All A's

Today at Madeline's school they had the end of the year Awards Assembly. Madeline received 2 awards! This girl got straight A's the ENTIRE school year! So she received an honor roll award, so proud of her. Her teacher also selected her out of her class for the Top Explorer award, which means she felt Madeline showed the best example of following the school's motto and rules with her behavior. 

Here is the video of her receiving the Top Explorer award (I started it right after they called her name). 

All those that received the Top Explorer award were asked to lead all the 2nd graders in the Tobias Explorer song...

Madeline worked really hard all year and was diligent about finishing her week worth of homework in one day! She also loves to read and her teacher said she is almost a grade and a half above her grade level for reading. She loves to participate in P.E. and Music, and Art class is a favorite of hers too. Madeline's friend, Ashleigh, also received the All A's award. These are some smart and talented girls...so proud of them!

Madeline's First Holy Communion

This past Saturday Madeline received her First Holy Communion, and it was a beautiful celebration! Both of Madeline's grandparents and her Godfather flew in for the special occasion. 

Along with Madeline, all of my other students from this year also made their First Holy Communion. 

Don't they all look so pretty and handsome!?

We had many family and friends attend, which made it that much more special for Madeline. Here she is with our Oom Folly (my mom's brother) and Tante Patty. They drove out from Houston with Tante Xenia and Oom George (pictured below). So happy they all made it out!

My friend from high school, Erica, who just moved out here to Austin from CA came with her family. Along with several of our neighbors and friends from around town (unfortunately I didn't get pics of everyone). We appreciate them all making it out!

And here's our baby girl, back home after Mass at Church.

I told everyone to bring their kids swimsuits. So they could jump on the trampoline and run through the sprinklers in our backyard. Here are Madeline and Sara. 

It was a fun after party with yummy food and good company!

Thanks to all who came and who sent something special to Madeline for this wonderful celebration. She truly felt all of your love and prayers!

Remember Caboodles!?

I was in an organizing sort of mood this afternoon. And tired of having all my nail stuff and Madeline's hair stuff in sporadic places in our house: side table next to our family room chair, the kids bathroom drawers, my master bathroom drawers, among some other odd places. Then I remembered that my dusty 25+/- year old Caboodles was sitting under my bathroom sink. I got it in the mid 1980's and loved it! It held all my nail polishes and I would give myself manicures all the time. When I finished college, got married and moved away - it remained in the cabinet of my childhood bathroom until my parents finally gave me the remainder of my stuff. I'm glad I still have it, cause now I can pass it onto my daughter to use.  

I remember buying this pink Caboodles-like case for Madeline a few Christmas' ago to store all her hair stuff. It needed to be reorganized so I made a hair accessories Caboodles and a nail accessories Caboodles for Madeline.

It feels so good to have everything organized again.

Everything in it's place.

Madeline very happy about her new Caboodles.

James didn't know what all the fuss was about, he just knew he wanted his picture taken next to the Caboodles too. :)

And she's off.... painted her nails tonight alternating between 3 colors creating a pattern. Oh and she already dropped one Q-tip in the nail polish remover bottle. :)

Six Flags

Madeline's best friend from school, Ashleigh, and her family invited her to go to Six Flags with them this weekend. It was Madeline's first time - and she had a BLAST. They went from opening to closing. And Ashleigh's family treated her to a really good time.

Dental Work = Ouch

So Madeline had all her dental work this morning. The process all went pretty smoothly. They put her under a non-intravenous conscious sedation. She was feeling really sleepy and couldn't keep her eyes open at times. The dentist and staff made her feel really comfortable, let her pick out a movie to watch during the whole procedure (there is a flat screen suspended from the ceiling above her), and put a blanket on her so she wouldn't be cold. It took nearly an hour for him to fill 3 cavities and crown another. When he was almost done with those and getting ready for the extraction, he was called out of the room and gone for nearly 10 minutes. When he returned and was finishing up on the tooth he was going to crown, Madeline came to a little and expressed she could feel some pain. He apologized and gave her some more Novocaine shots. He was concerned she was coming out of her sedation and contemplating on extracting the infected tooth at another appointment where she could be put under a different type of sedation and she wouldn't feel discomfort. He was finishing up the crown, when Madeline fell back asleep. He did a pain test on the gum near the tooth that needed to be extracted and she remained asleep. Since the extraction would take only 5 seconds I okayed him to go ahead and extract it now. He gave her more Novocaine and pulled it out! Madeline started moaning as he was tugging, but it was over in seconds. Poor baby girl. She wasn't traumatized or upset, so that's good.

Her stomach was a little upset when we were leaving the office and she was super groggy. When we got home she wanted to eat because she was real hungry (hadn't eaten since the day before) but she couldn't feel her mouth still. I tried to give her a bite of pudding but she had a hard time feeling and swallowing it. She laid down and took a 2 hour nap. When she woke she asked for something to eat again. Now she could feel her mouth again. So she ate a PB&J on soft bread and drank some milk. We had a knock on the door and it was our neighbor's son across the street, he made Madeline a get well card. He's really into baseball so he thought  he'd put the Red Sox score from last night inside the card to cheer Madeline up. So Sweet!

After her lunch she took another 2 hour nap. She doesn't seem to be in discomfort or pain. I gave her children's Tylenol at lunch and it seems to be doing the job. She asked the dentist if she could keep her tooth, so they put it in a tiny treasure chest for her. Boy I didn't realize how big the roots are on a baby molar tooth. The poor tooth did have a big cavity which caused that abscess infection in her gums. So now she's on the road to recovery - and praying no..more...cavities!

Madeline on Good Day Austin!

As most of you know Madeline was invited by Fox News to be on their "Good Day Austin" morning show to be a kidcaster and help the weatherman, Zack. She did so awesome this morning and really had a lot of fun! We arrived at the studio downtown around 6:45am. We knocked on their door (it was like a secret side door) and the security guard let us in. Madeline took a quick bathroom break and then we stood in the waiting room where we could see the studio, lights, cameras and action!

Zack came over and brought us on the studio set over by his weather station stage. While we were over there just 20 feet away were the news anchors giving the news on live TV! Zack talked to Madeline about how his day goes. He gets in at 4am and looks up all the weather reports and then creates all the weather graphics for TV later that morning. In between explaining this to Madeline he hopped onto the set with the anchors to do quick 1-3 minute weather bits. Then he would come back and talk with Madeline more and he had her practice reading some of the weather graphics. He was a really funny guy and made her giggle a lot. He really put her at ease. They talked about where she was born (he was born in California too!), what she likes to do, her favorite subject in school, what her summer plans are (Mandi, Zack mentioned Madeline going to Iowa this summer for a special wedding on TV! ;). He was really nice. He has a 5 year old and a 9 month old of his own.

I believe Madeline was shown in 4 different segments. The first Zack mentioned his kidcaster was here and they displayed the photo of Madeline that I emailed in when I nominated her last month. In the 2nd segment he introduced her showing a quick clip of her standing in front of the green screen. The 3rd segment was of them sitting on the weather studio setup, he interviewed her and asked her a bunch of questions. She did great! And the 4th segment was of Madeline helping Zack with the weather in front of the green screen. This is the only segment I got on video and that they posted on the Fox website. I'll be sure to try and upload the other segments later today.

This is a partial video I took of the 4th segment. You can't hear them very well but they have mics on so the video Fox posted is much more clear (see below).

The other anchors were cheering Madeline on and they complimented her on how well she did and how pretty she looked. They were all very nice.

Kidcaster: Madeline Spence: MyFoxAUSTIN.com

Here is the video Fox posted on their site of the 4th segment. You can also read the full story they posted here. I can't wait to watch the whole thing with Madeline on TV after school!

I was surprised there wasn't a whole lot of people in the studio, no camera crew at all! Only one guy who would signal to the anchors to wrap it up or tell them how many minutes they had. These 3 cameras were like robots! They moved and turned all around the floor. Later we found out that the operator who moves these with a joystick sits in the dark room with the producer and director. We were able to meet all of them. Zack took us on a tour of the rest of the news building and all the behind the scene stuff. Can you believe they still use VHS tapes for certain recordings!? We saw all the satellite rooms where the news feed comes in from reporters out on the field. Zack also gave us a little history of the old building the studio was in. It was first for LBJ and Lady Bird Johnson in the 60's. I guess there is still a 2 bedroom apartment of theirs with all the original decor and furniture on the 5th floor. He said secret service had this building set up for security too. Later the building was sold and was a YMCA location. He said where they filmed in the studio used to be the basketball court for the YMCA. And their parking garage was where their pool was. Finally Fox bought the building. And this is how it looks now.

Along with having kidcasters on Good Day Austin they also invite local bands to come play. This is the part of the studio where the band sets up. The couches are where they do interviews with guests.

I was so proud of Madeline, she wasn't too nervous (my stomach would've been turning if it was me!). She answered Zack with the response, "ah ha" a lot - but if you know Madeline she does this, especially while on the phone. But Zack said she spoke clearly and did a wonderful job! Oh and in one of the earlier segments Zack mentions how he's glad he wore his pink dress shirt today, because he knew Madeline would be wearing pink. :) Madeline's dress and sandals are from her Opa and Oma, and our neighbor Kristen made her hair bow.

Stephen was at home with James. Siblings weren't allowed on set. So this is a photo Stephen took of our TV while he was watching Madeline live! This was such a neat experience for her, I'm so glad I nominated her and that they chose her to be one of their kidcasters. Below is the photo and paragraph I submitted:

Nominating our daughter, Madeline Spence

Our daughter Madeline is in 1st grade. At school she has been learning about the weather and she enjoyed writing daily descriptions of what the weather is like along with tracking the moon phases. She is an excellent student at school, liked fondly by her teachers and classmates. She loves to read and often reads books to her younger brother, James. When she reads she changes her tone of voice to make the story sound more interesting. Who knows maybe she'll grow up to be a teacher or a librarian or even a newscaster! We think she would be a great kid caster for Zack and we hope you pick her!

Madeline's teacher, Mrs. Billo, and her classmates were so excited for her. Mrs. Billo was going to let the school principal know. I also emailed Madeline's kindergarten teacher from last year, Mrs. Moore, who was also thrilled and excited for Madeline. Later this morning I received an email from her:

YEA!!!!  She did awesome, my whole class watched it live.  I was so proud of how well she did, her reading, answering questions, and she looked beautiful!

Robin L. Moore
Kindergarten Teacher
Tobias Elementary

and from her 1st grade teacher:

Thank you for sharing! We watched the whole thing live on the projector this morning before calendar! She did great and with such poise :) I am so proud of her. Also you can view her story on our Tobias website and click on her picture. Enjoy!

Kelly Billo
1st Grade Teacher
Tobias Elementary

*Update*

Madeline's teacher Mrs. Billo just let me know she was featured as a "Spotlight Story" on their school's website here. Very cool!

Frey Family Visit & Madeline Update

 Wow it's been over a week since I last posted. Over the weekend our family friends, the Frey Family, came to visit us. Tim was Stephen's best man at our wedding. And Kacey caught the garter at our wedding, they got married the following Spring after us (they were already dating :). Anyhow they live in AZ and anytime we pass through there they are always so gracious to let us stay with them. So I'm glad they finally came out to stay with us. We took them to the famous Salt Lick BBQ. We had a yummy lunch, they really enjoyed the food.

The kids had a lot of fun together. Elizabeth is 3.5 and Matthew is 1. 

 The girls had a ball playing all weekend long!

 I remember when we moved to Texas and made that long drive we stayed with the Frey's and Kacey was pregnant with Elizabeth. The following year we flew out to AZ for her first birthday. She's growing up and such a pretty girl!

 Last summer when we drove home from our CA visit we stayed with the Frey's and it was the first time we met Matthew a.k.a Matty. He was only 3 months old. I remember feeling like I was coming down with a cold so I didn't want to hold him on that visit and get him sick. Well I got my Matty fix this time, he's such a sweet baby - well I guess toddler now that he just turned 1.

We took them site seeing all around downtown Austin. Here are the kids running down a hill at the capitol building park area. So cute!

 Our 6 year old BBQ that we brought with us from Oregon finally bit the dust so this weekend we got a new one and Stephen and Tim assembled it. I made Stephen put on this BBQ apron my mom brought Stephen back from one of her Las Vegas trips. Yes if you look closely it has pockets for his BBQ utensils, salt & pepper shakers and an oven mit. :)

Madeline wasn't scheduled for her Pediatric Cardiologist appointment until the end of April but her appointment got moved up so I took her yesterday. They took thorough blood pressure readings (6 times) and checked her oxygen level - all were normal. They also ran another EKG test which looked normal. Then the Cardiologist and his intern asked Madeline and I a lot of questions. They listened to her heart for a long time. They heard her heart murmur near her left clavicle. So just to make sure everything functioned normal he had Madeline get an ultra sound ecocardiogram test. Madeline did great and stayed still the entire time. After the Cardiologist and intern reviewed the test they came and gave us the relieving news that everything is normal and functioning well with her heart. Hallelujah! So what is causing her to get tired easy and have chest pains sometimes? Well he said that her stamina is probably not as up to par as maybe her brother and other friends we've compared her to. She enjoys participating in PE at school, doing dance and cheer, jumping on the trampoline and riding her bike - but I guess we'll have to work on her stamina a little more. While he was listening to her heart during the exam he put pressure in several different areas of her chest and stomach asking if any of them felt like the chest pain she would sometime get. The pressure on her chest wall and chest muscles did. So he said the pain has to do with that, sort of similar to growing pains. So when she gets them just to have her rest for a few minutes, but that it was okay to encourage her to keep playing or exercising if she wants to. He assured me though that there is nothing abnormal with her heart and that we need not worry of her having a cardiac attack or any heart problems or disease. Oh and lastly the ecocardiogram confirmed that her heart murmur is an innocent functional murmur, and that the blood flow from her heart to her head has a blood flow dynamic that causes a swishing sound in the flow. So thanks everyone for your thoughts, concerns and prayers. After some very expensive testing :)  we have peace of mind that are baby girl is healthy and normal.

Well Check Up

Yesterday I took our baby girl (okay so she's not a baby anymore) to the pediatrician for a well check up. She hasn't been for a few years, because she was all caught up on her immunizations for school so I saw no reason to take her in. Here's her stats:


Height 50 1/2" - 90th percentile
Weight 65 lbs. - 90th percentile


I told the doc she was always high on the percentile chart, she said that is good and where you want to be on the percentile curve chart. So she's growing great!


The reason I made an appointment for a well check up is because at her last one a few years back the doc discovered she had a heart murmur. They are pretty common with infants and young kids, most grow out of them and they don't usually cause any problems. Doc did tell us at that time to keep an eye out to see if she gets tired easily while exercising or running around. Well we've noticed she does sometimes get tired easily, much quicker than James - but he's a boy and has like unlimited energy. But in recent months along with the tiredness she will complain, "my heart hurts". She would complain of these chest pains and that she would feel her heart in her neck, so I explained to her about her pulse. These chest pains have been occurring more frequently so we thought we better get it checked out.


The pediatrician said she could still hear a slight heart murmur when Madeline was laying down. But she wasn't sure that the murmur was causing the chest pain. She wanted to check the heart by doing an EKG test. Madeline's test looked good, so hopefully that means everything is okay with her heart valves. She said sometimes in kids certain things like exercise, asthma, and other things cause a heart arrhythmia and maybe this is what she is feeling. She asked about family history, anyone having an arrhythmia or a pacemaker. And then she referred Madeline to see a Pediatric Cardiologist for further testing but she seemed confident that nothing serious was going on but wanted everything checked out. She restricted Madeline from participating in PE, exercise and running at school and home until we get an okay from the Pediatric Cardiologist.


So if you will, please keep Madeline in your prayers that everything checks out okay with her heart. 


O Heavenly Father, I commend my children to Thy care. Be Thou their God and Father. Pour Thy grace into their hearts, and strengthen and multiply in them the gifts of Thy Holy Spirit, that they may daily grow in grace and in knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.


I'll keep y'all posted.

Family Heirloom

In popular usage, an heirloom is something, perhaps an antique or some kind of jewelry, that has been passed down for generations through family members. Above is an old photo of me when I was about 4 or 5 and I am wearing my "armband" (Dutch for bracelet) that my Oma (my Dad's mom) gave me. I wore that bracelet for several years and it finally got too small I had to get it cut off and then repaired. My parents saved it for me, and when I had Madeline I passed it on to her to wear. 

I put the bracelet on Madeline when she was about 1. Since it was made of gold and fit without falling off, I left it on her all the time. She slept and bathed with it on.

Here she is at 1 year old wearing it...

Here she is at 2 still wearing the bracelet...

Here she is at 4 still wearing the bracelet...

And here she is this summer at 6 still wearing the bracelet. She's so used to having it on, it's just become apart of her. So this weekend when we finally had it cut off (it got too small over the past year to slide it off her wrist and over her hand) she was sad and missed it when it came off. She said at night time in bed she is used to rubbing her arm and feeling her bracelet. So we had it repaired so if Madeline ever has a daughter or granddaughter, she can pass on this special family heirloom to her.