the rest of last, last week...

...was just as fun as the beginning.

We spent Wednesday evening playing with the mini felt board with the story In the Night Kitchen.  Emily has the whole story memorized and loved acting it out...

Grandma Emily provides as an excellent narrator when needed...

On Thursday the infamous UPS man showed up on our door and gifted us with a new stash of fabric.  While I was busy drooling over it, Jack jumped right in shouting, "choo choos" and spent the next hour finding all sorts of ways to play with it...

Charlie found "Jake the Snake," Emily's pet snake from the zoo last summer, and decided that it was his favorite teething toy...

After an hour of running around the crazies found the floor and decided to "take a nap"...

...and Charlie finally made his way to the stash when they weren't looking...

On Friday, we headed up to Grandma and Grandpa Fox's to bring them some dinner, wish them a happy anniversary and play, play, play.  Jack was so excited when we got there that he literally ran out of the car, threw his coat in the garage and was indoors before I had a chance to do anything...

Saturday morning started out a little slow.  Emily begged me to put her hair in a towel  after she got out of the bath.  I had never attempted this before and knew a real towel would be way too big.  Then I remembered the ingenious invention my brother had bought for me many, many years ago...The Turbini...really that is the name and he bought them from an infomercial...

We didn't do much all day but when the kids fell asleep at 4pm we knew we were up for a late night so we packed up the bags and at the last minute decided to go to Nooksack to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with the Joneses.  Grace was there to greet us when we arrived and tried on Emily's mask...

My lucky little boy...

Jack was fascinated with the piano ALL night...

WOW...a real Larson leprechaun even made an appearance...

Emily was in a baby mood and just wanted to pick up and hold ever cousin in sight...

Charlie was feeling a little shy but we just had to get his pictures with these two fabulous Jones ladies...

Poor Emily was feeling a little left out with all of the "boy play" so she tried on this hat and pretended she was a cowgirl...

The baby cousins, Sy, Charlie and Vinnie, all seemed mesmerized by each other..

Auntie Sheesh was the first and only person to walk around with a happy Charlie for the evening...

On Sunday, we went to church, had a delicious breakfast at Calico Cupboard with Grandma Emily, took a short toy shopping trip at the Skagit Farm Supply and then headed home for the day.  Just when things may have started to get "boring," Grandpa Jim and Grandpa Patti stopped by to bring some special treats for the kids.  Apparently Grandpa Jim was stunned to find out that Emily had never had a Twinkie and since it was all she could talk about after reading Auntie Manda's blog a few weeks ago he thought that it might be time for her to have her own little minion....

I have a whole stash of pictures just itching to get posted but we have been busy taking care of the important stuff right now...family. 

Grandpa Jack was released from the hospital yesterday and the doctors determined that he was not able to be rehabilitated.  He was moved back to the nursing home and hospice will be brought in tomorrow.  While the lump in my throat remains and that achy feeling in my stomach never subsides, I am in daily prayer that he is at peace, feels no pain and knows that he is surrounded with love during these last days.   

one day, two hospitals....

The good news is that our little Charlie Bear was a brave little guy during his appointment at Children's Hospital this morning.  They inserted a tiny camera up his nose and down his throat to take a better look at his vocal chords.  While it was excruciating to watch him cry during the process, he was safe in Bryan's arms and cheered right up when the procedure was finished.
The doctor determined that there were no nodules on his vocal chords...YAY...and gave us some ideas of how to follow up.  I instantly felt a huge weight lifted off my chest and took several deep breathes while holding him close.  It had been a morning of anxiousness, sadness and then finally relief.  As we walked out the doors and I looked at all of the children surrounding us, my heart began to ache even harder than it had when we arrived.  While I felt relieved knowing that Charlie was going to be alright, I felt an immediate rush of guilt as I looked at the parents holding their parents close to them.  There are no words to describe what I felt for those precious children and their families but that vision will always be one inside me and will continuously remind me of the power of prayer...

On the way home we stopped by the hospital to see my Grandpa Jack.  He left the hospital last week and moved to a nursing home to recover from his infection/stroke.  On Sunday we received a call that he had fallen and broken his hip and needed immediate surgery.  Initially they told us that he had made a great recovery from the surgery but the news has been progressively worse these past few days.  While I am not sure he knew we were visiting today I am hopeful that he was somehow aware of our presence and felt our love beside him.  While I am not prepared to write about the emotions I am overcome with right now, I am in deep prayer and comforted knowing that He is watching over Grandpa through this time...

Sunshine, Mardi Gras and a little in between...

While I still have a stock pile of pictures to upload from weeks prior, I just couldn't wait to get these fun times up and ready to view.  We have been BUSY to say the least and I have been having some serious momma guilt about all of the time these three kiddoes have spent sitting in the car.  We made a six hour round trip to my Grandma and Grandpa's 50th wedding anniversary two weekends ago and then followed it up by spending the next weekend with trips to Bellevue (a trip to Children's) and then to Lynden (a fabulous baptism for Baby Sy).

It felt so good on Monday to wake up to sunshine dripping through our windows and know that we had nothing to do. Emily made the day even better by jumping up and down chanting, "it is a beautiful spring day outside and we need to go outside and play."  So we jumped in the car and headed over to grandma's house.  It didn't take long for the kids to find the sandbox, slide and wagon.  Jack was cracking us up as he pretended to sleep while Grandma Emily pulled him around her yard...

I see you peeking...

Emily told us that she was Cinderella and she just had to spend the day doing her chores.  She huffed and puffed for awhile (all in her make believe world) and then rejoined us for some fun...

A little peek-a-boo and then we headed back inside just as the clouds decided to cover up the sun and send a chill down on us...

The kids spent "nap time" which is now "quiet time" since Jack rarely takes a nap, watching Peter Rabbit in their bedroom on their new bed...

On Tuesday we went to the craft store after preschool with Ella and her mommy and sisters.  We were a wild bunch making our way through the isles but I have to say that the kids were absolutely perfect.  We stocked up our crafting supplies on the Grandma Martha isle (a.k.a Martha Stewart) made a quick stop at the GAP and then headed home.  As soon as we walked in the door Emily played dress up with all of her new clothes and then resorted to her old swim suit in disappointment since her new one didn't fit right.  To cheer her up we did a little paper mache project that I had been saving...

I should have probably been attempting to fold my stock pile of laundry that was calling to me but I let it sit for another day.  I knew it was going nowhere and there were many more loads to add to it.  My mom told me the other day that she used to believe the laundry had yeast in it...it never quit rising...

When she had had enough of the paper mache she began glittering her fabulous new egg that she just had to buy at the craft store... 

The boys did a good job entertaining themselves with truck loads of glow sticks and a mini rubber pinch bowl while I got her all set up...

When Bryan got home that evening he surprised the kids with some scrumptious cookies before dinner.  I don't think the kids knew what to do with themselves.  We ordered a few pizzas, bread sticks and soda and began celebrating Fat Tuesday to the best of our abilities...

At the very last minute I made Emily this little mask while she went to work putting together her outfit for the evening...

They ate piles of bread sticks since they won't eat pizza and Emily even got a small glass of soda (which she kept bringing back begging for refills)...

When dinner was over Jack went a little crazy dancing around in his special attire.  If we would have had beads on hand we would have been draping them around his swinging neck...

On Wednesday Emily came home from preschool and told me that she just felt like being creative.  I had never heard her use this word before but it tickled my heart.  She decided that we should make stamps out of items in the fruit bowl so I got busy cutting away...

On Wednesday evening I finally did all the laundry, cleaned the house until the late, late hours of the evening and finally dropped into bed.  I have to say that my house looks nothing like it did before we had kids but I love it that way nonetheless.  There are coffee grounds all over the counter thanks to Jack's amazing help making coffee for daddy and thousands of macaroni noodles spread all over the carpet upstairs thanks to a scooping activity turned into a confetti party at the last minute.  While I will forever in my mind crave organization and cleanliness I am over all fears of creating a mess at the opportunity of having some fun with my babies.  And we sure are good at having some fun!

Here's to looking at you...

and praying that in the next few days you will be looking at all of us in a whole new light.  We hope your surgery goes well and know that we are here if you need anything,  I know three little babies that can make you laugh your pants off and an aspiring cook who would be more than willing to make you anything your heart desires.  Love you, love you, love you...

Praying...

for a healthy recovery.  We love you.



8 months...

This past month has proven that time is definitely moving at light speed and that if I blink just once I may miss one of the most amazing moments of my life.  I keep looking at these three beautiful children and wondering how they got so big so fast and where all of the time has gone.  I swear I just brought Charlie home from the hospital a few months ago, curled up in a bundle on my shoulder, nuzzling under my chin.  When I took another look today that is not at all what I saw.  This little baby is not little at all.  He is rolling all over the place, prefers finger foods over baby food, is a babbling jibber jabber and is mimicking everything I do.  He is beginning to clap his hands and growl and laugh back at me.  He watches me everywhere I go and if I am out of sight for the slightest second he lets the whole house know it.  In general he is a very happy baby.  He loves to be rocked to sleep (when not nursing), Ritz crackers and when a car ride is rough you can turn on "Toes" by the Zac Brown Band and he will usually fall asleep with gentle growls.


While Charlie has given us so much to love and be happy about this past month we have been faced with a few challenges as well.  Overall he is a very healthy little boy, accomplishing all of the typical milestones of an 8 months old baby but at his 6 month check up we discovered that he needed to be seen by doctors at Children's Hospital for two different and unrelated things.  We have already begun the process for the undescended testes and after seeing two different specialist we are as comfortable as a parent can be when facing surgery.  We have faith in the doctor and that all will go well with the procedure but I am sick to my stomach nonetheless.  Charlie will also be going down to see an ENT specialist at Children's regarding his raspy voice.  While I LOVE his growly bear voice our pediatrician just wanted to rule out a few causes.  The ENT will be administering a special camera down his throat to check for nodules on his vocal chords.  If there are any present the next procedure will be to take samples to make sure the nodules are benign.  While I am confident that all will go well I am once sickened at the thought of Charlie experiencing anything uncomfortable. 

One of the hardest things I have faced as a parent is overcoming the feeling of helplessness when one of my children is sick or hurt in any kind of way.  My first reaction is always guilt.  What could I have done to prevent this?  I literally spend hours contemplating every decision made until it consumes every thing about me.  Whether it be a simple cold or something as serious as Charlie's surgery I am left wondering what could I have done differently so that my child will not suffer.  After the guilt I begin wishing.  Wishing that I could trade places with my child so that they will not have to feel an ounce of pain or discomfort.  While I am completely aware that this is not a healthy scenario for any child and that it is inevitable that they will all get sick or hurt during their lifetime, it does not deter me from wishing.

Right now we are preparing ourselves for a busy month of traveling to and from Seattle and Bellvue and for a very emotional month.  Our faith is strong and we are confident that the staff at Children's will take care of our little Charlie Bear.