Ides of March

We have four more days of March and I am spent!  I am hoping in April to get back on track for blogging / organizing / housecleaning / communicating / et al.  For now, I happily leave you with a photo of me and my favorite little girl...

Last week's photo op

Almost a week overdue...

Exhausted...

O-MY-M-G, I am tired!  Week two of spring break brought our family a visit from Papa & Nanny (my dad and his wife) in honor of my niece, Jocelyn's heart surgery.  More about that in a minute...

When my folks come down, we try to spend as much time with them as possible, since they live in Colorado.  Well, we were in St. Louis for eight days, the girls and I were in San Diego for four days, and entertaining the whole gang has been stressful.  It is not that I don't enjoy the group, we have all been tip-toeing around the fact that my beautiful niece has to endure an ablation on her heart.  Who can escape the fear / stress / nerve racking minutes leading up to it?!

I am excited to announce after a four hour surgery, six hour stretch of laying flat and an hour of anticipation, waiting for the announcement if she could come home, our niece is home!  Jocelyn is in a bit of a pain, due to the insertion of the catheters into her groin, as well as the double ablation of her Wolf Parkinson White cells.  The doctors are optimistic that the procedure was a success.  Sloane and I are looking forward to spending the day with her, watching movies, and doting on her.  (Um, well, Sloane won't be doting, but she can contribute a fine amount of droll...)

I need some up to date photos of the kiddo, so please forgive this post without a photo and I promise to add beauty soon...

So excited, Shamu!!!

I had the thrill of taking my loves to Sea World for the start of their spring break.  Many thought I was crazy, and now that I am home, I can see where they were coming from.  =)  Perhaps I will feel rested, by the time they go back to school...

I gathered in Jocelyn (13), Bryce (10), Aidyn (4) and Sloane (7/12) and hit the road to San Diego.  We stayed at a nice Marriott with the kitchenette and microwave, so I wouldn't have to fret over taking care of the baby.  The little girls loved all of the nooks and crannies, within our hotel room, and I loved having Jocelyn as my sidekick helper.

We drove over on Sunday, hit Sea World on Monday, dinner with Sloane's Crazy Aunt Jen, then back to Sea World on Tuesday and another dinner with Crazy Aunt Jen, before heading home on Wednesday.

3/4 of the sleeping beauties...

Ambushed!

Must work on becoming photogenic...

You mean to tell me there are killer whales in my presence?  

It is easy to be enamored with Crazy Jen.

These smiles make everything all better

Rose bud

Unicorn mask

Menacing tattoos

Praying Aunt Jen will do this again

Aunt Jen

Sloane is extremely lucky to have Aunt Jen, my sorority sister who lives in Ashland, Missouri.  I fell in love with this woman over 20 years ago and continue to count my lucky stars that she puts up with our friendship.  =)

Her 40th birthday was 3 March, so John, Sloane and I flew in to surprise her and what a surprise it was!  We placed Sloane on her rug, then hid when she came in from her kiddo's baseball practice.  I was anticipating all sorts of random expletives, but was reduced to tears sobs when she found her present.  We spent a wonderful week, loving on her husband, 8-year old son, and 3-year old daughter.  I am vying for an arranged marriage between Jakob and Sloane....

Jen came into her house, heard a crying baby and knew it was Sloane.  

We were super lucky to have Rylie warm up to us, after a bit.  She would come downstairs, to ask if she could help take care of Baby "Swoane"

Little man, Jakob, was an impressive helper, too!  He went downstairs, all by himself, to get one of Sloane's toys.  Found out later, he is scared of the dark basement and going down there was quite an accomplishment.

My second favorite part of the trip was Jen snatching Sloane from me, one morning, so she and Rylie could dance.  Tears flowed into my cereal 

If you can't get it in Mexico, Tri Delta...

On the way to the airport, we had to stop by the St. Louis Arch.  We must come back for John and Sloane to ride up and check it all out!