Tickle, tickle, tickle

We're so far behind it's not even funny--Easter, Mom and Dad's visit during Conference, Matt and Nat and Rae's visits and more--, but I do have big plans for catching up here in the next couple of days since the dresses are done and our house feels so empty with Rae, Matt, Nat, Sam, Ethan and Mia leaving us :(. Until we get to all those fun pics and posts, how about a few March funnies and a little tickle from Eden?

Just for the record, we don't have as many funnies for March because we were sick almost the entire month which didn't put me in a really good funny-catching mood. Fortunately, Ryn is feeling completely healthy and hasn't had any more arthritis swelling or pain since the initial testing phase (part of our afore-mentioned March Madness). We will have a follow-up appointment soon to see where we go from here...

March 2--Ryn and Elle had been playing with their dolls in my room and we needed to migrate somewhere else in the house. K: "Get your guys and lets go." Elle, holding up her baby: "Mom, this is a girl. Don't call her a guy!"

March 5--I explained to Elle that a toy wasn't working because the battery was dead. She asked, "Who killed the battery?"

This one isn't really funny--it actually made me cry. Elle said, again, that she wanted to be a bad guy and Ryn really tried to make things clear for her. "Heavenly Father doesn't want us to be bad guys. If we choose the right then we can be His friends! like disciples!" The excitement in her voice at the thought of being Heavenly Father's friend through obedience was one of the sweetest sounds I have ever heard.

March 6--Another Ryn moment, "I'm so excited to have a kid!"

March 7--This was an all-time classic from Elle. Tom had asked the girls to sing "I Know that My Savior Loves Me" in the High Priests class he was teaching at church. For Ryn and Elle, when they think of 'going to class' at church, it means a class full of young children. The song was beautiful, and I was telling Elle that on our way out to the car. She stopped me with a worried look and exclaimed, "But Mom, something happened to those kids to make them old!"

Ryn had filled several sheets of paper with pictures for each of us and I asked her if she was finished (for the night). Emphatically, she answered, "I'm NEVER going to stop drawing pictures for the people I love."

March 14--Eden said "sister"!!!

On the kitchen dance floor, Ryn explained to Elle, "Princes say, 'May I have this dance?' and girls say, 'Why of course you may!'"

March 20--Elle wanted to watch 'just one more' movie and Ryn backed me up when I turned down the request. "Elle, you'll break your chocolate eyes."

Elle had made a design with magnets on the fridge that she wanted some praise for. "Look, Mom!" I nodded and smiled, but that wasn't good enough. "Don't be happy like this (nodding and smiling). You have to be happy like this and jump up and down and say, 'Great job, Elle!'"

March 24--Elle: Mom, I'm speechless. Me: Do you know what that means? Elle: Uh-huh. Beautiful.

March 30--Ryn explaining family order to Elle. "I'm the biggest and you're the middlest."

Sitting by Elle on the couch reading a book, she looked up at me with those chocolate eyes and said, "Mom, you're beautiful."

Lucky

This is where we spent half of our St. Patrick's Day--the pediatric rheumatologist's office at University Hospital. Ryn has been diagnosed with juvenile arthritis. We still have two more appointments with an opthamologist (since eye damage/infection is one of the immediate dangers related to this disorder) and our pediatrician next week for a few more tests, and then a follow up with the rheumatologists in a month where they hopefully will be able to tell us which type of JRA she has. I had taken Ryn in last week when her knee was hurting so badly that she couldn't sit down or bend it in any way. Worried about a bone or joint infection like Nolan had a little over a year ago, they ran some blood tests and her ANA test came back positive. That, in addition to her pain extending to her elbows, ankle and knuckle, led our doctor to push through an appointment with the rheumatology department sooner than later.

But even with news like this, I can't help but feel like we're pretty lucky (which is Irish for blessed). For now, Ryn's symptoms have almost all subsided, we live in a time when so much medical knowledge is available, and the daily tender mercies we receive are simply overwhelming.

February funnies

Feb. 1--I overheard Elle, with her princess cell phone, having this conversation: "Hello, Joy! Where are you off to?........Oh, heaven."

Ryn is very excited about being a "CTR kid" now that she has moved up to that class in Primary. She knows that means she has to try even harder than ever to Choose The Right. She must have been thinking pretty hard about this when she said, "If I choose the wrong, then I'm a CUR kid."

Feb. 2--I thought this dress-up timeline was so classic...
12:44 Ryn: "I'm going to be Spiderman and kill the bad guys and then I'll turn back into a girl."
12:46 Elle: "I don't want to be Batman now. I'm going to be a witch!"
12:53 Elle: (now in a ballet outfit) "Mommy, I want ballerina music."

Here's a little lesson for all those parents who think one violent scene here and there won't affect their kids. We talked about the letter 'C' and crocodiles for our little "school" that we have in the mornings. I had found a pretty cool National Geographic video on line that showed a crocodile mother bringing her eggs to the river to hatch which lasted about 10 minutes and another 1.5 minute one showing crocodiles patiently wait to snatch their prey (wildebeests, in this case). Just at the very last second of the shorter one, it showed one frame of a crocodile jumping out of the water and snagging a man's leg before I quickly turned it off. But too late. When Kevin got home, the first thing Ryn told him excitedly was this: "We watched crocodiles eat people! And cute wildebeests were drinking water and the crocs came out and ate them!" Even though we had spent much more time with the sweet nurturing mother video, and talked all day afterwards about only that one, the part she remembered was the eating of people and cute wildebeests.

Feb. 4--I guess our all-girl toy box is not very well-equipped for the really important things.....
Elle: "Maybe you can go to the sword store and get some for us."
Me: "What for?"
Elle: "So then if there are monsters we can fight them like in Sleeping Beauty."

Feb. 13--Playing house, Ryn was the 'mom', but I hadn't heard that yet and so I responded when Elle called, "Mom?"
She answered in pure Obi Wan fashion, "You're not the mom we're looking for."

We had made some Valentine's cookies to deliver and I had told the girls they couldn't have any more so we would have enough to give out. A few hours later, Ryn came and led me by the hand, saying, "Go in the pantry. We found a way to stop you from looking at us while we eat the cookies." At least she's honest :)

Feb. 17--Elle was trying to wake me up one morning after I'd had a long night with Eden--pretty tough job for anyone, much less a tiny little thing who can barely see over the bed. After several unsuccessful attempts with things like "Mom, wake up!", she tried this (in a very frustrated, emphatic voice): "Hock-a-doodle-do, Mom!"

Feb. 20--Every night after family prayer, Ryn, Elle and I squish onto Ryn's twin bed and I sing them a few Primary songs before they go to sleep. On the rare occasion that Ryn isn't already zonked by the time I finish, she, without fail, will grab me as I'm getting up to leave and plead sleepily, "I want you to stay..."
This night was one of those occasions, so I went from hearing that from Ryn, to hearing this from Elle as I tried to give her one more hug before leaving.
"I want you to go."
"Don't you love me?" I asked, teasing her with a sad voice.
She tried to help me feel better with her little mommy voice. "How about you will go and I'll love you. Is that a great idea?"

Feb. 24--Ryn made Kevin's birthday when she said, "Daddy? When we were in heaven, we saw a daddy with hair like this (rubbing her hand over his curls) and said, 'We want that daddy.'"

Ryn was sitting in her chair the wrong way--something we're constantly trying to correct since she often ends up falling and getting hurt--and I said in my warning voice, "Ryn..." She instructed me, "Don't. See. Me."

Feb. 25--I was down with strep throat, so Kevin took the girls to the store to give me time for a nap when he got home from work. They had picked out some Raisinettes for a treat and while they were checking out, Elle very seriously explained the situation to the cashier. "Our mommy is dying so we need to bring her chocolate covered raisins."

Feb. 26--After scribbling all over something and watching me scrub at it, Elle complained, "Our house is a mess!"
"I'm trying to clean it up," I pointed out to my number one Mess Maker.
"Oh! (chuckling like 'oops!') Thanks, Mom!"

Feb. 27--Elle wanted one last song--a Snow White song-- before I kissed her good night. I asked which one, since there are several. With a definite 'DUH!' in her voice, she answered, "'Someday my Prince will come.' That's what all growing girls do. They sing 'Someday my prince will come...'"

Feb. 28--Our girls, like most people, don't like getting shots. Ryn, at her 4 year old check-up a few months ago, had endured a truckload of them. When she questioned over and over through her tears in not so many words, "Why?! Why are you letting them do this to me?!", I answered that shots keep us from getting sick. We had just been to the doctor and pharmacy to get the girls on the antibiotic train for our family strep throat party and Ryn asked a very valid question. "Why do we get shots if the bad guys keep getting in our tummies?"

At lunch, when the mean crocodiles were under the table trying to eat their food, Ryn informed us of an important development. "They're nice now! Their hearts changed!"

thank heaven for antibiotics

Strep throat hit every member of our family last week. Fun times :) I'm just thankful to live in a day when we have Tylenol and Amoxicillin, that we're otherwise in good health, and that we are over the worst.

Eden in the garden! She is 1

We are so thankful every day for our little miracle,happy,bouncy baby girl Eden. If there is one thing she loves, it's music, she could dance before she could walk! (video below) Another thing that we love so much about her is how much she loves everyone. All you have to do is say awwe and she will start snuggling with who ever is holding her. She came to us on February 6th, a true angel. Kit told me she was pregnant with Eden on Fathers day and when she arrived I thought my heart would burst with joy and love for her. Eden is our unique one. Big deep blue eyes, she was born in the states and she has such a distinctive personality that really sets her apart. It's amazing because we both want a lot of kids and when they come as sweet and special as these first 3 we know we can't stop so hopefully Heavenly Father will keep sending them to us!

Clay and Kim

Every wedding is beautiful and a reason to celebrate. An eternal family is beginning. A new team for righteousness and goodness. But my heart sang more than usual last Thursday afternoon for my cousin, Clay, and his beautiful Kim. It was a long road of extremely difficult challenges for Clay leading up to this great blessing, but he made it. Even though they had a professional photographer, I couldn't keep my amateur self from snapping a few fun moments from this day (Kev was unable to be the sharpshooter since he was still hobbling around on crutches). Clay is the son of my dad's brother Kelly, and his wife Becky, who ended her long battle with cancer just a few months ago. Clay is the brother of one sister, Andee....who is married to Spencer (with the cool glasses)....and they have the most adorable little boy, Mason, that Kevin and I couldn't get enough of.Clay is also the brother of Chet, who is married to Laura.......and they have 2 beautiful girls--Avery (modeling her dad's coat) and Ireland (who stayed home with Laura's parents).Clay is also the brother of Jake (far right closing his eyes against the cold :)........who is married to Cindy and they also have 2 beautiful girls--Taylor, who tried all day to stay warm in her mom's coat....

...and Aubrey, who is growing up way too fast!!!I loved watching all the fun these 3 cousins had together, even in the cold. And I also loved watching Taylor watch Kim... adorable.

Congratulations, Clay and Kim!

kicking back

Kevin had ankle surgery last Wednesday. Everything went well and the anticipated 75 minute surgery only took 45. Post-op, it has been a long week of hopping "like a bunny" (said Elle when she saw him trying to move around), painful crawling on all fours, and bruising the heels of his hands on his crutches. But it has also been a week of heavenly cuddle naps with his girls and appreciated extra help for me :). I've been able to run almost every day, I've had the car to make easy quick runs to the store alone or take the girls out, and the bottom line: everything and everyone is better when Kevin is around. Period. There's a reason some anonymous mom wrote the well-loved children's primary song.... "I'm so glad when Daddy comes home". He has his appointment tomorrow for a walking boot and then it's back to work and back to waiting for Daddy's homecoming each evening, glad as we can be.