Easter

On Saturday we went to the city park for an egg hunt.

Then we went to the movie theater and received a free viewing of Monsters vs. Aliens with complimentary pop and popcorn. This is the first movie Cara has seen in a theater and she did really well as long as I did not take the popcorn away. Merilee loved it! Sorry everyone, she is a loud movie watcher. She laughs loudly and gets very excited.Then we went next door to a furniture store that was going out of business and got some really great deals on bedding sets and a TV/VCR. I will have to post pictures of our new bedroom set, but it is a heavy comforter, so it will have to wait until next winter. I am so excited to use it!! After the girls took a nap, Daddy and Merilee dyed eggs and then the girls hunted for them in the backyard.

On Easter morning, Merilee was surprised with a visit from the Easter bunny. He left the girls dress ups, movies, socks, hair bands, and candy!! It was a busy morning and I didn't get any pictures of the girls in their dresses and after church was so hectic, I didn't get any then. I had their pictures taken at walmart in their dresses, so I am not too worried. I will have to get some pictures from my sister with the festivities that went on at her house that evening. We had a great time with family and the special talks/music at church that day. We even had "resurrection potatoes"!

Cara Tubes

Cara had an appointment with her ear-nose-throat doctor last Tuesday and after a LONG wait and a 3 minute ear check, he scheduled her for tubes. I expected this and so I was very ready to get the process over with. Amazingly, he was able to get her scheduled for surgery that Friday. She was a champ during the long wait so early in the morning. There was another girl her age waiting for tubes and she had her entire extended family there to support her. Daddy stayed home with Merilee, so it was just me and Cara. Her recovery after anesthesia was a frustrating battle...she would NOT be calmed. Finally the nurses just said to take her home!! After a few naps, Cara was back to normal. Now we just have to keep the ear plugs in all summer!

Cara's ears were much bloodier than Merilee's ever were. Before I put the ear plugs in that night, her ears started oozing bloody ear buggers.

Back-to-back Posting

I have gotten behind and instead of making a HUGELY long post, I broke it up into sections. So, scroll down and make sure you see them all.

Also, a quick update on David. He is out of the ICU and able to breathe, walk, talk, eat, shower, etc. on his own. He had a blood transfusion to get rid of his toxic blood. He still needs dialysis for a while but they might let him go home next week. He enjoys visits from family and friends. He is still weak and needs support and encouragement, so we are staying hopeful and positive for a full recovery.
www.finddavidhoward.blogspot.com

Adorable Afffordables

I absolutely L.O.V.E. this consignment sale and shop at it every other season (every time they have it). I usually take a picture of my loot so here it is. Merilee needed dresses because she begs to wear them every day and Cara needed summer PJs. And I got over 24 things/outfits for under $40!!

5 sets of PJs, 4 bubble suits and 2 shirt onsies.

Not pictured are two pairs of shoes and six pair of tights for Merilee.

Slumber Party

While my brother-in-law was in the hospital, we took Maren over the weekend so that her and Merilee could have some fun. It was the first time Merilee has had a friend over to stay the night and I was worried that I would have two sleep deprived four-year-olds. Two of the nights I tried to make it easier for them to get sleepy by keeping them up late with movie nights. It worked pretty well and after some time spent talking and looking at books in the bedroom, they both slept all night. I also tried to plan some fun activities to take up some time during the day. I didn't want Maren to go home and say that she was bored! We played playdoh, made snow ice cream, played in a pop-up tent, went to the youth center (Maren had never been, so she had lots of fun making toys out of exercise equipment), made finger painted cards to decorate David's hospital room, etc. Merilee was so spoiled getting to do special things all weekend. One thing that was really funny was nap time. Merilee and Cara took naps as they have every single day of their life, but Maren is a sporadic napper and had a hard time fitting into my napping schedule. However, she took a nap (actually sleeping!) each day that she was here whether she wanted to or not. By the end of the weekend, Merilee and Maren were ready for some time apart and poor Cara was ready to have Merilee back to herself again!

Movie Night!

The bedroom made up before the "girl tornado" went through.

Cara had to play by herself or with me all weekend. She followed the girls around and when they stopped playing with something, she was there to take over.

Playdoh and finger painting!!

Happy slumber party to all, and to all a good night!!

Fundraiser

So, I put together a fundraiser to help send my young women from church to girls camp this summer. I had some much needed help with food and decorating, and put in a lot of time on this. It was a chili dinner with a dessert auction. We went for a "country" theme with cornbread and fixin's. I am so happy to say that it was a huge success and we will be making this an annual event. We raised enough money to send everyone to camp and then some. He are some pictures of the turnout.
P.S. I apologize if anyone is embarrassed with the candidness of the pictures!

Announcements

We got together the weekend of Spring Break and put together my brother's (and future sister-in-law) wedding announcements. We did it assembly line style and everyone had a little part to do. I thought it would be fun to document what we did and show how we all worked together.

Jakob is more crafty than I thought. He was very good with the "puncher". And Sara is getting more crafty too. There is hope for their kids' scrapbooks after all!! I am excited for them to be married. Sara is a super nice girl and will be a good addition to our family.

I helped too but someone had to take the pictures!