The first picture says it all. Last summer we bought a little 8'x30" pool for the back porch. After setting it up last night the kids couldn't wait to hop in today.
Rachel loved the pool! She tried reaching for the water even before we were ready to put her in. Then she just splashed and had fun. When we put her in her floaty she just laid her head back and enjoyed the ride.
Even with the boys in there too and splashing and jumping around she didn't even care. I think we may have a water lover on our hands!!!
Last night the show Wipeout came back on for the summer, and my boys couldn't be happier. What is it about boys that they love to see people get hit, fall and make fools of themselves?
So last weekend I bought the kids a 1,000 piece puzzle!! They did really good the first day and got the whole border done. Then their interest kind of waned. So in the evenings after they have gone to bed I have been working on it. Then today I had the whole day with nothing to do and worked on it quite a bit. With Bob's help we finished it tonight. Yeah Me!!
The last few days Rachel has started scooting around. I guess it is time to finish baby proofing the house. Since this is where we found her a few days ago.
Here is a clip of her today going after the remote control. She isn't very fast(yet), but she gets where she wants to go.
Today was Ethan's last day of school. To celebrate all they have done this year they did a huge production. It was titled The Values of Freedom. It went through the whole alphabet and reminded us about all the things that are special about the United States. Ethan was the letter H. His part was "The letter H - Honor. I will honor my parents. I will honor my county. H is also for heroes. The USA has many heroes. Military men and women are heroes to me."
This year they have also learned the Preamble and the Bill of Rights which they recited today. It was pretty impressive. (I don't even know them) The program concluded with them stating a fact from every state. Some were pretty cute. Arizona- The Grand Canyon, California- Disneyland,Hawaii- aloha I feel like doing the hula, Vermont-MMM maple syrup.
Here is Ethan getting his certificate from his teacher.And then with his teacher Mrs. Nightingale. Here with his best buddy Cooper.
Notice this awesome costume. He is a Navy man in case you can't tell. His teacher had the pants and hat, but no shirt. She told me to come up with the rest on my own! Gee thanks.
I think it turned out pretty good. I ended up donating it to her so that some other parent doesn't have to make another one next year!!
So next weekend is our ward's Father-Son camp out. Well, since Bob broke his wrist we had written off going. He wouldn't have been up to driving that many hours with one hand, setting up a tent with one hand, etc ... This weekend we have had a bit of cool weather, so we thought why don't we let the boys camp in the backyard. Zachary needed to help pitch a tent, prepare a meal and a few other things for his Webelos Outdoorsman badge so again we thought this is a no brainer.
WE WERE WRONG!!!!!
Long story short, the boys were - too "hot", the neighbors - too loud, the bugs - too many (from leaving the tent open), the night - too dark and the rain - too loud (in the 2 hours they were out there it lightly rained twice for 15 min each time). I could go on and on. It's not like they have never camped before and have always been fine. But for some reason it wasn't going to happen last night for these kids. They were all back inside with me and Rachel by 10:30!!!! Bob was pretty disappointed with all their complaining and was at least glad it hadn't happened after driving three hours to the mountains and that once the boys had called it quits it was only a 100 ft walk to the back door.
Well Zach got a couple requirements out of the way; we will have to try again in the fall.
We did have fun cooking hot dogs on the grill and making S'mores for dessert. Enjoy a slide show of our Not so Camping Fun!!
So Rachel decided after about a week of food she didn't really like it. I have tried every trick I know. Mixed her cereal with all different things, even tried real baby food and no cereal. But she won't eat it. After about one bite she closes up her mouth tight and turns her head. If we are lucky enough to get a bite in she gags. Then last week I bought some of these food nets. I have been giving her fruit in it at dinner the past few nights while she sits with us. She is actually trying it. Today we tried food again and caught it on tape for your enjoyment!
Rachel thinks that she is a lot bigger than she is! This week she has starting to scoot around if she really wants something. She is also getting up on her hands and knees and rocking. I have been trying to get a good pictures, but she stops every time I get the camera out.
Her other new trick is to try and pull herself up on things. She can't do it yet, but gives it a valiant effort!!
we keep telling her she is just a baby and to sit still, but she isn't a very good listener.
Well almost! Brandon finished 6th grade and Zachary finished 4th grade yesterday and Ethan will finish next Wednesday!(He is at a different school this year) It has been a great year, but bring on summer! I am so excited for summer! Not only am I tired of homework, and getting up early, I have to admit I enjoy having my kids around!! We don't have much planned yet, due to Bob being off work so long, but hopefully we will be able to have some fun here in AZ and squeeze in a trip to California to visit the family!! Happy Summer Vacation!
This week we painted the outside of our house.We have been seeing all the houses in the neighborhood get a fresh look the past few weeks, and I have to admit I have been a little envious. So when the opportunity presented itself on Wednesday we jumped at it. It is amazing what a difference some paint makes.I have never liked the color of our house. It was so plain. Now it has a little bit of character. My favorite part is the door. It really pops the front porch. The only drawback is that now we have the bug to fix lots of other little things. First on the list new hardware for the door!!! It didn't look bad until we painted.
***** If your reading this Randy- We used Sherwin Williams paint******
Last night was Karate Promotion for this semester. The boys have both worked really hard. Brandon earned his Orange belt and Zachary got his blue with white stripe. This is them with the instructor Sensei Darrin.
Today Rachel had her 6 month check-up. Height: 27.75 inches - off the chart Weight: 17 lbs. 1.5 oz- 75% Head: 16.75 inches 70%
She is doing great!! She is such a joy to be around. She just starting having some stranger anxiety, loves to roll around, pull hair, laugh, and be with her brothers. We started food a few weeks ago, but now she wants nothing to do with it. So we will try again soon.
I have been wanting to pierce Rachel's ears since I found out she was a girl!! I just haven't done it. So yesterday I made Bob go with me to get it done. I think it was harder for him than it was for Rachel.
Right before the first one.....
After the second one. She was really ticked off! Notice we lost the headband!
This was at home but she was this happy by the time we left the store we just couldn't get her to be still to get a good shot, hence the Star Wars toy, can you tell she has brothers.
Today we went and Bob got his stitches out. I will spare you a picture of that. It isn't the prettiest thing you have ever seen. But we did get copies of his post surgery x-rays that show the plate and all the screws. We can count 8. He also will be beginning some occupational therapy on his hand and wrist to get back some range of motion. He will be going 2-3 times a week. She gave him a tentative work release date of June 6th. Hopefully he will be medicine free and feeling great by then.
Last night we were finally able to get Rachel, Kameha ,and Sariah together for the first time. Kemeha is the oldest at almost 1, then Sariah at 9 months and rounding out the pack Rachel at 6 months. All of us moms worked together a few years ago in Young Women's. All of us struggled with some sort of fertility issue or another. Shireen found a great doctor,and eventually all of us ended up going there.
Since Bob has broke his wrist more often than not you can find him putting some ice on his wrist. Rachel loves to sit by him and touch the ice pack. She loves the feel of the cold. It is so cute to watch I had to snap a little video. As way of an update.... Bob is doing better everyday, but still in lots of pain especially in the evenings. Today is the first day without one of the pain pills, so we will see how it goes. The swelling is slowly coming down. We were joking yesterday that he actually had a knuckle on one finger. It will be a few weeks before to the doctor releases him to go back to work.
Today I was feeling very domesticated. I made 3 batches of jam all by myself. I have made jam before, but Mom was always here visiting to supervise. It was so easy and so yummy. We have been out of homemade jam for a while now, but 2 weeks ago we won some at the scout silent auction. It is gone and breakfast hasn't been the same so I broke down and made some. I will definitely do this again.
This morning Bob had a check-up with the surgeon. She was pleased with how things are looking.
He now has feeling back in almost all of his fingers, and the pain is getting more manageable. There is still quite a bit of swelling as you can tell from the pictures.
She gave him a removable cast. It is basically a brace he can take off to shower, and put ice on it.This brace also gives his fingers more movement so that will help with the swelling too.(the brace is on the couch next to him in the picture)
Next week he goes back to get the stitches out. (I will spare you a photo of the stitches, it is a little gruesome.)
Hopefully he will also be able to start to work from home tomorrow,and go into work at least for a 1/2 day to begin with by the end of the week or next week for sure.The pain med. he is on makes him a little nauseous reading the computer screen for to long.
Again we just have to say a huge THANK YOU to our great friends and neighbors who have helped us so much.
Today while the boys from playgroup were eating lunch, I sat Rachel at the table with them to keep her happy while I finally got the dishes done. Ethan was eating an apple and as she got a little fussy I handed her a slice and she had a blast sucking in it. She looked so big sitting there I had to snap a shot. Especially since all of the post recently have been about not so "happy" stuff.
Bob is home, and he is resting as comfortable as is possible. He now has feeling almost to his fingers(they are starting to tingle), and his heart rate looks good after the calcium and an evening in the ICU with some extra monitoring . He has lots of swelling today, so we are icing it and keeping it elevated in hopes that the swelling goes down. He was so glad to be able to get home and to clean up. We spent the first ½ hour home trying to get all the beta-dine off. They never even cleaned him up after surgery at all. We got most of it off and he got to shower and is now resting. Thanks for all of your thoughts, prayers and help the past few days.
