It Is What It Is

Running a little behind with this post - but for good reason.  Watch for another post to come later :)

 

Last week was another of those where few pictures showed up. :(  Between MOPS, errands and other life events, the week flew by.  However, Spring weather is here and we took advantage of every moment outside we could get.  We played outside when possible, began some work on the raised beds in the vegetable garden, getting them mulched and ready for planting, cleaned out the flower beds and planted some new bulbs, and enjoyed the spring weather.  Molly, the neighbor dog, is a constant attraction to the girls, so we got in some visits with her...

And, of course, some time on the swings!

The girls and I did some grocery shopping together and shared a lunch date at "Donald Doo's" (Mc Donald's) later in the week and I got to enjoy some giggles and laughter from the back seat during our travel :)

Ezri got a Thomas train and track from Uncle Andy on Sunday and spent much of the week playing with him.  Little Thomas worked hard this past week driving round and round that track for hours on end each day!

Ezri is a very big fan of Thomas and his friends, and much of her play is filled with imagination and characters from Thomas.  We often hear her talking to Hiro or Thomas and Percy, holding birthday parties for them among many other things.  I love this girl's imagination!

 

We continue to struggle with Alora getting to sleep.  We've had some nights of endless screaming (this girl doesn't cry quietly).  After many suggesting she had and ear infection, we gave in and took her to the doctor on Wednesday.  Nope - nothing wrong physically, ears are great, we just have a stubborn child who does not like to sleep!  We do know there are 2 year molars coming up that are surely a part of this struggle.  She is so happy all of the time, regardless of how exhausted she is (and we can see it in her eyes and actions), and we just keep hoping and praying she'll work through this some how and find sleeping a welcome activity again.  Sometimes we feel like we have a newborn in the house again!



Thankfully, this past week afforded Ezri, who was also very tired from lack of naps, a chance to snuggle with Daddy one afternoon where she (and he) did sleep for some time :)

And then, we geared up for our big weekend adventure!!! 

Unexpected Adventures

We had some really great days for playing outside this past week!  We did a little cleaning and organizing in the house - with help, of course...

 And then played and played in the sunshine and warmth!

 As the week went on, it got breezier, so we capitalized on that and did some kite flying!

 Ezri was so proud she could do it by herself - it was such fun to watch her :)

I was able to convince Ezri to share her Bible verses with me this week while the camera was on!  Pretty proud of this kid!!!

And I especially love to hear her say John (Deere) 3:16 :)
And then...  Wednesday, the rain returned :(  So, we made brownies!  I just made both girls aprons and they were excited to put them to use.

 Ezri loves to help bake, especially dumping the ingredients and stirring...

 Alora is pretty content to just hang out and check in from time to time.

 Tucker is never far away because the odds of something edible being dropped are very good in the kitchen when there is baking or cooking going on!

 And then, Ezri's favorite part... licking the batter off the utensils.  She even shared with Alora!

 YUM!!!

 Thursday morning, we woke up to quite a surprise.  It rained very heavily from around 1am to about 7 am and everything was flooded.  The park across the street from us was filled with water!

 And so was the rest of town.  Main street - where they had to sand bag the gas station/quick stop...

 Streets connecting to Main...

 And most homes South of Main were surrounded if not under water...

 There was even some canoeing taking place to get from place to place

 While we had seen the park flood before, we had never seen the water cover Main Street, nor had we seen the river rise over the road leading in/out of town..

Thankfully, the rain that was predicted to continue lessened and held off and as the day went on the water began to recede again.

We were so blessed to only have a bit of water in spots in our basement - nothing near what neighbors and friends were having to deal with.  God put Alex and I in a position to help a mom from my MOPS group and our day was spent in un-planned activities.  We met her coming into town to check on her parents' home (which I did not know was a few houses from ours).  I called her a bit later to see if she needed help and found out the pump had stopped working and that there was 4 or more inches of water in their basement.  She had her 2 girls in tow, planning for it to be a quick stop, but soon the girls were at our house and Alex was down the street with our extra pump helping her clean water out.  This turned into an 8 hour event!  Ezri and Alora enjoyed the playmates, however! 

I was feeling pretty blessed to have a husband who is willing to drop his work to help out someone he did not know for almost an entire day, and all because she is a part of my MOPS group.  Suddenly, I realize that all of the whispers to begin a group for moms were in part because this moment was planned for my future and that we were able to be used by God amid the stress and mess to encourage, help and share Christ's love to others.  God is pretty cool!

What Happened?

Not much to see here folks - somehow this entire week passed without my camera coming out once!  How?

We had a sick Daddy, some semi-sick girls (colds) and lots of sleepless days and nights on the part of this Mommy due to the restlessness and naptime/sleep resentment of my crew.  Our week was spent laying low, maintaining and staying inside as it was cold and wet most of the week.

Last Friday was a MOPS trip to the park - cold, but the kids had fun!  Friday night we got to see Opa and Oma and the sole photo of the week occurred there, when Opa was reading to Ezri...

It seemed, despite the lack of sleep, that Alora's vocabulary grew in leaps and bounds this week.  In the past 4 days, she has learned and begun to say and/or sign several new words!  She now says Cup ("pup"), Meow ("ow" - at the cat or when she sees a cat), Moo ("boo" - at a picture of a cow or when she hears the word cow), and More ("mo").  She also learned to sign "more", "brush teeth" and "change".  All of this language in addition to the chatter and words she already says or signs.  There was a time I worried that big sister would steal the show and keep Alora quiet - not any longer!  Alora is learning so much so quickly!

Ezri kept busy playing, building towers, painting, learning her letters, numbers and F bible verse (John 3:16 - which she refers to as John Deere when she gets to the end of the verse!).  Her imagination is filled with Thomas the train and his friends, and we often hear her singing the song or talking and playing with the various characters, having birthday parties for them and so on.  I absolutely love her imagination!

Happy Easter!

We certainly had a busy Easter weekend!

 

On Good Friday, the girls and I headed to Great Grandma's house to help her stuff the eggs with candy and money.  Ezri was such a big helper!

 We did some exploring around the farm after lunch as it was a beautiful day.  The turkeys, chickens, ducks and geese were out and Alora was so curious about them.  Not a bit of fear, she walked right up to the birds! 

 When the roosters would crow, she would echo them...

 That night, we went to a service at our church with Opa and Oma.

Saturday was another busy day.  We went to Grandpa and Grandma's house for an egg hunt and supper with Uncle Mike, Aunt Kerri, Aubrey and Wesley.  Alora's first hunt, she did not take long to figure out the game of picking up the eggs and putting them in her little bucket  :)

 Ezri, of course, was a pro and sped off after the eggs as quick as she could!

 After supper, we played outside - another beautiful spring afternoon.  Ezri tried out a big bike...

The driveway was filled with little ones on bikes, tractors, tricycles, cars, etc.  Even Grandpa got in on the fun...

 He and Ezri rode their tricycles up and down the driveway together for a bit :)

 And Alora kept her little legs and Grandma busy with the car.

Ezri finally let me record her telling the Easter story with her garden and people.  Too sweet to hear the story and her interpretation of it...  5 minutes, but so fun to watch :)

 Easter morning, the girls woke to find a few eggs hidden around our house and baskets with some fun goodies for them.

 This Mommy discovered a trick for keeping bows in fine hair and finally Alora can wear "pretties" in her hair!

 A little egg hunting...

 And it was off to church.  Ezri chose the dresses this year.  She enjoys matching Alora :) 
After the service, there was an egg hunt outside for the young children.  It was essentially 3 minutes of chaos and kids running everywhere, but so fun.  The little ones had an area where they could be leisurely about their egg picking, thankfully!

 Ezri was so excited on Easter because her friend Allie was at church!  She doesn't get to see Allie too often, but the two are so excited when they do have a Sunday together :)

 We went to Great Grandma's for Easter dinner.  One more egg hunt...

 And then we got to spend some time with Aunt Becky back at our house.
Our week did not slow down after that.  Monday, the girls and I did a little shopping and lunch with Oma and Aunt Becky.  Tuesday, Aunt Kerri, Aubrey and Wesley came to our house to play.  Wednesday was a little quieter with band practice that night.  Each day we spent a couple of hours playing outside!  During our time inside, Ezri re-discovered her building blocks this week and was very focused and busy for more than 45 minutes on several occasions, building towers and such.



 Thursday morning, the girls and I met Grandma, Aunt Kerri, Aubrey and Wesley at the Children's Museum in Fennville.  The kids had such fun!  Ezri immediately found the Thomas the Train toy and was so excited!  She is really into Thomas right now.

 There was so much to do, see, and explore there!

 Trains...

 And bubbles!

 Of course, Alora wanted to taste the bubbles...

 Building towers and having them fall down...

Ezri had so much fun!

We sure had fun this week, but are definitely ready for some down time and rest.  Poor Alora has been having a horrible time with sleep as of late.  She's running on empty as far as I am concerned, rarely napping and waking much of the night, often sleeping little more than an hour at a time.  We are questioning if her 2 year molars are on the move already L:(  Poor little girl - she's exhausted, and this Mommy is quite tired as well.  Hoping it gets sorted out soon!