i haven't written in awhile. hello, state the obvious. last week i was dealing with a sick kid and husband. stephen had the ear infection and continued to run a fever for several day after starting antibiotics. then i noticed a couple of sores on his tongue, we thought it was hand, foot and mouth disease. but it turned out the little girl in his class that we thought he got it from didn't have the hand, foot & mouth, but some other weird thing. long story short, too late, he's better now. mike in the meantime got sick as well with whatever stevo had b/c he had swollen gums & a huge sore on his tongue. he's better (thank god) i love you honey. but am i right when i say that men are such babies when they are sick? can i get an amen? amen.
during the sick kid/husband drama i managed to get into a car wreck in the parking lot of stephens school. good times. it was my fault. damn suv drivers that try to call their pediatricians office & then proceed to reverse from their parking spot without looking in their rearview. all i can say is thank GOD that the family was in their car and not on foot!! so needless to say i have heeded the warning and am paying better attention while driving.
i am oh so completely bummed out this week. an acquaintance of mines daughter passed away on monday. Dylan was just over four years old and has been battling a brain tumor since she was 6 months old. i only met her a few times, so we were not close, but i am so sad for her family. for her. that she didn't get to grow up and live life. didn't get to go to school, learn to swim, dance ballet, fall in love, see her baby sisters grow up. her parents seem so strong, so connect with God and Jesus. i am in awe of their grace. the second thing that has my tummy in knots is about my friend Michelle. her third son, Rhyder, is due in september. they have found out through a series of tests that he has trisomy 18. they are 99% sure about this. this is where there is an extra 18th chromosome, so instead of there being 2 there are 3. here is a link that has more info on it if you are curious: http://www.trisomy18.org/site/PageServer?pagename=whatisT18_whatis. so for a lack of better words, this sucks. please pray for her, her baby, and her family. michelle and dave are such lovely people. kind, loving, present, compassionate, REAL. REALLY real. i am so blessed to have met them a little over a year ago.

p.s.

yeah.... i had masons dr look into my ear, and i have a hole in my eardrum (this is from stephen banging me in the ear last week) i was instructed to go to an ent immediately so that they can track my healing progress, or fix if it does not heal. so i am not completely paranoid, it was as bad as i thought. obviously not bad enough that i've rushed to the dr yet. yes mom, i will make an appt.....

easter

we had a lovely easter weekend (although it started with me rushing out of my coffee group, that i was hosting, to take stevo to the dr. after i spotted goo in his ear, to find out he has an ear infection). we worked in the yard saturday and dyed easter eggs. had some family and friends over on sunday to hunt eggs and eat yummy honey baked ham. here are some pics:

hallettsville, tx

so we just got home from a visit with some family that lives down in halletsville (about 2 hours south of here). we went to see mikes niece haley(his brothers daughter) to celebrate her birthday that is next week(which we happen to share, the 9th). i am so glad we have finally gotten our stuff together to do it, we've really blown it on like every other of her previous birthdays. it was a blast! i forgot how much i like to be around her mom alicia, and how sorry i am for my own sake - not hers - that she and kelly are no longer married. mason got to fish and caught, with mikes help, about 6-7 bass :) both of the boys got to drive a golf cart, yeah thanks aunt alicia! mason promptly asked me when we got on the road if he could drive home. i can see that he's not letting go of that one so easily. we got to see a wild hog that got caught in one of their traps, which was kind of scary looking and stinky. it was so nice to hang out and watch the cows, oh and i saw 2 dear prancing by when we were driving out through the property. mason LOVED being out in the country!! stephen also enjoyed himself. it was a great day trip, and the boys did suprisingly well on the road. mike wanted to bring the car dvd player, and i guess a 2 hour drive is justifiably long enough for it. but for some reason i said no, i mean WE never got to watch tv, right?!?!?! we just had to shut up and deal with it. so i realized i really do like the country, but could not live that far out. maybe on the outskirts of a small city or LARGE town.
of course i forgot my camera, luckily mimi took hers, but wether or not i get pics from her is another story.

permanent damage

one of the things i enjoy doing with stephen on wednesdays while mason is at school is going to the story time at the library. for any of you who have little ones and have never taken your child, you must must must check out your local library and the programs they offer. such a wonderful service provided and such a fabulous morning activity for FREE. momma likes free.
so this morning during our lovely time together stephen WHACKS me in the right ear with his big, hard noggin. i immediately started hearing in echos, as if i am standing in an empy bathroom. so i'm sure that it will be ok (not really- i'm convinced i will never hear the same again), whether on its own or by something the dr. can do (i hope i hope i hope) i mean if my kids high-pitched wailing has not caused me to lose my hearing, yet, then surely there is hope? i am such a drama queen.
kids should come with warnings on them. after all of the slams, kicks, head-buts, biting, slapping, whacking, scratching that i've endured over the last 4 years and 4 months you'd think i would have the bob & weave move down. good times.