In sickness and in health...

Valentine's Day is always a much anticipated holiday in our house.  Of course we love each other very much regardless of the day of the week but I think it is not a bad idea to set aside one day specifically to make sure those you love, know you love them.  

The concepts of "for better or for worse" and "in sickness and in health" are givens.  We love each other no matter what, that's no doubt.  However, little did I know that the "in sickness and in health" portion of the equation was going to come so very much into play.  Over the past few weeks Influenza A, strep throat and the good old stomach flu have all reared their very, very ugly heads and no one has been spared.  I believe Grace kicked the influenza party off .  As Jason and I then struggled through influenza and strep, but we had our fingers crossed that it would not hit the other two girls.  Fortunately it didn't.  Unfortunately, they were blessed with the stomach flu instead.

Prior to the flu hitting Lily, she was able to attend her very first Valentine's Day party and she had a fantastic time.  She loved playing with play-doh...

 She loved spending some time with her buddy, Joshua...

 She loved singing about love...

 She loved her self-decorated cupcake...

 And she really loved playing "Sweetie, Sweetie, Tart"~a Valentine's spin on "Duck, Duck, Goose".

 Sadly, the love ended shortly after the party and poor Lily went down hard.  Throwing up for almost 20 hours took the wind out of her sails and our annual Valentine's Day hotel visit was in jeopardy.  Fearful of dehydration, Lily visited Urgent Care and was given medicine to stop the madness.  After a dose of her medicine and a good night's sleep, our sweet little Moocher was back in action and off to the Ramada Inn we went for an afternoon, evening and morning of swimming, relaxation and uninterrupted time together....

Healthy, well-rested and thoroughly relaxed, we decided to take advantage of the glorious weather with our first 2011 trip to the zoo...

We were amazed at how much the baby giraffe had grown since we last visited...

And adored the adorable meerkats...

Ella and Lily even tried to mimic the way the meerkats snuggle...


For better or for worse.  In sickness and in health.  At the hotel or at the zoo.  On Valentine's Day or on Thursday.  The one thing I can always count on, the one constant is the love.  It's always there, no matter what and for that I am so very thankful.

Update on life...

I've been negligent in my blogging as of late.  We've been busy.  That's it.  No other explanation, no exciting news, just busy with every day, ordinary stuff.  Cleaning, homework, sickness, Girl Scout cookie selling, organizing and errands.  Luckily among the mundane tasks and chores that come hand in hand with being alive, we've found some time for fun too. 

We've had fun just hanging around the house looking cute...

And we've had fun hanging around the house looking like the Grinch...

We've had lots of bouncy, slidy, crazy fun at the Xcite Family Fun Center

Along with some of our favorite Minnesota residents, who came to visit this past weekend, we've had mall shopping fun ...

Ella has had cold, outdoor, brand new fun ice skating with her Girl Scout troop...

And because of all the fun it was apparent she was having, some of our spectators wanted to get in on that fun...

And as if that isn't enough fun, a great amount of fun was had at Red Lobster celebrating my fabulous mother's birth...

 Oops, let's try that again...

So, as you can see, there really hasn't been much time for blogging.  We've been busy.

***Sidenote~To my mother...

There really isn't anything that I could say that I haven't already said.  You are the best mom I could have ever wished for and I can only hope that my girls love and respect me even half as much as I love and respect you.  I'm so grateful God chose me to belong to you.

Happy Birthday!