Out of the Mouths of Babes

Ben randomly at the dinner table:  "I'm getting SO smart, Mom!"

Me:  "Yes you are! But you have a lot left to learn still."

Ben:  "Yeah. Way back in the old days maybe I didn't know that anything was a picture."

In Recent Days

As I start this post, I'd like you all to join me in sending great thanks & praise to our kind & merciful God who has blessed our family & above all has blessed our little Evelyn beyond imagining. We are humbled & grateful beyond measure for His goodness, compassion, & faithfulness to us. Each day, in each new step taken with our beautiful girl, God's kindness is absolutely tangible. We can see it & feel it & touch it! Evelyn continues to astound us (& her doctors) in her strength & health & we pray that she will continue to be a beam of Christ's miraculous light into this dark world. There are MANY babies out there with complex congenital heart defects who have died or are struggling to survive. Now granted, our baby has done her fair share of fighting, but every day I am dumb-founded at the amazing grace she has been given. 

Praise God from whom all blessings flows.

Praise Him all creatures here below.

Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts.

Praise Father, Son, & Holy Ghost.

Amen.

Evie in January (9 months old)

In recent days, Evelyn has been completely & successfully weaned off of her anti-seizure medicine & has also been freed of her feeding tube! So now she only takes 2 meds a day & the hole in her stomach is healing & closing beautifully. We were told to expect a decent amount of leakage from her tube sight for 2 days & to expect it to leak up to 4 weeks... well... it has hardly leaked at all & even though it's only been out for 4 days, it's already pretty well closed!! Yet another example of God's kindness in our lives.

And now for some pictures (& a video) of other sweet happenings in recent days:

Still not walking (though completely capable of doing so).
Although I have to admit that much of me is just fine with her inability to get anywhere very fast! 

As stated before, Evie LOVES water.
Thought these were really sweet pics of her playing in the pool in our front yard.

She is SO funny!
She doesn't like to crawl in the grass on her knees so does a bear crawl instead!

The boys like to ride with Papa on the new riding lawn mower & one afternoon Ricky completely zonked out on his lap! As I lifted him to take him into the house to rest, he woke up frustrated at me for moving him. I told him he'd fallen asleep & he said, "NO I didn't! I was just resting." 

Ben learning to ride the petal bike!

The Crazy Hair Superhero!

Reading stories with Papa.

Brothers

Cross legged Evie watching a movie with Papa (for a few seconds anyway!)

Precious!

And now a little fun in the sun:

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Last night as we were driving home from T-ball we saw one of those quad side by side 4-wheeler off road things (I don't know what they're called) driving down the road with two car seats with kids in the back. Brian started teasing with the kids about how maybe for our next car we should just get one of those & was saying how we could definitely take a road trip in one. This conversation followed:

boys: "No Dad! We couldn't do that."
Brian: "What are you talking about?! Sure we could! You gotta dream big!"
boys: "What?"
Brian: "I said, You gotta dream big."
Ricky laughing: "NOOO Papa!"
Brian: "Yeah you do!"
Ricky still laughing: "NO Papa. We don't have a pig!"

Brian & I both busted out laughing. I love our kids so much!

T-Ball

At the request of a certain Auntie, here are some pics & a couple videos of the boys playing t-ball last week. As mentioned before, Brian is their coach & although it can be challenging trying to hold the attention of twelve 3-4 years olds & getting them to cooperate all together, he has done a really great job. He affectionately describes the task as 'herding cats' & that is quite what it is like! But I must say, they are darn cute & fun to watch. So here's for you, Auntie! ;)

The handsome coach!

Running bases for fun before the game.

Stretching before the game...
Perhaps the funniest part to watch!

Stretching

Stretching

Having fun!

Evie on the sidelines enjoying a cracker.

"Home plate, here I come!"

"Hmmm... which direction am I supposed to run again?"

Snacks after the game.

Some of the team.

And now a little batting & outfield for your viewing pleasure.

Too much fun... What's that mean?

At the fairgrounds:

The boys thought it was great getting to explore an old Army tank.
Though, they kept asking why it wouldn't go anywhere & why the gun wasn't working!

Evie & I got to meet some other heart babies & their families. It was a great time & we're looking forward to many more get-togethers!

We always look forward to having play-date with our friends!

The boys started T-ball this month with Papa as their coach! They're having fun with it!

The boys have been have a good 'ol time with this new toy. 

Apparently, Grandpa & Grandma thought they hadn't spoiled them quite enough!

Evie has discovered baby dolls! This one belonged to my sister when she was a wee tike. 

I told Evie she had to be extra nice to her!

Have you ever seen such sweet babies?? 

I sure haven't!

Here's Evie showing off her chompers & her newly established chocolate ice cream beard!