Disney Live! Rockin' Road Show was awesome!!

Last night we went to see the Disney Live! Rockin' Road Show.
The girls had so much fun! It is a great interactive show! The 'host' Chris was funny and gave the kids ample opportunities to scream, dance and laugh! Cori's favorite part was when Tigger came out and everyone was encouraged to get up and BOUNCE!! It was great to see the theater full of kids bouncing and laughing! What a sight! I'm so glad we had the opportunity to go.

Here are some pictures of the fun!

Incredible!

I had the most amazing experience last night/early this morning! I was able to attend a birth as a doula. I haven't been to any other births beside those of my girls. :-) It was incredible to watch and help her. She was so strong! I was there with my mentor Kris and we both worked with Nancy to help her get through the contractions. My knowledge of massage therapy came in very handy! We rubbed her feet at first while the contractions were getting stronger. Then we walked the halls for a little while. During each contraction I would rub either her shoulders or her lower back while Kris helped her slow her breathing and remind her to relax her body. We were a really great team! And since I'm not charging while I'm going through certification, Nancy got 2 doulas for the price of one! hehe Everything went so smoothly. She was so amazing!! So strong!!
Her 3-year-old daughter was in the room the whole time. She was asleep in the corner of the room until 5 minutes AFTER her brother was born. It was so sweet. She was so excited to see him and to give him a kiss.
I feel so blessed to have been a part of it all. I can't wait to help more women in the same way!

Rock Climbing

Sasha's Mom took the girls rock climbing at Elgin's rec center. They both did an awesome job.

First day of school!

Brynne and Alanna started school last Wednesday. Brynne started 2nd grade! ACK! She can't be that old! Alanna started Kindergarten. :-( No more preschool for her. Which is sad for me because I had a lot of fun helping out in her class and her new teacher doesn't like parents coming into the class. :-(
But now Brynne and Alanna get to ride the bus home together. (Alanna goes in the afternoon). They really like that. Here are some pictures of the first day.

After YEARS of wondering what is wrong with my body, we finally have an answer! I have Celiac Disease! It is so nice to know that it hasn't been all just in my head. I just knew there was something wrong, we just couldn't figure it out. I had a doctor's appt. a couple of weeks ago and then had to have some blood tests (because I was suspecting celiac). The results took about a week to get. I got a call from the doc's office saying that they wanted me to come in to talk about the results. I was SOOO excited that the call wasn't just that the results were within normal range!! I know that sounds weird, but after so long of not knowing what was wrong with me it was a great to know that we found something! I've actually been eating gluten-free for about a month now and I have been feeling sooo much better. I just wish the gluten-free goodies weren't so expensive!

Brynne's Spring Sing

One of Cori's paintings

I found one of Cori's paintings today and thought I'd share. This was done in February.

I made skirts for the girls for Easter. I also made Joseph's tie and my skirt. I got the fabric about a year ago at Walmart for only $1/yard!!!! I knew I had to get a lot! I can't believe how much I got out of it!
On Friday we had portraits done of my parents with their grandchildren. The girls wore thier skirts and my dad wore Joseph's tie. My mom and Sjalynn wore scarves made out of the same material. I also made a little tie for Guy and a small bowtie for Max. It was all very color coordinated! LOL They turned out really well. I can't wait to get them back.
Here are a couple pics of us.

Ali's Giraffe for School

Alanna needed to make a giraffe during spring break for her classroom zoo. The instructions weren't very clear. We made a picture of a giraffe out of card stock and Ali took it to school on Monday. When she came home she told us that we did it wrong and it wasn't supposed to be made out of paper. So that night after they went to bed, I spent an hour in my shop using dowels and made this giraffe. She put the face on it Tuesday morning.

Cori's Painting

Cori brought this painting home today. She told me the small one in the left corner is the baby cloud, next to it is the sister cloud and then the big one is the Mommy cloud.

I did it!!

I passed the National Certification Exam for Massage therapy!!!!! I was so nervous, but it ended up being easier than I thought it would. Now I just need to get my certificate of completion from school at my graduation (April 2) and I can send in my application to get my Illinois license!!! YAY!!!!!!!

I did it!!

I signed up for a Doula Training Workshop!! I am soooo excited!! Now I just have to get through one more day of clinic (tomorrow) and one last test (Monday) and then the National Certification Exam (Wednesday)!!!!! Then graduation is April 2! I'm so happy to be done!!! I just wish Chelle was coming to my graduation. She was going to originally, but her in-laws are coming in that night. :-( I wish she could squeeze me in. The ceremony (if you can call it that) will only be about 1/2 an hour anyway. That would still give her time to get to them. Oh well. Hopefully Chas will come like he said he would.

So sad

Preface: The girls call my mom Nana and Joseph's mom Grandma.
Today while I was at Alanna's school she wanted me to read a book to her. It was called Grandma's Coming. Alanna loved it. She loved that the grandma was swimming across the ocean, flying in the air and riding horses to see her granddaughter. But as soon as I was finished reading she looked at me and asked, "Why doesn't my grandma come to see me?" It broke my heart! She was so sad when she said it. :-(

Sjalynn's birthday present

This is what Tristan and I made for Sjalynn for her birthday. I put the black fabric on fusible webbing and then mailed it to Tristan cut out the shapes on her Cricut. Then she sent them back to me to iron on to the white fabric. Then Joseph and I stapled the fabric to the canvas. Tristan and I saw it on an infomercial for the Cricut! Then I saw an article in a magazine about using large patterned fabric on artists' canvas for a decoration. I couldn't find any large print fabric that I thought Sjalynn would like in black and white, so I thought that it would be cool to use Tristan's Cricut to cut the shapes out. I could have used my CraftRobo, but it only cuts up to 8 inches wide and Tristan's Cricut cuts up to 12 inches and I wanted the pieces big.

At the aquarium

The Shedd Aquarium had free admission today so we decided to take the girls. Originally Brynne didn't want to go, but when she found out that we bought Lunchables to have for lunch there, she changed her mind. lol She ended up being the one that was most into it all (which we knew would happen). It was fun seeing all of the huge fish, eels, turtles, tortoises, and sea horses. Here are some pics of the fun we had.
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Eating their special lunch.