S'more Flowers Please

We've been enjoying being home...working on finishing the 1st and 2nd grade, going on walks, riding bikes. Saturday was a ton of fun. My parents came to visit for the day, and we put them to work planting flowers and roasting marshmallows.

Cocoa Basket Hats

Filling the baskets. The kids did most of the work with Manga's help.

Taking a break to swing! Esther and Frannie could swing all day. Esther gets HIGH and fast! She's never really been afraid of much and is naturally coordinated (that was definately not inherited from her clumsy mom).

Talking to the chickens

 

Eating Dinner

Sometimes I can't believe Rourke is so grown up. He is a helpful, kind boy and will pass me in height sooner than I'm ready for! You can see some of the finished baskets in the background.

After dinner we roasted s'mores! My dad helped hang the lights on our pergola. When we moved into this house nearly five years ago, I dreamt of evenings under twinkly lights. Five years later, we finally hung some up!

Part way through our s'more roast Lydia matter-of-factly announced she would take a break. She needed to go pull a tooth....as you can see, she's been having some practice...she only has her front two teeth! Frannie lost one of her front teeth just a few days before. We love our patio...check out the s'more roast this same weekend two years ago. It's funny to note Rourke was the one losing teeth back then. I've also concluded I do love the outside of my house more than the inside.

Anthony and I would be so blessed by prayer as we are getting back into more focused parenting. Our kids have been so resilent through all of this. However, as we've been living a more normal life, we are seeing some gaps where our kids' hearts need nurturing. It is a balance between growing character and just loving them through the hurts they've had over the last year as their own lives have been tossed to and fro.

Esther has one more glorious hospital/appointment free week! We'll have a couple appointments the first week of June and then be back for a 5 day stay in the PICU starting June 10th. Esther's skin is beginning to dry out and peel from her at home meds, so prayer for her to tolerate being slathered in cream would be great. She also needs to gain a few more pounds, but is lacking an appetite. Maybe s'more s'mores will help!

 

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