Visiting the Zoo with Judah

Here are some pictures from our outing to the zoo last week. It was a warm(er), overcast afternoon. We enjoyed our time and ended it with a trip around the zoo on the train (courtesy of Grammy!).

And the Rain Held Back!

Again, we were anxious to get out of the house this past weekend - head somewhere with parks & new letterboxes. We decided to try Peoria again since the Locksmiths, Pitties & Shorty have been busy putting new boxes there! We hit the road at 8 - stopping at Becki's parents to pick up Katie and then headed to Peoria.

Did I mention that it was supposed to rain all day? There was an 80% chance of scattered throughout the day. We were praying that it would be scattered - in the places we were not in! It did start raining on our way from Lacon into Peoria...but it was minimal. The rain held off the rest of the day, although it did look impending MANY times! On the drive home, the skies opened up! Thank you Lord for your grace over our day!

Our first box was found in Kewanee, IL - "Hog Days" by Pitties. The kids loved the pig image! We continued east to find "Morel" by Shorty. It was so windy, I feared the kids would lose their balance and fall right into the canal!

Now we headed south to find "Sorrow" by Pitties. As Pitties said in her clues, it is a unique cemetary, with lots of old stones.

We crossed over the Illinois River (very flooded!) into Lacone to nab an indoor box "Defying Gravity" by Fungus Woman. Matt was very tempted to purchase some fudge...but we decided it would be best for both of us if he didn't!

We decided...rather, the kids informed us through their crabby attitudes...that it was time for lunch. We literally passed up a letterbox to get some lunch! Oh well, if the kids aren't happy...you know how that goes!

Once in Peoria, we were successful with every box but one...the Elusive "Falling Leaf". It was just found last week and shouldn't be this hard to find! However, we have looked every time down there and still can't find it! Maybe next time because we WILL try it again!

Here are some pictures from the different boxes we got:

"Spring: Easter Basket" by The Locksmiths

"Chicago Bears" by Shorty

This hike was a longer one and we knew that beforehand. Matt had decided to not do it since we had all of the kids, but I figured we should try it. If you notice the overview picture, you can see the trail. It is straight down into the valley. The second picture is of us walking straight down and the third is us stamping in. It takes a while with 5 books to stamp...and little hands that want to help!

"Spring: Flowers" by The Locksmiths

We did end up with "Spring: Baseball" by The Locksmiths, "The Flintstones: Fred & Wilma" by Shorty, "One World" by The Locksmiths. All said, we grabbed 11 boxes for the day. We ended our day at Laura Bradley Park (for the second time) to let the kids play. We also got some neat pictures of the family/kids at the park...

Sleepy Twins

Both twins have been sleeping a lot this past week due to their "illnesses". Will has been on Tylenol with Codeine due to his finger accident as well as Omnicef due to double ear infection. Maddie started throwing up Wednesday and has essentially been out of commission since. She fought a fever and has pretty much slept most of the day/night since. Today was the first day she seemed to have more energy...although the whining is still there! Either way, they have been wiped out!

While I was downstairs today, I heard footsteps from their room. They had both been sleeping for quite some time, so I knew that they would be getting up. I kept waiting to see them come down the stairs, but they never did. After a few minutes I went up to check on them and this is what I found...

Will had gotten out of bed and went over next to Maddie...and fell back to sleep.

Update on Will's Finger: Went to the plastic surgeon Friday. He looked at it and said that it looked fine thus far. He will see him again in 2 weeks...until then we continue to treat it & rebandage everyday.

Our Little Trooper - Will

Will successfully got his pinky finger stuck in our bedroom door yesterday...thanks to one of his big sisters throwing a temper tantrum. She slammed our door with Will right behind her...I am not sure if he opened the door and she slammed it again or if she just opened it herself and then slammed it. Either way, it got slammed again, this time with Will's pinky finger pinched in between. By now he was screaming and she was pushing the door to keep it shut. I realized that his screaming was a painful scream and ran to help and found the finger lodged. I quickly ran him into the bathroom and realized - to my horror - that his fingertip was dangling. I grabbed towels and tape to do a makeshift cast - all the while yelling at the girls to get to the van. And of course, Will was screaming at the top of his lungs too.

Getting to the ER was uneventful, thankfully. Will held his arm up the whole drive and we arrived to find my dad & sister waiting to help (I had taken a minute to call my dad).

Will's finger was x-rayed and he received a shot to numb his finger. While getting the stitches, he actually fell asleep! He slept the whole time! Praise God!!! We were told by a number of people how well behaved he was. It wasn't a fun situation...but he did really well, better than we could ever hope for!

No bones were chipped or fractured. He may lose his fingernail and a new one may not grow back. Only time will tell. We go to see the plastic surgeon to see if there is any nerve damage on Friday.

He Has Risen!! He Has Risen Indeed!!

There is something about Easter that is so refreshing, so excited. It gets the blood flowing! I am sure that it is a combination of things, but for us, it is the renewal in our hearts, mind & body of Jesus' ultimate sacrifice of dying on the cross for us. It is so easy to get caught in the rut of life and forget all that we have to be thankful for. Thank you Jesus - we can never say thank you enough!!

We have a packed day today. After going through their goodies from the Easter bunny, we got the kids ready for church. We were fortunate enough to have an extra few minutes to run to one of the Deere houses to take some pictures. Church was wonderful!! We are now home for a few hours of respite and then off to Grammy & Grandad's for a ham dinner and egg hunt. To say that the kids are excited would be an understatement. I will post pictures of the egg hunt later.

Trying for the ever elusive "all kids looking...all kids smiling (naturally!)..." picture...

I THINK WE GOT IT!!!

HUNTING FOR EGGS