500 Babies Go To A Fiesta Parade

It's time for Fiesta!  Who's ready for a parade? 

It's not Battle of Flowers, but it's the next best thing...the Masters Elementary Pre-K/Kinder Fiesta Parade!

Mikea received a gorgeous flower...

...but Daniel didn't. 

But snacks make everything all better.

And here's our boy Joe decked out in his Fiesta hat with his Fiesta float.

By the time Rebekah is in Kindergarten, we will have had to make ten of these floats!

Happy Fiesta y'all!

500 Babies Go To Dinosaur Valley

I don't know about you, but Spring Break feels like it was ages ago, instead of a mere two weeks.  We took a short trip up to Glen Rose to check out Dinosaur Valley State Park and enjoy some quality family time together.

We stayed in a small cabin out in the middle of nowhere, and it was exactly what we needed.

 The setting was beautiful, quiet, and peaceful.  Yes, even with 5 kids and 2 dogs!                           

                    

The clean, comfortable cabin turned out to be much nicer than we were expecting.  There were games, horseshoes, and even a croquet set for the kids to enjoy.

We discovered wild turkeys on the property, wild turkeys on the cabin walls....

and a wild turkey at dinner!
                              
Ice cream on the porch...a sweet way to end the day!

Yum!

On our second day we rose bright and early to check out Dinosaur World. 
Joe appears remarkably calm despite the horrific fate that awaits him.
                             
We decided to feed the other children to the dinosaurs as well.  (Mikea looks scared but she really wasn't.)

Then Joe got sick.  (This was the beginning of the wave of illness that swept through our family and eventually landed Baby Rebekah in the hospital.) 

 He perked up after a couple of hours and we ended the day with smores...

 and messes...

 and an expedition to find fossils.

It's unanimous: the trip was a blast!

And how could it not be with this bunch?

Adventures at the Hospital

If you would have told me that between me and my husband we would be spending the majority of the past six days at three different hospitals in two different cities, I would've said, "Not possible."  (Of course I also never would have believed that we'd ever take two kids to the ER in one night, either.)   But, that's exactly what happened this week. One of the patients was the little cutie you see below, and the other was my mother who I doubt would appreciate pictures of her in the hospital plastered all over the Internet.  The good news is both ladies are much better and resting comfortably at home.

                       

Rebekah was hospitalized with a viral respiratory infection.  I'll spare the details except to say we had taken her to the doctor twice last week and again this week when she was sent to the ER.  All of our kids had been sick the week before but it hit Rebekah the hardest because she's a preemie and therefore more susceptible to these types of things.

                   

The time I spent in the hospital was a bit of a break from the grind of daily life, yet tiring in its own way.  Billy and I switched shifts, each spending two nights with her.  Family and friends pitched in to help care for the big kids, transport Joe to and from school, and help Billy prepare substitute work for his classroom.  And of course there were so many more people who offered their prayers and words of encouragement - thank you from the bottom of our hearts!