Life Through the Lens of my iPhone

Every once in a while, I move all those HUNDREDS of pictures I take on my phone to the computer.  And they really never get posted on here.  That's really a shame, because they're such great, little every-day moments!!

So I picked a few gems...

Like Lucy looking so grown-up, making a purchase at HobbyLobby...

We went to see The Greatest Christmas Pageant Ever back in December.

 Clyde went to McKellan's birthday party...

...and some of the kids got in the hurricane simulation booth!

Iris had Lucy accompany her to the cash register when we were in a store one day and later slipped a little surprise in my coat pocket.  Apparently, I needed eye bling!

The kids often dress up as demi-gods from the Rick Riordan books and fight. :)

One day, Lucy and Iris decided to paint a still life.

What Iris did on the HobbyLobby floor one day :)

This is how seriously the girls take Stephen when he says,"Don't sit near me!!  Stop it!  Don't sit near me!"

Iris made Stephen a special name tag/business card ;)

Monopoly and salad night!

icicles

Lucy studies.

No more chemistry!!

One day, when it was just Clyde, Stephen and I, we went to Macaroni Grill.  This is what I drew on my part of the table cloth...

This is what Clyde did....

Clyde pondering deeply in his sleep.

Girls trying on masks at mall...

Clyde and Stephen playing chess.

And last, but not least!  Stephen and I were cleaning out a storage closet and found Clyde's old nebulizer.  On it was a note that Lucy (age 5) wrote when Clyde was going to spend the night with his grandparents when he was 3 describing how and when to use the nebulizer.  It's very sweet!!

In case you can't see it-
"Use me on Clyde evry nithgh.  I love you.  Plas come as soon as yoy can.  -Lucy
(Clyde likes to be read to wile hes doing his medsin.)"

A Prayer Request

There's a very sick little boy that really needs your prayers.  We've been reading updates on him for awhile now from our church, as he is the grandson of a member.  He's about Lucy's age.

His name is Gideon, and he has been suffering from some sort of unidentified lung problem.  It has gotten very critical, and since he has no official diagnosis, there's no official way to treat it.  Also, not having a diagnosis, makes it difficult to put him on the lung transplant list.  His lungs are only functioning at 20% right now, and doctors still don't know why.  He's supposed to be having a lung biopsy in a few weeks.

I just want to ask my readers to please pray for him, his parents, grandparents and brothers.

And if you'd like to help out with medical expenses and follow updates on him, you can do so here...

http://www.youcaring.com/medical-fundraiser/help-gideon-fight-chronic-lung-disease/111183

Thank you!
Mindy

A Paper Valentine's Day

I never go OVERBOARD with Valentine's Day, I don't think.  But I do love it, and I love to make it special for the kids.  They always get things from the grandparents, but we like to give them a little something too.

But with them being sick the weeks leading up to it, and me being in the ER the night before... and them waking up at someone else's house the morning of, it just wasn't our typical Valentine's Day.

But we managed to make it to the Walmart  a few minutes before picking them up and picked up these...

Which they seemed to enjoy :)

Later in the afternoon, after we had been home for a little while, the younger two gave us these...

Then at dinner, we all found these sweet little place cards from Lucy, the only one who had something made in advance.  She had planned to set them out for everyone's breakfast, but changed it to dinner since that had been impossible.

It was pretty sweet, and really much more traditional to historical Valentine's days :)

The Second Good Snow of 2014

Once again, it SNOWED!!!

We are SO excited!!

Stephen couldn't sleep, got up early and walked around in the snow in all of it's pristine-ness!

And once again, Iris was the first KID out!  My snow baby ran and played and screamed like a banshee long before I ever got dressed or ate breakfast.  So these are the only pics I have of her.  Thank you, Stephen for taking them!!

Clyde was next and he overlapped with Iris a bit...but he, also, came in before I ever went out.  So, I ran and took a picture of the Bigfoot footprint that he made :) and his snowman holding a snow shovel.

Lucy and I always wake up about the same time and eat about the same time.  So she and I got to amble about in the snow together. :)  We had a pleasant, peaceful and beautiful time!

Clyde's 10th Birthday Party!

Oddly enough, I'm going to start out this post talking about Lucy :)

Clyde wanted to have his party at Chuck E Cheese this year.  We haven't been there in years.  Clyde has, with friends, but the rest of us haven't...especially my sweet hyper-dairy-allergic Lucy.

She LOVES ChuckECheese.  And when she was only moderately allergic we took her there all the time and just brought her food.  Stephen and I decided she's at an age where we should give her the option to come if she wanted and warn her that she'd have to be very careful, wash her hands alot, and assume that there is cheese on her hands at all times...no touching the face.  She cheerfully decided to attend.  We were nervous, but I'm happy to say it went very smoothly for her!!

Now, on to Clydie :)

Clyde, five of his best friends, and several of their siblings started out the evening spending tokens to their hearts' content...

Will and Clyde competing in a pirate game... notice their stance here....they look so intense and SO BIG!!

Land taking a gamble...

The four girls playing ski ball...

Land watches McKellan marvel as tickets JUST keep rolling out...

Clyde and Pierce on the virtual roller coaster...

Clyde and William playing a reaction time sort of game....

Pierce and Mr Matt playing a shooting game...

Clyde being the fruit ninja....

Drew practicing some mad ski ball moves!

William proudly carrying off his prize while a nearby boy smiles approvingly...

We forgot to tell the people at Chuck E Cheese not to come out and do that embarrassing show, but the boys handled it admirably....

I was totally surprised that Clyde cooperated with this request...

And here are his friends being totally game, when they ask them to get up and dance...

Clyde got to get in the ticket blaster!  He was pretty pumped about that :)

Here are the boys at the ticket-spending counter...

This year, instead of a cake, Clyde wanted a big bowl of Whopper's malt balls :)

You'll notice when I ask him to smile, he either makes a crazy face or does this sort of frozen looking half smile :)

Clyde with Drew...

Clyde with McKellan....

Clyde with Land and Pierce....

Clyde with Will....

Group Pic!

Thankful for my unusually big-hearted boy!  Thankful he's got such unusually big-hearted friends!