Emily went camping with some very good friends. I thought this pic was very cool. She is the one to the left on the top bar!!
Boy does this picture remind me of Gotcha day! They still are good buddies.
What can you say about this picture! So cute! I think she is practicing modeling skills. Ugh.
Ri is a little tired after a long hike at night with Daddy, Jacob, MOmmy and Elizabeth.
I couldn't believe this picture when I took it. I loved it, so I had to do something with it. I was challenged to use Ashalee Wall's designs and do something simple with it. This was the result.
I was challenged to do a page without any pictures. Boy.. that was tough!
Preschool pictures!

All of a sudden, Elizabeth has become very interested in pretend. She insists that the baby eats breakfast with her. She takes the baby potty and even disciplines the baby. It is too cute!


I think that it is safe to say that Elizabeth truly loves preschool. We have both Ri and Elizabeth enrolled in the Early Intervention program in our county. They qualify because of their history. We decided that having them attend one day a week would be good for each of them. Well, I think if Elizabeth had her way, she would go everyday (just as long as I was in the room with her!). Last week, when she was sitting on my lap and all the kids had gone to school, she heard the school bus backing up in our driveway. She jumped off my lap yelling "I gotta go, mom... bye". She grabbed her backpack and tore out the front door. She ran as fast as her little legs would go. Before she was halfway to the bus, it left. She stopped, turned around and walked slowly back. A few minutes later we were in the kitchen. She still had her backpack on and I heard her say to herself... "I was too late". I smiled so hard knowing that what she was too late for was the bus. The next day, the same thing happened. Off she flew, trying to catch that bus. Friday afternoon, she heard the bus dropping Jacob off. She grabbed her backpack and ran yelling "bye". Again.. halfway there, it drove off. This time my heart started hurting for her. She looked like she had lost her best friend. Her head dropped, she just stood there holding her backpack... sad. Then she slowly walked back to the house, looking a little confused as to why this bus keeps forgetting her. She walked in and didn't want to talk. She just put her backpack down and slowly walked off. It broke my heart. We just tell her that one day, when she gets bigger, she will ride that bus!

They are adorable walking into preschool with their backpacks on. They crack me up. But, I am having no luck leaving her. Please pray about that. She still is freaks out with sheer terror.

On another note... EMily is very sick right now. We struggled all day yesterday on whether to take her to the ER or not. She was in urgent care on Saturday and we were told that it was probably just a virus going around, but they were not equipped to test for meningitis and if her symptoms got worse then we should go to the ER. She exhibited almost all the same symptoms she had when she had viral meningitis 2 years ago, except her headache was not as severe this time. We decided not to take her because we are pretty confident that it is not bacterial meningitis. There is a slight possibility that it could be viral... but as we discovered last time, there isn't anything you can do but ride it out. It is not life threatening. We knew based on her symptoms that they would do a spinal tap and if it was meningitis, we would be hospitalized for 2 days while they waited for results to see if it was bacterial or viral. It is a horrible thing to see your child so sick and not really know what is the best thing to do. But after 2 phone calls to the doctor-on-call, we opted to just observe her. SHe still feels extremely sick, but the severe pain in her neck is not as bad. That is a great sign that we made the right choice. I will take her into the doctor today.

There is so much to right, I just can't seem to find the time. I am working on designing some things to try and become a digital designer for scrapbooking. Plus, I was chosen to be part of a creative team for a designer at oscraps.com. Her name is Ashalee Wall. It has been fun, but certainly has taken me out of my normal "box". The 3 layouts I posted were all from challenges using Ashalees things.

Lastly, I just want you all to know that I have the most incredible husband in all the world. He is more then I could ever have dream of having! He is my helpmate. He really, truly is my better half. I can not begin to tell you how he has "held" me through this transition. He comes home after a hard day at work and instantly begins helping me with the house and the kids. He doesn't complain, doesn't get bitter... just stands beside me encouraging me. I just stand back in awe of who he has become in Christ. He was the tool that God used to bring me to a true walk with Him. He has always been my mentor and guide, and now I look at him and long to be more like him. I praise God for the gift He gave me when He brought Mark into my life!