Unsolved Mystery

Okay, cue the creepy music from that classic TV program we watched as kids even though it freaked us out and kept us up at night wondering if the escapees from Azkaban were lurking in our backyards.

Last week, I was taking the girls with me to run some errands and when I entered our garage, my eye caught this:

I pulled it out and saw it was a 1,000 Brazilian note.  I never noticed it there before, so I called Geoff to see if he found it and tucked it behind the conduit--he hadn't, but he looked up the currency and found out it is worth $285 US dollars!

I left for my errands but kept feeling a little creeped out wondering how it got there, so just to be safe, I called the Morton Grove police to see if there were any recent incidents involving Brazilian money.  There hadn't, but they asked to come check things out.  An officer came by and said it was suspicious but, of course, there was nothing to be done.  They told me to keep the money (woo hoo!) and if we heard anything skeptical going on outside, to call them immediately.

I'm happy to report that absolutely nothing has happened, but I still would like to know where that money came from!  Geoff thinks it's been there ever since we moved in but I really don't think we wouldn't notice it for three years!  Plus, the people who lived here before us were from India, not Brazil!

Well, I guess now all we have to figure out is where we need to go to exchange the money and then decide how we want to splurge!  ;)

An Evening of Music

So this post is two months late but...

in March I put together an Evening of Music and invited anyone in our ward to come perform.  March was a crazy month of sickness for our family and Eliana was running a fever this particular weekend, so Geoff and Eliana stayed home while Hylie tagged along with me so I could run the event.  I was sad our whole family couldn't attend, but the evening was filled with some wonderful music.  Many individuals came to perform and some came just to listen.  We had little ones playing amazing pieces on the violin, piano, and cello, some adults performing some pretty impressive guitar solos, vocalists, pianists, and I had the pleasure of playing with a very fine violinist, Stephanie Goold.

A friend of ours recorded the numbers I was in so Geoff could hear them, so here are the YouTube posts:

Hungarian Dance

A Change in Me

Bach's Double Concerto

I can assure you, the notes out of tune on the violin duets are me!  It was so fun to get my violin out and take the time to practice and play--and what a joy it has been to play with Stephanie.

To thank the participants, I put together a little thank you treat with a classic ABBA song.

I'm hopeful to make this an annual event, we'll see how on top of it I am next winter!

Beginnings of the Bump

15 Weeks

Yep, little Woodhouse #3 is on the way!  We are all very excited and it's even more fun to see how Hylie can't wait for another sibling.  She keeps asking if the baby can be a boy since she doesn't have a brother yet...we'll just see what happens!  Eliana is, of course, clueless, but she is noticing that it's not as comfortable to snuggle on mom anymore.

This pregnancy has been very good to me, just a little bit of nausea the first 10 weeks, but ever since, I've been feeling great.  My energy levels have even been higher than past pregnancies.  We're praying this little one continues to develop healthy and strong and that we can have a full term pregnancy.  Looking forward to another Woodhouse mid-October!

Childhood Joys

What kid doesn't love bubbles?  Our little girls are definitely on board with this simple delight!

We Have a Play Set!

A few weeks ago we got a call from some friends that their neighbor was getting rid of a Little Tyke play set and asked if we would be interested in it.  Umm, yes!

Geoff picked it up in the van, and the very next weekend he assembled the whole thing!  We're grateful the weather is finally warm enough for the girls to enjoy it.

Early Intervention

At Eliana's 15 month check-up, her pediatrician recommended we get Eliana evaluated for Early Intervention since she was barely crawling, and not pulling herself up or showing any interest in walking.  The therapists came over and Eliana's shyness took over and she mostly clung to me while I talked to the therapists about what Eliana could and couldn't do.  They had brought toys to play with and gadgets to explore, but very little enticed her out of my arms.  Five minutes before the end of the appointment, one of the therapists put her pen down and wouldn't you know, Eliana let go of me and made a beeline for the pen so they could finally see her at least crawl, ha ha!  They determined Eliana is 40% delayed in her gross motor development and recommended physical therapy.  After the therapists left, I was signing paper work with the service coordinator.  We put a pen down on the ottoman, and Eliana pulled herself up for the very first time to snag that pen as well!  The next day, Eliana started climbing the stairs as well, I guess all we had to do was talk about intervention to get this little girl moving!

Eliana starting to realize there is more to movement than just crawling 

We started therapy last week.  It took about 15 minutes for Eliana to warm up to the therapist and she was able to work with her one on one.

Eliana continues to enjoy pulling herself up on most anything, climbing the stairs at any chance, and is just barely starting to cruise along the furniture.  Eliana sure has spoiled me by staying in her baby phase for so long--little kids always grow up so fast--but I'm grateful she's gaining her strength and desire to get herself moving.

Happy Easter!

Easter morning began super early when Hylie woke up from a bad dream.  The only thing that calmed her down was showing her that the Easter Bunny had come for a visit.  She enjoyed hunting for Easter eggs with Eliana and had even more fun finding out what goodies were inside.

Eliana actually found a few eggs on her own, but once she found out there were goodies inside, she decided eating her loot was more important than looking for more!

We attended church where we had some beautiful musical numbers and remarks on the life and atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  I am grateful for the greater understanding we can gain on the atonement from the scriptures and articles from our leaders.  More and more I am not only understanding the dependence we have on the Savior to return clean and pure to our Father in Heaven, but also understanding the enabling power we can receive from His grace.  All that I fall short of, all of my weaknesses can be made complete or strengthened through Jesus Christ.  I have seen this happen as I have prayerfully pleaded for help to be a more patient and compassionate wife and mother.

As the day went on, Hylie was having a harder and harder time and not acting herself.  We had taken her in to the doctors the day before where they discovered her ear pain was caused by wax build up and they also tested her for strep.  The initial strep test came back negative, but sure enough, we got a call Sunday evening that the next test came back positive.  Poor kid!

I finally got some pictures of the girls in their Easter dresses yesterday and I'm grateful to report that April is proving to be a much healthier (and now warmer) month!