Dirt Day/ Earth Day

Maimie posing with some of her loot

Just a little light reading

Fun with Margie and Gus

***Thought we might participate in M3's Fashion Challenge Friday since we love watching Ro and Ree choose their outfits over at the Salsa in China blog.***



Ahh, yes. Maimie was turned loose in her room today to choose her clothes. Often she does this on her own, but today I specifically allowed her to choose without offering any suggestions or discouragement. I know, I know, it really was hard for me--control freak that I am. Maimie did pretty well, I guess. First she chose out some new Hello Kitty socks (thanks, Nancy!). Then she grabbed out a pair of busy leggings in a variety of colors. (They are really cute with the little dress that they came with.)


She topped off the outfit with a pink t-shirt sporting a flag printed USA on it. For the hairdo, Maimie said she wanted Chinese hair (pigtails) with twisties. She grabbed a red rose barrett to hold back her wispy bangs that are almost grown out but usually fall out of twisties. At the last moment, Maime added a huge pair of safety goggles that belong to one of the boys to complete the ensemble. Which, of course, was perfect since she really has an almost nonexistant nose bridge.

I promised Maimie that we would plant her little seeds this morning in honor of Earth Day. Yeah, yeah...hug a tree, whatever. She was thrilled! She ran in to grab her gardening gloves, changed her safety goggles to the fish sunglasses, and headed for the door.



The planting was a success. Maimie potted tiny pots of zinnias and strawberries. When Daddy came home for lunch, Maimie showed him what she had planted. She tried to remember what we had planted and I prompted her that one pot had flowers. I asked her if she remembered what we had planted in the second pot. I told her it was something that she liked to eat. So she told her Dad "I planted pudding". Can't wait to see how the pudding plant comes along... heh heh.

Recovering Nicely

Yummy applesauce and milk!

Maimie's pharyngeal flap palatoplasty went better than expected yesterday. The doctor planned for a 3 hour surgery that took closer to two hours. He felt relatively confident that things would heal nicely and didn't expect any complications. Maimie's afternoon yesterday was rough. We had a difficult time controlling her pain, but eventually after some pain meds, vomiting and lots of being held by Mommy, she started feeling better. Before supper, she ate part of a snowcone and a popsicle. Surprisingly, she even enjoyed her paint-with-water paint book that she's been waiting a whole week to use.
The night was rough, but Mommy stayed all night with her in the hospital bed. The doctor released Maimie to come home this afternoon where she is resting pretty comfortably.
We are so grateful for all of the prayers on Maimie's behalf. We have also appreciated all of the notes, cards, and calls to check on her. God has been so merciful to us.

Please pray for Maimie Beth

Please pray for Maimie this week as it should prove to be very difficult for her. Tuesday she is scheduled to have her pharyngeal flap surgery. Hopefully this procedure will eventually help Maimie with some of her speech sounds as well as cut down on her nasality. Apparently this is fairly painful for the patient for a few days after the surgery. She will only be able to eat pureed/baby food for a few weeks afterwards, as well. We hope Maimie Beth does better than expected, but of course she may need to stay 2 or 3 days in the hospital.
We so appreciate you keeping Maimie and the rest of our family in your prayers.

Maimie and her Church Story Hour class:
Maimie, Addy, Lilly, Aida, Gage, & Caleb


This weekend Maimie, Mikaela, and Mommy all had our very first pedicures

Easter Snapshots

Happy Easter! We all awoke quite early on Easter morning to attend sunrise service and breakfast. Mikaela and the youth group helped cook and serve the meal. The service was nice and we all managed to stay awake.
After church, we headed home for easter baskets and an egg hunt. We opted for the inside hunt as it was chilly and muddy outside. Apparently either I miscounted the eggs before we hid them, or there are still 2 candy filled eggs hiding at some undisclosed location in our house. Hopefully I'll find them some afternoon when the other candy is gone and I'm needing a little chocolate fix.
After the kids tore into their loot, we dressed for 11am church service and ran out to the porch for some photos. It was a complete bust! It was cold and windy, the sun was in the kids' eyes (so everyone has closed or squinty eyes), and Steve wanted me to "just get it over with". Ah, yes, another wonderful family holiday memory. Eventually I just had everyone move to the porch steps for a couple of quick shots then gave up. Obviously. Not a very good photo.
We ate at Mom and Dad's for lunch with Great-Grammie. It was nice to visit and relax. When we started to head home, the suburban wouldn't start up--again-- and we had to borrow one of Mom and Dad's cars to get home. Ugggghhh! But all in all it was a great day to celebrate the Lord's resurrection.

Reading Benjamin's Box with Resurrection Eggs



Time for Easter baskets

Spring Break and Colored Eggs

Breakfast, anyone?

Spring break was full of appointments and errands, but more relaxing than the usual routine. The weather was lousy, to say the least, but we did have one nice day on Thursday. We packed a picnic lunch and headed for the St. Louis Zoo. The day was fantastic. We walked around several hours enjoying the sunshine and animals. Afterwards, we found a Steak and Shake before heading home.




Last night we colored Easter eggs. I think it's safe to say I'm the only one who will actually eat any of our hard boiled eggs. I nearly lost three of my four egg artists when I got out the vinegar. But we moved ahead and created some pretty clever eggs. Jacob crafted one that looked like his turtle Ivan. Mikaela's contributions included a hatching chick. Joseph added some nice two-toned creations. Maimie wanted her name on all of her eggs and scribbled a bit on them, too.