Real Men...

Use a Little Red Wagon as a wheelbarrow... :)

Our friends have our wheelbarrow right now, so Tom's been improvising. But this is his project...

That's a lot of 65 pound bricks. You work on this project, you're man enough to use whatever you want for a wheelbarrow...

Doing great!

Sam is SO MUCH better. It's amazing what not having an infection will do for you... I would say she's back to normal. She's funny, she's laughing, she's talking. She even jumped around the store the other day. She's sleeping well and her grumpy times are due solely to being a 2 year-old. Her endurance is close to what it was before. She still tires easily, but it is much more of a normal fatigue for her and not a scary one.

I am so thankful for all your prayers and loving words. Our family is doing well and it is so nice to have our Sam back. She'll go in for extensive lab work in May, just to check things out, but for now, life is back to normal. :)

Easter Fun (and Utter Chaos)...

We decorated eggs....

and then sponsored our 5th (or so) Annual Day-After-Easter Egg Hunt.

I got a little carried away inviting people this year... In my head it was going to be sunny and the kids could all play outside and it would not be Utter Chaos. I was wrong. It poured all day and all 27 kids and 18 adults were stuck in my house... And trust me Utter Chaos deserves to be capitalized... But it was a lot of fun. We pot-lucked for dinner first and then the dads hid the eggs in the rain. Then 27 kids took off out the door...

Luckily we have this empty lot next to our house and we used that this year... There were hundreds of eggs to find and all the kids went away happy.

Here's the annual picture. We tried for tallest to shortest, but really, there were just too many kids... :)

I'm grateful for good friends who are willing to come and play with us, even when my house is a tad too small...

Flour Power...

When we were kids we used to play this awesome game called... The Flour Game (fancy, I know...) I recently remembered it and thought some traditions just have to be passed on...

You start with a packed bowl of flour, turn it upside down on a plate and then stick a penny on top of the flour. Then you take turns around the table cutting away little slices of flour...

Until you have a wobbly, little flour tower...

Keep taking turns until... Ooops! Someone knocks it off. Then that person must pick up the penny with their mouth out of the flour...

Some people loved it...

Some people didn't...

Which is why our good friend, Matt Bishop, who was playing with us, had to get Erin's penny for her. Thanks for being a good sport, matt! The girls loved seeing him all flour-y.

Then Sam and I knocked it off the next round and Brooke thought she'd give me a little help...

I love things like this, that I did as a kid and now get to do with my own children. We'll definitely be doing this for another family home evening soon...

Race Day...

I've been "torturing" Brooke lately by making her run with me. It's been a little rough. Or a lot rough. But we found some friends to run with and it hasn't been quite so torturous...and for my birthday she gave me what I wanted: Her to run in a 1 mile fun run with me. It was the highlight of my birthday.

Here we are before the race... Brooke's still not too sure...

The funnest part of the race was running through some horse stables.

Sprinting to the finish line.

She did it!

The girls did so great. I was so proud and they were so happy with themselves. The fastest mile they'd done before the race was 14:30. Brooke ran this race in 12:01! My pregnant-with-twins best friend couldn't even keep up with the girls at the end... Brooke was really tired toward the end and really wanted to walk, but just kept on going and even sprinted at the end. I am so proud of her for not giving up. Now we're on to bigger and harder things. A 5k in June... Anyone want to join us?

Update on Sam...

Sam hasn't been doing very well for the past couple of months. She exhausted. An hour of OT is too much for her and she just shuts down after about 40 minutes. Her endurance is much less than it used to be. She'll play with her sisters, but is really, very happy to just sit on the couch. Often she ends up like this...

About a month ago, she was sleeping 20 hours a day. It was crazy. She's back to her "normal" 16, but isn't sleeping well. She tosses and turns and wakes up several times a night. Which means we're both functioning at our very best. (I really think there should be a sarcasm font...) Sam really is the sweetest girl, but has been horribly unhappy lately. Not herself at all. And not two-year-old grumpy, but an "I'm feeling horrible" kind of grumpy. Sam got quite sick with Strep Throat a few times this winter and often looked like this...
The poor girl has giant black bags under her eyes and looks tired all the time. Now the good news is her vision is still fine, her left side is working as well as it ever does and her actual development hasn't gone backwards, even with all the sleeping.

We went to the doctor today and she has a horrible urinary tract infection. And it looks like she's had it for a while. Which is actually more good news. This is an actual reason WHY she's been having so much trouble. Which means that maybe her disease isn't progressing quickly and this might not be the new normal... Maybe her body just can't run itself and fight an underlying infection. I can deal with that. What was hard to deal with was Sam not being herself. The last couple of days she's been more herself and laughing again and being funny. I cried one night when I realized how much I'd missed my sweet daughter.

She's on antibiotics now, and we'll see how she responds and hopefully goes back to normal. Life is a strange challenge with this girl. I don't know what to expect with her, but I do know that she brings a light to our family that we would be lost without. I will keep you all posted on how she responds to the antibiotics. Thanks for caring about our "Sam-I-Am".

Quote of the Day...

We'd been talking about middle names...

Alix - "I know what Brooke's middle name is... Cookie!"

Close enough...

Shhhhh.....

Ever have one of those days where it's just TOO MUCH? Too much noise. Too much mess. Too much chaos?

We (meaning the "mean, old mom") had one of those tonight... So I instituted "whisper night". "But mom, it's not night yet..." said Alix.

"Too bad. It's close enough," whispered mom.

And so we whispered all night. It was kind of fun. Even Sam (sort of) got in the spirit of things. Everything is so much calmer when all you can do is whisper. The wrestling stopped. (And you thought I had all girls? I do. They wrestle. Crazy.) The arguing stopped. It was great. We might have to do this again. Tomorrow? :)

Got facial hair?

Like father...

Like daughter...

Who knew Tom and Sam would have matching goatees one day?

I miss you...

Sun. and Warmth. and Dirt. and Heat. and Light.

I'm over you... Rain. and Mud. and Gray. and Cold.

This family is so ready for some good weather... It really can't come soon enough this year...