Teap

Meadow and Heaven love to play "Teap". They use their little tea set and drink teap (which is otherwise know as tea) or, in Heaven's case, hot coffee... "pretend hot coffee" (she's obsessed).

But today they were in for a real treat.
My very darling friend, Beth, and her very darling girls, Ella and Rory, invited us over for a full on Tea Party.
Complete with perfect weather, fresh flowers, lemonade,

Cookies (and all kinds of other yummy sweets),

Berries (oh, I'm sure she snuck a little grass and dirt in there, too, when I wasn't looking),

And (most importantly) girlfriends to giggle with!

Meadow was in her glory. Can you blame her?

And Heaven wouldn't be Heaven if she didn't have cranky eyebrows about something. Seriously, what could she be complaining about here?

The girls were so cute getting ready for the big event. Meadow decided on an outfit and stuck with it. Heaven had to change a couple of times. When she finally settled on the hot pink number, she came out of her room, smiled, and said, "Rinky-tinky-tinky!" WHY are little girls so fun?

The Bear

Last week, Jonah-Bear, entered the Bear Cave,

Wrestled a Bear (fortunately for Raven it happened to be a Jare-Bear... no sweat, he wrestles those all the time),

To earn his Bear (One shoe lost? Not bad considering he could have lost his LIFE!).

Proud little sissy, Heaven, wanted an up close and personal view of Raven receiving his award.

What's Your Favorite Color?

Today ALL the kids at our house agree (for once):
ORANGE!!






There's nothing yummier than oranges fresh off the tree!
(Thanks, Peggy, for sharing yours with us)

Bachelor Party

A Bachelor Party Looks Like This:
A bunch of crazy boys
+
Beer
+
Strip Clubs...
Right?

Nope.
A REAL Bachelor Party Looks Like THIS:
A bunch of crazy sisters (P.S. Mom and Nat, you ARE sisters)

+
Costa Vida Salads

+
Walrus-ing around, watching "The Bachelor" and laughing till you almost pee your pants (and get a time out from your mom for being too loud)

It doesn't get much better than this.
(I have the best family EVER)
P.S. Why is Jason (The Bachelor) obsessed with ditching the girls that are actually somewhat good for him? No wonder he isn't married.

LOVE is in the air!

Mom says, "Lay down, close your eyes and wait for a surprise!"
(Notice who's eyes are closed, and who's are wide open)

Surprise!! It's an "I-Love-You-Heart-Attack"!

Oh, Look! The hearts have messages...

Some say things like, "Heavenly Father loves you!"

Some say things like, "Kiss your Daddy... PRONTO!"

What? Grandma's here? Sounds like a perfect time for another heart attack. (I think we did it approximately 12 times today)

The boys had so much fun reading the messages,
They decided to make some of their own.
Personally, my favorite message was one Raven wrote...
"Drug free today. Fill your body with love, not drugs."

We took the "love notes"

To a busy park downtown,

And hid

Them

All

Over

The Place!

Seeky kept busy eating the bag of "hearts",

While stealing her Mama's heart simultaneously.
(she's getting good at multi-tasking)

After the park was full of our "love",
We played on the toys,

And ate ice cream,

Delicious!

The highlight of the day was surprising R-R with a heart attack,

And getting to snuggle in her bed with her "foxy blanket".

Hope your Valentine's Day was as lovely as ours!

The Other Side of Surgery

Rhea-Lynn's second tumor resection was a success. She had the surgery on Tuesday and was home on Thursday. She said she feels "great"! She is only needing her pain medication every 4-6 hours (compared to every 2 hours after her first surgery). A team of specialists are reviewing the results of her MRI, CAT Scan, etc. on Monday and will give their recommendations for care from here. She is THRILLED to be past the surgery part and onto the recovery part. Thank-you for all the prayers in her behalf.

Recovering in Style

"See... I TOLD you, I was BORN to do this!" Rhea-Rhea

Rhea-Lynn's Care Page

Jeremy created a "Care Page" through St. Joseph's hospital. He is updating it with her progress several times a day. You can log in to see how she is doing and to leave her a message. Jeremy reads her the messages people are leaving when she is awake. She loves it. Here's the info:
go to: stjosephs-phx.org
click: "Patients & Visitors"
click: "CarePages"
click: "Visit a CarePage"
click: "Become a Member"
CarePage Name: "RheaRhea" (no spaces)

Firewalk

"I am not afraid...I was born to do this." Joan of Arc

Rhea-Rhea,

Remember how hot the coals were at our firewalk? Remember feeling the heat, but not getting burned? Remember when we all held hands and walked the fire together? That was my favorite. Remember how, even when we walked alone, we KNEW we weren't really alone? Just like Heavenly Father walked with you over those burning hot coals, He will walk with you over these burning hot coals, too. Yes, I think tomorrow is a good day for a "firewalk". Heavenly Father LOVES you... and so do I!

Nen