A Single Spark

Once again, my talented brother John, aka the artist WhyteLyte, is making music. This time, however, he's taking it one step further and using his gift to raise money for the victims in Haiti. For just $1 (or more if you are so inclined), you can download his newest release "A Single Spark" and 100% of the proceeds will go to help the Haitians. Please visit the following site: http://whytelyte.bandcamp.com/track/a-single-spark-haiti-relief-benefit?auto=mp3-320

to download his song. I'm so proud of John and his music and his huge heart for helping others -- Way to go, John! What are you waiting for? Go download, already!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

For Valentine's Day, we went to the "sweetheart dinner" our church hosts. This year the theme was "From the Heart" and we had a really great evening!

The youth of the church provided the childcare. This is the view of the banquet all set up from the window of the room where the kiddos played.

And this is the view of the kids from our table. They thought it was so fun to be able to look down at us eating our dinner. We were served a delicious lasagna dinner and had a great time hanging out with our friends: Kyle & Sara, Amanda & Chris, and Matt & Jacque. There were 100 people there, ranging in age from 4 months to 95 years old!

There was some great musical entertainment by the Lawrence High orchestra and a very talented young pianist. The best entertainment, though, was when the "Men of Immanuel" (i.e. all men in attendance) got up to serenade their sweethearts. They sang "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" and actually sounded really good!Here's Russ singing his heart out to me. If you look very closely behind Russ, you'll see Kyle's right ear. . . it was his first time at the banquet; in a couple of years, he'll be brave enough to get in the front row with Russ.

Earlier in the day, we got some pictures of our Little Miss on her first Valentine's Day. Russ got me a stuffed bear on our first Valentine's Day together, so he thought he should do the same for the newest woman in his life. She really liked it.

"Hmmm, that bear is so cute. . ."

"I could just eat it up!"

"I'm so funny!"

For Valentine's Day, Russ got me these beautiful roses. It was our 14th Valentine's Day together, and the 14th time I've made Russ banana bread for the occasion.

Our kids sure got spoiled by all of their grandparents. They got lots of fun cards (some of which even had MONEY in them) and some yummy candy, too.

This was the card Violet got from Grandma Cheryl. The best thing about this Valentine's Day was remembering last year. February 14, 2009, was the day we learned there was going to be an addition to our family, and now we can't imagine our lives without our precious little Violet.

I can't believe Russ and I have celebrated 14 Valentine's Days together. We are so blessed to have our beautiful children, and especially to have each other! Hope you all had a great day spent with those you love!

Violet's Trip to the ER

Last week was so busy, I forgot to blog about our trip to the ER with Violet. (I was reminded at church this morning when everyone was asking how she was, and wondering why I hadn't put anything on our blog about it!) Anyway, last week at church Violet sounded just awful. She wasn't breathing well, and kept trying to cough, but couldn't really get an effective cough produced. I realized that is yet another issue with having a cleft palate; it makes it very difficult to get any force behind a cough. So after church, Russ and I decided to go ahead and take her in. I was honestly thinking she probably had RSV and I was envisioning a similar course to Oliver's 12 day hospitalization when he was a baby. They did the RSV nasal wash, and thankfully it came back negative. Then they did a chest x-ray and found an infiltrate in her right upper lobe of her lungs. I was so thankful that we were able to come back home and not spend our week in the hospital. She was started on antibiotics and breathing treatments, and a week later, we're doing MUCH better.

As with everything, Violet has been taking her treatments in stride.

Even if she doesn't look thrilled to have the mask over her face, she doesn't put up a fight. She's such a good girl.
Hopefully, this will be our only 'issue' this winter. We're so thankful it was only a minor case of pneumonia.

Spa Day!

My mom decided we were past due for some "girl time" and we figured what better way to spend it than a day at the spa! So yesterday morning, we took off bright and early to head down to Lake Ozark, the home of Lodge of Four Seasons and Spa Shiki. My mom had been to this spa before and always RAVED about how wonderful it was. She was so excited to introduce us to this true "spa experience." (Unfortunately, Brynn was sick so Sara wasn't able to join us this time, but we'll make sure there's a NEXT time. . .)
We had been on the road for about 3 hours (within a half hour of arrival) when we received a call from Kathy at the spa informing us that they had a major water main break and the spa was without water. She asked us if we would like to reschedule, which was obviously not an option since we had been planning it for awhile and were almost there. She said we could still get our massages, but the pedicures would have to be cancelled. We were a little disappointed, but knew we could still have a great time! One advantage we quickly discovered when we got there was that nearly everyone else HAD cancelled so we basically had the entire 15,000 square foot spa to ourselves! We got in our robes and ordered lunch, which was served right in the spa. Kathy even gave us complimentary wine and dessert to help make our experience that much more special.

After lunch, we relaxed in the whirlpool a bit while awaiting our FABULOUS massages.

After our massages, we took advantage of the sauna and meditation area to relax even more.

Late in the afternoon, it was announced that the water was back on! Although we still couldn't get our pedicures (they had already sent those staff home), we did get to use the steam room, and Kathy made us one of her yummy smoothies at the bar.

While sipping on our smoothies, the spa manager came over and we had a great time visiting with her. As a perfect ending to our spa day, she presented us with these complimentary martini vouchers to use later in the evening.

After showering and getting ready, we enjoyed a delicious dinner, and our martinis of course, at Baxter's.

I don't know if it was the extremely relaxing day, the fact that we hadn't had much sleep the night before, or perhaps the martinis, but Joy & I fell asleep pretty early and enjoyed a full night's sleep. (Mom fell asleep some time after us, I think.) This is the view over the lake from our room at the Lodge, very pretty even in winter!

What a fun and relaxing day with the girls -- I can guarantee we will be returning!

Super Bowl

We had our annual Superbowl party on Sunday with the family. What a great game! As is tradition, we wear our favorite football jersey to the party. (Oliver wasn't wearing a jersey, but thought he needed in the picture anyway.)

Oliver was wearing a football outfit, and I even dug through the boys' old clothes to find a cute football outfit for Violet, although you can't really see it in the picture.

It's amazing what the right accessories can do to make an 'all boy' outfit look pretty cute!

Best buds, Calvin & Tyler:

Hug vs. headlock: your call.

Toward the end of the game, the kiddos all got in their pajamas. Yes, Violet does look like a boy in this "future quarterback" sleeper. (Is it wrong to make her sleep in a headband?)

And the boys all had their matching pajamas that Grandma Cheryl got them.

What a fun night!

Corder Celebrations

On Saturday evening, we headed to Corder for some fun! We celebrated Grandma Ruth's birthday and my Uncle Jerry's promotion to Professor at Central Missouri State. Aunt Karla threw a great party!

Here are Grandma Ruth and her daughters:

The food was fabulous, but Oliver was more excited about the table FULL of pop!

After dinner, it was time for some dancing. Aunt Karla and Uncle Jerry got the first dance.

The kids hit the dance floor with cousin Julie's light-up hula hoop. Did I mention there was even a live band at this party?

Calvin & Danielle dancing, so sweet.

Violet spent much of the night cuddling in Aunt Cheryl's arms.

Happy birthday, Grandma; Congrats, Uncle Jerry; and Thanks for a great time, Aunt Karla!

Snow Babies

As if we haven't had enough snow already this winter, this is what I woke up to see out the window this morning:

Within a couple of hours, there was a solid 6 inches of snow on everything!

As the snow fell, I remembered there was an adorable snow outfit I should get out of the closet for Violet to wear. Grandma Jo had given this outfit to Calvin when he was born. He was due December 31, so she didn't want to get him a "Baby's First Christmas" outfit (although as it turned out, he was indeed here before Christmas), but she wanted to get him something special for winter. She found this adorable "Baby's First Snow" sleeper for him. The winter Calvin was born was very atypical in that there was NO SNOW until March 20! So I dressed Calvin in his special outfit when he was almost 3 months old! Look how smiley he was, and such a chunk. . .The winter Oliver was born was very similar to this winter, in that there was snow on the ground pretty much from December to March. There's my smiley boy! (He was also just about 3 months old in this picture.)

And here's our Little Miss today, at just over 4 months old, she doesn't fill it out nearly as well as her brothers did. But she certainly looks just as cute!

And as always, the boys have to "help" when I get my camera out. Oliver's exact words, "I'm not touching her, Mom." What do you think?
Calvin's usually good at getting smiles out of his little sister.

I just love the little snowman feet in this sleeper.

I would really be okay with this snow melting quickly. Who else is ready for Spring?!?