We are in isolation!

I have not had too much to blog because we have been doing NOTHING! Since last Monday evening, the girls have been in isolation. We have gone no where except the doctor or the ER , they stayed in their pajamas, no one has eaten much of anything, and Mommy is barely keeping her sanity. After several opinions, the conclusion is that the girls all have a virial infection. It could be several different ones, it doesn't really matter, because no matter what you call it, they have to stay away from people until their fever breaks. McKEnzy started with some itchy spots on her arm, than her hands, and than onto her face, running a high fever the whole time. It was insane. The other girls have had milder cases but none the less it has been a long week! McKenzy has it the worst and she is on steroids for the inflamation (that makes her dispotion SO great!). This picture does not do it justice at all. I would look at her face and just about start crying it was so bad. The good news is that as of today, all four girls have been fever free for 24 hours so baring any unforseen circumstances, we should be able to go to our swimming lessons that start on Monday! Hopefully, this means I will have something to blog about in the near future.

A real Ho-Down

Jamahl's class has been working on a square dance for the last three months. Wednesday night was the big performance at the Celebration of Learning. He was so excited! They had to be in the gym at 6:30 sharp and he thought for sure that we need to leave no later than 5:30! Keep in mind we live 5 minutes form the school! There was one bad part though and that was the required blue jeans to dance in. Jamahl HATES jeans. He doesn't even own a pair...he only wears wind pants. Cowboys however, do not wear wind pants so jeans it was, although he called them "boo" jeans! We were all so proud of him, especially when he told us what a big responsibility he had as the "lead couple". Oh, he takes things so serious. He did fantastic...and even better, he had a great time! Enjoy!

Ballet recital

Oh what an exciting weekend this has been! The girls have been taking ballet since September and this weekend was the end of the year recital. They have been working so hard and this was the culmination. The excitement level was very high as we did hair and got dresses for dress recital Friday night. This is the first time the girls have performed in anything or been on a stage. The recital was held in a venue that seats about 1000 people and it was just about full! Saturday morning, Grammie and Auntie Roo started doing hair early and mommy was in charge of getting everyone dressed. It was quite the undertaking but it was worth every second. When Abby first woke up on Saturday she shrugged her shoulder and said, "Well, it is just another day on the stage!" I think we will have a lot of performances to attend in the future. The girls had a very large fan club at the recital and it was so cute to watch them on stage. They were on the middle of performing when all of a sudden they started to recognize people in the crowd. Then of course they started waving and smiling at us all. I think that their class stole the show! It was a wonderful weekend to celebrate all of their accomplishments and how far they have come. I just could not get over that we have little girls old enough to be in their first dance recital. It seems like just yesterday that we were struggling to feed them. The scary part is that I know it will only be a short time before we are all gathering to do hair for the prom. Where does time go?

Sidney waiting backstage for their group to be called.

Keyan could not wait to be on the stage

McKenzy had the backstage jitters and could hardly sit still

The Prima Ballerina, Abagayle, was thrilled to be performing!

Their dresses were made for twirling!

I love this picture...all smiles, twirls, and jumps!

Ok, I have to admit that this picture is my favorite. She looks so great!

And than there is Abby and her gracefulness. Notice her hands pointed? She loves it!

It is tradition to present a dancer with flowers after she performs...as you can see, the girls were showered with tradition!

Our three days in Disney

I have SO much to catch up on so I guess I will just plow ahead..... The last week in April, right before Maddy came to join our home, Paul and I got a very much needed quick getaway to Disney. It has been four years since we have been away longer than 20 hours so we grabbed the opportunity and did not look back! My Mom and Dad took care of the kids and sent us off on our way. Mom thought that she could handle two nights and three days so when I booked our flights, I took advantage of every hour possible. We left our house Monday morning at 4:00am and returned in the wee hours of Thursday morning. Of course, wouldn't you know that we lost power the night before we left so we had to finish packing by flashlight and I had to repack my capris that I was going to wear due to the hairy legs that did not get shaved because we could not take a shower without power! We were so worried, but luckily, as we arrived at the airport, we called home to find out that the power had come back on. One less thing to worry about! We basically had most of Monday, all day Tuesday, and most of Wednesday. It was amazing. Many of you are laughing right now at the fact that we got to get away from the kids and we choose to go to Disney....well, those of you who know me well are not surprised at all but there we actually a lot of practical reasons to choose "the greatest place on earth". Where else can you go that you don't have to rent a car, you have hundreds of restaurants available, shopping galore, bars, great hotels, and stay on an "African reserve"? We decided to splurge and stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and it was worth every cent. I cried every time we saw the giraffes because it has been my dream to stay at this particular resort but I never in my wildest imagination thought I would ever get to do it. We stayed busy during the days and ended both nights relaxing in the hot tub. It was so great to have time with just each other in such a magical place. I won't bore you with the details, but we had a fantastic time! :) It came to an end very quickly but we were able to come back recharged and reconnected. There is nothing better! Thanks MOM!!!!

We have added to our family!

I know that some of you are waiting for pictures of our adults only trip to Disney and they will be coming...but the newest member of our family takes precedence. We are happy to announce the arrival of Madeline Liberty Hogan....we call her Maddy! She was born on February 23, 2009 so she is a little over 8 weeks old and weighs almost three pounds.. She was born in Beaver City, Nebraska and flew to us on an airplane yesterday. The poor little things left her house before midnight Thursday night and we picked her up a little after 1pm on Friday. We are so happy to have her here. The excitement level is very high and she is being loved enough for four puppies!

A busy Easter

We woke up Easter morning to the sound of Jamahl reading the note from the Eater Bunny to his sisters. I jumped out of bed to grab the camcorder, and I don't think that I sat down for the rest of the day. First the kids looked for their eggs inside. Jamahl had camouflage ones, Mckenzy had Hello Kitty ones, Keyan had Elmo eggs, Sidney hunted Spiderman eggs, and Abagayle looked for princess ones. They have been looking forward to the egg hunt since last year. After all the eggs had been found we had a big breakfast with chocolate bunnies for dessert! You gotta love the Easter candy!

Once breakfast was cleaned up and everyone was dressed, we headed outside for another egg hunt. This time it was a free for all and they were squealing with excitement when they would spot an egg. It was so much fun. Once all of the eggs had been found, we led them to the barn where their new bikes were waiting. No, we do not usually get this extravagant with Easter but the bikes were on sale this week, so we thought we might as well get the expense of it all over with! The kids were thrilled with the bikes. Jamahl was immediately ready to hop on and try to learn how to ride without training wheels. The girls were a little disgusted that their bikes were not put together. The day was the nicest that we have had since St. Patrick's day so the adults took turns helping Jamahl and Paul got busy building the other bikes. It was so cute to watch the girls anxiously "helping" Daddy get their bike together. By the end of the afternoon, Abby was pretty confident, McKenzy was coming right along with a little help getting started and turning, and Sidney was still figuring out how to peddle. Jamahl is working on his balance and Keyan was so happy for everyone she could hardly stand it....don't forget she got her ambike a couple months ago.
Uncle Jeremy and Auntie Roo arrived in time for dinner and than it was back outside to show them the bikes. We ended the day with ice cream at Captain Sundaes. It was a fantastic family day. When Paul and I finally fell into our beds that night, he said, "That was a fun day. It was great to watch the kids have so much fun, but I could not keep up to this pace all the time!" Who are you kidding honey.....we live this pace constantly!!! We hope that you had a great Easter!

Coco Key-Chicago

Spring break was so great!!!! It was so nice to be without a schedule and focus on doing fun things. We limited Keyan's therapy sessions and tried to have a week off from our calendar. My Mom took Jamahl to Chicago for two nights to visit the Lego Discovery center and do some "boy" things. The hotel that they stayed in had an huge indoor water park so Paul and I packed the girls up for a day trip to enjoy the water fun. We had a blast spending the day together as a family and away from the responsibilities of home. We rented our own personal cabana so we had a place to relax, warm up, and eat without fighting the crowds. It was just what we needed. We debated about taking Keyan but decided to take a leap of faith and let her have the experience too. It is always a struggle knowing what to do but I totally know that we did the right thing. All she talks about is how much fun she had at the water park. It is so much fun to see the kids' eyes light up when they are talking about the slides and splashing, and the big bucket of water dumping all over Grammie!!! We did not have time to take too many photos but I hope you can see the fun in their faces.