Madison's High School Musical Birthday!

Sunday afternoon, May 18th, we celebrated Madison's 8th birthday (which was actually the 23rd). I can't believe that my baby is 8 years old! She had decide that she wanted to have a High School Musical party and have several friends come over to watch the movies and sing/dance along. Vince realized several months ago that High School Musical The Ice Tour was coming and bought several tickets. So we decided to have her friends come over and then surprise them all by taking them to HSM The Ice Tour. I called the parents before hand and let them know what our plan was and to get their OK. Madison's friends and cousins came over around noon and danced a little as you can see from this precious video!

We then told her we were going to go ahead and have cake first.

Once they had pretty much finished with cake we gave Madison an envelope to open and the tickets were inside. At first she was like, "HSM on ice, oh good, when are we going?" And then we said "Now this is your party lets ALL get in the car".

You could've heard the screams from Trussville.

They were all so excited.

We had gone to see it last year in Nashville and we all loved it so much that we wanted to go again. The girls had a great time and Madison's face was priceless!
Two of Madison's cousins, her 4 closest friends, Vince and me, Aunt Lee, and Miss Hope all got to share in this wonderful birthday celebration that hopefully she'll always remember!

Zoey Walking

As sad as it is, it has taken me this long to figure out how to load video onto my blog. And what's really sad is that it is not that hard! Zoey gets a little interested in Elmo during this fabulous example of videographer experience (haha). Hope you all enjoy this and I'll work on posting some other videos!

Happy Mother's Day to Me!

I'll have to post some pictures later but for Mother's Day this year I got a little one walking, yes I said WALKING (I also got two new set of sheets, yipee, I love new sheets). Watch out everyone because here comes trouble! Zoey is just so amazing to watch, she is so funny. We just laugh at her. She's like the Energizer Bunny, she is nonstop. Last night Madison was running around and Zoey was chasing her, you've never heard a more precious sound than that little laugh. She was hysterically laughing about chasing her sister. She also has started eating solid food and we haven't found anything yet she wouldn't eat. Definitley was meant for this family! I hope all you mommies out there had a wonderful mother's day! Please keep the people of China in your prayers. So many lives were lost in the earthquake and the numbers are still rising. It too tragic to comprehend. May God lay His loving hand on the people of China!

Madison's First Holy Communion

Sunday April 27, 2008 was Madison's First Holy Communion. Her beautiful smocked dress was worn by her two older cousins for their First Holy Communion as well, which makes it really special. In the catholic church when the children who are enrolled in the parish school of religion (Sunday School) are in second grade they are able to complete the sacrament of First Holy Communion. This is the first time that they can participate in communion during Mass. We didn't take any pictures of her during her first communion in Mass because we didn't feel it was appropriate during such a reverent time.Again I have taken some wording from a catholic handbook I have to try and explain this sacrament. "At the Last Supper, on the night when He was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the Cross throughout the ages until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection; a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a paschal banquet in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us." This mystery is the very center and culmination of Christian life. It is the "source and the summit of all preaching of the Gospel...the center of the assembly of the faithful". In every Mass Christ is present, both in the person of his priest and especially under the form of bread and wine. In every mass, his death becomes a present reality, offered as a our sacrifice to God in an unbloody and sacramental manner. As often as the sacrifice of the cross is a celebrated on an altar, the work of our redemption is carried on. (By the way, Vince has shaved his goatee)

At Mass we offer Christ, our passover sacrifice, to God, and we offer ourselves along with him. We then receive the risen Lord, our bread of life, in holy Communion. In so doing, we enter into the very core of the paschal mystery of our salvation-the death and resurrection of Christ.

Eating the supper of the Lord, we span all time and "proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes" (1 Corinthians 11:26). If you prepare for it with care and enter into it with living faith, the Eucharist can draw you into the compelling love of Christ and set you afire.

*****Passages taken from HANDBOOK FOR TODAY'S CATHOLIC******

After Mass we had family over for lunch to celebrate. If you ever need a cake for a baptism or other church function-Publix did a great job!

Madison obviously enjoyed it!

It was a wonderful day that I am thrilled we were able to share with our whole family.

Medical update

Really since we've been home no major ailments for anyone. I thought I would give a synopsis of Zoey's health since we've been home. She went for an eval at the adoption clinic and everything was great, but she had some fluid in her ears so we did a round of antibiotics. She went for her first pediatrician visit and again everything looked great and she got her first round of vaccines in March. About a week after that she started running a fever of 102 so I took her back to the pediatrician and they said her ears were a little red but no biggie. Then the next night, March 31st, she literally screamed ALL NIGHT LONG, so I knew she had an ear infection if not both ears. So April 1st I took her to one of my ENT's after I did tympanograms on her and sure enough she had two infections. We did a round of antibiotics and scheduled to go back in three weeks. Last Friday afternoon the 18th she saw Dr. Lewis for an eye exam and everything looked perfect! Monday she went back for her second round of vaccines and she has done great. She has been sleeping fine, but ever since we got her she has always pulled and batted at her ears. We've wondered if it was a self soothing thing or if they really bothered her because she does it mostly at bedtime. Well we went for recheck of her ears this morning and she still has fluid. Being an audiologist I know all the "we can do this for so many weeks, or we can try this", but I just said, "Tubes is my choice. Let's do it!" So next Thursday morning Zoey is having tubes put in her ears. We went through this with Madison too and I know it will be fine. So that is a brief summary of everything, just keep her in your prayers next Thursday!

Fun at the Park!

Sunday April 20th was a beautiful day. After church we headed to the Zoo for an afternoon of fun, but plans changed quickly because the zoo was so packed you couldn't even get off the exit ramp (the zoo was free for Earth Day). We decided to head to the park for a fun afternoon with the girls and their cousins. Obviously the swing was Zoey's favorite thing at the park and the girls had fun pushing her.

She wasn't quite sure about the slide!

After the park we headed for something cool to drink at Smoothie King and Starbucks, then home for a restful afternoon.

Crazy, Stormy Fridays

The last few Fridays here in AL have been crazy as far as storms go. We've gone from 80 degree weather to high 40's and then back to 80's. With this drastic change in weather comes wind, hail, and tornadoes. Thank God we have been lucky enough to not have had any damage close to us, but the storms have still made us uneasy. These are just some pictures I took of Mom and Zoey watching one of the storms blow in.
Hopefully, for this storm season, we are done with tornadoes and hail. It's already too hot for me, I am ready for fall!