Dance. Imagine. Believe.

There is nothing like spending your days dancing, imagining and believing! Or at least living vicariously through two sweet, little girls! I have loved watching and listening to Shaelyn and Monreau play together lately! They are best of friends! Of course they have their moments like any siblings and fight, but overall they love to be together! They can come up with creative ideas of what to play for hours! Lately they've been making up dances to perform and setting up elaborate Playmobile sets in their room. The only down side of their play is that it often makes McLleyton feel so left out. They love to play in their room, but will lock him out. They've created many different ways to get to their bedroom with out him. From just making a mad dash for it and leaving him crying outside the door to having one distract him so that the other can get in their room and then a few minutes later the other sneaks down. It's a good thing that McLleyton has a little brother or sister on the way!! It's fun to think of him having someone to play with in a few years! These moments are the best! 

Playing doctor... (can you tell we've had way to much sickness around here!)

The ironic part was that the next morning Shaelyn woke up with Strep throat...

The dance/wedding shows :)... (See Shae's smile and healing lip :))

(How much are these two in need of a little sunshine :))

One tough girl!!

Shaelyn doesn't normally rank as our "toughest" child, but this week she definitely proved she is capable. Matt and I flew out of town to Annapolis, MD early Friday morning to attend a double wedding of two dear family friends. We left the kids with a babysitter for half of the time and Matt's sister was filling in for the other half. We definitely didn't anticipate it being such an eventful time at home.

When the sitter was picking Shaelyn up from school she and her cousins were running through the parking lot, when she accidentaly caught her foot (poor girl has HUGE feet) on her cousins and wiped out. When she fell she didn't catch herself at all and landed right on her face. (I know just writing that sounds miserable!). She skined up one knee pretty badly, but the real damage was done to her sweet face. She skinned up her chin, mouth, nose, sliced open her lip AND knocked out her front tooth. Of course my heart ached having this happen on a day I'm too far away to hug her and take care of her. The sitter called us right away and Shaelyn was crying, but already proving she was being so brave and tough! Many of you know that she has a lot of teeth issues to start, so I'm pretty strict on what I let her eat, and she's probably a lot more aware of her teeth than most kids her age. She felt so bad that she had knocked one out long before it was supposed to fall out, plus she was in quite a bit of pain. Thanks to the wonders of technology we had pictures of it within a few minutes and I was able to call her pediatric dentist and work out what we should do for treatment. My dear friend was also sweet enough to drop everything and rush to my house to take care of her in a "mom" sort of way! After getting her cleaned up, flushed with salt water and meds, she even took her out for a slurpee. I was so grateful and both Shaelyn and I felt so loved to have such a great friend! (Thanks Jen!!).

It is truly amazing how resilient kids are! I was very proud of Shae for being brave and getting through this miserable afternoon without me there! It was definitely hard for me to be gone. I just wanted to hug her! Her mouth is really healing well. The tooth to the left of her front tooth had some damage too, time will tell how much. Her lip is still swollen, but looks so much better. Her nose and chin are healing. All in all we feel so thankful it wasn't worse!

Here's are the picture we received about 15 minutes after the fall happened. WARNING: They are NOT too pretty! If you have a weak stomach you may not want to scroll down :)

Here she is just a few hours later. Excited because they went back to the school and actually found her tooth. (Amazing in its self!- you can see it in her hand) It was helpful to know she hadn't sucked it into her lungs (a serious health risk), since she couldn't actually remember it falling out.

Her cousins got her balloons too!

Spring is coming...

We've been dreaming about spring for weeks! Today, it felt like it might be coming and we'll enjoy today (and forget about the snow forecasted for next week!)

There is nothing like a little fresh, warmer air to lift our spirits and remind us of the Lord's faithfulness and constant presence! We are blessed!

Happy St. Patricks Day...

The first bloom of the year!
Sophia and Shaelyn headed into school. Dressed for "green" day in matching outfits! (Shaelyn borrowed Lauren's). They loved it! The sweet joys of kindergarten!
I'm so grateful for their sweet friendship!!

Monday afternoons...

For the past few months (when we've been healthy) we've had a fun Monday afternoon routine. Shaelyn comes home from school around 3:30 and we hop right in the car and head to the gym. The girls have been taking tennis lessons from 4 to 5. They both love it and count the days until "Tennis." Overall they are both doing well. Monreau's class is for "4 to 5" year olds. I sort of snuck her in, (she turns 4 in May), mainly because she's not doing school this year and I thought it would be good for her to do something organized. She's definitely not my first born "rule follower" and she's shown that she's a little young a few times, but the smile on her face is worth it! She has the happiest spirit and maybe she's picked up a tiny bit of tennis :). Shaelyn loves it and concentrates to the fullest. She is out there listening and trying hard the entire time! Despite being the youngest in her class by quite a bit she's by far the tallest! :) During Tennis I do my best to occupy McLleyton who is full convinced he should be out on the court! When tennis is done we eat dinner we packed, "kind of like a picnic" according to Monreau :). Then Matt meets us and the kids play in the Kids zone while we work out and shower. Then I put the kids PJ's on and we head home and right to bed. It's been a good start to the week.

Here's a few pictures of the girls. Quality is not great because the light inside the courts is so funky...

We're still here!

I think it's been nearly a month without an update! I'd love to say it's because we've been so busy with fun activities I couldn't find the time... but truthfully it's been a bit of the opposite! For the last two weeks of February we had a nasty illness take over our house... well the girls! Poor Monreau and Shaelyn experienced their worst sickness to date. It makes you so thankful for their health! I'll spare you all the horrible details, but it was a few weeks consumed with vomit, diarrhea, fevers, dehydration, trips to the Doctor and laundry and MORE laundry! All other household jobs were forgotten as we battled through it. Unfortunately, the worst of it came when Matt was out of town! By the end, my pregnant body gave into the exhaustion of not sleeping for 5 nights and I got sick, thankfully not with exactly what the girls had, but it has definitely taken a little while to recover (and to catch up around the house!).

We are hopeful and eager for the arrival of Spring!!!! We are ready to say goodbye to winter and so thankful for the promises we are reminded of in the changing of the seasons!

Many more updates to come in March :).