lovely lazy day

Well we bring school spring vacation to an end tonight. Overall we had a pretty great vacation. Did some biking/walking/Missa in a stroller on a rail trail about 25 minutes from our house. Hit up a few playgrounds and had some picnic lunches. Did lots of playing outback with friends in the sun... and enjoyed some opening day festivities for the local baseball association. K is playing t-ball and daddy is the assistant coach for his team. (It's so cute) Each year there is a parade and all the kids march, (with the firetrucks of course),  down to the town baseball fields. K was so proud to be in the parade, waving and smiling from ear to ear has he marched on past his sisters and myself. Little slugger did a great job in his first game too! :)

Our lil' Indian

 Marching with his Daddy

Pre-game "pep talk" 

We had beautiful weather! Warm and sunny all week. Couldn't have asked for more. The kids were outside and active all day everyday and exhausted each night. Asleep pretty much within minutes of hitting their pillows.

Today was the perfect end to the week.... it was actually rainy and chilly all day. (A big difference from the week that's for sure!) This rain was very welcomed, this past week there were quite a few brush fires in and around our area. One particular day I heard the fire horn (it's right down the road from our house) a few times, and saw trucks from our town and a few others flying by in all different directions.

However it was also welcomed because we needed a lazy day in the house! We headed to church this morning. my man was preaching today. (He fills in from time to time when our Pastor isn't able to be there) Sometimes this can prove difficult for me, as I'm left in a pew with 4 crazy kids.... they did very well today though. Thank you Lord! ;) We then picked up a few pizza's and headed home for lunch. We all got in our "comfy clothes"  and just relaxed for the rest of the day... by relax I mean, we all fell asleep for almost 3 hours!!! That Never happens! B was wiped and went down for her nap very quick & slept awesome, The rest of us were just laying around the living room watching t.v. and the next thing I new it was 4:30!!! WOW haha. I was planning on making some homemade tortellini, vegetable soup. That has now been put off til tomorrow and we ended up with re-heated pizza, some pasta salad I had made yesterday and a few had spaghetti O's ;) Hey, it worked!

I thought that long/late nap would throw off our bedtime routine with the kids.... I was wrong though. They went to bed about a half hour later than usual, but were all out fairly quickly with little fussing tonight. This week must have finally caught up to us all. It was much enjoyed & needed! Now we count down to summer vacation. (Although it will be nice to be able to catch up on my grocery shopping this week... it's much easier with only 2 kids... and we are in serious need of some re-stocking) :)

God works in mysterious ways.

Ever wonder... when is enough, enough? Lately I find myself wondering this quite often. It just seems to be one thing after another. I know everything is fixable & prayer is powerful & and there are plenty of little ones in this world with much worse things going on in their precious little lives. When It comes to your own babies though, you just can't help this feeling of let down and sadness when you continue to hear "not so happy" results at each Dr.'s appt. they have.

My poor Missa can not seem to catch a break. I can't help but feel angry over this. I had a long chat with God on our way home from her eye appointment at Concord Hospital today. I'm not really feeling at peace and I know I have a lot more praying to do. I just wish that we could get some happy, healthy news for a change.

This morning we headed out on our trek up to the pediatric eye specialist, a little over an hour from our home. Missa has an extra tear duct on the outer part of her right eye. A little over a yr. ago I noticed what looked like a tiny dimple in the corner of her eye. I pointed it out to her pediatrician, It seemed to be  tearing and he referred us to a specialist. We went and things seemed to be fine... it was another duct and it was tearing, but not a huge concern at the time. We just had to go back in a yr. for a follow up.

So here it is, a year later and we go in for our check up. The duct is fine, still tearing, but better left alone at this point. Not worth the risk of anesthesia with her heart condition and just needs to be watched. However during her eye exam the Dr. noticed she has an astigmatism in both eyes. She went on to tell me, they don't worry too much about these as long as both eyes are the same. Of course nothing can be simple with B... her left eye is worse than her right. Of course. She does not need glasses at this point, and we don't do anything right now... she will go back in 6 months instead of a year to be checked again. It could get worse, it could get better, it could go away.

I know this isn't a huge concern & definitely not half as altering as her congenital heart defect, but seriously Lord..... WHY!? Why can't we just go to an appointment and get an "all clear". Apparently that is just too much to ask. UGGGGG I hate feeling like this, and I hate getting mad...Like I said, I know it could be fine. It could fix itself. In the meantime though, it's here, it's affecting her one way or another, whether she notices or not...... and That bothers me!

You take your babies to their check ups every couple months, then they turn 2 and they are supposed to get a year off.  B turned 2 and now on top of her normal pediatrician, she also has 2 pediatric cardiologists and a pediatric eye specialist. She has had her fair share of "specialty" appointments and will continue to have many, many more..... for the rest of her life.

Two months from now, in June she will go for her 6 month follow up cardiologist appointment. A fun filled day of lots of monitoring to check out the progression of her heart condition. Six months from now, in October she will have her 6 month follow up with the eye specialist again, and 7 months from now, in November she will have her 3 year check up. Lord, I pray that these next few appointments hold better news than the last few did!

B is a trooper, and a spunky little crazy girl. There is no denying that. She keeps everyone around her laughing and entertained, including her 3 older siblings. They get the biggest kick out her, and absolutely love her. Those kids are the BEST big sisters, and brother! Always praying for their baby sister... and always taking care of her. Love those kids so much!!!!!!!!!

1 Peter 5:10

And the God of all grace, Who called you to his eternal gory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

Neighborhood fun!

On Good Friday we had some backyard fun here. Together with our neighbors we had a giant Easter egg hunt out back. For a few days we stuffed plastic eggs, with candy, stickers and tattoos for the kids. A few neighbors dropped their filled eggs off at my house and my neighbors house. (Our two yards connect out back with just a picket fence between) So we decided to hide the eggs on her side and round up the kids on our side before the hunt started. She and I went out and hid the 1 million plastic eggs! (felt seriously close to that amount anyway!) 


We let the little kids go off first and made the big kids line up along the fence and count down. 

And then they took off running....

It was a blast for everyone! We ordered a bunch of pizzas and hung out and ran wild (the children AND adults!) after all the eggs were found.  :)
It was a bit windy & chilly, so we ended up migrating inside to warm up. That way we could all have some adult time while the kids played in the playroom. It was a great night with good neighbors/friends. We didn't come back over the fence until about 9:30... the kids fell right to sleep when we tucked them in!

I took a ton of pictures and of course I have to share them. The kids were so cute, laughing, running and just having a ball finding all their treasures!

 I love this shot of the moms picking up the eggs for the little ones. As my neighbor said "What a bunch of bums!" haha :)

 Missa showing her little buddy from next door her goodies

Just some of the eggs after they took all their loot out. We later divided them up amongst us Moms aka... Easter Bunnies ;)