William loses his first tooth

William lost his first tooth on April 28. It had been loose for a while, so it was pretty much hanging out and came out on its own. His two permanent teeth on the bottom were already coming in behind. He lost his 2nd tooth on May 6, and he let me pull it.

The zoo, again

April 28 was the first grade field trip to the zoo. Who knew I would get to go to the zoo again within a month's time? Yea, me! Really, we had a great time. I got to go with just one kid! Billy took the day off and he stayed home with Vivian and Ellen.

Rebecca, on a camel with her friends Whitney and Molly from ABS. Their kindergarten field trip was the same day!

Checking out the tiger.

Riding the carousel.

Petting a goat.

Rhino watching.

On the train...everyone's favorite!

Outdoorsy gal

Nine is fine!

April 18 was Rebecca's 9th birthday. I can't believe she is 9 already! We celebrated with a Barbie party, complete with Barbie! The girls had mini-makeovers (hair, nails, eyeshadow, blush, & lipgloss) and played some cute party games. Rebecca had a great time. She just loves all things girly!

Rebecca after her makeover and waiting for nails to dry.

Decorating a picture frame.

Listening to Barbie read a story. When Barbie finished a page, the girls took turns unwrapping a little box layer by layer. At the end, there were rings inside for each girl.

Time for the birthday song and cake!

Pure joy!

Lots of gifts!

Daisy Camp

On April 16 we went with Rebecca's Daisy troop to Camp Anderel for an overnight "camp-out." We made pizzas, "fire" salads, s'mores for dinner and were treated to crepes for breakfast. The girls made lots of fun crafts...bracelets, sit-upons, tie-dye t-shirts. We sang songs around a camp fire, had a pillow fight, slept in bunk beds, and went on a nature hike.


We even celebrated Rebecca's birthday with a giant cookie cake.

A day in the life

Ear surgery

Rebecca underwent a tympanoplasty on April 9th. Due to chronic untreated ear infections as an infant and young child, she had tubes placed shortly after we got her. When the tubes came out, a large hole in her right eardrum remained. This eardrum was pretty scarred prior to tubes, so it was not surprising to the ENT that this happened. She had about half her eardrum on that side and thus had half her hearing as well. Since language acquisition is still her biggest struggle, we knew that the repair had to be done. The surgeon took a graft of tissue (fascia overlying the masseter muscle just behind her ear) to close the hole. He also cleaned out a lot of scar tissue and inflammation in her mastoid bone. This was a delicate surgery, so it took around 1.5 hours to do. She did great, but did have some nausea and vomiting afterwards, so we were at the hospital pretty much all day. She had to refrain from any strenuous physical activity for about 3 weeks; that's really hard for her. I caught her on the trampoline the day after surgery! She will have her hearing checked in a few months.

Here she is at home after the long day at the hospital. She carried her kitty with her to the hospital. She and I spent the prior afternoon birthday shopping. We went to Build-a-Bear and she picked out the Kitty (that she named "China"). Of course, China had to have a Hannah Montana outfit! :)

The bandage is pretty dramatic, huh? Luckily she got to take it off the next morning.