Diagnosis?

Poor Grace. It seems like she's usually the one to get hit the hardest when the flu's floating around our house. And this time is no exception. Well, maybe. The doctor isn't sure what's wrong with her. So my brave girl got to endure being pricked & almost passing out from giving so much blood. Hopefully we'll know more by tonight or in the next few days.

Blech

I think we have the plague at our house. At least it seems that way. I plan to Clorox every surface in the hope that it prevents me from coming down with it, though I doubt whether it will help much. Noah was up off & on last night trying to hack up a lung. Grace is running a fever, so they both are home from school today after a long night. Abbie is at school despite a cold & sore throat, and I'm trying to convince Daniel why it's not a good idea to play outside in 40 degree, damp, rainy weather. So, for today, it's Nurse Mommy to the rescue. I come fully equipped with Kleenex, nose drops, cough drops, Vic's, and other sundry items. We'll see if my "patients" cooperate!

April...in a nutshell

Yay for Spring and beautiful days! Daniel loves to be outside & always finds plenty to keep him busy. (That's an understatement!)

It seems like I've been out at school several times this past month. It's fun to see the kids during the day, and to see them interacting with their friends. Here's a rare picture of Abbie with her best friend, who usually runs from the camera. I even got her smiling...may miracle never cease!

Here is my silly toothless son celebrating his birthday. He asked for a cookie cake & I was happy to oblige.

Speaking of toothless, would you believe that my 7 year old asked her dad to pull two teeth with pliers?!?! Believe it. She wanted to cash in with the tooth fairy.

My good friend got married this past week.

She is a beautiful testimony of God's faithfulness & I couldn't be happier for her.

"You give and take away, my heart will choose to say:

Blessed be the name of the Lord!"

Read this

I love this blog. I couldn't have explained this phenomenon better if I had tried.


That's all I've got for ya. I'm just trying to survive Monday.

Some people's worst nightmare

Confession: I'm afraid of the dark. I know everyone is afraid of something. And though fear is not always rational, I'm pretty sure that my fear is justifiable. A couple of my friends are afraid of their teeth falling out. I have to admit, that one doesn't make sense to me. But it's their fear, so who am I to argue? After the weekend he had, Noah had a nightmare last night that all his teeth fell out. (Another member for your "club", L!) ;)

His tooth that got knocked out on Friday was doing okay...until Sunday night. He played soccer on Saturday & did just fine, so I wasn't too worried about dropping him off for small group childcare at church. I had a moment of hesitation because there isn't much adult supervision, but he assured me that he would be careful, so my mind was put at ease. An hour later, I got a phone call. One of the older boys was being rough & swinging/pushing him in the gym on a little scooter cart. He was pushing it so fast & hard that Noah went flying off & into the wall...and knocked his tooth back out (halfway) again. We brought him home & proceeded to take it out the rest of the way, per a dentist's instructions.

He's feeling lots better this morning, even though he's talking kind of funny. Now if the tooth fairy could just get her act together & remember to do her job!!!

Not blind, but toothless

Last night, while playing baseball...

I've got you hooked, huh? :) You know if the word "baseball" is involved, chances are, there is some sort of tragedy soon to follow.

So, last night, while playing baseball, Noah was trying to catch an incoming ball. It went above his glove and hit him directly in his mouth. After a cry, he proceeded to spit out his front tooth, root & all. I was away at a bridal shower and Phil was home with our kids, plus two more. He had the presence of mind to care for our son & read up on what to do in the event of a tooth loss. He put it back in, and though it's pretty loose, it looks like it should hold alright. There wasn't much more a dentist could do, besides charge a sizable sum to do the exact same thing. Noah played his soccer game this morning & did just fine; he was careful with it & held it in place with his tongue the entire game. :)

Abbie fractured her arm, Grace sent us to the ER for several stitches, and Noah knocked out his tooth...now I'm just preparing myself for when Daniel breaks a bone. It's a fairly high probability that it's bound to happen...one of these days.

Easter weekend

As much as I love getting away and going on vacation, it was nice to be at home this time. The kids had Thursday & Friday off from school. Our time was busy, but not hectic. We colored eggs, participated in soccer, watched movies, played with friends, and enjoyed being a family. The best part of my weekend was reading The Adventures of Jimmy Skunk to my boys. They are finally at the age where a story (without pictures) can capture their attention, and they are able to follow & understand the story line.

Saturday night before bed, the kids helped make these Resurrection Cookies. They each got to eat one Sunday morning. Daniel was wide-eyed listening to the story & the first one up Sunday morning, anxious to see what had happened to the cookies. It was a fun, hands-on way to talk through the story of Easter with them.

Sunday we invited friends over for lunch. They brought eggs for the kids to hunt, and despite the rain outside, we had a lot of laughs hiding over 100 eggs around the house & watching the kids find...and walk right past countless eggs.

All in all, it was a fun weekend, and a wonderful Easter.