Stabilized

Thank you for praying for Rhyer. He is stabilized and even coming off some of his medications!

Pray for our friend

If you've been following the blog a while you may remember that our good friends also had a baby boy born with a congenital heart defect. His name is Rhyer and he needs our prayers. His heart condition is exponentially worse than Grant's and today he had his third heart surgery. To sum it up he is not doing well. Not well at all. The doctors may have to go in and undo the surgery that they did earlier this morning. His parents have asked us to pray for a miracle. Please pray with us for Rhyer today.

Bee

Kate is cracking me up these days. She's become really attached to a lego recently. It has a bee painted on it and she takes it everywhere she goes. She even eats with "Bee", holding it in one hand. She still refers to herself as monkey and introduces herself as monkey to kids in the park. Today she asked for her milk (I took it away for throwing it) and when I said no she asked, "milk for monkey?"

She and Grant are the best of friends. When she runs into the middle of the field during his t-ball practice he gets all excited telling all the other boys, "this is my sister, Kate." Then he gives her a big hug and kiss. The other night Grant was crying in his crib for me and when Kate heard him she yelled, "It's otay, Bruder (brother). Mama back."

Snuggles

Welcome home, uncle Hal! Here's to our last summer together before you graduate and have to get a real job.

Florida Vacation

No new pictures of the kids this time. Jim and I spent 5 days alone in sunny Florida! We went to Boca Raton for a wedding and then stayed a few extra days in Delray Beach. As much fun as we had we were ready to come home and see the kids. They had a blast with grandma and grandpa Koss. Grant greeted us with huge hugs and kisses while Kate gave me the cold shoulder. I think it is pretty standard for kids her age to be "mad" at their mom for leaving them and Kate was no exception. After a couple of hours she was back to her normal self. I feel refreshed and rested!

Joy

Grant still explodes with joy on a daily basis. Yesterday when I picked him up from gym class I asked the teacher how he did. She responded, "he is just so joyful! I've never seen a kid joyful all the time." I'm so thankful. Ever since he was 6 weeks old, even through all the poking and prodding of needles and tubes, he's been joyful. What a gift.

What they're into and up to

Kate- Loves to put on chapstick, speaks in 3 word sentences, doesn't eat much during mealtimes but constantly asks for candy, can count to 10, is particular about the shoes she wants to wear, enjoys her weekly swim lesson with mommy, loves to hang from things and yell "Kate monkey!"

Grant-can put on his own shoes (hooray!), skins his knee every other day from falling off his bike, likes to "look for clues" and go exploring outside, loves library storytime, always asks for a hug and a kiss before mommy and daddy leave, when he hurts himself says, "shake it off, shake it off," through his tears.

Kate's great date

Tonight we had some friends over for a bbq and everyone brought their kids. We ended up having 7 kids ages 3 and under and Kate was the only girl. She marked her territory early in the night by putting on a tutu and strutting about the house. The boys mostly chased each other around. As the night drew to a close we were all pretty exhausted so we put on an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. The guys worked on cleaning the kitchen while the moms went on a walk. All and all a great night!

Two Habits

Kate has picked up two new bad habits. The first is pooping in the bathtub. Poor Grant, he just sits there and counts them as they float up next to him. The second is calling me by my first name. She also yells, "Hal! Hal!" when she's at grandma and grandpa Koss' house.

Happy Easter

my little chefs

Dress Up

"Shwim!"

Like I've said before Kate loves to swim. The other day she was riding her bigwheel when she saw a puddle. She yelled, "shwim!Shwim!" and then drove head first off her bike into the puddle. This photo was taken a few days later and doesn't really do it justice, but she has 6 different cuts on her face. Overall, she is a really tough girl, but this spill caused some tears.

Kate and Dad

Words

The other day when Kate was brushing her teeth I told her, "make sure you get the back." She took her toothbrush out of her mouth and reached around to brush her back. I laughed out loud and now she "brushes her back" every time she brushes her teeth.

Grant: Mom, I visited heaven the other day.
Mom: How exactly did you do that?
Grant: When we were in the airplane coming home from Florida, when we were in the clouds. I saw Jesus.
Mom: Really?
Grant: Yep. And God too.
Mom: It's not often that we see God, but if I are very quiet we can hear him.
(silence)
Grant: I heard him. He told me we need to go to the gas station and put gas in our car.
(I'm surprised God didn't tell him to visit a carwash.)

Round 2

We just got back from visiting grandma and grandpa Koss in Florida again. Unfortunately, the kids were sick the whole time. They did not sleep through the night a single night while we were there. While everyone was exhausted by the week's end I was really thankful to have the help with the kids.

Sing about my day

Grant is the king of stalling when he's going to bed. He asks for water, begs to brush his teeth again and requests us to sing songs while we play with his hair. He consistently makes the request, "sing about my day." We have to pick a catchy tune and recall all the fun things he did throughout the day. When we leave him in his bed we remind him to think about his favorite things.Tonight when I got done he said, "but I don't want to go to bed. I don't want to think about my favorite things. I can only think about sad things. I was tired and not up for cheering him up so I said, "fine. Just think about sad things." He got all cheerful and said, "okay. I'll think about disobeying, that is very sad." (said with a grin)

Making people smile

Yesterday Grant received a toy from his treasure box for going potty in the toilet. He chose a mini guitar. He insisted on bringing it everywhere. When we were driving to the grocery store he asked if he could bring it inside. He said, "I'm going to look for people who are sad or angry and I am going to play my guitar for them to make them smile. I love making people smile." So, off we went into the grocery store with Grant searching the crowd for unhappy people. But, everyone he interacted with was smiling and complementary of his guitar playing. We got in the car and he said, "Mom, I didn't find any unhappy people. Are you unhappy?" I told him "no, I'm very happy today." He then asked, "Could you pretend to be sad so I can cheer you up?" So, for the rest of the ride home I fake cried so he could play the guitar and sing. I am so thankful for my boy who is so filled with joy!

Kate and play dough

See ya Snow

It has been so nice out lately so we've been spending a ton of time outdoors. Both kids like to ride the big wheel and Grant likes his training bike that we got him last summer but he never rode. Kate loves to blow bubbles and pop them in her hands. Today we made it to the park. Whenever we pass a park Kate yells, "Weeeee." Grant can finally go on a regular swing but hasn't quite figured out how to make himself move. I'm really looking forward to summer when we can spend more days like we did today.