Abby's Birthday and other bad blogging habits

I don't feel like I've been taking a lot of pictures and I definitely have not been keeping up here so I'm just going to squish it all in for now.

First off, Abby is now 4 years old!!  She was so excited for her birthday but in many ways has been more excited about Easter so we had an Easter themed birthday party.  It was a very small guest list because I wasn't in the mood to recreate Megan's monstrosity but it was perfect!  The kids played we had lunch and cupcakes and then an Easter egg hunt which they loved.  Then they played some more and went home and we had naps!  It was a good day!

You can't see her face really well but I love the look.

Yes, she's wearing a Buzz Lightyear costume and yes it is way too small for her and no, neither one of us cares!

I bought this flower pot arrangement for cupcakes for her 2nd birthday and we have used it ever since.  She loves it.  And I would say that it was definitely worth the money!

The Easter egg hunt was a lot of fun and William's first -- at least as a mobile toddler.  Last year at Easter he wasn't even crawling I don't think.  He did not understand it at all but just wandered around with his paper bag watching everyone pick up eggs.

After school when Megan was home we had a second egg hunt so she could have some fun too.

William actually picked up one egg and put it in the basket.  I added one and Megan added another and then he dumped them all out.

Grandma tried to help him understand by showing him that inside the egg was chocolate.  He was incredibly skeptical.  Even after she unwrapped it he didn't want it but finally took it, licked it, and then put the whole thing in his mouth.

However, what's the point of hunting eggs when you can just take them from your sisters?  Ok so he does understand more than we think . . .

Then it was dinner and cupcakes again with the family and presents of course!

These presents were sitting in my room during the party and Abby had to show them to everyone.  She also told everyone that we saw that day that she was four years old.  Not a statement to inspire congratulations so I had to clarify every time that it was her birthday and then she got the reaction she was looking for!

Yesterday Megan found a stray egg in the grass and very excitedly brought it in to show me.  When she opened it it was full of ants.  I screamed, she screamed and threw it down.  The ants were all over the carpet and we vacuumed them up.  My mom said that judging by our reaction she thought it was some large bug but Texas ants are mean, biting things!  They're bad enough!

Abby keeps asking me if she's still 4 by the way.

So what else?

We got Megan's school pictures.

We actually didn't order them.  Apparently they send you the package anyway to try to guilt you into buying it ($50!!!!  NO way!) and then shred them when you return them if you don't want them.  What a waste.  Was it wrong of me to take a picture of it?  Probably . . . 

Megan is really coming along in her reading.  She got a super reader award at school and I had to take pictures of her reading Green Eggs and Ham to Abby the other day.  I love hearing her read and seeing her excited to do it. 

The super reader award!

She was very upset afterwards that she didn't get the star student award.  I explained to her that she got it last quarter and how very special it was but it was another child's turn to get that award.  I think she takes it as a criticism but it may also just be wanting an award.  I'm reading a book called The Highly Sensitive Child that I'm hoping will help me understand and parent her better.

We had some more incredible, picturesque Texas weather.  These are CLOUDS behind our house last week.  The layers of colors were amazing and the pictures of course don't do it justice because you could clearly see the clouds rolling and moving.  It was an absolutely incredible sight. 

Today I had my 6 weeks post-partum check and am cleared for all activity although I still have some lingering irritation with my incision.  Apparently that is normal and will take a long time to go away.  The recovery for this hasn't been bad I guess, just annoying.  Plus my mom left today.  It will be good for her to get home and for me to occupy myself in running my house and raising my kids again but I'm not going to lie -- it was a hard day.  I feel like in some ways the evidence of having Aaron has been wiped away and sometimes I feel like it just isn't real and that really bothers me.  I'm also very close to my mom and she has been a huge support to me while she's been here.  She kind've allowed me to check out for a while and deal with things as well as heal physically and that has been a tremendous help.  I feel like I can do what I need to do now and continue to heal myself and face the world.  Well maybe face the world.  That may take a little more time.  I don't know that we necessarily choose our families but knowing that the Lord loves us and knows us better than we know ourselves I think that he knows what families will be best for us.  I'm really grateful for mine.  They are loving and supportive and throw in a good dose of laughter.  I don't know if I ever posted what happened with the memorial service.  Three of my four brothers came.  Mark and Adrienne both came from Philadelphia, Danny from Canada, and Jeff from Washington D.C.  All last minute flights that cost them financially I'm sure.  And it meant so much to me that they would do that.  James couldn't because of tests and things at school but it meant so much that he wanted to.  I love and appreciate them all so much for their sacrifices  to support us.  Chopper also had a brother and sister come and then of course our parents.  It has been such a blessing to be so surrounded by love, I can't even say what it means to me.  The outpouring of love and strength from family and friends has been tremendous!