He is Risen!

Easter is a celebration of the knowledge I have that Jesus Christ lives. On the third day he rose and with that the knowledge that we will live again. This Easter this message was brought home more intimately with the passing of my Grandma Fern Olenslager. I have so many memories of her from my childhood--calling her when Jake cracked his head open while Mom was out running the babysitter home and she showed up with her blouse all buttoned up wrong, but she came. :) Riding our bikes to her house. Rolling down their hill. Picking and eating strawberries until we thought we would burst. She shared her potato salad recipe with me and I am so glad I followed the promptings of the Spirit to call and visit with her two weeks ago when I made her potato salad for a family gathering. My girls are so sweet and when I told them about Grandma O (as we call her) they cried and said they would miss her and it is so sad, which it is, but then they said the sweetest prayers asking for comfort to be upon her and Grandpa O and Mimi then they said, "I know she will live again and we will see her then." I know that we will be together again because of the Savior Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for my knowledge of this and the peace and hope it brings throughout this mortal life.

On Wednesday we decorated eggs with Izzy and Siena. :)

This is the first year in a long time we have had our own little Easter and it was wonderful. Saturday the Easter bunny came while we were at an 8 am soccer game (I love that the Easter bunny comes to us on Saturday-it makes Sunday special and we can focus on Jesus).

Steve was trying out my new camera at the soccer game and got this action shot during warm-ups (we need more action like that during the game :) ).

 

Then we worked outside for a long time enjoying the lovely weather. Steve and Zoe got haircuts and we bathed everyone Saturday night. Sunday morning we got ready for church. Andrew was sleeping when we were ready to take pictures before church so Steve took a few of us girls then I snapped a picture of the boys napping after church and little Andrew in his bow tie. :)

We had a delicious dinner and then did an Easter puzzle where we talked about Jesus' life and resurrection then watched the He is Risen video. What a beautiful weekend with my family! :)

Loopy Lila

After a frustrating week with the urologist we went back to Lila's primary care physician, whom I really like. He listened and put a plan of action in place. Today she had a VCUG done. The urologist told us it was a painful procedure and she did not want to order it, but I need answers--I need to know if something is wrong and that her kidneys aren't being affected. I had a nice pediatric nurse from the McKay Dee hospital call to scheduled the procedure and talk me through everything. They gave Lila a mild sedative through a nasal mist to relax her since the procedure required a catheter to put in a contrast agent for the imaging. They had a child life specialist meet us out front and talk with Lila about the procedure using a little doll she got to draw on while we talked with the nurse and doctor. We did not have to wait at all, things moved along smoothly and Lila was a real trooper. We laughed about how it was x day at preschool and she actually got to have x-rays done. I stayed with her the whole time through the imaging.When the nurse put on the protective gown I found it ironic that she couldn't find the thyroid shield (I'm having half of my thyroid removed in a few weeks). They told us the imaging would take about 20 minutes, but we were done around 10 minutes. The nurse and doctor said she did great and that is the fastest they have ever seen that test done. :) I could tell the medicine had taken affect because her eyes were heavy and when I talked to her it took her a while to process. They told me I could carry her back to the room and when I picked her up she almost fell backwards because she was so loosy goosy. She couldn't keep her flip flops on-we picked up those shoes so many times on the way to the car that we finally just carried her and the shoes separate. 

Before the procedure we told her we would take her out to eat since she had to fast and she requested we go to a restaurant so as we were exiting the hospital we asked her where she wanted to go and she said, "you remember when I told you I wanted to go to restaurant?" "Yes, that's why we're taking you." "Oh that's funny." Then as we passed the construction zone of the hospital she said, "wait. stop. back-up I need you to read that sign to me." She was really animated and funny--more than normal. We tried to take some video at lunch, but every time the camera came out she stopped to watch what we were doing. It wore off pretty quickly, but she was still tired and her muscles a little loose so I kept her home from preschool (it was x-day I told her it was pretty cool she got to actually have an x-ray on x-day) and dance to keep my eyes on her. We should hear from the doctor tomorrow with the results.

Evolutionary Parenting

Today I watched the latest episode of the TV show "Bones" while nursing Andrew and Dr Brennan said something that made me laugh. To paraphrase what she said, "I believe our parents are supposed to disappoint us on some levels so that we will want to be better parents thus enabling the evolution of the species. So put your experience into perspective and view it as an evolutionary experience." Now this is not aimed at my parents--my dear mother's birthday is today and she is loving and patient and forgiving with me especially now as an adult when I'm so opinionated and stubborn, but I have felt that I'm "disappointing" my children a bit lately. Ellie has renewed this clay crafting book from the school library for over a month because she wants to make these clay crafts. I keep telling her that is great, but something else has to go to make time for it and then I ask her what does she want to give up, art class? soccer? piano? decorating Easter eggs? working on the play structure? Of course she doesn't want to give up any of it, but once again when I picked her up from school today she told me first thing that she had renewed the book and we only have 3 weeks because then they can no longer check out books as the end of school draws closer. I looked at her and I said, "we've discussed this Ellie." Hopefully she views it as an evolutionary experience also.  :)

maybe those socks with shorts is also evolutionary. :)

First Lost Tooth

Ellie has had two loose teeth for over a month and one finally came out today. It's the officially first lost tooth (she had those four pulled back in December, but that doesn't really count). It happened at school so she brought the tooth home in that little tooth necklace around her neck. She was so excited to tell me when I picked the kids up from school today. Lila asked her if she was going to get something else from the tooth fairy and Ellie said the Tooth Fairy comes every time you loose a tooth. :)

 

Freeze--for Lila's Birthday

Of course she wanted a Frozen birthday--she's been talking about it for months. We had a little family gathering on Sunday in between General Conference sessions.  We sent out a little email inviting them that said when and where the get together would be along with "Let it go. We can't hold her back anymore--Lila's turning 5."

As soon as she blew out the candles she grabbed those dolls off of the cake as fast as possible. :)

Mimi had this balloon made to be Elsa--pretty cute. :)

The coveted Frozen dolls--she got a corner of the wrapping paper off and caught a glimpse and there was an audible gasp.  It was very difficult to find the dolls for her birthday present, but we kept searching and Mimi managed to find some for us.

Ellie had a little garage sale at school on Friday and managed to buy Lila a finger skate board that was on her list of the three things she must have for her birthday.

Mimi & Grandpa got her a swimsuit set for her American Girl doll and a subscription to a Princess magazine (final thing on her must have wish list).  The girls love their magazine subscriptions from Mimi and Grandpa.  Grandpa and Grandma Moore sent a sweet card with the traditional $1 for every year--$5.  She has been talking about getting something at the Natural History Museum gift shop with her birthday money. :)

Andrew enjoying Olaf--probably wishing it was the marshmallow version below. :)

Today she played bubbles outside (gift from Durbano cousins) and didn't want to go to school because she wanted to keep playing with her new toys. :)  I finally convinced her she needed to go so she could pass out her birthday treat.

This is what she passed out to her class.  A Frozen necklace for the girls (boys got an Olaf zipper pull) and a snowman kit.  She also took powdered donut holes as snowball cakes. :)

She requested pizza for dinner so we made home made pizzas and they put on whatever toppings they want.  She also got snowflake pancakes for breakfast to go with the Frozen theme.  She also got some Frozen dress-up items from us this morning which she has been wearing all day.

Lila is growing up so quickly.  It amazes me how much she has grown during preschool.  She is reading, loves to think of rhyming words, likes to do her own hair and wear earrings (clip on ones).  She is a gem who has seen her fair share of rough days this year.  We love her and are so glad she is a part of our family and such a fun vivacious 5 year old!

Medical Update: She's currently fighting her 8th UTI--we can't seem to get them to go away permanently and the urologist we were seeing wasn't much help after the initial visit we were waiting over a week to see her or have lab results read so we went back to her primary care physician who recommended 2 months of antibiotics to give the bladder enough time to heal properly and fight off further infections on it's own.  He also ordered another test to make sure the kidneys are not affected.  Please continue to pray for her.  I've never felt so lost and helpless not knowing what to do to get her better.  I know it seems trivial, but when she is fighting one every month it makes it difficult.

Prince Charming

It is so fun having a baby again and Andrew is a delight.  Sunday I dressed him in a little bow tie outfit with a sweater vest and when I brought him out the girls oohed and aahed over him.  Saying he was the cutest little church boy and that he could be prince charming.  I meant to take a picture all day, but Sundays are a bit nuts around here.

He loves the baby food he gets--nothing comes back out.  The only mess he makes is because he sticks the bib in his mouth if we aren't fast enough with the next bite.  He even makes a little mmmmmm sound with every bite. :)

This morning he was cooing and talking to me and he fake coughed so I laughed so he coughed again and I laughed more.  He did it at least 5 times in a row.  It was so funny.

He drools so much that his shirt can get wet clear to his belly button.  Steve calls him An-drool sometimes.

And you can't forget his awesome mullet. :)

I treasure my three darling children and am so grateful for the opportunity to have Andrew be a part of the fun!

Everything is Awesome!

We had an awesome spring break even if it did snow 75% of the time.  Friday was the loveliest day of the break so we played outside and worked on "the project".  We're putting in a play structure.  I'm putting off the built in cabinets I wanted, but it will be worth it.  The kids are so excited.  They've been asking for one since we moved into the house.  Lila insists that it is done for her birthday, but this weather is really hampering our productivity so it may be a couple of weeks longer.  The last two Saturdays we removed the sod, worked the sprinkler system so that the garden will now have it's own watering line (we tried to do this the first year, but the sprinklers by the RV pad are confusing so when a simpler solution presented itself while putting in the play structure--we jumped on it).  The girls had a ball playing in the mud, gathering worms, and Steve and I continued leveling the ground and construction finally began . . . so exciting!
 
Saturday we worked on our April Fools joke and then did more work outside.  The girls watched Spy Kids 3--they love the spy kids movies. ;)  Sunday we spent the afternoon at Mimi's new house and then the girls stayed the night.  Monday we went to the Natural History Museum.  The girls love that place--I'm so glad we got a membership. Then on Tuesday we did Fools Cafe Breakfast style and delivered our April Fools jokes to friends and teachers.

The girls played for at least 30 minutes in this room while I fed Andrew.  There were puzzles and butterfly & bee collections with descriptions and the games above where they construct a tree or cactus without it toppling over.

It was fun to be together as a family and take a break from our every day routine--don't get me wrong I love routine, but once in a while it is great to break free and do fun things!



(By the way the title is from The Lego Movie. I wanted to take the girls to see it, but we only had a 3 day spring break and we just couldn't get everything in--we'll have to go when it gets to the cheap theater.  Any way, I love the message in the song "Everything is Awesome! Everything is Cool when you're a part of a team. Everything is Awesome when you're living the dream."  Believe me we're living the dream!  It may not seem like it at 3 am when you've been up 4 times with 2 different kids--one's thrown up and the other has a stinky stinky bum, but honestly I wouldn't change a thing! Hopefully I didn't get the song stuck in your head because it is in mine now.)

Still Sneaking Away

The girls were great this year to create the traps on their own and they each made a trap.  They titled their places Lucky Leprechaun & Lila's Lucky Leprechaun with the year 2014.  They put tape like they were windows, hoping they would get stuck on the sticky side while trying to escape, but those handy little leprechauns used the sticks they used to prop their traps to break the tape and escape. Then they must have used their magic to vanish because magic was still in the air leaving green sprinkles on our breakfast.  The girls were excited that their smoothies were even in green cups--wish I could take credit for planning that, but they were the clean cups we had. :)  I did make clover muffins for an after school snack that they loved and then for dinner we managed to have a few green items--guacamole and salad.  For family home evening we played a Pot of Gold game and talked about our blessings and how we can share them with those around us.  It was a nice day and I truly am "lucky" to have such a wonderful family!!

Sick Days

As a Mom you don't really get sick days. You do your best to keep food on the table and get people to their activities while not getting anyone else in the family sick--especially babies like Andrew. And usually while not getting much sleep because the baby was up, or the sick kid woke you up or someone had a bad dream (there were several nights where I was awakened by the kids at least 7 times each taking their own turn after I just got back into bed). Last week I took three people to the doctor and came home with three different antibiotics. Ellie and I had bronchitis and Lila had another UTI. Ellie cleared up after two days on her antibiotics--me I'm still hacking over a week later. Lila's UTI was resistant again so we were back to the shots or a $400 prescription. I spoke with the pharmacist who priced it out for me and he said I could get the capsules and sprinkle it on applesauce or yogurt for $13 so we did that. Lila also went to the urologist again last week and she gave me a standing order for a urine test at the lab so I don't have to make a doctor's appointment every time I think she may have one. We still feel like we are on the right track to correcting the problem--we're going to do another urine test on Friday to make sure the antibiotic cleared the infection. Andrew also had is 4 month check-up on Friday which went well.  And my ENT called me twice during the week to follow-up with my biopsy results which were abnormal so I'll be doing surgery sooner than later. In the midst of all of this we are changing insurance because our plan no longer exists, thanks to the man who said, "if you like your insurance you won't have to change." Any way to sum up last week: 5 doctors visits, over 10 doctor, insurance, hospital, pharmacist phone calls (not including the ones to make appointments), 4 antibiotics.  PHEW!

Fortunately, I had made a few freezer meals recently so we enjoyed those without too much work from me. One night we had chef salads and I was a little worried how the girls would handle it since they don't like lettuce on their burgers or anything. But they thought it was great because they could pick whatever toppings they wanted to put on their salads. Lila didn't even have dressing on hers. Now they asked to have chef salads for every meal. :)

Needless to say the last two weeks I have been in a bit of fog with illness so I haven't kept up the blog like I would like so here are a few bright shining moments I remember through the fog. :)

The first week we were sick I thought it was just a head cold and it was a beautiful day and the zoo was having a free day so we packed up and headed to the zoo with Mimi who happened to be in town--I thought the fresh air and an outing would do us good. Well people were parking a 1/2 mile away on the streets and as we pulled down a side street to park I thought this is crazy I don't want to be in this crowded of a zoo and I have been wanting to take the girls to the Natural History Museum so we changed plans. The girls loved the museum (I did feel a bit bad for taking my sick child to the museum--I thought we would be outside and it wouldn't be a big deal). At the end Lila said, "We have to come back." So I turned our entrance fees into a membership and we will be going back. :)

Steve's brother Greg was in town with his girls Katie and Lexie so they came by Thursday evening and stayed the night before heading home on Friday. My girls were so excited to play with their big cousins. So sad I didn't get any pictures. Steve and Greg enjoyed visiting and watching a sci-fi movie that has been on Steve's list for a while.

Andrew started eating rice cereal. His weight gain was about a pound less than anticipated so the doctor suggested rice cereal. I thought it might be a good idea to get him started on a few solid foods before my surgery so he will be eating other things. He liked it a lot--almost nothing came back out. I kept making more and more like 3 small helpings and he probably would have ate more, but I wanted to start kind of slow. :)

Now he is trying to grab the spoon out of my hand. So last night I gave him one of these rice rusk things--he thought it was great. I love watching them try to coordinate getting food to their mouth. :)

This morning we had to call Lila down for breakfast several times. I know she was up and doing something, but she kept saying, "just a minute." Well she came down dressed and she had brushed her hair and put in her own barrettes (note the one dangling at the bottom on the right). :) So cute I think I'll let her go to school like this.

Mimi gave the girls these clip on earrings and they love them. Lila especially will wear them all day every day and was in tears one day when she lost one at school. Thankfully her teacher found it and returned it to her the next day.

We did manage to find a few evenings to take the girls on their dates. Lila and I did manicures and pedicures since she hasn't been able to stop talking about it since Ellie went. She even told one of my friends about Ellie's pedicure and said, "they massage your feet and it is so great, I think." I took Ellie shopping for her baptism dress and we found a very cute one. Steve took Ellie to Boondocks to play miniature golf and I guess it was a closely contested game and Ellie got super excited after a good round and jumped up and down twisted her ankle and skinned her forearm. She still had a ball. I love these special moments with them. I love my family and am so grateful that we help it each other make it through the illnesses and the fun times. The family truly is central to life here, helping us learn and grow, and strive to be better and more Christ like. Thanks for being patient and loving!!