Lilly's Arm

Yuck. This was awful. Poor little Lilly. 

I was dropping off some primary stuff to a woman in our ward when the school called. I had left my phone in the car - bad move. So, when I got in my car and saw all the missed calls I knew something had happened. The woman lives a few houses down from the school, so I drove right there. My friend and co-worker had Lilly's arm wrapped up in her shirt kind of like a sling so I wasn't able to see her arm, but she was in hysterics so I knew something was wrong. I didn't even question her, and drove her right to the instacare. She kept saying "I heard it pop. I heard it pop". Gross. 

She calmed down once we got into the room, and the awful mom in me asked her if she really thought it was broken or if she was just being drama. She snapped at me and said it still really hurt - which she deserved to do! The x-ray tech came to get Lilly and take some pictures of her arm. As soon as she pulled up her shirt, I gasped at what her arm looked like. That alarmed Lilly, which was a bad move on my part. I knew right then & there that it was broken. They told me they couldn't treat her there because she would most likely need surgery, so they sent us up to Primary's. My brother was awesome, and called me right when he found out and offered to take Claire because Anton was out of town. So, we picked up Claire from school, dropped her off at my brothers and headed up to Primary's. Thankfully they were able to sedate her and set the bone. Once the bone was set, they said to come back in a week and get X-rays again to see if she would need surgery. Again, thank goodness the bone was set correctly and they would just put a cast on. She needs to have the cast for 10 weeks. Six weeks with a cast above her elbow, and 4 weeks with one below her elbow. 

Poor little thing. My heart just broke for her because she would have to stop doing the things she loved most...ice skating and doing gymnastics with her friends. She has been in the dumps since breaking her arm because she feels like she can't do anything & that her friends don't want to play with her anymore because she can't go do the things they want to do. But, she has also been the biggest trooper through all of this. She is such a sweet kid. We only have a few more weeks left, and she will be SO glad to be back to normal. 

April Randoms

I love everything about this age. Claire and her imagination gets better and better each day! I love how she plays with her friends. This particular day she and Isaac found Lilly's asthma masks and were playing "Ghost Busters"!

Some of my favorite moments I witness between my girls are when they think I am not watching. I loved watching them talk and laugh and play with Cooper under the tree. It warmed my heart. 

It's one of the girls favorite things when Dad jumps on the tramp with them! Anton knows how to bounce them super high and lots and lots of giggles happen afterward. He also shows them his "skills" on the tramp...backflips. The kids love it. This time he jumped with Claire Bear and cousin Charlie. 

Lilly's face in the picture cracks me up. Something was super funny, but I can't remember what. Lilly LOVES her dolls. She plays with them every single day. Luckily, her cousin Annie loves them too. A late over was a must!

She's 9!!

My beautiful Lilly Bug. These 9 years have been some of the happiest in my life...thanks to her!! I don't know of a sweeter girl. I know I am biased, but truly she is so sweet and so good. I am so grateful that Claire has her as her big sister. She is such a great example to all of us on kindness. I said to her the other day, "Lilly, you are a good kid you know that?"...she replied, "Yes, because everyone is nice to me". Hahaha! Very true Lilly bug! Kids are drawn to her because of her kindness and goodness. I hope she stays that was for her entire life!

The girls were invited to go with our neighbors and some friends from their church group to go hunt for geodes. They were going to leave really early Saturday morning (Lilly's birthday), so I let Lilly decide if she wanted to go, and of course she did! So, they went with them for most of the day. Because they left so early that morning, we waited to do presents until they got home. She has been so into her American Girl dolls lately, that I decided to get her something to play with them. She asked for a bed for Christmas, but it was sold out so thankfully it was available for her birthday! She got some cute sandals and other little trinkets too. She wanted a red velvet cake and wanted to have pot stickers for dinner...she got all of that! She also got to go shopping with her Nana and pick out some new clothes which she loved doing. I love that she is getting to the age where it's a perfect mix of wanting toys but also girly things like clothes and jewelry. It was another fun birthday! Her favorite things lately:

Ice Skating

American Girl Dolls

Maddy

Jessie (tv show)

Her best friends Eva & Blake

Cousins

Coloring

Jewelry

Listening to music on her radio

Spring Break

For spring break this year, we decided to head to St. George and enjoy some of the sun and time with cousins. I am really glad we did. We always love going to St. George - for so many reasons. My brother had been down using my parents house right before we came down, and his two kids went out back in the gully and built a little fort. When the girls found out, they couldn't wait to go down and play in it! They spent so much time down there exploring and pretending. I loved watching them do this... recently I feel like I really need to take advantage, and really soak up moments like this because time is going by too quickly, and before I know it, my girls won't be doing stuff like this anymore! 

We had a great time spending time with both sides of our families. Because the Leonards were in school, we saw them over the weekend which is always a highlight for my girls. Then, we met up with my sister Anna who was camping in Snow Canyon. It was perfect! It was so much fun to be with everyone. 

Easter 2017

This year, Easter crept up on me SO fast. I was so unprepared. We didn't even do Easter Eggs until the afternoon of Easter. Can't win them all! But, the Easter bunny did bring baskets, and hid about 8 eggs. So, we will take what we can get. The girls were happy, so that's all that matters!

We woke up and went on a hunt for all 8 eggs, got ready for church and said goodbye to Anton who unfortunately had to travel to Bozeman that day. After church the girls dyed eggs while I made some pies for my family's party. My neighbor had made delicious pies a few months previous, and she shared the recipes with me. I decided to make them, and they were delicious! Not as good as hers, but still good! My brother had everyone over to their house for dinner & an Easter Egg hunt because my parents had just barely moved into their house the day before and were in no place to host a family party! It was really nice of him to have everyone over. My sister had put together an easter egg hunt, which is always fun for the kids! It ended up being a great day even though I felt totally unprepared. 

I love Easter so much. I love my Savior and the beautiful meaning of Easter. Because of Him, I can be with those I love the very most forever. 

Birthday Party!

It was the year of birthday parties! I am not going to lie, I always dread the birthday party year but this year it wasn't bad at all, in fact it was really fun. We decided to combine their party and had it at Fat Cats bowling. The girls had a hoot with all their friends! It was well worth the money, and would go there again it was so fun for the girls. They each got to invite 8 friends and they had pizza, bowling and tokens for the arcade. We also had a "host" that helped with the party and that was incredibly helpful. 

With that many friends coming, you can imagine all the gifts they got! Fun day indeed! 

Piano Recitals

The girls had a piano recital and had to have their songs memorized. They did SO great! They really worked hard, and you could tell when they got up to play. I have really enjoyed their teacher and we are sad she is no longer going to be teaching piano. She only had a few students - including the girls best friends! - but her life was too busy with school and another job, that she had to quit. I am glad they did a recital before she decided to quit. 

Well done little dolls!! You played beautifully!