Happy Birthday Kenadi!

Our little Kenadi is 5!  Her birthday was April 4th, and she was lucky to have Papa Hempel here to help us celebrate it.

Kenadi LOVES everything princess.  So, I made her this Little Mermaid cake- and she loved it.

Too bad the picture's a bit blurry, but here you go.  I borrowed the cake pan from a friend of mine who does beautiful cakes and cupcakes- her stipulation for borrowing the pan is that I post it somewhere for her to see.  So here you go Melissa!  Thanks!

Our happy birthday girl.  We love you Kenadi!

So what else did we do to celebrate?  Well, Emma sat on Kenadi's head for a while...

and we spent a nice warm weekend with Papa- enjoying the weather.

They love the sprinkler and anything that has to do with water.

 Lately we've been teaching Kenadi to ride her bike without training wheels.   She is a bit reluctant, but she does pretty good.

 Would you like a Mya update?

Well, I'm sorry to leave you all wondering how everything went.  Lets just say that it went as well as surgery can go.  The mass was exactly what the surgeon expected it to be and it's not anything dangerous.  It came out all in one big piece and was deep in her neck, but there were no issues at all.  She's been such a happy baby even after it all-and her necck is healing up wonderfully.  I just know that everthing has gone so well because of all of the prayers from family and friends.  Thank you all!

 Here's a graphic view for you- just so you can see how big her incision was.

I love my baby!

Papa and some Mya pictures

 I think we've enjoyed the last of our visitors for a while.  Randy's Dad came to visit us for about 4 days and once again we had a blast!  The weather was hot- 93 deg. here, and 97 down in the Wichita Mtns.

 We decided to enjoy some of the beauties of Oklahoma and share them with Randy's Dad.  We had a great time looking around at nature.  Of course, Randy was so happy to be with his Dad.

Ok, so these are random, but it's taking me so long to post this that I'm not going to organize it.  Here are some pictures of Mya and Kenadi.  Kenadi and Emma LOVE Mya, and sometimes Mya feels a little too loved, poor girl.

Our little sweetie.  Mya goes in for surgery this Tuesday (the 19th) to have a lump taken off of her neck. It is a lymphangioma- which is lymph vessels that are filling up with fluid and not draining.  So, basically a fluid filled cyst.  Of course we are nervous for the surgery because it means another day of not feeding the baby for 6 or more hours before surgery (we've done this before for an MRI), staying at the hospital for a night and a grumpy baby when she comes out of anesthesia.  The surgery itself is not supposed to be risky or difficult, but I still worry.  I just hope everything goes smoothly and that it is as easy and non-risky as they say.   I will be so glad when it's over.  Please pray for her.

She is such a happy baby.  She smiles a lot and still loves to eat.  She has the cutest most addicting laugh.

We still enjoy sleeping with her on us.  She is a little cuddle bug, and the great thing is that she will actually sleep that way!  She'll sleep when I lay her down too.  I just really feel like I've been able to enjoy her because she sleeps so well anywhere. 

Ok, back to some  more things we did with "Papa".  That is what Kenadi and Emma call him.  We went to the wonderful zoo here.  In this picture Emma is looking at the Coi pond there.

I decided to sit down while the girls where playing in the stream at the zoo and nurse Mya.  This is what I looked like.  I had the best nursing experience ever!  I had about 3 or 4 people come up to me and tell me that they just thought it was so wonderful that I was nursing my baby.  Stuff like, "you are a good mother to take time out with your baby.  What a special moment".  and "Ma'am, I assume you are nursing.  That is so great.  Anyone who thinks otherwise can ____".  Wow, thanks people.  You just made my day, and I was just taking care of her.  Randy caught me in the moment and photographed me telling him about all the people who stopped.  I was happy.

I just thought it was so cute how Kenadi and Emma would take Papa's hand and walk with him all over.

I think he enjoyed it.

Randy, his Dad, and our clowns.

Story time

We watched a few movies.  Can you see Emma's balloon in the light?

Thank you for visiting Dad!  We love and miss you!