April has come with a bang

I love the month of April.  It means spring and flowers and better weather.  We have birthdays to celebrate and a lot of fun things to do. 
The home inspection went well and our contract is holding steady as we count down to closing at the end of May.  There were a few minor fixes, some we could do and some we needed help with.  Jared was brave and got on the roof to seal a few shingles that blew off with an insane windstorm in March.  He doesn't mind climbing around up there but it totally scares me to think of doing that.

Our local high school had a rugby camp to teach little kids about the sport so we let our rough and tumble kids go learn some fun stuff.  Cade was an animal.  He is built like a little brick so he is pretty much perfect for rugby.  Ben and Afton held their own too as they learned to scrum and pitch.

Next up was the super fun celebration of Afton's 8th birthday!  She's really into legos so we had a Lego Friends theme.  Afton is such a great kid. It has been an adventure to watch her grow and mature.  She is a caring person who does everything with tons of intensity. What a fun person to be around! (And if you are wondering from the following pictures, yes this is the same day, and yes she changed her shirt three times during her party.  That's how she rolls.)

She was unfortunately battling a major tooth problem.  In January she had a cavity filled but it just hasn't really felt right since.  At the beginning of April we went in to the dentist to try to figure out the problem but didn't really get any answers.  The day before her birthday the tooth became an emergency and she started to swell up and have a lot of pain.

Another trip to the dentist told us she has an abscessed tooth.  Poor kiddo.  The anti-biotic wasn't quick enough to take away the swelling for her birthday and her pain was substantial but she pushed through and partied like a rock star.  She couldn't smile with how swollen her face was for about four days.  That took care of her birthday AND easter so we really don't have glamorous photos this year.  But we are happy to know that she is on the downhill slope of pain and swelling.  Now she just looks forward to having a tooth pulled (because that particular tooth can't get a root canal.)

Easter was really fun because celebrating holidays with kids it just fun.  We crashed another ward's Easter party for an Easter egg hunt.  Most of the people in that ward are the friends we made in our last ward so it kind of felt like home.  The kids enjoyed the candy and running around like the crazies they are.

This is as close as I could come to getting a kid picture on Easter Sunday.  They are a ragamuffin bunch but at least we all went to church.

Along with teeth problems of late, we had to take Ben to the podiatrist to check out why his foot has been hurting him for several weeks.  It always seems like we have to really be proactive when trying to figure out what ails a kid.  I don't know if it is just me but it seems like the first time I try to tell a medical professional they kind of dismiss the kid's symptoms as not real.  It is when we really advocate for their health that we get results.  Jared went with Ben last week to get an x-ray on his foot to rule out a break.  They told him that is was probably just a sprain or something.  When things didn't improve for Ben and he really was still limping around we pushed for more answers.  Turns out it is not a sprain at all.  His flat feet have been causing havoc on his tendons, ligaments, and muscles and they are kind of shutting down on that side.  He's going to use some orthotics in his shoes and we'll see how it goes.  I can already see a difference in his gait, and that's a good sign.

Now that all the medical issues have been aired... let's get on to a fun event.  Jared surprised me for our anniversary back in December with tickets to Wicked.  It didn't matter that we had to wait until April because I have been wanting to see this show for years!  We went, we loved it, I want to see it again!  Here we are on our "anniversary" date.  These past ten years have been great!