Foto Friday 2, Vol. 7 - Catch-up

I wish I could say that it's been smooth sailing since I last updated... it hasn't.
The pain from Gracie's ear infection (and the remaining congestion from getting over pneumonia) got the best of her on several days throughout the last ten and (by my estimation) helped induce the migraine that plagued her from late Saturday afternoon through Monday evening. Thankfully, she has now had three really good days in a row - - the most successive "good days" she's had in over a month. It's been a really rough stretch since January. On Wednesday, she finally returned to OT and PT for the first time in three weeks. Dare I say (or even think) I see the light at the end of the tunnel?!

Preston returned to school on Tuesday for the first time in two weeks. I probably could have sent him on Friday, but after a few hours of play and activity last Thursday, he was exhausted and I just didn't see the need to push it. He's now very much back to his old self - - and has new "all boy" bumps and bruises to prove it! He's got a scary-close-to-his-eye shiner on his left eye from getting tangled up with a bike on Saturday evening (my fault... I should have stopped him from trying to chase the big kids) and a bruise/burn/scrape on his right cheek from getting to squirly on a slide with his friend. This "boy" stuff continues to yield me gray hairs and wrinkles weekly! Oy!


Needless to say, with all the ick in this house, I have neglected Foto Friday (amongst other things) for a month. Here are some of the better moments from the last several weeks... with some more to follow in the next few days!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!
John's birthday was February 28th. When he got home from work, we had dinner and then a very low-key celebration with a chocolate chip swirl cake (too sweet for frosting!) made by the kids and me. The hat was quickly fashioned as the candles sat on the cake at Preston's insistence!

Leapin' Lizards
We have lots of lizards in our area... lots. As much as Preston enjoys watching them scurry on our backyard wall, he's not overly fond of being too near them. John caught a little one a while back and helped Preston get a closer look.

He's still not convinced... and I am so glad! I do not look forward to the day when he wants some cold-blooded pet, or worse, a rodent!
(A lizard got in the house the other day and Preston, in one giant leap, made it from the floor to the seat of the chair, all while screaming that there was a lizard in the house. As he screamed about how scared he was, the baby lizard froze in fear. I stuck a tupperware container over it and waited for John to get home and rescue all of us!)

Can your toes do this???
Recently taken during what we affectionately call "Gracie Yoga," I have hundreds of pictures like these. Gracie's feet can do amazingly flexible things! Her big toes are more like opposable thumbs and she can bend her other toes every which way. Sweet, petite feet, indeed (size 6 toddler shoes at nearly age seven), but super-powered in their own right!

An afternoon with Papa
The afternoon before Gracie was blind-sided by pneumonia, Papa was here for a few hours. He hung out with Preston and played (rough-housing, soccer, tennis... you name it!) until Gracie got home from school.

Once Miss Gracie was home, she settled into her favorite spot in the world. (And he was afraid she'd forget him when he was in Afghanistan for a year... ha!)

While the boys are being silly boys, Gracie's content with Papa's dogtags in her hands.

Oh-so-very sweet!