The girls decided that they wanted to swap beds in their bunk beds. The only parent rules were that they had to agree to make it happen and the switch was to be long term. They agreed and swapped. This created a problem because Emily now needed a new mattress for the bottom bunk because she was too long for Julia’s. The solution required a road trip to the nearest IKEA store.

What is better than a road trip than a road trip with friends. We talked our friends in to taking a day trip with us. There were some happy back seats for sure. The kids enjoyed some play time in the kids area and pretend play in the kids room models.

Emily is happy with her new mattress. The day was a long, but fun one. Thanks friends for joining us.

Our yard is in bloom now with lots of spring flowers. It seems appropriate to appreciate them with our own flowers that are blooming!

Julia with Ms. Trish at her last speech therapy session. This was not her last therapy session because she is changing therapists, but because she has achieved all her speech goals. She is speaking like a normal little four-year-old should be speaking. This includes both pronunciation, but also vocabulary and appropriate language processing. We are so pleased and so is her therapist. Apparently this is unusual for a child to reach this goal and graduate out. This is Julia’s success and to get there we have Ms. Patty and Ms. Trish to thank. As we thanked them personally, we are grateful for this gift that they have given Julia that she can now share with everyone!

We made it all the way to April, but the flu came to visit our house. Julia made friends with the flu bug first. We didn’t figure it out soon enough for her to get the special medication. Later in the week Robby also caught it. It made sense because she clung to him for two days straight while she didn’t feel well. After a tough week we thought we were clear, but the next week brought Emily down with it. Luckily her diagnosis came quicker and she was able to get the special medication that makes recovery come so much easier. Honestly it seems like an illness that you just have to survive through, but we were blessed to see God’s hand through the two weeks and how he provided for us. Things just worked out so that we could meet obligations that were required. The biggest blessing was the Mama was able to remain flu-free. We have much to be thankful for!

Instead of spring photos we have spring self portraits by the girls. Emily made hers at school in art class and Julia got the idea from Emily.

(emily age 6)

(julia age 4)

In this case the photo doesn’t tell the story, but some times the story is necessary. Julia has a great imagination. She is always taking toys and repurposing them into new play situations. One activity she loves to do with Robby is to play with his iPad. They play Angry Birds together, but also a few educational games she plays on her own. Enough backstory . . .

Julia started carrying her favorite pillow around, which she normally calls "pilly", telling us that it was her pilly iPad. She said, "I’m going to play my new favorite game called Oswald." She sat down and started to touch the pillow like it was her own iPad and played a pretend game of Oswald talking to the pillow the whole time. A few days later she borrowed Robby’s iPad screen cover and placed it gently on top of her own pillow. She would remove the cover and play then returning the cover to the top when she was done.

Sometimes it is just fun to watch Julia play. And now we know we do not need to buy her an electronic device of her own. She will be quite happy with just her pilly iPad!