Easter 2012

NO WORDS

Warning! Picture overload! I wanted to document Easter and this post is all over the place but that's kind of how my brain is operating these days. It seems the stomach bug has thrown us all off for a very long time.

Easter was absolutely beautiful this year. I love this time of year. The sun is warm on your face but the air is cool. There is the annoyance of coolness that I don't care for. I'd still like it about 97 degrees without a cloud in the sky. Ultimate weather. It was a perfect day to celebrate Our Risen Savior with wonderful friends, my mom and these three precious children God has entrusted me with.

Never have I seen a child of mine so excited about candy and not eat a ton. He just likes to use them as props in his imaginary play. What a creative little gem.

Nana came Thursday before Easter and was able to go to school with Baxter on Friday to celebrate him becoming Sight Word King!!! We, I mean, he has worked extremely hard on his sight words. We, I mean he, knows all 220 now. I'm already thinking that WE have 220 to go and all three kids will know them!

Getting ready to run in the clap out!
We all looked a little jaundiced after Ben got finished dyeing eggs. Of course his favorite color is yellow so it pretty much stained anything that got in his path.
A couple of before shots at church of their Easter outfits. I'm not sure what part of the universe did not line up for us to get some family shots but there were none of us together as a family. I think Lills was the missing link and we were not able to function without her!

This was his school egg hunt! It made him very happy that they were out in plain sight and there was very little effort in finding them.

This is a frequent vision down our street right now. While we were in the hospital Nana taught Baxter to ride his bike. Scott immediately commented that's what Nana does best! Bax is so proud of himself. Now he strips down to his bathing suit and his boots and takes off!

Lillee and I made these super easy bird nests. Chinese Chow Mein Noodles with melted butterscotch on them and Cadbury eggs on top. They were the perfect combination of salty and sweet.
Our church egg hunt. The kids were elated that there was so much candy. When will they be getting into their summer fruits and vegetables? Maybe I should consider hiding grape tomatoes in eggs this summer!
Easter Bunny loot.
Nana left after lunch on Easter so while Scott napped, Baxter played the Wii and Ben ate more chocolate bunny I packed us up and we joined our extended Griffin family. Our dear friends had an Easter gathering and what better way to celebrate than a pool party! The hot tub warmed the pool some but the kids didn't mind. Lillee and Katelin made it back from the lake just in time to jump in.
Even our favorite 16 year old came to help out and relax a little.
We are thankful to have "Sissy" back and beautiful spring weather. I think Baxter missed her!

an upswing

We were in full swing in March celebrating Baxter's birthday when our precious infant came down with a yucky virus. We thought it was the same stomach bug that Bax had the previous week so I wasn't that concerned. However, four days into it Ben made a turn for the worse. Farrah came with me and we headed up to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Emory. I never want to go to the hospital again but if we had to, this is the place to go. The people there were nothing short of amazing.

It turns out he had a bacterial infection called Shigella. It was attacking his intestines and then he developed an ileus. His belly was distended and he was in so much pain. We arrived Thursday at lunch and were not released until the following Tuesday. It was scary and quite humbling as you saw children who had been there for months and cars in the parking lot that my parents said never moved. My mom and dad thankfully came right up and took care of the other two and got them to school.

While Ben was practicing being a lefty in the hospital, Lillee was home with her very first project ever. She was stoked about doing her biography on such an outstanding figure.
He didn't eat for 7 days and the last night we were there he was feeling better and got into my Thai! We knew he was on the mend.
These sweet golden retrievers came to cheer him up. They were beautiful and such a nice treat to those sick kiddos.
Their school pics also came back while we were gone. Don't those two on the right look like they love each other?
Ben is now back and just about 100%. He continues to be the absolute center of attention. We are ever so grateful to all of our wonderful friends that came to our rescue and helped out with Lillee and Baxter as well as brought yummy meals so that we didn't have to worry about cooking! Ben needs a little more TLC still and may need extra tummy rubs even when it may not be hurting but that's ok. After seeing him in that condition I'll rub him anytime even though it's getting tougher and tougher to stay up with him at 11 p.m.