Thank you Cassie!!!

The girls LOVE their aprons. Lauren is always asking what she can help me cook - because she wants to wear it!

Pre-op Party #2

Since Lauren's surgery will now be at a different location we had another Pre-op Party. She had fun again. Still thinks surgery will be fun!
We are so thankful that Jess will be with her. That is very reassuring for me!

Target

I dont normally go to Target with my kids because I love to slowly shop in Target and of course I cant do that with them. We normally hit Walmart and speed shop.
Thursday I felt brave and needed to get a few Target things that I knew Walmart wouldnt have so we went.

As we were getting out of the van Lauren said, "Oh, I remember this store. Its just like Walmart, but clean."

I about fell over I was laughing so hard. She is SO my child.

Jeff and Family

My big brother Jeff turned 40 on St. Patty's day. They were around for the weekend so we got to meet up with them today for lunch.

I did my best to embarrass him!


Sully is so cute!


My niece, Christina, I cant believe she is in 9th grade.


Uncle Jeff and Avery

Leprachan Hunt

Green Party

We had our St. Patrick's Day party at Cindy's yesterday. The kids had so much fun. Cindy went all out. We ate all green food(except for the hotdogs and buns), had a 4 leafed clover hunt, a leprachan hunt and played a few St. Patty's Day games. We also made Shamrock cookies. Lauren thinks St. Patrick's Day is the BEST holiday!
Thanks Grandma Cindy for the fun day!

Feet

The red foot is Jalen's, the bare foot is Sully's. Sully is 7 months older...something is not right here!

One more...

Its the last one for the day, I promise...
She was just so cute.

St. Patty's Day party

When the kids and I got home from Cassie's on Wednesday this was on our kitchen table...Lauren is SO excited. I have never seen someone get more excited about this day than her...well maybe my brother because it is his birthday...and did I mention he'll be 40?

Chips

Sullivan will not stay out of the chip cupboard and I am not smart enough to relocate the chips! Here he is, caught in the act!

ISU vs. IOWA

So cute. Actually Sully was crying 2 seconds before I took the picture and 2 seconds after he started up again. But he was so cute. He quit just long enough to get a picture with Cassie. She said he was crying because he was wearing his ISU gear.

Spring has Broken...

Finally I am able to post pictures!
These are from a few nights ago, our first real night outside for the Spring. What a fun year it will be!!

ARGH!

I am so frustrated. I havent been able to post pictures for 2 days. WHAT IS GOING ON?!?!?!
Im about to throw my computer out the window.

Ok, tantrum over. Seriously, anyone else using blogger having trouble?

Spring is Breaking!!!

Last night Lauren and I were at Awana. I am the game director for the Sparks and Lauren is in Cubbies. But we start the night as one big group to do the pledges and have announcements. Our Commander reminded everyone that next week we will not be meeting because of Spring Break.

Fast-forward to today:
Lauren and I are walking through Wal-mart. She says "mommy, what did the Awana man say last night about spring breaking?" (how cute is that)
I explained that next week is spring break and there is no school because lots of families go on vacation and we wouldnt be having Awana either and that she wouldnt have preschool.
She said "oh" and we continued on.
A few minutes later she tells Avery, "Avery guess what, next week we dont have to wear our coats outside any more because Spring is BREAKING!"
I broke the poor little things heart when I told her that just because it is called Spring Break, it does not mean Spring is here.

I love her so much!

Good times

Tonight my mom gave me an envelope of pictures to give to Jordan. Jordan and I looked at them together and laughed and cried. They are pictures from New Year's Eve 2004.
We were playing pepper, big suprise, and for some reason my dad bet Jordan that he would win and if he didnt, he would wear Jordan's ISU sweatshirt. This is a HUGE deal. My dad bled black and gold. Actually even more than that he bled ANTI-IOWA STATE. When we were kids we were taught to roll the windows of the car up as we drove through Ames so that the stupid couldnt get in the vehicle. Im not kidding.
Anyway, he lost. I was his partner and we lost. I wasnt all that upset as you can see from the pictures. It was so fun to see him lose a bet like that. We took many pictures.







I miss him. I miss all those happy times. Im thankful for the memories tonight but they are not as comforting yet as I would like. They are still cutting really deep. Id give anything to hear his laugh. Oh, I cant wait for heaven.

Not just a stump...

I am currently taking a Beth Moore bible study on Daniel. First let me say if you have the opportunity to take one of her studies - DO IT!
Tonight's lesson was on Daniel 4 - Nebuchadnezzar's second dream, which Daniel interprets. It predicts Nebuchadnezzar's downfall. Daniel interprets the dream which shows a huge tree - very prosperous - which is cut down, its branches and leaves and fruit are taken away. And as we see, this down fall does come to Nebuchadnezzar. What is easy to miss is that the stump of the tree which is cut down - is not left to die. No, God coveres it in bronze and iron - to protect it - preserve it. Daniel 4: 23.
Beth used this to encourage all of us who have felt cut down. Who have been disciplined by God, or are going through a trial of great pressure. God did not cut down the tree just to leave it. No, he preserved it. Because in the end God's goal is for regrowth, and then fruit. I found a lot of encouragement in that.
It also made me think of my mom. Not that I believe God has cut her down in discipline, but that her trial is great. I know since my dad died I myself have felt like a stump. So I am sure she feels even more like that - that all the branches, the leaves the fruit, all the good she has to offer - has been taken away. And she is left as a stump. But God shows us so beautifully through Daniel 4, that that is not how he intends to leave us. In fact the regrowth can be more beautiful than what we ever had to offer before. I have no doubt that He has my mom protected in iron and bronze and she will grow again. She already is in fact, which is all the more beautiful.

Back to the doctor

We went back to the dr. today to check Sully out. He is still not walking, he does stand occasionally on his own, but he does not like it much.
The dr. checked him all out again, and said again that his bones, joints and muscles all look perfectly like they should. He said he has some bowing in his femurs but it is within the normal ranges.
We are going to have his hips x-rayed tomorrow just to make sure that there isnt something in there out of line. But the dr. really doesnt think that is it.
We are going to start some physical therapy. I asked if this was a little premature and the dr. said, "if in a month he is walking like mad man we might say, oh we should have waited. But if in a month he isnt walking, I dont want to say, I wish we would have started therapy."
So, we might be a little agressive, but that to me is better than looking back and wishing we had been more agressive.

Pray for Sully's little legs. They are so strong and I know they want to stand and walk!

On a lighter note, Sully has his first girl friend. We ate at McDonalds and a little girl from across the room just started screaming. She was about 7-8 months old. We turned to see what all the noise was about and she was starring at Sully. She literally would not stop her racket until we brought him over. Her parents were just cracking up. She grabbed a hold of Sully and just hugged him. Sully thought this was pretty funny and he seemed to like her back, except for the smothering part. She was pretty cute! She cried when I took Sully away. And she continued to stare at him through much of our meal. It was quite funny, Ive never seen that out of a baby so little. I guess someone else finds him as irresistable as I do!