Flying High

This weather has been breath taking!  After the winter we had, all we can do is spend every last bit of day light outside.  It is where my kids belong, it's where we all belong.  They wake up from their naps, throw on whatever shoes they have, (most of the time it's no shoes and pants are optional) and run as fast as they can to catch the fresh air. 

 

I stopped by the dollar store this day to fill or FROG bags (which I will explain below) and picked up kites for the kids.  At first I thought to myself, "what a mess." But within minutes they got the concept and were flying high.

Mack even decided to tie one to his jeep and it worked.  Off he cruised with a kite flying behind him.

This three dollar purchase fulfilled their need to run until too late.

They were flying high until 7:30 at night!

 

We have less than 12 days until the big day...

 

The day Mack's tube comes out.  We went to our last appointment here in our town to get his medicine and the nurse started to talk to me in the playroom where we wait.  As she started talking I BURST into tears.  Normally we are all alone, but this day there were three other parents in the room.  I was so overwhelmed with emotion!  This day has been our goal.  It's the day we can count down to.  It's the day we feel another milestone in his recovery.

 

It is the day that will make our life better.  Right there in that moment it hit me like a wall.  Holy SH&^ he is getting his tube out.  This means if he needs blood drawn, he gets poked.  It means we are moving forward.  We are finally at a place we can look forward to! 

 

This is it!  He is doing it and I'm thrilled, but it still gets me emotional for many reasons. 

 

While we were in the hospital Mack was always getting things from volunteers.  This could be visits from dogs, a snuggly blanket, toy after toy, and even money in a card around Valentine's Day.  We couldn't believe it and at times thought oh we can get him things.  But I look at it different now.  He loved those things and that time with visitors.  He loved having interaction with people. 

 

We don't have the ability to go be with patients, but we were blessed with FROG-Fully Rely on GOD.  Mack received a FROG (literally a stuffed Frog) when he was about to go into the hospital from a little boy named Paxton.  Paxton has a heart condition and knows what life in the hospital is like.  Now you can request FROG bags and we requested two.  Together as a family we filled these bags with toys, crayons, glow sticks, and much more.  We are thrilled to give these to a little boy and girl going through a hard time because we know how hard it can be.

 

Right now we are beginning our real count down where we will be flying high with joy as Mack gets his tube out!

Time is Passing

I have never had a problem keeping up with this blog. 
It's always been important to me to share my children's stories and provide them with a detailed childhood book.  It became even more important to keep everyone up to date with Mack and his progress, but lately it's been hard to keep up.
 I was without my camera for a while so that didn't help, but the real reason is they are getting older.  The naps are shorter on the weekends-which is when I updated.  We have activities going on almost every night and if we don't we are outside playing and visiting with friends.  I want them to have these memories, but time is passing and I am so behind.  It must be a good thing that I'm too busy being with my kids then on the computer blogging:)

Be prepared for the longest post:

 

With that being said, I have pictures from February that I just found and are too great not to share. 

 

One nice thing about having a dad that has good snow equipment is, you get an igloo.  Since this winter started they have been begging for an igloo.

They had a great time!

 

 

Jump ahead to Valentine's Day (which is my favorite) and I found all sorts of pictures.  The night before Valentine's Day Nanny came by and brought balloons and presents.

They were excited-it was like Christmas!!

 

With two sets of grandparents, our gifts sometimes get shuffled.  Haha, but that's okay!

They still enjoyed waking up to more little gifts from their parents.

I thought Avery loved candy, but nothing compared to Lincoln.  He can find candy anywhere!

Avery is really into Super Heroes.  She wanted to be Wonder Woman for Halloween, but that has changed to Hawk Girl:) She chances the boys around pretending to be a Super Hero!

That night we headed to St. Louis to celebrate with Mum and Papa.

 

 

Now jumped to current day:

 

My mom and nanny have been filling in some afternoons so my kids have attached to them.  Here is Mack snuggled in.

 

We continue to enjoy baby Kalen!  It's been fun having a group of parents taking care of these four!  It's been said it takes a village and I believe it after this experience.

 

Our kids are never inside.  They are dirty and loving the time in our yard.  Why go to a park when you have 5 acres to explore?  The other day we search for Dinosaur prints-they may have been deer or other animals, but the possibilities were endless.

 

Monday was a huge day in our family...Cardinal Baseball has begun.  Mark and I left the kids and headed to St. Louis for Opening Day.  Meme kept them all day and then Nanny and Papa H. kept them over night.  I don't think they could ever know how much that means to us and that we didn't have to worry about them at all.  They had a great time and expected them back the next  night. 

 

We joined my parents and had a great day celebrating.

Unfortunately it rained the entire game!!!  It didn't seem to matter though!

 

It was nice to be alone with my parents.  My poor mom had to drive to our house the next day and watch the kids, but at least my kids loved having both grandmas in one day!

 

Lincoln spent time with Meme cheering on the Cards.

Avery went to dance with Nanny and represented as well.

Mack was picked up by Aunt Heidi and got to surprise Cohan at school and they ventured off to Flipz together.  Two little buds!

Thank you everyone for helping so Mark and I could have some fun!!

 

So, agree this was the world's longest post?  My hope is to be better, but if not...that just means life is moving along.

 

Happy Friday!