Trying to relax

We have been trying to relax, and we are, but some days are better than others. We have mostly been very tired, and trying to get lots of rest. 

I loved Liam's bike helmet!

Trying to enjoy the nice weather!

Bed head. She had just woken up...slept 11.5 hours...minus the part where she woke up and got in my bed.

Friday was a busy day, and I needed to eat, so we went to Subway. I am not one of those people who just forgets to eat, but lately we have been so busy meals are an after thought or non existent for me...not good. We are doing better, but I just had a lot to get done that day so we ate out.

My silly shopping buddy

Pretending to talk on the phone 

This is us trying to relax. But it was windy so we went inside.

This bird was having trouble with all the wind. He appeared stationary for a bit.

Emma wanted to join me.

Her worm from school, apparently they were 'fishing.'

She put her tattoo on all by herself.

Building a robot monster thing from Lowes

All done!

Anyone need a house cleaner? 

Emma's version of putting the chips away.

Aunt Faith is engaged! Emma was trying on her flower girl dress from Aunt Grace's wedding last year.

Quiet time

Every night before bed, Emma and I talk about our day. I always ask what her favorite part was, and she asks me, too. I very often say that my quiet time was my favorite. If you know me you know that I love to study the Bible. I love to know for myself what God has said, to 'chew' on passages that I don't understand until they make sense. I love to learn more and more who God is, and I need constant reminders of His faithfulness, love, grace, mercy, forgiveness and sovereignty. It is literally food for my soul. Anyway, the Bible study method that I use is the inductive study method. It involves observation (what does it say) interpretation (what does it mean) and application (how do I live in light of it). The observation part includes marking important words, to help you slow down and really focus on the text. Plus I love all the colors. :) Emma has seen me do this, and now that she is beginning to be able to recognize words, she is doing it, too. Today, while I was doing my Bible study, she did her's too. So far she knows "God," "Jesus," and "love." If I give her a certain text, I will sometimes let her do extra words, but today she was just doing it on her own. I love that she is doing this, even if it is hard for me to let my 4 year old take a marker to her Bible. It does help her to start to learn to read, though. She always asks me to show her certain words when we read.

Having her quiet time

Marking her words. She did good. 'You' was a word I had her do another time, so she did that, too. 

Emma's Bible. :)❤️

Mommy's Bible, so you can see she is copying me.

Sick days, but feeling better

Yesterday Emma was pretty sick. She had a temperature of 102.2 and only ate crackers and ice cream. She just want herself. But when I finally realized the Mucinex had no Tylenol in it and gave her the right medicine, she started getting better. Oops. Today she was much more like herself, you know, wanting to do everything herself. :/ Oh well, she did fold an entire load of laundry by herself without asking...and she put it away. And she helped me take the trash out. She really is a good helper. 

Yesterday

I never mind the snuggles on sick days.,:)

Emma wanted to take pictures of Pepper, so I let her.

I guess she was after a lizard 

And then gave up and was stuck

I was having my quiet time and I saw her run in the laundry room after the dryer beeped. This is what I found.

We each had a basket. I just let her do the whole load. She put them away, too! Definitely feeling better.

Shopping and relaxing

This weekend we had a few errands to run, but we really wanted to relax and be at home. Saturday we went to the JBF sale and got a few clothes and books. We also ran a couple other errands and had a quick picnic in the back of the van in between stores...at Emma's request. Sunday Emma we went to chapel and then tried to enjoy the nice weather.

Taco Bell picnic

Going for a walk

Someone needed a break

She woke up coughing on Sunday, so I hid her in an empty office and let her watch Shaun the Sheep. The lollipop is supposed to be like a cough drop, don't know if it helps though.

Painting nails while Pepper tries to find a lizard in the bush.

Rainbow toes

Silly dog

We tried to make yogurt pizza dough, which was delicious the last time we made it. This time I set off the smoke alarm. We had leftovers instead.

Somebody got ahold of my phone and took a selfie.

Sorry for the blurry pucture. We had a rough night and Emma woke up with a fever this morning. So we are having a sick day today.

Pepper

Right after Steven left, Pepper had surgery. A few weeks after that she developed a cough and then was having trouble on our runs and walks. She collapsed once, and another time just had to lay down and rest. Then she started to throw up her food. After a while she just wasn't able to keep anything down. We took her to the base vet, who did an X-ray but recommended we go off base for more conclusive information. So we did. We found a very nice veterinary facility off base, the biggest one I've ever seen. They did some blood work and had a radiologist look at her X-rays. On Wednesday they called to say that Pepper has 3 masses, one by her heart, one in her lower left abdomen and one in the upper abdomen, something about lymph nodes, and possibly even another problem with her stomach that they would need an ultrasound for, if we wanted. Right now she has been able to go for very short walks, and is keeping down small meals. She is happy, she is hungry, but does have trouble breathing and coughing at times. For now I think we will continue to do small walks and small meals and see how she does. At this point there is not much else we can do for her. I would be lying if I said I wasn't heartbroken over this, as I have shed lots of tears this week...and I may have given her bacon and eggs for breakfast yesterday. I plan on spoiling her as long as we can. 

Waiting under the table for crumbs.

Found this today on Facebook. Steven and Pepper were having a moment after he returned from a 6week TDY while we lived in Texas.

Day for Kids

Today the youth center on base hosted The Day For Kids event. April is the month of the military child, and they do this every year. There is face painting, games, bouncy houses, food, etc.  And Sparky and McGruff, which Emma is apparently still deathly afraid of. She did great at first, played on an obstacle course bouncy house for a while. Then we walked around and for a little too close to McGruff. She literally was crying and screaming and begging to leave, but still wanted a snow cone. I'm sure it looked like she was having a fit, but she was really just very scared. We ended up finding the quiet/sensory play room inside where we spent the next hour quietly playing. Afterwards she was ready to go back out with her new friend, and Sparky and McGruff had left. We are very, very tired and hopefully we sleep good tonight.

Well, sort of.

In.

Over.

Through.

Out

Up

Down!

She did this like 30 times. Normally she doesn't like these, but tonight she loved it.

They also had a big dinosaur one.

In the sensory room. She made her name with play dough.

Kinetic sand & real sand. She did a lot of stuff in this room. Honestly I even enjoyed just getting to sit and be quiet for a while. We have had a long week.

Amanda was a great help with Emma.we actually played with her and her sister at the mall in Yuba City the other day. She recognized Emma today.

Watching the cloggers 

Then we found Ada.

It's a little blurry, but they looked mad. 

And lastly we had to do the rock climbing wall.