Good news from Ashley's teacher!

Ashley's been struggling a little with reading. As of testing in November she wasn't where she needed to be for her grade level. Her teacher assured us it wasn't time to panic yet since most kids in first grade either get it right away and take off- or just after Christmas break things click and they take off. She felt like Ashley was almost to that point and was expecting things to click soon. Of course she encouraged us to continue to work with her at home. Today she sent home this note:

Mr, Mrs. P,
I am so impressed with the improvement Ashely has made in her reading. I re-tested her today. She finished at a level 12 - that means she is at a late 1st grade level. She started at a level 3. By the end of the year she will be at an early to mid 2nd grade level. great job!

YAY! I'm so happy. I've noticed a huge improvement too- most of it is in her confidence. I'm just glad that she's getting it though.

Something inspiring to share.

I just watched this and it is amazing. I usually hate forwards and forward-type things, but if you have a minute this is worth your time.
Autistic Basketball Player

Okay, pictures as promised.

Here is my kitchen. I started painting about 10:30 last night. I'm planning on putting my china in wrought iron plate holders on the walls above the cupboards.

Here is the Sliding door vallance. It seems too short? I'm thinking that's why it looks funny? Not sure. Opinions please? Also- that wall between the windows and the door. What would you put there??Megan hit her tooth on the playground about a year and a half ago. It died and turned black. About a week and a half ago it abcessed so we had to have it pulled yesterday (after a round of antibiodics.) Before:

After:She was so good at the dentist... after they gave her drugs. I couldn't believe how compliant and pleasant she was. She kept talking really loud though- like you'd expect her to act if she was drunk. I asked for some to take home- but they said no.

Corinne's newest trick is sucking from a straw. My huge WW cup straw even. Here she is just being cute. She also likes her tounge.
And here is Ashley at her family birthday party. Notice the cake? Same cake as for her 'friend' party two days before. We fed them the beehive and then I redid the top of the cake and put frozen buttercream transfer flowers on top. I think the cake was even moister after sitting in the fridge for two days.
And so that I'm fair and don't leave anyone out- here is Annika scaling the pantry. Yes, I'm the best mom ever. There were cookies, crackers, chips and fruit snacks. She was after the rolls. That'll teach me to leave that door open.
Whew! Okay, I've got a recipe exchange here tonight for church so I've got to shower and stuff. I've been working hard all day!

Yay!

Okay, it came last night. Sorry I've been neglectful. I've been organizing and painting like a madwoman. Not sure why other then I felt like it- so I go with that feeling when I've got it! I taught our preschool co-op today so we made cookies for snacks (plus kids love to 'help cook') it's awesome! I can't wait to make some frosting- which I need to do this weekend. I'm currently hanging my vallances- so I'll update this post with pictures in about an hour (since I've got walls of steel apparently.)

I can hardly stand the wait!!

I ordered the following this week:

What is that you may ask. Well I'll tell you. It's a K-Tec Mix n Blend™ Kitchen Machine It has more then double the horsepower (did you know mixers had horse power??) of a kitchen aid or a Bosch. I know it's not all the pretty colors- but did you notice the lid?? The one that completely covers (almost) the bowl? When I make frosting there is powdered sugar everywhere. But no more. Woo!! I'm so excited!! Seven to ten days. YAY!!!

Two random cakes I needed to post so I could link them

Cheesecake covered in chocolate gnache, surrounded by hand dipped chocolate, mint and raspberry truffles. This was the groomscake for my brother's wedding.

My graveyard cupcakes from Halloween.

Pardon my reflective mood

After two years trying to conceive our second child we were told that we'd even had one without fertility drugs was a miracle and that it was 'a statistical impossibility' that we'd have another. We were told that we'd have once chance and that if it worked it'd be one in a million, but if it didn't work there was no second try. Then it didn't work -we were devastated. Eight weeks later in the ER we found out that we were expecting, that we'd not only beaten the odds- but that we'd done it after they'd told us that we'd failed.

Then when I was 26 weeks pregnant they found the heart defect. She also wasn't growing fast enough. It was torture waiting. They usually induce labor early when babies aren't growing, but they wanted her to be as big as possible when she was born so that she could handle open heart surgery at less then 48 hours old. She would need 4 surgeries in her first 2 years of life. Her chances of surviving the first surgery was 50%.

They told us that she would be lucky to be five pounds at birth (this was with weekly ultrasounds and monitoring.) When she was born she was 7'10" and was pink! Her heart was declared perfect at 48 hours old and we were able to take her home. Our little Megan. I felt that the meaning of her name was very important. Megan means 'strong' or 'strength'. This fits her perfectly. We knew that she'd need to be strong to survive. She's still very strong willed and is physically stronger and more coordinated then her older sister. Her middle name is Elizabeth. She's named after my grandmother who died six weeks previous to her birth. Elizabeth also means 'gift from God'. I couldn't have asked for a better gift.

We prayed our Megan here, and prayed her to stay. She is a testimony to me of the power of the priesthood. Of course it also had to be in accordance with God's Will- which is where it gets tricky.

I believe in miracles though- I have no choice. My miracle baby is 3 1/2 years old and has two younger sisters who were conceived without medical intervention. I'm not sure why we've been so blessed, I certainly don't feel like we deserve it. But I'm eternally grateful.