Life

Life has been a whirlwind that last few months.   I am finally starting to get caught back up on my history.   I am not quite there but got to a good chunk of it in all of my posts I did today. 

And in other news, Rocky caved in and we finally got one of these!

I love this one of Erin...

The kids had to clean their room up before they could get on.  

So Dustin just played on it while we got the pads all tied on. 

Maizee snapped me in action here.  This is what I look like when I am telling Ethan that if he does not knock it off I am going to "box his ears".   And one day I might just carry that threat out....

This is what Lindsey looks like when she is waiting for her turn to try out the tramp. 

 

And finally, they got to jump. 

Rocky and I slept out on it the first night we had it. 

It was my idea and he just humored me.  We came in the house at 5:00 AM because the birds were chirping so loud that we couldn't sleep.  When the kids slept out there they didn't come in until 9:00ish. 

It has been fun, they have jumped, slept on  it and put the sprinkler under. 

I am sure there will be tramp pictures to follow this post too. 

In other news, the girls dressed up for a ball and invited Bronco.  They even dressed him up (in a dress) they would probably do the same to Dustin and Ethan if they would go for it. 

And this picture of Dustin courtesy of Ethan makes Erin break down and giggle every time she sees it. 

It is such a close up that he almost looks morphed. 

And last of all for today. 

This is one of the favorite creatures that Ethan has caught so far this summer. 

We went on a trip and they were all over.  I will hopefully post more about that one in the near future. 

ICU

Rocky said I couldn't share this story, but he gave in now that time has lapsed a little and he said everyone knows about it. 

Rocky got really sick one afternoon.  He called me after lunch and said that he thought he had food poisoning.  He checked around with the other guys he ate lunch with and they were all fine.  He said he was going to hang out at the office, lock his door and see if he could just weather it out.   I told him I would come and get him, but he said no.    When he got home from work he went in and laid down on the bed.  He said he knew he did not have the flu or food poisoning, and that he knew it was something else.  We searched WebMD and look up his symptoms and thought maybe it was his appendix.  I told him if he wanted me to take him in to the doctor I would.  About 30 minutes later he said take me in right now.  His hands, arms, face and tongue were going numb and he thought that he might be having a stroke.   By the time we got to the ER he could barely stand up.  I stopped right in front of the ER got him out and set him on a bench and then the ran and parked the van.   I had Maizee carry in Dustin and I hurried in and got a wheel chair and took Rocky in.   They got him right back in and hooked up to IV’s they could tell he was in a lot of pain.  After they got him back in and settled I went back out with the kids.  I went back to check on him after about 30 minutes and he was sitting up and looked a lot better.   The kids were very well behaved while we were there and we were there for a while.  I finally took the kids home around 10:00 pm thinking I would get the kids in bed and then go back and get Rocky when they released him.   He called around 11:00 and told me to got to bed that they were going to admit him into the ICU and monitor him for the night.  They said that his potassium levels were really low and it they were worried about his heart and they wanted to watch him closely.  We went in the next morning to visit him and they let us back into the ICU to see him.  He had monitors hooked up to his chest and IV’s in both arms.  We left him there and went to the kids soccer games.  He called a couple hours later and said they moved him from ICU and his was waiting for the doctor to come in and talk to him.   We went back in to the hospital to visit him after the soccer games were over to see how he was doing.  They had him eat and then watch him to make sure he was okay.  Then he was just waiting for the Doctor to come in and release him.  So we left him yet again in the hospital and came home and burned all of the dead plants and weeds in the garden we showered and cleaned up and just waited for him to call.  He finally did and got to come home.  After a lot of tests, blood work, cat scans, ultra sounds, etc, etc, etc they said he had a toxin get inside his small intestine and it made him sick (at first ER doctors thought it was his gall balder or maybe gall stones or kidney stones).  The doctor said that they do not know how the toxin got into his body, that it could have been something he ate or a virus in the air.  I think his body was trying to fight it off and caused everything to go hay wire.  When we went into the ER his blood pressure was so low that it was causing his limbs to go numb.  His whole body was out of whack, his blood levels were off, his white cells were off as well.  His potassium was really low as well.  The next day they did more blood work and everything was back to normal.   His stomach still hurt for a few weeks following.   We are very very grateful that he is okay and that he got to come back home with us.  

This was after he had been in the ER a little while.  The medication started to kick in and he was feeling a little better.  I wish I would have taken some pictures in the ICU, but he didn't want me to. 

Toddler Bed

We took down the crib and put Mr. Dustin the the toddler bed. 

Rocky had lots of help taking it down and putting up the bed.  

He was excited to hop on it and play. 

This is how I found him after the first night in the bed.   Not sure what he was doing to get under the bed.
Shortly after I took the picture he started crying and I went in to get him and he had crawled all the way under and was trying to get out.  

After that first night he has stayed in the bed all night and it is really nice to have him just walk out when he wakes up in the morning instead of crying and wanting us to come get him out of the crib. 

School Happenings

The older kids participate in a track meet.  Maizee was one of the faster girls in her PE class so they told her she was running the 100 and 200 meter races.  She took 3rd in both races competing against the fastest girls in the third grade.   She also ran on a relay team with her friends.  They didn't win, but had fun running it.   We got to go spend the morning with the school watching all the track and field events.  

Lindsey's program was There Is No One Like Me.  The kids sang and shared things that they had learned throughout the school year.   The gym was so packed I couldn't get close enough to take a picture during the program so I got some cute shots afterwards.  

Ironically enough, I just noticed that someones pencil with streamers on it got in the pictures.  That was Lindsey's one complaint, that one teacher told them all that they could keep the pencils after the program, but her teacher told them that they could not, because she didn't want to have to make new ones for the next school year.   My Lindsey doesn't complain much and is pretty happy go lucky.   So it must have really bothered her to not get to keep the pencil.  

Lindsey and Mrs. Adams. 

Maizee's class did the play A Midsummer Nights Dream.   She was Hermia and had some real challenges along they way.   She came home one day and told me that she could not go back to school the next day because she had to hold hands with "Lysander", or as I like to call him, "Handsome Lysander".   Miss Soper told them they had to or she would hold them back and make them do it again next year.   I think they just faked it, so it looked like they were holding hands.  

The play was really cute and she did a good job with her part.   I didn't get a picture of her and Handsome Lysander, because he quickly left the gym after the play to get out of his costume. 

Here is Miss Lindsey with her awards.  She got this cool medallion and a certificate for being one of the top readers in 1st grade.   She is a little book worm and loves reading. 

She also got an award for attendance and science and the national physical fitness award. 

The parents didn't get invited to the 1st graders awards assembly so I didn't get to see Lindsey receive her awards.   But I am proud of her for her accomplishments and hope she keeps it up!

Miss Maizee got a perfect attendance award, presidential physical fitness and then 2 ribbons for her 3rd place in the 100 and 200 meter track meets.  

The girls had a good school year and are excited for the teachers next year.  Maizee is excited about the girls that are in her class and so am I.  But most of all we are all super excited that it is summer!

Soccer

In April and May we spent a lot of time doing this:

Lindsey was pretty aggressive in the first few games, but then she didn't want to play anymore.  She enjoyed playing on the sidelines with the other girls more than actually playing soccer.   She stuck with it though and and made a couple goals. 

Ethan LOVED it.  He is very good at it and made 10 or so goals on average a game.  He takes his sporting serious and from the time the uniform was on until we got home his head was in the game.   He would even run along the end lines and follow Lindsey's team as they played.  We would hear a grunt and moan and look over to see him grabbing his head and shaking it when they missed a goal.  And then looking the other way at Lindsey to see she hadn't even noticed they were by the goal.  

Maizee was very competitive and aggressive this year.  She had GREAT coaches that taught her a lot.   She played defense and was pretty good at it.   She got asked to on a team with some other girls in St. George this fall.  We decided to give it a whirl and let her develop her talents some.   She seems to really like it. 

They had the "Beast" from 5 Buck Pizza for their last game treat.  Maizee thought it was cool that she had a piece of pizza so big.   She barely ate any of it.   She made me document it. 

 

The kids finished up soccer with a bang this month.  They had games everyday for a week.  And then Maizee played on the following Saturday.  They were playing to see who got to play for 1^st and 2^nd.  The game went into double over time and then they did penalty kicks.  A lot of penalty kicks.  The game lasted 2 hours.  And Maizee’s team won!!   So they got to advance for to the championship game.  As we left the soccer fields to go grab some lunch, Maizee said that her head hurt.  By the time we go to Lin’s she climbed out of the van and threw up all over the parking lot.  Then we went inside Lin’s and she threw up all over the bathroom floor.   She did not drink any water while she was playing and I think she was either dehydrated or had heat exhaustion.  I could not get her to drink.   She threw up a couple more times.  We went back to the soccer games and told them she could not play because she was sick and then came home.  She drank a lot and rested and then started feeling better.  Her coach stopped by and brought her a balloon and checked on her.  Then the assistant coach, two of her teammate and their sisters came by and brought her balloons and Popsicles.  They made her feel better.  It was so very thoughtful of them.    Maizee learned that when she is out in the sun she has to drink to keep her body healthy.  

Our Garden's Green

She is a little camera shy sometimes

I need to be sneaky and get her singing when she doesn't know I am recording her. 

She sings this song all the time, along with many others.  But this is one of my favorites. 

Easter

Our usually Easter traditions coloring eggs:

 

 

Rocky's cousins decided they missed the Easter traditions of their childhood.  So they packed up from all over and headed down to let their kids participate int he fun. 

We picniced, blew bubbles, played games and enjoyed family.

 

These ladies always seem to need a family photo when they are together. They posed for several, I just included a couple. 

 Sisters and Cousins

 

The kids and Rocky with their Grandma

And lets not forget rolling eggs.  One of the most fun Easter traditions. 

 

 

I asked Rocky to take pictures because I had to help Erin to the bathroom so we didn't get a lot of the egg rolling.  Lindsey and Erin did participate, it just isn't documented in photos this time around. 

We enjoyed a great Easter weekend.  It is one of my favorite holidays.