April Photos

 Math homework- New Lego set up- A basement full of play!

Tree and Treats from friends- Birthday Celebration with friends- Cousin time

Cuddles reading- Wyatt looking cool- More math homework (double digits!)

 Reading homework- Deanna Rose with kindie friends

Snuggles with Wyatt- Rocking his new KC hat

Trying on swimsuits- Modeling hats at Target- Birthday Party for Sammy

Green carpet grass- My new pants made in Bahrain!- Creed and Eli came to town!

Grant said "No" to Chris leaving- Swimming lessons!!- Star Wars bathroom set up

Sick Kiddos

Poor Wyatt came down with pneumonia, and a pretty severe case! It started with a hoarse voice the night of my birthday, and by the next morning, he had a fever over 103 and a terrible cough. After a trip to the doctor and a quick listen to his lungs, she said it was pneumonia. Since we caught it early enough, he didn't need to rush to the hospital or anything, she just gave us an antibiotic. We started it right away, but the poor guy was just miserable! Couldn't sleep, couldn't cough because it hurt so bad. I'm pretty sure he ate an entire box of popsicles in one day. The next morning, I was hoping he would be a tiny bit better, but he was still the same, except had the worst diarrhea you could imagine! Like, can't leave the bathroom, let alone the house for more than 5 minutes! So now he was doubly miserable!! We made another trip the dr, and this dr. gave him a new antibiotic (because now we know he's allergic to Augmenten), 10 days worth of oral steroids, and a breathing treatment system, and about sent us to the hospital for chest x-rays. But after the first dose of breathing treatment, we could tell it was going to make a world of difference for him, so he sent us home with that to use 3x day for two weeks, without having to make a trip to the hospital!!! So between the oral steroids and the breathing treatment, each day he got better and better, thank the Lord!! Mama was running on fumes at this point. And just as Wyatt started to turn a corner, Grant got sick!!! Seriously, why does that stuff happen!?!? Super high fever for FIVE days, horrible cough, but really no other symptoms!! Luckily, as soon as he got a dose of Advil, he would perk right up. He's such a tough kid, nothing really brings him down. So we didn't head to the dr with him....until about a week later when a rash showed up. I knew right away that it was a strep rash. Of course, it showed up on a Saturday morning, so we headed to urgent care, where he earned a shot to the behind of penicillin. Poor guy was sooooo brave! I was happy he chose that over 10 days of antibiotics, because I honestly didn't want to go through that whole routine AGAIN!!!

So finally, about two weeks after this all began, the sicknesses were gone, the antibiotics were done, the breathing treatments were finished. It was a long two weeks of constant care, but I am so thankful that my babies recovered easily. My heart goes out to the parents who are dealing with childhood illnesses far worse than these. As tired and grouchy and frustrated I was, I kept praising God for letting these illnesses be small and minute compared to what could happen!

 Wyatt's version of sick looks very different than Grant's version....

Cousin Fun

So, this post was supposed to be about sledding with the cousins..back in February. But since we are pushing close to May, I figured I'd just lump some cousin fun pictures together into one post!!

 Sledding at the Big Hill with Luke on a snowy Saturday! We spent the day/night at their house and they had a blast playing in all the snow!!

 Things like this happen all the time. Not really sure what's happening, but lots of laughing was involved!!

 Mimi and I took all the boys bowling after school one day!

 All the boys spent the night at Mimi and PawPaws last night and had to help PawPaw pick up all the sticks and load them in the pickup. No matter what these boys are doing, they have a blast doing it together!!

Generations of Toothless

I found a stack of old photos the other day and I was looking through them, only to notice one of them was from the day I lost BOTH my top teeth!! This just so happened to be a few days after Grant just lost both his top teeth!! I loved the comparison! I don't always see any resemblance between Grant and myself, nor Grant and Levi. Most people see resemblance between him and Levi, but I don't think I've ever heard anyone say he looks like me! Although in these pictures, I can see it!! My picture was probably taken almost exactly 27 years prior, as I'm pretty sure I lost both my teeth on my 7th birthday! 

The day Grant lost his last top tooth!

 The day I lost both my top teeth!

 Comparison picture!! 

Usually Grant has a much squintier-eyed smile like I do in my picture, but this one was a "smile for me" picture and he never does a true smile when I say that! But its still enough for me to see the resemblance between me and him!!! And I love that!!

My 34th Birthday

I can't believe I'm already another year older. Time just cannot be going by this fast?!? Thank goodness I'm only turning 29 ;-)

Anyway, all my boys were ready to shower me with love on my special day!! It started the evening of the 17th when the doorbell rang. On the doorstep was an FTD box filled with the most beautiful pink tulips. I love that he knows my favorite flowers and sends me them every time he's gone for my birthday (which I think has been more times then he's been home for my birthday). But its still special every year!!

That sparked an idea for Grant, which was a very secretive project. I was in the office working on some paperwork and they were working in the basement with strict instructions to not come down. A little bit later, I hear the basement door slam and look out the back window to see my little fellas walking around the backyard headed towards the front yard. Just then, I hear the doorbell ring and I see a large DSW paper bag on the front step. I open the door, only to hear the boys run back into the basement and up the steps asking, "What's at the door hehehehe??" Inside was a bag of Starburst and a beautifully decorated card from Grant. He kept saying, "Don't you just love your surprise?!" He was so proud and I was so touched!! Don't you love the heart for the O in Love and the invented spelling of Happy Birthday?!? I sure do :)

For my actual birthday, Grant had been planning to bring me breakfast in bed and he just couldn't wait to pop out of bed to do that. He said he was going to wake up extra early and do that for me. I asked if he would instead sleep in, because no one really wants to eat breakfast before 7am!! They did sleep in til about 7:20, although I'd been up since 6:45. I heard them whispering down the hall and then they walked into my room singing Happy Birthday and I couldn't help but feel my heart melt. Those boys are just the sweetest!!! Wyatt presented me with his card he made the day before. He had to let the glitter glue dry, but he was so proud of his "perfect heart" (on the bottom left). Then Grant whipped out a piece of paper and took my breakfast order. I asked for grapes and a granola bar. Grant brought me cookies instead, because it was a special occasion. Wyatt tried to count out 34 grapes for me, but he "lost count." And Grant brought me a juice box, which he later asked if he could drink. We all snuggled for a while watching Gold Rush before moving on to the next part of our day!

 Wyatt had planned to take me to Einstein Bros for our favorite Everything bagel and veggie cream cheese. He said all week that he was going to be brave and order for me, but he got shy when we got to the register. So I ordered, went to pay and realized I left my wallet at home. I was just telling the boys that we had to head back home, when a sweet lady offered to pay for our breakfast. Such wonderful act of kindness that just made our day even more special! No pictures from this part of the day :-(

The rest of the day was spent at my parents house. My mom took me shopping at the Legends and spoiled me with some new clothes, which I desperately needed. The spoiling continued as the VanAllen's came over and we all enjoyed a delicious steak dinner with brownies and ice cream for dessert! (No pictures from this part of the day either, darn!) 

It was a special day, filled with lots of love and I am so thankful to be surrounded by my family. I missed my husband terribly, but coming home after a wonderful day and seeing my tulips had bloomed, I knew he was thinking of me and loving me from 8000 miles away!!!

I guess another birthday isn't so bad after all! 

Summer Lego Scence

After our fun time creating Easter Lego scenes, Grant was itching to make another one! One afternoon while I was out mowing, Grant made his newest scene- Summer at Our House!! He couldn't wait to show me and explain every last detail!!

So, the structure is their clubhouse and all the blue area is our pool. 

 These are rafts in the pool. Levi is on the left, Mimi is on the white raft (Grant was really proud of the hair he chose because it looks just like "Mimi hair"), I am on the right (I even have a ponytail), and PawPaw is on the bottom, complete with a full mustache. Grant is next to me with the orange hat about to squirt me with a water gun!

 Here on the clubhouse is Luke, in the red hat, and Wyatt in the cowboy hat having a water gun fight. The clear piece coming off the side is the slide.

 Here is Mason, on the pool slide trying to squirt us all with water guns as well.

 And here is PawPaw pickup, or Levi's pickup. He said it could be either one.

 Here is a bird eye view!

I thought it was pretty darn creative!! I just love seeing his little imagination hard at work!!! But now hes anxiously awaiting acting out the real scene!!! Come on Summer!!

Writing Samples

Now that my kids are emergent readers and writers, I love finding little drawings or notes or "books" they've written! They're all so cute and such little treasures!! Up until the last few months, Grant refused to write or draw anything at home. It was hard for him, so it was a chore. He never enjoyed coloring, doodling, anything like that. But now that he's stronger, he's write and coloring and drawing up a storm! Wyatt has always enjoyed coloring, but now that he's an emergent reader, he's starting to write his own words or sentences! This is just such a special time in their development and as a former teacher, I'm so excited to see them grasping these skills and being proud to use them!! Here is a small sample of pieces of collected over the past few weeks!

 Grant made a book showing all the Star Wars movies. This one says, III Attack on Coruscant.

 Wyatt drew this Stormtrooper.

 Grant likes taking stickers and adding a drawing around them. He made this Max and Ruby one, this Jungle one, and a Wallykazam one.

 Wyatt made a book of him and Grant.

 Grant made this at school. It says Someday I want to be a scientist. And he gave himself an A+, hilarious!!!

As part of Grant's book buddy bag each weeks, he has to journal about one of the books he read. I love how he sounds out words!! 

This lead them both to start a journal of their own about Star Wars characters. Wyatt worked so hard on his characters and sentences!

 Wyatt drew him and Grant wearing Mickey Mouse tshirts and Goofy hats.

 Wyatt found this picture in a coloring book and wanted to give it to Mason and Luke, because they wore those costumes for Halloween. So he labeled each of them- Masi and Looc :)

 Grant brought this home for church one Wednesday evening. It says, "This is a secrit not becos it is a secrit no bote can lisn too this secrit." I love love love this

Old Papas Farm Visit

One of my very favorite places to visit is my grandparents farm. It has always been a place of fun and family and even though my grandma is no longer with us, their farm still remains a place of memories- past, present, and future. Both boys had off school one day in April, so I thought it would be the perfect day to head down there to visit. My grandpa said he wasn't going to be home, but we knew we could still have fun anyway! 

We made a stop by the cemetery to visit with Gigi. We made her a few pieces of wood-burned art and organized her grave site. She definitely has the most colorful and decorated site out there, just as she would want it!!

 Then we headed over to the farm! The boys really wanted to play in the creek and visit the cows. We had some rain a few days prior, so unfortunately we couldn't go too far in the creek before it was impassable, but I could see that they will be just like me and my sister and cousins were when we got down there- just a whole new world to explore! Had it not been so wet we would've probably spent hours there exploring! They each found a special rock to take home with them to add to their collection. Those boys and their love of rocks!!

We meandered down the path to check out the cows. A low flying helicopter was flying by and the cows came running! Lucky for us, that meant we got to see them up close, since they were kind of out in the pasture. I think they were waiting for us to feed them, and since we weren't, they got bored of us real fast and headed back to the pasture. 

 

After our fun time playing, we decided to hit the road back home, after a quick trip to McDonalds. Funny enough, we ran into my grandpa there and got to have lunch with him!! So turned out we got to see him afterall!!! Pretty hard to do- my grandpa has a pretty busy social life!! We are already waiting for our next trip back to the farm!! Next time, I think we will bring the cousins!