Gabe was six and a classmate of Lexy's, Lexy loved him and talked about him often. Gabe was diagnosed with Ewings Sarcoma in May 2008. In May 2009 he was in remission. In October 2009 his cancer was back...by December 2009 it had spread from his hip to his spine, liver and lungs. Gabe went to school when he felt up to it and when he had to be in the hospital or at home his classmates would send "hope baskets" and videos of their school days.

The councelor at school has been going in and talking to Lexy and her classmates about Gabe's condition and answering any questions they may have. Today will be a very hard day for the class I'm sure. I'm so sad that Lexy has to see and learn about this, she's going to be so sad...

Pretties

Aren't they beautiful???? Mike and the girls gave them to me on Friday evening for Valentine's Day! They had to wait for theirs until Sunday :-)

Lexy's V-Day Party

I was pleasantly surprised how many parents showed up for Lexy's Kindergarten Valentine's Day party. Our town is notorious for parents not wanting to take part in school activities but so far this class has been different. I haven't even had to be in charge of any parties except Halloween this year (usually I'm the one planning every party). It was nice to go and concentrate on and enjoy my daughter! Lexy did ask why she didn't get a stuffed animal or balloons sent to school like some of her friends (I'm not giving the girls their valentine's until Sunday) so I promised next year I would send something to school for her!

Lexy asked for a picture (last one) with her friends Chase and Brandon. Later I was asking her who gets in trouble the most in her class and she said "Chase and Brandon"...OH GREAT!!!

Sew Special

Last night Brooke and I attended our sewing class that Brooke asked for and received for Christmas. We made a fun night of it, going for dinner before and ice cream after...what a fun time!

Brooke has never sewn before and while I have sewn basic stuff for sometime now, I think Brooke surpassed my skills last night :-) She is quite the natural at the sewing machine, picking up on everything taught with ease. For our project last night we both made 18" pillowcases from fabric we chose...Brooke chose pink monkey fabric and I chose a fabric with dogprints (this will be part of a surprise for Lexy next month).

Brooke has definitely gotten the sewing bug now and we are both looking forward to saving up for another class, this time one on how to use patterns! I love spending time with my girls doing something we both enjoy!

Twins

Mike was saying goodbye to the girls this morning when he started laughing and called them both out of their rooms to have me (and them) look at something. This is what we saw...


No planning, just two sisters thinking alike this morning :-) I LOVE THOSE GIRLS!

Snow Play

We have had a lot more snow than normal this year but the girls really haven't gotten to enjoy it b/c it's been too cold to play outside. Yesterday after school Lexy begged Brooke to play in the snow with her and the great big sister that Brooke is, she did. They attempted to make a snowman but the snow wasn't packing well enough but they had a great time throwing snowballs at each other and chasing each other around the yard :-) Afterwards they enjoyed the cocoa and fresh baked cookies that I had waiting for them.

Catching Up

Ok, so I know I haven't updated in a while and I left off sounding kind of down and out BUT in no way is that why I have stayed away :) Life has just been busy and I have been sick (strep).

I was disappointed to hear that the girls best interest staffing was already scheduled and that we wouldn't be able to be considered but while we had hoped that we would get things done in time we had prepared ourselves for this. So now we move on.

Because of being sick I have neglected getting the copies made and our adoption paperwork sent back in so that is first on my to do list. We will move forward with getting our homestudy update done, we know there was a reason that those three sweet girls sparked our interest enough to get off our hineys and get our homestudy done sooner rather than later. Maybe our child(ren) is already waiting for us, so we will work hard to get things done and keep our eyes and hearts open to what is in store for us :-)

Besides Lexy (first a bad cold and then an ear infection) and I being sick we have been busy going to games to watch Brooke cheer, a family fun outing to Jeepers, a girls day out for Brooke & I and Robin & Kenzie (shopping for 8th grade promotion formals), having a cousins sleep over when Ashley and baby Toby stayed overnight while CJ & Jess got to celebrate CJ's birthday with a night out and I've started watching baby Toby a couple of days a week while Jess is taking classes. So here are a few pictures for your viewing pleasure...

That's Brooke on top!

Brooke & Kenzie

Lexy loving her ride!

Some sliding fun

Sisterly Love!

Lexy has been asking if cousin Ashley can come back every day since she was over.

Look at that chunk-a-monk :-)

Brooke is the baby hog of the house...hmm she must have learned that from me!