Memorial Day Weekend

• Things I learned this weekend.
  
• *Buy a pacifier clip to use in the car.(I stopped 6 times to find pacifiers on the way to my sister's house)

*Taking fun Memorial Day Weekend pictures does not happen when you have a 10 month old attached to your hip.

*Accept help when offered. (Thank you to my family for helping take care of my boys this weekend, and Joel's family for taking care of my biggest boy this weekend).

*You should make a point to visit grandparents as often as possible.

*Parades do not always have candy, so you should not tell your children that they will get candy when you are going to a parade.

10 months old!

Happy 10 months to me! He hasn't been nearly as clingy today.

Brothers

Aunt Jennifer bought this train for Noah to walk behind. Of course Eli has kind of taken it over.

Joel is home!

Heidi's hospital is now open! Joel got home around 10:30 this morning. I had asked Eli if he would let Daddy use his bed for a while. He didn't really like that idea. Then, I told him he could get a new bed, and he said, "okay. I want a brown bed." Well- the green air matress that we will call his bed seems to be working just fine. Eli's bed fit perfectly in our room right in front of the TV. Thanks Rich and Don for getting Joel's "spot" set up. From the moment he got out of surgery, all Joel was concerned about was where he would go when he got home since our bed is kind of tall and not very firm. Thank you Jennifer for taking care of my children all week, and thank you Cathy for taking such good care of Joel and helping with the boys.

back surgery

I took a picture of Joel when he was in pre-op yesterday, but he wasn't too excited about me sharing it. I'm sure he REALLY wouldn't like me posting it now. His surgery lasted a little over two hours, and then he spent another two hours in recovery before he went to his room. Everything went well, so that's good! He is in a lot of pain, but he did get up and walk to the bathroom this morning. Eli went with me to see him. He was such a good boy while we were there. As we were walking to the car he started crying a little and said, "I want my daddy to get better". Thanks for all the prayers!

Happy Mother's Day!

The boys greeted me in bed at 6:30 wearing these cute shirts. They gave me this beautiful mother and child necklace. We went to Village Inn for breakfast, and I spent the afternoon at the mall. Then, Joel made supper and he and Grandpa Jim took Eli fishing. It was a fun and relaxing day. We probably won't have many more of those for a while! Back surgery is only two days away. Hope everyone had a great day!

riding bike

Aunt Jennifer was trying to teach Eli how to pedal his bike today. He stuck with it longer than he usually does. Aunt Jennifer can get the kids to do anything! Eli was pretty proud of himself! Now, if he could just figure out how to pedal and steer at the same time... I think this was about the age I sent Craig down the drive way on his two-wheel bike. Maybe he was 4, but I must've been a better teacher when I was 6!

My little helper

It's all coming back to me now! I remember the days when I wouldn't even attempt to do the dishes if Eli was awake.

Happy May Day!

Thanks for the May Basket Grandma Cathy!