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...