Easter in the Cul-de-Sac

Ryan on the hunt!

Maddie counts her eggs.

Madeline and Ali check out the contents of their eggs.

After church, we enjoyed a wonderful time of fellowship with our neighbors at our third annual Easter potluck and egg hunt. It is always a wonderful spread of food and a relaxed time with friends. Of course the children love playing together. After eating, we send the kids to the Brister's backyard and the adults then hide eggs. My favorite part is watching the older kids help the younger kids find eggs once they have "basketed" their quota.

This cul-de-sac get together is the last with the Coulters, as they head to Omaha in three weeks. We will miss them, but know the Lord has good things for them.

Of course, the day did not pass without stress. As I was putting something away in the fridge, a two quart glass pitcher broke, spilling Elmo red juice all over the refrigerator and onto the floor. Knowing this would totally stress Matt out, I hurried to clean everything up before he came home. I even managed to pull the refrigerator all the way out, clean the floor under it, and push it back into place without leaving a single scratch on the floors!!!

Easter Morning

Today we joyfully celebrated the resurrection of Jesus and with that the forgiveness of sins and hope of eternal life. This morning, as I spent time with the Lord, with Ryan beside me watching the Wiggles (because he decided to wake up at 6am), I was overcome by the Lord's purity and righteousness in comparison to my sin and humanness, making me more grateful for His gift of salvation. I spent some time mediating on the fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control. How different I would look if these "fruits" were an intrinsic part of me. I yearn to look more and more like Jesus, dying to myself each day.

Though the Easter Bunny does not come to our house, we do still celebrate Jesus' resurrection with baskets of goodies.

After much hunting, Madeline finds her basket behind the curtains. We learned that the "cold, warm, hot" clues do not work so well with a 4 year old. Words like, "check behind things", as she walked past the curtains, were much more effective.

Ryan almost had us rolling on the floor laughing. When he realized that the basket was for him, he was elated. Concerned that we might change our minds or that he might have to share with his sister, he collected as much as he could in his arms and ran for a safe place to stash his "loot". He was carrying so much that he continually dropped things and would have to stop and pick up items every few steps. It was hilarious.

Our pretty princess with our studly, mohawk man.

Here are many of the sweet children from our church eating bagels together. Sweet Claire and Madeline are becoming buddies. From left to right, we have Jacob, Ty, Ryan, Madeline, Claire, Ava, and Jackson.

Morrisville Egg Hunt

Where, you might be wondering, are the pictures of the egg hunt? This year Morrisville changed the location of the egg hunt from the community park to the Cedar Fork District Park. Since the Cedar Fork Community Center is only 2 miles away, I thought it would be a great idea to run there, thereby avoiding traffic and getting my workout in early. As I turned onto Town Hall Drive, I immediately sensed that something was wrong. Not many cars were whizzing past me and I knew this would be a crowded event. As I approached the Community Center, I realized that the Cedar Fork District Park was not located at the Cedar Fork Community Center or Elementary School. By then it was 9:30 and I knew there was no way I could run home and get to the right location in time. Of course I felt horrible, as Maddie and Ryan were anticipating an egg hunt. I profusely promised them an egg hunt as soon as they woke up from naps that afternoon (of course that meant I had to go on a frantic shopping trip during nap time to purchase candy). Thankfully, there was a playground in back of the Community Center that Madeline and Ryan enjoyed. Soon the egg hunt was history.

Here is Ryan about to shoot the ball.

Here is Ryan after shooting the ball. I think he's baffled as to what just occurred, as the last time he attempted shots, Mr. Jamie was holding him and he did not end up on the ground.

Madeline jump, jump, jumping.

Madeline and Mommy played a fun game of hopscotch.

Madeline and Ryan are perfect see-saw partners since they weigh the same amount. Mommy did have fun "poofing" them up in the air when she sat across from them.

Check out the puffed cheeks. Ryan is intent on bubbles coming forth from his wand!

Date with Daddy

Last Saturday, before things began to fall apart, Daddy took Madeline on a date. Sweet Madeline got all dressed up in her new Easter dress for their breakfast at Bojangles (a blueberry biscuit) and trip to the observation deck at the airport.

Praise God We Made It

The weekend had started out very relaxing.  Everyone slept in and after breakfast we enjoyed some family time outside.  Right as I was about to fix lunch, Ryan crumbled to the ground screaming that his stomach hurt.  This was not the first time he had complained about his stomach so I thought he was hungry.  I picked him up and carried him inside.  That's when the mayhem began.  He got sick all over me.  Not knowing what to do, I froze.  Thankfully, Matt was close by and told me to get into the garage.  I did, and moments later, more came.  My smart husband, closed the garage doors so that Ryan and I could strip down and head to the bathroom. He had no fever so after the bath I put him into bed.  About 30 minutes later I heard him crying. Yes, he was still sick and it was everywhere in his bed.  Again we cleaned up and I brought him downstairs with a big towel.  Ryan got very good at getting "things" in the bucket on Saturday.  That night we put him to bed since it had been hours since his last "event", but at 1am we awoke to a familiar sound.  Poor little guy.  On Monday, Matt and I were singing our praises that it looked like we had weathered the storm and things were over.   At 3:15 I left for a doctor's appointment and errands (of course I left the cell phone at home).  At 4:30, Matt got sick and he had to take care of the kids.  Unfortunately for him, I had prepared hot dogs and broccoli for the kids' dinner and he had to warm it up in the microwave.  When I finally returned at 7pm, he looked like a dead man.  From that moment, I started antibacterialing everything and washing hands every 10 minutes.  Though sick, Matt is always thinking forward and told me to get a bucket for Madeline and me in case we got sick in the night.  At 9:30, as I crawled into bed (in the hallway on a sheet, because there was no way I was going to share a bed with Matt), I heard "it".  I rushed to Madeline's side and helped her aim for the bucket.  All I can say, is thank goodness for the vinyl covers on the mattress and pillows!!! We had already thrown away 2 of Ryan's pillows, but Madeline's were saved.  Sick Matt made his way into Madeline's room and started cleaning up the mess while I took care of Madeline and myself.  The poor guy had to take a "break" in the middle of cleaning things up to visit the bathroom.  We moved Madeline down to the family room on a carpet of black, plastic bags and towels.  She, too got very good at getting it in the bucket.  By now it was 11pm and I was very, very scared.  Part of me was hopeful that I would not get sick and part of me was horribly scared, as this stomach bug was violent and long lasting.  At 12:30 the nausea came on and I joined my family.  Since Matt's onset was 9 hours before mine, he took over with Madeline. Praise God for that.  Though the vomiting was over by morning yesterday, Matt and I were weak, exhausted, and afflicted with horrible body aches.  Little Ry was feeling great and so was Madeline.  I am amazed at how resilient children are.  Let's just say that Matt and I have NEVER been as grateful for cable and playhouse Disney, as we were yesterday.  We could barely get up.  When the children told me they were hungry, I told them to go to the cupboard and get something (though Madeline was on a Ritz crackers and Gatorade diet yesterday). When I awoke today, I realized that Ryan had pulled all the clothes out of my drawers upstairs and had pulled out every dvd and cd we owned and placed them in a pile in the hallway.  But guess what, I did not care!!!  We now feel irreversibly bonded with the Flynn's, who went through this two weeks ago.  

So. . . stay away from the Wells' home for the next few days!!! :)  We would never want to pass this bug on.  

A few things I learned from this:

-do not feed hot dogs to children when there is potential for a stomach bug

-cover all children's mattresses and pillows with vinyl covers

-always have gatorade and crackers in the cupboard

-do as much laundry as you need to without feeling guilt that you are adding to the water deficit

-always make sure that toilets are clean so that you have something nice to look at while in the bathroom

Picture Tribute to Ryan

On Monday Daddy left for a week of travel. So what does Ryan decide to do that night. . .get croup!!! Because my wonderful neighbor, Roxann, told me months ago that if you catch croup early enough you can get steriods that will decrease its severity, I was at the pediatricians door at 8:30 this morning. I am praying that the steroids will work and that tonight will be filled with sleep for Ryan and Mommy!

When Grandma visited she came with a large bag of clothes from cousins Emily and Zachary. For whatever reason, Ryan loved these swim trunks. When I told him to put them on, he promptly placed them on his head.

Ry and Nate enjoy some guy time at Jacob's party. I actually took a ton of pictures at the party, but they are horrible. The boys move around so much that it is difficult to get shots of them together!!!

Not only did Grandma arrive with a large bag of clothing, she also brought Ryan his very own molding hair clay. Believe it or not, this mowhawk withstood the incredible winds on Saturday. Thanks Grandma!

Madeline and RyRy love their Grandma.

Mommy LOVES her babies!!!

Absolute Worse Day as a Mommy

Friday began as a promising and exciting day.  We were expecting a visit from Grandma.  The night before I had mapped out our morning so that I could finish some cleaning projects and have the children bathed and clothed by the time Grandma arrived.  By 7:30am both kids were in the bathtub and all was smooth.  Ryan told me he had to poopie and therefore he wanted to get out of the bathtub.  Of course I jumped at this potty training opportunity. Quickly, he went from bathtub to potty seat on mommy's and daddy's potty.  I could tell he was going to do it (you mommies know the precursors), so I rushed downstairs to the kitchen for a treat.  It took me a few minutes to rummage through my baking supplies to find the peanut butter chips.  This rummaging event is what turned my morning into a complete disaster, and, of course, my own foolishness for leaving a two year old on the potty by himself.  When I got back upstairs, Ryan had pooped!  Unfortunately, it occurred on the floor.  In the small amount of time I was away, he had stepped in it and picked it up.  And of course, there was pee everywhere.  From the neck down, Ryan was covered with poop smears, and he was screaming. After cleaning him off with wipes and toilet paper, I immediately placed him in the bathtub and decontaminated him.  I then instructed Madeline to start a TV show and I began the task of cleaning the floor in our toilet room.  The first thing I did was flush the toilet since I had placed as much of the "package" as possible into the toilet.  Little did I realize that Madeline had clogged the toilet right before this incident with her brother.  So yes, the toilet overflowed. Let's just say it was not pretty.  The water had already reached the main bathroom by the time I was able to grab some towels.  The water level in the toilet did not go down and already I was standing in sewage water that fully saturated my feet.  There was no choice but to plunge.  Since the toilet was brimming with water, you can imagine what occurred as I plunged.  The water on my feet rose higher and higher, as the toilet continually overflowed, and since I am not the best plunger, it took about 10 attempts before the water went down.  Then came the task of figuring out how to clean everything up without contaminating the whole bathroom and the walkway to the laundry room.  It was horrible!!!  Once everything was contained in bags, I spray bleached my feet, legs, arms and hands, and trekked to the laundry room, where the first sanitary washing machine cycle began.  I then took a trip to the trash can in the garage and started another show for the kids.  They ended up watching a lot of TV Friday morning, and the only thing I managed to do was bleach my bathroom and shower before Grandma arrived.  I truly and genuinely have a new appreciation for plumbers and trash man.  And if Ryan is in a diaper until he's five, you will understand why.  I have been scarred for life in the potty training arena.