Our girls are 4

November is a busy month for birthdays around our house and the girls celebrated theirs last Friday, the 21st. We had a great day and a very fun party. Keyan was in the Emergency Room for 5 hours the night before and she had to go to two different doctors on her birthday but we were very thankful that she was able to be at home for her special day. We had a slow start to the morning since we had been at the hospital until 3am, but after that the day was full of celebrating. The girls chose to go to Red Robin for lunch and the staff treated them like royalty! We have been going to RR about once every two weeks since it opened about two years ago. The servers all now us, have fries out to us right away, and bring chocolate milk without us asking. As I sat and watched the girls faces as the staff gathered around them to sing, I literally got tears in my eyes because I realized that even people out in the community, who accept our crazy family and do what they can to make it easier on us, play a huge part in who our kids are. There are only certain restaurants that welcome us with open arm...a lot of them would rather us leave, but to those that do, it goes a long way in making us feel normal! (Okay, a lot of rambling..but it really meant something to me!)
It wasn't long before it was time for the party. We had 40-50 people come throughout the night. We served soup, crackers, cheese, fruit, and a lot of cake. Aunt Erin spent 10 hours making each girl their own cake and needless to say the girls were thrilled beyond belief at the individuality. Once again, as I looked around the room while we were singing "Happy Birthday" four times over, I was overwhelmed with gratitude. Each person there represents a piece of who we are as a family. They all play different roles, but we could not give the kids the life we do without each of these special people. From family members, people who have become like family, people we have met just over the last year, to nurses that help us manage the many aspects of Keyan, we hold them all very near to our hearts. It is something that is very hard to explain. All I can hope is that each of you reading this can experience the joy of being surrounded by people who love you through the highs and lows of life. It has been a tumultuous four years, but ones that were filled with a lot of laughs and smiles. Happy Birthday girls! You have all inspired greatness. I can't wait to see what the next year brings!

Snow already????

I know that I still have to post about day 6 or our trip.....and I promise that I will, but I had to post the newest pictures of the kids playing in the snow. We got 6-7 inches of snow yesterday. They were all so excited about all of the snow, so despite me being sicker than a dog, we all bundled up and out we went! They had so much fun. Sidney however, after about 10 minutes, wanted to go in because she was cold. I told her that was fine, but that she would have to stay in and not go back out. She said, "that alright, I am so cold, I am not going to play outside again until spring!" Whaen did she learn about spring???? Oh well, winter here we come.

Day 5...the last of Disney

Well, it was our last day in Disney and we planned on filling every minute with excitement. Once again we needed to visit 2 parks so it was bound to be a busy day. By this time in the week, we had gotten smarter about breakfast and either got take out from the Gingerbread House or called the doughnut cart to stop by our villa. Jamahl loved the doughnut cart! It was a little decked out golf cart that had fruit, cereal, doughnuts, coffee, and juice. It would come right to our villa and Jamahl would take the girls out to meet it in their pajamas. The kids thought that we should get a doughnut cart for home! Wouldn’t that be nice?
Throughout the week we all made sure that a few special things happened. Keyan got to meet Ariel, Abagayle got to meet Cinderella and see the castle, Sidney had met Spiderman, and Jamahl had gotten to the dinosaurs. We had one special thing left and that was to get McKenzy to see Wall-e. I had done a lot of research on where to find a Wall-e and received great advice from a mom on-line. She gave me very specific directions, which was a good thing because we never would have found him on our own. To find Wall-e we had to start our day at MGM studios. I did not tell McKenzy that we were on a Wall-e hunt because I did not want to get her hopes up in case we were unable to find the crazy robot. The weather was great, not so humid, and everyone was in a good mood. We got our strollers, piled in and were off. We followed the signs to the animation studio, went thru the gift shop, made it past all of the breakable art, walked down some steps and there was Wall-e! Now, I must say, that his Wall-e was pretty pathetic. All it was a two dimensional piece of cardboard. But that did not matter to McKenzy. She spotted her favorite robot as soon as we entered the room and she screamed until she had that piece of cardboard in a bear hug. She hugged and hugged her Wall-e, walked all around it admiring him from all sides, and made sure to spot all of his pictures all over the walls. She was so cute. You would have thought that she was meeting royalty. While we began to drag her away from Wall-e there was some commotion in the other side of the room. We all stopped to figure out what was going on and were surprised to see Mickey coming out to greet people in his sorcerer’s clothes. The kids ran over and we were the second family in line. It was the first time in our trip that we had actually been up close to Mickey. Keyan could not get over the fact that she was standing in front of Mickey. The girls all hugged Mickey, nearly knocking him over, they pulled his ropes, they all touched his nose and in the end, we had to pull them all away from Mickey. I think they would have spent all day just playing with that beloved Mouse. So much excitement and it was only 10:30 in the morning!
From the animation studio we went to the Playhouse Disney Show. We got seats right up front and all the kids, including Jamahl, really liked seeing some of the characters that they see on TV. We saw The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse gang, Pooh and his friends, Handy Manny and the tools, and The Little Einstein’s. I loved seeing all my kids sing along, clap, pat, and dance to the familiar songs. They smiled and squealed with glee over and over again. After the show we decided to split up again so that Jamahl and Paul could go do some boy stuff. They headed off to the Indiana Jones stunt show and the girls were off to see Beauty and the Beast. Yet again, when Mom and I got to the show and showed the man at the gate our guest assistance pass we were directed all the way down front. We had the BEST seats in the whole theater to watch Belle. The show was unbelievable! It was just like a condensed version of the Broadway musical. The costumes were great, the dancing was incredible and the singing was even better. All four girls were so mesmerized, they hardly moved the entire 30 minutes. The Beast was very realistic and Keyan was a little unsure about him. In the end of course, the Beast turns into a Prince and Keyan was ecstatic! For the next 5 hours she told us over and over again that “the Beast was scary, but he turned into a prince!” That really made an impact on her because she just kept talking and talking about it.
We met back up with the guys for lunch. The restaurant we ate in was set up like a movie set. Jamahl enjoyed looking around at all of the stuff. He flip flops between being a movie producer and an archeologist when he grows up so he was totally in his element. The girls figured out that there was chocolate pudding for dessert but when Mommy made them take their shirts off to eat it they thought that I was crazy. There was no way that I was taking the chance of ruining their beautiful Minnie shirts. Several people were staring at them but any mom of a 3 year old just nodded and smiled. After lunch we got a picture in front of Mickey’s big blue hat and then headed off to the Magic Kingdom.
Right away I knew we were in for a treat of an afternoon because as we were entering the park, the mid-day parade went right by. We caught the whole thing. Abagayle really enjoyed it, Keyan was sleeping, McKenzy got excited when the characters went by, Jamahl, thought it was pretty cool, and Sidney could only worry about the scads of Mickey shaped confetti that was all over the ground. Here we are, trying our best to somewhat control the germs and she is picking stuff off of the ground and putting it in MY pocket!!! Oh that child….I only wish that I could blame the obsessive compulsive side of the kids on Paul! The parade finished and it was on to phase two of our plan. We were going to work the park starting from the left and go around the castle to all of the different lands visiting the highlights of each area. We were on a tight schedule because the park closed at 7pm for a Halloween party and I was going to make sure that we got everything in. We headed off to our first spot when all of a sudden I stopped in my tracks…..there in front of me was the pineapple dole whip. This is my most favorite dessert and I had been really disappointed not to have found it thus far in our trip. You used to be able to get it all over Disney but apparently, they have changed that to this one Dole stand in Magic Kingdom. I was thrilled to veer off the plan so quickly for some treats. The kids all really liked the pineapple snack as well. Even Keyan could not get enough of the juice. For a girl who doesn’t eat anything by mouth, she was really digging that fresh pineapple juice. It was really cute to see her fighting Grammie for the last drink.
We finally got back to conquering the park after being energized. We hit all the favorites like “It’s a Small World”, “Pirates of the Caribbean”, “The Grand Prix”, and “Thunder Mountain”. I do not like roller coasters very much but have loved “Thunder Mountain” since I was five years old. I was convinced that Jamahl would love it too. Abby and McKenzy wanted to go also so we checked to see if they were tall enough and they just tall enough. So we all headed in to wait in line. We were getting closer and closer and Jamahl was getting more and more nervous. By the time we were next in line, he was crying and asking if he could just go back to Grammie. I tried to tell him that he would be glad that he rode it when it was all said and done but he was not buying it. I am sure we looked like “parents of the year”, forcing our child onto the rollercoaster. In the end…..he did not love it, he did not like it, in fact, he was very happy to be back on the ground and did not head our advice about rides anymore! A few days later, he decided that it was not so bad, it is amazing how time heals all wounds!
Our last stop in Magic Kingdom was to visit Toontown which is where we were able to meet some of the princesses again, see Mickey and Minnie’s houses, and meet the two mice as well. We got to bypass the two hour line to see Aurora, Cinderella, and Belle, walking right to the front of the line. The girls got to spend a little more time with each of the lovely ladies and also got to bid them farewell. McKenzy was dying to see Minnie’s house but we found out that the line for Mickey and Minnie was closing in three minutes so off we ran to find them. We were running all over the place, dragging kids this way and that and we could not find where to go. Suddenly, McKenzy falls and completely scrapes up her knee, she is screaming and everyone is looking! At the same time, Mom spotted the line and went rushing right thru the exit. A cast member stopped her as Mom explained that we were trying to find Mickey. The girl was about to turn us away when she saw Keyan’s MAW button. She radioed in to Mickey, led us thru the back door, and we did not even wait long enough for me to get baind-aids on McKenzy. The poor thing met Minnie with blood running down her legs. Who knew that we would leave Disney with battle wounds? This moment though, made everything we had been through worth it. When the doors opened to reveal both Mickey and Minnie, Keyan clasped her hands over her mouth and stood staring in amazement. We finally had to pull her up to them so we could get some pictures. It was so great to see the joy in their faces. It was a wonderful way to end our time in Disney.
When we were finished hugging our favorite mice, we toured Mickey’s house and then Minnie’s. The girls were quick to notice that Minnie did not have a bed. They kept asking where she slept and I finally just shrugged and told them she must sleep over at Mickey’s. Well, that must have made quite an impression because for about the next three days they asked everyone they saw if they knew that Mickey and Minnie slept together! I guess I should have come up with a more clever place for Minnie to sleep, like her couch. We did a few more odds and ends and then bid the “Happiest Place on Earth” goodbye. It was with heavy hearts and very tired bodies that we went to meet up with our nurse for dinner. We spent the rest of the night finding a place to eat in Downtown Disney, and finally buying the rest of our souvenirs. It was well after ten o’clock by the time we headed back to our villa. We were all a little sad but too tired to do anything more.

Day 4..2 parks in 1 day

Remember, you want to scroll down to see our trip in order!



Oh, we were craving a day to relax but that was not to be! We were running out of time and we still had so much to take in. We decided that we would start the day at animal Kingdom and than Jamahl was in charge of choosing whether we did Universal Studios or Hollywood Studios. He spent an hour the night before pouring over maps and reading tour guides of both parks. He was still uncertain when we left that morning. So, our first stop was Animal Kingdom. As we got through security and than went through the ticket booths, Keyan was not looking or sounding very good. We were just trying to get to the stroller station so that we could suction her and make sure that she was going to be alright. We find a place to sit and check her out, but when we go to suction her, we realize that the machine is full and it is GROSS!!!! I quickly scan for the nearest bathroom and it is on the other side of the ticketing booths. I was about to cry. She needed attention a lot quicker than I could find a bathroom. All I could think was, "what in the world are we doing?" Right when I am about to cry, we spot two cast members walking by. I reach out and stop them so that I can explain the situation and ask for help. They must have sensed the panic in my heart because they were both so helpful. They sent Paul to the nearest bathroom, helped us find some water for our machine, and did not leave until they knew we felt settled. I can not express my gratitude to all of those people who helped up through our scary moments. It made our trip so much better. The fact that we could count on so many people made it beyond wonderful.
After we got the first crisis of the day resolved, it was off to the Lion King show. We were all looking so forward to this show. Disney recommends that you arrive 30 minutes before the show starts. We only had about 12 but we thought we would try it anyways. We explained who we were and we were escorted right in to the second row. They were great seats. The actors start the show by giving each section of people an animal name. The very fancy girl came over and asked Jamahl if he wanted to help her out. He jumped at the chance to be in the spotlight. It was her turn and she explained that our group would be the giraffes and that her friend Jamahl from Michigan would tell us what a giraffe says. She puts the microphone right up to him and asks him what does a giraffe say? "Well, I have NO idea" he says and starts giggling. It was so cute.
Pumba and Timone come out a start the show and McKenzy just started screaming...."Hakuna Matata! Hakuna Matata!" She was jumping up and down and dancing the entire show. There is so much to look at that the other girls sat with their mouths wide open. Near the end of the show, one of the actresses came over and asked the kids if they wanted to play a game with her. Off they went to play Pumba's favorite game, "Follow the leader." Before we knew it, they were following her through the whole arena shaking maracas and dancing. Once again, I was balling my eyes out watching my 5 kids have the time of their lives. The zebra helped Keyan navigate around since she was concentrating so hard on dancing. It struck me at that moment that it would be a long time before the kids completely understood all the magic they were taking part in. We all had a blast.
When we left the show, we searched out a first aid so that we could give Keyan some water. While we were in there, the nurse offered us some Tylenol for her. Am I the only one who did not know that you could get medicine from them at the first aids? It was so helpful. After that we headed to the Safari. Now, if you have already watched the slideshow, you may be thinking, "there are no pictures of a safari??" Well, my exact words to Paul were, "we have done this safari several times and we are always worrying about getting pictures....let's just put the camera away and just enjoy the animals." So he did, and let me tell you, I have never seen a better safari. We could have literally reached out and touched a rino, the baby giraffe so close we could see his blue eyes. There were two baby elephants both nuzzling their mommies right in front of us. Wouldn't it figure that we would have the camera packed away? That is just my luck. Jamahl really liked seeing the animals. I think that he would have ridden again and again.
Next it was off to Dino land in search of some lunch and to dig for some bones. The ride that Jamahl had most waited to go on since he was three years old was closed for remodeling. Truth be told, I don't think that he was too disappointed. I don't think that he remembered how big it really was! We did a few more things but all too quickly it was time to say good-bye to Animal Kingdom.
Jamahl informed us that he had decided to go to Universal Studios next. Universal is actually two parks, one being Universal, and the other being Island of Adventure. Spiderman, who is Sidney's all time favorite hero in the world is in Island of Adventures so we planned that one of us would run her over there at some point and than go back to Universal. The day was going just as planned, and we were right on my time schedule in order to get 2 parks done in 1 day. (which by the way, people said could not be done!!!) We walk forever and finally arrive at the ticket booths. I leave everyone huddled by a waterfall and am off to but Mom's ticket to Universal. I get up to the window, politely ask for one adult park hopper ticket, and the girls just stared at me. She says, "Are you really going to pay that kind of money when Universal closes in one half hour?" What it is 3:30 in the afternoon. How can this be? One word...Halloween. It was closing for a party. Oh boy, I knew I was going to have one very sad little boy on my hands. My spirits were crushed and I didn't really even care to go to Universal. I walked back to the group with my head hanging low. How was I ever going to break the news? I delicately told Jamahl that Universal was going to close in just a little bit and we were not going to be able to go. However, we could go to Island of Adventure until 7pm. He was not happy. His shoulders dropped, his eyes glazed over, and the tears began to fall. He had put so much thought into where to go only to have it not work out. He was so disappointed. Part of the reason that He choose Universal was because that it where Barney was and he knew Keyan would love that part. How do you explain that even though he had great intentions, it was not going to work out? Why did he have to learn a major life lesson on vacation!! So much for my happy plan. We sat on the ground outside of Universal Studios, in hope of coming up with something great. The bottom line was that we had to get Sidney in to see Spiderman. In the end, Keyan was sleeping, and Abby didn't want to see Spiderman so the two of them and Mm stayed outside the gates while the rest of us went in pursuit of the hero.
Just as we arrived at the Spiderman ride to find out that it was probably to scarey for any of the kids, this officer starts screaming at everyone to clear the streets. All I could think was, great we had to come right in the middle of some emergency!" We hear the sirens before we see anything and were we ever surprised to see 7 superheros driving down the road on quad runners. There was spidey himself crouched on his red and blue 4 wheeler. Sidney about fainted. Paul put her up on his shoulders right about the time that Spiderman jumped off and took off running. "Follow him!!" I yell to Paul. Paul and Sidney take off and we ended up being about fifth in line to meet Spiderman. The timing could not have been better if I had tried to plan it. (which had I known was possible, I would have tried!)
It is our turn and Sidney runs right up to him and gives hims a hug. What happened to my shy Sidney? McKenzy and Jamahl join in the group and Spiderman asks where they are from. McKenzy boldly shouts, "Michigan". He then puts his hand out and asks her what part of the mitten do we live in and she looked at him like he had lost his mind! Spiderman than proceeds to ask Jamahl how his day was going. Big mistake...remember he wanted to go to the other park, and Jamahl is not afraid to speak his mind. He blatantly tells Spiderman that his day is bad because he didn't want to come see him! Does he have my nerves or what! Spiderman crossed his arms, moves closer top Jamahl, and stares him down. It was really funny. I don't think Jamahl fell for it at all though. We got some great pictures with Spiderman than went to the gift shop. Sidney wanted a stuffed Spiderman but I was not going to pay $14.95 for another stuffed creature so we finally convinced her to get a black t-shirt with the spiderman head done in jewels. She is so thrilled and so was I until I heard the total.....She had picked out a $30.00 t-shirt! After I got over the shock, I was very happy for her. She is never excited about anything and she was showing that t-shirt to perfect strangers. We were so happy it turned out the way it did, now if we could only get Jamahl to cheer up!
We head out of Universal trying to figure out what to do when we happen upon a Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant. Jamahl LOVES shrimp. We decide to wait it out and it was well worth the wait. Jamahl ate four or five different kind of shrimp and by the end of the night, He was smiling once again. It does a mothers heart good to see all of her kids with smiles on their faces and giggles bursting out of them (even if it is from telling poo-poo jokes to eachother!) We stopped into the ice cream shop at the resort for a treat and than fell into our beds with happy hearts!

We interrupt this vacation....for Halloween

More Disney to come but I thought that I would go ahead and post pictures from Halloween. We had a great time this year. The girls had a party at school on Thursday and McKenzy wore her Wall-e costume that our nurse Steve had made for her. The costume is amazing, he did such a great job. When it came to Halloween night though, she wanted to be Princess Aurora. We did everything that we could think of but nothing would change her mind. Oh well, there is always next year! So, we had a bionicle, Aurora, Cinderella, Ariel, Spiderman, and 2 witches (mom and I). The weather was nice and for the first time, the girls really got into the trick-or-treating. Uncle Jeremy, Auntie Roo, Grammie, and Poppie went out with us and we had a great time together as a family.

Keyan modeling Grammie's witch hat!

Jamahl the Bionicle Watch out or Spiderman will web you. She had the jumps down pat!

The whole gang! It is quite a crew huh???

The witches join the group.

The resident witches The original Wall-e costume. Is that not the cutest thing ever?

Day 3...A whale of a time!

Don't forget to catch up on our previous days by scrolling down. Also, you can click on the slide show to see more detail




We had a T-riffic start to the day when we met Barney, Baby Bop, and BJ after breakfast at the resort. We even let the kids stay in their pajamas! The girls were so excited to meet these fun dinosaurs. They were however, a little upset that Barney and his friends could not talk. The girls just kept asking “What happened to their talking?” It was sort of funny because they did not question the lack of voice on any other characters…it must be too many Barney movies!
After getting our pictures taken with Barney, we loaded back into the van and were off to spend the day at Sea World. Jamahl was looking forward to the lack of princesses at Sea World and he is very fascinated by aquatic life so he was really looking forward to seeing all of the animals. If you have never been to Sea World, the main attractions are the different shows. Of course that means that everything is timed. We were hoping to have a more relaxed day than the one before but that is not how it turned out. After getting through security and ticketing, and getting our strollers, we went to see the sting-ray. Because we were with Make-a-Wish, we got 4 trays of smelly fish to feed to the rays. It was so funny to see Jamahl trying to feed them. He really wanted to but you had to hold the fish between your fingers, put your arm way under water, and let the rays swim over it. Sounds easy enough, but the whole time the rays are swimming over your arm they are sucking with quite a force and their fins are flapping up against your arm getting you all wet. It is quite the procedure. Well, Daddy had the camera, Grammie had Keyan, who was afraid of the whole thing, so that left me to grab the fish and show the kids how to do it!!!! It really was a neat experience. I think that most of our fish ended up just being thrown in, but at least they tried!
One of the other perks to being there with MAW is that you get to feed the dolphins and have a little one on one time with them. The problem again was that they only eat at certain times and we did not want to miss it. After talking with a staff member, we decided that we would catch the dolphin show and than come back to feed them in the cove. Off to the dolphin show!!!! Now, we get there about 20 minutes before the show started and there are NO seats. You also have to know that it was 90 degrees that day and if you know me at all, you know that I HATE the heat! We had to leave the strollers the entrance, push the wheelchair up this steep hill, while dragging the rest of the crew around trying to find a place to sit. We finally all squeeze into about 3 actual seats and settle in when what do I hear? McKenzy says, “Mommy, I have to go potty!” Everyone around me thinks it is funny, I do not! I take a deep breath, take her hand, lead her all the way back down the steep hill to find the nearest bathroom. We reach the bathroom and it is NOT air conditioned! I thought that I was going to die. At that point, if someone had offered to fly me back to Michigan where it was cold and rainy, I would have taken them up on the offer in a heartbeat! Anyhow, we made it back to the show, which was very fun to see. It is amazing what they can get the dolphins to do.
We stuck to our plan and headed over to feed the dolphins. We were taken right into the cove with a trainer and she brought a female dolphin right up on a ledge for us to feed and touch. Keyan was terrified and clawing at Grammie, so they stood back so that she would not be so scared. The poor little thing is even scared of a peaceful dolphin. We have long stopped trying to figure out her fears and just respect them. Poor Grammie practically had blood though! We had the best time interacting with the dolphins! They are a lot bigger than I expected and feel so smooth…the dolphin showed off for us by doing some tricks but was being pretty stubborn about most things. We told the trainer that we were very used to stubborn….maybe in another life I could become a dolphin trainer!
At this point in the afternoon, we had to get some lunch. We knew however, if we got lunch now, we would miss the Shamu show. Paul, Mom and I discussed it and knew that if we didn’t eat, we would all be miserable at the whale show anyways, so we sadly scrapped the show. We found a place to eat, waited in line for what seemed like forever, and renewed our energy with some chicken fingers! The kids were so much happier, I knew we had made the right decision. Mommy was finally cooled down and could function again and McKenzy was finally laughing again. We packed everything back up, got the map out, and were ready to come up with a new plan. We checked the time…and low and behold, we had time to get to the Shamu show!!! Not only did we get to the show, but we got great seats. I absolutely believe that God made time stand still. You have to realize that there is no way that we could have made it. I do not know how God did it, but I do know it was only with his help that we made it to see Shamu. Jamahl thought that he might want to sit in the splash zone so I found great seats right up front for he and Paul. You should have seen Jamahl's face after the show when he was pouring water out of his shoes. He was not amused!!! I thought it was kind of funny that Paul and Jamahl got totally drenched, but the two of them did not see the humor in it! What did they think the "splash zone" meant?
Next, we went to the shark exhibit and fed the smaller sharks which Jamahl thought was way cool! We hunted down the alligators, saw a few more creatures, bought great souvenirs for Jamahl, and than decided it was time to go so that we could get some dinner before the "Princess and Pirate Party"
Our girls had been planning for two weeks on going to the Princess and Pirate Party held at the resort. I had packed all of their fancy dresses, high heels for all four of them, we bought special hair spray for their princess 'dos, and sparkly make-up. We grabbed a quick dinner and than the transformation began. I got every ones dress on, Paul was in charge of the high heels, and Mom did their hair and make-up. Our resident pirate took care of himself and put his pirate shirt on. When the girls were finally ready, Ariel, Snow White, Aurora, and Cinderella all clip-clopped down to the Avenue of Angels where the party was being held. Abby lifted her dress up at the corners and took off. As we were walking, Sidney said, "I just feel so pretty!" Abagayle announced, "We have been waiting our whole lives to go to the ball!" We all agreed that we do indeed have a bunch of princesses on our hands!
Jamahl got to pick a bag of loot, make a treasure map, and play a few pirate games. The girls heard the music and just started dancing. There was a pirate DJ who led some of the dances and than announced that it was time for the pirates to choose a princess to dance with. Keyan latched onto her pirate and slow danced the entire song just looking up at her pirate. It was so precious. Sidney danced with Jamahl, and Abby and McKenzy danced with Miss Merry (go figure). After the final dance it was time to corronate the princesses and pirates. The stage was set up like a castle, and each child's name was called as they walked thru the door to get their crown or eye patch and sword. It was so cute. There is nothing like a bunch of kids not sure what they are supposed to be doing to make a group of adults laugh. I am unable to accurately describe the feel of magic in the air. The girls felt like true royalty. It was amazing. When all was said and done, I got them each to pose with Daddy for a picture and than tried to get some group shots. The problem was with Keyan....you see, there was Disney Princess music still playing over the speakers, so that meant that she just had to dance and sing along. She was up on the stage by herself surrounded by volunteers who were taking the set down. She did not care, she stood with her feet planted shoulder width apart, arms out wide singing the final note. Her tired, breathy, quiet voice was just as cute as ever. I stopped to watch her and it was if the world stopped. Everything sort of blurred except for Keyan singing her heart out. I could almost see the pixie dust shimmering around her. She was like an angel. You didn't notice the trach, you didn't notice crossed little eyes, you couldn't tell her feet are as flat as pancakes. She was perfect in every way. All I know, is Gods angels are working over time at Give Kids The World and we felt their presence so intensely.
You would think that that would end our day but no, we had one more surprise. We went back to our villa and got the kids into their pajamas when there was a knock on the door. We opened it up to find Miss Merry the bunny coming to tuck the kids into bed! You should have seen the girls faces. They could not believe it. Jamahl decided just to give her a high five and snuggle into bed himself, but not the girls. Miss Merry got right into bed with them all. She started a pillow fight, got everybody to jump on the bed, had a tickling war and basically just got the kids extremely hyper. It was so fun for them. Finally Miss Merry got them all into their beds with a kiss and hugged them all goodnight. It was a great ending to a wonderful night.

Day 2...the one true wish

If you are just tuning in....catch up by scrolling down for Day 1



Today was the big day. Keyan's wish was to sing with Ariel. We had an appointment with Princess Ariel at 11:00am. We completely underestimated how long it would take us to get through breakfast at the gingerbread house. Everyone is so kind, and they all wanted to dote over the kids. We did not get into the van 9:45. After the 20 minute drive to Magic Kingdom, we had about 40 minutes to get to Ariel.....well, once again, we did not account for the walk from handicapped parking to the monorail. By the time we got to the monorail, we had three people in tears, one of whom was me!!! I was so worried we would miss our appointment! We rode the monorail to the park, went thru security (who had to go thru our bags of meds, Keyan's food syringes, nebulizer machines, and so much more!), made it thru the ticket turnstyles, and had 5 minuted to get to Ariel's grotto, which happens to be at the back of the park!!! Notice, we did not have strollers yet!!! I made the decision that we did not have time for strollers, took 30 seconds to explain to the kids that we were going to have to run past a lot of very fun things and we would come back to them but for now we had to get to ARIEL, and off we went. Mom pushed Keyan in her wheelchair, I grabbed two kids hands, Paul grabbed the other two, and we were off. We had to look pretty funny dragging 4 three years olds crying thru Magic Kingdom. Ah, memories that we will never forget!

We found he cast member in charge of Ariel's Grotto at 11:03! Not to bad...We explained who we were, they very kindly said, "We will take care of everything from here...don't worry." You have to understand that by this time there was an hour and a half wait to see Ariel and people were standing in line all over the place. The cast member took us thru a different entrance, held the line, and we were escorted in to meet Ariel. The girls were speechless. Keyan climbed right up next to Ariel and chatted for awhile. I explained that Keyan's one true wish was to sing with her so I started to help Keyan sing "Part of this World". Keyan knew more words than Ariel, but only the adults realized that, and even we did not care. Ariel spent about 15 minutes with us, we took lots of pictures, shed even more happy tears, played with Ariel's long red hair, and than said good-bye! It was an awesome experience.

After drying my tears, we took a minute to collect ourselves, put on our sunscreen, get a drink, and come up with a plan. We had to be in Epcot for our 1:50 reservations for lunch with the princesses, but we had some time to ride Dumbo, and the Carousel. On our way back to the front of the park we stopped into the Castle. The Castle now holds the Bippity Boppity Boutique where girls get transformed into princesses by the Fairy Godmother, for quite a large sum of money. Times that by 4 and it was not an option for us. However, as we were walking by, one of the Godmothers spotted us in our beautiful princess outfits and stopped us. She let the girls come into the salon and sprinkled Pixie Dust onto each of their heads, than led them to the mirror so that they could see. It was so special...and absolutely priceless! We were so touched.

We decided that we had better get to Epcot so that we did not have to rush.

We finally found the time to get strollers when we got to Epcot. What a difference a few wheels make! We took a potty break, fed Keyan, and made our way to Norway. I went to the booth to check in, and they just looked at me. I repeated, "we are the Hogans, party of 8 for a 1:50 reservation."The Lady said, "Oh, Stephanie, I am afraid that your reservation was for 1:15, it seems that you have missed it!" I tried to calmly explain that Make-a-Wish had made the reservations, I pulled out my paper which clearly said 1:50, pointed out my four princesses and handsome prince who were expecting to eat with their princess friends, looked her straight in the eye, and asked her "How are you going to get us into this lunch?" After a few phone calls and some negotiating, she informed us that they could squeeze us in at the next round of seating and we were welcome to wait inside in the air conditioning. Thank you Lord!!!!! We don't mind waiting as long as it is out of the heat!

While we were waiting, Jasmine noticed us in the lobby and came over to chat with the kids. As she was admiring the girls outfits she suddenly stopped and looked perplexed..."But where am I" she asked. "I see Belle, Aurora, Ariel, and Cinderella, but no Jasmine!" The girls faces were so cute as they had no idea what to say. I explained that we couldn't convince Jamahl to wear Jasmine so... we were sorry, but she was out of luck! She was so great with the kids and Daddy didn't mind looking at her either! When it was time to be seated, our first stop was to get our picture taken with Belle. She was so pretty and the first thing that she said to us in her high pitched, princess voice was, "Oh, my friend Ariel said that she met you this morning!" How did she know that? We were all very impressed with the Disney magic. After pictures with Belle, we were seated. Throughout the lunch, we met Aurora, Jasmine, Ariel, and Cinderella. They all spent lots of time at our table and enjoyed the kids immensely. McKenzy had a constant shrill of excitement bursting out of her as each different princess came into the room. She would shout out, "Oh Abby, here comes Cinderella! Oh Keyan, here comes Ariel!" It was so cute how they got excited for each other. Lunch was fantastic and God Bless Jamahl for hanging in there thru all the princesses calling him Prince Charming! He loved the Mickey Mouse shaped pasta and got a glowing Captain Hook on his drink. It was not all bad!
After lunch, we figured we had better divide and conquer. Paul took Jamahl to do test track and the rest of us went on a search for Snow White. We found her in Germany and got our place in line. Poor Keyan had had enough so she went to sleep. She even slept thru meeting Snow White so Snow White carefully moved Keyan's ponytail, gave her a kiss, and put her ponytail back. It was so sweet. The dwarf Dopey was helping Snow White and after giving Abby a kiss, she squealed, "I got a dopey kiss!" Their enthusiasm was contagious. We met back up with the boys, did a few more things and a little shopping, then back to the resort for Christmas!
Thursday night, GKTW is transformed into a winter wonderland complete with Santa, presents, penguins, snowmen, reindeer, a parade, snow, Christmas music, and lots more. We made it back just in time to get in line to meet Santa. He had this magic glowing light on his finger that he "found" in each of the kids hands and than it magically flew up to the sky. All five of them were in complete amazement. It was so cool. After getting our picture with Santa, the kids got to pick a gift from racks and racks of presents. It was like a dream come true for them. The best part of the night though was Keyan dancing. She danced and danced. At one point, she had all the characters in a circle around her and she was in the middle dancing her heart out. It was amazing. She had not been feeling well on and off through out the day, but to look at her you never would have guessed she struggles with lung disease and cerebral palsy. Her hips were swaying, her hands clapping, and her feet stomping. I will never forget the pure enjoyment on her face as she was dancing. I know that God gave me that moment to hold onto in the dark days. Long after the music stopped, she was dancing....we finally pulled her away so that we could get some dinner into the other kids. We ordered pizza from the resort pizzeria. It was a late night but a great one. Again, we made memories that are engraved in our hearts.

Day 1... Our Magical Trip

Don't forget that you can click on the slidshow to see it bigger and slower!

We officially started our trip on October 15, 2008 at 4:45am. One of our great friends arrived a little after 4 in the morning to help get the girls ready and pull any loose ends together. We started getting the kids up at 4:25 so that we could get them dressed and out the door. They started out a little groggy, but it only took 10-15 minutes and the house was alive with excitement. A limo arrived at 4:45 and we were on the road to the Muskegon airport by 5am! The kids thought that the limo was really cool and quite frankly, I decided that it was quite a nice spacious way to travel....forget the next mini-van, on to a limo! We had checked in the night before so we just had to dig through all of the paperwork and check our luggage. With the new fees for luggage, we had manged to pack all of our stuff in to three large suitcases, but of course, one of them was overweight!!! After shifting around a few things, final hugs to Poppy, and we were off to security. Every one's shoes had to come off, backpacks and jackets onto the belt, our 2 bags full of prescription drugs.....I was DREADING this part, but the agents did a great job getting us through with a lot of patience. We had everything right except that I had a lip gloss that is considered a gel and it was not in a baggie!!! "Throw the stupid thing out, just let us get through this line!!!!" Finally, we were on the plane. Everyone is settling in, it is still dark outside so we can't see anything, the kids are doing great. The flight attendant then informs us that momentarily she will serve complimentary juices, water, and coffee. McKenzy screams at the top of her lungs, "Coffee!!! I can't wait to get coffee, I really need some coffee!" Everyone on the plane sure got a chuckle out of that!

All of the flights were on time, we made our connections and we arrived in Orlando at 11:30am. We were staying at "Give Kids the World" and they had a volunteer meet us at the airport to navigate getting our luggage and getting our van. I saw him holding the sign with Keyan's name and I could not help but start crying! He led us to our van, helped watch the kids while we put all the car seats in, and gave us directions to the resort. He was great and not bothered by my tears at all. He just smiled, as if he knew they were because I felt as if the weight of the world was being slowly lifted off of my shoulders.

I want to explain a little about the resort. GKTW is a resort only for families who are visiting Orlando with a wish organization. It is run by 130 full and part time staff and 3000 volunteers!!! The whole place is designed for the kids and everything is handicapped accessible. The most amazing part of the whole thing is that every other family there has a special needs child. We had an instant bond with all of the other families...they all had medical equipment, knew the strains of medical needs, all the moms had dark circles under their eyes from lack of sleep. It was life changing to experience normalcy. Keyan was never different, just special! The only thing that made us stand out was the fact that we had quadruplets, and that is a fun reason to stand out! I could go on and on about the village...it is really a piece of heaven on earth.

The first thing we did after arriving at the resort was get lunch and ice cream at the ice cream shop. One of the first things that the volunteer running the ice cream shop told us was that this was a place for kids and they could do whatever they wanted! They really live by that motto...ice cream for breakfast, whip cream on everything, endless rides on the carousel, and so much more. After lunch I headed to orientation and the rest of the crew headed to the pool. It was handicapped accessible, so Keyan was able to walk around by herself and she loved the Independence. It was a great way to spend the afternoon of a very long day. We went back to the villa to get settled and than went to dinner. The meals are served in a gingerbread house with a huge cupcake connected. There are several options for dinner and plenty of desserts! There are volunteers to do everything...they carry your tray, refill your drinks, set your table, or whatever else you may need. It is incredible. Near the end of dinner, Mayor Clayton and Miss Merry came around to greet us. They are the bunnies that run the village. The kids LOVED them. We got lots of pictures hugging Miss Merry! After dinner, we made a quick trip to Wal-mart to get a few necessary things and returned to the villa to collapse into bed......dreaming of Disney, and the fun we will have tomorrow.

We are back home

I know that some of you are anxiously awaiting news about our vacation. We had an amazing time, and I promise lots of pictures and stories, but Abagayle has the flu, Keyan has pneumonia, and I am exhausted. More to come....I promise!!! Here is to hoping that the rest of us don't get sick!

3 more days!

Oh my goodness what a flurry of excitement! We are down to three days before we leave for Disney and we can all hardly stand it. Not only have I been doing all the last minute planning and errands, but to make it even more special, we have been receiving some very special mail! A group of sewers from the Internet adopted out family and have sewn custom clothing for the kids to wear in Disney. When I was asked if we would like to participate, I was cautiously thrilled. I was excited, but also had not idea what we would be getting. Fast forward to this week. We have gotten the most beautiful, handsome, amazing, custom made clothes. Not only did this group of strangers sew for the kids, but they must have taken enough time to "get to know us" because they made all of the girls stuff coordinate! I could not have been happier. I am telling you, this experience has renewed my faith in humanity. These people are so giving and generous. hey have blessed us beyond belief and truly changed our lives with their kindness. I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

We started Preschool!

Wow.,..there is a lot of excitment in our house this week. Not only are we 8 days from Disney, but the girls started preschool today. They have been asking about going back ever since we visited two weeks ago. They were thrilled beyond belief....and so is mom!! Funny how I cried when Jamahl went to preschool but I can't stop smiling when I think about 4 hours a week of time to myself!!! No, really, it will be so good for them and they think they are so big since they are going to school. We have an amazing story that goes along with being able to put them into preschool. I won't bore you with all of the details, but not only are the teachers thrilled to have our unique girls, but there are paramedics right across the hall to help keep Keyan safe! God has opened up door after door after door and we could not feel better entrusting all four of our girls to these teachers. We can't wait to see how it goes!

Celebrating our Star

We had a fantastic night at the Cold Stone Creamery raising money for the Make-a-Wish foundation. We had invited everyone who loves and prays for Keyan hoping to raise awareness for the Foundation as well as have a party for Keyan to celebrate how far she has come. All night long people just kept coming and coming to honor Keyan. We were so touched. Keyan felt just like a princess all night as being single out for something FUN is not something that she is used to. It really quantified how blessed we are to have such extraordinary people in our lives. Keyan ate ice cream and even got to go behind the counter and make her own creation. She just kept looking at us and saying, "this party is for ME!!" We even had friends in Ft. Wayne and Indianapolis celebrating Keyan at their local creamery. What an amazing night. Thanks to everyone who participated, we love you all. It was exactly how we had hoped...a special night just for Keyan. I do have to share a story though. Earlier in the day, I was explaining to all the girls that tonight was a party for Keyan. Keyan asked, "for my friends too? (that is what she calls her sisters) I explained that "No, just for her because she has to spend so much time at doctor appointments, the hospital, therapy, being sick, and just going through a lot of things that are not very fun." Sidney looked at me very seriously and said, "but I have warts!" After a few laughs, I explained the difference between warts and what Keyan goes thru and it wasn't long before all the girls were excited about a party just for Keyan! Please keep praying that she remains healthy!!! You should be able to click on the slide show and see the pictures slower!

We're going to Disney!!!

Now that I got that out of my system, I will give you all a little background information just in case you don't know about this special trip. Six months or so ago, two of Keyan's doctors asked me if we had considered submitting Keyan for a wish through the Make-a-Wish foundation. Both times, I politely smiled, nodded, and than explained that I did not think Keyan would qualify and did not want to take up their valuable time. Both doctors listened, and than very nicely stated that in fact they believed that Keyan would absolutely qualify. After discussing it with Paul, I decided that it would not hurt for me to call Make-a-Wish and ask some questions.
When I called, the woman told me that to qualify, Keyan had to have a life threatening illness, and that would be determined by a group of doctors that volunteer for the organization. She than asked if Keyan saw any specialist, I couldn't help but laugh since Keyan's list of specialist is about 25 doctors long! Anyhow, she took the name of some of them and said she would send them the paperwork, they would send it to the team of doctors, and we would either get a letter stating that she did not qualify, or receive a small package with information about granting her one true wish.
Fast forward six weeks....it is a Saturday, and one of our friends has so kindly offered to take the girls to her house to play so that we can just have a little break. Keyan of course can not go due to her special needs, so she stays home with Mommy and Daddy. We did our best that day to do some special things with her but she kept asking where her sisters went, and it was very obvious to both of us that she was sad and felt left out. Late that afternoon, I held her while she watched a movie and couldn't help but cry because I knew she was hurting...I realized that day that she was starting to realize that she was different. It was a really hard day on us all. While she was finishing the movie, I went out to get the mail. As I flipped thru all the junk mail, I came upon an envelope from Make-a-Wish. It was bigger than a standard envelope, but I figured they were letting us know that she did not qualify,and maybe sending us a survey or something. With trembling hands, I opened the envelope, and read the first line. "The Make-a-Wish Foundation of Michigan is pleased to inform you that Keyan has been medically approved for a wish!" I immediately started screaming for Paul and crying at the same time. I had mixed feelings...I was thrilled for her to be granted a wish, but I knew that meant that a team of doctors had reviewed Keyans medical history and determined she indeed had a life threatening illness. This is not what a Mom who is living in denial want to hear!
After composing myself, I read the information and learned that once granted a wish, the child could wait as long as they wanted to make her wish. We talked to Keyan quite a bit and decided that she would wish for a Disney trip but that we were going to wait a year or two before putting in the paperwork for her wish. That was a nice thought but it only lasted about another month.
In June Keyan became very sick with three different types of strange bacteria. I won't go into the gory details, but it was not pretty. Once again, I sat at her bedside not knowing how much longer we would have her with us. Her lung doctor came in at one point and with tears running down his face, said,"this is not where we thought that she would be at the age of three, it is not good, and we need to figure out a new plan. At this point, we can determine that the damage from mechanical ventilation is irreparable, and she will not grow out of it. This changes our course of action!" Wow, when the doctor cries, it is a very scary moment. We have put her on a drug regime that we were hoping to never use, but we sure are thankful it exists. Our goal is to keep her healthy instead of fight the illnesses after they are have taken hold. It was at that time that the doctors advised us to put in for her wish and let God be in control of the timing. They felt that a year from now, she may not have the same endurance level, and at least right now, we know what we are dealing with. We headed their advice and sent the paper work in.
Keyan's official wish is to go to Disney and sing with Ariel. We received a call last week letting us know that we were confirmed to go to Disney October 15th thru the 20th! I never thought that it would happen this soon, but we are all thrilled to say the least. So...in 23 days (but who's counting!), the seven of us and Grammie will be flying to Florida. I can't believe how much stuff there is to do but Make-a-Wish handles a lot of it so we are just enjoying the excitement!
So, for those of you who heard that Keyan was granted a wish and got quite scared, I am sorry to frighten you. She is not terminal, but does have several life threatening illnesses. It is obviously a mixed blessing....we are thrilled for her to have this wish granted, but would give anything to have her not qualify. So, continue to pray for good health and check back often to keep track of our pre-trip planning!

Ballet

All four girls started ballet today. As you can see from the picture below, my girls make up 2/3 of the class! They were so stinking cute it was unbelievable. The class is half ballet and half tumbling. They all loved it and were showing off their new moves to anyone who would watch, including all the shoppers at Younkers!

For the most part, they actually stayed on their carpet squares and followed directions. I was very proud of them. At least they listen to somebody!

Abagayle is our "Prima Ballerina." She has been waiting for over a year to take ballet and loves everything about it. From the fancy bag, to the ballet slippers, skirt, leotard, and tights, she is all about ballet. When we left, she said, "Mommy, I was so beautiful!"

Sidney was very unsure about taking ballet because she "does not want to be a princess...I like Spiderman!" (No, the phase has not passed yet) So, when everyone else got pretty pink ballet bags to carry their stuff, she choose a Spiderman backpack. The good news was when she came out of class she said that she loved it and asked when they were coming back. After all the fuss about getting her hair done this morning for ballet, when I was helping her get her clothes on she was very concerned that I might mess up her hair!! Wait until you see her point her toes!

Keyan as usual is not going to let anything stop her from doing what her sisters are, so she was right in on the ballet also. Sidney was extremely concerned about how Keyan would do...but Keyan did great. Her flexibility really comes in handy and like everything else, she does ballet with gusto! As we were leaving, she said to me in her quiet, breathy voice, "That..was..fun..Mommy." It was priceless!

McKenzy too has embraced her new found hobby and loves carrying the bag around and wearing the shoes. She listened well, which I was really worried about. Tumbling was her thing and she was somersaulting like you wouldn't believe. She keeps talking about doing "balympics" (Olympics) and thinks she is a gymnast. Won't it be interesting to see what they learn over the next 30 weeks!

1st grade!

Well, the day that Mommy has dreaded arrived. We sent Jamahl off to 1st grade today. The summer was so great and went way too fast. He was very excited to go and was up before I went in to wake him. No hesitation, no anxiety, just ready to see his friends. He had a grat day except he had some sort of trouble eating his lunch but we have yet to get to the bottom of that situation. Mommy and his sisters missed him but knoew that he was off having a great time. Jamahl is enrolled in the Spanish immersion program this year so pretty soon, you can say "Hola" to him! Here is to a great school year!

Meeting up with his best friend Landon. We got there, and he was gone! Love ya!

Waiting in line with his buddies

The annual picture with the T-rex!

An entire day without sisters!

Last Thursday, we spent a great day in a suburb of Chicago, visiting the Lego Discovery Center. Jamahl has been dreaming of this since before it opened at the end of July, and we were thrilled to be able to make it possible and be a part of it. We had some wonderful people stay home with all of the girls and myself, Paul, my Mom, and Auntie Roo, all accompanied Jamahl to this mega lego world. I wish you all could have been in the car when we pulled into the parking lot after our long 3 and a half hour drive to hear Jamahl screaming out of excitement. I of course, couldn't control my emotions and walked into Legoland crying. It is very rare that both Paul and I get to spend time with Jamahl without the girls, so we treasured every minute of it.From jungles, rides, and movies, to endless hours of building and testing, we had an amazing time. We did some shopping afterwards and had dinner at the "Cheesecake Factory", ending our day at IKEA. As we were leaving, Jamahl looked at us all and said, "nothing could have made this day more perfect...no, I am telling you the truth, NOTHING!" And that is exactly how we all felt! It was great to spend the day with you Jamahl, you are an amazing kid...so smart, witty, kind, and compassionate. We are so blessed to be in your life!

A day in the dunes

A few weekends ago we spent the day at Hoffmaster State Park in Muskegon. Uncle Jeremy joined us for the day and we all had a wonderful time enjoying the beautiful dunes. We investigated the nature center, hiked the half mile trail down to Lake Michigan and back, played in the water, climbed tall dunes, had a snack in the woods, and had a great time together.

All of the kids taking a break on the Trillium rug

Does it get any more beautiful than Lake Michigan Sand dunes?

The best of Buddies, Jamahl and Uncle Jeremy

Ice Skating in August!

Yes, you read that right, we went ice skating last week. Jamahl has been wanting to work on his skating skills so he got on-line and found out when our local rink had open skating. Friday was the day, so off we went. Auntie Roo had plans of laying by the pool but we convinced her that ice skating would certainly be more fun! It was quite the event. We all got our skates on, and off we went to the ice. All five of the girls surprised us and could walk in their skates without help. I have to admitt that I was tempted to not even get skates for Keyan but boy was I proven wrong. She walked out to the ice, grabbed her buckets, and away she went. It was amazing...my little "disaster waiting to happen" figured out how to lean on the bucket and move. I couldn't help but feel a little ashamed about underestimating her. I hope she just keeps proving us wrong. Abby was the star of the day though. She was all over the ice, twirling, stopping, going fast, and loving every minute of it. Sidney was not fond of the ice no matter what we did. She finally let me push her around slowly but made sure I did not go to fast. McKenzy had to go potty about 100 times so once she finally warmed up to skating, it was time to get off the ice. Jamahl is making great progress in his balancing abilities and surprised us all when he was able to fall and not panick! It was quite an adventure that we will certainly be doing again soon. Of course, you just never know what crazy thing we will try next.

If you want to see the pictures slower, just click on the slideshow!

The County Fair

I am a little behind in posting but I wanted to share what we have been up to. A few weeks ago we all went to the Ottawa County Fair. The kids had a great time. They spent a lot of time checking out the animals and petting them all. We had supper at the fair, and we even had a few dollars left so they could each choose two rides. The girls have never ridden rides, but they were quickly carnie professionals! We had a great evening together as a family!

Grasshopper invasion

OK, these pictures do not do it justice but we have a grasshopper infestation in our front flower garden and along the side of the house. It is the most amazing thing!!! If you look closely at the pictures, you can see all of the grasshoppers.There are hundreds of them, all different colors, shapes, sizes, and types. It is so weird. They must have heard that large families are welcome here! You have never seen anything like this. All you hear is hop, hop, hop, almost like large rain drops. It is certainly something to behold!

Our first baseball game

We all joined my Mom's extended family for a local ball game. It was a lot of fun and the kids really had a good time. Of course, like anything else, it takes an army to go with us in order for us all to survive but I guess that is what family is all about. We had all sorts of treats and made at least 100 visits to the little girls bathroom, but we had a blast non the less. It was a lot of work but very nice to do something besides sitting at home.

Paul and I actually had a minute to share a quick meal without the kids hanging all over us! Grammie and Poppie had them all occupied with ice cream!

Jamahl thoroughly enjoyed the Dove Bar that Poppie bought. That face sums it all up!!!

Sidney is just too cute for words! She loved spending time with the family and getting spoiled with the special treats.

And than there is Keyan....we didn't know if she would be healthy enough for the game but she was doing alright so we decided to give it a try. She was so happy to be out and about. It was great to see her completely engrossed in having fun. She clapped with every cell in her body and cheered the loudest of all. It was wonderful!

McKenzy liked the ice cream too but only the vanilla part. She doesn't really care for chocolate!We were very proud of McKenzy because she made it thru the fireworks after the game without crying. She sat with her ears covered but was able to enjoy the colors. It was a great night with family!

Memorial Day Weekend (a lot late!)

We had a great Memorial Day weekend with the kids. Grammy and Poppy stayed up north for a few nights at a Resort by Lake Michigan so we headed up there for the day on Saturday. Sand, water, and a trach do not go well together so the girls have only been to Lake Michigan one time and it was so cold that we only stayed for 5 minutes or so. This time we spent a couple hours playing in the water and sand. They LOVED it! Keyan was feeling well enough to have her trach capped so that took some of the stress off. It was a great milestone for all of us and a memory that Mommy will not soon forget.

Jamahl was in the water in less than five minutes. The fact that it was cold did not stop him at all. Before the end of the afternoon, his layers were all wet and he was down to his t-shirt and skives!

Keyan kept pushing her limits and getting closer and closer to the water. She never stopped running until we made her take a break. By the end her legs absolutely would not hold her up any longer but she kept up with everyone else as long as she could!

Abagayle does not like to be cold so she kept finding the warmest places on the beach. She finally warmed up enough to chase Uncle Jeremy, scout for treasures, and roll in the sand. She had so much fun.

Sidney followed in the footsteps of Jamahl and just kept getting wetter and wetter. She too ended up in just her diaper but she did not mind at all. She loved digging and playing with Jamahl. She will be ready for the beach anytime!

McKenzy did not like the way the sand felt on her feet but eventually was won over by her siblings to join in on the fun. Her only real complaint was that her binky kept getting all sanding! She could play in the sand for hours!

Here are Sidney and Abby rolling down the dune. They of course had sand in every crevice of their bodies but it was all very worth it.

What can I say??? We tried to get a nice family photo but I really need to know the limits of having 5 kids. We literally have 30 pictures and there is not a single one where everyone is looking. Oh well, the fun that we had will long outlast the pictures that don't turn out. It is amazing how such a seemingly "normal" event like going to the beach becomes so huge when you have special needs in your family. We have definitely learned not to take anything for granted!

Keyan's coming home day!!!

We have finally arrived at Keyan's special day. Three years ago on the 13th of May she came home from the hospital. She had a few failed attempts at coming home in March and April but would end up back in the hospital within 24 hours so we don't celebrate until the day she STAYED home! I am always amazed when I look back three years ago but Keyan amazes me the most. It is absolutly incredible to see how far she has come.

She started her day licking powdered doughnuts. She has acquired quite a taste for the white doughnuts since Poppy has been home for the last month and a half! She has such a love for life and even though she may not actually eat the doughnut, it is as good to her as if she were.

We met a freind for lunch at Logans where Keyan promtly ordered ice cream for her meal. Of course, her sisters were a little put out by her getting her dessert first but as Grammie said, "It is her special day!" We are very excited about the progress she is making when it comes to putting things in her mouth. It is stil not large amounts but we celebrate every little step along the way.

Keyan knows that she is the queen for the day and is enjoying being spoinled even more than normal. Isn't her smile contagious? Keyan, you are such an inspiration to all of us. Your determination far exceeds that of most people. Despite your challenges, you meet life head on and love everything about it. Your forehead kisses and unending hugs are always a pick-me-up. Your memory is amazing and hearing you sing every word on the Disney sing-a-long CD brings me to tears every time. You have given us a lot of scares, but even more joy. I know that you are going to do spectacular things in your life and I can't wait to celebrate all of those milestones with you. Daddy and I have learned so much from your personality and spirit. Thanks for keeping us on our toes. We love you!

All the girls stopped to pose for a group shot outside of the restaurant. We have not had nice weather for about a week so they were soaking up the sun. The other girls love Keyan and were excited to be celebrating her day. It always ends up being one big party! What a great coming home day.