Life Goes On

So, this time I am behind on my blog update because of my own personal injury.    Two Fridays back, I was out riding bike with the girls on a beautiful, warm spring day. We were just a few blocks from home, just on a short ride to drop off my time sheet.  I had Tierney in the seat on my bike, Ezri was leading the pack and Alora was floating around, sometimes in the middle, sometimes in the back.  As we prepared to turn a corner, Alora came from behind and cut beside me, getting her training wheel caught up in my bike tire. Over the three of us went!  I reached out my right arm to catch myself and keep Tierney from going down, but with the force of the fall, I heard a crack and then it was over.  I could not bear weight to get myself up or untangle myself from my bike to help the girls.  Fortunately, Alora fell free of the mess into the grass and Tierney's seat held her securely in place, so she was just hanging in the air above the ground upset about her situation and asking for help.  Thankfully, some neighbors were right there and came to help us get untangled, prayed over me as they tried to get us calmed down, and then sat and talked with the girls while I called Daddy to come pick us up.

A trip to Urgent Care brought me a huge sigh of relief when we learned my arm was not broken as I was so fearful of, but instead I had sprained my elbow pretty badly.  So, into a sling went my arm for "at least a week", which is turning out to be much more like two weeks at least.  I am finally gaining back some range of motion, but still limited on my reach and have had to rely on Alex or Ezri to help with my hair and other home chores and such.  I am getting pretty sick of it all, but so glad I do not have to wear a cast!

Aside from that excitement, our lives have gone on much like normal.  The girls were invited to a birthday party for my cousin's girl, Payten two Saturdays ago.  There, they played with other children and spent most of their time in the bounce house!  Tierney was pretty hesitant to leave me, but finally toward the end of the afternoon we talked her into it, and then she had a great time too.

The girls also got to ride on the golf cart with Uncle Ryan and had so much fun squealing around the yard!

 The following day, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and check out Meijer Gardens.  The girls were very excited to go see the butterflies again!

 The gardens offered even more fun and I believe they might have enjoyed it more than the actual butterfly exhibit.  Ezri and Alora got to feed the pigeons again...

The Japanese Garden was open and we had fun exploring all of the water features within it...

The girls dressed up as butterflies and played with Becci for a while...

We found a bird sitting on her nest...

And the girls had a great time running around the Children's Garden.  Tierney even had herself a little tea party.

 Back at home, we have been busy with our school work and a slower pace of life for the time being.  Though the weather has been so nice, I have been limited on what I can do so the yard work and gardening I am yearning to get started has had to wait and I have been spending some quiet restful time watching the girls play outside instead, which has been even more rewarding.  We have had several picnics outside thanks to the warm weather and are truly enjoying the opportunity to do so.

Tierney has slowly been agreeing to naps again, as long as I rock her to sleep.  One afternoon I just could not get her to stay asleep.  She would fall asleep, but as soon as I tried to put her down she would wake again.  I finally gave up and laid her on the couch with Ezri.  Not long after, I found that Ezri had snuggled her to sleep!!!

We have been blessed by some food brought in last week and I sure appreciated the help with laundry folding, kid feeding and dish washing from friends and family.  Thursday night, we got to spend the evening with Great Grandma.  It has been a few weeks since we have been to her house since I am out of commission for driving right now.  After supper and a quick bath, the girls spent a whole lot of time just sitting with her and reading books together.

 When Tierney took a break from the  book, Sadie filled her void, so Great Grandma's lap was always full.

 This past weekend started with Tierney putting on "Daddy pants" all by herself and tromping around the house!

We trekked the county with my friend Kathy all day Friday, looking for spots to take a spring photo for her book that is soon to be released.  Saturday, the girls spent they whole day with Daddy while I went with some friends from MOPS to a MOPS leadership conference.  They had fun together, and even cleaned out the whole refrigerator to surprise me!  We visited with Grandpa and Grandma for a few hours on Sunday afternoon and that brings us back to the present.

Spring Break and More Birthday!

This past week, we decided to take our own Spring Break and enjoy a week free from school.  Apparently Spring also decided to take a break last week, because it was wet, cold and even snowy all week.  Still, we managed to find fun.

The girls and I visited with Great Grandma on Tuesday.  Wednesday was an extra special day.  We joined my friend Aggie from MOPS and her daughter Maggie and trekked to the Holland Aquatic Center for an afternoon of swimming fun.  For nearly 3 1/2 hours, the four girls played in the splash pad area just swimming and having such fun.  Tierney was a little less into venturing out into the sea of kids and tended to want to be held or hang close to my legs, but she still had her own version of fun too.

Thursday we invited my friend Kim from MOPS with her children Kaylee and Ethan over to our home to play.  The girls had another day full of fun with a friend that involved giggles, dress-up, making music, a princess tea party complete with pizza for lunch and more.  

Friday, we started gearing up for Tierney's birthday party on Sunday.  The girls and I baked her cake together and started to get things around.  Saturday we decorated the cake and got the house ready.  Sunday, after a long morning at church because Mommy was singing and Daddy was running sound, we returned home for the festivities.

Becci (Jay was sick), Great Grandma, Grandpa & Grandma, Opa & Oma and Uncle Andy joined us for the afternoon.  While the girls waited for lunch preparations to finish up, they found a cozy spot on Grandpa's lap.

 After a lunch of tacos with all the trimmings and fruit (Tierney couldn't exactly make the elaborate requests her sisters do, so we went with things we knew she liked that were easy), Tierney was anxious to open her presents.

Big sisters rushed her through the gifts pretty quickly, anxious for her to open each one and see what was inside, so Tierney didn't get much chance to check out what she got before there was more paper to be torn.  Thankfully, she just went along with it, tired as she was.  Once all the opening was complete, we let her play a little while Oma shared some of her pictures from China with us. Then it was time for the cake!

Again, big sisters were a bit more excited about this than Tierney, though she was definitely interested in having some cake. Since she couldn't direct me on the kind of cake either, the girls helped me land on the idea of a lady bug cake, and so it was!

 

Poor Tierney was a bit too tired to humor me enough to actually look at the camera or smile.

 Even with candles lit, she was not willing to participate any further.

 On her birthday I could barely get the candle lit before she blew it out, but not this day!

 We finally had to have her sisters blow them out for her.

 Tierney was interested enough in the ice cream and a bit of frosting,

 just enough to get a little messy, but barely any left her plate.

After our guests left for their homes, I convinced the girls to let me put their on their new dresses Oma had brought them from China.  We made it through a few pictures before Tierney hit the last bit of tolerance she had left and completely melted down.  So, by 6pm she was in bed and fast asleep, poor baby!

And now we take the big deep breath at the end of the girls' birthday marathon and enjoy the coming months watching them grow into the new year of life they have just entered.  How blessed we truly are!

Happy 2nd Birthday Tierney!!!

We spent much of last week winding down from Easter and gearing up for the next big birthday in the house.  We even missed going to Great Grandma's for the first time in quite a while.  We did manage to get in some play time with some MOPS friends on Friday at the Byron Center  Rec building during a scheduled open gym for preschoolers, though, and that was really fun because there was an inflatable bounce house for the kids and other mom friends for me!

Bath times this week were fun because of the fun toys Aunt Becky brought as well as the princess washcloths the girls got in their Easter baskets.  I could hardly get the girls out, but they sure are cute all cleaned up :)

 

 We reached another month, and with that comes the fun of our monthly pictures...

The big news of the week was Tierney's birthday on Saturday.  She woke up to find bows hidden all around the house with money taped to the bottom of them.  She caught on quick to that fun and was very excited about all of the "monies" she got to put into her piggy!

 We allowed Tierney to open one small gift in the morning - her growing up girl doll.

Much of our day was spent playing, helping Daddy work in the bathroom (we are now fitting trim boards) and baking cupcakes for Tierney's birthday.  As the day went on, the weather went the opposite direction as it was the day Tierney was born.  By late afternoon, it looked like winter again!  Wet, heavy snow, several inches worth, covered everything.  

 

After we had macaroni and cheese for dinner, at Tierney's request, we let her open her gifts.  She tore through them in no time flat!

 Then, it was cupcake time!

 I could barely get the candle lit before Tierney had it blown out, so I guess she knows how to do that!

 She was very excited about her cakes, but more so about the frosting judging by what was left on her tray when she was all done.

Hard to believe this sweet little girl that add such light and joy to our lives has been a part of our family for two whole years already!!!  What a blessing she truly is.