a full day of fun...

yesterday was such a fun day with henry and daphne. we had such a great time with them even though we all were completely over-stimulated by the time our heads hit our pillows.

ross' mom & dad came over to spend the day with anna and so once they arrived we headed out the door. as soon as we got downtown we started to find a restaurant for lunch. we ended up at a favorite of ours- micha's. they have to have the best carne asada chimichangas in town (though tod, ross' brother, can grill up some mighty tasty carne asada too). a sweet older man offered to take our family picture- well a partial family picture.

after lunch we went over to the convention center for "the greatest show on earth". the kids were so excited! while we were pulling in the parking lot they spotted our friends so we quickly joined them in line. we were able to go into an arena where many of the animals were on exhibit. we saw elephants, tigers, horses and even a porcupine. after the animal exhibit we went in and were able to go down on the floor to watch some of the action up close. henry even got to go help some clowns and they also got to try on some costumes. all the sights and sounds were slightly overwhelming for me so i can totally understand why daphne looks a bit glazed over in most of our pictures.

once in our seats with popcorn and lemonade in hand (gold plated popcorn and lemonade i might add) the show began and i heard the giggles of two very happy little kids sitting right next to me. at one point henry said to me, "mom, i want to be in the circus." of course daph was enamoured with the costumes all the girls were wearing. ross and i were a bit baffled by one costume though... the girls were wearing plastic bodysuits that had handlebars attached at the hip. rather interesting in our opinion!
finally the show ended and we loaded up and took the kids to the hospital. daphne was so excited to meet her baby sister! i took her in and had the biggest smile on her face. i asked her what she thought of her new baby sister and she said, "she's so pretty." the nurses let us actually go into one of the rooming in rooms so that we could spend time with ramey as a family. the kids wanted to hold her so badly but she was sleeping and i just didn't want to wake her with the chaos that was sure to ensue. so instead of holding her we sang lots of songs to her. they both kept asking when we could bring her home. i wish it was today but she isn't ready yet.
as for an update on ramey- she is still doing well but she is taking in so much milk via bottle and tube that i am having a hard time keeping up with her. please pray that i can up my production so that i can keep up with her. she has been eating anywhere from 20 to 50 mL every other feeding. we are seeing progress but it is still slow.

we finished our day by heading to the goodings for a party. it was great to go out and see folks i haven't seen since before all this craziness. allison made some awesome food- in fact her desert was a very tasty ice cream cake decorated like an american flag...so martha!

we had a day filled with lots of fun and smiles. it was so great to be with almost all my family for a whole day.

thank you Lord for the time we spent with the older kids. thank you for laughter and hugs. thank you for yesterday.