Eye Surgery

Adeline is going in for ANOTHER surgery tomorrow.  Looks like 2013 is our best bet for a surgery-free year. . .

Adeline continues to struggle in the vision department.  Her right eye is extremely farsighted and turns in when trying to focus on objects up close.  We have tried to correct the strain that pulls her eye inward by changing her prescription but were unsuccessful.  I knew in my guy that we would eventually face surgery and that day has come. 

We have switched doctors and love her new ophthalmologist.  We feel that he gives her exceptional care and wouldn't perform the surgery if he wasn't confident that it was worth trying.  Hopefully, she will fall in the 65% of kids that come out of the surgery with a fixed eye.  We will have to see.  There is another 25% that walk away with a close to fixed eye and I would be okay with that too.  I fear the eye that won't fix!  I pray that this doesn't happen to Adeline.

Tomorrow is a complicated day.  Adeline has to arrive at the hospital at 7:15 which forces one parent to go and one to stay home and get the other two off to school.  Alex is going to take her.  I HATE not going.  She remembers that I didn't go to her last surgery which was tubes and doesn't really fall under a surgery in my book.  When recalling that surgery, Adeline told me that the doctors put the mask on her face and told her lay down and look the speaker in the ceiling.  The doctors told her daddy would talk to her through the speaker and could hear her talking to him.  Adeline then asked, "Why weren't you there?  I wanted you to talk to me on the speaker." 

OUCH! 

Wish my little Adeline well tomorrow.  I have some anxiety about this surgery for some reason.  I just want my astronaut Jet up and running around again soon. 

One of my Favorites

Lila brought this present home from Kindergarten.  I absolutely love it. 

The Sweet Smells of Christmas

It is a good thing I take pictures because I had almost forgotten all of activities that surrounded our holiday. Why it has to be a whirlwind of events that blur together, I don't know. When flipping back through my pictures, I am reminded of some of our sweetest moments. If only we spread these out to span the entire year so that we could fully appreciate the activities and time together.

We kicked the holiday baking off with a M&M snowman cake. The girls did all the decorating and thoroughly enjoyed eating it as well.

Next up was the annual gingerbread house. The girls have strengthened their design skills over the past year and produced a pretty good looking house. Savannah was lucky enough to orchestrate an, "I will decorate the front and the you girls can have the rest," policy. It held up for the most part. I can see that three separate house will be needed in the not so distant future.




The little girls had a chance to create their own gingerbread houses during Adeline's preschool Christmas party. I love the way Miss Lois has them create their own house out of milk cartons glued to a paper plates. Lots of fine motor, crossing mid-line and using hands together are involved in this activity.

Notice the frosting on their lips!

The holiday wouldn't be complete without cranking out hundreds of Christmas cookies. Thankfully, my mom is in town for this portion because I don't have the attention to detail that she has. The favorite cookies to make are the candy canes. I should clarify that. The kid's favorite cookies are the candy canes while the adults fear them because they are hard to twist. We dread them because removing them from the pan takes a steady and patient hand. We celebrate if we break less than we 20.

What surprised us all this year is that Savannah can make a candy cane cookie just as well as my mom. My mom has over 20 years of twisting experience and Savannah's cookies are just as beautiful. The twins and I still have a long way to go in mastering the art of candy cane cookies but we forge ahead regardless of our cookie's aesthetic appeal. I love how it has become a family tradition. It makes the cookies that much sweeter.

When they had had enough, the red dough worked well for Rudolph costumes!

My Jingle Elf

Savannah ran her first adult run this December.  We ran it together which was super fun.  The run was two miles through West Chester and was the opening event for the annual Christmas parade.  Therefore, the streets were lined with hundreds of people cheering us on.  My girl ran her socks off and ended up leaving me behind.  We were the last people to cross the start line and the posted times didn't account for it.  I am guessing at her final time but feel fairly confident that she ran two miles in 17:40!  Not bad for an 8 year old; the fastest 8 year old who ran the race!

The Santa Express

I am sad to report that our train-loving, Adeline did not join us on this year's Santa Express Ride.  It was hard to leave her behind, knowing she would enjoy it more than anyone.  However, the fever and puking left us no choice.  Alex stayed behind with the Belle and the rest of us, including Grammy and Papa, headed to the Strasburg Railroad.  We were joined by friends which helped fill the void. The girls enjoyed time with friends and Santa! 

Oh Christmas Tree

We looked long and hard for a tree farm that sold cut-your-own trees tall enough for our family room.  For the past five years, we have cut our trees at a local farm and ended up with some very natural (no shearing is done at this farm) and pretty trees.  The last couple years, the trees have appeared diseased and last year's tree confirmed my suspicsion.  Every needle or at least 80% of them were on my floor before exiting my house.  It was unbelievable and I vowed to never go back.  Fires plagues my brain during the holidays.

(Last year's disaster!)

Our search was futile and we ended up buying a tree from a farm that ships them in from Western Pennsylvania.  There was no cutting involved but the girls settled for a walk around the farm which involved a visit with the horses.  Adeline has true love of horses and desperately wanted to believe that this horse was Lady; her therapy horse that got old and was moved to a new farm.  This horse was very affectionate with the Belle.

Here is our first experience with the perfectly sheared Christmas tree. I think I like it!

And That Makes 41!

Earlier in the month, Alex and I celebrated our back to back birthdays.  The girls get very excited about our birthdays.  They were even more excited when I told them I was going to put 41 candles on daddy's cake.  Good thing they were there to help Alex put out his fire.




My candles were placed on Daddy's leftover cake and were much less threatening. . .