NAMISS Pageant

Well we had our check in Thursday night and Friday morning was the start of the pageant.  Here are some pictures of our Thursday workshop and get together. But before we checked in I had to take Nikole to have her hair trimmed. She looked great! Than we had to finish a few things before we checked in Thursday and then we headed out. What a busy day.

Before her hair was trimmed.

Getting ready, and excited.

The finished product.  Couldn't get her to smile. LOL!

A picture from the back, she was so happy.

Trying to finish the art contest that was part of the pageant.

This was after we checked in and on the way to the pageant shop to make sure we get her shirt for her production number.

Got a great surprise shot as she turned around after looking at all the items.

Yeah you can tell she is excited.

She was so happy to get her shirt and other items for her production number.

This was right before the workshop.  She was scared to approach the stage. LOL!  She got over that quickly as she had to be on stage quite a bit.

She is up on stage and enjoying mingling with the other girls.

She was so very happy with all of her progress and by meeting with a whole bunch of new girls.

I had to get this on file.  LOL!  They ended up putting more signs up that said "No Boys Allowed".

After we were finished she was getting really excited.

Got her running out of the bushes ready to call it a night and get ready for the next day.

I am sorry that I wasn't able to post during the weekend while we were at the pageant but I was exhausted.  She had a great day Thursday.  The next post will be the Friday.

The time has come!

Holy Cow!  

That came faster then I thought it would.  It is pageant weekend and Nikole is buzzing with excitement.  LOL!  We signed in today in order to go to a workshop and so that way she can meet new friends.  I took some pictures and wanted to post them but....  I cannot find my USB cord for my camera. :(  I will keep looking for it and I know I will find it soon.  Well it better be soon since I might need to empty the SD card soon.  I will post pictures as soon as I can.  Thank you all for supporting her in this.

What a day!

I have had such a day that I wonder if I have made the best choices in my life.

It was one of those days that you never want to think about and that you would never want to repeat.  I am actually looking forward to tomorrow as I will be busy working most the day and my husband will have all the kids.  Just to have some me time is well needed and deserved.

Rhett had a very hard day Thursday the only reason I can tell this is he came home from summer school and was asleep within less than 30 minutes, but slept for almost 2 hours.  It's not everyday that he does that but on the days he uses too much energy it makes me worry.  I cannot even imagine what it is like not to be able to breathe fully every day and night.  Soon he is going ot be on Flovent and then we will see what will happen and to see if it helps him.

Nikole is struggling with listening and doing somethings that she needs to do.  She has been causing grief with her brothers especially with Gavin since he seems to like to be with her and do things with her.  Mostly playing and having fun but sometimes she doesn't want him around and then in turn makes him cry and is mean to him.  I think it is a normal sibling thing but still it makes me crazy!  I hope and pray that she will get over it one day like I did with my siblings.

Gavin has a best friend that adores him and that happens to be Dylan.  He loves playing and being able to do things with his siblings but sometimes he does get carried away.  You should see how he plays with Dylan.it is so cute.  I would love to see how well they play together as they get older.  He is very smart but he needs to have his own thing to do.  To be given a job that is only his and that no one can take away from him is what he strongly needs and wants.

Dylan is struggling as all the other kids are in summer school and he is home alone with mommy.  Sometime it is grandma or aunt Hillary that watch him but still he is lonely and is so happy to see his brothers and sister after they get home.  He does play with himself and mommy for a while but it is just not the same as playing with brothers and sister.  He is signing so much more and I am glad that there is that communication that we have with him.

We are stronger as a family than we ever have been and I hope and pray that we just continue to grow stronger.  As soon as I can fin my USB for my camera I will have to post pictures of the car show/motorcycle ride that we went to for the Angel's Hands Foundation.  We had such a great time!  My kids even rode a mechanical bull.  I was so surprised that they even let Dylan ride, even though he cried the whole time. LOL!  I better find it before too long so that I can take pictures this weekend.

Practice, Practice, Practice...

Practice makes perfect right?  

Well I have yet to see anything close to perfection.  LOL!  

Like I would expect that at all. 

Nikole has been practicing giving good answers with the practice interview questions that were given us at her National American Miss Pageant prep class.  We are going to start working on her personal introduction this week.  We have also been working on her formal wear which is quite hard since there is no way that we can afford all of the dresses out there that will fit her.  The gown that she needs to wear has to be floor length too so that also limits what she can wear.

She is going to be great!!!

Quite sad ....

So I am having mixed feelings and I am not sure what I can do about it.

I live my life in limbo and there are somethings that are consistently in a state where I feel so stuck.  I call it between a rock and a hard spot.  I am sure you have heard of that expression before, but for me it is true.

Now that Rhett is 12 he is able to be in scouts and go with the scouts and do things with them.  For example scout camp, but because of his health he can only do so much.  Last year he had his hopes up to be able to go and was so very excited to be able to go.  Well the doctors burst his bubble and he wasn't able to go.  The main reason was elevation the camp was about 10000 ft above sea level.  But the paper work also says that the scout can only participate if you can be transported by ambulance for 30 minutes to a hospital in case of an emergency.  Well in any case that wouldn't work for him since in an emergency he would probably have to be life flighted since he has more medical issues than all the boys combined.  It is hard because he so much wants to be a "normal" boy and have the same things the have but that is just not possible.

I am sad for him since there is so much that he isn't able to do.  Yes he does have great opportunities that are open for him but it just isn't that same.  We have had the doctor fill out the papers needed to change some of the merit badges that are required to become an eagle scout.

We are working on getting things done so he will achieve his dream of becoming an eagle scout.  I guess we will have to see if he is actually able to go to scout camp next year.  I lot of it depends on where it is going to be at.

Not now!!

I am not sure how it happened but Nikole has gotten sick to the point of losing her voice. :(  This could have happened at a much better time but I guess it was suppose to happen now.  We are still looking for a dress for her to wear.  She is so excited and really wants for July to come faster but I hope that it can stay away as long as possible in order for her to get better.  She has shared her illness with Gavin and I hope and pray that the sharing stops there.  It isn't so bad for them but for Rhett and Dylan it would be really really bad.  Hacking cough and wheezing to start with then it moves into a sore throat and a lost voice.  Really sucks...

I thought summer time was the time when you are healthy but seriously what was I thinking??  LOL!

Time is almost up...

Nikole has only got a little bit of time to get all the people wanting to place an ad in the program in.  We are going to be very busy these next few weeks getting all that together and sent in.  She was so happy to be able to hand out cards to people who have been supporting towards her.  She is very lucky to have so many caring people in her life.

Remember the pageant is on July 15th and July 16th.  This is an all day thing.

It mean so much to her to see how many people we can get there supporting her in person.  If you would be willing and able please contact me and I will let you know all the information.

Graduation and another chapter....

Rhett is officially out of elementary school as of the 7th of June. I am not sure how I am going to deal with having a junior high student. We went to his graduation and we took a ton of pictures because WOW huge milestone for him let alone anyone. As Nikole was sitting next to me she started crying not a little crying a lot of crying and as I was trying to comfort her I asked her what was wrong. She told me that she would miss Rhett. I wanted to point out that Rhett is still in the same house as us. I think it was she is going to miss having him at the same school and helping him and making sure he isn’t being picked on. She is a great sister and a wonderful daughter. I wish that there were more kids out there like Nikole and Rhett. They have such a wonderful relationship. They really love each other. Here are some pictures from that graduation, since I know many people that missed it, but wanted to be there.

I am frustrated that I cannot get the videos that I have to load. :( I guess I better figure out why they are not loading and then fix it.