Suessical

I'm a little behind on posting.  We've had so much going on and have had so much fun lately -- I can't keep up!  This is a little out of order chronologically, but it's a quick post.

Last Saturday evening, Daddy was attending a men's function at church, and I took the kids to a local Presbyterian church to see Suessical.  We're middle of the line fans of Dr. Suess.  We enjoy reading the books and watching a couple cartoons, but we didn't let the kids see the non-animated movie a couple years ago though.

The auditorium was very small and the photos of the cast in the hall made me wonder, "What in the world was I thinking?" But by the half-way point, we had forgotten about the small budget aspect and were having a great time.

Our New Yard

For those of you not living in the north, we've had a very warm spring (pre-spring, really).

Because we bought the house in the winter, we have little to no idea what may pop up or bloom in our yard. {This may or may not have something to do with our lack of knowledge of botany.}

Thanks to knowledgeable family, we think this will be Iris, and there are quite a few of them.

We've been told this is a Bradford Pear tree which looked like this one day . . .

and like this the next!  (FYI:  the blooms reek!!  We're trying to decide if we want to keep it or not.)

We also have a Weeping Cherry tree.  Can't wait until it's in full bloom.

We have some clean up to do, and we want to add some annuals.  So there may be some photos to come later.

WELCOME HOME, MOM!

This past Friday and Saturday, I was able to attend a Ladies Retreat in Sugar Creek, Ohio.  So many aspects made it a wonderful, memorable trip -- attending with friends, beautiful weather, singing with my mom, nice facility, God working in me through the speakers.  The theme was "A Measure Of Faith."

You know you're in Amish Country when . . .

But before I left, I set out a couple things for the kids to enjoy while I was gone.  Lucky Charms (something I don't by often and when I do it is usually Aldi brand) and these . . . (Do you know how hard it is to find chocolate coins when all there is everywhere is Easter candy??)  Wish I had time to line up the colors, but they probably didn't care or wouldn't have even noticed.

We also did a little shopping in Amish Country -- bulk food stores, antique stores and thrift stores.  Found these adorable mini animal crackers (about the size of a dime) and alphabet pretzels that I plan to use to review letters with Isaiah.

It was dark when I returned home, but this chalk drawing was on the drive way . . .

and they had all made notes for me enclosed in this envelope drawn on by Isaiah.  He wrote "MOM" and drew me an octopus on a tractor. This seems to be his newest thing.  He's drawn it three times recently.  Cracks. Me. Up.

From Makenna (with a pop-up heart)

Madi's included a little side note! =)

And Isaiah stapled an extra piece of paper on the back of his card, so I could draw something if I wanted.  He stamped stars and butterflys in the sky, drew a house and a tractor -- sans octopus this time.

I was also greeted with new growth and flowers around the yard . . .

While shopping, I found a washer/dryer/ironing board play set for $4.00!  Wasn't sure if I could even fit it in the girls' room, but I had to grab it for that price!  We ended up taking down a twin bed in a spare room in the basement and set up all their baby and kitchen stuff.  It will be a nice place to play in the summer since it's cool down there.  I'm thrilled it opens up space in the girls' room!  Hopefully that will be one of my next projects.

Coming home to a sweet welcome was the icing on the cake to a refreshing weekend.  The Lord knows I needed it.  There were many things that jumped out and convicted me or encouraged me this weekend.  But the most special part was that someone from the hosting church was assigned to pray for me ever since I signed up to attend the retreat.  This is the dear lady that prayer for me.  I am confident that the Lord was able to speak to me in such a great way because of her prayers.

I'd encourage you to read and reread Romans 12.  We are reading it together as a family a few verses at a time and studying it.  There are quite a few verses in that passage that are very familiar to a lot of us, but their meaning is becoming more real to me the more I study them.

 Romans 12: 3 "according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith"

Bounce-U

Today we redeemed a coupon I purchased on Groupon.  We invited some new friends of ours to go to an indoor inflatables extravaganza!

 Makenna conquered this monstrosity!

 Zaya was able to climb . . .

 and defeat it too!

This inflatable was insane!  There were five levels of this "spider webbing" that you had to climb up before . . .

you could slide down the tall slide.

(The yellow blur is Madi.)

Towards the end of our playtime, the girls took turns boxing.

(Makenna on the left.)

To give you some perspective, here's Zaya with A glove!

Here's the group photo of hot, sweaty, worn out kids!

Makenna's GREAT News!

I don't have time to look it up, but I'm pretty sure I've mentioned we were told Makenna would have to have multiple teeth removed.  She's already had a couple removed, and we were anticipating having to go through that "torture" again.

Yesterday, we saw a new orthodontist -- a woman, mind you.  (It makes all the difference to Makenna, believe me!)  We are thrilled beyond words.  This doctor is conservative in her approach and really seems to be on top of her game.  She doesn't believe Makenna needs any more teeth removed (actually doesn't think she needed any removed in the first place!) and thinks her crowding can be dealt with fairly easily with expanders and braces!  Makenna was exuberantly talking non-stop for about four hours yesterday about the new doctor, expanders, braces, x-rays, etc.  She was telling any willing soul that would listen and even her brother and sister that weren't so enthralled.

For those of you that know Makenna's story (tendency to pass out, issues with dentists / doctors in general) will know her current attitude is a complete turn-around.  I'm excited for her, and pray she continues to have such a positive attitude.

We have a few more details to iron out, but it looks like they will take the next 12-14 months to give her an expander that stays in her mouth (unlike the removable one she currently uses), then put braces on her front teeth to make them more vertical (giving her more room for the adult teeth to come in) and give her a retainer to wear until she can get a full set of braces.

We have a couple x-rays, molds, fittings and lots of adjustments in our future, but she's thrilled to death to go to an office with only girls!