In Honor of Jake....

This is a picture of our dear friends Pete and Kim and their precious little boy Jake. Jake was born with some cardiac abnormalities and required a heart and lung transplant. We all prayed he would get one.... and he did! This picture was taken in August of this past year right before little Jake went into surgery. Sadly, he got sick a few months after surgery and passed away the week of Thanksgiving. He would have been two years old this past week, on January 26th. In his memory, Kim decided to do a service project on his birthday.

Kim and I serve together in our church with the Young Women (ages 12-17). This is Maddy, one of our beautiful Young Women. Here she is posing next to Station One. Kim set up 5 stations and at each station we were to either trace a pattern, cut the traced pattern, pin it, sew it or stuff it.

Here we are working away. The goal is to donate 72 stuffed dolls to the Children's Hospital Of Philadelphia (CHOP) where Jake had his surgery. They use these dolls to explain to children what surgery they are going to have and what is going to happen. The children can them keep these dolls.

Here I am with my dear friend, Kim. Jake was blessed with an amazing mom!

Kim handed each of us a paper rolled up and tied with a string like a scroll.

Inside was this message. We all miss our little Jake. He was such a special little guy and, despite his illness, he was always smiling. For those of us that knew him, he really touched our lives and I am so glad that I got to know him. I loved being a part of this service project to honor his memory on his birthday. Happy Heavenly Birthday, Jake! We love and miss you!

Happy 4th Birthday.....

to my Lacey girl! I can't believe she's already 4 years old! Since her birthday is today (a Saturday -- aren't Saturday birthdays the best?!), we decided to celebrate all weekend long. We started by taking the kids to Port Discovery yesterday. Port Discovery is a great Children's Museum downtown Baltimore.

While Lacey "surfed" in the Water room, Tanner and Dave painted in the Art Studio.

Today we celebrated by inviting Dave's family over for a party. Those in attendance were Nena and Papa (Dave's parents), Aunt Heidi (Dave's sister), Uncle Mike (Dave's brother) and Aunt Anne and her cousins: Jordan, Alexis and Jacque. The theme of the party was the Disney Princesses and yes, Lacey wore her Disney Princess costume ALL day. The highlight of the party was breaking the pinata.

And the other highlight was this fabulous cake. I'm allowed to brag about how great it turned out (in terms of how it looked and tasted) because I had absolutely nothing to do with it (aside from doing the Barbie's hair). I was going to pick up a cake at a bakery, like I've done for her past 3 birthdays, but Dave saw this on the Internet and said he wanted to do it. I had my doubts.... but it turned out great! Way to go, Dave!

After the party, we continued the fun by taking the kids to Build A Bear. Lacey picked out this bear, which she named Cici (pronounced see-see) and Tanner picked out a bear that he named Stot (I have absolutely no idea how he came up with that one!)

And then we capped off the day by letting the kids ride the train at the Mall. They loved it!

Lacey had a great birthday weekend! I think this picture of her dancing and twirling around just about sums it up!

A few things about my Lacey.... She is a great big sister. She loves Tanner. Whenever I reprimand him for something, she says, "Mom, don't get mad at Tan. He's my best friend." She loves her Baby Riley too and is always asking to hold her and loves to show her off to everyone. She also loves going to Preschool and talks endearingly of her teacher, Mrs. M. She is a girl through and through -- loves princesses, pink, jewelry, make-up, etc. Her favorite movie right now is Beauty and the Beast and her favorite shows are Chuggington, Dora, Little Einsteins and Jungle Junction. She is such a little social butterfly and she is happiest when she is with her cousins or friends. She is very sensitive, very emotional, and is overall a sweet, happy little girl. We are so blessed to have her as a part of our family. Love you, Lacey girl!

2 Months

As you can see from the pics, the biggest thing that has happened in the past month is that little RJ has learned to smile! And that puts a big ole' smile on my face as well!

What doesn't make me smile is the fact that I've had her to the doctor not once, but twice in the past 4 days. The poor girl has been congested as all get-out. Her breathing got so labored that it was really concerning. I brought her in on Tuesday (they weighed her at 11# 14 oz; she's getting so big!) and they initially thought she had RSV. But, upon further investigation, they said it all seemed to be in her head area and not in her chest area. They had to take out a machine and suction her out because the poor girl had so much gunk in her, she couldn't breathe -- and my little manual suction at home just wasn't cutting it! And then, they discovered a lovely ear infection as well. They told me to watch her and bring her back the next day. So, on Wednesday, I was back again (this time without Tanner, who was a complete NIGHTMARE in the office the day before) and they checked her out again. They still felt confidant that it wasn't RSV, so they told me to keep doing what I'm doing (antibiotic morning and night, suctioning, humidifier, saline nasal sprays, etc.) and watch her closely. And with a smile like that, watching her closely is fine with me!

Christmas in Chi-town

Well, Dave and I got brave and packed up our car along with all 3 kids in the back seat, ages 3 1/2, 2 1/2 and 6 weeks and ventured out on a 13-hour drive to Chicago for Christmas! One of our favorite things to do was to go out to eat at all of our favorite Naperville and Chicago restaurants. We introduced Lacey to Portillos (and also ate at Connie's Pizza and Potters Place.)

And my mom made her famous sugared almonds (and also her famous home-made caramels and swedish buns) yum!

And then there was the highlight and main reason for the trip.... introducing Riley to the family. Prior to December 23rd (our arrival date in Naperville), my mom is the only member of my family had met Riley, so it was so fun to introduce her to everyone! Here she is with my Sister-in-law, Carrie.

And with my brother, Ricky.

Riley wasn't the only one who wanted to snuggle up to Uncle Ricky. And who can resist, with the Blackhawks snuggie and all!

Riley's First Christmas

Look at the view out the window... a beautiful white Christmas!

On Christmas Eve, we re-enacted the Luke 2 story. Lacey was Mary, my nephew Jace was Joseph, Riley was baby Jesus and Ricky was the donkey.

We blessed Riley while we were home and that was wonderful to have so much family there for that event. The only member of my family who wasn't there was my sister Maret. We missed her (she traveled to Europe with friends for the holidays).

All 7 Mitchell grandkids. Tanner was being his usual cooperative self!

Another highlight of the trip was visiting friends. Here I am with one of my best friends from high school, Kelly. I was also able to see and visit several other friends, so that was great! (Again, notice Tanner being his usual cooperative self :))

We were also able to drive to Oak Park, a Chicago suburb and tour the Frank Lloyd Wright home and studio. This was something I really wanted to do since it's in the 1000 Places to See Before You Die book.

My friend, Veronica, gave us tickets to Brookfield Zoo. I was so excited - I love Brookfield Zoo over the holidays! They have everything decked out for Christmas in lights and have all these special events going on. We had a great time!

We spent our last night downtown Chicago with our good friends Mari and Derek. They planned a really fun evening; we had a progressive dinner. We started out by having drinks and appetizers at the top of the Hancock building with a gorgeous view of the city. We then went to Wrigleyville where we had dinner at Uncommon Ground and listened to live music. We then capped off the evening by having dessert at The Peninsula and then touring Mari's kitchen where she runs her business, Foiled Cupcakes.

We had a very Merry Christmas and hope you all did too!