Thats what I love about homeschool!

After we finished our lessons together,  I gave each kiddo instruction on some lessons to do on their own while I finally got a shower. I had to go back to the laundry room to find my socks and I noticed everyone was gone from the school area-aka the kitchen table.  I thought I better double check that things were getting done and this is what I found....

 One boy laying on the couch all cozy under a blanket with his science workbook.......

and two girls on the back porch, also under a cozy blanket, with a math test and an SRA.

I love homeschooling☺

Practical lessons

We have been back to school and going strong for a few weeks now. Lots of students have a fall break but we had an extended "break" break from school. While I was on pain pills, we just could not keep up with our daily school. Kenyon did work on alot of his on his own but with all the extra responsibilities he took on he didn't get a whole lot done. The girls tried and mainly only did some math and handwriting. As I mentioned before, I was on pain pills every 4 hours for almost a month. Thanks to the wonderful side effects, I could not stay awake long and often nodded off when we would try to do school. Since we use My Father's World, I teach and read most of the history to everyone together each day and we have discussions and make notebook sheets. Another side effect I suffered was double vision. I could not see straight to read. That really puts a damper on things when our days normally revolve around ME reading. Thankfully I have been homeschooling long enough to realize that not all, and often not even most, of our learning time is actual "school" time. Even though we were not hitting the books, my kids were learning every single day! Of course, most other people do not always understand that as evident by a conversation Keslee had with the little girl across the street...

Neighbor girl: How are you getting your school work done?
Keslee: We haven't really done much school lately.
N.g.: I feel sorry for you! When you are 21 years old you are going to be so stupid!

Although I knew they were learning, when my concerned daughter relayed this conversation to me, I knew I had to do better at letting the kids know that they were learning as well and how proud I was of them. I then started taking the time to point out the things that they were learning that they may not have if it weren't for this trial.

 For instance...How many (non-homeschooled) 9 year olds can make an entire meal for a family of 5? Keslee had not done much cooking but always likes to "help" in the kitchen. One night she decided that she wanted to make dinner all by herself and she did! She ordered me to stay out of the kitchen and if she had a question she would come ask. When it came time for her to drain the grease off of the hamburger meat, I told her I would come help with that so that she did not burn herself. She assured me that she could do it but I just wasn't as sure. I decided to make my way into the kitchen anyway. Since I was not as quick as I used to be, I made it there just in time to see her finishing up with a smile on her face to say "See? Told ya I could do it."  She made taco salad for supper and topped it off with strawberry shortcake for dessert.

 After I got my staples taken out, I had to remove my splint and wash my ankle everyday. The incisions were doing good but the wound that the bone had made had to heal on it's own from the inside out. That was the only spot the doctor seemed real concerned about and we had to be sure that it did not "get ugly" (as my doctor put it). Since Monty is gone the biggest part of the day, I had to do something I never would have thought I could do. I had to put my medical care in the hands of a 13 and 9 year old. Kenyon and Keslee took over and were unbelievable! Everyday one of them would help me remove the splint and wash the wounds.

After everything was clean and doctored, they re wrapped my leg. Having 2 broken bones and no hard, protective cast really made me feel like my leg was very vulnerable.  The times that the splint was also off was a stressful time for all of us. My foot was purple, about 3 times fatter than the other one, had scars, steri-stips and open wounds and I could not move it. Any wrong move or if the splint was not exactly in the correct position put me in horrible pain and my nurses were very aware of that. To be able to wash, doctor and wrap a wounded leg under that type of pressure would have to be tough for anyone. To do it for someone you love and would never want to inflict pain on, well that is serious. All I can think about are the times when my kids had a splinter or a huge, deep sticker in their foot. As a mother, you know you have to get it out but as a mother holding a crying child that is screaming "DON'T TOUCH IT!" you almost don't want to do it. That must be how my own children were feeling. (and, yes there were times when Keslee and I both cried through the whole process.)     When I say that my children amaze me what I mean is...they AMAZE me!!!

There were lots of other practical lessons that the kids were learning along the way. Kenyon cooked almost everyday. He also did the laundry and taught Keslee how to use the washing machine so she could help. Kalysa got really good at taking clothes out of the washer and starting the dryer. Since our dishwasher went out right in the middle of everything else, Kenyon got to do dishes. The girls have done dishes by hand several times and I just did not realize that Kenyon never had before. Kalysa can now sweep the floor correctly. Since Monty got to do all the shopping, Keslee was the go to girl to ride along. She knows just which kind of dish soap, toilet paper, shampoo and etc. that we use in this house. It wasn't just me that noticed what all the kids were learning. One day my grandma came by and she told them that they shouldn't worry to much about their school work because we can catch that up anytime but they were learning things that they will use their entire lives; lessons that most kids today don't ever get to learn at home. Hearing that from her was a blessing to us all.

 Oh yeah, there was plenty of learnin goin on 'round here!  And of course EVERYONE in the house learned.....





how to walk on crutches ☺.



Surgery was needed

Nothing to be alarmed about, it was Keslee's baby that had to have surgery.
 Although her name changes often (currently it is Kate), this baby is very special. Not only has Keslee had her since before she was a year old, but she is also the doll that is very close to the size Kalysa was at birth. This baby's head is the same size around as Kalysa's was and they were about the same length. Actually the doll is a little longer at 14 inches than Kalysa was at just 13 inches long. As with any 9 year old doll that has been thoroughly loved, injuries occur. This baby girl's gash went around 3/4 of her neck.

After extensive surgery with LOTS of permanent stitches....

         She was as good as new!!!

And her mama was so glad to have her back and healthy that she does not even mind the scar.

Yep, He is full of it!

Last week, in our science studies about the lungs we conducted a little experiment to determine the amount of air the lungs could hold. We started out with a two liter bottle filled with water. We turned the bottle over in a sink full of water and then removed the lid keeping the bottle full. Then we inserted a tube in the bottle, took a DEEP breath and blew.
The air in your lungs replaces the water in the bottle. When each participant had blown all they could blow with only one breath I replaced the lid while the bottle was still under water keeping what was left in the bottle.

Keslee was almost able to empty the entire two liter!

Kalysa took her turn and amazed us all when she emptied well over 1/2 of the bottle. Her lung capacity was just a little less than Keslee's.

Remember this is the same girl that started out on this earth at only 2 pounds 4 ounces and spent the first 5 weeks of her life on a ventilator. That is a scenario that often means asthma or other lung problems for a life time but we have none of that here. Praise the Lord!!

When Kenyon took his turn and blew every bit of water out of the two liter bottle like it was nothing and still had air to spare, we moved to an empty gallon milk jug for his test. After one try with the gallon jug, what we had known all along was confirmed...

MY SON IS FULL OF HOT AIR!! ☺hehehe!! ☺ He almost emptied out the entire gallon! I am sure he would have if we would have kept trying (like he wanted to) but we had to move on. Knowing my son, this is something he will be working on in his spare time until he DOES empty the gallon jug and who knows what size bottle he will want to tackle after that.

Ya know-lung capacity is a big one in the bragging rights of young boys.

LOVE IT!

I just ♥ ♥ ♥ kids with toothless grins!! It is just the sweetest. The only thing that can even compare to the cuteness of a toothless grin...


is the new BIG tooth grin! ☺

Dreams comin true!

Every year the Shriners throw a big Christmas party for all the shriner patients in our area. Last year we just blew it off and did not even mention it to Kalysa. Well it just so happened that the local news was in attendance and Kalysa happened to see the story about it. When she saw all the decorations and clowns and children holding presents and looking so happy on that tv screen she really felt like she had missed out on something big. This year Keslee got the mail the day Kalysa received the invitation and so Kalysa heard about it before I did. In other words, we just had to go.

They really DID do it up big for those kids! Every kid got a stocking stuffed full, a present and a hat when they walked in the door. Of course Kalysa (being the daddy's girl that she is) had to pick out an OU hat on the day they were preparing to beat Nebraska and win the Championship☺.

That big present wrapped up like a big piece of candy was a blanket. Every kid there got a new fleece blanket and the fact that Kalysa's was totally pink and purple made it even more perfect.

They served cookies and drinks and Kalysa found these awesome light up sunglasses in her stocking.

While people were still arriving, the shriner band played Christmas music. Of course santa was there to talk with the kids and take pictures and the shrine clowns were making balloon animals. We got to see a few of the drivers that have taken us to Shreveport and back and Kalysa got a few hugs.

They entire place was decorated really beautifully. They had a couple of Christmas trees, balloons tied to every chair, huge blow up snowmen and reindeer and lots of lights.

The highlight of the day was when they passed out presents. I would guess there were a few hundred kids there and every single child had a present with their name on it. Kalysa sat listening and watching presents being pulled out from under the trees as she patiently waited to hear her name.

When her turn finally arrived she was not disappointed with this new doll. It is a Barbie type doll with a sled and a powder that we can mix with water to make snow. All in all the day was everything she was expecting it to be after seeing last years news story.

As soon as Kalysa and I were done at the Christmas party, we had to hustle back to town to see our local Christmas parade.

It is not a very long parade, luckily, because it was soooo cold, but the girls had a blast. The fact that the streets were not real crowded meant that they came home with pockets loaded with candy. Keslee also caught a big stuffed unicorn that one float threw. And where was my only son while his sister's were enjoying the parade???

Why he was sittin atop a hay bale, smiling from ear to ear, amidst his fellow boy scouts! Maybe you heard me mention that it was freezing...temps were in the high 30's along with 20-30 mile an hour wind gust blowing that Arctic air that just rips right through ya...but my boy wanted everyone to be able to see his uniform so he took his coat off part way through. When we picked him up at the end, I was all prepared to really yell at him for that (that is AFTER I had already yelled at his daddy thinkin he had taken my baby boy out in the freezing wind to ride in a parade without a coat just to be reassured that it was on him when Monty left him at the float) but when I saw that smile on his face, I just couldn't. Especially when he shared "Well that was a dream come true, I always wanted to be in a parade!" Well what was I suppose to do then?? just enjoy it, that's what!

November is not over yet!

Ok, I just could not let an entire month go by without one single blog post going up. I know I am cutting it kinda close but November ain't over yet! (ok, so it may be by the time anyone reads this but anyway...)



WOW! I can't believe November is almost gone. Where oh where has it gone?? I am just sitting here wondering what exactly was it that has kept me from my blog? What did we do in this past month? Wasn't it just yesterday that the neighborhood was being decorated with pumpkins and scarecrows? Now the trees and Christmas lights are popping up all over the place and another page is being ripped off of the calender.
Well let's see.....I spent a lot of time this month trying to get back on top of the mess piles in my house, school has been chugging right along, Kenyon has had a great time being busy with boyscouts, Kalysa had 2 trips to Shreveport....I guess we have been kinda busy.



About my house...It has been a long time since I have felt on top of things. I am much more familiar with the drowning under piles feeling. Well, enough was enough and we have done something about it. It all started with the girls bedroom. For the past several I don't know how longs, they have had the bunk beds separated into two independent beds. Come to think about it, that drowning feeling started not long after their beds were separated. I never realized it but their room was holding up the entire house! With two beds in their not so large room there was very little play area left. That room was the most disgusting room in the house. I am not exaggerating at all. Even after spending an entire day with them cleaning, 2 days was the record before you could no longer walk through the room. I had tried helping them, punishing them, and even removing their toy box and leaving them only with 1 baby doll apiece. Nothing worked. That room always looked like the after tornado pictures we have so often seen on the news and it inevitably spilled over into most of the rest of the house. Well 3 weeks ago I put those bunkbeds back together freeing up over 1/2 of the room. The girls and I went through everything. We got rid of trash and found a place for everything. They were excited to have so much room to play. And would you believe that 3 weeks later that room is still clean and has even been the cleanest room in the house several times!?!? (I am tellin ya, if you would have seen it before-you wouldn't believe it now!) Once that one room was conquered the rest of the house just seemed to fall into place and I feel like I am on top again! YIPPEE!





Remember the stick system I started in our school? Well they are really working out good. It has kept us all on track and nothing is getting forgotten. They have been a great motivator. One week Kenyon did not want to cooperate and did not get many sticks done at all. I did not say a whole lot to him about it but come Monday morning his cup was full again and also held the dreaded black stick. When it hit him that he had NO games-gameboy, xbox, OR computer-he decided he did not like that option at all! He spent Tuesday and Wednesday almost dawn till dusk both days getting his entire weeks worth of school work done (besides the part we all do together). He worked hard and I was very proud of him. It was very encouraging to me to see him work so hard on his own to make sure he got everything done. That confirmed to me that by the time he is ready for high school he will be ready to work independently and be responsible for himself (which is one of our goals).





At the first of the month, Kalysa had her year check up scheduled in Shreveport. She had a gait analysis to compare the way she walks now to the way she walked before the surgery. After that test, she had a new splint molded to account for the growing she has done and saw the doctor. When the Doctor did all the measurements, they were still not real happy about how tight her calf muscle is so they decided to put her in a cast to hold it in a slightly stretched position. That decision really felt like a step back for me but she was super excited about it. She just really loves having a cast on-crazy kid☺. I guess after about 25 casts in 5 years ya either love them or hate them. I am glad that she doesn't hate it since they are such a constant part of her life. She got a green cast and 3 weeks later we made another trip to get it removed and pick up her new splint. Although her measurements were not as good as the doctors hoped, she really has made a lot of progress. She can now stand on her left foot and balance for a full minute. Before surgery she could not do that at all and after surgery she could only balance for 6 seconds. She can also hop on her left foot and actually come off the ground-something she was never able to do before. She has been working hard on walking with the heel-toe step instead of just toe. She can do it great and now just has to break the habit of stepping on her toe. I sometimes have to remind her but it is getting closer to becoming more natural for her. She will continue physical therapy and wearing her splint and we will have another check up in May. We will also be doing some shoe shopping soon since the new larger splint wont fit in her most perfect girly shoes.





Well there ya have it-our November-in a nutshell-all in one post for the month. Hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving and hopefully I will be able to stay on top of things which will give me more opportunities to check in here.

A Tale of Two Shoes

It was a warm spring afternoon when the kids and I decided we would hit the shoe store. Kenyon was growing out of shoes about every 6 months and was in desperate need of a new pair. Keslee needed a bigger pair of shoes for church. Kalysa was now in a brace full time and had the one pair of shoes that fit over her splint.
She was happy to wear it but every once in a while she just wanted to wear some girly church shoes without the splint. As we were heading out the door I put Kalysa's splint in my purse to just see if we could find a pair of girly shoes that would fit over it. At the shoe store, each child ran to their sizes and started trying on shoes with a frenzy. We were able to find Kenyon 2 pair of tennis shoes and a new pair of dress shoes in a size that fit. Even better, they were all on sale! Next, Keslee had already found several pair that she just loved. I helped her try them on, checked prices and decided on a pair of strappy sandals and a nice pair of church shoes with a small high heel. She was feeling very grown up and happy. Now to tackle Kalysa. She had picked out several pairs that she knew she just had to have. As I pull the splint out of my purse Kalysa just knows that her dreams of pretty shoes had been dashed. I pick up the first pair of little brown baby doll shoes and slipped the splint in. IT FITS PERFECT. We both get a little excited. I have her try on both shoes and they fit perfectly! WE DID IT! WE FOUND CUTE SHOES THAT FIT OVER THE SPLINT. Even better, they were on sale for $10. We quickly gathered our finds and headed to the check out stand. As the girl checked each box of shoes, the kids giggled and try to decide which of their new shoes they would wear first. As the girl checked the box with Kalysa's shoes she found a problem. "Mam, one of these shoes is size 12 and one is 13." Oh no! That was the only pair I saw in that style. As she went to check in the back room to correct the pair, I told Kalysa she may just have to wear 2 socks on the non-splint foot to make up for the difference. The girl returned with the same shoes she left with. "There must have been a manufacturing error-these shoes do not even come in a size 13." I explained that I would be more than happy to buy the mixed matched pair because they were exactly what we needed. "Well, since I can't put them back on the shelf like that, I guess I can let you have them but I will have to ring them up at 1/2 price." On the outside I said "that would be just fine!" while on the inside I was yelling "WOOHOO! You are gonna let me have Just what we want that is EXACTLY what we need and you are gonna make me pay 1/2 of what I expected!!! WHO COULD TOP THAT!!" With that, we payed $5 for the perfect pair of shoes for my littlest splint wearing girl and she no longer had to wear her big bulking tennis shoes with a pretty dress.

Now THAT is just the way that my God works!

God says "EAT POPSICLES" ???

Scene: Kalysa sitting on the couch with a book.
enter mom: Hey Kalys, what ya doin?
Kalysa:Just reading this Bible.(little kids picture Bible) You know mom, you need to be good like it says in the Bible.
mom:Yes I should and so should you.
Kalysa:I know. That is why I am reading this Bible........You know you should be a good mom and give us Popsicles like in the Bible(pointing to a lovely picture of a family having a picnic eating popsicles.)

Shreveport again

Kalysa had an after surgery check up back at the Shriner hospital a few weeks ago. Because there was some mix up with the appointment last time we went, we were never given the complete instructions for what we should have been doing these last several months. I realized this when we saw the doctor....

"Is she wearing her splint all day AND ALL NIGHT......uh, no. Are you doing the stretches everyday?.....what stretches would that be? Does she wear a knee immobilizer at night?....didn't know she was supposed to? Is she going to any physical therapy?.....no." Well that explains why her muscle is still pretty tight but luckily it takes a full year after surgery to really get everything loosened up so hopefully we did not do to much damage. So now we are stretching and wearing the splint all the time and a brace at night and waiting for a call back for physical therapy here.


Every time we go to Shreveport, Keslee wants to know ALL the details about what we did so I was sure to have a photo essay to explain our trip...


At the motel, after a bath, it is time to try jumping around the room while holding your ankles...





then jump on the bed-because mom would NEVER allow this at home.





notice you can see yourself in the mirror so be sure to watch every move you make.





When you get to the hospital in the morning, check the toy give away box to pick a new buddy. Since we were one of the first ones there, things had not yet been picked over so a big fluffy pink bear was still available. Just the type of new friend a 7 year old girl LOVES to find.





While mom watches your new friend, take a few rounds on the bikes.





Mrs. Pacman game is free! Gotta play that for awhile!

Time to see the doctor. Boy, that new friend comes in handy in times like this!


Back to the lobby to play some more games.

Then on to orthodics to have some adjustments made on the splint and get a knee immobilizer.

On the way home! A wooden doll set with magnetic clothes was available on another give away table at the hospital so Kalysa actually got 2 gifts this time.

Perfect for a little play time in the van.

Then a little bit of "Mary Poppins" on the portable dvd player the Shriners provide for the trip.

And of course there is always time for a nap on a 6-7 hour car ride.

Well, that was our weekend in a nut shell.

Daddy's little cowboy

Monty loves the Dallas Cowboys. All of our children have had cowboy onsies and sleepers and t-shirts and jerseys. Monty has a couple of Dallas Cowboy jackets, tons of sweatshirts, sweat pants, of course several hats, and even socks. Last year someone gave him a Dallas Cowboy santa hat (it matches perfectly with his Dallas stocking). Somehow the santa hat did not get put away with the rest of the Christmas stuff and I think I may know why...

Kalysa has confiscated it! It seems like just about everyday now, as Kalysa plays around the house-she is wearing it!


She loves this hat so much! Daddy always has on his Dallas baseball cap so I guess Kalysa decided she needs to also always have on a Dallas hat. So much so that she even wears it when we leave the house now. If that were not enough-when I came home the other morning after the paper route and stepped in to be sure my kids still had their covers on I found this...

She doesn't even want to take it off to sleep now. Ain't she cute?

Photographic evidence

Babies are born everyday. Mom's get pregnant and nine months later a perfect beautiful baby is born. We have all heard stories of perfect and healthy babies being born to mothers that did not do anything we all hear we should do to ensure a healthy pregnancy. Babies come in hospitals, in taxi cabs, in an aisle at the local walmart, at home, in tubs of water, in public restrooms, in 3rd world countries with no medical care, in sterilized delivery rooms and in the most unclean places imaginable. Birth is an everyday occurrence and one that we all see and hear about so often that we often forget about the MIRACLE that is a baby. A miracle straight from God that no man can ever recreate. A miracle that no man can fully explain. A miracle that man has taken for granted so horribly that it has become to mean nothing to so many people. A miracle that is often looked at as a mistake or a problem that we can choose to destroy if we so desire. Oh, the tears that God must shed each time one of his precious miracles is looked upon in such a way. As if the pricelessness of a newborn baby is not miracle enough to prove the existence of an Almighty Creator, he sends an even more evident miracle as further proof for us fool hearted humans to again show us His love, mercy, protection and power. For our family, that evidence arrived 7 years ago-January 25, 2003-14 weeks earlier than expected in the form of our perfect and beautiful 2 pound 4 ounce Kalysa Glori. Every time Kalysa has another birthday, I can not help but spend the day marveling at the wonderful Lord that we serve that (for some unknown reason) thought me worthy enough for Him to hand deliver my own personal package of perfection as a way to prove to me even further of the love He has for me and to remind me of the faith that He so longs for me to have in Him.

I thought I would share with you some of the photographic evidence I have collected that is proof positive that I serve an Awesome God!!

At 20 days old on her very first Valentine's day. The nurse had put heart sheets on her tiny incubator mattress and a precious little bow in her hair before we arrived for our daily visit. Not long before I got to the hospital, Kalysa ripped her ventilator tube out and was breathing well on her own so they did not put it back in(one of 3 times she ripped it out before it stayed out for good). This was the first time I got to see her entire perfect face unobstructed. I could not have held back the tears with the Hoover Dam when I saw her laying there. Unfortunately, after several hours on her own, she was getting really tuckered out working so hard to breath that the ventilator had to go back on later that day so she could get some rest.

When the ventilator tubes were removed for good (at about 5 weeks) we were able to spend our visitation times actually holding our tiny baby. This was the first time I got to hold her whole little body in my arms, and yet another day that the Hoover Dam would have been no use! We finally were able to participate in all diaper changes and dressing her up and getting her ready to learn to suck and breath at the same time so that she could go home.

Home from the hospital at 69 days and up to 4 pounds and 9 ounces. This was still about 3 1/2 weeks before she was even due to be born. Here she is all dressed up in her first Easter dress. You can see the wires from the apnea monitor she was sent home with. She stayed strapped to the monitor(meaning I was also strapped to carrying that stupid thing around) for about 5 months as a precautionary measure. She did not need it at all. It did not go off one single time for any medical reason but as she got a little bigger she was able to move around enough and twist the connectors that were detecting her breaths out of line just enough to send that awful siren blaring through our house. I tell ya-no one would have been able to sleep through that if there ever had been a real emergency!

With Keslee being only about a week from her 1st birthday when we finally brought Kalysa home, she kinda thought she got a new baby doll. She was the same little mothering soul then that she is today. Kalysa always wanted to be moving and Keslee was more than happy to be sure the baby's swing did not stop moving or to set and lightly bounce the bouncy seat every time the batteries died on the vibration function. She was always so gentle with her new baby but I still was not confident in her ability enough to actually let her push her around in the little shopping cart. Although she REALLY wanted to, we just used it as a photo op! Kalysa would have been about 3 months old in this picture.

As a comparison, we used the same little shopping cart when Kalysa turned one year old. She still fit just not as comfortably!

As soon as Kalysa came home from the hospital, she had an occupational therapist that came to the house twice a month to work with her and help us to make sure she was meeting each of the normal milestones. At birth they told us it was possible that she may be blind or deaf or have any number of mental delays that would last a life time. Her therapist came until she turned 3 years old and then we sent her to a special ed 3 year old pre-k class for about 3 hours a few times a week. At 3 years old, she was the only kid in the class that did not have to have speech therapy(which is a very common need-the ventilator tube pressed up on the roof of her mouth for the first 5 weeks of her life and basically reshaped it. It is very high!). Her teachers agreed that she really had no special needs but they loved her so much that they did not want to disqualify her from the class. She worked on ABCs and writing her name while the others did various therapy sessions.

At 4 years old it was so evident that there were no mental delays that the special ed teachers were forced to give her up and let her go to a regular pre-k class.

She loved going to school and was sad when she did not have homework like her brother did. She was the only one of the 3 kids that was not so sure about our decision to pull them out and begin our homeschool adventures. Of course when UPS delivered our first big box of curriculum and she saw all the fun "homework" that was just for her, she lost that apprehension and got excited! She was our first homeschool graduate when she finished her first homeschool year and got Kindergarten graduation pictures made.

Now here she sits, on our bathroom counter seven years after we first met her, awaiting a birthday present that she has been longing for for months......

BANGS! I think I got them a little short because she was to excited to sit still but they will grow out a little and be perfect. She loved them....especially after I pulled the rest of her hair back into a pony tale and her sister looked at her with awe and love and said "Oh Kalysa! You look just like a cheerleader!" Now what 7 year old wouldn't want to hear a compliment like that?!?

SEVEN YEARS! I just can't believe it has been seven years since we were given the miracle that completed our family. I can't believe that after seven years and as many pictures as I like to take, Kalysa has still not learned the art of the fake smile for the camera! This goofy scrunched up grin(or a super wide, all teeth showing, eyes bulging out smile) is what we have always gotten when we try to make her smile for a picture. With her smiles it is either real or nothing even close to looking real. :)