Happy Easter

 From our crew to yours

I would have liked a group picture...

but asking them to refrain from eating for a couple minutes was apparently beyond the realm of possibilities.  Jamison had strict orders to keep his blue teeth  out of sight.

We all survived yet another round of the Easter play.  

Kenton staggered in around 11:30 but everything was cleaned up and put away.

We were blessed with Easter dinner with Nick and Wendy and their family.

Good thing,  I've been sick and my best offering today would have been scrambled eggs.

We are were so happy to be together as a family today.  Emily's record of holidays since she arrived home has been pretty much like this.

Yep, this could pretty well have summed up her first Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Valentines Day.

It is ironic when by nature she is normally so exuberant and joyful.  Here's her first experience with dyeing eggs.

Jamison thinks dyeing eggs is serious business.

Kaitlyn was in copycat mode.

Davis used the scientific method.  He put each egg in dye and timed it for five minutes.  Or longer.   His eggs are quite bright.

Megan was the most creative.

There's no getting around it, hearing that Emily can't take the medicine was a huge blow for us.

I hope our best attitude can be...

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.

Groucho Marx

Mom: Davis, you got Grandma B's beautiful blue eyes.

Davis: Yes, but she doesn't have MY wiggly eyebrows. 

Results

Emily's EKG results came back today. 

 Her QTC number or level or whatever is 457, down from 491.  

It is not low enough for her to take the medicine.

It needs to be 440 or lower. 

They recommend she see a pediatric cardiologist.

They do not have much success treating kids with calendar cyclic vomiting without this drug.

Best suggestion: hospitalize for dehydration.

They will be in touch.

Forts and Birthday Party

My kids like to make forts.

I never realized it it possible to make FIVE in the dining room. 

I think this was a doll camping trip,

complete with extensive wardrobe options.

Davis had a party with friends on Saturday. 

I think he had a good time.

China #1

I'm ready for spring.

I, unfortunately, go through a couple days now and then where I'm completely overwhelmed.  I don't know where to start.  So I don't.  That's not a good thing.  All I want to do is cry.

I had one this week.

One thing that seems to help is finishing something that I've procrastinated with.  This week it was pictures.  I had loose pictures to go into kids' picture books from TWO YEARS ago.  So I planted myself in front of the computer, watched/listened to several episodes of.... something, and FINISHED THOSE PICTURES!  I also uploaded stuff from the last two years and got it ordered...except for China.  I'm not totally sure WHAT to do with our China trip pictures.

Which reminds me, I don't think I ever did blog many of those pictures!  Want the 2012 travel edition?

Getting something done helped kick me into gear again.  The downstairs is pretty clean.  The upstairs, except for the black hole that doubles as our bedroom/storage room, is pretty clean.  There's not much in the fridge and a ton of laundry but we're less likely to be selected for an episode of hoarders.

*******

You may remember that our trip to China started with our flight from Pittsburgh to Newark being canceled.  We missed our flight to Beijing.  

 We waited 13 hours for a flight to LA, playing cards, playing electronic games (heaven-sent from my sister), and riding the shuttle back and forth between terminals.  

It might have been 11:30 p.m. on the Pacific Coast but our day had begun at 3:30 a.m. in the Eastern Time Zone.  It was exhausting.

The "KIDS" loved being able to try out the pilot's seat.

The novelty of flying, surprisingly, never did wear off for the older three.

They loved snacks, POP, and watching movies.

I think they also enjoyed NOT sitting with dad and mom, especially mom.

 Because we missed our original flight, we were able to fly AirChina instead of United.  

Woohoo!  

Megan will probably shoot me for this....but,see, it is possible to curl up in an airplane and go to sleep.

Of course, it helps if you're not full grown.

Instead of arriving in Beijing at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, we arrived at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday.  Oh well, it saved us the expense of a hotel in Beijing.

Naturally everyone was raring to go and see The Great Wall.

Kenton and I were at the Great Wall in 2010 but not this Mutianyu section.

We didn't know what to expect, but groaned a little at this impressive beginning of steps.  

It turned out to be the first SET of many, many steps.

On a good day, this is what we would have seen.

This haze is not just because we were all sleep deprived and had just climbed halfway to heaven.

It was one damp, humid morning.

We were very thankful to here at 7:30 on a misty morning than at 2:00 p.m. on a sunny day in July.

The older kids decided to count steps on the way back down.  It was pretty funny to watch the faces of those climbing UP when they realized WHAT those numbers meant.

 It was awhile ago but I believe the number was over a thousand by the time we reached the bottom.

Sound like fun?

Birthday Season

It's birthday season at our house, five birthdays in four months. 

Davis started us off by turning eight this week.  

It was a John Deere sort of day.

Grandma sent home this gift from Florida.

Good thing she reminded him in the card because I had to wrack my brain trying to remember.

It was a big hit.

The absolute last thing we need in this house is MORE John Deere tractors...

but it makes the kid happy.

  

Today

 This is how Megan feels about math.

  

This is how our oldest kid feels about being photographed while reading.  

Too bad he doesn't feel this way about combining black jeans with a blue shirt.

Davis and Jamison often practice spelling words in shaving cream.  

Emily does not like to miss out.  

We brought back oranges from Florida.

They are difficult to peel but make wonderful juice.  

 Megan and Davis enjoyed it so much that they did most of the work 

                                      and clean up some of the clean up by themselves. 

If you're wondering WHAT those cats are doing in my house, you're not alone!

Megan loves those beasts.

**********

Here's a few more Florida memories I want to keep.

The kids all enjoyed catching up with the grandparents.

You can take the boys off the farm, but you can't take the farm out of the boys. 

This little jersey calf was SO cute.  

Holsteins are better...but jerseys are cuter.

Playing memory with Grandpa makes for a pretty sure win for Kaitlyn.  

:-D

Going to Pine Creek Chapel as a family.  

Later we got hear grandpa sing with a men's chorus under Lloyd Kaufman.  Kenton and I enjoyed it and the kids were good sports.  :-P

After the chorus, Kaitlyn disappeared to "find a friend" !  Since she's never been in Florida before I couldn't imagine who she was searching for.  The room was crowded and it scared me a bit how fast she wove through the crowd and disappeared.  Kenton went after her but before she came back a little Asian girl found us.  The little girl and her sister were from Kazakhstan.  They'd spotted each other during the singing and became friends through a smile, I guess.  It was special to see them connect.

More fun with cousins.

 Having fun "fishing"

I love the beach pictures.  I wish I could go back and relive that day again...

especially since the weather here stinks.