Another Round of Sears

For those of you who are new to our blog, or those of you who need a refresher course in our Sears pictures, click here to read about our terrible, horrible, no good, very bad 2010 Christmas picture session. Then click here to see about our 2011 Christmas pictures.

So from those posts, it's easy to see why I'd be terribly nervous about these pictures. But thank the Lord, I was pleasantly surprised! We (my mom, the girls, & me) got to Sears, changed the girls into their Easter outfits, & started posing them. The girl doing the pictures was young & she clearly didn't have any kids of her own. She had no idea how to talk to little kids...so I was nervous at how it'd go. But we had practiced our smiles for the past 18 hours so the girls were ready!! I think they're getting to that age where they are ok with planned activities, too.

So we posed the girls, told them to smile, & WA-LAA!!! THEY SMILED!!! They did SUCH a great job. We took a few pictures, had them change their clothes, took more pictures with their number (Brooke with her "2" & Cali with her "4") & were done! It was the quickest & best pictures we've done yet. :o) I like doing pictures at this time because it's right smack dab between their birthdays & right after Easter...so we kill 3 birds with 1 stone...... or 3 picture-sessions with just 1 shoot! Yay!

Here's a bunch of those pictures...which I think turned out really cute. I saved my favorite for last...

Here's to hoping all picture sessions go this good!! ;)

Graduate!

Saturday, May 5th, 2012, which was 5 years to the day that I graduated from college with my Associate's, was the day I graduated with my Bachelor's! Click here for a short explanation of my BSN.

Originally (5 years ago), I was just going to continue on in my quest for the BSN. But once I got that first degree I was pooped. I was definitely schooled-out! So I took a much-needed break. I finally decided, in 2009, to go ahead & go back. I started in the Fall of 2009 & was expecting to take just the 4 consecutive semesters & be done. That would have been Fall 09 then Spring, Summer, & Fall of 2010 & be done! But with the birth of Brooklyn in the middle of my 2nd semester & with all the nevus "stuff" I took the Fall of 2010 & Spring 2011 off & then finished off in the Summer of 2011. Technically I should have actually graduated in the Spring 2011 graduation. But honestly I wasn't even close to being in that mindset! We were busy with 2 surgeries that semester & just life in general so school wasn't even on my radar. Hahaha little did I know that that would have an impact if I ever did decide to do graduation.....

Fast forward to now... I wasn't going to participate in graduation. No real good reason why; I just wasn't going to do it. I did it once in high school, once in college, & just felt that was enough. But then I got an announcement for our graduation in the mail & had more thoughts of actually participating. I eventually decided to go ahead & participate...mainly for my girls. I knew that Cali would remember it. I wanted to show her that it is important to be recognized for your accomplishments & to be rewarded for finishing things that you start. So after I'd already told the school that I wasn't going to participate I had to take it back! I called them & told them I was going to walk in graduation & then I sent an email them them a couple weeks later. A few weeks after that I called & sent another email to verify that they did have me down as walking. They assured me they did & that I was good to go. I ordered my cap & gown (why...I have no idea... All I needed was a new tassle cause I had my cap/gown from 5 years ago) & they had it ready for me the morning of graduation. So we were good to go.

We decided to leave Brooke behind cause she's so squirmy & there is NO way she would have stayed seated. So she stayed with Dustin's mom while we went to graduation. Dustin, Cali, & I packed in the car & drove on Friday night to Havre (3 1/2 hrs away) where MSU-Northern is. We stayed the night & woke up early Saturday AM cause I had to pick up my cap/gown/tassle from the Bookstore. Then we parted ways so Cali & Dustin could get a seat & I could line up.

I went to pick up my card with my name on it but they didn't have one for me. Haha...figures! They didn't have my name written down anywhere...not on the nursing sheet, not in the list of names, not even on the entire master graduation list! Great. They had no problem adding me, but it was slightly annoying since I'd verified with them sooo many times that I was going to be there. They told me where to go line up &, with the help of the lady in charge of graduation, I found my spot. After standing there for a while she came back up to me apologizing for not having my name written down. She felt horrible. We eventually figured out it was because I technically should have graduated last year (with just that one summer class to go). Ugh!! Then I got a text from Dustin that my name wasn't in the program either. :(  I'm a scrapbooker & I love keeping stuff like that so I was really bummed that it wasn't in the program. But I wrote the graduation people asking if I was listed in 2011's program.

So we walked in, had graduation, & left!! LOL Simple as that! Cali did amazingly well. She sat right next to Dustin & played the iPad to pass the time. Here are a few pictures from the day!

Cali didn't like me with the hat on. She wouldn't let me pick her up or take a picture with her. So Dustin & I had to quietly count...& on "3" I got close to her so Dustin could snap a quick picture!

With my fake diploma.

The 3 of us...and of course Cali isn't looking. Shy child!!

So that's done...now what?! ;o)

Eye Drops

My children love medicine. They LOVE it! I'm definitely loving that they love it cause it makes life a whole lot easier when it's time they get some. Last week Brooke's cold went to her eyes & the poor girl was just miserable so she got some eye drops from the doctor I work for. I was a little nervous the first time we had to do the drops, but just like other medicine, she LOVED it!! Four times a day wasn't enough for her!!!

I was telling the doctor I work for how well she took her eye drops but she didn't fully believe me so I told her I'd video tape it so she could see....  So here's the 23 second video of Brooke getting her eye drops!!



And here she is right after. Such a sweet girl!!!

Life in a Post

Wow has time flown by. I can't believe how long it's been since my last post. I guess that just goes to show how busy we are!! Here's our life in the past couple of months...

Unseasonably "warm" weather in March...so the girls had to take advantage of driving their car in our driveway!!

Brooke excited with herself that she's using the potty. This is first thing in the AM & she needed a blanket...she was cold. LOL

The girls' school pictures. They look so darn grown up!!!

Cali is 3 1/2 here & Brooke was a week from turning 2.

Brooke swinging...something she could do for hours!

Thinking she's hot stuff with ice cream all over her face!

Dustin & I got a night out to go to a hospital fundraiser

Brooke with Cali's Mickey ears on!

The girls with their presents from Aunt Teresa & Aunt Valerie

Cali with her new haircut....oh & make-up on too! (She likes being the total opposite of me & actually putting make-up on before leaving the house!)

During our huge snow storm. We ended up getting lots of inches...(like maybe 12??). It was really wet snow so the 4 of us went outside for the sole purpose of making snow angels. However...Cali didn't want to get wet so she wouldn't lay down. So she ate snow instead!!

And here's Brooke eating the snow too!

Daddy & the girls in front of their masterpiece....the snowman!!

They were very proud of their snowman!

Curt had his Senior prom!!! Here he is with his girlfriend, Kaitlyn. They're so darn cute!

Cali playing dress-up...in her Snow White halloween costume! (Thank goodness it's being put to good use!!)

Brooke wearing her bunny ears...wishing there was more candy!

Yes, folks...she's asleep. She fell asleep like this.

At Uncle Curt's baseball game...with Oma's visor around her waist!!

"Look ma!!! A pinecone!!!"

Cali with Opa's glasses on. :o)

EASTER!!!

HAPPY EASTER!!!

Today was a fun-filled day in the Vance house! We woke up to find great Easter baskets that the Easter bunny left for the girls. They were excited, to say the least! Here are some pictures from the day...

Brooke is less than impressed by how long it's taking to dye eggs at Grammy's house!!

Cali is very happy with her eggs!!

Brooke...also excited with her eggs!

And here they are Easter AM. Here's Cali with both baskets...

Here's Brooke with her basket

Here's a cute video of them this AM. :o)

It took me slightly longer than FOREVER to get a decent picture of the 2 of them. Either Brooke was sticking her tongue out or Cali was moving...LOL So this is the best I got!!

Cali finding eggs!

Brooke finding her eggs!

We went to brunch at church, then had our church service, then came home & cooked for everyone at our house. We had a house-full, but it was lots of fun! After we ate was the Easter egg hunt & now we're all gonna crash! It's been a great day & we certainly haven't forgotten the reason why we celebrate today!

Today

Today has 3 special meanings: It's been one month since my father-in-law died. Sometimes it seems like it was last week, but more often than not it feels like its been months & months. I don't know why, but time has gone by really slow since then.... Also...Today was my due date 2 years ago, which makes today the day after Brooklyn's birthday, which also makes today special because it was/is my grandparent's anniversary! But what makes today really special is that today they would have been married 60 years! fortunately they did make it to their 50'th...which was a goal for both of them, but my grandpa died shortly after. Hard to believe he's been gone almost 10 years. So today lots of things were on my mind...

The day our lives were changed forever...

Two years ago today, our lives were changed forever.



Ok ok, I usually think it's so cliche when people say that things have changed their lives. I mean really...CHANGED YOUR LIFE?! It takes something BIG to change a life....or so I thought.

Of course the birth of Brooklyn can change a life, and it did for us. But it was shortly after her birth that we really realized our lives were changed forever. Ok...I'll explain......



At 2:22am on Sunday, March 7, 2010 our little Brooklyn Marie was brought into this world at a measly 6 pounds 4 ounces. For the past, oh, 6'ish months I was CONVINCED that I was having a boy. My pregnancy compared to Cali was complete 100% night & day...they were literally polar opposites. So my very first shock was that she was a girl! After that, we had a new shock. It looked like she had a bruise on her forehead. No biggy right? Well, not until we were told by my doc that it was a birthmark on her head. Then the next AM we were told it was a "hairy nevus" & that it would need to be removed b/c it could cause cancer. I think we were still in the "new baby bliss" that we really didn't think anything about it. It was after she was a couple months old that I finally realized what we had in store for us.
I was literally on the computer for hours & HOURS every single day researching...just trying to find anything I could about removal surgeons. For a condition that happens just one in every half a million births, this was quite the difficult process. Long story short, I happened to come across Nevus Outreach which had a conference every other year. I read the speakers' bio's (for the conference that was coming up in just a couple weeks) & that's when I found Dr. Bauer, our amazing miracle-worker of a surgeon. :o)  I knew he would be the one to remove Brooklyn's nevus when I read the following words under his bio:

"Dr. Bauer has the most experience removing nevi's in the world & he has a particular interest in tissue expansion."
I was hooked from then on. If he's the best...he's going to be the one that removes her nevus. And the rest is history. She's now nevus-free with just 1 more touch-up surgery to go later on this year!!!!!

For the past 2 years we have done nothing but eat, live, sleep, & breathe NEVUS! That's been our life. And now that she's nevus-free we don't have as much to do with it, but it will be a part of all of our lives forever! Thus...the birth of Brooklyn has changed our lives forever......

Call me different, but 99% of the time parents are like "wow I can't believe how fast my child has grown!" And I'm like that with Cali. Thinking that she will be 4 in June just baffles me. I just can't believe it! But when I think about Brooke the only thing that comes to my mind is... "She's ONLY 2?!" ;o)  Seriously?! I think that we've just been through so much with her that it seems she should be older than just 2. But she's finally 2 & that's that.

A little of her milestones this past year:
She tried potty-training herself at 20 months & was fully trained at 21 months. We weren't in the frame of mind to train her until she turned 3, but she was ready at 1 1/2 so she did it! She was actually potty-trained BEFORE Cali! ;)
She started day care 2 days a week with Cali (in separate rooms of course), which she LOVES!
She is now 2 years old & is just about 21 pounds...which is incredibly small. She's a tiny little firecracker. It's not like we starve her...she has some fat on that little body!! She's just a small girl!
She loves to dance with her sister.
She is starting to say more words. She's gotten a lot better since she started at day care 2 days a week.
She can throw a royal fit! :o)  But what 2-year-old can't?!
And she is an all-around awesome little girl who is so tough for her age. Cali will cry with the littlest thing, but Brooke is a tough little cookie!

Here are a few pictures from her party on Sunday & from tonight when we opened up her last couple of presents & sang to her again. :)

Her Dora cake

Protecting her new toys from her sister!

Smiling with her new teapot!

It took her a good 2 minutes to blow out the candle. She was shy cause everyone was staring at her, but she finally did it!

Tonight's cupcake!

Happy with herself after blowing out her candle!

She didn't touch the cupcake...just ate the frosting. Typical!