Our Make a Wish trip is still coming, there will be lots to share, but the kids had their dance performances this last weekend.

In fact if it were not for John driving until 2 in the morning on Wednesday, we would not have made it back for the Thursday run throughs, but we made it!

 Denali had her tap number to Annie.

She had a pom number and ballet number with the Cinderella theme.

 Friday night Quinn watched with Grandma Vicki and they loved it.

Well she loved it until hour 3 and a half, she could not watch any more!

Isaiah had a couple numbers as well.

He started with his hip hop class.

Also with the Cinderella theme,  he was the naughty cat.

Then he was one of the princes little brothers, and this was adorable!

Finally it was Quinn's turn.

I ordered leg warmers for the girls, and they came in Saturday morning, just in time for the show!  Phew that was cutting it way to close!

Isaiah and Denali were buddies for this dance, so I was just loving watching all three of them dance together on stage with the rest of the group!

Getting ready, practicing, and getting some pictures.

Finally the performance.

Finally Curtain Call, Isaiah and Quinn got out there, and Isaiah and Quinn were both nervous being the only ones, but they did great and giggled most of the time.

 The girls got flowers and love it and a few final pictures after the over 4 hour show!

Finally we had to celebrate by going out to eat with the family!

I have to go back and add in our last day of school pictures.

 The kids knew they would be missing the last three days of school, but did not know anything about the fun fancy send off they would receive later that day!  Thanks Chrissy for taking the pictures!

We had our Make a Wish trip!

 It was amazing and we are now all exhausted!

 I am going to try to get some sleep, and start soon with so many great stories and memories.  I'm hoping to get them down soon before I forget all of them.  I can't say enough good things about Make a Wish and our trip, but it's going to have to wait, as we need some sleep, and I've got thousands of pictures to go through, and there are some great ones!  So check back, I'll be giving many many updates!  Just a quick thank you to Maxey school for giving us a super amazing send off and to East High school band and cheerleaders.  We started off with a huge bang, and have memories to last us a lifetime!  So just wait, we have amazing stories to share.

 We met with our Make a Wish ladies again, to continue to plan our trip.  The kids were spoiled rotten.  To say that Make a Wish is amazing is not even coming close to how great it is.  We met at Olive Garden and I have to give them thanks a well, because they did not charge us for our meal.  They wanted to add to the magic of our experience.  Life is so good!

 Quinn and Denali had to have some girls time this weekend, and they sure do love each other!

 One of the rules in our house is that only Quinn sits in her chair, but Chrissy was over here working on our chair, and let Denali sit in it to understand how Quinn feels.  She told us it feels good and she got the biggest kick out of finally being able to sit in Quinn's chair.

 Finally, Quinn has been going on and on about how Minnie Mouse is who she wants to see at Disney.  Well, this week she was asked at dance class if she is more excited to see Minnie or Elsa, and she told them Elsa.  Denali finally got through to her, and now she wants to see the frozen crew and princesses as well as Minnie.  She was super excited to have gotten Olaf from the Make a Wish ladies and was super excited to sleep with him last night.  

We are excited and would love some prayers for a safe trip, when ever that happens :) here in the future!  This is also our last week of school as well!  YEAH for summer!  Blessings to you all!

The dance recital is getting closer and closer!

 All three of my kids got compliments this last practice.

Quinn for working so hard.

Denali for making her partner smile and work hard.

Isaiah for helping his partner in such a kind way.

OH I love my kids!

 Denali is the only one that has her costumes as of right now, so here is a peak at those.

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa, we now have more money in our money bags!  It's been great talking about finances, a big important talk to have.  Learning to be responsible, while also being able to treat ourselves is a big concept, and I think we are figuring a few things out.  This will also be nice because the kids will not be asking us for anything, because if they do, we get a quarter, we also get a quarter if they make bad choices on the drive there.  I've told them, they can make as many bad choices as they want, because all the quarters I get, I get to spend on a Disney gift for me!  So they can be as naughty as they want.  They are sure I will not be getting any of their quarters, so we will see!  Thanks for the great idea, Shelley!  Thanks for the cash Grandpa Ron, and Grandma Vicki and Grandpa Steve!  Thanks to Grandma Martha and Grandpa Harold for getting our mail, watering our plants, and taking care of Blue.  We are lucky to have such great Grandparents!

The excitement is getting bigger and bigger, I've had to ask my kids to calm down much more then usual.  The weather has been rainy, school is winding down, and the trip is getting closer!  We are excited, but I'm not sleeping all that great, because I'm as excited as they are!  So I can't get after them to much! :)

We were taking our Disney paintings home, and as I looked over, I loved all the colors and it just made me cheerful, so I had to snap a picture.

 Friday was Relax and Read with my two second graders.  Thank you to my work friends for covering for me at work, so I could get over to Maxey to read and relax with the girls.  We read their books they created throughout the year.  I was so busy reading, I did not get any pictures taken, but thanks to Quinn's great para, we got some.  Seeing how she is loved by her classmates just melts my heart!

Last Wednesday we all loaded up into the van and went to Omaha to Quinn's ENT appointment.  It went great, and so then it was on to haircuts, to get ready for the trip.  Quinn gave away her hair awhile back, so she just got to watch.

Finally I have been thinking how I'm almost sad the trip is getting close, because we have had so much fun with paintings, and sewing.  Watching disney movies, and getting surprises.  Filling out journals, and learning about where we are going.  Making lists of what we want to do, and just spending time together as a family with a fun mission we have gotten to plan for, with all kinds of special surprises.  So I've almost felt bad that it is getting closer.  Well, as we are counting down, the kids told me the same thing.  They talked about how they are going to miss the surprises, and all as well.  So our pre trip planning and fun might be closing down, but we sure have been having fun!  

Here you see our paper chain, the count down calendar is in the background, and a few surprise gifts out with breakfast, ready to start the day.  Feeling very blessed this mothers day.  So thankful to have the three kids I have.  They all made me fun gifts, and I am so thankful to have them to share this fun adventure with!  Blessing to all you mothers out there.  Blessings to all you want to be mothers.  Blessing to all you single mothers.  Blessings to all you that might not be mothers, yet mother so many.  Blessings to all the men who take on the mother role.  Blessings to us all.  I believe God has a plan, and I could not be more grateful for my three kids!

We have been talking about finances.  Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa, the kids have some spending money.  Thanks to ideas from friends, I am charging the kids a quarter every time a bad choice is made in the van, as we will be together for 24 hours driving to Disney and again on the way back.

I also have a pack of math worksheets and writing prompts for every time I hear the words "I'm board".  The kids know all about everything, so they are preparing themselves.  

We have also been pricing things so they understand how expensive things are going to be at Disney. We talked about how Disney gifts are fun, because they will remind them of the trip, yet, if they have money left, they can buy things at home too.  They are totally in charge of their money, so we won't hear, can I have this or that, instead those statements get's me more quarters too.  I keep telling them, I home they make lots of bad choices so I have lots of quarters to buy myself some fun Disney gifts. :)

 Lots of learning is happening because of this upcoming trip.  I'm almost sad it's getting closer to being here in some ways, we have done so much reading and writing and learning, and having fun, leading up to our trip, I"m going to have to figure out some fun projects to do that are not Disney based when we get home.

 Here we are getting our new money holders.

 and counting out our cash.  YEAH!

 We have also been making our lists of what things we want to see and what rides we want to ride.  Understanding there is no way we will be able to do everything, so we have to focus on a few favorites and then see how much time we have left!