Spray Ground

A few weeks ago a friend from church turned 4.  Her mom invited people to join them at a spray ground we had never been to before. It was a great park.  There was the splash/water part, then one playground and a little further down another playground- which did not get too wet because those seeking the water part did not stray to far from the water area. Smart planning on someone's part. 

 I think Lily liked not having any lifeguards tell her to stop running. 

Arabella loved the climbing.  Jon was there but I never caught him long enough to take a picture. He made a friend and spent his time playing with her. 

We will definitely make it back to this park sometime. 

In Summer (sing the title)

It is a Sunday afternoon and we needed something to do. 

Lily has become an expert at pulling out the craft supplies since they were moved from Samantha's room which was the craft/food storage/catch all room. She had begun to pull out the pipe cleaners and on the front of one package there was a picture of a frame that had been decorated with pipe cleaners and so it began.  I made the boys participate and in the end they had an okay time. 

 The girls hung in there a little longer and we made our rendition of Olaf, personal snow flurry and all. 

Now the girls are watching Frozen and the boys playing a game together on Joey's school ipad that he gets to keep during the summer. Everyone is happy so I am not stressing over the fact that they are in front of screens on a Sunday. 

 Check out the chubbers- Love It! She spit up on her dress and I did not get her redressed yet.

 Sweet Arabella

 Lily who can not seem to stay away from her "Manfa" (Samantha) for too long. 

 My Joey is getting so big and I wish I could go back to the days when he was little but I do love who he is trying to become.

Oh Jon, you are a cheeser sometimes but you are always quick to laugh and help others to laugh as well. I hope you always have happiness in your life. 

4th of July

Our 4th of July was a lot of fun! 

I went back to work the night before and before leaving for work began to show all of the signs and symptoms of my turn with the flu- it was inevitable. 

But, after getting home from work we got everyone up, dressed and out the door to the ward pancake breakfast and bike parade.

Peter made some of his famous pancakes - yum- and the bike parade was great (this is the only picture I got, sad) and then we served up shaved ice for everyone. 

 We headed home and changed our clothes to go to our friend's the Ostermiller's for a bbq and swimming.

We have done this for years and we love it! I always forget to take pictures.

 After that, we cleaned up and I took a very welcomed nap. I woke up to Samantha fussing.

When I picked her up she was burning up, it was her turn for the flu!

I called our nurse practitioner and she was kind enough to call in Tamiflu for both of us. 

 In the meantime, we headed to the park with some friends for a glow party (bring all the glow stick stuff you want and wait for it to get dark). It was a lot of fun and we had more shaved ice!

 Samantha threw up on the way over but was a trooper.  I left a bit early and went to pick up the medicine. I lucked out and the roads I drove along were perfect for viewing the big city fireworks display. 

It was a great holiday! I loved having it on a Friday because it felt like we had 2 Saturdays.

I am so thankful for this country and thankful for our freedoms. I pray that as a people we are always wise enough to use that freedom for good and righteous purposes.

As a bit of a follow up, Samantha did really well with the flu. She was a bit fussier here and there and did not like taking the medicine but we got it in her plus she may have been getting a bit extra from me since I am nursing her.  I had a few really rough days but seemed to be blessed to feel better when I needed to, like during church and when I had to work again on Monday. It was truly one of those times that I felt really bad for what my kids had been going through- miserable. So far Peter has not gotten it and I don't think he will. 

Swimming Lessons 2014

Arabella was so happy to head back to Mrs. Sigler for another year of lessons.

This year Arabella was the only one to take this year. 

The other girls were great about tagging along.

We are looking forward to next year when Lily can take lessons too.

Family in Town Part 6

Tuesday we spent the day getting people off to the airport.

Peter came home a bit early to get his mom to the airport and on the way their had a sudden attack of pain.

He called me and did not think he would be able to drive home. 

I told him I would hurry and feed Samantha and then come and get him.

He called before I finished and said he was doing better and would head home and call if he needed help along the way. 

 He got home and we talked about all of his symptoms and I assessed him. He was pretty miserable. My parents were still here and my dad had an appendicitis about 15 years ago and Peter's symptoms were a bit like what he had gone through but not exactly the same.

I was pretty sure it was kidney stones. After about 20 minutes of discussion and another wave or 2 of double him over pain, we headed to the ER. 

Sure enough it was kidney stones. Just after we got there he started throwing up because the pain was so bad. He was given some nice drugs and a CT scan which showed a stone on each side.

He spent the next 2 days at home trying to pass the stones. He traveled to Brownsville, TX on Friday and as he made it to the airport for his return flight home, he finally passed the stone from the right side. 

We were sad that the last 24 hours we had with my parents were filled with them watching our kids so that we could go to the ER.  We did take them to the pool for a dip before they flew out on Wednesday afternoon.  We have all been wondering when the other stone will drop but will pray it may never drop!

Family in Town Part 5

The Monday that everyone was in town we headed to the Perot Museum.

It was a great place for everyone to find something to entertain them or to tickle their mind with curiosity. 

 

 I tired to get Lily to roll her tongue.

 Grandpa is building with Arabella. 

 Jon and Sophi concentrate on their creation.

 Still building away. 

I did not do a great job of taking pictures that day but it was fun!

We decided to stop for dinner at Babe's Chicken.  So yummy and the kids loved playing with the Juke box. 

Last Week

Last week was our week of camps: Peter was at scout camp, Joey and Jon had Cub Camp Tuesday through Friday and the girls had Art Camp Monday through Thursday. Everyone was excited including me because I would have 3 mornings while the kids were at camps with the house to me and Samantha. 

Swaps were made and pinned to hats ready for trading.

 And then things went all wrong.  I should say that the Saturday before Jon became sick and stayed home from church on Sunday with a high fever and stomachache.  

He was better on Monday so we thought all was well and Peter got off to camp just fine. 

Tuesday morning we got the boys up and neither was feeling real well but Jon was so excited to go to camp that they decided to head off and if they felt bad the leaders could call me and I could go get them. 

Cub Camp started at 8:30 and at 11:00 I was called to come and get Jon who had been sleeping in the nurse's office since 9:30.  I arranged for a friend to pick up the girls and I drove the 30 minutes to pick him up. I had just gotten home and picked up the girls when they called and said that Joey, who had told me he had a headache while I was getting Jon, was now running a fever of 102.   Luckily one of the leaders was about to head home and so they were wondering if I minded them bringing Joey home, please, go right ahead.  

So the below picture is what took place the rest of Tuesday and Wednesday. Jon was feeling better by Wednesday night  and went back to camp for Thursday and Friday. 

Joey on the other hand was not getting better. He had only been able to keep down a serving of Jello and an otter pop here and there over the course of 3 days so I took him to the doctor on Friday.

 He looked awful and as a mother I felt awful because he did not even want to move but when your kids get this big there is no way for me to carry them.  He was going to have to go the ER if the strep and flu tests were negative but we lucked out if you can say that because the flu test was positive. 

WHAT the flu in June?! I gave Joey larger doses of nausea medication and he was finally able to keep some food down and within 24 hours was a totally different child, he was even jumping by Saturday evening. 

This was how I found Lily on Friday at dinner time. She was so tired or at least I thought, I should have known better. That night about 10:30 she came out of her room crying with a fever of 104.

 I called the pediatrician on Saturday morning and we started Lily and Arabella (preventative) on Tamiflu. 

Lily was so sleepy and threw up on Saturday but by Sunday she was doing better.

Arabella came in on Saturday night with a fever of 102.  We upped her dose of Tamiflu and she has been recovering but has seemed a bit worse than Lily. 

 I was really glad to have Peter home on Saturday from camp.  On Thursday night when I was cleaning up chicken noodle soup vomit off of the bathroom walls and toilet plunger (it may be the gross plunger but you can not leave thrown up noodles on it) because Joey did not get the toilet lid open in time, I was ready for Peter to be home. But then I thought to myself, what would it really change, there would still be vomit to clean up and the kids would still be sick.  I would still be their mother and bodily fluids and sick kids come with the territory; not the best part of motherhood but still my role to fulfill. 

We have been praying really hard that Samantha will not get sick (or me for that matter)!

The girls loved their camp and Jon loved cub camp, Peter loved his camp and Joey was sad to miss camp but felt to miserable to really care too much at the time. 

This week has to be better- Arabella was still bit under the weather yesterday and Lily was sleepy but today is a new day and I have high hopes!