A tea party on the ranch

My mom (aka Nany) has always wanted to host a little girl's tea party so she planned this very fun day for her two granddaughters, Maddie & Kylie, and their little friends. It was a rainy June day on the ranch so the plan of having it outdoors had to be altered to an indoor tea party. All 6 of the girls dressed up in their prettiest dresses and pearls while they enjoyed tea with the girls. The girls had an audience...a few grandmothers and great-grandmothers were also there to enjoy the day. Mom had her close friend, Robyn Green come and take pictures to capture the sweet affair. I think that the pictures depict the lovely day the girls had... thank you Nany for these precious memories!

Maddie's 5!

Miss Maddie turned 5 on March 13th! Yes, it was a month ago and here I am, finally sharing about it. RSV left almost as quickly as it had come on with our girl. She spent a week low-key, at home and on oxygen when needed. She also ended up with an ear infection following the virus, 10 days of amoxicillin cleared that up. As of now, she's healthy and back to her norm :)

A Dora Guitar from Grandma A! Just what she wanted!

She was so excited about her new saddle! My folks found this adorable saddle and surprised us all with it! She's looking forward to riding her Sparky Boy a lot this spring...now if we just had some cooperative spring weather. The boys are pumped about it too. What a fabulous hobby for her and easy on her heart. She told me recently that she'd like to grow up to be a rodeo queen. Cute but we'll see. Not really this mama's thing!

She looks so grown up in this picture. She has had a tremendous growth spurt since her Fontan...putting her in the 90th percentile on the growth charts now! I never would have guessed this in a million years during her first couple years of life, she was so petite and little. At her well-child exam, she weighed 50 lbs & was 45.7" tall! I registered her for Kindergarten this past week...she's sooo excited, me on the other hand, that's another story.

Maddie with her girl cousins at her family birthday dinner...they're all such pretty girls!

 

 

The following day, she had her first "friend" birthday party...8 little girls under the age of 5! It was a blast! She chose a mermaid theme...so they swam in the 'mermaid lagoon' and I worked a couple of late nights sewing mermaid tales. I shouldn't wait until the last minute...

 

They wound down at the end of the birthday party with a Barbie and the Mermaid Tale movie!

And last but not least, our celebration at preschool included one of her fave's...icecream! I'd say we celebrated turning 5!

in honor of Miss Maddie!

A friend and preschool mom of mine, Jessica, came up with this fun idea to give back for heart month! She is offering a couple of days of photography sessions and will give the proceeds to a charity of Maddie's choice! Hmmm....we have so many favorite charities, which one will Maddie choose?

Pre-Op & a ROYAL send off for the princess!

Today was a very long day of pre-op appointments and Maddie did spectacular which makes tomorrow even a bit more sad for me, she was so trusting and sweet through all of her exams, pokes, prodding and visits with medical staff. She had a chest x-ray, EKG, vitals, sats were 76% and weight was 15.1 kilos. The weight was a big "whoo-hoo" and major goal achieved before this surgery. We had prescriptions to pick up and lots of odds and ends to take care of. We did get into the Ronald McDonald House today, which is great since it's so close to the hospital and accommodating to families. We're at House A, which is the same one we stayed in during her Glenn surgery. Maddie is still scheduled for the 1st case tomorrow morning. We need to be at the hospital at 6am and her surgery should begin at 7:30 am. I plan to update the blog if computer issues don't interfere (been having those these past couple of days).

Though I've had moments of sadness and guilt of having to put her through all of this, we're doing pretty good. We have our family here and we're so amazed by all of the incredible support we're getting from home, friends, and more family. Thanks to everyone for the wonderful facebook messages, emails, blog comments and posts, voice mails, texts, cards and gifts we've received. Knowing how much everyone cares about Maddie is such a huge blessing. And even more so, we're so thankful for the prayers on her behalf as well as for our entire family. We know the power of prayer. Thank you, thank you, thank you. This brings us more strength than you know.

After leaving home Sunday with our kids, we spent the afternoon at the zoo then went swimming at the hotel's pool. Ordering pizza in is always a hit since we don't have this luxury in our little home town. And speaking of that lil' country town... what a send-off my sweet friends put together back in Royal! It was a surprise and these pictures speak volumes of the love we felt from all of you. I was a teary mess. Maddie is such a lucky little girl. Thank you to our dear friends and families for lining our road, sending off 50 pink & red balloons and making those cute banners and signs for her. It was a parade fit for a princess! We are incredibly grateful for all of the kindness shown to our family. Ok, so now onto the pictures... thanks Jens for the great pictures and my mom took a couple of these too.


Shelli & Courtney, the 'masterminds' behind this covert operation! Way to go girls, we LOVED it and what a wonderful way to leave our beloved home town.

pictures!

My wonderful friend Michele came out on Thursday to take the kid's pictures. She's a very talented, sweet and supportive friend, and visiting with her was just what I needed that evening. Watching the boys and Maddie play around and pose was good for the soul too. I love these pictures...she caught their personalities and expressions just beautifully! These are our three to a 't'...

We're heading out to Seattle today. Tomorrow is a packed day at the hospital for pre-op appointments. Maddie's actually excited about going to the hospital now, after knowing she'll get to pick toys out of her treasure tote and that she'll get lots of popcicles after her surgery. I'm happy that popcicles and dollar store toys console her of what's to come at the moment. The joys of only being 3.

Pumpkin Patch Pals!

We've enjoyed a few trips to the pumpkin patch this fall...first with Maddie's heart bff Teagan, her big brother Gavin and mommy Susie to The Country Mercantile. It was SO MUCH FUN!!! There was tons to do there and when you're with great friends like the Maxwell's, it makes it even more enjoyable. The kids kept us busy chasing after them in a straw bale maze, corn maze, barn full of farm animals, corn pyramid, and the pumpkin patch of course.





We also enjoyed a pumpkin carving party last weekend at the Schonewald's. This picture should include all of the kids at the party...crazy thing is Bryan and I grew up with at least one or both of all their parents! It's so unique that now all of our kids are growing up together and making fun memories like this! What can we say, we can't leave our quaint town of Royal. Should start a colony here...(our 3 kiddos are on the left side of the photo)
And our third and final trip to find that "great pumpkin" was with the preschool class on Tuesday. The highlight of this trip was driving Cade's entire preschool class, teacher and a couple of mom friend's in our farm's bus :) Good times!

Our 4th of July weekend

Our busy weekend started off by celebrating Nany's birthday with ice cream sundaes and four-wheeler rides, compliments of Jace and Cade...For the fourth, we enjoyed a yummy BBQ, swimming at the pond, playing with cousins and a great fireworks show at Uncle Jerry & Aunt Chriss' place. Martha Stewart has nothing on Chriss, they surely know how to entertain and put on a fun party!

Maddie & her Kylie Rose, they sure are Nany-girls and two peas in a pod these days! Lots of affection and sweetness between these girlies

Cooling off in the pond after a HOT day

Bryan showing the boys his skills on the rope swing! This is as good of a picture I could get of these 3...no one would look at me for the picture!
Maddie with her new favorite friend, Courtney...they bonded after the haircut, don't ya think?!?
Cade double-fisting the sparklers...he's a brave one!
Enjoying the awesome fireworks show, our kids loved it.