Popsicles

We go through a lot of them these days...

Nate Boy

I realized that I hadn't posted any pictures of the splint that Nate has for his arm.  It's really pretty cool.  It was just a big piece of plastic type material that they heated up and molded to his arm.  They didn't have any green, so they used green straps and that made him happy.  

I love that we can take it off to take a bath.  The other day I even let him have a break from it while we went to a water party.  If you've got to break your arm of the first day of summer break, then this is the way to go.  :)

Summer vacation hasn't been exactly what Nate expected.  He hoped that with Allie and Jake out of school, he would have friends to play with all day long.  He didn't anticipate that they would be off with their friends all day long.  It's been a bit lonely at times for him.  When Jason is napping, he is always asking me to play with him.  The other day, we completed this Lego Luke Skywalker that he got for his birthday.  It's been fun for him to play with.  Also, I have to mention that these pictures were taken on two separate days, along with the one I posted earlier about independence.  Nate has been loving this outfit.  He likes the orange shirt.  He calls it his soft shirt.  So, naturally when he is wearing his orange soft shirt, he is looking for the orange shorts to match.  I wish I could talk him out of the combo...

I love you Mom

Jason is going through a phase where he tells me that he loves me every few seconds.  Sure, he'll go off and play and we'll go hours without the smoopy love fest, but if there is ever any down time, or if I am sitting next to him, it is an "I love you" marathon.  It's always the same routine.  He says "Mom." and I have to respond "yes?"  Then he tells me that he loves me and waits for me to tell him that I love him.  After a few seconds, he tells me again...and again.  Then, after a few "I love you's" he says "I'm just so in love today!"  Or, "I'm a lover boy."  He is getting better with the "l" sound, but sometimes it is still a "w" sound.  It is the cutest thing ever.  I've been out grocery shopping and slightly distracted, so I just automatically respond to his "Mom?...I love you" and I'm sure people think I am a heartless beast for not responding more enthusiastically to his proclamations of love.  It really is cute, and I love it.  I think it's funny that he does it so often.  I really do think he just likes to talk, and when he can't think of something else to say, that's what he says.  I'll miss this phase when he grows out of it.  I love you Jason lover boy!

He also really likes to pick flowers for me when he goes on rides up the canyon. 

End of School Stuff

Allie came home the last week of school with a huge folder full of stuff.  I really wanted to just toss the whole thing in the recycle bin, but I also wanted to look through it and see if there was anything cute to save for her.  I got a picture of the stack though. 

I also made her pose with her Wellsville poster so we could chuck it.

Did you know that Wellsville is very green?  Now you do.  :)

Independence

A few days before Nate broke his arm, he decided it was time to start getting himself dressed in the morning...from head to toe.  He is partial to this orange outfit because he likes how well it matches.  :)

Jason wanted to join in and be independent too, but it was way more frustrating for him...

Nate stepped in to help.

All ready to play!

Now that he has his splint, it makes getting dressed a little more difficult.  He'll be glad when he can get out of the splint and using both arms again.

A New Life for Lumpy

Lumpy is Allie's favorite stuffed animal.  It always has been.  I remember putting it in her crib when her Aunt Dixie gave it to her for Christmas.  She was 5 months old and Lumpy was bigger than her.  If I would have known how much she would love the thing, I would have taken a picture of her with it that first day.  As it is, Lumpy is now 9 years old and has been all over the State of Utah, to elementary school, to Wyoming, Colorado, several places in the neighborhood, and through the washing machine many times as well.  I try to make stuffed animals be "inside toys" and I've never been too happy about her dragging this one around everywhere, but she loves it so much that it has just happened.  Over the years, Lumpy has been hugged so many times that she became a floppy elephant with a torn ear and a dethatched tusk.  A few weeks ago, she and Jake were messing around with Lumpy and there was an accident.  Lumpy suffered a huge gash near her spine.  Allie fell apart.  Many tears were shed.  I did my best to calm her down and we started calling neighbors that might be able to fix Lumpy.  I knew I couldn't do a blind stitch, but knew of others who could.  We couldn't get ahold of anyone.  Allie wanted it fixed quickly and told me she didn't mind if Lumpy ended up with a scar down her back.  So we set to work.  I told Allie that it wasn't all that big of a deal because the injury meant that we could fill Lumpy back up with fresh batting.  We stitched up the big gash in back and fixed her torn ear, tail, and tusk.  Next thing you know, Lumpy is good as new.  Allie's frown was turned upside down.  :)

Nap Time for Borgelorp...

The boys used to really like a cartoon called Wallykazam.  In one of the episodes, Wally was trying to get Borgelorp to sleep and he sings him a song that we have incorporated into our daily routine.  We have lunch and then I say "Okay, Jason...guess what time it is?"  He usually complains and says "no!  It's not naptime for Borgelorp", just as Nate starts to sing "it's naptime for Borgelorp, it's naptime for you." (we've played and played and played till there's nothing left to do.  So lay down your head and your little rear end.  It's naptime for Borgelorp our happy little friend, our happy little friend).  Jason will sing the end where there are a whole bunch of la, la, la's and "it's naptime for me!"  Then he walks back to my room and gets on my bed.  He isn't ever too happy about it, but he goes willingly.  I have to lay down next to him because he likes to snuggle, but on this day, I was busy and asked Nate if he'd snuggle Jason to sleep.  Next thing I know, the house is totally quiet and I came in to find this... 

...total bonus!  Yay for naptime!

A Real Hammock

Hammocks are everywhere these days.  Allie and Jake have been wanting real hammocks for a long time.  I knew that scout camp was coming up and that all the other boys going had hammocks, so we ordered one for Jake and one for Allie.  They have loved them!  I love looking out the window seeing Jake doing something that would have been my favorite thing to do at his age.  :)

Dance Revue

We had a busy first week of summer break.  Allie had her dance revue!  There were a few practices and two performances.  Allie loves to dance and she has some cute friends that dance with her.  I went to the dress rehearsal to get some pictures of her.

 I think I've gotten a picture of these two crammed in one chair every year since they were three.  They are almost getting too big!

On the night of the performance, Allie wanted her hair done special.  We have a neighbor who does all sorts of fancy hair styles, so she came up and did her hair.

The auditorium wasn't air conditioned at all, so we sweltered in the heat.  It was long, and these boys did the best that they could, but by the end of the night, they had had enough.  They told Allie she did a great job and we hit the road.

My mom, sister, and her girls came up to watch the show, so the girls had fun giggling the whole car ride home.

 The next day, the cousins played for a while till they had to go home.  Then Allie and Lily got their hair done in matching styles.  They looked so cute.

We didn't want to make the boys suffer through another hot performance, so Heidi and I went together to watch our girls. 

 They did great!  It's fun to see them dance each year and watch the improvements that they make.  Allie isn't that cute little three year old on the stage that she used to be.  Now she's a beautiful almost 10 year old who knows all the steps and does little stage faces that make me smile.  I'm a lucky mom for sure!

Mike and Nate

I was looking for something a while ago and came across this old suit of Mike's.  It looked like it would fit Nathan, so I dressed him up in it.  He loved it.  He loved that his dad wore the suit years and years ago.  He wore it to church and proudly told everyone that it was his dad's old suit.  I totally got a kick out of it.  I certainly have some cute boys in my life.

Happy Father's Day!

We have an awesome guy to call "dad" at our house.  The kids are super lucky to have Mike as their dad.  Well, I guess you can't really call it lucky because I picked him and knew he'd be a pretty great dad.  So, they should thank me.  Mike works hard to provide for our family.  His job has been pretty lame lately, but he keeps plugging away and makes it possible for me to stay home with our kids.  I love him and am so grateful for him.

I can't have my dad here for father's day, but I sure am glad my kids can have their dad for father's day.  We didn't get him anything special.  Just some treats and breakfast in bed.  We really should do more to show him how much we appreciate him.  He's such a good dad.
Allie made a "secret" message for him in white crayon that he had to paint over with water colors to read.  She had each one of the kids say something they loved about dad.  It was cute.
Nate drew him a picture of a motorcycle that never got delivered because he thought he looked like a monster on the motorcycle and he threw it away.  Jake wrote him a nice note and Jason colored him a picture too.  We let him take three naps over the course of the day and I grilled some burgers on the grill, which is way out of my comfort zone.  I didn't even burn them.  I hope he had a nice day.

Happy Father's Day!

The Rat Strikes Again...

This time, Jason can't be blamed.  It was Nate.  We got our first watermelon of the season (this was over a month ago) and he was so excited that he dug into it while I was getting Jason down for a nap.  I had mistakenly left it out (cut in two) on the table after lunch.  He also has confidence in his ability with sharp knives.  He keeps reminding me that he knows how to use them now because he used one on the watermelon.

Baseball

Jake decided to play baseball this year.  He hasn't played since coach pitch and I wish we had kept up with it because he is really quite good.  

I don't have many pictures because I have only been to a few games.  Things have been super busy this month and they always conflicted with other events, but Mike has been able to go to the games I have missed.  Jake has had several really good hits and has only struck out once, so it's been fun to watch him at bat.  I still get pretty stressed for him when he walks up to the plate.
Mike really liked baseball when he was a kid, so he gets into this more than he could get into soccer. I got a text one night that said "bases loaded, he got a hit over the short stop's head.  Three runners scored and he got to second".   It's all very exciting.
Go Giants!

Scary!

Jason is a very animated kid.  When he is talking, his hands are going too, emphasizing the very points he is trying to make with his words.  It cracks me up when his eyes get wide and his face shows the emotion of the story he is telling.  He will literally tremble when he is scared.  It cracks me up.  

When we were at the library, I looked over to see him covering his eyes with his hands.  

 He was watching Jack and the Beanstalk and the giant was lumbering around...it gets intense.

I love this boy.  He's been so much fun lately.  He still has fits of rage, but he is quick to apologize.  It's funny how things can change, almost over night.  He was so hard, and now he is just not.  He still has his moments, but it is nothing like before.  I love him and I always have loved him, but I enjoy him so much more because his cute moments far outweigh the hard moments.  I wish I could freeze time.

Sunday Activities

I have a love/hate relationship with Sunday evenings.  Most times they are wonderful.  We get out of church at 4 so we have dinner and then plan a family home evening, have a treat and spend the warm days out in the yard or on a walk.  The problem is that 1 o'clock church means that Jason won't have a nap (unless he falls asleep at church), so he is pretty grumpy the rest of the afternoon.  There are some Sunday afternoons that are just perfect.  All the kids get along and play some game that everyone likes...I get some peace and quiet and Mike gets a nap.  This Sunday was one of those days. The kids all played together with stuffed animals and then Jason and Nate fell asleep early.  Allie and Jake made a little hut on the back deck so they could color.  It started to rain on them so they set up a water proof hut.  They didn't want to come in even when it was dark.  Jake wasn't pestering Allie and they were both happy with the activity.   It was just perfect...so I took a picture.  I love these kids of mine.

Broken

Last weekend, Mike and I went out on a date and left Allie and Jake in charge.  Jake's friends came over and they were all out in the back yard playing.  I told them it was okay as long as they kept an eye on the littles and didn't get too wrapped up in playing with their friends and forget about the kids they were supposed to be watching.
We got a call just after we ordered our food.  It was Allie telling me that Nate hurt his arm when he jumped off the tramp and he was crying off and on and hard to cheer up.  I actually thought it must be serious, because as much as Nate will whine about something, he usually gets over his hurts really quickly and won't keep crying about something unless it really hurts.
We got home a while later and checked him out.  He was complaining that it still hurt and would cry if it got bumped, but there were no obvious signs of a break.  It wasn't swollen and although he said it hurt, he could still move his arm in all directions.
We decided to watch and wait.
Sunday came and went and Nate was eating with his left hand and walking with his right arm pinned to his side.  When we offered a wheeler ride, he declined.  That's when I thought it must be serious.  :)
We decided to take him in on Monday because he still wasn't really using the arm and was asking for Tylenol every 6 hours or so.
I made an appointment and gave him a dose of Tylenol and headed out the door.  We got to the doctor's office and Nate was climbing the furniture and jumping off chairs.  I told him he better hurry up and act like his arm was broken or I'd turn around and go home.
We went through the process of checking it out.  Jason and Nate spent a few hours jumping from exam tables and anything they could climb.
Jason got to turn on the light switch in the radiology room and we all watched as the bones showed up on the x-ray.  It was all so exciting for the cute little boys (one of whom seemed completely un-broken).  We met with the doctor who looked at the x-rays and told us he couldn't see anything and sent us home with instructions to keep giving pain meds and just take it easy a few days (yeah...take it easy Nate).
We went home and continued with our busy week.  Then, today, I got a call from the Dr's office and they said that after the radiologist reviewed the film, he found a buckle fracture near his elbow and that we needed to come back in for a splint, and then a cast later on in the week.
Is it terrible that I am glad the money spent on the whole debacle isn't a waste?  I don't know what it is, but if I finally take a kid to the doctor, I want something to be wrong.  It sounds terrible, but there you have it.  That's me and my cheap ways for you.

Anyway, Allie wanted to go with us when we went to get the splint, so we had a full room (including Jason who spread out every toy and book in the room, looking for some entertainment.)

When we saw the receptionist from the day before she said "so, it really is broken!  I never would have believed it after seeing him yesterday!"

When we got home, I wasn't even out of the car yet when Nate hopped out and I saw him out in the driveway riding his bike and telling me that he could still do it, even with a broken arm.  Then there was a crash, just as the words were out of his mouth.  So he said "maybe I'll just have to wait until I get outa this thing."  It's going to be a long three weeks for this boy.  Three weeks isn't really that bad at all.


Somehow, our little friend (and the girl that Nate wants to marry) found out that he had broken his arm and she baked him some cookies.  She seriously made them herself!  I thought it was so cute.  When Nate saw the cookies, he did a fist pump in the air and said "yes!  Ninja turtle cookies!"  Then he got a little quiet and slowly walked up to her and said "I'm going to hug you with my broken arm".  He moved right in and gave her a sweet hug and backed up acting all shy and embarrassed.  It was one of the cutest things I've ever seen.  This kid has moves!

There you have it.  The first broken bone of all the children.  Who knows if it will be the last, but he has dominated the injury scene around here and I have a feeling he'll continue to break all the family records.  #brokenarmfirstweekofsummer