Prayers for Henry

Henry is back in the hospital. Please pray for him and his family. He's had diarrhea for a while (a week?) now but not making progress and they're trying to get him all figured out. They had him on pedialyte but have taken him off thaat now he's just getting IV nutrition and keeping him hydrated. He's testing negative for everything so far and are waiting on some parasite tests. If it's a virus, they just have to wait it out and keep him hydrated. They just switched him to a different feeding thingy (I'm so medically savvy) but don't think that's what's causing the problems. Thanks for the prayers, friends!

Eggs

We dyed eggs after the hail storm. Malachi was far more interested in eating the eggs than dying them.

Hail

We had a big hail storm yesterday. The kids were super excited. Malachi wanted to go catch them but we convinced him that it wasn't a very good idea. I did let them go and play after it stopped and then keep some in a bowl for the freezer. Our van's windows were spared but the van itself has lots of new dents. Some of our tomato plants are broken, and we'll need to have the roof looked at but it was kind of fun and exciting. It looked like snow in our yard.

Olivia and Ivy's party

This is the 3rd year that Olivia and Ivy have had a joint birthday party. We've decided to ask for donations for a local food pantry instead of presents since teh girls really don't need any more toys and there are lots of people who really do need the food. I love that it helps them to learn that helping others is important. This year, 2 of the Christ on Campus guys became the favorite toys and all the kids used them as jungle gyms. I'm not sure who had more fun OR who was more exhausted at the end of the night. Olivia asked for a Wonderpets cake with a skunk stuck in a rosebush for the wonderpets to save so that's what I made for her. It was the easiest cake to make yet, thankfully, since we spent the first part of the day in the hospital thinking baby was going to make an arrival that day. Thanks to all who helped set up, clean up, come and play, and entertain. We love you guys!

Sibling love

These 2 really love each other a lot! Look at those super dance moves :)

Train ride with Baba and John

Baba and John came down for a weekend and took us to ride the train from Van Buren to Winslow. There was much excitement and questioning about how much it would be like Dinosaur Train. They did, in fact, punch our tickets, go through a tunnel (although not a time tunnel), blow the whistle lots, and even yell "all aboard". It was pretty exciting for Olivia and Malachi. It was a nice, relaxing ride for the rest of us too. And then we ate 4 million pounds of candy walking around Van Buren before going home.

Olivia is 5!

Olivia is 5! It's hard to believe. We've always let her choose every single activity for the whole day to celebrate her birthday. She's always picked the very same things with only a little variation and this year was no different. First, she wanted a mommy date to the mall to play in the play area and see the crabs without Malachi. This year, one of them pinched her though so I'm not sure that tradition with be with us much longer. Then off to Fun City Pizza with Austin and Malachi which worked out nicely since it was also the place to drop off good for our playgroup bake sale. After that, the pet store to see the animals followed by Barnes and Noble for some books and playing. Then we picked out a toy at Toys R Us and ended our day with supper and ice cream at McDonalds where Malachi got stuck on the ladder and freaked out and this very pregnant mommy had to climb up to rescue him. Still, it was a fun day and I'm every bit as much in love with that sweet girl as ever. She's a smart, compassionate (well, sometimes not so much with her brother but I think that's pretty normal), curious, beautiful little thing and I learn as much from her as she learns from me. Oh, and her birthday stats are around 38 lbs (about 25th percentile) and 42 inches tall which is about the 50% percentile for height.

hiding in the closet....doing "nuffin"

I found Malachi and Livi in the closet doing "nuffin" when I noticed they'd been quiet a little too long. Thankfully, they really did stick to drawing only on the little pads of paper this time. And, yes, that's a ribbon in Malachi's hair. Livi had one so....

PBS Day

Every year, the Jones Center has a week full of activities for the kids on spring break. This year, PBS day happened to fall on a "make-up" day for the school age kids so it wasn't the mass chaos that it usually is. It was actually pretty fun. The kids liked getting to see some of the characters they have seen on PBS and some of our friends were there too. It helps us get through the loooooong week that Austin spends away with college students on missions trip.

baseball season

baseball season is upon us. Austin was helping them learn how to play. Some of their technique is better than other.

Real men wear pink

Malachi inherited a box of pull-ups from our sweet friend Julia. Some of them were girl pull-ups and some were boys. Malachi, however, really loves the pink ones and only wants to wear them. He balances it nicely by carrying his football while wearing his pink pants :)