Sasha's Birthday at Grizzly Jacks

 To celebrate Sasha's 5th birthday, we spent the weekend at Grizzly Jacks- our favorite weekend place.

 We got a family suite this time.  It has 3 room- 2 bedrooms and a living room with fireplace and jacuzzi.

 The autumn leaves were beautiful and the girls love the balcony.

 Big sister Leeza taught Sasha how to skip.  They practiced back and forth across the room.

 I let them ride in the 3rd row of the van to go to the little amusement park.  They thought that was great.

 The scary monster wasn't as scary this time.  They both posed in front of it.

 The park has gotten rid of many of the smaller rides and put in inflatables.

 Not sure I would be brave enough of go in Sponge Bob's mouth.

 They went on the flying tiger ride and had a really good time.

They went on the tilt a whirl, but all you can see are their feet.  It was moving too fast for a good photo.  They looked a little green when they came off.

The girls love the water park and had a great time in the wave pool.  They did pretty good swimming, but we kept the floaties on for most of the time.  We always have a fun time here,

Pumpkin Patch 2012

 We went on our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch.  The wagon is getting smaller each year or else the girls are growing fast!

 The girls love it here.  They like the mazes and all the pumpkins and displays

 Sasha rides in the wagon about 90% of the time.  Leeza will get a 1 minute ride every once in a while.

 They love this maze.  I like it because I can just sit on the straw bales and they can go through it over and over and over again.

 My little flowers.

 Yep, that wagon is getting way too small.

 Growing a little more each year.  My little cuties are approaching 4 ft tall.

 Leeza took this photo.  She is a pretty good photographer.

 The tram ride through the pumpkin patch.

 One final bunch of mazes then it is off to the patch to pick out pumpkins.

 Most of the plant mazes were sketchy this year as the drought made it hard to grow thick plants,

 Many many different types of gourds and pumpkins here.

 And off to the patch to finally get our pumpkins.  Of course, we have to go WAY out in the field to get the best ones.

 The search is on for that perfect pumpkin or two.

 Teamwork is necessary as these pumpkins can be heavy.

 Needing still more pumpkins.  We ended up with 5 pumpkins.

 It is a very large pumpkin patch. 

 They also have animals.  The girls liked the sheep and goats.

And to end the day, we have to have the pumpkin flavored ice cream.

Sleeping princess

 Sasha never goes to sleep while Leeza is awake.  So some nights when Leeza is up and talking to Sasha, I have Sasha sit in the hall until Leeza falls asleep.  It usually takes about 10-15 minutes. 

Tonight, Sasha brought out her blankie and pillow and fell asleep in the hall.  Could be mom was busy doing stuff and forgot to tell her to go back to bed also?!!

Hello Kitty Halloween

We are now fully into the Hello Kitty phase.  Dora is no longer our favorite(although they will still occassionally watch her).  They are modeling their halloween outfits.  Leeza is getting so so tall.

Eye Exam

Leeza had her kindergarten eye exam today.  She did pretty good. Much much better than the one we did a year or so ago.  She let them use the machines on her and the only one she didn't cooperate with is the air puff test for eye pressure.  We did one eye, but no go on the second.  Ok, I bribed her with a trip to McDonalds to get one eye done.  I figure if one eye is ok, chances are the other is too.  She was pretty good with all the eye charts, but tended to want to cheat and use both eyes to look at things.  She is slightly far sighted, but not enough for glasses at this point.  She should "grow" out of it.  One more things she needs to "grow" out of! 

Swim class

 WE started swim classes a few weeks ago.  Back at the YMCA.  I wasn't going to go back, but the classes were half price so it is worth it just for them to play in the water.

 Sasha's class had 10 kids in it.  Normally they only limit it to 6.  After the first class, Lori-the head instructor- asked me to help Sasha's class out.  So now I get to help teach the class. 

 Leeza got pulled up to the big kid class( beginners over 6) to try to even the class numbers out some.  Most of these kids can swim somewhat.  Today, Leeza's class went over to the lap pool and got to jump off the starting blocks.  She looks so little next to these kids.  Lori is teaching this class so i think Leeza is finally learning again. 

Nose bleed #853

Well, maybe it just seems like Leeza has had that many.  Since her operation, she has had multiple small nosebleeds every day.  Thursday at lunchtime, she was on the playground on the monkey bars.  She slipped off and fell flat on her face.  She scrapped up her nose and chin and cut her inner lip.  She also smashed her nose and had a huge nosebleed at school.  It was at lunchtime so her teacher and the nurse were both out.  The playground ladies cleaned her up and sent her to the office for a change of clothes(not the one she keeps in her backpack for just this purpose).  While she was n the bathroom changing, she had another big nose bleed.  It got on the toliet, floor, wall and stall door.  No one came to check on her so she just cleaned herself up and changed clothes and left the room.  I heard this from the BASAP lady-not the secretary.  What happens next is that the pre K class has a potty break.  SO some 3 or 4 year old girl now believes someone was axe murdered at her school.  I guess the preK teacher was pretty unhappy with the secretary.  So was I.  Anyway, the clothes she gave Leeza were WHITE.  Not off white or beige, but glaring stark white shirt and sweatshirt.  To a kid who just had a bloody nose.  Plus the pants were size 10/12.  Leeza wears 5 SLIM.  I guess she was sent back to the playground where she later told me all the boys saw her underwear as her pants kept falling down.  SO the poor kid gets back to class and has another one in her white white outfit.  This time her teacher is there so she gets Leeza her own clothes and sends her back to the secretary.  They have nose spray which they are suppose to use when she has bad nose bleeds, but the secretary waited until I talked to her and then she made Leeza spray the nose spray herself.  Leeza hates it so you know how well that went.  Then she tells Leeza the nose spray is empty(it is not).  Poor kid.  Good thing Leeza has dealing with nose bleeds down pat because this secretary is not much help.  the nurse who is usually there seems to be good, but sadly she was gone Thursday.

It is now Saturday and Leeza has not had a nose bleed since she fell.  Did it fix something in her nose????

Leeza's Nose

After the last year and a half of nose bleeds and being told she will grow out of them, we went to the ENT Dr a week ago.  Leeza would not sit still for him to cauterize 3 vessels he found.  So off we go to the hospital to get it taken care of for good.  Leeza started crying the minute we got to the pre-op ward.  Then she had a nose bleed. While I am trying to rinse out the bloody wash cloth, Leeza makes a break for freedom.  Out the hall she goes, out the pre-op doors, down the hallway heading to registration.  I got her back and finally got the nose bleed taken care of with almost no help from the nurse.  She did get me a washcloth so she actually did do something.  Then she came back to get me to sign paperwork, once I was distracted again, Leeza made break #2 for freedom.   She made it almost down to the turn to registration before I caught her again.  Then it was time to go off to surgery.  She was in there only 30 minutes and the Dr said it went well. Then she was off to recovery.  When they let me in, she still had her IV in.  When the nurse came to take it out, she was so busy taking the tape off Leeza's hand that she kept jerking the needle around causing Leeza's hand to bleed.  Since she hadn't bothered to put on any gloves, I ended up taking the gauze and stopping the bleeding.  The nurse was suppose to bring some more gauze back, but she never did.  I guess she wanted to get rid of us(maybe because I was rather mad at this point) and she said Leeza could go.  Last time it took almost 2 hours in recovery since they wanted Leeza to eat Lorna Doone cookies which she doesn't like.  This time she didn't even ask if she had eaten something. 

Update:  Leeza had her first nose bleed that night.  Thursday she had a big one at McDonalds.  Friday she had about 4 little ones while she was trying to sleep.  Plus she now snores.  She never did before Wednesday. I love Drs and hospitals.

Kindergarten is exhausting

For mommy that is.  It seems like everyday I need to rememberto send something , do something, buy something....  I thought kindergarten was tough for kids, but it is really tough on the mommy.
This week I had to:
Dress Leeza in a tshirt with her favorite place or character on it on Tuesday
Take the girls to dance on Tuesday night
Dress Leeza in a yellow shirt for Yellow Wednesday On Tuesday, go buy a yellow shirt at target for Yellow Wednesday
On wednesday find out Sasha needs gold fish crackers for class on friday.
On Thursday go back to target and get gold fish crackers
Sign Leeza's reading homework after she read us the books 3 times
Do other homework -writing Ts 2 nights
Order some clothes from Kohls because no long pants fit Leeza
Look at ordering for the latest fundraiser at school
Send in money fro their first field trip
Deal with the people putting a roof on the house

And then do the normal things like work, cook, clean(ok maybe not that) etc

Actually, Leeza is exhausted also by thursday and is Ms Cranky Pants on Thursday nights.  Sasha does not need sleep so she does fine with no nap.  Mommy wishes she could nap.

Boo Boo week continues

Sasha slammed her finger in the bathroom door at DQ.  The fingernail is half off.  Not a good week for bleeding around here.
Update Thursday night:  Sasha went running out of the school after we picked up Leeza and fell on the sidewalk, scraping her knee up really badly- more blood and bandaids.
Update:  Friday morning in the garage, Sasha turned around and ran to the door and fell on the steps causing 2 more bleeding scraps on her legs.  I am running out of bandaids.

Another Nose Bleed post

Leeza is supposed to grow out of these nose bleeds.  She has now had 6 since the start of school.  Stress probably isn't helping any.  She had 2 bad ones tonight or one really long one.  I guess it is time to go back to the ENT.  That means hospital and knocking her out for a 5 minute operation. 

Our FIrst Dance Class

 All dressed up in our new dance outfits and ready to go to the Dance Studio for the first time.  The girls are taking ballet and tap.  It is half an hour of ballet and then half an hour of tap. 

 All ready to walk in the doors and start dancing.

 Before class started, the girls check out the room.

 Sasha looks a little worried.  Mom does not get to come in the room so she wasn't sure how that was going to work out.  Leeza is all ready to go.  She would probably push me out of the room and slam the door if she could. She wanted to dance.  I ended up sitting in the van for about 45 minutes waiting for them.  The classes are very disciplined.  No running around or goofing off.  Dance is serious.

 Modeling their outfits at home after class.  They had a good time.  Sasha loved ballet and thought tap was a little loud.  Leeza said she had a lotta lotta fun.

I'm glad they could take the class together.  They let Sasha in even though she wasn't 5 yet, but she will do great.

Happy Labor Day

Yesterday, the  girls were up at 3:30am telling me the sun was up.  I sent them back to bed. At 4am, I caved and told them to go watch TV.  They were hyper all morning.  I wonder if being away from each other all week means they are extra excited about Saturdays together.  By 1:30pm, they crashed watching a movie.  they look so sweet when they are sleeping.

Hailey's Birthday

 The girls in their party dresses on their way to their friends Hailey's 3rd birthday party

 Hailey's mom rented a bounce house.  For some reason, Sasha decided she was too shy to jump. She gets this way sometimes and I do not understand it.  She wouldn't bounce and she wouldn't come out.  Leeza had no problem bouncing.

 Hailey, the birthday girl, eating lunch.

 Leeza had a good time at lunch, but then she is a party girl.  Sasha was still in her shy mode here.  It didn't last much past lunch.  I think she is just needing some attention since Leeza had so much focus on her and kindergarten this week.

 Yes, that is Sasha going in the bounce house with out me.  They just ran out there together and they both got in.

 Then the little playhouse got a workout.  Leeza, Cora, Dexter  and another girl are inside and Sasha and another kid are on the outside.  That is a lot of kids in one little house.

It was a princess party and the birthday girl did good blowing out her candles.  I had best start planning for Sasha's birthday- it is only a montha nd a half away