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I have been having nightmares. Horrible dreams about being in a car accident. I am unconscious and Noah needs help. No one knows he is a diabetic. Or there is an earthquake. Noah is separated from us. He is wandering the streets sick and alone. He just needs insulin, but no one knows. He can not communicate that he is a diabetic.

We finally remedied the situation, and I feel so much better! Nosy wears a medical alert bracelet that is just perfect for him. None of that heavy, expensive, silver chain link stuff for us! His bracelet is washable, light-weight, and Noah's favorite color. It seems comfortable and he actually loves to wear it and show it off. It holds all the pertinent information a health care provider would need in an emergency. And my mind can be at peace.

Surprise!

Both of my parents turn 60 this year. My sister and I brainstormed and debated about how to appropriately and thoroughly celebrate their lives. We finally settled on a surprise party half way between their birthdays. They were completely shocked, to say the least!

Mom and her BFF

Dad chatting with a few of his close guy friends.

Caroline and Kyle

Passing around hysterical birthday cards

Everyone had such a great time relaxing at our house for the afternoon. I am so pleased we actually pulled it off and that Mom and Dad felt honored by our efforts. Here's to a great decade, Mom and Dad!

Kicking Off Soccer Season

Can you tell Owie is excited about it? He had a blast playing in his first game. This year, his enthusiasm has grown so much. The two quarters that he played, his head was fully in the game. He even worked on getting in front of the ball to head it off. While he sat on the bench, he continually bounced around shouting, "Go Green Hornets! Yay Green Hornets!" the entire time. Our team scored three goals (none of them by O). Each time, he whooped and hollered and high-fived everyone he could find, just as if he had scored the goal himself. It was great fun watching O enjoy his game so much. It's going to be a terrific season!

Warmth

We have been more than ready for Spring and warmer weather so we could get outside again. We just do not do well all cooped up in the house for long periods of time. This week, we had our first wonderful glimmers of springtime! We enjoyed every minute of it!

Mathematician

Owen talks about math non-stop. "What's 24 plus 7, Mommy? 44 + 9?" On and on and on. It really keeps me on my toes! Especially since he has been getting into some double digit addition. He is fascinated with even and odd numbers, counting by 2's, 5's, 10's, even some very simplistic multiplication. I am not sure if this is normal or not.

Yesterday he asked me what 4 minus 6 was. Here we go...negative numbers. I knew there was no way he could even begin to comprehend the concept, so I offered him the most basic explanation possible of numbers less than zero.

Today he announced, "100 minus 101 equals negative 1, right Mommy? It's one less than zero, right?" Oh, my. My little smartie!

Going to the Lodge...

...Great Wolf Lodge...

and I have a million pictures to tell the story!

My parents so generously offered to take us on an overnight excursion to the Great Wolf Lodge. We could hardly wait! Nosy started getting geared up weeks in advance, asking every single day, "Is it today we get to go to the water pawk?" Finally the day arrived.

We needed lots of energy to ride all those awesome slides, so we started off by filling our tummies at the Cracker Barrel. You can't beat their home cookin'!

Playing some checkers with Grampsy

Then it was back to the Lodge to change and dive in to the water park.

I was worried Noah would be timid of the water since it has been months since we've been swimming. Imagine my surprise when I turned my back to arrange our towels on a table and turned back around to find him knee deep in the water already. We could hardly get him out of the water from then on! The slides were a bit of a different story though. He only went down twice our entire stay. No worries. There was plenty of splashing and football throwing to keep us occupied for hours!

This Boy had absolutely no fear and rode every slide he was tall enough to ride over and over and over again. My favorite part of the whole trip was watching him have so much fun on those slides! He never tired of them. "That was awesome!!" he would say, grinning from ear to ear, after each one.

Jeremy splashing Nosy on a jet ski.

Gramps and Noah hard at work.

Daddy and O after a thrilling ride.

We liked this slide a lot because three of us could go together. O decided it was his very favorite.

Grampsy and Nosy tried out the wave pool while Jeremy and I took O down the big slides. Noah was not too excited about it.

Heading to story time in our pj's.

Story time was fun with lots of animated animals and kids telling a story. The Boys enjoyed it, but they were really looking forward to their ice cream snack that was coming afterwards.

At the ice cream parlor. So many choices...

Yummy vanilla for Nosy.

We hit the ice cream parlor again the next day for a morning snack. I figure we burned it all off anyway, right?

All too soon, our time came to an end. We enjoyed every minute of it! The Boys loved their private bunk beds and personal TV in our room. Just exploring the lodge provided for some great fun, including the arcade and photo booth. We already can't wait to go back again someday. Noah has already started asking me, "How many days until we can go back to the water pawk?" He may have a long wait, but one day we'll go back!

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for such a terrific time and memories that will last forever!!

A Little Peek

Baby Jonah is doing great, happy as a clam, at 21 weeks. He weighs exactly 1 pound (which does not explain the absurd amount of weight I have gained, but oh well). I was a tad bit nervous for the whole body scan today, but everything looked perfect, especially his sweet little lips (He had a 1 in 5 chance of having a cleft.). Praise the Lord! We are rejoicing at the House of Halpin and can't wait to meet this precious Baby!

Slowly Melting

We had one last day of fun in the snow before warmer temperatures did away with all of it. All three boys played and played and played, while I did scads of soaking wet, snowy laundry, hoping to keep my guys as warm and dry as possible.

It's All Down Hill

Friday morning was a sight to behold! I think the weather man said we got twelve inches of snow total. TWELVE! That is craziness! Nosy was feeling much better, so we called our cousins and arranged a super fun play date. Sledding!! The pictures and the ear to ear grins say it all!

Even More Snow Fun

Later on, it was still miraculously snowing! Jeremy got to come home from work early. We all got dressed in our many layers to head back out into the winter wonderland.

Nosy, however, took a turn for the worse with sudden super high blood sugars and ketones. He ended up feeling puny, snuggled up with me in bed, while O and Daddy headed outside. Poor Guy. He kept saying, "I want to go out in the 'now and make a 'now guy too!" (Before the night was over, we were on the phone with the hospital multiple times trying to get Nosy better, checking his sugar every 1-2 hours all night long. I hate diabetes!)

Just look at those snow flakes! Amazing! Owie kept sliding over and over until his bottom was frozen. Jeremy was determined to make the best snowman ever.

There is even more snow expected during the night! We'll see what tomorrow holds!

Snow Fun

Snow had been predicted for Thursday, lots of it. I was not holding my breath because usually it is when we are the most prepared and excited for snow that it never makes an appearance. However, as Jeremy left for work early Thursday morning, he whispered to me that there were huge, fluffy flakes falling from the sky. Hooray!

We were all so sad that Daddy still had to got to the office, but that was not going to stop us from enjoying the amazing, miraculous snow. In all my years, I have never seen such wet, sticky, enormous flakes. It was gorgeous!

Gramps had both a little free time to play with us and sleds. We all bundled up in our very odd assortment of winter weather gear (I was very unprepared!) right over our pajamies and set out.

Grampsy pulled the Boys all the way to the park on this sled. What a trooper!

Can you tell the kids loved it?!
O insisted on wearing my old ski goggles to help his eyes not get snow in them.

Ready? Set?

Away they go! Oh, they had so much fun! After this picture, I had to put my camera down and jump in to the fun!