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I grabbed the camera today when Ethan and Taylor were working on the dishes. I just love these little helpers. (And yes, Taylor does have her pajama bottoms on her head while she works. It was my attempt to distract her during a fight she was having with Ethan because she wanted to wear his pajama bottoms around her neck like a scarf. She loves her accessories. And no, no one was harmed by the butter knife.)

"Tank ou, Ehan"

Taylor has gotten to be so chatty lately. I just love to hear her little voice and all the things she says. The other day Ethan handed her something and she said "Tank ou, E-han" (thank you Ethan). It just melts my heart. Ethan was always so verbal and had a great vocabulary at a young age. I assume I'm not alone but I definitely always wondered if it would be hard if Taylor wasn't the same way. But she has been just as verbal as Ethan so it's nice to know what her little mind is thinking. Of course she is very opinionated and strong-willed so we have some battles. She was saying "bite" very loudly today in church when the sacrament went by and let everyone know that she wanted some.

Ethan has some chores that he has to do and he isn't a big fan. He always asks if Taylor is big enough to do chores and we tell him that no he is on his own. Well today he was unloading the silverware in the dishwasher and Taylor LOVES to get into the dishes while Ethan is taking his time unloading them. So we decided to get Taylor to hand Ethan the silverware and he put it away. It was the cutest thing ever to see them working together. Of course Taylor was able to go from the drawer to the dishwasher and back before Ethan could put away one utensil. She was kind of showing him up but he loved having the help. I think Taylor is going to be my little helper. She is such a little mother some days. I just love the moments when they are getting along and helping each other. It is the sweetest thing and makes my day.

Thankfully April is Over

I already mentioned that April was a busy month and we were all over the place so when my grandmother got really sick and we decided that we needed to go to Richmond as soon as possible Abe joked that it was because I just had to get one more trip in before April ended. If only that were true. By no stretch of the imagination could this be called a vacation. My grandmother went into the emergency room on the day that we finished our cruise with shortness of breath and has since had 3 heart attacks that leave her a little weaker and a little more confused each time. At 92 there isn't much they can do for a bad heart so we knew it was time to spend some time with her while we still could. Ethan was so sweet when I told him that great grandma was really sick. When I told him we should do something special for her he suggested we paint her a picture. I asked him what kind of picture would make her happy and he said he would paint her a rainbow. To begin with it actually looked like a rainbow until he decided that he liked the green paint A LOT and so he over did it with the green. The picture was just perfect and grandma loved it.

We went to Richmond on Friday afternoon and I got to spend a couple hours with grandma every day. Those are some long, quiet and emotionally draining days. Abe was so wonderful to watch the kids while I was gone. He got to understand how much fun it is to chase them both around a completely unchildproof house. He will never ask me again why I don't consider a trip to my parents' house a vacation. We also had a chance to visit with some of my siblings that I don't get to see very often. It wasn't a great reason to get together but it was nice for the kids to get to visit with their aunt and uncle and Abe and I really appreciated all the help with the kids.

By Sunday grandma had gotten her strength back from her last heart attack so she was back to her normal self. It is such an odd experience because grandma can't remember why she is in the hospital or that she is even sick. All she kept saying was that the doctor said she was going home on Monday (but no one else would ever confirm that). Even though we had some rough times it was wonderful to sit with her and chat about things and let her know how much we love her. On Sunday before we left town we brought Ethan and Taylor by the hospital to see grandma. We had a little chat about how he needed to be really happy and nice in the hospital and he did wonderful. It is such a nice hospital but I worried that he might be spooked out by the whole thing. When we got in the car on the way over I told him where we were going and he said with such joy, "Yeah. Taylor did you hear that? We are going to see great grandma." After we said our goodbyes and left the room we got half way down the hallway and Ethan said "Are we going to see grandma here again?" I said "no she won't be here at the hospital when we come back". And then he said "maybe I should go say bye to her again" and we did. He is such a sweetheart. Grandma looks kind of angelic in this picture but that is because I didn't realize that I had something on the lens of the camera. She did actually come home from the hospital today like she wanted. Maybe it is better that she doesn't know how short her time might be. The whole weekend has made me very thankful for my faith in knowing where we go after we die and that our family will be together again. Please keep her in your prayers.