Hailey & Mackenzie

Me and the kids

Wes & the kids

Wes & Mack

Mack making his big splash through the many puddles on our yard!

Mack was very proud of his 'rooster' tails in the mud!

Well, our week with Hailey and Mackenzie came to an end this morning. We had so much fun together. I picked them up on Monday morning in Carman and after bringing Wes some lunch out at the sand pit where he was working the three of us went to Oasis for a quick lunch and then off to our house. The week was a mix mouse of activities like playing skip bo and sequence, riding dirt bike and go cart, they spent an afternoon at the pool and before we knew it the week was nearly over.

Mark and Eva were down for supper on Thursday night and we had a great night together. Before they left, Mark held up a roman candle that we had received from Phillip a number of weeks ago. Now, you might be wondering why our pastor would give us a roman candle, well it's quite simple. A few months ago when we had really good test results he thought we should celebrate by shooting off some fireworks and he just happened to have one for us. That is one prepared pastor. We just hadn't taken the time to use it.

So, anyhoo, Mark asked if they could shoot it off since it was Hailey & Mack's last night with us. We thought that was a great idea and off the four of them went to the front lawn to light the stick. A minute later off it went. We could hear them laughing and cheering together as the multi colored sparks flew high in the air. They came back inside still laughing because the reaction of the dog to the fireworks had been hilarious. The four of them were giggling and chattering at the same time. It was a great way to end their visit.

But, we did have our moments of excitement. Wednesday evening I landed up in the hospital again...grrr...I was so worried that I would have to stay in and I didn't know what would happen to the kids. Fortunately for us we have Eva. She is such a sweetheart. Her and Mark stayed with Hailey & Mackenzie while Wes took me in to get checked out. She was even willing to come back the next day and stay with them if I wasn't home. I knew the attack this time was not as serious as the one I had in January and the blood test confirmed that as well. The doctor felt it was probably a simple gallstone attack (no more ice berg ice cream for me...grrrr) and that I would be fine at home. They are doing an ultrasound next Friday morning to search for those elusive gallstones and I guess we'll see from there. So, I'm back on my fat free....boring diet. No need to worry though, the pain right now is very minimal and I was given Tylenol 3's to help with the pain if it gets too bad. It's all good!

Then Friday morning the kids were taking my dirt bike out for a final run and don't you think that Hailey wipes out and scrapes her hands pretty good, but she took it quite well. Every time they visit it seems like we need to have some excitement of some sort. Mackenzie has been attacked by wasps, he also had to have stitches when another kid hit him in the head with a bat...anyone need us to babysit?!?!

And then we've had our funny moments like this morning. Wes and Mackenzie were sitting side by side at my kitchen island eating breakfast when I told Wes that Mackenzie hadn't recognized his baby picture that I have on the fridge.

"That's probably because I have more hair on my head in that picture than I have now." Wes said to Mack with a smile.

"And you have more facial hair now too!" Mackenzie fired back

"Yeah," Wes said with a laugh "All the hair on my head fell down onto my face"

Mackenzie giggled "Yeah, you have more hair on your face now than you had on your head in the picture" And the banter continued while they finished their Rice Krispies.

We took a few pictures outside before Wes left for work and then the week was officially over. I made them some lunch before I brought them home and then after giant hugs goodbye I drove away watching them in my rear view mirror as they lugged their suitcases to their house. It was pretty hard to let them go as it is every time, but I'm glad we had this time together.

They have been a special part of our lives for a lot of years now and I'm glad they still are...Mackenzie did tell me that he would still be coming for holidays until he was at least 43...haha...I guess he can come and visit me in Salem. Either way...they are always welcome wherever we are.

"Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble." 1 Peter 3:8