Lego Mania

Proud of her creation!

Doesn't mind a crowd as long as mom or dad are right with her...

What doesn 30,000 legos look like!?

Friday night we went to Family Fun Night at EHE. Abby is still a bit under the weather, but I think she enjoys seeing all the big kids and being part of the action.

A.P. spent the weekend at Bubby and Grandfather's house and Patrick and I took the girls to a special program in Warrenton called "Lego Mania." They really enjoyed it even though it was packed... We also visited my library clerk's dad who is in the hospital and then we went out for Mexican food. Sunday, we attended church for the first time in a long time...

Abby at UVA again

"Snowbell" the bunny on the pediatric floor is a big hit!

She is getting too used to breakfast,lunch and dinner in bed! Not to mention the unending supply of popscicles!

We didn't get admitted until 3 am, so we made ourselves comfortable in the ER! Abby was happy to find out she had a roommate- "Baby Diamond." I wasn't happy that Baby Diamond's mother had the t.v. blaring all night for background noise!

Most of you know Abby had to go back down to UVA last week. On Friday afternoon she started walking strangely and kept insisting I pick her up. I thought her feet were uncomfortable from her new snow boots, or that she might be getting a blister. The "limping" continued through the night when we went to the pool and into the next morning. After waiting several hours at the pediatrician's office, the doctor said to take her to the ER at UVA in Charlottesville b/c her neurosurgeon was the doctor on call that weekend and could evaluate her.

After three days, the neurologist and neurosurgery teams decided that her issues with walking can be contributed to her Chiari, which we feared. She is also complaining of headaches a few times a week and gags a few times a day for no apparent reason. Otherwise being unsteady and having some other slight symptoms, she is in great spirits. When she's tired or sick the symptoms are more pronounced.

Once again, Abby enjoyed the stay at UVA, with it's play rooms, activity terrace and preschool classroom. Sadly, this was the last week for the terrace and playrooms b/c they are renovating and using the space for additional bedrooms. The "ammenities" kept her spirits up and the bad news was easier to bear because she was enjoying herself so much.

We've got a sleep study consultation tomorrow b/c she wakes up sometimes coughing and they want to make sure the pressure from Chiari isn't affecting her respiratory system when she is lying down.

We meet again with the neurosurgeon in four weeks to discuss the options. It seems that we may not be able to avoid surgery... it's a big one and we really don't want our poor baby to have to go through that...

Snow Days coming to an end!? Oh, woe is me...

Margaret taking an afternoon nap... Abby didn't take any of these, just Margaret!

Reading to the dogs at the library! This was our fist outing after being snowed in for about nine days! We were so thankful to see the therapy dog vans in the library parking lot... we were cheering!

Abby is more of a cat person, we've decided... but Margaret loves petting the pups... A.P. has totally outgrown this activity! I like it, b/c we all get our dog fix without having to wash them, walk them, feed them or clip their nails!

We discovered a brand new indoor moon bounce warehouse that just opened in Culpeper. It was heavenly! I got to sit and read and the girls ran around and used up an incredible amount of energy! It's more affordable than movies or bowling, and great exercise for the kids. Hallelujah! I hope word doesn't spread too much... Abby doesn't like bouncing with other kids and comes running to me every time. With her condition, it's better that she jumps alone anyways, so that's fine. Sometimes she is really brave with these things and other times she balks.. and there is no real way of guessing how she'll be. The big kids are really good about staying with her and encouraging her.

The girls were supposed to start dance class three weeks ago, but it has snowed every Monday since the beginning of the class and has been canceled each time. This week, we received word that the class was on despite the snow and road conditions, so we trekked out and made it there only to find out the teacher canceled it at the last minute...ugh! Two other girls showed up, so they all danced around any way and then I took them to Chick-Fil-a to wear them out in the kids area.

Patrick had to spend lots of time during our snow break working on his project for the History Fair. He had to research and write a paper on "Sitting Bull" and then create a visual and a costume. He designed the costume himself and sewed it with his machine I gave him for Christmas. He did a great job. On Thursday, he has to talk to younger kids about Sitting Bull and he is planning on doing his rendition of a Native American Dance.

On Valentine's Day, Bubby took the big kids to Fredricksburg to go sledding on a hill behind Geico. Patrick and I were planning on taking Abby to see some Irish dancers and fiddlers, but the concert was canceled due to the snow. We ended up taking her to the skating rink instead... she loves the lights from disco ball and the way her clothes glow in the dark! She is really starting to get the hang of it and she really looks forward to the slice of pizza at the end!

Hard to get a picture of her since it was so dark and she was moving at a fast clip!!

After the skating rink, we met Bubby and the big kids at BK and they played like crazy in the indoor play area. The kids were all pooped, and Patrick and I watched the Olympics for a while before we hit the sack... Happy Valentine's Day!

We're the neighborhood hot spot (or cold spot)!

We have missed almost everyday of school for the last two weeks! Today's snowfall somehow missed Culpeper, although we've had very strong wind gusts which have blown the existing snow into huge drifts. Our power is holding on...praise God!

We've turned into the neighborhood gathering place for the kids on our street. After ten days of this... I'm getting a bit worn out from making pb and j sandwiches, popcorn and hot chocolate... not to mention drying everyone's snow clothes. One of the kids has severe food allergies and the other has juvenile diabetes... so I'm a bit on the edge when they are hear playing- especially since I can't get out of our driveway, let alone our road...

We had three extra kids spend the night one night b/c they were still w/out power. Our guys were in heaven... now they want overnight guests every night! Abby was especially impressed with Dylan, an aspiring magician, who found a penny in her ear... now she talks about him all the time...

We survived (so far) the Blizzard of '10!

Patrick shoveling for hours on end Sunday... the dig out continues... Expedition is cleared, Honda isn't.

View from Abby's window is just beautiful of the Appalachians...

View from our bathroom window of our neighbor's chicken yard...

How many times do we have to replace our trampoline? Bent poles again.. what a pain... hopefully it will hold up. AP spent a long time pushing snow off it today and earned his DS back...

Dinner by candlelight... pasta, canned peaches and grapes!

We nicknamed our kitchen "dark town" and the girls rode around in the cold while we fixed dinner. Paper plates all the way!

Abby and I watched the snow fall of the roof. It's really loud on the metal roof. Abby was excited about the " ice popscicles" that were hanging down. Part of the gutter fell and brought down some of the roof seam with it, though...

30 inches of snow! Snowed all day Friday and Saturday until about 5 pm. Lost power at 1:30 am Friday. No heat upstairs... We were thankful for the gas fireplace in the dining room and the stove in the family room... but we were leary to run them to much b/c we didn't know how long the electric would be out or how much gas we had left. Bundled up Sat. and the kids played inside until the sun went down b/c it was too windy and snowy for them to go out in it. We gathered up a bunch of oil lamps and candles and bundled up. We had a "fancy" dinner by candlelight and then played "cosmic bowling" in the kitchen with a light up rubber ball and some plastic cups for pins. We played charades and Win, Lose or Draw and then AP got out his guitar and played "He's Got the Whole World In His Hands" until Abby fell asleep... We bundled her in Patrick's sub-zero sleeping bag and with her bathrobe, scarf, gloves and mittens on she looked like she was a baby in a papoose. At midnight, the power came back on... flickered a few times in the night and we're feeling VERY thankful to have it back. We tried hard to make the best of it, but not being able to flushe the toilet got old pretty quickly...

Our poor neighbors lost their power again since last night, so we're really counting our blessings. Patrick has been shoveling us out for hours. We heard that their is a "wall" of snow at the end of our road and that none of us can get out...

Princess party for Margaret

Dressed up as princesses and a knight to celebrate 10 magical years!

Used trick candles, so she got three wishes! Happy 10th Birthday Magaret!

Friday night was the "friends" party and tonight was the "family" party for Margaret's 10th. Hard to believe she wasn't quite yet 5 when we got her. We've had her for over half her life! I wondered about her birth mom this week and whether she was thinking of Margaret. She must be. What a beautiful, funny special person she is growing into...

Pics from a relaxing, snowy weekend!

With Margaret at Bubby and grandfathers for her birthday weekend, the rest of us stayed in and watched four inches fall all day Sat. Abby and I played chefs in the kitchen and made our own version of carrot bread with nuts and raisins... not many takers... A.P. and Abby played in the snow with the neighbor kids and had a great time sledding down our hill...

Mopping up a juice spill...