Meeting Blue

Yesterday we went to Sprout Studio to "meet Blue." We arrived 30 minutes early since I had no idea what to expect. The kids played happily while asking every few minutes, "Is Blue here yet?" Only to hear my reply of, "Not yet." Then it happened. Blue entered the room! ...And the children gathered around...at least most of them...Mackenzie stayed right by my side while Josiah is the one in the navy blue shirt and blue jeans running toward Blue!
Then we waited in line to have a brief one-on-one time with Blue. Perfect for pictures! Mackenzie watched all the other kids go up to Blue and smile for the camera. Let me tell you she was one determined little girl. Her hands were visibly trembling, but she gave no other outward signs of just how nervous she really was about this. She never admitted to any of it! She walked up toward the yellow dot on the floor, just as she was asked to do, and turned to smile for the picture. She made sure she was close enough for the picture, but not too close to Blue! Too funny. She has come along ways as she used to be terrified of people like this and Chuck E. Cheese. :)
Josiah, on the other hand, was thrilled! He would not stop looking at Blue long enough to look at the camera. His facial expression while looking up at Blue says it all--delight and wonder! :)
Here we are giving Blue on last farewell as she is leaving Sprout. Josiah liked the pat on the head that he received; Mackenzie even decided to give Blue a five, but Blue did not actually see her. That's okay. It was a fun day.

Sweetness

Aren't they sweet?!? Usually we ride in the van, but one day last week we rode in the car instead. The car seats in the car are much closer together; Mackenzie's actually too tall for that car seat, but we have kept the set to use as back up. So. Here we are, just riding along. We hear giggles from the backseat. A glance over our shoulders, and this is what we saw: Josiah kissing Mackenzie's hand!!! What sweetness. Little Romeo.
(Yes, they are in their p.j.'s already!)

Dollywood

Last Saturday Papa and Lili (my dad and Lisa) came to visit, and we all went to Dollywood! We had a marvelous time...and all 18 of these pictures prove it! Yep, it was the Barbecue and Bluegrass Festival.
Poppi & Lili with Mackenzie and Josiah.
David & Me with Mackenzie and Josiah.
Papa with Mackenzie in the orange car; David with Josiah in the green car. This was Josiah's first time to be tall enough (36 in) to ride the Veggie Tales Roller coaster. He was delighted to get on, but wasn't too sure what to think when it was all said and done!
Lili and Mackenzie getting off the Flying Elephants.
Mackenzie & Josiah flying in the Bumble Bee.

Mackenzie and Josiah riding the pigs.

"Please, Poppi, Can we each pick a duck?!"
"Oh, Thank you, Poppi! We love our new ducks!"
Josiah with his yellow duck.
Josiah driving Lili at the Watson Motor Company.
Mackenzie driving Papa at the Watson Motor Company.

Papa riding the carousel...and Mackenzie to his right!
Lili riding the carousel...and Mackenzie to her left!
Papa and Mackenzie riding the carousel.
Lili helping Mackenzie get down.
Sweet picture at the end of a full day at Dollywood! We even rode the train and ate lunch there, too! A big thank you to my dad and Lisa for coming to visit us. A wonderfully fun day at Dollywood.

Baby Pics

You asked, so here they are: Baby Pictures--lots of 'em. Have fun!!! The first ones are of me (April) and the last three (that's all I had) are of David. My challenge to you is this: post your own baby pics on your blog, too, and leave me a comment so I can see them! April, 5 months, with Daddy! :)

April, 4 weeks old.
April, about 6 weeks old, with Mommy. :)
Mommy and April.

April, about 5 months old, in crib.
April, umm yeah. Don't study this one too closely...just had to post it as I think at a glance this picture looks a lot like one of my children. ;)
April with the classic tricycle pose.
April
April feeding Evan, her brother, cheerios! (There's the blond hair, folks.)

April, 3 1/2 years old, and Evan, 2 1/2 years old. April, about 3 1/2 years old. (I have a pic of Mackenzie wearing this same dress only she was 2 years old...I'll have to find that and post it sometime.)
David, 11 months old.
David, 4 years old.
David, 4 1/2 years old.

Alright. Now it's your turn. I want to see YOUR baby pictures!!!

Also, I'm interested in feedback about who looks like whom, if you have any thoughts on the subject.

Josiah's Announcement

We (all four of us) went out to dinner. You know, out at a sit-down restaurant. O'Charley's, to be exact. Nice enough place to have been stunned by this:

Josiah, who is standing in the booth beside David, opens his mouth and burps--real loud. My eyes got huge as I exchanged a look with David. You know the one...a combination of "who heard that" embarrassment plus "that was too funny" giggly grin. Yeah. The look was no sooner exchanged when Josiah belted out, "I burped!" He smiled so proudly as he giggled at himself. Oh, no...now it's getting funnier...then he paused. After a brief moment of serious expression, Josiah announced loud enough for all hear, "I pee peed!"

Yep, that's my boy. ;)

My David

Happy Birthday, David!!!
This is David somewhere around 17 months old. Isn't he absolutely adorable?!?

(Photo courtesy of his parents; I have a framed copy!) :)

Sprout

Yesterday after taking Mackenzie to "school," Josiah asked me to take him fishing! Umm, we're not really camping and fishing type of people so this request surprised me. I began to explain to him that someday we would be happy to take him fishing, but right now we don't even own fishing poles. That's when he piped up and said, "I want to go fishing at Sprout!" LOL! This explained a lot. Since we were already in the vicinity of Sprout when he asked, I was happy to oblige. Josiah proudly showing off his fish! :)
Look! Another one!

Josiah loves anything on wheels. He enjoys riding on the cute cars, planes, and bugs at Sprout!
Here's Josiah stacking these things really high! I thought it was funny to watch the tower lean.

As we played, I noticed a lady staring at me. I began to make small talk as I was a bit uncomfortable with her blatant staring. She quickly blurted out, "Is your name April and are you a nurse?" What?!? I'm feeling a little strange right about now, as I don't recognize her and she obviously knows me from somewhere. "Yes," I respond with some hesitancy, "I am April and I'm a RN." Her eyes immediately began to fill with tears.

Now I'm really worried; what on earth have I done to cause this lady to recognize my face, remember my name, and cry upon seeing me?!? My mind is now racing. I am stealing sideways glances at her three year old boy who's playing happily nearby. Do I recognize him? I don't think so, but I keep trying unsuccessfully to place him in the pulmonology clinic. No, no, that's not it either. I'm dumbfounded. Standing speechless and clueless.

After a short pause which seemed like an eternal pause to my racing mind, the lady launches into her story. "Do you recognize me?" She asked. Uh, oh. I remain silent with a quizzical look on my face, shaking my head slightly. She quickly continues on saying, "No, I guess you wouldn't remember me. It was over five years ago now. July of 2003. I'm sure you've had a lot of other patients since then, and I look different now. I'm "L...B..."(she tells me her name) and I had a radical extensive surgery at Baptist. I was there for eight days. I had several different nurses. You were my very favorite." (More tears forming in her eyes.)

She continued on and on and on about the impact I made on her and her mom and sister. She told me how they had many questions that apparently I took the time to answer. She actually remembers (OVER FIVE YEARS LATER) several specific questions, as well as the answers I provided with amazing clarity and detail. She said she had wanted to thank me on many occasions but had no way to do so...and here we stood in Sprout-Ha.

God does some crazy things with the way paths cross in life itself. I envision Him laughing as He watched that episode unfold in Sprout. I still get chills just thinking about it. This lady was not suppose to live, by all medical standards. Yet here she is, five years later, doing well and thanking me. Me?!? Too wild. Very humbling.

What an amazing God we serve. For some reason this lady had several burning questions, and she really wanted to know my opinion. One of her questions plunged me directly into a conversation about the brevity of life itself and the Only One who matters from an Eternal perspective. I marvel at how God uses us in His master plan when we least expect to be used. Then I sit back and know that it is when we least expect it that God is best able to Shine and all the Glory goes to Him.

Surprise Outing

We surprised David with an outing to Market Square this evening as an early birthday celebration. We ate at The Tomato Head (very yummy-thanks for the idea, Sara!) and then went next door for ice cream at The Marble Slab. David was surprised to find a cake decorated with his name on it upon our arrival! My hats off to the lady working there tonight...she was very accommodating and helped me pull it off as a surprise. :) She even snapped this rare picture of the four of us together.

(I have a blog post about Sprout today with Josiah and a former patient of mine--from FIVE YEARS ago, but I just don't have the energy to put that one together tonight...perhaps tomorrow...)

Friends

Avery and Mackenzie

I enjoy hearing all about Mackenzie's day when I pick her up from school. The problem is, sometimes she talks ninety-to-nothin' about the day and other times she hardly speaks at all, leaving me to wonder about it. Well, one day within the past two weeks as I picked Mackenzie up she informed me that Emma says Mackenzie is not her friend. Mackenzie told me that she is Emma's friend, but Emma says she does not like Mackenzie. I simply told Mackenzie that I am glad she is choosing to be Emma's friend, even if Emma won't be her friend.

Then I asked, "Who are your friends?" Mackenzie did not miss a beat in saying, "Avery's my best friend, Momma! She likes me and I like her, too." She went on to say that all the boys are mean except for one named Jared. "Jared's nice to me, Momma. He's my friend, too. I sit at the same table with him." So, after learning all this, I was surprised and excited when we received an invitation to Emma's 4th Birthday party at Bounce USA! We went, of course, so that I could attempt to get names and faces together.

I very quickly met Avery as Mackenzie beelined for her upon our arrival. I also met Avery's mom who was quick to exclaim, "So this is Mackenzie and you're Mackenzie's mom! We hear all about Mackenzie!" We launched into a full conversation, during which I found out that Avery tells similar stories about friendship issues as Mackenzie does, including that Mackenzie and Avery's friendship is very mutual. To watch Mackenzie, Avery, and Jared all play together at Bounce USA was a treat. Sure made me feel good about the friendships Mackenzie is forming at school. Good kids from good families. The pic I snapped of Avery and Mackenzie was taken at the party.

(I realize I need some more posts about Josiah soon...we'll see what he's up to these days and come up with a good post on him in the not-to-distant future.) :)

Girls Night Out

Just Mackenzie and Me! I have spent a lot of one-on-one time with Josiah lately. I have time with just Josiah in the mornings as Mackenzie does not wake up as early as he does, and time with Josiah while Mackenzie's in "school" from 9-2 twice a week. I am enjoying my one-on-one time with Josiah, but was missing my time with Mackenzie. So. To solve this dilemma, David and Josiah had a "boy's night out" and spent some time at Sprout and Chuck E. Cheese, while Mackenzie and I had a "girl's night out," just the two of us. We opted for an adventure together, to places we've never been... We started at the Knoxville Museum of Art (free admission!) and explored the children's area and the gardens. Let's just say that I'm VERY glad it was free-Ha. If you're looking for a garden area, UT Gardens has this beat by a long shot; if you're looking for interactive children's areas, well, just about anywhere has this beat! :) That said, we enjoyed seeing it for about 15 minutes max, then left for a new adventure! We ended up across the street from the Art Museum at a park called Fort Kid. Excellent place! We both had fun climbing around a fortress-like park. Notice the Sun Sphere in the background--cool place!
I loved the sunlight on Mackenzie's hair!
Couldn't decide if I liked it better in color or black and white.
Then we got hungry...next stop Market Square! I had actually never been there before, so we enjoyed it. Mackenzie was thrilled with getting to pick the restaurant; she chose one with outdoor seating and umbrellas overhead! Then she insisted on a table for two (rather than four), since it was girl's night out. After our lo mien noodles and fried rice dishes, we began our journey back to the car.
Mackenzie was delighted with getting to play in the splash pad/ fountain area at Market Square. She did a great job of staying dry, which was nice as I had no extra clothes in tow.

By the time we all four met up at home, we were tired but had made some fun memories to treasure.

(Random Side Note: As Mackenzie and I began our first journey from the car to the museum, she held my hand and asked me to skip down the sidewalk with her. I know we were a sight to see! I had to look funny skipping down the sidewalk. But as I did so, tears came to my eyes as the precious time with my children seems so very fleeting. They are growing and changing every day, which is a blessing, but makes me sad, too! I just want to treasure every "skipping down the sidewalk" moment that we are granted.)