Early Spring Hiking

A few weeks ago, the weather was so warm and nice! We took advantage of it by hiking with some new good friends, Luke and Danielle:

Madelynn News

Here she is! She is scooting backwards, rocking on hands and knees, and very mobile. But not quite crawling yet. She gets stuck frequently as you can see here:


Last week Madelynn was tested for Celiac Disease. Since it is a genetic disease, Joel and I have decided to test all our kids. As you may know, Joshua does not have Celiac. And now, Madelynn does not either!! Hurrah!

Scary Story, Happy Ending

"Hey Renee! C'mere. You have to see this."
I stop in mid-stride and turn towards the bathroom. Joel had just finished giving Madelynn a bath and the other two kids were in bed already.
Madelynn is laying on her back on Joel's legs and she's crying. Joel points to her mouth and I look inside.
"Do you see that? What is that?"
I look closer at Madelynn's palate, the roof of her mouth. It's discolored, the color of green/gray playdough. I put my finger in her mouth to scrape it off and Madelynn just cries harder.
I feel a heaviness come over me and I groan inwardly.
Both Joel and I just look at each other.
"I'll go google it..." I lamely suggest and walk away.
I stare at the computer screen. The results of my googling didn't give much comfort: Cancer. Ulcers. Tumors. There should be no discoloration of a normal baby's palate.
I picture myself standing up in church asking for prayer for God to heal Madelynn. 'First Emily, then Rachel, now Madelynn?' This was too much.
I sit on the couch with the phone and thank God for a free 24 hour Nurse Help Line.
After a quick explanation to the nurse, we both agree that perhaps the discoloration is from the green veggies she ate today or the newspaper she was chewing on about an hour earlier.
I hang up, relieved.
A few minutes pass and an idea occurs to me. I find the newspaper Madelynn had been "playing" with and inspect it.
"Aha!" There was a small chunk missing! Joel and I agree to do a little "investigating".
"Q-tips," Joel suggests. I go grab them and bring them to Joel.
I leave the room as Joel forces Madelynn's mouth open but she just giggles. Finally she opens her mouth and Joel scrapes the palate with the Q-tip.
Then I hear laughter.
"What? Did you get something?" I ask.
Joel shows me something on his finger.
"It's a potato skin!"

Joshua's Birthday Volume 2

Joel, Joshua, and friends John and Boston (4) went to the Duluth Train Depot to celebrate Joshua's birthday. There they met up with Mark and Oliver (4) and had a wonderful time:


After the train depot they went to the Kid's Museum (aka: Children's Museum). They climbed a tree house to the second floor and there they made hoop gliders (a straw with two loops of paper on either end).

They went to Burger King for lunch:

(l to r): Boston, Oliver, and Joshua

Wow, do you think they were all tired out after all that? Nope. After lunch they went to this great playground and probably spent about an hour there running around:

(front to back: Oliver, Joshua, Boston)

And that's not all folks, after this they went to the Omnimax theater and watched The Alps.
Whew, what a day. The boys (and the men) were quite tired at the end.
Joshua is still catching up on his rest as I post this.

Some Green On A Gray Saturday...

No, these are not mine. I googled for them. I needed some Spring lift and thought I would share my search for spring: