So much to say...

I have composed this post several times in my head as there have been so many exciting things happen in such a short time.

Backyard Play Area:
It all started 2 weeks ago when Mario and I completed the play area in our backyard by shoveling and wheelbarrowing 5 yards of mulch to our backyard along with 1 ton of sand for the sandbox. (Wed April 1st) I hosted the rosary group among our friends here and some of the kids were able to enjoy that new playground. (Thurs April 2nd)

This is what the back corner used to look like (well, it was even worse and overgrown..all woodsy... the fresh new grass was what we had grown on our own last fall.)
The completed play area.
It's really nice having the sand box.

Retaining Wall:
We decided to build a retaining wall on the left front side of our house to help level and balance it with the right. We went with a dry stack method using natural fieldstone. We started with a bit of prep-work on Friday April 3rd. Saturday we continued to work on the wall. Sheila had a growth spurt and needed more milk, so when I wasn't hauling stone or nursing, I was eating and drinking as much as possible to feed her demands. The kids were actually really great in letting us get half the wall finished. That night we went to a small birthday party.

The kids helped outside sometimes, but also entertained each other well inside.


Joey is toilet trained:
I was determined to begin an official "3 day potty training" of Joey on Monday April 6th. So, despite our landscape being unfinished, I went ahead with my plan. I was completely amazed by Joey's success. Mario was skeptical of the plan and was not pleased with a half-naked Joey walking around for 3 days straight. However, he has agreed he cannot complain as it worked.

Sheila likes naps and can roll over:
Sheila and I have this agreement that she can sleep/eat/play whenever she wants as long as she is content. As a result, I just hadn't been keeping track of a schedule for her. So, starting with Joey's potty training on Monday, I thought I'd actually put her to sleep in a crib rather than let her nap wherever she happened to be. And it worked. I'm glad she can sleep just about anywhere, but happy to see she can also nap on her own in a crib. And Thursday night (April 9th) she decided to roll over. Sure, this is our 3rd baby to accomplish this, but it is still just as exciting.

MJ's bike without training wheels:
My original compositions of this email left it that MJ was just beginning to try to ride without training wheels. But Friday April 10th, I was able to watch Tony and Xavier while their new brother was being born. It was a beautiful day and MJ and Tony were out riding bikes with some neighborhood kids while the 3 little ones were napping. All of the sudden, MJ realized Tony was riding his bike without training wheels and he simply had to be able to do it as well immediately. So with a little bit of help, and a lot of determination I let go and he kept going! It was really great. That night, Mario worked with MJ even more and he continues to get more confident.

Sheila's 4 month check up:
This could have a post of it's own, but I learned she is healthy and doing well. I also took all 5 kids (mine plus the 2 I was watching) to this appointment. It was long, but the kids all did really well.

This doesn't exactly fit, nor is it a great picture of them, but I think Joey and Sheila look a lot a like.

A lesson that people are more important than things:
We captured all of these events on our camera of course, but Saturday morning, I realized that I lost my camera. (I am really good at this it seems). It was very painful to lose all those pictures and not have a camera for Easter, but it was also a great lesson for me to realize that people are more important than things. Plus, I will have to be much more careful with our next camera.

Not our Easter outfits...actually taken on Palm Sunday.

Easter:
I'll have to borrow some pictures from the Suarez family, but we had a fabulous Easter at Tabitha and Babu's house (the last huge party they will probably host at their current home as they are about to close on their new home later this week).