110 with Rachael and Ben: March 2014

March brought the bipolar weather pattern: three weekends of 70 degree weather and yet, an ice storm on St. Patrick's day! Make up your mind....is it spring, or not??? Much like our family life of lots of bright days with a few dark clouds to remind us to be thankful.
March started with some traveling -- Mike to Charlottesville, VA to be with our Amigo guy friends to help and care for our friends Jennifer and Matt. {Jennifer is fighting a valiant battle with ALS and is doing so with a grace and strength that is only found in our Lord and savior.} He was thankful for some guy time and I *mostly* treasured some one-on-two time with the kids. On most days of the week, I go to bed exhausted from the chance to love them and give to them and be with them and take care of them and raise them....what a good kind of tired that is.
Then, it was my turn to be on the road. I took the kids by myself to PA for Dad's open heart surgery. He came through with flying colors and the trip wouldn't have happened without Nana and Mimi's help....thank you! The weekend of Dad's surgery also brought a chance to visit with his sister and brothers....we prayed together and broke bread together in honor of my Dad.....glad I could be there for him and to be with my aunts and uncles. Rachael and Ben were AH-MAZING during the trip...very patient with 2 8-hour trips in the car and went with the roller coaster of the hospital and Mommy being in-and-out and staying up too late and busy days playing with grandmas and cousins.
The month was brought to a joyful wind down: Ben is THREE!
Can.
Not.
Believe.
It.
Where did my baby go???? We celebrated with a race car party and pizza! He is all boy and continues to enjoy cars, trucks, trains, planes, bikes...anything with wheels. He's also in to construction....wearing his construction dress up almost daily.

In a future post, I'll give the run down of both kiddos at this age...they are complex and precious miracles, indeed.