Gingerbread Houses at the Sheraton

Cara's annual doctor appointment is in December, which provides us with an excellent opportunity to go to Seattle and see the gingerbread house display at the Sheraton.  We figured out a few years ago that it's best to stay at the Sheraton, too.  This way you can go down to the lobby late and see the houses without the crowds.  These pictures were taken around 9:30 p.m. and there were less than a handful of people looking at the houses with us.

This year was the 19th year of gingerbread houses and the theme was, "Holiday Express."

The detail is just amazing.  I wonder how long it takes to construct one.  And how many people work on one.

There were scenes from different places around the world.

This one was the kid's favorite:

This one won the Spirit Award:

Here's a little scene on the house above.  So intricate!

I would have liked to have taken this picture again in the morning with their "visit to Santa Claus" clothes on, but there were so many people! 

I love going to see the houses.  It's something we look forward to every year.

Slightly Disappointing News

Cara had her annual appointment with her cardiologist at Seattle Children's Hospital last Thursday.  Here she is getting ready for her echocardiogram.

She's fine with going to the doctor as long as there's no blood draw and no shots.  She still looked a little nervous, though, for her echo.

This picture looks like she's interested in what's on the computer screen.  It's misleading.  She's actually watching a Dora the Explorer movie on the tv on the wall.  She can lay really still if she's watching Dora.  The echo takes about 40 minutes to complete.

Then off to another room for her EKG.  She was super excited about the princess EKG stickers.   The EKG is easy.  Cara counts to 10 and they remove the wires.

Then we waited for Dr. Madsen.  Last year he said no restrictions, come back in a year and we'll see if the VSD closes with improved nutrition and exercise.  This year he said there's been no change.  Which means Cara's VSD has not closed or even changed a little.  So we are, in fact, looking at surgery in the future.  He even went so far as to give us a list of symptoms to watch for.  Yikes!  Last year I left her appointment relieved and close to tears with relief and joy.  This year I left feeling disappointed and a little more worried about her heart than I was before we got there.  Looking on the bright side, Dr. Madsen said we most likely wouldn't see any symptoms until she reaches puberty.  So she would be older, bigger, and stronger before she needs surgery.  I had just really hoped to see some improvement in her condition.  So what now?  We watch for symptoms and go back in a year. 

Watching Day

We have been very slow to add activities into Cara's schedule.  She was home for almost a year before we added in any activities for her.  This October she got to start taking dance.  She takes dance at the same studio as her sister and two of her cousins, so she was incredibly excited to start.  The teacher only lets parents watch the first lesson of the month in order to minimize distractions during dance lessons.  I wasn't able to attend watching day in November, so this was my first watching day with Cara.  A is in high school, and she hasn't wanted me to attend watching day for about 5 years now.  Here she is a little shy:

She still has that embarrassed smirk on her face.  She gets it from having an older brother and sister.  When she came over to me to switch to ballet slippers she whispered, "Don't laugh."  I said, "I'm not laughing, I'm smiling because I'm proud of you."  Sometimes having older siblings is a blessing; sometimes its a curse.

Here's the pure joy I normally see on my girl's face.  They were taking individual turns showing the teacher how they could skip across the floor.

And she skips back...

She gets some air when she skips!

This is Cara's concentrating face.  She always has her tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth when she really has to think about what she's doing.  Her little face is chapped on that side from her tongue.  I wish I could figure out a way to break that habit.

She did such a great job!  I can't wait for watching day next month.

This is what 3 1/2 looks like...

This picture was taken on December 3rd, 2010.  Cara was 3 1/2 years old.

This picture was taken just a few minutes ago.  Cara is 4 1/2 years old.  She looks so much more grown up to me now.  She looks more confident, too.

Happy Half-Birthday, Sweetheart. ;)

The Snow Village {Sunday Snapshot}

I love my snow village.  It goes up every year after Thanksgiving and stays up through January.  My kids get me a new piece every year for Christmas, so little by little, my village gets bigger every year.

Last year I didn't put it up for the first time ever.  We came home with Cara at the end of October and I couldn't quite trust her to stay away from it.  This year she could barely contain her excitement as we brought out all of the boxes and she got to watch the village slowly be built.  Her brother is still patiently teaching her the concept of, "We look with our eyes, not with our hands."

I love it so much!  I'm hoping for the "Lucky Dragon" Chinese Restaurant for my Christmas present this year.

For more Sunday Snapshots, click here:

She's Exhausted

She's so tired.  She has played hard for the past couple of days and she is so worn out.  She insisted she didn't need a nap today.  I looked over a few moments ago because she was coloring so quietly and this is what I saw:

Poor thing!  I need to go straighten her out into a more comfortable position. ;)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Grandma came over from Spokane for Thanksgiving.  She brought the kids chocolate turkeys from See's to sit by their plates for Thanksgiving dinner.

Plenty of food for everyone!

Cara posing with Daddy for a picture before dinner.

This is what they do to each other when they think I'm not ready with the camera yet for pictures. ;)

My 3 sweet babies:

The kids posed with Grandma after dinner.

I don't know about you, but I'm stuffed!  I don't even want pie.  I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I know I did!