Many Hands Make Light Work

except when those hands belong to a 2 year old.

Here's Peter helping to unload the dishwasher, I stepped away for 15 seconds to take a phone call.

Dogwoods

The Dogwoods are in full bloom and they are beautiful. Here are a few from around our neighborhood.









The Legend of the Dogwood

In Jesus time, the dogwood grew
To a stately size and a lovely hue.

'Twas strong & firm it's branches interwoven
For the cross of Christ its timbers were chosen.

Seeing the distress at this use of their wood
Christ made a promise which still holds good:

"Never again shall the dogwood grow
Large enough to be used so

Slender & twisted, it shall be
With blossoms like the cross for all to see.

As blood stains the petals marked in brown
The blossom's center wears a throny crown.

All who see it will remember me
Crucified on a cross from the dogwood tree.

Cherished and protected this tree shall be
A reminder to all of my agony."

- Unknown

S*P*R*I*N*G

Spring is in full bloom in North Carolina and we're loving it. I haven't blogged much lately but that's because we're spending so much time outdoors (and there's a terrible glare on the computer screen when I tried bringing it outside so I gave up).

We went to Charlotte last weekend for a quick weekend trip. It was this time last year that we were just beginning to stretch our wings and venture out from our medically imposed house arrest. We're blessed to have kids that seem to be good travelers. Olivia and Peter are content as long as they have their snacks and DVDs. The hotel upgraded our room so we were in a beautiful suite and they had 2 cribs available which made the sleeping arrangements very easy. Olivia tends to sleep cuddled up in the fetal position still so she was very comfy in the crib. We were worried about Peter sleeping in a crib again after he adjusted to his Thomas-the-Train Bed. He did ask about his Thomas bed but settled on sleeping with his toy Thomas Train instead. We loved Charlotte. I'd driven to and from the Charlotte airport but had never stayed around to enjoy the city and it was beautiful. We spent some time in Freedom Park and had our family photo session with MckMama. We got to eat breakfast at Bruegger's, one of our family favorites that unfortunately doesn't exist here in the "ville". We enjoyed the beautiful weather and walking around in some of the outdoor shopping areas.

We are thinking about taking a trip to the beach for Easter. It will still be a little too cold to swim but we can't wait!

We had Olivia's annual IEP review meeting this week. The teacher and I have been working together to create new goals for Olivia for the next year. Olivia's teacher really did a great job of creating realistic and functional goals for Olivia. We'll be having another IEP meeting in a few weeks to discuss Olivia's transition to Kindergarten next year and I'll get a chance to meet Olivia's new teacher. They don't have an extended school year or summer school program in our school district so I'm busy trying to plan and organize summer activities for us.

Peter is growing up so fast. He adds new words to his vocabulary daily but lately he's started understanding more concepts. It's so bittersweet, of course I delight in his learning and understanding but it's so tough to watch him master concepts that Olivia isn't even aware of. There's so much more I need to write about this, I know that writing about it will help but I just don't want to deal with the emotions that will come with my writing about this topic.

I can't believe that April is almost half way over, May will be a busy, busy month for us with several trips (including my much anticipated Girl's Weekend in New Orleans).

A-walking we will go

Love the North Carolina weather! Love that little boys are magically drawn to muddy puddles and sticks. Love that snacks at the park always seem so much better!