Another birthday!

Claire turned 8 on Sunday! She designed and helped make and decorate this cake. She chose Littlest Pet Shop as her theme, and squiggly candles that were supposed to sparkle, but didn't. It was our first experience with the spray-on cake coloring. I tried to let Claire do it herself, but I'm a bit of a perfectionist and kept yelling, "Not so close!"



Mia loved getting the gifts on her birthday, but was not too thrilled with Claire getting gifts on hers. Oh, the joys of sibling rivalry...


Ahhh - enjoying the last day of my week off in our little backpacking hammock on the front porch.



Claire's birthday money was burning a hole in her pocket. We went to Wal-mart, and I managed to hold her back to just some gum and some curly straws.

A healthy and nutritious supper of Cheese Puffs. We rarely get them, but they surely are yummy!

Surgery Day

Mia Ruth had to have her tonsils and adenoids out today. Her tonsils were so large they just about touched. When we picked her up in Guatemala City she snored, gurgled and gasped so much in her sleep, we thought she was not going to live until we could get her home!

We had to arrive 2 hours in advance of the surgery. It's boring enough as an adult, but to try to entertain a kid through that is tough. The nurses offered her a wagon to ride back to surgery in. It was fun to sit in.


Checking the tires...


My dad is a chaplain at the hospital, and he was on duty today. Mia wanted me to take a photo of him with her bunnies.



In the end she decided to ride back in the wheelchair.


All groggy, waiting to be wheeled back to the operating room.


She was really agitated coming out of the anesthesia, crying and switching back and forth between Mommy and Daddy. Finally it wore off, and she was quiet.


2 hours after the surgery started, we were on our way home. She's been watching some Dora and some Christmas cartoons this afternoon . . . and drinking a lot of juice and Gatorade. Here she is eating some ice cream. We've got Jello gelling in the fridge. I wonder if we'll ever be able to get her back on a normal diet.


Yum! This recovery stuff is not bad!

Muchos partidos! (and muchos photos)

July has been party month for us! First Uncle Dino's Mexican fiesta last weekend. Then last Saturday was Mia Ruth's 5th birthday. After many changes of mind, she finally decided on a Diego theme. I really don't know why --- she's all about Dora --- it's the only show she'll watch. I found a Diego candle, and decided to do a cake on the cheap. I think my jungle leaves looked more like crocodiles, but oh well... The grandparents and Aunt Jan and Uncle Dino came for lunch. Nana had to leave early, so I didn't get a picture of her with Mia.



She seemed to like it, crocodiles and all ...










After lunch the guys took off on a bike ride, and Jan and I took the girls to the park to try out Mia's new Dora bike. She did pretty well for her first time. Her foot placement on the pedals was a big concern to her, and as her feet slipped around on them, she kept looking at them and would nearly run off the track.


In the end we saw a dog that scared her, and it really helped her pick up speed.


Once I uploaded all of my pictures I discovered that I had a smudge on my lens - grrr. At least it wasn't right in the middle. :-)








Ooh, I wish I could do this - I think it would feel really good on the degenerated disk in my low back. I'd just never be able to get down!






THEN on Sunday our church threw a "Welcome To The Family" party for Mia Ruth! We all had such a fun time. There was swimming ...



Slip N Slide ...


frozen pops ...
two pinatas (there was such a mad scramble for this candy, you'd think it was the last morsel of food these kids were ever going to get) ...



food and fellowship ...


and a HUGE and beautiful cake! Thank you, church family!


More pictures to come --- Claire's birthday is next weekend!

FFF - My Favorite Feline Friend

For today's Favorite Foto Friday, I'm posting some pictures of my Favorite Feline Friend, our Zoe. Anyone who knows me knows that I am crazy for cats. Of all the cats I've had in my life, this is one of the best, and unfortunately she has disappeared. She's been gone for nearly a month. She left for a couple of days twice before leaving for good, so I think she must have been sick and we didn't know.


Even though we got her a few years before Claire came along, she was always very sweet and gentle with Claire.



And tolerant...





All cats have some quirk, and Zoe's quirk was that she preferred warm water. We keep the water bowl in our bathroom, and we'd hear that bowl scraping across the floor in the middle of the night, telling us that she wanted some warm drink. If we didn't respond, she'd tip it over and spill the old cold water out. It used to annoy me so much, but I'd get up every night now just to have her back.





I still find myself standing at the door over and over again, watching for her to come running up the steps. I keep praying that if she's dead, God will bring her back to life, because who would know? :-) We'll see . . . I'll keep watching . . .