Spring Time

Spring has been a fickle character around here.  One week she shows up with beautiful temps in the 80s and gets us all outdoors soaking up some vitamin D.  The next week she creeps in with damp foggy skies and barely reaches above 60 and forces us into our jackets.  For Easter she is treating us to some drizzly wet yuck!
We love the warm weather, of course!  I love the chance to put the ipod on the back patio and dance with the kids, get my hands in some dirt and create lovely little planters for my front porch.
So, I thought now that it is gray outside it would be nice to share some of the gorgeous colors that would greet you at my front door!
Happy Spring and Happy Easter!

Welcome!

I love to collect enamel ware.  This piece works perfectly as a planter.

Hello Mr. Ladybug.

Love the bright colors of these pots.

String of pearls hanging in a pitcher.

Mr. Toad is hiding from the sun.

I just love the color orange right now.

Love the ruffles of this mum!

I got blogged about!

Well, I have mentioned her here before, but I must say that Tara Whitney is one special photographer.  Not only can she take amazing photos but she writes so beautifully!  I remember reading her essays in our high school honors classes and just knowing that she had IT.  That special way to capture her readers and draw them in.  If you read her comments you can see that she can still do it, every other one says that tears were involved.  I am often wiping my eyes or my nose after reading her blog!
Today, we were her topic of choice!  I love being her topic of choice!  It is like being a celebrity just because I am featured on her blog.  I mean, Tara has gone to other continents to do her photography!  She has been a guest speaker for her photography.  Back before she was a world renowned photographer she was being published in scrapbook mags for her scrapbooking.  Before that?  Well, she was my high school friend and we rode to prom in a limo with a Jacuzzi in the back.  Ha!  We were something else back then.
Tara is just someone amazing because she is just so grounded.  I am just blessed to be someone that knows her and was photographed by her.
Go look for yourself!

Farther into the darkness

So, in my last post I asked if there was light at the end of the tunnel.  The answer...a giant resounding NO.  We are now a week and a half into illness.  Diva is still suffering from some minor effects of the stomach virus.  We are still doing daily loads of her laundry.  More surprising is the Professor.  He spent this morning hooked to an IV being re-hydrated.  My poor son couldn't take in any fluid yesterday.  He wouldn't even talk to us.  He was hit hard by the stomach virus but also suffered from a double ear infection!  Of course, we didn't know that until today.  Fortunately, Diva already had a doctor's appointment today for her kindergarten registration and I decided to try to get Professor in for a "same day".  I went with my "mommy's instinct".  Last night as I was drifting off to sleep with all of my anxiety, I had an image of Professor hooked to an IV.  So, I think that somewhere deep inside of me, I knew we were into something deep.  I was lucky to get an appointment time just before Diva's so they were seen together.  Hubs was going to pass on the IV re-hydration and see how we could do with an ounce of fluid per hour on our own.  I couldn't sit there without speaking up.  I knew that we needed to do something quicker for Professor.  The doctor told me later that it was the look on my face during that discussion that made him decide to go ahead with the IV.  It was my "mommy's instinct" taking over.  Within 15 minutes Professor began to stir and he pinked up.  By the end he was asking for food and water.  I still want to cry when I think about how brave he was.  He didn't even cry when they put the IV in.  There was quite a bit of blood on his hand and it didn't phase him at all!   The doctor said that both of the kids are way too underweight and need to start gaining some weight.  We are just trying to get the food to stay in them!  I am just thrilled that Professor is talking to us again and moving!  I don't know when we will see the other end of this tunnel.  I asked Hubs what he thinks God is trying to teach us.  Why is this happening to us?   Why are my kids suffering for so long?  Hubs thinks that God is teaching me patience.  I think that God is trying to get my attention regarding our family's diet.  How we can improve our diet and make our diet healthier and fatten our kids up.  I also think that He is teaching me to be thankful for everyday that we are healthy and to stop thinking ahead so much.   I tend to get bogged down in the things to come or in my own health issues and forget to thank God for the health we do have.  Trust me...I am getting the message.