This week, I want to remember: (4/2-4/6)

Monday, April 2

This day was pretty much wrapped up and all consumed by Lola's surgery....and I think I've given enough detail about that!

Tuesday, April 3

Lola was a much, much happier camper, and her eye was already looking much better!

Most importantly--her mood was greatly improved!

We even were able to take a trip to my kids' favorite place on earth: the park. While we were there, I overheard Ethan whispering to Lola: "If we play and dig in the rocks, Mommy will have to let us take a bath tonight Lola."

And later that night, guess what? *grin*

Then, a few moments later, I heard Ethan:
"Mom!! Lola just peed in the bathtub!"
Now, I will admit, I was tired and didn't really feel like dealing with too much else at the moment (as I happened to be "putting out a fire" elsewhere) so I yelled to Ethan, "It's okay, buddy."  I was hoping to pacify him, but a moment later, I heard:
"NO!......it's NOT!!"
*giggle*
So, the bathtub was drained and on went the shower.

After the bath, we took Lo's bandage off, and her eye was starting to open up again!

Wednesday, April 4

Each day we are seeing progress!

A little more open, and a little less bruised today.

Since Lola was feeling better, we decided to do our errands. You know how that goes--a whole morning and half the afternoon was gone before we knew it. Then came dinner, church, church cleaning, then back to bed to get up and start all over again!


Thursday, April 5

Overheard Ethan whisper to Lola: "I love you so much baby....you make me happy." Melted my heart.

We welcomed the Cubs back on opening day....

(which unfortunately did not help them win.)

.....and we did a few puzzles.

The boys came home from school at 11:30. Cameron brought me something special his class had made!

I took Lola to the potty and when she finished, she said: "I get my MM!!" I just looked at her and didn't say anything, because this is becoming her thing....now that she really is fully trained, the M&M's are really a bonus for her and not something enticing her to actually go on the potty. I continued looking at her and smiling, that knowing smile like I know you are playing me little girl! And she bursts out in the funniest high pitched silly voice with, "Yes, you do get an MM Lola!" It was soooo funny.

Colin's best friend Colden came over for a few hours so the kids could play. I just love little Colden. He is such a good kid, and he not only loves and gets along well with Colin....

 ....but he also loves the rest of our family too! This was a game they named 

"Four Man Rumble". It went on for quite a while, and miraculously, no one was hurt!

 Friday, April 6

Once again, our wonderful library came through for a glorious morning of entertainment! Just like our yearly morning with Mrs. Claus, they also do a hunt for Easter eggs--along with craft time, story time, and playtime--and you just can't beat it for a great morning of activities for the littles!

Lola played for a looooong time with the stuffed Veggie Tales characters!

This is her "Mom, I sure would love to have a collection like this at my house" look! *giggle*

Cameron read for a while about all kinds of sea life....

....and then created an Easter chick.

He was very proud to be different from everyone else--his chick had four eyes.

 E did the same thing!

Miss Paula read to all the little ones while the bigger kids went and started their hunt for eggs.

E and LoLo were such good little listeners....

...and after a minute, Lo gave me a really, really cute picture!

Then it was the little ones' time to do some hunting. Cameron helped Lola for a while.

She loved it!

Col came over to show his bounty....

....and then began to help LoLo grow her basket.

Colden was there too, and also helped Lo--I think she got more candy than any other child at the hunt!

Colden, Colin, and Sam showing off their goodies

We took a trip to the park, then came home for lunch. Then, it was back outside to play some more games that the boys had invented.

Cameron made sure to show and explain to me the difference between a play gun....

....and a play taser. 

(That would be one finger, if you didn't catch that.)

Another great week for the books!

Morning with Mrs. Claus

A couple of weeks ago, we were so happy to participate in our library's "Read with Mrs. Claus" morning. The kids have enjoyed this activity several years in a row now--and this year, Lola was able to really participate too!

The kids got to spend a little bit of time in free play....

...and in writing their letters to Santa before the reading began.

Cameron was very careful about what he put on his list.  He included a football and a football helmet. He 'wrote' the letter himself, and the biggest thing he asked for was not even for him--it was a new guitar for his Daddy! (Mrs. Claus seemed to really like that. *grin*)

(Mommy helping Cameron with his letter--picture captured by Mrs. Claus' elf)

Such a proud little guy--Cameron loves writing and practicing his letters, 

so this was a very exciting activity for him.

Colin and his friend Sam enjoyed making a paper chain for the library tree.

And Ethan had just one thing on his list:

CARS.

{CARS 2 cars, to be specific.}

Lola, meanwhile, had found her favorite library toy--the PHONE! Typical girl.

Working hard on those letters

After letters, it was time for Mrs. Claus to read. She begins every year with a story of the nativity--and explains to all the children about the TRUE meaning of Christmas. Love that.

But there were lots of fun and silly stories too! 

The pop-up books were especially attention grabbing.

(Mommy shooting Mrs. Claus--and that elf was shooting ME!)

Lola lost interest at about book number five....you do what you have to do to keep
little ones entertained, and the activity of choice was fiddling with Mommy's camera. 

Then, it was on to ornament making and decorating.

Lola was even able to do her own! She didn't much care for the glue on her fingers, 

but she got some glittery things on the ornament to jazz it up.

{And yes....I do know what Colin's looks like. *sigh* This will be funny for years to come....}

Then, it was time to tell Mrs. Claus what they were hoping to get on the big day.

While sitting with Mrs. Claus, Cameron disclosed the fact that he wanted his Daddy to get a guitar.
Mrs. Claus told Cameron that he should learn to play too--so, right there, they added
'a guitar for me, too' to the list! How funny.

Mrs. Claus was a bit surprised at Ethan's list--there was practically nothing on it!

But he assured her that CARS 2 cars was exactly what he wanted.

 

Lola didn't want to sit at first....but the candy bag helped coax her into it!

Mrs. Claus got a BIG kick out of Lola. She just loved her!

And, she got to give her her very first taste of a candy cane.

My favorite thing our library does (that I think is just SO special) is this:

After the children sit with Mrs. Claus and tell her their list, the library workers collect the letters.  And, a few days before Christmas, each child who wrote a list receives a very personalized letter back from Santa himself. This is not your average form letter, as you can see! And this Mommy loves that attention to detail.

(You can tell that we visit the library often if you read through the letters.

Notice the reference about his ravine-tumbling incident....)

(Love this one....)

And Ethan's....

I've said many times how special our little village is...our library and this event in particular is just one of many reasons why I think so!