Tessa is ^9^!!

The actual day is tomorrow but we celebrated Tessa's 9th birthday today!   She really wanted to eat at HuHot or Mr. Stirfry but since both of those places haven't been getting a clean bill of health lately we convinced her that Jonny Carino was the place to eat.

She knew what she was getting and begged all afternoon to get it early PLEASE!!   But we made her life miserable and had her wait until. we were at the restaurant.   She was pretty happy.  Even though I just can't get her to smile right now.   She thinks she looks silly with her expanders on.   We still think she looks adorable!

Just amazing how far this little girl has come.   She didn't like her Mom one little bit in China.   By Hong Kong she was calling me Mom and now she has Mom and Dad wrapped around her little fingers!

Happy Birthday Tessa Lou sweetheart!!  We love you to the Universe and back!!  Several times over!!

Wood floor!

It's in!!   I am still not sure how I like it.   Well, I love the look!   Still getting used to it being cooler that I am used to.   I am pretty sure that we will have an area rug by winter when the snow blows to keep my toes warm!   Now all of you who have wood floors tell me what am I supposed to do to keep this clean and I really don't want a lot of work to do this!

Jordis is on the swim team

We were told a couple of years ago when the girls were taking swimming lessons that Jordis was a natural for swimming.   Her teacher suggested that she join a swim team.   At that time we were not in a position to do that so we kind of put it on the back burner.

This year changed all that.   She is now on the Overbrook Swim Team!   She had her first competion last Saturday and she was in six races.   She placed second in two, third, fourth, fifth and sixth in one.   We were really proud of her!   She has a competion each Saturday for the next four weeks.   We can only see her doing better now that she knows how things work.   And the best part, she really enjoyed herself!

New flooring

When we moved into this house we were really happy with the carpet in the living room.   It was an upgrade from what the builder would usually put in a new house.   However over the last 5 years with a growing number of girls in the house and our dog and 2 cats the carpet has started looking bad. I have tried to shampoo it regularly and that helps for a short period of time, but I can't keep up with the ever puking cats!  

So we decided to put down wood floors!!   I have always loved the look of wood floors.   I have been told by about an equal number of people that I will either hate them or love them.   So I am anxious to see how much I love them!

Also we had the cheapest of cheap linoleum on the floor in our kitchen.   It is the same in our bathrooms and our laundry room too, but in those rooms it does not get the wear and tear it does in our kitchen.    So we also have put tile in our kitchen!   I love the look and I hope that it will wear so much better than the linoleum.

Just a little whine

Yesterday was my 3rd dose of Chemo.    I usually have a bite to eat before chemo, but yesterday I had to drop the girls off at their Taekwondo camp and I was running late so I decided to skip the food.   As it was they were starting their new computer system yesterday and were running 2 hours behind, so I really could have gotten something to eat.   Now today I am very nauseated and I am taking all the medications I have to see if I can alleviate it.   So far it hasn't gotten any worse, but hasn't gone away either.

Learned a lesson here...eat!!

Last day in Branson

So our last day we thought about going back to SDC for a few hours.   But a few five girls decided that it just wouldn't be a trip to Branson without visiting our their favorite store "Justice!"    So they each could pick out two outfits.   Daddy even came in and helped for a while until he decided there was way to much neon in the store!

We then had brunch at Bob Evans and on the road again!   Ah but Mom had a plan.   I saw the Fantastic Caverns sign and I just couldn't resist.   So we took the tour!   It has been a couple of years since we have gone through the cavern and it seemed to us that they had changed the tour somewhat.  The girls enjoyed learning about stalactites and stalagmites.   It was really worth the extra time to go.
Fantastic Caverns is a fun family event.

We were all excited to see home.   I think it took us 10 minutes to unpack and put our suitcases away. The girls were in their jammies in record time and we all lounged around playing with electronics or catching up on emails.   Maybe we will try to get one more trip in to SDC before I start my weekly chemo treatments.   If not we really want to see the Dixie Stampede at Christmas time and I think that SDC has some special things at Christmas time too.

This is Jordis' hair after we took out the Angel Halo.

Silver Dollar City!

Thursday dawned bright.   The sun is shining and the birds are singing.   The girls are chanting, "Silver Dollar City!  Silver Dollar City!   Yes!  Today we are going to the great City of Silver Dollars!!   We kind of had a late start, only 20 minutes later than we were planning, but we noticed that where we parked was quite a bit farther than we would have if we were there earlier but it was still pretty close.

We headed in and took a photo by the front gate with the flat doctors that our daughters are doing right now through their orthodontist's office.   Then Mark and I went to rent our rides for the day.   Rides for the day you may wonder?!   Yes, you can rent a "scooter" for the day.   This has been a blessing for Daddy to scoot around on when we have been there the last few times.    He gets so short winded that he just can't keep up with us and this makes him the leader of the pack!   So since I knew that I was not going to be able to keep up either I was resigned to ride my scooter.  And you know what?   I LOVED IT!!   It was so great to have as I knew that I would be totally worn out by the middle of the day and I did not want to tell the girls that we would have to leave early so my trusty scooter and I were a team!

We rented our scooters and were headed into the park when I saw a booth that was doing hair.   The hair is called Angel Doo's and Kendalan and Tessa was interested in having it done.   So Mark and the older girls took off to ride a ride or two while we had the girls hair done.   The ladies doing the hair was telling me how easy it is to do hair this way.   And the best part...we also received a DVD with the instruction on it.   The girls looked so cute after their hair was done and we received many completments throughout the day.   Jordis decided in the early afternoon that she wanted her hair up like that too as it was so much cooler and an easy way to keep your hair out of your face and off your neck.

We then headed down to the swings, tea cups, the boats etc.   The girls ran from ride to ride. It wasn't long before everyone was hungry.   We found a place that we all agreed on and after lunch we were going to ride the train.   Dad, Zora and Tessa went to get a bracelet for Zora.   We were going to wait for them, but it was taking them forever.   So we started looking for them.   They got lost and we were waiting in line for the train when they finally found us again!   After the train ride Dad decided it was time to go back to the cabin and have a nap.  

So we girls headed over to the Lost River Ride!   It was time to get WET!!   We waited in line for a long time but it was worth the wait.   We all got drenched!   Then I took them over to the Huck and Finn boat ride and they got even wetter!   We then headed back to the first rides they were on to dry off.   After we all were fairly dry we decided it was time to go get Dad and eat.

Red Lobster was our choice this evening and we managed to stuff ourselves!   Then back to the cabin and time to hit the hay.