Bullet Update

* The sky has looked a lot like this photo all week-- dark and dreary. But finally today the sun came out and it was such a welcome sight!

* My mom is about the same-- stable, but still critical. She is continuing to use the ventilator to breathe, and getting her off of that is step one in her recovery. Today some blood work revealed a ph balance was off, so they are adjusting her medication and will repeat the blood work tomorrow. It shouldn't be difficult to correct, and then she can start the process once again. On the plus side, she is getting lots of rest, she has not had any more fever, and her wound is looking much less infected. I will be thankful for any change in the right direction!

* I woke up today with a case of pink eye in both eyes! I could tell my eyes felt sore before I even tried to open them this morning, and sure enough they were glued shut with gunk. I haven't had pink eye in a really long time. Luckily I got some eye drops and have been using them all day. Unfortunately I couldn't go visit my mom with my crazy eye infection, so I had to rely on updates from my dad all day. I think by tomorrow, I should be good to visit though. When I told the girls I had pink eye this morning, Leah said, "Yeah, someone in my class had pinkitis too." That girl always makes me laugh.

* This week has been so chaotic that we have not been able to spend a lot of time as a family. So tomorrow, we are checking the girls out of school early to take them to the Medieval Fair down in Norman near the OU campus. They are so excited to see knights and princesses. The weather is supposed to be great, and I think we will have a fun time together.

Hope your day was a good one, and thank you for your continued prayers for my mom!

*

CSI: Barbie

It's been awhile since we've had a CSI: Barbie post here! After the chaos of getting the girls ready for school in the morning, I took a deep breath, scooped up my Little Man, and walked back to his room to get him dressed for the day. I was a little surprised to find this scene when I looked in his crib.

Apparently Lucas' crib also serves as Barbie Jail.

All Barbies are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Hannah's Tooth

Yesterday was a very exciting day for our sweet Hannah Banana. She lost her first tooth! The funny thing is, the permanent tooth had already grown in behind it, but the baby tooth in front appeared fixed in place. She's been asking every day (sometimes two or three times a day) for me to "check and see if it is loose yet!" So far it hasn't budged. But last night while pushing some Barbies around in a pink, plastic Barbie Corvette, so lost her balance and her mouth/chin hit our stained concrete floor just hard enough to knock that stubborn baby tooth out!

She carefully placed her tooth in a bag and hid it under her pillow before she went to bed last night. Leah was very sad that she had nothing to put under her pillow, so we told her to draw a picture for the Tooth Fairy and see what happens. She drew the funniest picture of Hannah with a missing tooth and drops of blood coming down her chin. She titled the picture "Hannah Toof". It was awesome. Later, when the girls were sound asleep, the Tooth Fairy raided the change jar and gave each girl $2 and a nice note to go with it.

This morning they both came running and screaming into our bedroom saying, "She's real! The Tooth Fairy is real!" It was a lot of fun.

MOM UPDATE: Today was much like yesterday, so not much to report on. Mom is still using the ventilator to breathe, but they will try to wean her off tomorrow. Getting that out is a first step. Her heart sonogram results look good; the MRSA infection has not affected it. She was able to move from her bed to a recliner today (with help from a few nurses) which helped her feel less confined. And no more fever today! We are on the road to recovery again. Slowly, but surely we will get there.

Perspective

Today was quite a different day from yesterday. Yesterday started off with fear, grim outlooks, and difficult news. Today was filled with glimmers of hope, peace, and a healthy dose of perspective. Last week my mom was home, and if I had looked forward to see where she's at today, I would have thought today looked horrible. Today my mom is intubated, can't talk, has a staph infection in the bloodstream, and is confined to an ICU bed. But when I compare today to yesterday's events? Well, today is wonderful. My mom is alive. The fever is gone. She is alert. She is communicating. Yes, she is working hard to breathe. Yes, she is uncomfortable and at times in pain. Yes, she still has an open wound and is battling a staph infection. BUT, she is ALIVE and she is ready to fight with all that she has. Perspective sure changes things. I will never take another day for granted. And I will always have a thankful heart for the times I get to spend with her.

I feel like we witnessed a miracle yesterday. We prayed and we watched all of her vital signs slowly move back into a normal range. I am so grateful and humbled by all of the prayers and support shown to us. Those prayers have literally carried us through. So thank you. Very, very much.

This morning I was sitting by my mom's side. She had her eyes closed and my dad was snoozing in the recliner next to the bed. I was quietly reflecting on the last several hours when the lyrics to a hymn from my childhood popped into my head. I grabbed my mom's notebook and pencil and quickly wrote them out. I propped the note next to my mom so she could read them when she woke up. Half and hour later, she opened her eyes and reached for my note. She teared up and wrote a note underneath in response. It read, "These are the lyrics that got me through Hodgkin's Lymphoma so many years ago. Thank you for reminding me."

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow

Because He lives, all fear is gone

Because I know He holds my future

And life is worth the living, just because He lives

I'm going to go to bed tonight knowing I can face tomorrow.

PS--In other news, Hannah lost her first tooth tonight! She is so excited for the tooth fairy to visit tonight. I'll post pics tomorrow. :)

Exhaustion

Today was a difficult day. My dad called at 7:30 and said my mom was having labored breathing and had become unresponsive. I immediately started getting ready to go see her when he called back and said to hurry because the doctor was going to intubate her and I needed to be by her side. The doctor hadn't minced his words, "If we don't intubate her, she will die within 24 hours." The tears started to flow. I wasn't prepared for this yet! She was at home last week and I sat in her living room chatting with her, hopeful about her recovery?! Now this? I knew she had gone into the hospital with a fever late Thursday night, but her doctors thought antibiotics would help her and she would be home soon. All I could say was, "No, no, no" and "Jesus, help!"

After our friends came and graciously took our kids, Mike and I sped to the hospital where I met my dad and my aunt. The outlook was grim. My mom had MRSA, a resistant form of staph. She was septic and unresponsive. The tears flowed freely. My heart was breaking. My mom had taken a turn for the worse and it had taken us all by surprise.

Soon her nurse came out and said that my mom spiked a fever of 105 degrees. They had given her tylenol and placed cold wash cloths all over her to bring it down. She made no mistake that things were critical and that we should call in family. More tears. More praying. More hugging.

Family and friends arrived and we filled up a waiting room. Food was provided and we ate. And we waited. And we talked. And we waited. And we prayed. And finally the nurse came in and said her fever was coming down. It was 103.2. Then it was 101.7. We could suit up in gowns and gloves and go in to see her.

It was so difficult to see her like she was today. Feverish. Unresponsive. But I stroked her arms and her head and told her how much I loved her. I prayed for her. And I told her how much the girls and Lucas love her. It was a difficult time.

I am home now, and mom is resting. Her body is fighting so hard to get rid of this serious infection. My eyes are bloodshot from all the tears today, but I am thankful that she is still here. I wasn't sure that she would still be with us after this morning's rough start. Tomorrow I will go back to the hospital after a good night's sleep. And I will continue to pray and wait and tell my mom how much I love her.

"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted, and he saves those who are crushed in spirit."

Psalm 34:18

Tuck Everlasting

"Time is like a wheel. Turning and turning--never stopping. And the woods are the center-- the hub of the wheel. It began the first week of summer, a strange and breathless time when accident or fate, bring lives together. When people are led to do things they've never done before. On this summer's day, not so very long ago, the wheel set lives in motion in mysterious ways. It set Mae Tuck out in her wagon for the village of Tree Gap to meet her two sons as she did every ten years."

Have you ever read the book Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt? If not, go to the library tomorrow and check it out, find a cozy spot in your home, and read it. You will find yourself lost in the woods outside of Treegap. You will meet, Winnie, a toad, The Tuck Family, and a mysterious man in a yellow suit. Within the book's pages you will read of kidnapping and love and loss. You will struggle with Winnie as she wrestles over a life or death decision. And if you listen really carefully, you will hear a faint tinkling melody coming from a music box. A familiar and yet distant melody. Yes, if you close your eyes and imagine yourself deep within the woods, you just might hear it.

I've been thinking about this book a lot over the last few days. One of its main themes is that of the great circle of life and how, for our own good, we are bound to its cycle. The author uses the metaphor of a wheel throughout the entire book to represent life and what might happen if the wheel stopped turning. Lately, I've been wishing I could slow down the "wheel" a bit. Or maybe even reverse its movement so I could have life "as it used to be." There is something comforting in doing life as I've always done it-- as I've always known it.

In the book, the main character Winnie is forced to ponder that great wheel of life. While talking to Angus Tuck, the father of the immortal Tuck family, she is comforted by his words, "If there's one thing I've learned about people, many will do anything, anything, not to die. And they'll do anything to keep from living their life."

I know life is about growth and change. I know things are not supposed to stay the same forever. And like Winnie, in the end she decides not to fear change or growth or even death. Rather she fears THE UNLIVED LIFE.

So I will embrace life right now--right where I am, not worrying about my tomorrow. Just like Winnie did.

Perfect Night

In the middle of my mom being hospitalized again and at the end of a busy week with work and school and kids, tonight was the perfect way to cap it all off. We had some of our good friends and their daughter over for dinner and what happened was good conversation, good food, laughter, crazy dancing, lots of little girls giggling, and some fierce bananagrams competition.

Three beautiful, wiggly girls! Getting them to stand still was not easy!

Spending time with other families you love is like MEDICINE TO THE SOUL!

A Prayer for Mom

My mom and three of her siblings: John, Richard and Lindell

My dad called me earlier this evening and he and my mom are at the emergency room because my mom was running a fever. They are still there and the doctor is determining whether she needs to be admitted or not. So while I am waiting to hear the news, I thought I'd fill you all in on how she is doing.

The Good News: She has been doing well enough for my dad to go back to work part time. He is usually home by 2:30 and my mom is able to feed herself and get around the house well enough to be on her own while he is gone. Usually my aunt or myself or a home health nurse stops by during those hours just to check in on her as well. She is also gaining some strength back and has recently been taken off the iv antibiotics which is one less cord attached to her (although after her ER visit tonight, she may be back on them, but we'll see).

The Bad News: Her chest wound is not healing. It is clean and infection free, but it is just not healing. Her surgeon feared this might happen due to the damage of the radiation she received back in the early 1970's. It basically ruined her tissue; it just doesn't have enough blood supply. My mom will have to see a wound care specialist to determine a plan of action. For now, she will have to wear the wound vacuum indefinitely. Also, she is still not able to eat or drink anything because of a stricture in her esophagus. She will see a gastrointerologist this summer and hopefully he can figure out how to solve this problem so she can eat and drink once again. She can swish different things in her mouth (water, apple juice, even Dr. Pepper!), but she has to spit it out. She told me the other day that she had a dream she was eating fresh, ripe strawberries. It made me sad because I know she wants to be able to eat and enjoy food once again.

So there you have it. The good and the bad. I was feeling really down about all the bad things the other day, but then I remembered a verse from John 10:10. Jesus says he has come to "give us life and life to the FULL." Some versions say "abundant life". It encouraged me because even though my mom's health is not where we had hoped it to be by now, she is still here. And she can still have an abundant, full life. And for that I am very thankful.

And thank YOU, sweet readers, for continuing to keep her in your prayers.

Handwriting

This came home in Leah's folder today. Her teacher told me they had their first handwriting lesson today. I think Leah wrote pretty well! I love all of her exclamation points. What can I say, the girl really loves Spring.

I remember working on handwriting in school. I mainly remember it because I always struggled with it-- both print and cursive. Especially cursive. TRUE STORY: In the fourth grade I really wanted to be on the straight A honor roll. I so desperately wanted my name and picture in our small town's paper. I couldn't wait to see my parents' faces beaming with pride. I was mainly an A student, but with one or two B's mixed in. So I worked very hard to bring my math grade up to an A and tried my very best to also improve my cursive writing. I took my time and thought I had done it. When my report card came home I happily scanned all my subjects.

Reading: A

Social Studies: A

Science: A

Math: A

Language Arts: A

Handwriting: B

My handwriting grade was an 89.4. I was .6 away from having that coveted straight A report card!! My heart sunk. No photo in the paper for me. I have since recovered from this tragic moment in my history. And I have also come to accept my quirky, not-pretty handwriting. :)

And I'm also really thankful we live in a world where I can type just about anything!

Afternoon Snack

Lucas enjoying some popcorn this afternoon. While the popcorn was popping in the microwave, he stood in front of it yelling, "Pop! Pop!"

I remember the glory days of coming home after school to find an afternoon snack waiting for me. Chocolate chip cookies, apple slices, crackers and cheese, or my mom's famous "cranberry smoothie"* were some of my favorites. My mom didn't work during my elementary school years, and I really appreciate the effort she put into coming up with creative snack ideas.

During my junior high years, my mom went back to work, so I was on my own for a post-school snack. My snack habits took a nosedive at this point. I would open a bag of Ruffles chips and eat half of its contents without batting an eye. Of course, I would do this while chatting on the phone with my best friend Lisa. These were the days when I could spend hours talking on the phone. Lisa and I went to church together, but attended different schools, so we had to fill each other in on every single minute detail of our days. While talking about the events of our days, I would melt cheese over tortillas and roll them up, or spread butter, cinnamon and sugar on a piece of bread and broil it to make cinnamon toast. And I would wash it all down with a sugary root beer. Not my finest culinary days for sure.

Now I'm a stay home mom trying to come up with a delicious (yet healthy) afternoon snack for my girls when they come home from school. They are always "starving!" when they walk in the door and Lucas is usually up for a snack as well. Some of my kids' favorite snack items are: popcorn, yogurt, cookies, pumpkin bread, goldfish crackers, apple slices, fruit snacks, bananas and pretzels.

But I'm currently in a snack rut. Do you have any good ideas for me? What did you like to eat as an after school snack? What do you currently reach for when fighting the late afternoon munchies?

*Cranberry Smoothie: Scoop vanilla ice cream and pour cranberry juice in a blender. Blend until nice and frothy and pink. Fill a glass halfway with the pink froth, then pour ginger ale over it to fill the rest of the cup. So good.

In the Quiet Hours

Tonight in the quiet hours, after my children were all sleeping in their beds, I.....

....watched the last vibrant colors of the sunset fade away

.......folded laundry while keeping this sweet girl company

........baked (and ate) some chocolate chip banana bread

......stared at the aftermath of bathing three kids before cleaning it all up

Next up? Crawling into bed and reading until my eyelids refuse to stay open.

I love these calm, quiet hours in between kissing my babies' cheeks goonight and closing my own eyes in sleep.

What do you do in your quiet hours?

Family Dinner

Growing up my extended family on my mom's side got together once a month for "Family Dinner." At this time most of us lived in Oklahoma City, so we would rotate houses, eat a delicious meal, talk, play games, and celebrate anyone's birthday for the month. It was a time that I always looked forward to. My Grandma would be in the kitchen, apron on and hands busily working. My mom, her sister, and their sisters-in-law would be setting the tables and chatting away. My uncles and all of the cousins would usually be outside talking and playing.

As time has passed, our family dinners have occurred a little less frequently simply because some of us have moved and most of the cousins all have families or their own and different schedules to work around. And my Grandma is no longer here to celebrate with us as the matriarch of the bunch. But we still get together once every three months or so. Today was one of those days, and here is what our time together looked like.

Lucas deciding what to play with first.

Why, balls of course!

Relay races!

Best part of the day? My Mom got to come!!!

Cousin Steve acting silly

What a great, laid back, family day!

A Simple Bowl

My senior year in college, one of my roommates gave me a book entitled The Charm of Simple Things. It contained simple recipes, short stories, and poems. I still have the book today! I truly do have a love of simple things. Take for example, this bowl.

It was my grandmother's. My mom remembers that it graced their family dinner table nearly every night. It was the salad bowl. From a classic green salad to a more sophisticated Waldorf salad, my mom remembers this unassuming bowl being a part of many meals for their growing family of eight.

After my grandmother passed away, I found this stashed away in her kitchen. I loved its simple design and sweet decorative pine cones. It also looked like it had seen many years of use. Then my mom told me the story behind it, so I snatched it right up. More than my grandmother's expensive china dishes or silver flatware, I wanted this bowl. And now it has graced my little family's dinner table as well. And each time it does, I remember its history and I remember my Grandma.

My Friday: A Sick Boy And A Minute To Win It Party

At the wee hour of 3:00 am, we were woken up from a dead sleep to the cries of our little guy. As soon as I picked him up I could feel the heat of fever radiating through his pajamas. In my sleepy stupor, I found a thermometer which quickly read 102.5. As I tried to get him to slurp up some Motrin, he made the "I'm about to throw up" face, so I grabbed the closest thing to him (his beloved green blankie) and he proceeded to puke all over it. At this point it became apparent to both Mike and me that this was going to be a long night. And it was. We kept him in bed with us and he tossed and turned and cried and threw up off and on until eventually at 6:00 we all fell into an exhausted sleep for another two hours. In the midst of playing nurse to our sick boy, I managed to change our sheets and also do a load of laundry (Hooray for a clean blankie!). Thankfully, he hasn't thrown up since about 6:00 this morning, but he has still be running a fever of 102 or 103 all day. Poor guy. At least I got to snuggle him and stare at his sweet face all day.

The most precious sick face

This was Little Man around noon. I had given him a bath and he wanted to snuggle right back up in bed with me.

At three, I left our sick boy in the capable hands of his Daddy, and took the girls to our good friends Reed and Nikki's house for their son Eli's seventh birthday party. Eli loves the show Minute To Win It, so that was the theme for the party. The kids took part in several fun games and everyone won a prize. I thought it was a great idea and the kids had a blast!

Hannah, Parker and Leah working hard on the "Cereal Box Scramble"

Hannah and Leah using all their facial muscles in "Cookie Face"

The object was to wiggle the cookie from your forehead down to your mouth. It was hilarious.

Our friend, Beckett, on the left and the birthday boy, Eli, on the right

I LOVE Leah's smile in this picture. She thought the best part was just getting to eat the cookie when the timer went off!

After a few games, I left to go home and help care for our boy so Mike could get back to work. (Random work update: Mike is still doing free lance graphic design/illustration/film projects out of our home office. It is working out great!) Our friends brought the girls home later so we could have a few quiet hours at home with Lucas. Hannah and Leah came home at 8:30, hopped in the bathtub, then I tucked them into bed.

One of the many reasons I write my blog is to document these days of having little kids at home. I want to be able to look back one day when my kids ask me, "What did we do when we were little?" and be able to point out what our days actually looked like. They were messy, they were exhausting, and they involved puke and birthday parties all within a 24 hour time period. But they were FULL and WONDERFUL and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Little Trees

Last year we planted five trees in our backyard. Unfortunately, we bought fairly small trees so that we could fit that purchase into our budget. When we got the trees in the ground last spring, we stood back to admire our hard work only to realize that they looked more like twigs than trees, but they were trees none the less and destined to grow. About a month later, we had a crazy hail storm that ruined lots of roofs and trees in our area. Our poor newly planted Bradford Pears and Redbuds got pelted. The few leaves they had when we planted them were nearly all knocked off. Yet over the course of a scorching hot summer, we faithfully watered and cared for them. All winter long, I looked out at their skinny branches wondering if after all those little trees had been through, if they would ever blossom come springtime.

Well, here they are today.....

Leah and the Redbud

Bradford Pears blossoms

They bloomed!

My Little Turkey

This little Turkey of mine is such a busy little boy. I sat and watched him at the park today. He was chasing after his sisters as well as some other older kids just wanting to be a part of whatever they were doing. He was always at the end of the line of kids running around the playground. He was smiling not only with his mouth (showing off his cute dimple), but even his eyes were smiling. He was so happy and free running around, exploring the toys, raking his fingers through the wood chips (and subsequently throwing the wood chips which made me get up off the park bench and tell him "No Throw."). As he wandered around he would sometimes stomp his feet and hunch up his shoulders like he was marching to an unheard beat. I heard his sisters start a game of "Electric Baby"-- a game they made up at home which involves running from Lucas because he will deliver an electric shock if he touches them. He doesn't understand how the game works, but he is always thrilled to have his sisters' attention. His cheeks turned bright pink after several minutes of running and climbing and sliding. And the best part was that every few minutes he would stop what he was doing, lock eyes with me, and smile or wave. It was as if he was saying, "I still need to know where you are, Mom." I would return this sweet affection with a big smile of my own. I love days like this. Days where I can sit, slow down, enjoy the sunshine and the breeze, and observe my little Turkey because he is growing up so very fast.

Birthday Boy

Today was my wonderful husband's 35th birthday. It started off with the kids and I making him some breakfast and serving it to him in bed. Well, the girls helped while Lucas just watched and randomly shouted "Ball! Ball!" which is his favorite word. The girls also presented Mike with the homemade birthday cards they had secretly worked on the night before.

Leah spelled her words phonetically, so I will translate. It reads: "Sweet Dad You Are The Best Artist Daddy."

Later in the evening, our friend Jacquelyn came to babysit so we could go out on a date! Yay! We went to a place called Paseo Grill. We had heard good things about it, so we went to check it out. The ambiance was very cool. Dim lighting, dark, rich color scheme, and each booth or table was surrounded by by a gauzy curtain as to provide a little extra privacy. Oh so romantic. And our food was delicious too.

After our meal, we headed to the movie theater in the mall to see a movie of Mike's choice. And he chose....

Waiting for Battle Los Angeles to begin. It turned out to be pretty intense. Some cheesy dialogue, but still intense fighting scenes.

We were home by 11:15 and found a nice, clean quiet house with all the kids sound asleep. A big THANK YOU to Jacquelyn. She is awesome with our kiddos. I love that I got to celebrate with my best friend on his birthday.

Me showing off the mall at 11:00 pm.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MIKE GALLOWAY!!!!!

Heather

I met Heather in the fall of 1995. We were both 18 years old. We were both freshmen at Oklahoma Baptist University. And we were both randomly assigned rooms on the south end of the 2nd floor of the freshman girls' dormitory. We instantly hit it off like we had known each other our whole lives. Heather is smart, artistic, and a great listener. She was always up for an adventure! I have so many memories of those four years of school together! I remember vividly playing flag football together on our team Optimus Prime. Or taking our nightly walks to Braum's for a late-night cherry limeade. I also remember so many late night talks where we would share funny stories or dream about the future. I remember laughing until we cried when we took study breaks to sit and do a few Mad Libs. We were both a bit obsessed with music and shows and Anne of Green Gables. And we had many road trip adventures together: Illinois, Arkansas, Texas, and even Spain! We both started dating our future husbands during the fall of our sophomore year in college; we both got engaged during the fall of our senior year; and we both got married during the summer after we graduated. We sure went on lots of double dates over those years!

Fall 1995

Heather and I standing in my freshman dorm room after one of our late-night cherry limeaide walks to Braum's.

Spring 1996

Standing on the patio of Deem's Bean Scene-- our favorite college coffee hang-out venue.

Winter 1997

Silly dancing at a Fold Zandura show

Spring 1997

Double Dating! Dustin, Mike, Me, Heather

*I would like to point out that Mike and I got a good laugh out of this photo tonight because Mike looks like he is twelve years old and my eyebrows look like they've never met a pair of tweezers!

Spring 1999

Graduation Day! So many memories on Bison Hill.

Summer 2000

Heather and I at our friend (and other college roommate) Jennifer's wedding.

Of course Heather and I were both bridesmaids in each other's weddings which was really special. We had a lot of fun planning out dresses, colors, venues and cakes during the months leading up to our weddings After I got married, Mike and I stayed in Oklahoma. After Heather got married, she and her husband moved to Kansas City. Over these nearly twelve years of marriage, we've been able to visit each other often-- either us driving north or them driving south. In her pre-child years, Heather was an art teacher at in inner-city school in Kansas City while I taught middle school English in a suburb of Oklahoma City. Her oldest child and my oldest were all born the same year, while our youngest children were also born during the same year, just three months apart. It seems like all of our seasons in life have lined up side by side. And even though we are in different states, life has continued to march along together to a similar beat. I am so thankful for lifelong friendships. Friendships that have stood the test of time and have aged to such a deep, comfortable level. A level closer to sisterhood than friendship.

Today.

Me, Lucas, Heather, and Lily

Tundra

Tundra

Also known as Tunny Bunny, Toots or Tundachu

An acrostic for my sweet, twelve year old girl

Tough

Uber Cute

Nighttime snuggler

Dreams the day away

Rotund

An amazing companion

Zoo Day

The beautiful weather today was just begging for us to do something fun outside. So we rounded up the kids, picked up my dad, and headed to the Oklahoma City Zoo. Just yesterday the OKC Zoo opened a brand new, 9.5 acre, Elephant habitat. It's been a long time coming and we knew with the good weather combined with spring break and a new exhibit to see, it would be crowded. And we were right. However, we arrived only an hour before the zoo closed, which gave us just enough time to tour the Elephant Pavilion (which was awesome by the way!) and then head to the playground to run off some energy.

Papa with Lucas. Lucas loved the slide!

Hannah Monkey

Leah said she was on a spider web.

Not too sure about this swing

Fun day together! Just wish my mom was with us.

Afterwards we stopped to eat some pizza for dinner. The place we went had a few arcade games including Pac-Man and this driving game.

**Just in case my sister-in-law, Rachel, is reading this, Hannah picked Juan Pablo Montoya as her driver. I know our Juampa will be so proud! :)

Tonight we actually got all three kids bathed and asleep by 8:30. Which is a good thing since we set our clocks forward tonight. I'm glad next week is Spring Break so we can work on adjusting our internal clocks to the time change!

Today Was a Good Day For....

1. A great workout at Body and Soul Fitness

2. A lunch date with two cute little people

Lucas and his best pal Marlee

3. A few rounds of dress-up

Hannah wearing my boots, an old sweatshirt, and my Kate Gosselin wig

4. A surprise birthday party for a friend's daughter.

5. Watching Les Miserables with my Love.

What did you do this Friday?