April 2013 - random pictures

When we got back home from Tennessee on April 4th, we had a whole month ahead of us without Daddy. We tried to make the best of it and here's some snapshots from the month.
The weekend after we got home, we got to watch General Conference. Yay! Between sessions, we went on a walk around the neighborhood. It was chilly!

Wow, Eliza, it looks like you dressed yourself this morning... :)

Eliza made herself a grated swiss and bread sandwich. And ate it. I know if I had served that up she would not have been so eager...

BAD NEWS. We got a case of the dreaded lice. ICK. I wasn't too worried about it until after I had treated their heads with the medicine and then, while combing out nits, found healthy and spry lice still on their heads. Now read: FREAK OUT.  I realized I had been too stingy on the medicine and this time I put gobs and gobs of it in their hair (even though the box said not to reapply). But first, I gathered Eliza's hair at the back of her neck and sawed it off with a pair of scissors. (She didn't care. I realized later, to my surprise, that my rash haircut formed a nicely shaped A-line.) After that, we spent hours and hours (and days) of combing meticulously through their hair. Ben and Eliza held still and watched kid movies for hours. (I was so glad that I don't turn on movies or TV for them much, because instead of being miserable during the long combing sessions, they were thrilled!) Sam, however, refused to allow me to even touch his hair, much less comb it. So, his hair came off. Buzzed right to the skin. Good as Bic'd. What choice did I have? When I told Jed that I was going to (over the phone), he did not want me to. He thought surely there must be another way! Not the curls! But, since I couldn't comb through his hair to get rid of every remaining lice or nit, the curls met their end. I was not about to have this drag on because I was too attached to some curls that will grow back. I know, I was hard-hearted and on the end of my desperate rope. So here is the bald little man, after the sad hair cut. Handsome as ever.

Eliza with her new short do.

And as for this bald head.... well, it has never looked more beautiful to my eyes!

One night in April we had a "Walker Restaurant" for dinner. (Leftover night.) My kids do not like leftovers. No sir. But I had a lot accumulating in the fridge. So I divided them all into thirds (which made tiny portions) and then served the kids course after course. With lots of formality (calling them 'sir' and 'madam') and a flourish with each dish, I offered them their 'appetizer', filled their glass goblets with water,and asked if they would like something to 'cleanse their palate' between courses (a cucumber slice or some such tidbit). It was so much fun! They loved it, and it was fun for me to interact with them in a playfully formal way.

Jed's sister was SO SWEET and sent us a little survival package. She sent me a big bag of gourmet chocolates and sent the kids a set of Magformers. Holy Cow. This toy was a HIT! Seriously, it was played with constantly. (And even 6 months later it was STILL being played with every day.) It was so kind of her to think of us.

Little Charlotte was sick for a while there. She was not feeling well at all and needed lots of cuddles. 

After I took the picture of sick Charlotte, I took a picture of little Sammy in front of me. Gotta love that face. He always loved this yellow blanky, but now he drags it EVERYWHERE with him. This is a case of simple attachment gone obsession. :)

Apparently Sam is following in Eliza's footsteps because he made himself a PBJ and raisin sandwich. Well, I made the PBJ and he added the raisins. And then he ate it. What is it with my kids making themselves gross sandwiches?

Ben has always loved playing adult games, and this month Ticket to Ride became his favorite. We didn't play with the destination cards at first, but over the next few months we added all the rules in. 

Ben and Eliza decided Charlotte had to be contained because she kept interfering with their toys and games on the carpet. They discovered that she could not climb over the library book tote, so they cornered her with it. Not without giving her a pile of toys to play with first, though. But she preferred to just watch them cheerfully from her prison. She didn't realize how unjustly she was being treated! After a while, she would start to fuss until she was rescued.

Charlotte really is starting to get into everything. She particularly liked to ransack the craft cabinet and the linen cabinet in the kitchen.

One night we went to Eliza's preschool openhouse. She has loved preschool this year (2012-2013). She goes every Monday-Thursday for 3 hours in the afternoon. Her two teachers, Miss Bonnie and Miss Alex, are absolutely the SWEETEST. They really love her, which is the most important thing for a student, I think. Anyway, we had a fun time.

Jed spent his 34th birthday in the Shock Trauma Unit, working like crazy, like almost every other day in April. :(  But some of the fellow residents assigned to his pod surprised him with a big cookie for his birthday. That made me really happy. We also sent him a couple packages through out the month.

Ben sent a cute letter to Jed in one of the packages we sent:

It says, "Dear Dad, I hope you have some sleep. Please say a prayer to have enough strength. I think you are awesome. Remember it is what you think about yourself, not what other people think. Love Ben. I love you." I don't know why he wrote that, but it was adorable. We remembered Jed in all our prayers, and I'm sure I prayed aloud asking that He would support Jed and help him endure the long hours. Maybe Ben picked up on that, or maybe we talked about it. I can't remember now. Anyway, it was a cute letter.
I was expecting Jed to come home late on May 1st, but he surprised me and walked in the door the afternoon of the 30th! It was very exciting to have him home again! I can't believe I didn't take a picture of our happy reunion. We must have been too excited! We love him so much!