Date Night with Daddy!

Dave and I decided that it would be better for him and Chloe to clear out of the house for the majority of Solana's slumber party. So Chloe got a special and rare treat - a one-on-one date night with her Daddy! She was super excited and felt so special. She wore her new fancy Dora the Explorer dress and put on her fanciest date manners.

 I don't remember having date-nights with my Daddy. I don't think it was really a thing back then but I can just imagine how exciting it would have been. They went to the movies. Heaven help me but I can't remember which one. Afterwards, though, they went out for pizza.

 Chloe's "kid's" pizza was giant! She hates messy fingers and always eats her pizza with a fork.

After the date they came home and were just in time for cake and ice cream. Chloe couldn't have cared less that she missed the majority of the party. She had a wonderful night.

Solana is 9!!! First Slumber Party!

Solana is 9 and I can hardly believe how big she is. Every once in a while I'll look back at old pictures and marvel at the change. She's incredibly intelligent, the most reading-est reader I've ever known, beautiful, sensitive but also thick-skinned. She knows how to push her limits (big time) and rebel if she choses. Solana wants to be heard and is hurt if she we aren't listening. Being her parent is wonderful, challenging, exciting, and a learning experience. She's kind to her sister. But also can push buttons along with the best of 'em. Solana is kooky and fun-loving. She makes friends everywhere she goes and people adore her almost as much as we do! We're very proud.

 The morning of her birthday she had her traditional #9 pancake. This year it was chocolate chip, whipped cream, and sprinkles. Solana style 100%.

Here she is waiting for her friends to arrive at her party.

We had the Fiesta Tropical station playing on the TV and the girls played an impromptu dance/bop the balloon contest. They were so cute and complimentary of each other's dancing skills.

Then they decorated pillow cases. From the top clockwise: Sarah, Gaby, Solana, Maria, Anna.

Dave and Chloe were out for a movie date. When they returned we sang Happy Birthday.

Cheers! They made ice cream sundae's to go along with their cupcakes! Yum!

Movie time! They watched the Tinkerbell Pirate Fairy Movie. 

Sarah and Anna spent the night and showed off their pillowcase creations. 

Reading Time

Chloe has really taken to reading this year. She loves it and wants to read all the time! We've been borrowing those little Sunshine books from the library (you can see a pile of 20 or so on the bottom right of her bookshelf) and I'm amazed at how well she does. Granted, she's using context clues and the sentences are repeated but she's paying attention to the letters and…it's so much fun!

Here she is reading to Bluebell, aka. "the fluffiest foot stool ever!"

Of course, she has a fantastic role model in Solana. Solana's last report card was so funny. Her teacher commented that she's never seen a student read so much and that Solana will probably read every book in the library before the year is out! That girl LOVES to read! She used to get in trouble at school for reading when she was supposed to be doing other things but she's gotten that under control. At home she reads on the couch, on the bed, on the toilet (I'm trying to stop that because she'll sit there for 30 minutes), walking down the hall, at the table (also a no-no), at the restaurant, in the car, walking through the parking lot (well, she would if we let her), etc. etc. And she leaves books in her wake. I've started picking up books and keeping them in my room to make her earn them back. LOL! Seriously! Have you ever heard such a thing? Anyway, it's no wonder Chloe wants to read. It's probably her best bet at spending quality time with her sister!

Bluebell's Recovery

Update: Bluebell's recovery seems to be going well. She got a clean bill of health at her 2 week post-op visit and even lost 1 pound! Dave and I had bet on her weight loss. Let's just say we were overly optimistic. I suppose 1 pound isn't horrible considering she's not moving at all. Speaking of that, for a working-class dog, Bluebell sure can handles her new sedentary lifestyle well… We bought her a new bed so she could be more comfortable. It's a good thing she doesn't mind sharing!!

Chloe Goes to a Party!

Chloe was invited to her friend, Lydia's, birthday party. She was so excited! This was her first school-friend birthday party. And it was a princess party so she got all dressed up. She really felt like a Princess and wanted to take lots of pictures.  

All the girls had their faces painted but Chloe kept saying, "no thank you" when asked. I suggested she get her hand painted and she was down with that.

She really liked it. It was a great experience for her!

Solana's Appliance

And we have a orthodontic patient in the family. Solana was pretty excited to get her new appliance in January. Is it just me or does she look really little in this picture?

As they placed it she kept licking the icky glue stuff they used to cement it in there. It made her gag. Here she is a little worse for wear but still hangin' in there.

Meet Solana's new expander.

The first couple of days were a little rough. She was sore for a bit but didn't complain too badly. I think I had the hardest time handling all the slurping and slurred speeech. I swear, I have this weird thing about mouth sounds. They are so annoying to me! LOL! But we made it though and she's now about to speak normally again.

We even went for a checkup a couple of weeks ago and you can already see the changes in her mouth. The only bad part about the expander is that there's a space between the roof of her mouth and the appliance where food can get caught. She got a popcorn kernel stuck in there once and couldn't even get it out with the water pic! Poor thing.

Fly a Kite

We had a warmish and windy day Friday. The girls couldn't wait to get out with their new kite. Dave barely got home from work when we all dragged him back out the door. It was wonderful!