Not my child! Monday! and one teeny Not Me!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! MckMama began this blog carnival and here are my confessions in the form of denials. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

It's not my 2 year old child who likes to open and close slam the baby gate shut only because he sits close enough and can reach it. MY 2 year old sits quietly with his hands in his lap while waiting for mommy to bring his food to the table.

It wasn't my 9 year old child who thought it would be fun to teach our 2 year old to throw food at the table. Our children have table manners fit for the Queen.

It was not my 2 year old who duped his cousin into switching diapers because the diaper he picked out didn't have momo elmo on it and hers did. My 2 year old is unselfish and gives the best to others.

It wasn't my 11 year old child who asked me if Dairy Queen would be a good job for her when she gets older or should she be a room designer. Nope my children know exactly what they want to in life. They have life all mapped out.

It's not my child who proceeds to take every. single. book. off his bookshelf daily. Nope my children read a single book at a time and then put it back in it's place on the shelf not on the floor.

It's not my 5 year old child who, when given the digital camera, took pictures of my butt! nope. This little budding photographer does not take butt shots. Only artistic arrangements of flowers and wildlife and other such goodness - not mom's butt!

And lastly, it's not my child who dumped a newly box of lucky charms out all over the floor and it's not me who took pictures of his folly and watched his big brother and cousin and he eat up their sugary mess.

The State Fair according to Kenan

On Saturday our family went to the State Fair. We let the kids have the camera to take pictures. I find the view from our 5 year old fascinating so here is another addition of "The World according to Kenan."

from here to there and from there to here

funny people are everywhere.

Mommy and his big sister walking

Papa checking out his dream grill kitchen. I think he's dreaming of a brisket slow cooked over the flames for 3 days. Oh, wait - maybe that was me. Mmmmm!

Another self portrait. There were many. He would do them upside down as he was walking too. Pretty talented.

The sky glider

A wider view of the sky glider and more funny people.

A tractor on Machinery hill from the vantage point of a 5 year old.

A sculpture of something carved out of a dead tree.

He had to take a picture of Spongebob Squarepants at one of the gazillion souvenir stands.

A dinosaur from dinosaur world. The picture is blurry because he was snapping pictures and running to the next dinosaur. Kenan was so excited to slow down.

Overpriced dinos.

His sweet cousin Lu bear

More funny people and the carousel

What can expect from a little 5 year old with no one helping him?

Much better!

A wagon wheel. I really like this picture.

A toddler tornado!

It's so amazing how toddlers can dictate how you will be spending your day. I mean, I woke up this morning with a migraine. Boo me. Well I had been trying not to do to much, with toddlers that's pretty hard. Timmy is pretty good about being helpful, mostly by staying out of my hair and keeping Kenan entertained. That is a feat in and of itself let me tell you! Way to go Timmy. Well anyway, my migraine slowly went away ( yay! )* and I was doing our online banking and all the goodness that goes along with that when Micah went into the kitchen. I figured that he was going downstairs to play and really didn't think much of it. All of a sudden Micah comes back into the dining room and spills dumps a whole box of Lucky Charms on the floor! Immediately after chaos ensued and I'm trying to keep little feet from crunching them and causing a bigger mess. Then Micah thinks I'm going to bring some lucky charms and put them on the couch. He does so by the fistfull and Lucy is happily stepping on them. By this time my head is spinning because now Micah has taken to throwing them on the table and then Kenan decides, I'm going to help my mama by going outside. Only going outside means tracking right through the pile to go out a get a couple star wars guys and come back in. Then calm. You can see why they were calm in the pictures that follow. I had to take these because 1. how often does this happen? and 2. it kept me from getting even more frustrated.

Lucy decided to stay out of the big mess and get whatever she could elsewhere.

The boys shoveling all the marshmallows into their mouths as fast as they could. Let me tell you that after all was swept up, the cereal to marshmallow ratio was quite off balance. Does that surprise anyone though?

If you look carefully Lucy has them stuck on her socks. I picked her up and she was covered in marshmallows.

"I'm helping you clean up mama." and then he's gone because suddenly "he's too full."

Like I said earlier, it's amazing how toddlers will dictate how you will spend your day. Now instead of relaxing this afternoon, I'll be sweeping and mopping up the marshmallow residue and vacuuming the sofa. I guess it was due time for me to mop anyway...

*by the way, I was going to do a blog post about my migraines and what I've noticed with them but how boring is that? Kids are wonderful blessings!

A trip to the Zoo

Last night after Bible Study, a couple friends invited me and the kids to come with them to the zoo today. I said yes, as I was looking forward to getting out of the house and chatting with my friends and seeing the kids having fun with some other kids. I made a quick stop at the grocery store last night to buy some food for lunch. Let me just say that there are some very interesting characters out grocery shopping at 9 p.m. The morning went well. I can't say for sure but I really think just setting some aside before my kids woke up to pray for them and our day helped. We had a little talk before we left about how to behave and what I expected of them and they behaved amazingly well.

We met at the snow monkeys and proceeded to the Woodland Adventures Tree house play area. All the kids had so much fun, but alas, I did not bring the camera. I was thinking that maybe, just maybe I wouldn't need it. *gasp* Oh how I wished I had brought the camera. Lucy and Micah had a blast climbing in the gigantic bird's nest and Micah had fun bouncing on each of the three fish. You know those things on a big giant spring that a kid sits upon and they rock back and forth. When I was a kid I loved trying to rock so far forward that the toy animal or car or whatever would touch the ground They were all the same but he had to try each of them, naturally. The funniest part for me, but maybe not for Micah, was the bear cave. Inside is a big (fake but very real looking) bear standing on it's hind legs. I saw it from distance, but Micah did not. He started into the cave, stopped dead in his tracks and began to whimper. Oh how that was so funny. He picked him and gave him a big hug and brought Lucy in to touch the bear. Only then would enter the cave and touch the bear. All was good until he saw a baby bear cub peeking around the corner. That scared him and he ran out of the cave. He did end up following me up to the baby bear because he wanted to be near me. He also patted the baby bear on the head when he saw Lucy touching it and she was okay.

After Woodland Adventure we took the tractor ride to the farm, where we watched the cow milking demonstration. Yep, Micah and Lucy sat through the whole demonstration. I knew Hannah, Timmy, and Kenan would sit with their friends and handle it, but I really didn't think I could keep both toddlers sitting still for this demonstration by myself. We ended up in the second row and sure enough they sat through it. Micah freaked when the cow came out, but after some reassurance he calmly sat through the whole milking, sucking his thumb all the while. Lucy got a little squirmy but since there was no where to go she sat through it mostly happy.

When the cow milking was over we went over to the goats. The kids got to feed the goats and go in the pen. I didn't bring the toddlers in because Micah just wasn't getting over the fact that a goat actually dared put his mouth on the stroller stray. Lucy wanted to pet a goat and she liked that but back only, no face for her. She would pull back if the goat's face went anywhere near her. The kids climbed on the big green tractor and some other tractors and then it was time for lunch. We had a picnic and then walked to the car since Timmy had a headache. I really wish I would've taken the camera with me so I could add some pictures here. Oh well.

The world according Kenan

On Saturday we visited Fort Snelling State Park and went hiking. I blogged about it here. We let Kenan have the digital camera to take pictures of what he saw. Here are the best ones.

Yellow Flowers

His eye

Tree tops

a close up of his Clifford

my head

Some purple flowers. When he saw these he grabbed the camera and said "I need to take a pictures of these!"

"Mommy, pick me up! I need to take a picture of the water!"

The ground. I wonder what he was thinking when he took this.

The wall on the bridge

Papa pushing the stroller over the cool bridge. No bikes allowed but we saw a bike ignore the sign and ride her bike.

So this is the world, er, Fort Snelling State Park according to Kenan. He had such a fun time taking these pictures and I'm sure there will be other posts like this as he loves to use the camera. Sometimes he takes some very unique pictures too!

My very great reward

Today, I was going through my day pondering all that I could blog about today. I had been doing my normal day to day stuff. I folded laundry, put that laundry away. Well okay, some of that laundry is put away. The rest is sitting in baskets in our room. But hey - it's folded and in the right room to be put away later. I picked up hundreds of books and had some snuggle time with the toddlers. I conversed with the older two about possible halloween costume ideas, I put dishes away, made lunch and cleaned up from lunch. Finally nap time came and I was able to sit down for some quiet time. I started to read the book we are going through for Bible study and I came across this verse - "I am your shield, your very great reward." Genesis 15:1

It came out of the context of being obedient to God, even when things seem scary or hard or when it comes to something we think isn't clear. He is our shield. He is my protector and defender. Nothing's going to get past him. That's not say bad things won't happen to me or that I won't experience hard times. He's saying he will protect and defend me. He is my armor. He is my strength and with him I can get through anything!

The second part of this verse really got me. Your very great reward. Pause for a minute and think about that. He is our very great reward. When we are obedient and follow God no matter what we think is best or what might be easiest or safest, our reward is great. No not great - very great. It's not just any reward. It's Him! What could possibly be better than that?! Out of our obedience to Him comes a chance for him to really show his faithfulness to us. He is always showing that to us it's just maybe when we are obedient we are looking for His hand in our life. Our faith is strengthened and our trust in Him is bolstered. It's joy and happiness from knowing and following my God who will never leave me or forsake me. (Joshua 1:5) It's a satisfaction of experiencing God providing all we need at each specific time. (psalm 23) He gives us everything we need. Not what we think we need but what we do need. I'm not saying he won't give us things that we want or anything like that. I'm saying that all that other stuff doesn't matter to me when I'm really seeking him and obeying him.

I'm learning that right now. I wonder to myself sometimes how many times must I repeat myself to my kids. It's the same way with me and God. How many different ways must he say the same thing before I get it? I found great support in this group of women at my Bible Study this summer. It's been a great blessing. Their encouragement truly was from God. Then life got crazy with flu and other ickiness going through our family, and then more encouragement. I'm slowly getting over my fear and getting with the program. So then last week at Bible Study, we read through Psalm 23. Well actually our guest speaker read through it and we listened. It was really powerful to me. Especially the part "even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me." I could picture Jesus walking beside me with his arm around me. I felt comforted and safe. I wasn't afraid of whatever my lie ahead. Yep, that spoke to me but did I do anything about it? I wish I could say yes. I'm not sure what I've been waiting for but I think it's fear that has been holding me back. This morning I read my sister's blog and came across the bible verse she wrote at the bottom. Jeremiah 29:11 "for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future." This reminded me of God wanting me to be obedient, not because I should, or because he's God and he said so. It's because it's for my best. He wants the best for me. Sometimes we need to delve into something (whether it's from our past or something we are currently experiencing) that might seem scary and painful at the time, but as we move into that and allow him to work and remove the hurt and anger, sorrow, and bitterness then we can heal and experience that hope that He has for us. Then later today I came across Genesis 15:1 and read my Bible Study. I need to be obedient to what he's telling me. As I go forward with him he is my protector, defender, comforter, shepherd, provider, and so much more. I was obedient today and I know it's a good thing.

Not my child Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

This is my first attempt at not my child Monday. Here goes... it's not my 5 year old child who has been getting up at 6:30 a.m. and waking his little brother up along with him. Nope not my child. My child sleeps in until at least 8 a.m. and would never think of waking his sweet slumbering 2 year old brother. Nope not my child.

And it's certainly not my children who have taken to screaming ear piercing screams for the heck of it. Nope inside voices only in our house.

It's not my 5 year old child that threw a car at his 2 year old brother because the 2 year old wouldn't share. It's not my child who hit him in the corner of the eye causing the 2 year old to have a purple eye. Nope kindness and gentleness prevail 100% of the time in our home

And finally, it's not my 9 year old child who thought it would be a great idea to give the 2 year old a piggy back ride right next to the mantle. It wasn't my 2 year old who reached out and grabbed the crystal candle holder and threw it down to the floor where it shattered into thousands of pieces. My children know horsing around is for outside and my 2 year old understands what he can and can't touch.

Thank you Uncle Mike and Auntie Sarah!

Yesterday my sister and brother-in-law took our two oldest to Valley Fair for the day. They had done this earlier in the summer only to enjoy the park under cloudy skies and chilly weather. They chickened out of skipped the water park since the high was like 60º. Yesterday the high was 75º (thank you Kare 11 for your past weather record) and sunny with not a cloud in the sky. It was gloriously beautiful! Hubby and I took the younger 3 (we traded our two oldest for Lucy) to frog smelling* Fort Snelling State Park and walked around. Oh that reminds me - I need to post about our backyard camping trip. Anyway back to yesterday. Let's see, we hiked through the park until the kids Kenan got tired. Micah and Lucy were in the stroller and, while I'm sure it was so exhausting to be pushed the entire time, it was MUCH more exhausting for hubby and I to push the mammoth stroller over the rough terrain!

*Out of the mouth of Kenan

Wow! They were all looking! I won't tell you how goofy Auntie Mama was being behind hubby as he took the picture so that they would all be looking.

After naptime Lucy went home. We weren't expecting them until after dinner but apparently Valley Fair is much more exhausting when it's hot out and I think Uncle Mike's brain had enough jostling for the day! We heard the excited chatter of Valley Fair for a little while and then it was time for Hannah and Timmy to go and stay up all night sleep over at Auntie and Uncle's house. Lucy was pretty stoked to have her cousins come over!

This brings us to Kenan. He couldn't go on the Valley Fair adventure because he's not tall enough so the deal is when he's six he can go. But Kenan has been anxiously awaiting his turn to sleep over at Grandma and Grandpa's house by his self. Hannah and Timmy have both done it and he knows he hasn't. He called Grandma up the other day and was supposed to ask her politely if he could please have his turn at her house. Instead, when she answered the phone, nervousness took over and he blurted out "I'm sleeping over at your house next wee! Do you wanna talk to my dad?" Hubby then took the phone and explained how the conversation was supposed to go. Of course how can you say no to that sweet little guy when it comes to a sleep over? Grandma said that would be wonderful and we should pick a night and let her know. We'd tried to get a hold of her all day yesterday, but Grandma (who used answer phones all day for a living) doesn't like to always answer the phone so we never did get to ask if he could come over last night. Well, Grandpa, who didn't know we were calling all day, came over and Kenan thought it was time to go. He grabbed his bag packed since Thursday night, and said "Let's go Grandpa!" Well what ensued after, were a bunch of tears on Kenan's part. He then bravely got over his tears and put on a forced smile to show he was really okay with the whole situation. See Grandma had been planning for Kenan to come over Sunday night instead. Well, she found out he was so sad, that she called and asked he if was okay. Then she said that she would like Kenan to come over for two nights instead starting Monday night. Of course Kenan was so excited about the prospect of two nights that he wasn't even disappointed about not going over Sunday night. She is dog watching her son's dog, Ranger and Kenan absolutely adores that dog! So now Kenan is going over Monday morning and won't be home until Wednesday afternoon. I will miss my guy, but maybe - just maybe Micah and I will be able to sleep past 6:30 am. 2 days! What a nice break for mom and dad fun for Kenan! He is so excited, in part because he gets to go to the corner store and Grandma will buy him something. The older two each got Webkinz, but Kenan has his heart set on Army guys.

A hodge podge

Kenan is done with Kindergarten camp now and it went well. Kenan's teacher was surprisingly positive which is such an answer to prayer! He came home with a new backpack full of school supplies and a certificate of completion. He's made progress when it comes to writing his name.(Yay!) At least the teacher will be able to recognize his mark. He can make a K and an upside down e. Beautiful to mama! The teacher was even helpful in suggesting one of these for Kenan. They let him try one yesterday and it helped him grip the pencil a lot easier. I ended up finding something like this but by RoseArt. We haven't tried them yet so we'll have to see how they work.

Micah got some sporty new shoes today.

He was such a good little boy if you forget that he screamed when it was time to try them on, and the teeny tiny fit he threw on the floor when big sister brought him back into the store. He quickly calmed down and just laid on the floor looking at himself in the mirror and occasionally checking to see if anyone was looking at him. Of course I was only peeking out of the corner of my eye. The great thing about this shoe store, is that they cater completely to kids so they understand the antics of a 2 year old, as well as the parents which is so helpful.

Then this afternoon I was helping Hannah with her Summer Bridge workbook. This is something our school does for the kids over the summer to annoy them help keep their brains from turning to mush. Does it work, I have no idea. I do know that my kids are tired of working on them and even dollar a day bribe motivation doesn't work. Anyway I digress. So back to helping Hannah with her homework. She was doing a section on multiplication. i.e. 746 x 348 Easy right? Not really when you to do it using Napier's Bones. It's actually quite easy once you get the hang of it but why? Why learn this way? Why not multiply the old fashioned way. Well maybe the way we learned is the modern way and Napier's Bones is the old fashioned way. I wonder if they will actually learn this in school (6th grade) or if it was just a different way of doing it for the sake of doing it differently. Anyway we figured it out, though it took a while. Maybe it's much easier and I'm just slow. Who knows.

All in all we had a good day today, and now it's Friday and I'm ready for restful weekend.

The Countdown begins

Well, there are officially 19 days until the end of summer first day of school. Less than 3 weeks! How prepared am I? Well, let's see... school supplies have been purchased for all 3 kids, and school clothes and shoes have been purchased for Timmy. I have to go school shopping with Kenan and Hannah yet. I've decided this year that I will go shopping with each child separately. This way I don't have to listen to bickering and complaining from the other kids can enjoy time with each child alone and give them complete focused attention. Timmy really had a great time by himself. I even bought him... drum roll please... a bow tie to wear with his uniform! I can't wait for the first day of school to take a picture of him in his bow tie. Last year he had a necktie and he wore it a lot! That combined with his glasses made him look so studious. His teacher and all the other teachers loved seeing him wear his tie. If he didn't wear his tie for a few days he would be asked to wear it because he looked a-dor-a-ble! I don't have a picture of him in his uniform and tie (?!) I can't believe it! I must have one some where but I can't find it right now. I do have this one. It's close. You can kind of see the tie, and he's wearing a sweater vest and polo shirt, though it's not his school uniform. This was taken at my brother's wedding in March 2009. His sister, Hannah, was is beautiful too. She and her 1 year old cousin had matching dresses which was so cute.

Since I'm looking at these photos I thought I'd add a few more. Here are a few more of the kids at the wedding.

This is Kenan and his spider man guy. What a cutie!

Timmy dancin' a jig

Hannah doing the robot! Go Hannah!

So even though these aren't the most recent pictures and they have nothing to do with school starting they are fun to look at and I thought I'd share them with you.

Growing up and strike throughs

Holy Cow! My daughter is getting bigger braces! We went to the orthodontist this morning just to check on the progress of her mouth. A couple years ago she had an expander put in and then a retainer. She has a lot of teeth and very little space my teeth genes.

Thus begins many many many talks on cleaning the braces, keeping food out of the braces (is that even possible?), flossing and brushing after eating all. the. time. Also how sore her mouth will be after monthly appointments and tips on foods to eat and not eat. The bright side to this? The many many many colors of bands that she will get to choose from each month. So many choices and so many combinations. Knowing her wild style she will come up with some odd crazy yet cool styles.

*side note, I've discovered the strike through text so translation? There might be many strike throughs in the posts to come.

Camping Adventures ~ part 2

Click here for the first installment of our camping adventures. Our first night in the tent at an actual campsite was a success! I even got creative with Micah's bed so that he wouldn't get up at the crack of dawn ( approx. 5 am). Instead he slept until about 7 am. *claps hands with enthusiasm* We bought a peapod for Micah to sleep in. Well about when it was getting light in the tent, I was thinking, great he's going to wake up so dang early! I found a blanket and covered the entire pod with it so he was in a dark little cave thingy. It worked wonderfully! So we went about our morning. Most of us were awake at 6:30 am, and out starting a fire and eating breakfast. I tell ya there is nothing quite like waking up in the cool fresh air next to a fire. We did decide that since it was going to get down into the 40's that night we should head into Austin and go shopping at Target. We bought the kids new jackets since they needed them anyway, things they each needed. Timmy didn't bring warm jammies so we bought him some pj bottoms. Hannah didn't bring jeans so we bought her some jeans. Oh and we got a couple more air mattresses for the kids so they weren't sleeping on the cold hard ground. The second night in the tent was a dream. A cold dream, but much more comfortable.

Let me back up and mention that after our trip to Target we went to Forestville State Park. We wanted to check out the campground and see if it'd be worth camping at. We liked it and will camp there next year. There were some caves nearby that you could tour so we drove there. It was out of our budget since we had to go to Target, so next year we will do that.

We ate lunch out and went back to the campsite. We hiked again and came back for some quiet time. I went into the tent to get M down for a nap and all of a sudden I hear Timmy scream. I come out of the tent as fast as I could and find that he cut his finger with a pocket knife. I ended up taking him to the Er in Austin because we thought it needed stitches. The Dr. did say that had Timmy not put pressure on it the whole way there he would've needed about 4 stitches. Timmy did a great job holding it and only needed a steri-stip to hold the cut closed. We were in and out of the ER in about 15 minutes. We got back to the campsite and the rest of the evening was without incident, except that Micah had a swollen wrist and hand from some kind of bug bite or plant. Oh and Timmy woke up in the middle of the night and threw up once, but nothing else.

The next morning we wake up from a cold cold night. Nothing like shivering the whole time you're sleeping. We started a fire and started packing up the site. We took a family picture by the state park sign.

We went home and I called the pediatrician's office because Micah's whole forearm was swollen and red. The dr. there thought a bug bite that got infected so she gave him antibiotics. The next morning I brought Micah into his Pediatrician's office and his Dr. didn't think it was a bug bit or an infection. I went into more detail if you are interested here and here. Please forgive and doubles on information.

Anyway that is a summary of our first family camping trip. Soon I will post pictures of our camping trip to Salovich State Park.

Kindergarten camp.

Kenan had his first day of Kindergarten Prep Camp today. It's put on by a preschool in the area and it's designed to help your kindergartner get used to the routine of life as a kindergartner. Going into this, I knew there were only 2 choices for teachers. One of which we, personally, don't care for. It's not that she's a bad teacher, we just get the negative feelings from her. Our son Timmy had her for preschool, and she pretty much had him pegged from the fall time to hold him back. No reason really, other than the fact he couldn't cut with scissors. And on parent's night in the fall, she complained that her class was mostly boys. As a parent of a boy in her class that didn't sit well with us either. Then Kenan had this same teacher for VBS and she was "forewarned" about him. First there was no need to be forewarned. So what if he is a little more excited and intense, that doesn't mean he has an issue to be forewarned of. And even if he did, that's my job as a parent to decide whether there is any forewarning to do. So she held his hand kept a more "Careful" eye on him that whole week. So back to Kindergarten camp, I was a bit worried about who he might get as a teacher. So I prayed and just asked God for wisdom on how to deal with that. I also prayed for the teacher to see Kenan for who he is and for her to see him positively. So I drop him off and I'm cheerful and positive, thinking if I put it out there as positive then maybe she'll respond positively. They have Kenan's name spelled with 2 e's. How did they get that wrong?! If she would've looked at the registration form. Maybe she did... So the teacher and her assistant go around correcting his name tag, his folder, his name card on the table, and where he puts his stuff. Nice for attempting a first impression with no negatives right? On the way home, I start thinking about how my conversation might go with said teacher when it's time to pick him up. me-how was he? her-oh well, you know. He's this or that( and it would be negative). So then I think, no I'm not going to even ask her how he was or how his day was. I'll say to her and maybe say something positive to her, but I will not let her have a chance with the negative stuff. If she has a problem then she as the teacher needs to come to me, the parent. I don't want her to start looking for negative things to say about Kenan because I ask how he is. As I'm typing this, I'm thinking I could ask her things like "How was your day?" or "did you have fun today?" "What did you do today?" That way any of her answers would be general and not specifically about Kenan. So those are my thoughts for the day. Whew! Day 2 of kindergarten camp tomorrow.

Oh by the way, Kenan had a blast which is great! He made friends but he "forgotted" their names. That's okay, it was only the first day. He did practice his name which was great and he did a fantastic job! He still has a little trouble with "n" but he'll get it. And Hubby picked him up so I didn't get a chance to practice my questions. I will tomorrow. :)

raining part 2

Well the sickness in our house has continued. I spoke too soon in my earlier post (When it rains it pours) that I wasn't feeling sick. Well turns out I felt kinda blah all day that day. I took a snooze on the couch midmorning with a feverish Micah which was sweet in itself. I took another snooze that evening as hubby got Micah bathed and dosed up with Motrin and put to bed. I did few things around the house and we all turned in. About 3 a.m. I was awoke by, not the loud thunderstorm, but by the mere fact that I had the chills and a fever of 99.8. (We'll just leave the temperature like that because I'm not savvy enough to make the degree symbol) I knew then that I was in for a loooooong night. My fever continued to climb throughout the day and I felt like I was dying. I wanted to go to Urgent Care, but then hubby convinced me to take some nyquil (actually it was this) *Gross alert* it came back up a little later and I decided that maybe I should go to the Dr. Then I decided to wait until morning (this was at about 2 pm). Well nothing I was taking was staying down and my fever was getting higher, so hubby took me into Urgent Care. (I did call my Dr. who never got the page to call me, but that's beside the point. They would've just told me to come in to Urgent Care anyway. ) My white count wasn't real high but I had all the symptoms of the flu. He wasn't sure which flu but it was the flu. He gave me tamiflu and zofran for nausea. Both things really worked! I'm feeling much better today. My throat is still sore and I tire very easily, but I think part of that was the anti nausea medicine which I'm no longer taking. I've heard the flu is horrible and let me tell you it feels worse than horrible!!! Like a Mack truck hitting you and then backing up and doing it again and again.


So enough about me and my miserableness... let's see who else? Oh yes Micah. Dear dear Micah. He has a spotty rash that is covering his entire body. Thought it was scarlet fever...nope. Thought it was hand, foot, mouth disease...nope. Thought it was chicken pox...nope. Turns out the after a high fever like Micah had one can get a rash from whatever virus caused the fever. None of the books tell you that! So, hubby brought Micah into the Dr. today and the Pedi said it's just a virus and that she's seen a lot of this strange virus this summer. She's not sure what it is so she's not sure how to treat it, and we just need to let it run it's course. I did google "spotty rash after fever" and came up with something called Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. First, I want to say it's best not to go googling weird descriptive medical things unless you know what it is you are looking for. If you do go ahead and google anyway be prepared to be freaked out! Not a good idea at all. Hubby had the smart, no, wise idea of praying about it. So right! So we prayed for peace and healing for Micah and health restored to our home and family. The Bible verse I have sitting on the table beside my bed says "He will keep in perfect peace all those who trust in him, whose thoughts turn often to the Lord!" Isaiah 26:3 So true in this situation and in so many others!


On a different note, we decided to cancel our upcoming camping trip this weekend. We will be out a little money, but we didn't know our family would be sick. We decided that we will camp in our yard. Yes we will camp in our yard. We will only use our house for the bathroom, showers, getting dressed and some food. Oh and nap time for the 2 year old on Saturday. We just don't think he'll nap well in the tent if it's in our yard. We plan on doing most everything else that we would while camping. We are looking forward to this wonderful time of family bonding! And this way no one feels like we have to feel better. Hopefully I'll get pictures and posts up soon about the camping trips!

When it rains it pours!

I know this is preceding the posts about camping but you'll soon see why I haven't posted about camping yet. Last Thursday (July 30) we were at the zoo with my friend Jessica and her boys when I get a phone call from my hubby. He tells me he sprained his ankle and it's really swollen and he was waiting to hear back from the Dr. on when he could be seen that day. Doc tells him to ice it and stay off his feet. We continued to go on our camping trip the next day. The Doc also told my hubby that he doesn't want to see him back in the office for a long time. :-) Upon hearing this I immediately thought, "oh boy, here we go again"


(You see when one of our family gets sick or goes to the Dr. for some reason, more of our family tends to go as well for similar or other reasons. We kinda cluster visit the Dr.)


We successfully made it down to the State Park and we set up our site and completed our first night of camping. We almost made it a whole 24 hours at the site with no injury, but just as we were settling down for quiet time Timmy screamed. He was trying to cut a twig with the pocket knife that daddy had given him for the trip. The knife slipped and sliced his finger. Hubby and I decided that, given the size of the cut and how deep it was, he needed to get it checked out. We had no idea where to go from Leroy MN! I go over to the campground host and they suggested going to shopco or Target in Rochester. I thought Rochester was a bit farther away, but they said that was the better choice. I'm taking 56 and thought "oh wait a minute, how do I get to Rochester?" I check the map and decide on 8. I don't know if it's state hwy or county road. Anyway, I'm taking 8 and I'm thinking about calling 911. Not because it was an emergency but because I was thinking that maybe they could tell me if it's worth getting it looked at or not. I decided to continue on and I stopped in Grand Meadow (I think that's the name of the town) I walk into a small grocery store with Timmy and ask the grocery where the nearest Dr. was. He told me Austin was 20 miles away and that I was 2 blocks away from hwy 16 that would take me to hwy 90. Turns out I had to do a little back tracking. I took 16 to 90 but passed 56 on the way. If only I would've just taken 56 the whole way! Oh well. I guessed at the exit. Found the hospital with the help of a nice citizen. He barely spoke english and I interrupted him while he was washing his car. Went around the hormel factory and there the hospital was. We were in and out in 15 minutes. They looked at his finger, prepped for stitches, and then Dr. decided that Timmy had done a good job hold the wound and the pressure helped to start to close the wound. So he ended up with a ster-strip. Basically a piece of tape with semi-permanent glue on it. T was so glad there were no stitches involved. We stop at the store to buy Motrin and head back. We weren't even gone 2 hours!


Then we notice a hive on Micah's wrist. Looks like something bit him or something. Gradually it gets redder and more swollen and Micah scratches some of the skin open. When we get home on Sunday his forearm is swollen up to his elbow, and the redness is streaking up his arm. I bring him to Children's Er and the NP says she thinks it's a bug bit that is infected. She prescribed antibiotics and benadryl. On Monday morning, the redness is darker and there lots of red bumps on his arm. I bring Micah in to the Pedi and she says the opposite of the NP. She doesn't think there is a bug bit or an infection so stop the antibiotics. She thinks Micah might have touched a plant and reacted badly to it. So we go home.


Tuesday Micah's rash is looking better and the day is going fine. Timmy has his friend, Sam over and they are outside riding bikes. All of a sudden Timmy appears at the front door crying. He comes in and shows me a gash on his leg. He fell off his bike. This was a pretty big gash and I thought stitches definitely for this one. I found myself in disbelief over how close he came on Saturday and could it be that we actually think he needs stitches again. Hubby was home sick but he watched Hannah, Kenan, Micah, and Lucy while I took Timmy into children's Er. Timmy wants to ride in the wheel chair into the ER because his leg hurts and it's hard to walk. While sitting in a wheelchair the cut sure didn't seem to look so bad so I began to wonder if we did the right thing when the nurse registering us just stared at it for a moment. Turns out he was just being silly and that yes, Timmy did need stitches. Timmy ended up with 5 stitches right above his left knee. He stayed awake the whole time. He did cry for the first stitch. Only because he didn't believe that the numbing lotion was actually going to keep it from hurting. He cried and didn't even feel the first stitch. So he watched T.V. asked the NP a bunch of questions and peeked at her work occasionally. All the while Kenan is at home with a fever too! He is on Day 2 of the fever but you could never tell. Kenan just continues to run around and play no matter what. I was careful to choose my battles with him. I let him run around for a bit and then make him rest. He doesn't okay with resting then.


Wednesday is fine. No Dr. appointments. Lucy didn't come that day because she had a fever and my sister wanted to stay home and take care of her. We think she caught what Kenan had. Then Thursday comes and Kenan is better, Lucy is still sick, and Micah comes down with a fever. I go to check on him around 10 pm and he is sleeping in his vomit. Poor little guy. He has a horrible diaper rash, a fever and now he's throwing up. We cleaned up and changed the sheets and tucked him back into bed. He was so sick that he didn't care that his blankies were being washed and that he didn't have them. Hubby stayed with him all night so that I could get some sleep since I wasn't feeling well. That brings us to today. I have no idea what today holds. I do know that Lucy is still sick and she won't be here today, Micah is sick with a high fever and horrible diaper rash and Timmy is limping around with his stitches. I'm not feeling sick and Hubby is much better, just tired. Hannah hasn't been affected by anything...yet. Oh wait, her mouth is sore with canker sores.


So now can you see why the camping posts and pictures haven't been put up yet? Thanks for making it this far if you did. This was a long post!

Camping Adventures ~ part 1

On Friday we left for our very first camping trip ever as a family of 6. We know were a little ambitious to bring a 2 year old with, but, as it turns out, he was pretty much perfect on the trip. We left around 12:30 p.m. on Friday and headed down to Lake Louise State Park. It's on the MN/Iowa boarder. We decided that maybe we'd like a screen tent for camping. We stopped at Cabellas because it was pretty much right there when we decided this. They didn't have anything and, besides, we didn't have any room in our van at all to put in anyway. So Cabellas served as a little rest stop. It's a pretty cool outdoors store. Hannah and I call it boys heaven because I could see the gleam in our boys' eyes, even Hubby! We lost Micah's blankey. He has 2 and wanted to bring them into the store with him. On the way up to the 2nd floor I noticed he only had one, so Hannah and I went back down to search for it. Turns out it was in the parking lot. At least we found it! This was taken down the road from Cabellas.

We continue our trip and finally arrive at the park right at check-in time (4 p.m.) We proceed to our campsite and someone is parking in our spot! We kindly ask the people across from us if that was their car and they looked annoyed but moved it. Then those same people went about their business while watching us set up our site with 4 kids running around. The site was small and not much privacy or anything. Hubby was a bit disappointed since he's used to camping on the gunflint trail where is is much more privacy and the sites are bigger. Well we set the tent up and had to move it since the guy lines were too close to the fire. Try moving a tent completely set up, not staked in, and the wind is beginning to kick up. It was adventuresome, but after 90 minutes or so, we were settled and off to go buy dinner. We decided to keep this camping trip simple for the first night so we went to A & W. This one was cool, it was a drive-in one! We ate outside though since it was so nice out. Off we went back to the site to hang out for the night. We let Micah and Kenan stay up until they wanted to go to bed. Let me back up for just a minute and say that Thursday Hubby sprained his ankle getting out of the car at work. So his ankle was sore and swollen and he hadn't put ice on it yet. We hiked for a bit (Yes hubby hiked sprained ankle and all!) Hubby went on like his ankle never hurt even though it was killing him at times. Anyway, Friday night on our hike, we were careful to stay in the middle of the trail, because there was poison ivy and yellow parsnip all over. We also think there might be other plants that irritate because Micah got a rash on his forearm. We saw fire flies on our walk and the kids had fun watching them and catching them. We didn't have a jar or anything so the kids tried to catch them. Timmy caught most of them. The first time he ever tried to catch one, he smacked his hands together so hard like he was trying to kill them. We explained that he just needs to cup them and he would catch them. He did and thought that was pretty cool. Here we are on our walk.

After our walk, Micah and Kenan were tired out so we tucked them in and they were sound asleep! It was pretty windy and cool that night. Hannah and Timmy went to bed too since they were tired. Hubby and I stayed by the fire and hung out for a little bit. The first time since arriving that we'd had anytime to ourselves. It was nice. The stars were out and it was so beautiful! We decided to head into bed and get some sleep. We heard the wind howling which was so soothing and it rained that night which was nice too! A bonus was our tent didn't leak!! Time to go for now, so I will tell the rest of the story another time. To be continued...