Family Photo Session with Kasi

MPA Trip to Apopka High School

Alyssa's chorus traveled to the MPA (music performance accessments) testing today and earned a Superior rating.  This is a video of their middle school MPA selection.  Their director is fabulous and Alyssa has had a great year learning to pronounce all kinds of languages.  Their first selection today was in German.  I'm glad I was able to go along as a chaperone.

I Love Report Cards

The kids brought home their report cards last week and they are doing fabulous :)  Kate and Jared had straight As and Alyssa had As and only 1 B.  Tyler doesn't get graded until 2nd grade, but he has passed off all of the skills for the quarter.  I appreciate the effort the kids are making to do their best.  Alyssa's social studies teacher wrote in the notes that she wished she had 50 more kids just like Alyssa.  I am excited to see what the future holds for these kids!

Alyssa's 1st Temple Trip

This past week the youth in our ward went to the temple and Alyssa was thrilled to go for the first time.  We are blessed to have a temple only 30 minutes away so the youth go regularly.

Alyssa's 12th Birthday

I can't believe my first baby is 12 already!  I am so blessed to have her for a daughter.  I don't know what I would do without her help and her ability to comfort others.  She truly has a compassionate heart and wants to make life better for others.  She loves attending the high school this year and doesn't want to move away from this gated subdivision.  Her grades are better than they've ever been and she is realizing that she is smarter than she thought she was.  I hope with the Lord's help I can make it through the teenage years that are quickly approaching.  Time is speeding by and I want to enjoy where she is today.

For her birthday, Tyler and I took her to Sea World for the day and let her choose what we would do the whole time.  She and I took turns riding Manta since Tyler is too small.  I seriously need to remember a ponytail holder!  That roller coaster positions you face down while you ride and my hair is quite a problem.  The rest of the day was spent seeing A'lure! twice, touring the shark exhibit, the penguin exhibit and watching the Christmas Clyde and Seamore show.

By seven, we were exhausted and ready for dinner.  We tried Kobe since they sent Alyssa $15 off for her birthday.  It was delicious and I couldn't believe how much food we were given.  I took most of mine home to share with the rest of the family.  Alyssa had a 4 oz. Filet Mignon steak that was so good she wished she had a larger serving.  After the meal, the staff brought her a cupcake and a tall hat and sang to her.  I loved seeing her so happy.

Alyssa's Latest Surgery at Shriner's

Monday December 20th we drove up to Shriner's in Salt Lake for surgery.  Alyssa's legs differ in length by 3 cm right now, so for this latest surgery the doctor inserted 2 8-plates into her longer tibia's growth plates to allow the shorter leg to catch up while the growth in the long leg stops.  She is about 5'3" now, so even if she never gets any taller that will be fine.  The doctor also inserted an 8-plate into the inner side of the shorter femur's growth plate to allow the other side to grow more and rotate the leg under her body more.  Some old unnecessary hardware was removed at the same time.  I love that they don't insert the IV until she is asleep from breathing through a mask.  That helps with her stress levels.

Silly from the medicine in the pre-op room

When she woke up, they let her choose a blanket to take home with her before bringing her back to her room.  She recovered quickly from the anesthesia and was eating a full meal within 2 hours of waking up.  I stayed overnight with her to make sure she was doing okay and had her pain under control before we left.  She enjoyed listening to music on her MP3 player and painting a wooden hummingbird.  When they came around with Uncrustables and milk for the nighttime snack, she even ate seconds!  She kept explaining that since she missed breakfast and lunch, she needed to catch up on her food intake :)  The staff at the hospital are always very sweet with her and make her feel so comfortable.  They even remember her from previous stays.

After a red popsicle, she got red Jell-O

Each night they have a craft for the kids - Alyssa loved it!

On Tuesday, Troy brought the kids up to visit since they couldn't make it up the canyon to go skiing due to the snowstorm.  They enjoyed playing with all of the fun toys in the playroom.  Troy played pool with Alyssa in her wheelchair too.  A friend from our Lindon ward came up with her boys to visit Alyssa and brought her a game.  Alyssa was so happy that she had visitors!  During the afternoon, a magician came to put on a show and he was great.  Troy and the 3 youngest kids helped with some of the tricks.  We headed home before the traffic got bad and stopped to pick up cupcakes and cakebites from the Sweet Tooth Fairy in Draper - YUM!

The kids all loved the service dog and want one of their own

Alyssa's Winter Chorus Concert

Alyssa looked beautiful in her gown for the choral concert on December 9th.  She has really enjoyed participating in chorus this year and I have been impressed with the quality of their performances.  Another parent posted the following video clips in case you'd like to hear some of her songs.

School Update

 On Wednesday I finished parent teacher conferences: 


Tyler is working at a 1st grade level in reading, writing, math and spelling, but he is missing some skills like small hand coordination and turning some of his numbers and letters backwards.  He passed pre-screening for gifted placement.


Jared is ready to work on 7th grade math and his teacher suggested I get him a workbook to do here since they can't go that far in 3rd grade. I'm going to have my hands full! It's a good thing I like algebra.  He was disappointed to see a B on his report card because he forgot to study for a science test.  Hopefully he will be more careful this term.  He is so far above grade level in reading and math that we need to find new ways to challenge him...  I'm wondering about space camp or engineering camp this summer.


Katie has straight A's this quarter and is above grade level in reading and math.  Her writing has improved dramatically this year but she still hates to do it.  She is the top student in her class.  Her teacher had no complaints about her behavior - yay!  I wish she was as well behaved at home as she is in her classes...


Alyssa didn't have parent teacher conferences, but she brought home her best report card in years!  She only had one B.  Her math class isn't challenging to her but she loves her classes this year.  After passing her gifted screening this summer, I think she realized that her brain works better than she thought it did.  She has been very responsible about staying on task and finishing her homework.

Alyssa's Fall Chorus Concert

On September 29th, we were able to go to Lake Nona HS/MS combined choirs' concert for an hour of music from around the world.  After only 6 weeks of school, I was amazed at the music these kids performed!  The choir teachers video taped the whole thing and offered to make free copies to anyone bringing in a CD.  Alyssa is in the 6th grade girls choir.  The other choirs are 7/8 grade women's, MS Men's, HS Women's, and concert.

This is the list of songs from the program:

O Sifuni Mungu / arr. Emerson (Pop/African Fusion sung in Swahili and English)
O Desayo / arr. Levine (Angolan Folk Song sung in Bantu, Portuguese and English)
Moh le hwah / arr. Bisbee (Chinese Folk Song sung entirely in Chinese)
Bac Kim Thang / unknown (Vietnamese Folk Song sung in Vietnamese)
Hotaru Koi / unknown (Japanese Folk Song sung in Japanese)
Sesere Eeye / arr. Doyle (Traditional song and dance from the Torres Strait Islands near New Guinea)
Take Time in Life / arr. Tate (Liberian Folk Song)
Bonse Aba / arr. Andrew Fisher (Traditional Zambian Song)
"Suite Espanola by Gazpar Sanz" played during a transition between choirs
Ani Ma'amin / arr. Caldwell/Ivory (Hebrew Song)
J'entends le Moulin / arr. Patriquin (French-Canadian Song)
Niska Banja / arr. Page (Romanian Dance Song)
Tres Cantos / arr. Leite (Krao Indian Melodies from northwestern Brazil)

I'm excited to see what they put together for their next concerts in December.  The middle school will have it's own concert then.