Molly Piper

I just have to keep posting pictures, because I love them so much!

We lovingly call this face “Bulldog.” Whenever she does it, we get the biggest kick out of it! I was so excited to catch it on camera!

Me with my blue-eyed-boy! I don’t think I’ve told you all, but while I was in Hawaii, Whit became an all-out crawler. The kid goes everywhere! He’s unstoppable. And he has the softest, most nuzzleable (is that a word? It is now.) head ever to top a baby.

The twins will be 9 months old next week! I can hardly believe it.

Yesterday was the twins’ first Easter! It was much like any of their other days in most ways, except that they got to be held pretty much all day by visitors and friends. Pretty good gig for them.

I haven’t told you all very much about our live-in help, Miss Katie. I’m choosing to respect her privacy and our relationship by keeping most details about her out of my blog. But I will say…I love her to pieces. She’s amazing with my children. Seriously, her coming to live with us is an answer to prayers that I hadn’t even thought to pray, but God said, “Hey Molly, I think you need…” and just gave it. So great.

Well, one of the specific things I love about Katie is that she’s a photographer. And she really loves to take pictures of my kids! Double yay for us! She just got a new lens for her camera the other day, so all of us were treated to fun pictures of yesterday’s Easter festivities while she played with her new toy!

She grabbed these ones of the twins:

What I love about the second one is how it really captures who they are right now. Whit is always playing this game when he’s in his highchair, where he lays his head down just like that, and then someone (or everyone) copies him, and then he does it again. It’s so cute!

And Cadence, she pretty much always has her mouth open that wide, smiling or making these funny growling noises. And her arms are always out to the sides like that. Always.

And here’s my big boy on Easter:

And my other big boy:

A couple funny things about this one: 1. it was 60 degrees out and he needed neither the coat or the hat, but had almost no concept for a warm day. That’s the kind of spring it’s been around here. 2. He’s attempting a jail break under the front gate. And he even has a sneaky look on his face!

I hope you all had a lovely day yesterday.

Once upon a time, an overwhelmed, frazzled mother of four small children went to a magical land…

A magical land of

sun

sand

scenery

and…

sickness.

Wait…what?

Yes, yes that’s right. But that’s only a small part of the story. We’ll not discuss that now. Let’s imagine instead the magical sun.

And the sand.

And the breathtaking scenery.

The magical land had breezes that blew straight out of heaven–no edge, no chill. They were brisk, but somehow soft. The sun warm, but never too hot. The winds blew the cares of her other life away. And then sun shone through the frazzle, making it melt away.

The sickness part seemed a small price to pay to be able to take in such beauty. Not even tonsillitis could dull her enjoyment. There were these magical things there (perhaps you’ve heard of them here in your land?) called antibiotics and ibuprofen and they made even her sickness feel manageable.

The no-longer-frazzled mother drank in every drop of her time in the magical land.

But like all good things down here, it ended. She had to fly away from the magical land, her flower-laden neck the reminder of the magical land in the midst of metal tubes and uncomfortable seats.

When she came back to her land, where the winds blew cold and the snow fell and fell (even though it was springtime), she had only to close her eyes and imagine the place she visited, where all the cares and frazzle were no match for the ocean and Vitamin D.

The End.

[from Watari Goro on Flickr]

I’m all nervous about hitting the publish button on this post, but…

In a few short days, I’ll be traveling to sunny HAWAII!

I’m so insanely excited, but so self-conscious about receiving such a lavish gift.

So who’s giving such a gift?

• My dear friend, Kate, who’s an incredible doctor, presenting a case presentation poster at the American Academy of Neurology conference (the reason we’re going). Her generosity is stunning. She showed up at our house a couple months ago and told me she’d had her case presentation accepted by the neurology academy, and that she’d be presenting in Hawaii, but…she didn’t want to go by herself. So…would I want to come with her??? Kate and I have been friends for almost 15 years, so this is certainly a way to celebrate the Lord’s faithfulness to us in friendship!

Which leads me to the next amazing gift:

• My amazing husband, sending me happily on this dream trip. I know I wouldn’t be as happily sacrificial if the tables were turned. As soon as Kate asked me to go, I was all like, “Ummm…uhhh…I don’t know…” and Abraham chimed in, “OF COURSE you’re gonna go!” What a fantastic husband.

Which leads me to the next amazing gift:

• My in-laws, who are willing to take the babies for a couple days so Abraham can still have a little fun with the big boys at our church spring retreat. As soon as I heard the dates for the Hawaii trip, I knew there would be a conflict with our church’s spring retreat (which is a highlight of our church year). Not wanting Abraham to have to miss it, his parents and sister have stepped in to make that possible for Abraham and the big boys. AWESOME!

And the Giver of all these gifts:

• My loving God, who hears little heart-whispers into a long winter and sees my joke flight searches to warm places. Just a few days before Kate showed up and asked me to go with her, I’d been searching flights to Hawaii one afternoon, because of how depressed I was feeling about the endless winter. The price was laughable, and so I just stopped looking. But God saw. God knew. And God gave.

SOOOO…

In a few days, I’ll be somewhere that looks kinda like this:

[from Cody Anker on Flickr]

One thing I learned the other day (reading a kid’s book about Hawaii, because that’s all I had time for), is that Hawaii is technically a subtropical climate. I didn’t even know there was such a thing as subtropical, but apparently it has something to do with the weather being so stable (pretty much always in the 70s & 80s and sunny). I’ve never been anywhere tropical or subtropical so I’m pretty much psyched for whatever!

I hope to post more about it this week, or maybe even while I’m there. Aloha, my friends!

There are still icy snow patches left in the yard, the temperatures haven’t reached 60 degrees, and our grass is more like a mud-wrestling pit than a yard, but I guess that’s spring in Minneapolis!

We had such horrible cabin fever this weekend, that we decided to just hit the front porch and let the big kids play in the yard, mud and all.

Cadence wasn’t feeling particularly photogenic, but Whit was pretty happy with the arrangement!

I thought he looked like a dock worker in his little pea coat and rolled-brim hat. I captured this little gem that really needs a caption:

By the way, the twins turned 8 months old this weekend! Can’t even believe it!