The Last One!

Tonight, E took her LAST pill!!! She has been taking these 3 x a day since the diagnosis of ulcerative colitis in February. We now get to watch and wait for a month, and then go back to the pediatric GI doc to hopefully receive a bill of clean health. His hunch is that it was triggered by a virus and not something she'll deal with her whole life. We're certainly hoping he's right!

One way to find out...

Nice pink curlers, huh? She spied them when I was digging to find bun-making accessories (tap class recital pics were today) and decided she needed to become an extra curly girl. Boing!

Gettin' Me Through

If you serve in the Relief Society Presidency with me,

don't read this!

It's going to be my devotional at our next meeting! ;)

Each week, I type up an email newsletter for the sisters in our ward Relief Society. It has all the announcements and details, plus little messages from the presidency, birthdays for the month, etc. I include hypertext links to the upcoming lesson, as well as a summary of what was taught in RS last Sunday. It takes a little time, but I hope it helps all our sisters feel more included and aware of what's going on in RS, from the sisters who serve in the Primary and Young Women's organization to our sisters who can't make it to our meetings on Sunday. Anyway, the perk is that I get to review each lesson after it's been taught. Last week, there was a quote from the Prophet Joseph Smith that JUMPED out at me. It begged to be printed out and put somewhere I'll see it (fridge? mirror?) as well as recorded here so I won't forget it. He's referring to the early days of the Church, but as a wife and mom, it just screamed (OK, I know it's supposed to be a still, small voice, but it was pretty loud) at me. Here it is:

"It was clearly evident that the Lord gave us

power in proportion to the work to be done,

and strength according to the race set before us,

and grace and help as our needs required."

I don't know about you, but there are moments, hours, and days where I am not quite sure I'm up to all I'm asked to do (or that I have foolishly volunteered for)?! I am grateful for this reminder that the Lord will give me the power, strength, grace and help that I need as I try to accomplish the things He would have me do!

Sunny Sunday, Sunny Girls

I know I still need to post our Easter pics, but the weather was SO much better today that we had to take after church today in our backyard...

And, here's an action shot of E's perfectly twirly dress, doesn't it make you want to be an (almost) 6 year old w/a petticoat built in your dress?!

Funnies

The big K/1 school concert was tonight. I guess that got her thinking about her "skills." At bedtime, she said to me:

"You want to know what my talents are?
They are singing and yawning and talking.
And, even yawning when I talk."

Wow. That's some serious talent!

Marathon

Two of my brothers just ran a marathon, and one of them blogged about it, if you're interested. I've been feeling pretty slackerish about this, until I realized a couple of things:

1. When they decided to run it, I bet neither of them thought, "Who will I get to watch the kids while I train?"

2. I hate running.

3. I "run" marathons quite regularly...I just don't get medals or nearly as sweaty. For instance, today's agenda:

1. Make bunny-shaped pancakes for breakfast - from scratch, with m&m eyes
2. Watch girls find their Easter baskets (he comes a day early at our house)
3. Get us all ready for the day and packed up
4. Take E to swimming lessons at the YMCA(9:50 am - 20 min drive there)
5. Walk track w/M
6. Join E in the pool for open swim
7. Get everybody dressed, send M over to her hip-hop class
8. Eat lunch, which was actually pretty healthy (turkey sandwiches, grapes, Pirate's Booty)
9. Drive to another town (30 min drive) for a roller skating birthday party
10. Help E, who had never skated, and M, who's skated twice before, (oh, my aching back and their poor little tushies) for 2 hours
11. Drive back to our town (30 min) to an Easter egg hunt
12. "Hunt," then deal w/a meltdown from the big sis, who is right inbetween caring that she didn't get very many eggs b/c they let the little kids go first, and knowing that she's a big kid and not wanting anybody's help or sympathy...
13. Over to friends' house for a BBQ. Calm M w/video games. Pray E doesn't get another black eye (this is where last week's incident happened). Watch everybody else w/really little kids (newborn - 4 yrs) and be REALLY REALLY glad I'm done with that!
14. Feed girls. Don't spill your juice, and sweetheart, that is ENOUGH jelly beans!
15. Come home (7:30 pm). Realize I haven't even had E try on her Easter dress (it's long - almost touches the floor! Oh well) and that she doesn't have any white church shoes. I hope last year's sandals will work (it might snow, anyway!) Oh, then I realize that I intended to take up the straps on M's dress, so I have her try it on (not her idea of a good time). Luckily, it just needed a tuck, so I can easily do that by hand. Jammies for girls, then plug 'em into a video! ;)
16. Bedtime for girls. I do dishes, a load of laundry (swim suits and towels), put some struessel bread in the oven for tomorrow morning, and treat myself to some amusement on facebook, and on here, of course.
17. Promise myself I'm going to bed soooooon!

PHEW! Tomorrow, of course, is Easter...I'll be busy at church and then we're having friends over for dinner - and my ham is still frozen in the fridge! At least dinner's not til 5...

Shiner

Somehow, I've managed to mother my children for almost 10 years and avoid any black eyes. Black circles under mine, yes, but somehow we got through toddlerhood, playgrounds, and "wrastling" with daddy without any major facial damage. My success came to an abrupt end on Saturday, when E was playing in a friends' backyard.

Somehow, she was on a swing, and somehow, a neighbor girl was running in front of her with a bike helmet on. Somehow, the helmet met E's eye. I'm realizing now the pics don't do it justice...I should'a waited another day or two to capture the evidence, 'cause she'd get more sympathy points.

In any case, it was not fun. But, she got a popsicle. So, at least that's something.

The Good Ol' Days (or, Give This Man a Refund!)

We've been cleaning out the garage the past couple days - a rare planetary alignment that gave us sunshine, the girls both at school, and P on his days off! I was even compelled (by said husband) to actually open boxes and sort the contents. Ugh.

It was a trip down memory lane, that's for sure! The most disturbing find had to be the 3-ring notebook, complete with tabbed sections labeled "labs," "ultrasounds," "dr," "hospital," etc. There were all the E.O.B.'s from the insurances and all the test results, etc from when I was pregnant with M. All 3 holed punched. All in the correct place.

Oh.

My.

Gosh.

I used to be like that! I had all but forgotten how organized and generally "with it" I used to be! I showed it to P, and he said, "Yep. That's who I married! It was so weird after M was born. I had to start remembering my own stuff 'cause you didn't do it for me anymore!" We laughed, but I did apologize. I mean, good thing there's not a return policy, or he could have taken me back to Costco and got a new one that worked like the one he married, instead of the one that malfunctioned after giving birth and never quite worked the same after that!

Later that night, I recounted this story to friends of mine who are a little bit older than me. All the comfort they could offer was, "Oh, honey. Just wait til you hit 40."

Gee. Thanks for that ray of hope! I don't think I'll tell P.