Kayla Dancing at the Embassy

Here is a little bit of Kay dancing last night....enjoy! My favorite part is when she jumps and her dress comes clear up to her waist. She is in the red dress with the white trim. (During the video I scan to the left and you can see my niece Mya dancing too - 2nd in from the left)

Girl's Night Out!

Oh what a fun girl's night we had last night! Kayla and I met our friends Julie and Emily. We headed to the Festival of Trees at the Embassy. The girls had fun looking at all the trees. Emily's dance company performed and then Kayla herself got to go on stage and perform at the Embassy with her dance company. We then walked to Coney Island (boy do I miss Coney Island in Kendallville!) and it was packed! We then headed to the ice rink. Notice, there are no pictures from the ice rink! Poor Kayla struggled on skates, but she didn't give up. I used every muscle in my upper body to keep her upright. I only fell once, and I'm sure that the entire city felt it because I went down HARD! We ended our fun night at DeBrand's. We are so blessed to have such good friends and good times!

I love this picture of the girls stuffing their faces with popcorn!

Kayla and Emily

Julie and Julie

Happy Thanksgiving

More Than A Day
As Thanksgiving Day rolls around,

It brings up some facts, quite profound.

We may think that we're poor,

Feel like bums, insecure,

But in truth, our riches astound.

We have friends and family we love;

We have guidance from heaven above.

We have so much more

Than they sell in a store,

We're wealthy, when push comes to shove.

So add up your blessings, I say;

Make Thanksgiving last more than a day.

Enjoy what you've got;

Realize it's a lot,

And you'll make all your cares go away.

By Karl Fuchs

Happy Birthday Kayla

Tomorrow my baby girl turns 6!!! We celebrated her birthday this afternoon. We are so lucky to have family and friends that can come over to help us celebrate. We had a FULL house! When we tell Kayla to say "thank you" to "Grandma" we have to clarify because usually there are 4-5 "Grandma's/Great-Grandma's" present! Here are some pictures from the day!

Christmas Beauties

Mya and Kayla had their first Christmas dance performance Saturday at the Kendallville Festival of Trees. They did such a great job! I don't think I could have got out in front of a crowd at that age and danced (or at my current age!). You can catch these two gals next Saturday Nov. 29th at the Embassy Festival of Trees in Fort Wayne at 5 p.m.

Fall Carnival

I'm so thankful that the Wayne Center Elementary Fall Carnival is OVER. I was very lucky to work with two other moms that put a lot of time into making this carnival a great event for the kids. Dawn and Tiffanie were wonderful to work with. None of us had ever worked on this event and somehow we made it all come together! The kids seemed to have a great time and our chili even turned out good! We learned a lot and things will be much easier next year. Thank you to all the parents that donated food and their time working at games during the carnival!

Meeting Tom Izzo!!!

Last night we were very lucky to be able to attend the IPFW vs. MSU basketball game last night with our friends Ron and Kim. They are both MSU grads and had the opportunity to get tickets to this game. We were set up in the Budweiser Suite at the Coliseum.

I think the only rule was that I could not wear any red or anything that indicated that I am an IU fan. So, I tried to wear green, wrong green, but it was still green nonetheless.

I must say, of course I am an IU fan. But I am also am a Big Ten fan. I would put State on the top of the list behind Indiana and in front of all the other schools any other day.

I'm glad State won, but I always have to root for the underdog. I just made one mistake during the game yelling out loud for IPFW in the midst of all the MSU alumni. I only embarrassed Chris briefly and feared for my life for a few seconds. I think that IPFW played the best they could and MSU probably the worst.

The best part of the night (besides hanging out with great friends) was after the game when Tom Izzo came up to the suite and talked to the group of people. He was witty and willing to answer any questions. Being the speech therapist I am, it hurt me to hear him talk - his poor voice is a mess! He was a very gracious man and signed items and posed for pictures. I have to say I think it was a very cool thing and I am definitely even more a MSU fan now than I was before!

NOW IF I CAN ONLY MEET COACH CREAN!!!!!!

American Girl

One of the main reasons we went to Chicago (besides to get away for the weekend) was to go to the American Girl store. The boys decided they were more interested in going to Niketown and the Lego Store vs. American Girl. So we spit up and Kayla and I headed to Water Tower Place.

I had told Kayla that we would get her a doll for her birthday. She has always had the American Girl "Bitty Baby". All summer she saved her money and surprisingly had a nice little stash to take to buy some clothes for her doll. She has had her eye on "Ruthie" for months. I thought for sure that once we got into the store she would be distracted by all the other dolls and change her mind. I was so wrong! She made a beeline right to Ruthie and never looked at another doll the entire time we were in the store.

The store was huge! I was more overwhelmed than Kayla. It was nuts. There were so many girls, moms, and dolls I was about to go nuts. There was a doll hospital and a doll salon. I put a picture up of the dolls getting their hair done. WOW -crazy! Here are some pics from our time at American Girl. I heard her say several times over the weekend to herself, "I can't believe I got an American Girl doll!" She was very excited and has been taking very good care of Ruthie ever since.

Adventures in Ear Piercing

Kayla NEVER lets her hair tucked behind her ears...so this is a rare photo!

I believe this is when she was saying, "OUCH!!!! THAT HURT!!!!"

All done! Kayla did better than I did! I held her hand during the whole thing, but I was sweating bullets!

Shedd Aquarium

Our first stop in Chicago this weekend was the Shedd Aquarium. Chris and I had gone two years ago and knew that the kids would really enjoy it. So finally, we all got there! I was disappointed that the Ocean Aquarium was closed for renovations, but the kids didn't know any different. This is one of my favorite pictures from the weekend. I wish I could just freeze the kids at this age.




I thought this frog was GROSS! It was like 12-15 inches long!




We went to a 4-D movie at the aquarium. So we had to put on our glasses. I had never seen a movie in 3-D so that was a new experience. What made it 4-D was the seats would vibrate and poke you in the back. We got sprayed with water and there were bubbles floating around. I thought that Kayla would really enjoy it because it was a SpongeBob SquarePants show. She was FREAKED out by the 3-D and getting splashed with water!





Now this is a cute frog!

Happy Birthday Great-Grandma Desper!

Tonight the Desper family got together for dinner to wish Great-Grandma Mildred a Happy 85th Birthday. It doesn't seem that long ago that she helped us by babysitting Ryan when he was born until he went to Kindergarten two days a week. She would push Ryan all over town in his stroller going to the library and the park. The library people still talk about how she always brought him in. She isn't able to watch the kids anymore, but we really appreciate the time that she was able to spend with them.

In case you are wondering what is on Kayla's head - she made a headband and drew a feather to tape onto it. We spent the weekend in Chicago - I have tons of pics to share! I am going to try to figure out how to put a slide show together. Hope you had a great weekend!