a room for a princess

We decided to give Ruthy a room makeover for her birthday. We searched every furniture store in Evansville. We weren't impressed. If I found something that we liked as far as use -- we didn't like how cheaply it was built. I wanted something solid and safe. And RUTHY PROOF! So after coming home disgusted and with pictures of what I did like, we (me) decided that daddy would build her a full size loft bed! Did I mention he did this on his vacation! It was a group effort. Daddy did the main building. Mommy, daddy and uncle Jeff did the sanding (mainly mommy). Then we painted. Sissy even helped paint! Ruthy's contribution was to stay away!

As part of this make over Ruthy decided to have pink walls. I do mean pink! The picture doesn't do it justice at all. Its like walking into a bottle of pepto bismal. It was called Fairy tale pink! She loves it. Mommy painted her room. It is the 2nd painting project I have actually completed and not walked away bored. The first was the kitchen I painted it yellow with white trim and cabinets. LOVE IT!

 Her almost finished bed. We had to construct the ladder to get into her bed and that is painted a soft purple.

Her finished room now has a futon under her loft bed for tv watching with Uncle Terry or for friends to sleep on. She also has all her dress clothes hanging on a shower rod under the bed. She has purple curtains and even brighter pink flowers and circles on her ceiling. She loves her room!

Her old bed.

A girls work is never done...

All in a day's work at the Whitledge garage!

I think it is safe to say that a certain little girl spends a lot of time "helping" daddy work on things! She even wanted her own tool set for her birthday!

Ruthy was helping her Uncle Terry work on the tree in Grandma's yard...

Ruthy is 6

 Spongebob and Patrick Star came to celebrate Ruthy's 6th birthday with her! She also insisted that we invite her entire kindergarten class! Lucky for this mommy no all 32 invited came. She had about 18 party goers. We rented the big bounce house with slide and had a pinata full of candy. Our giftbags were sand buckets with shovel, bubbles, krabby patty gummies, magic sea creatures and silly bands. I made all her of her cupcakes and cake. I think she had a great day!

Foxy the fighter

As everyone knows Colleen was given Foxy after her Papaw Bobby passed away from cancer. The two of them have a bond that can't be explained only viewed. I was able to see this bond recently. Foxy became gravely ill. She wasn't suppose to make it through the night. She was put in ICU at the animal hospital over night. Her body temperature didn't even measure. The nurse told me that I should prepare Colleen for a phone call during the night. Instead I prayed for a miracle. I pleaded. As did other people. We got our miracle. It wasn't easy but praying works wonders. The vet told Colleen she had a fighter. That she had the spirit of rottweiler. When we picked Foxy up from the animal hospital to take her to our vet to continue treatment, I could have cried. I think I did. Even the most cold hearted person could see the love between dog and girl. Foxy didn't let the IV in her tiny leg slow her down. She practically leaped from the technicians arms into Colleen's with her tail wagging fast enough to provide left off. It took 3 days of around the clock care to nurse Foxy back to health. Foxy would stay in Colleen's lap and they would just look at each other. Colleen knew Foxy could tell if she was upset so Colleen would talk to her and sang.

The final day at the vet. She still had a few rough days at home. She had to learn to eat again and rebuild her strength. We once again have the fiesty protective Foxy back!

New Pets!

 Meet our rescue kitten LILY! I was driving down the street and a recycle box fell out of the back of a truck. I had to pull my car over and move the box to my suprise this precious kitten was inside. Of course I HAD to bring her home. The girls fell in love with her. How could one not love her? We had to nurse her at first and teach her how to drink water and eventually eat. She instantly became a member of our family. Her favorite thing to do is sit in her kitty castle and "talk" to the birds outside.

 Meet PHOEBE! She is a chorkie--- chihuahua and yorkie mix. We saw her in a tea cup on facebook and had to adopt her. Yes HAD to! She also instantly became a member of our family. She is scared of storms. She hides under our bed. She loves to sleep under the covers, She barks at the wind-- still figuring out the whole blowing in her face thing. I must admit it is very comical! Her best friend is Lily the cat!

 Hiding under the bed during a storm!

She loves to relax on the hammock with mommy in the evenings.

Phoebe's favorite place to sleep is with somebody!

 As I stated in a previous blog 9th grade proved to be a tough year for Colleen. She had to go on homebound after one month of school. She woke up one night and couldn't really move. A couple of days later she had petechiae all over her chest and body. Petechiae looks like a small rash. In Colleens case it is a sign that her platelets are dangerously low. I rushed her to Rileys Children's hospital in Indianapolis. Dr. Hill decided to put her on homebound because he didn't want to take a chance on her getting bumped in the stomach or head and bleeding to death before anyone noticed. After some blood test she was referred to another specialist Dr. Bowyer (wonderful lady) eventually Colleen was diagnosed with JRA (juvenile arthritis) and fibromyalgia. Of course with her blood disorder the majority of meds for the arthritis was a big NO NO! So she was put into intense physical and occupational therapy-- the Karens! The two Karens have improved Colleens quality of life tremendously!
The 2 pictures below are Colleen riding the people mover at the hospital between our hotel and the Childrens clinic. It was usually the high light of her visits.
Colleen was able to stay on track with her school work with the help of her tutor Mr. Trent. So luckily Colleen will enter her 10th grade year with her classmates.

The start of a new era

 This was a big year for mommy! My babies are escaping my lap more and more every day. August 10, 2011 was a big day for both girls. Colleen started her freshmen yearwith uniforms at Harrison High School. It would prove to be a very trying year which will be addressed in a later post. Ruthy is officially in the EVSC school system as a Kindergarten student at Hebron Elementary.

 Ruthy was beyond excited. She couldn't wait to start "big girl school" -- however mommy dreaded this day. I did manage to hide my fears and tears in front of her.

 She worked ahead of mommy and daddy with such confidence to start her elementary career. Mommy whimpered the whole time saying "You know kindergarten isn't mandatory."

 The first several weeks of Kindergarten Ruthy and I met family friends, Kim and her son Nathan to walk into school every morning. It made us mommies feel better that our children had a friend. In reality our children could care less because they both had made numerous friends. At least once or twice a week the mommies would meet at Denny's to talk about anything and everything. It just helped knowing that someone else was having a hard time with this whole "I'm a big kid now". Eventually Kim had to go back to work from maternity leave and the weather became to unpredictable to walk to school so we joined the drop off line. The conversations I had with Ruthy usually circled around the morning work she was going to do or how many school days she had left.