Catch Up: April

I was still suffering from my back injury in April, and even took a trip to the ER, so I was still relying heavily upon others for their help in all of our daily tasks. As the month progressed I started to get better & resume a little bit more of my household & motherly duties.

How fun is this: my little Elsie-girl has started to smile & her tiny little squishy face just doesn't have enough room for all the joy that spills out of it when she lights up like this. It just melts my heart. I think I forgot how much joy there is in raising these sweet little spirits.

Another thing that brings me immeasurable joy: NAPS! I fell asleep nursing Elsie and Van snuggled up with us to watch a movie and nodded off too. When Tyler got home from work, this is what he found.
My aunt & cousins came up from Utah for a visit. The younger girls were a dream come true for Van and they played until he was exhausted every single day. The older girls (Diane and Lecia) took such good care of me & Elsie and even stayed up all night with the baby while I was drugged out & pumping. As always, they always help out at the store a ton too & it seemed to me like they spent most of their Spring Break working harder than if they had just stayed home. But we were sure happy to have them visit. Makenna celebrated her 12th birthday with us, so we whipped up this crazy beach cake in about an hour and a half. It turned out quite cute & the look on her face when she walked in & saw the 8 inch flames was priceless! One of Van's favorite holidays is Easter (which happens to be one of Tyler's very least favorite holidays). We try to teach him what Easter is really supposed to be about, but we try let him have his fun too, so we celebrate all the "bunny-type" stuff on Saturday so that Sunday can be more Christ centered. He got to dye eggs with his cousins this year & it was so endearing to see him work with such concentration and care on each egg. Making sure not to drop them, getting just the right colors and stickers and collecting all the toys & treats that the bunny left in the basement. I took him to a crazy hunt at the park and while it wasn't that much fun and was over in 22 seconds, he seemed to LOVE it!
I thought Tyler was giving Van a hair-cut, but instead Tyler shaved Van's hair. Off. With no guard. And while this isn't necessarily Van's exact reaction, (it's not too far off) it's a pretty good indicator of my response to seeing his new do. And this I know for sure: Tyler will not be in charge of haircuts ever again, regardless of how bad my back is hurt!This spring we participated in a co-op pre-school with some of our friends. And despite the fact that I was unable to uphold my share of the teaching and my inability to get Van to 8 of the last 10 lessons due to baby drama and my injury, those sweet moms still let him "graduate". He had so much fun learning the letters and doing cute projects with them. He actually learned more than I thought he would & it has been impressive to hear him randomly spout off his new knowledge over the past few months.