Lately I've been waking up early but not getting to sleep very early. Today it's starting to take its toll. I don't mind getting up early at all because I've missed having some quiet mornings before all of the kids are awake. Perhaps my body is already trying to get me prepared for the odd hours of sleep I'll get once we have a newborn in the house again.

Yesterday no one showed up for the LLL meeting. All three kids stayed home with Cory this time (usually Ella goes with me), so I sat for a while waiting to see if anyone would come and was able to read a magazine article that I've wanted to for a month or two. After lunch, Accalia and Cole wanted to spend their money, and Accalia picked out a Littlest Pet Shop VIP stuffed animal which allows her to access a virtual world for her pet. She's been loving that all weekend. Cole wanted to get a couple Ben 10 action figures, and he's kept them close to him all weekend, too.

Yesterday was a cold, windy day, but today we can see that the spring warm up is finally here. While it struggled to get to 50 degrees, it was sunny and a nice day to walk around the neighborhood and poke around the yard to see what is growing. We can see the buds on George, our willow tree. We can see the tulips and lilies popping up in front and along the side. Accalia and Cole keep asking when we can plant the garden, but we probably won't do that for at least a few more weeks so we're past the danger of any more freezing/frosty nights.

This past week has been rather rough for Cory's side of the family. His brother, Mark, is a highway patrol officer in Mitchell, and on Friday he was working during snowy, icy conditions. He was about 30 miles west of Mitchell responding to two semis in the ditch. While he was talking to the other truckers, another semi went into the ditch. Then, as he was headed back to his vehicle, he could see another semi coming and losing control. He saw that the semi was headed right for him, so he jumped in his vehicle, stood on the gas, and managed to get moving. The semi hit him, though, and spun him 180 degrees into the ditch and blew out a couple windows. It's amazing that there was so little damage that he was able to drive back to Mitchell. Also, thankfully, he wasn't seriously injured. He's pretty sore, but as far as we know wasn't more seriously hurt. That semi driver did get a ticket for overdriving the conditions, though.

The other bit of bad news is that Cory's aunt Pat (Mary's sister) has been diagnosed with primary amyloidosis, which is something I'd never even heard of before. It's a disorder where protein is deposited on tissues and organs. It's extremely rare - 8 in a million, I've read - and there is no cure. It is life threatening. Pat is being treated at the Mayo Clinic, and it sounds like the treatment consists of chemo in pill form. There are some forms of amyloidosis that are heriditary, but this kind isn't, so Pat is very thankful that her children won't have to be tested and worry that this is something they may develop and pass on to their children, etc.

So that's what's happening in some of our extended family. We'll see how this coming week goes. The weather should be nice enough that nothing should have to be cancelled because of the weather. I think Accalia's a bit bummed that she'll miss her first soccer game on Saturday because dance pictures are at the exact same time, but the pictures have been planned for much longer than the soccer game. Accalia also has soccer pictures that day, and it may be a challenge to get there from the dance pictures. It rarely happens that so many things end up coming together at the same time like this, but that is just one of those days.

Tomorrow I'm sure we'll enjoy the outdoors more. Other than Accalia having ballet, that's about it for planned activities.