Preschool Talent Show

Speaking of changes, we only have about 6 more weeks until the end of preschool...I can't even bear to think about it. It has been such an amazing experience for Jake and for us all. Last night was the preschool talent show. What a fun night. In addition to singing "Unpack your Adjectives" from Schoolhouse Rock in our "multifamily group", Jake also touched his tongue to his nose (actually Madi did too!).

Too Many changes!!

We are in the midst of a lot of changes. I just recently said this to someone and continued with "...and we don't like changes!" Which is kind of funny because I really don't consider us a "set in their ways" kind of family. We are pretty flexible. As I continued that conversation though, I realized it is the changes that we have no control over that we really don't like...and this is probably true for most people. Jonathan has been a part of the youth group at our Church for the past two years and has really gotten a lot out of it. The director has been wonderful and he and his wife even lived in our neighborhood. Unfortunately for us they have decided that after living in Florida for 3 years, they wanted to be closer to family, and they have moved back to South Carolina. I'm trying to be happy for them and their new endeavors, but I'm really sorry for us, our Church, and Jonathan!!

Relay for Life

On Friday night Mike, Jonathan and Madi participated in Relay for Life for the American Cancer Society. It was very fitting after arriving home from Memere's funeral on Thursday. Jake and I spent some time there as well, but then he spent the night at a friend's house and so did I (at a Moms' Slumber Party!).

Backyard Baseball

Jake's latest craze is baseball. He is very much into playing the "backyard baseball" computer game, and he enjoys the real thing just as much. He still likes "Guess Who?" and Schoolhouse Rock, but right now baseball is his "thing".

More cousins

My brother and his family recently moved from Colorado to Connecticut. We are so happy that we will get to see them so much more often now. We tend to find ourselves in CT pretty frequently, so we think we'll probably see them about twice a year now as opposed to the once every two years or so that it has been. Jake really enjoyed his cousins!

Dinosaur State Park

On Sunday we went to Dinosaur State Park. In 1966 a construction worker found tons of dinosaur footprints in this area. Within three days it was declared a state park and shortly thereafter a museum was built over the site. We learned that dinosaur footprints aren't usually found in the same areas as whole fossils because fossils need to be preserved quickly (ie buried immediately) whereas footprints are preserved by being covered over slowly. These footprints were preserved so well because of the high content to mica in the area. (Science-check!)

Cousins

The baby is "baby W" who was born at the beginning of my blogging career. This was the first time we'd seen him since he was about 17 hours old. The big kids enjoyed finding and cracking nuts on the big rocks with smaller rocks. In Florida we don't see many rocks!

DC

Because Mike was able to schedule a business meeting in Farifax, VA on our ride up to CT, we got milage and a hotel paid for, and got to do some history and nature study in our nation's capital!

Catching up...Madi's birthday dinner

Home

After such a long trip, and exhausting week, and a funeral, staring at the blank screen is a little daunting. It has been so hard to say goodbye to Mem, and a lot of the time the reality of it hasn't seemed to sink in yet. She was such an important part of our lives. I will attempt as best I can to catch up on our latest activites and will be adding a lot of pictures since the kids got to do some fun things with their cousins on both sides while we were in CT. First here is a small garden that we planted in Mem's honor a few weeks ago. Her favorite color was red and we are hoping to attract hummingbirds.

Mem

Memere passed away yesterday afternoon. She is now at peace. I'm writing this from a hotel in Fairfax, VA on our way up to CT. Your prayers are appreciated.

Update on Memere

My Memere is still hanging on to this world, but most likely just days away from Heaven. It is very hard for us to imagine. As a doula I've spent many days waiting for a phone call from a mother in labor to let me know of the impending birth. Births are happy (even when they are really hard). Death is so hard for those of us that are left behind, the death of a loved one is so often the farthest thing from a celebration. For Memere though, she is just days away from a celebration (as hard as it is for us on earth to imagine)...she will see Jesus, be reunited with loved ones-- including her mother who died when she was just six years old, she will see clearly, and she will be pain and cancer free.

In the last five years or so Mem fell in love all over again to a much younger man...a singer from Ireland named Daniel O'Donnell. Throughout most of my life, I never really considered her a music lover, but since discovering "her Daniel" Mem would travel with her CD player and headphones and really enjoy her music. My Aunt Cheryl contacted Daniel O'Donnell's fan club recently in the hopes of getting the message to Daniel that one of his greatest fans was dying. Daniel O"Donnell himself actually called Memere from England yesterday and sang 'How Great Thou Art' to her over the phone!! In honor of Mem, I just added the only Daniel O'Donnell song that I could find to my blog playlist.

Quilting

My friends have been quilting for about a year, and for the most part I've avoided it because I had no idea how to sew (and not a ton of extra time to try to learn). Well little by little, I became interested, and Mike got me a sewing machine for Christmas. For months it sat on the floor in my room and I didn't even know how to thread it. We had a mother-daughter sewing day a few weeks ago...where Madi and I made her a skirt with LOTS of help, but in doing that I at least got a rough idea about how to thread the machine. Today Madi spent some birthday money and a gift card on a quilt kit. I told her I'd try to help her at least get started tonight. We started cutting...and sewing...and ...by the end of the night we had a finished project!

Camp Allegro

Jonathan and Madi are attending a really fun spring break camp this week.

Flower and Garden Show

Today we did some nature study at EPCOT...

Another tooth gone!

Meme and Grampa Carlie spent the day with us yesterday. Jake and I went with them to a couple parks and to Sonic to get half price drinks. Jake opted for a free water and corn dog instead, but while eating the corn dog, he realized that his next tooth was very loose. With a little help from Meme, we left Sonic with Jake's second tooth in a napkin!