Barbie Day

Today is Barbie Day at our house. Ella and I are up to our eyeballs in
them. Snow White (my doll) is the doctor. The other 50 dolls (all
Ella's) are my patients. I've seen 5 sore throats, 10 tummy aches, a
headache, and 8 broken arms/legs. Still have all of these to go. One
doll even came back for a second shot for her strep throat. This child
is hysterical!!!!

Spring Break Time in Tennessee!

The little girls were out on Spring Break this week. Unfortunately, we spent a majority of it dealing with cold and rainy days. Finally, though, we got a great break in the yuckiness on Thursday! The girls and I made a trip to the zoo with their "Aunt Cay Cay". We ended up meeting some friends from church there and had an absolute blast. The weather was phenomenal. We got to see the newest exhibit at the zoo (Grizzly bears, wolves, and elk!). We ended up spending just under 5 hours there, but it seemed like we were only there for a short while. It was, by far, our very best trip to the zoo ever. :-)

The girls ready to head in to the zoo!

This girl is ORNERY, I tell ya!

She may be ornery, but she sure is a cutie patootie!

And she's a ham. And a poser!

This little lamb is getting so much better each day! We are still trying to put weight back on her. But we are so THANKFUL for a great new doctor who is taking great care of her after the struggles we had after her tonsil surgery. I'll have to update on that one soon!

Does this guy have the life or what?????

These guys were having a big old time playing when we made it to their exhibit that morning. We got tired just watching them chase each other all over the place!

Do you think.....

....she has a future in the fashion industry?

Wordless Wednesday :-)

Ice Day

Our snow day yesterday turned into an ice day. The ice day turned into
a power outage night. And power outage day today. Still no power. We
brought the girls to a hotel. Figured a freezing cold house was no
place for a kid with mono. The girls and I went exploring. They wanted
to climb all the stairs. I said sure. Gotta burn off that cooped-up-in-
a-hotel-room-since-breakfast energy somehow, right?

Aunt Erin

I do not remember how it even started, but Sophie has always wanted to send hugs and kisses to my sister in heaven via helium balloon. Erin died just before Sophie turned 2, but they were very close before she died. In her little mind, it was a way to send love to a place she really didn't completely grasp. While I totally understand that the concept is nowhere near theologically sound, it was something that comforted her, so we let her do it. Now almost five years later, she still does it. And now so does my sweet Ella, who never got the chance to meet her Aunt Erin.

It does not matter where the balloon comes from. The process is always the same. Everyone has to kiss the balloon. Everyone has to hug the balloon. Then the balloon heads up to "take our love to Aunt Erin".

Aunt Erin has "gotten" love balloons from birthday parties, school parties, restaurants, ballgames, even three from Disney World. This morning, Ellie decided that she was ready to send her birthday balloon from Sophie to Aunt Erin. So, we hugged it. We kissed it. And we headed outside and watched it float away. I couldn't help but get a bit teary -eyed hearing my sweet youngest daughter holler "I love yous" to the aunt she never knew but that I have always prayed she would know all about.

My sassy little kitchen helper