Grandma

I just wanted to post this picture of the girls and grandma (their great grandma) from our last visit with her in March. Grandma went to her Heavenly home on Saturday. Over the last few weeks, I have thought a lot about my grandma. The girls have been playing outside a lot lately because it has been so warm here in Cincinnati, and their feet are literally black at the end of the day. Their dirty little feet bring back memories of when I was a little girl and I use to go and stay with grandma during the summer. My feet use to get black from playing so hard too, and she would have me climb up onto the sink in the bathroom at the end of the day, and she would scrub my feet and massage them for me every night. Was I spoiled or what??? She would then take my socks and scrub them out on an old washboard, which I thought was so cool. I now have her washboard, but I don't scrub any socks out on it because my girls usually don't wear socks!! I guess we are just a bunch a of hillbillys, or maybe we are just lucky to have Crocs nowdays!! We love you Grandma!!!

Earthquake!

This morning around 5:40, I was awakened to my bed rattling and the necklaces on my dresser shaking. At first I thought it was raining and one of the girls was in my room shaking the bed trying to wake me up. I sat straight up in bed, but no one was there! Then I wondered what Dan was doing. I laid back down and thought, "I wondered if we just had an earthquake? Oh, not here in Cincinnati!" Sure enough, when my alarm went off, there was an earthquake around Evavansville, and we were feeling it here in Cincinnati! Dan said he didn't feel a thing, but Grace said that it woke her up and that her pictures in her room were skaking. It only lasted about 20 seconds, but still we were shaken this morning!

Emma Gets Glasses!

How can you not think she is the cutest thing?! I agree with you, Olivia!!!

This is my intelligent look just for you, "Drace".

Today was a big day for Emma, as she got glasses! We knew it was coming after a visit to the opthamologist 6 months ago, so it wasn't a big shock. Emma is pretty excited about it because now she is just like her big sisters and she has a case to put her glasses in (it's the little things in life). She got glasses because she has amblyopia (lazy eye). She was seeing 20/25 out of her left eye and 20/40 out of her right eye. Not nearly as bad as Olivia (amblyopia can be hereditary), who was 20/20 and 20/100, but Emma was bad enough to warrant glasses and a patch 2 hours a day over her left eye for the next 3 months. I called her my "little pirate" at the doctor's office, and she just said, "Argh!" I must say, though, that she does look pretty darn cute! Grace says she looks intelligent. Olivia just looks at her and says, "Isn't she the cutest thing you have ever seen in those glasses?" Needless to say, Emma will not have a confidence problem!

Late Night Blogs

O.K., after I posted the "Fanily" Retreat, I realized I had spelled Family wrong! I have got to quit posting late at night when I'm tired. It says I posted at 7:30 or something, but it is 10:30, and, obviously, past my bedtime! Goodnight!!

Fanily Retreat

Last weekend we went on a Family Retreat to Camp Lakeview in Indiana with our church. The weather was great and we had a fantastic time. The girls were in their glory crafting, playing games, going on scavenger hunts, and even eating ice cream out of a gutter! Each family member painted a glass (cup) to symbolize our cups of blessings that we have been given. It is a great memento from the weekend! The evening ended with a devotion and songs around the campfire, and, of course, S'Mores! What would a campfire be without S'Mores!? It was great fun, and boy were the girls worn out from all the activity and the fresh air!! Grace even asked if she could have her 9th birthday at Camp Lakeview! (No, they did not pay her to say that!)

Family Retreat

COSI (Center of Science and Industry)

Over spring break we took the girls up to Columbus for a night, stayed in a hotel, and then went to COSI all day the next day. We also made a brief trip to the State Capitol building. In the fall, my parents had gone to Washington, D.C. and mom was showing the girls pictures of the U.S. Capital Building and the sniper. She explained to them why he was there, etc. (sad, isn't it?) While we were at the Ohio Capitol Building, I overheard Olivia ask Dan, "Where is the man with the gun?" We reassured her that there wasn't one and continued looking at the statues on the grounds, etc. All of the sudden, a security guard came walking around the building, and Olivia's face went white! She pretty much clung to my jacket until we got back to the car. Poor thing!!! COSI was great! We saw shows on how to explode things, rats playing basketball, fear responses, and the weather. It was an excellent experience!

Easter

O.K., now I hope I have this figured out! Sorry about the earlier, empty Easter post. Here are some pictures from Easter. The girls were very excited and up very early (6 a.m.). They weren't up that early for Christmas!! Hope you enjoy these pictures. I especially like the one where Emma is looking over Grace's shoulder like, "did you get something better than I did?" She is the candy queeen, so she probably was really checking out the situation!

Let's Hope this Works!

I had to pick Grace up from school early today because she wasn't feeling well and she has a fever. We thought we would try to get this started before lunch and maybe after lunch we'll get fancy and add pictures, etc. Pray that it works!!!