Dance party fever

I forgot how much I love to dance. I mean really dance, like throw your old back out and hurt your knee dance. Do you remember coming home from school dances and the next morning your whole body would ache because you danced so much. Yes, I miss that. If you hurt really bad it meant you had tons of fun at the dance the night before. Grace had her Hannah Montana dance party and the girls had a blast just like that. I bought platic medallions on a ribbon and we had ourselves a dance competition. I sent half of the girls into the youth room of the church and the other half stayed in the hall. I turned on the song that they would make up the moves to and let them have at it. Once the song was over each group got to show off the moves they made up. Yes, kind and gentle reader that does mean that I "got" to listen to the same song three times over. It was so worth it to see the girls have so much fun. We did two songs and each group won once. They loved it so much that they wanted to do it again. They split into different teams and then danced to do two different songs. Again, some how they managed to each win one more time :) Listening to 4 Hannah Montana songs 3 times each takes one and a half hours in case you are wondering. I must say that I had a bit of a headache when it was all over but it was so worth it. A few times I got out there with the girls and busted a move. It was fun. No other adults there, just me and a bunch of 7 and 8 year olds that didn't care how silly I looked dancing with them. Wouldn't you have loved to be a fly on the wall that day? I didn't get to play "Pin the Kiss on Troy" but they loved that game and giggled the whole time they played. Sylvia rocked the house and won on that game. She got him right on the kisser. That kid has got some aim! She told me as her team waited their turn to dance that Grace has the best birthday parties ever. I know it is silly but that meant so much to me that they had a good time. I hope Grace will remember the parties and sleepovers and have fond memories.

We had a family party at Zanders the next day and got to see almost all of the cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents. It was a good time too. We had Zanders icecream cake....need I say more? I have had people tell me that I go overboard for her birthday and I probably always will. I love to celebrate the day that God gave me the joy of my life in a big way. She is such a special girl and I love her so very much. Plus, I really wanted the trampoline too.....lol :)

It can always be worse

There is always someone who has it worse than you. Always. I try to remember that when I have something not so great going on in my life. It can always be worse. Right? Right? Please tell me yes :(

On a much happier note, Grace turned 8 today. My baby is 8! She is such a light in my little dark patch I have going on right now. Her excitement over her birthday brings such joy to my life. She got to have cupcakes at school today for the first time. She has always been on spring break during her birthday. She was so stoked about it. It was so fun to see her feel so special when her friends all sang happy birthday to her. She wanted to go to Ponderosa (even though I really don't like it) for her birthday dinner. Of course we went. I let her pick whatever she wanted to eat or drink. She wanted a Pepsi of course. Those of you who know my Grace know that a Pepsi is a great treat for her and not such a treat for Garry and I! She gets wild on the crazy kid crack and gets mouthy. But, hey, it's her birthday right? She was super de duper crazy! LOL. One celebration down and 2 more to go. The Hannah Montana dance party with friends is Saturday and the family party is a Zanders on Sunday. We party down when it comes to our baby girls birthday. I thank God for having the wisdom to give me my angel.

This funny little faced dog is Ozzy. He is our new fur-baby. I do mean it about being a baby too! It is like having a newborn in the house. I don't mind all of the attention he needs. I just hope he is house trained soon! Maybe I should try diapers on him like a baby..lol. He would just eat them. He likes to chew everything. He has the attention span of a knat. No really, no kidding. Every minute or two he will realize you are in the room and give you a greeting like you have been gone all day. He will go back to what he was doing for a few minutes and the process starts all over again. Layla is much better now that we have him. She is eating again and wants to play some. :) It is kind of hard to train a pup in the winter. I am hoping this cold weather will be done very soon!

Hello self

Ever keep getting the same message over and over again and just try to ignore it? I keep thinking, not right now or maybe later. Next year perhaps? Anyone who knows me well knows any kind of change has a way of making me skiddish (spelling?) at first. Now I know why Grace has to be told to do things three times. Yes exactly three times. You tell her twice it is so not getting done. I always wondered where she got that from. Guess now it is staring me right in the face. Hello self, meet yourself. Nice to meet you. I just got told something for the third time (each time from a differnt source in a different way).....let's see what I do with it. Confused? Me too. :)

Ask and thy shall recieve

Some of you may know that there are some little girls of the church that are interested in doing a dance for the church like Grace and Tali do sometimes. I have been racking my brain for what song to do. Three times I have had "the perfect song". Three times I have been told NOPE NOT THE ONE! Sometimes you just know when something isn't right even though it is what you may want. (Not about what I want right? *sigh*). I finally asked for help. Seth sat with me in his office, MP3 player in hand and let me go through song after song to find the "right one". Did I mention how patient this man is? I am soooooooo picky when it comes to the song. It has to have the right eight count and it also has to be very distcriptive. You have to be able to listen to the song and get the message right away. Can't make the dear audience have to think too hard about it or they spend too much time trying to figure out the song and not enough watching the dance. Being descriptive also helps to make up the dance. I know it is strange but it makes total sense in my head. Seth helped me find the song "Here I am Lord" by the Micah Tawlk Band. I listened to it for a few days anytime I was in the car to get the feel of it. Tonight I sat down to map out the dance for the girls and it took me little to no time at all. It was really a blessing. Sure, things will get changed a bit. I like to have Becky put her two cents in and tweek what she thinks may need to be tweeked. Sometimes it even gets changed on the fly as the girls are learning if something just isn't working out. Not only was the right song sent my way but I learned a valuable lesson, it is ok to ask for help. Sometimes I have to learn a lesson more than once. We will see if this one sticks. :) I can't wait for you all to see the little ones dance their little hearts out for Jesus in all of their pink tutu glory!

It finally happened.....

I mentioned in my last post that Grace is getting glases. I really suspected she needed them a year ago when she was getting the headaches. I took her to get her eyes checked and the guy told me she was borderline and that he didn't see the need to give her glasses at that point. I thought that was a little strange because I really thought she needed them. She sits so close to the computer and just squints a lot. But, an eye Dr. I am not so I went with what the professional said. Yesterday I took Grace to the eye Dr. here in Bicknell (not the same one she had been to before, my insurance changed and I don't HAVE to go there anymore). He came out and told me that he doesn't take this kind of thing lightly and I got kind of freaked out, then he preceeded to tell me that Grace is almost legally blind. It hit me like a ton of bricks. Poor baby! She can't see a thing that is far away. He let her look out the window with some sort of glasses he was checking her eyes with and she was so excited because everything wasn't so small anymore. I knew something was wrong and I should have went somewhere else, insurance or no insurance, and had her checked again. Hind sight is 20/20 I guess. No pun intended. LOL. She was excited at first to get glasses and now she is thinking it might not be that cool to have to wear glasses all the time. She picked out some super sheek black plastic ones with pink on the inside. Tali helped her pick them out which I think was kind of special for both of them. She also helped her pick out the glasses case. It is teal of course! So in a few weeks my little princess won't be as blind as a bat anymore.

Rest in peace little buddy Fez

I am so very sad. Sad really doesn't cover it. Fez died in my arms tonight. He was feeling a little under the weather today and to tell you the truth I didn't think much of it because he still ate his treat and went outside to play for a bit. I left at 3 to go get Grace from school and he was in his house acting a little ick but nothing to indicate he was dying. By the time I got home from taking Grace to dance class (around 7ish) he was in a bad way. He was vomiting blood and not able to hold his bladder. I called all of the vets in the book and couldn't get anyone to answer. He was fading really fast. I decided the best thing to do was just hold him and make him comfortable until he died. I could tell he was about to go so I took him outside because that was his favorite place to be. As I sat on the ground holding him Layla came to him and put her nose to his. He opened his eyes and whined some. Layla turned and walked away and he closed his little eyes and died. I just about lost my mind. I know I have talked about how dumb he was, and he was. But, he was my dog. He was dumb and annoying, most of the time he was a waste of a good dog and I loved him. Every ounce of the sweet dumb dog. Layla is so sad. Fez was her friend and constant companion. I swear to you that she cried real doggy tears. She is one depressd little lady. The pain that Grace is feeling is out of this world. She just cried and cried. Her heart is broken. Today has NOT been a good day for her. She just found out she is getting glasses and then her dog dies. Nice. When I could really tell that he was dying I let her say good bye to him. I think it will help her in the long run. I will never be able to thank Jim enough for coming over so late at night and helping Garry bury Fez. It meant so much to us. Who else would come over and help you dig a hole (getting all muddy) after he has worked all day and JUST got home? He is a good man. Thanks Jim. I know we can get another dog and we probably will, but no other dog will replace Fez in ANY of our hearts. I will miss that sweet little face, so happy to see me no matter if I was gone for 10 hours or 10 minutes. Bye little buddy.

Wii chew! and the outside world

We have the Wii sickness. ALL of us! Even me! I find myself thinking about it when I am at work. Is that wrong? I just might be in love with Mario. Don't tell Garry. It really is alot of fun though. Grace is the most addicted. She gets her pout on when she can't be on the Wii every extra moment of the day. I don't mind it much while it is too cold to go outside. I'm hoping it won't be a fight to get her outside to play. On that note.....do you remember when we were little and not "allowed" to come in the house during the day except to pee or beg for snacks? I know I am not the only kid that was made to stay outside in the summer. I can still hear my mother telling us for the billionth times to STOP RUNNING IN AND OUT. She would have to lock the door to keep us from letting every bug in the world into our house. Poor mom. I didn't like to listen much then either. I guess some things never change. At the risk of sounding my age, we didn't have all the hand held video games (not as much anyway) and other distractions to keep us busy. Sometimes I worry that our kids are going to forget how to play. Then, the next thing I know Grace is in her room playing with her dolls. She has a good imagination. Reminds me of how I was when I was little she day dreams a lot like I did. I am really going to try to get outside more this summer with her. I figured if I put it in the blog I can sort of hold myself accountable. We shall see....if I don't get sucked into the world of Wii.

I named her right!

Poor poor Grace. She is hurt. Once again. I am really thinking about putting her in a bubble. She has managed to hurt her neck now. It is all swollen and it hurts her. I am giving her until Monday with medicine and ice/heat. If the swelling has not gone down she is so going to the Dr. AGAIN!!!!! I hope this doesn't mean she won't be able to tumble anymore. She will be so sad. I would rather her be sad than hurt though. I care way more about her not being hurt. We will also have to think long and hard about the trampoline she wants for her birthday. *sigh* On a positive note she hasn't thrown up yet this week. Hooray for no vomit!

My heart

I have often wondered what I did with my life before I had Grace. I must have watched a ton of T.V.! When I held that tiny baby in my arms for the first time I thought my heart might just burst from the happiness. I remembered that joy anew today. I got the chance to hang out with my little sister today for a bit. She has two babies. One is 17 months old and the other is 5 months old. The older one was asleep when I got there to pick my sister up so I didn't get the chance to see him. I was kind of sad because I hadn't seen either of them for a long time. I walked up to Jolie and took her from my mom and she gave me the biggest smile you can imagine. It was really the first time I had seen her smile and laugh and know she was doing it and not just passing a gas bubble :) It almost made me cry. She made me remember my little baby Grace when she was that small. She looks just like Grace when she was little. We don't have babies we have clones according to my Mom. Holding Jolie also made me realize that no matter how old Grace gets she will always be my little baby. Think she will still want to snuggle with Mom on the couch when she is 20? I hope so.