Wordless Wednesday: Sister Apps

Thank You From Team Vada

This year I made a goal to raise $3,000.00 in honor of Team Vada. I am proud to announce that our goal was met! Team Vada raised $3,001.86. Together we did it! Thank you to all who donated and for those of you who could make it out into the cold weather, the day of the walk. We're sincerely looking forward to walking with you during next years walk!

Sedona Staffing
Raney Tree Service
Whitey's Ice Cream
SSAB of Iowa
Donut Delite

Augie and Suzan Svatek
Jim and Annette Wilson
Clark Purnell
Carey Chapman
The Gillespie Family
Roxann Witt and Family
Cindy Mcdaniel
The Kronberg Family
David Moulds
The Pinkerton Family
The Hernandez Family
The Neels Family
Dorris Wilson
Kenneth Fuller
The Terwilleger Family
Brenda McDaniel
Carol Swenson
Lou Peterson
Cissy Wendt
Jessica Witt and Family
Rhonda McKinnley
The Veto Family
The Wilson Family
The Swords Family
Jasmine Houck

Thank you.

Tanner's 28

Tanner's Orchard has been our pumpkin shop for two years now and as of this year we have decided that it is the only place to get our fall fun decorations, pumpkins and apple cider!

Tanner's has it all! Gem mining...

Barrel rides...

These fun and really hard to pedal carts...

Several playground areas...

Beautiful photo op areas...

2010

Petting areas...

Pony rides...

2010

And of course, pumpkins.

Tanners has other fun stuff to do, like picking apples, a store, a bakery, candy and ice cream two places to eat, miniature golf and a corn maze. if your interested in taking your family head over to this link.

Good Night, Sweetheart

This last weekend I went to a women's retreat at our church and my three girls stayed at my in-laws for the night. When Justin and I came to pick them up on Saturday I was told that Vada went to bed at eight and only woke up once during the night. Slightly frustrated in myself I later discussed this with Justin. I asked "What am I doing wrong?" We always have the same routine, dinner, bath, meds and p.j.'s, then we lay down at seven. However, for me Vada goes to sleep around ten, sometimes earlier and sometimes later but for the most part its pretty late for her age. It doesn't matter if the lights are on or off, if I am reading or watching t.v. or the room is completely silent, she always falls asleep late. She wakes up like clockwork as well, at eleven and then again at least once more during the earlier morning time. I have had maybe a handful of full nights rests since she was around six months. 

Vada co-slept with us up until about a year ago. I have never done the cry-it-out method as I just don't have the heart to do it, or at least I didn't until I realized that Vada is staying up with me not because I am doing anything wrong but because she wants to be up with me. She went to bed fine for my in-laws and Justin says she will go down for him fairly easy as well --if i'm not around. He thinks that she just favors spending time with me, not to sound coincided but I can see this as well.

So, last night at seven I laid down with Vada, as usual, only this time, when eight o'clock came around I put her in her crib. I told her that I loved her, kissed her sweet soft cheek, said good night and walked out. She began to cry, then yell, then she took a break to play with the light switches and to knock on the door while calling for me. Then, when nothing brought me back into her,  she began to cry some more. It was heart wrenching to watch (I have a video camera on her) and over the course of two hours I went into her room three times to calm her back down. Finally, at ten she was asleep. Was it worth it? I don't know. She went to bed the same time as usual but I was able to get my exercises done throughout those two hours of her being in her room, miserable. :( 

I am going to give it another try. Tonight, I will start our routine out the same way, only I will bring her into her room a bit earlier this time. I have been told by other parents who have gone through similar situations or who have done the cry-it-out way that this will take a few days but eventually and soon, she should be going to sleep on her own and hopefully staying asleep throughout the night. We shall see!

Below is how V feel asleep. She was playing with her light switches and had left the lights on. I went into her room to turn the lights off and this is how I found y little angel and this is how I left her. 

A Counting Garden

Tonight Vada got to play with her brand new bath stickers from Alex toys. They were a gift from Grandpa and Grandma as an early Halloween "treat".

I {heart}these bath toys. I once saw on another blog, a mother who had used these for counting and I thought it was such a great idea that I decided to do the same...

Her New Kicks

Vada and I picked up her SMO's today. They came just as we requested, hot pink for Jasmines favorite color, neon green for Kiliegh's and multi-colored cushions --just because. 

Pretty cute, huh?

The only problem... finding shoes to fit these hunky chunks.

Our first stop was at Kohl's where we found several cute pairs of shoes...

...only none of them fit properly.

Our next stop was at one of my fav's, Tar-jay aka Target. We had the same problem here, in fact I didn't even try a single shoe on Vada, I already knew they wouldn't do.

Then we went to Gordman's.  Tons of c.u.t.e. shoes that she could rock but none that would rock the orthesis.

Our final stop was at a little shop called Rogan's Shoes. They had a couple of shoes to select from and one fit just right!

She was wiped out from all the store hopping.

Vada went from a shoe size of a  4 1/2-5 to a size 7 1/2, if that tells you how bulky the orthoses (sp?) are.  I love that I found NB's for her that are both cute and that actually match the green and pink of the orthoses. But im not overly thrilled with the velcro. I was so excited that I had found a shoe that fit that I overlooked the fact that I had really wanted a shoe with laces. Rogan's has a no wear and return policy and rightfully so. So these are what Vada gets. I'll keep my eyes open for more ideas for the next pair and be happy that it only took four stores this time to find shoes!