I should be getting ready for bed.  I usually turn into a pumpkin after 9:30, a sad testament to life with 3 small children.  I have hope that when they are older I will once again be able to stay up late(ya' know, past 10pm) and speak meaningfully on any number of topics that do not include diapers, rashes, barf coming from other people, or the words boo-boo, poopy, blankie, or boogies.  A girl can dream, right?

But today, after a long week of a stomach bug for number 2 and some really stressful times with number 3 I am starting to see some light.  Willa has not barfed in over 18 hours.  She has been fever free all day!! She has spent the last 3 days in this chair, note the barf bowl next to her.  She's getting quite good and getting it in too.  Poor thing, it's like someone took her batteries out.  Thankfully, though her appetite did not return, she started to perk up today and did more than sleep and watch cartoons.

Ady, although now coming down with a cold, can say more and more things(oh I know she's just repeating sounds right now) but every time she does I feel like it is an affirmation that she is well and healthy.  Something that is so tempting to take for granted.  Today she spent a good 15 minutes on the sun porch yelling at the dogs outside.  Banging on the glass and 'telling' them things that only she can understand.  I love this stage.

Happy 1st. Birthday for Adalyn

OK, I admit this post is over a week and a half late.  Her birthday was actually March 16th.  The birthday girl had a big party not only to celebrate her birthday but we also had her dedicated at our church.  We fit 40 of our closest friends and family in our house(a feat bigger than it sounds).  Fun fun.  My Mom made scads of lasagna and meatballs and I made a big birthday cake.  Really big.

This is our Pastor, Rev. Wally Fleming.  He's super.  And, also, you can see the gigantic cake.  It was a lovely day.

The girls 'helped' with the fondant.  Each making their own 'cake.'


Happy Birthday Adalyn.

Yup, That's a Dart

Nerf darts seem to have a great flavor.

Homework

Denver had her first homework project.  She has homework all the time, usually math and spelling but this was the first project.  The people at our local Outback Steakhouse came to the school and gave an informational talk on Australia.  They handed out napkins to all the kids and instructed them to decorate the napkin with things that they learned about Australia.

I really wish they had sent 2 napkins home so that I could do one too.  I would have loved to make my own!  As it was, I fear I 'helped' a little too much.  I traced the outline of the country and had her go over it with marker.  And then I perhaps might have suggested design elements and layout.  By the end I had a strong feeling of guilt because I really felt like I had helped a little too much.  It did not look so much like the brainchild of a 1st grader.  Wayne insisted that it did look like the work of a 1st grader which could be a shot on my map making abilities or seriously high expectations for 1st grade.  Her teacher assures me she did not think I helped too much and since I know Denver did learn a little extra from having me involved, I will absolve myself this time but next time will be more careful to let her do a wee bit more leading.

The kids got to go to the restaurant today.  It's unclear exactly how educational this trip was, what with budgets being so tight.  But I am of a fairly liberal opinion that all experiences have the potential to teach and inform, even if it is a trip to the kitchen of a professional restaurant.  I wasn't able to attend with her but she seems to have enjoyed it a great deal.

Feed Me!

This is Adalyn's first try at spaghetti.  She enjoyed it a great deal, as you can see.

I am up and running on our new iMac and loving it!  Everything is so easy but I have yet to have time to "play."  Hopefully, my new toy will allow some more creativity to be posted here.

The weather here is starting to turn milder.  We still have gads of snow but it is warming well into the 30's and this week into the 40's.  Not a moment too soon.  I can't wait to get my hands dirty in my garden.  For now, I am dreaming of all the plants I want to plant or rearrange.

 The girls found a box of new-to-us toys in the garage and it has occupied them for a good week now.  They still love pretend play and these little people toys were a big hit!  Although, no one can play with soaking wet gloves.

So as the snow starts to melt I say good riddance to Winter.  Please, on your way out, do not feel compelled to dump anymore snow or surprise us with an ice storm.  We've had enough cold already.

My Suspicious Absence

Besides that last, overtired attempt at poetry, my blogs have been somewhat silent lately.  I can explain...our computer died a fast, but permanent, irreversible, ugly death.  We had asked much from this computer, and weighed it down heavily with my super large photo files and the like.  It is dead, like a doorknob.  My dear Uncle tried to revive it enough to salvage some files.  A valiant effort to be sure but unsuccessful.  I lost only about a month or so of photos, the rest were backed up elsewhere.  And some business files that I'm hoping I can recreate, at least the current years data is easy enough to retrace.  Last years not so much.  I had printed a copy of expenses for my tax lady, THANK GOD! I'm sure there are many other things that I lost that I'm not aware of yet.  So all in all it was a valuable lesson in making sure to back up files adequately.

It also gives us an opportunity to purchase a new one, which I am uber-excited about.  It should be here Friday, which really highlights my need for instant gratification since I am just itching for it to arrive.  In the meantime, we are working off of a very old computer that takes 10 minutes to open another browser window.  But at least I can still function.  However, I absolutely cannot put any more pics on this computer since it is already telling me daily that 'You are VERY LOW on disk space'(emphasis mine, but I swear I can hear it yelling at me!).  So no new recipe reviews, no new pics of my very mobile baby and her first tooth.  No pics of the 4 days worth of snow outside.  Sigh, I will be patient, I will be patient.

But in other news, I am now the Aquinas JV Volleyball coach.   Happily, Aquinas Institute hired Mike Harnden and me as a coaching pair.  Something I was hoping for, but the number of programs able to do this was very small.  We toured the very impressive facilities last week.  Very different from Naz in that there were a lot of boys around.  But beyond that, I'm excited at the possibilities and am really hoping more than a few of my kids decide to come there so we can finish what we started.  I am still having trouble switching allegiances, after all, I did spend 11 years with Aquinas as a rival!  But I will manage. 

So no new pics but let me dredge some up from the archives of this computer...

The first one above is Denver and Willa shortly after we brought Willa home. These ones are of long weekend Wayne and I took in the Bahamas while obviously preggo with Willa.  Would really love to do that again!!   And we found that Starfish ourselves just walking along the beach one morning! 
And below is little Willa in a ball cart and Denver, the last time she was chubby!