Summer Home School Aspirations

When I tagged along on Adam's work trip last month, I had lots of personal time.  I took the time to make some educational plans for the summer.  Coop is totally into crafts/learning and I knew we would fit Doodles in somehow.  Of course I turned to Pinterest where I was not disappointed. I have a few pages of notes on book themes.  The plan was to do one each week.  Ha!  Wanna know how many I have done??? One.  Yep, one.  Right now I am sure you are thinking, what else are they doing all day??  Between our trips, everyone being sick at some point, Cooper and Laney's social calendar and going to the gym, our mornings seem to fill up fast.  I know, it sounds ridiculous.

 The book we did first (and only so far!) was If You Give A Mouse A Cookie.  The kids already love the book, but we read it each time before we did a project.  This first one was so simple, most of them are!  I made an M with washi tape and the kids watercolored around it.  Then we peeled the tape off after the paint dried.

 Our math activity involved rolling dice, chocolate chips and addition.  Really what I took away from this is that we needed to work on writing numbers!

 Laney colored next to us and snuck chocolate chips when she could.

We did a couple more activities with the book but I didn't get pics.  You can find the link for all the activities and more on my "kids' stuff" Pinterest board.

School doesn't start here until September 12th so I still have awhile to catch up on some other books...next week!

Laney's 1st phrase

Our Doodles definitely seems to be a late bloomer in the speech department.  It's not that she doesn't have a lot to say, she's absolutely talking to us, we just don't understand most of it yet.  And I probably understand the most out of anyone.

Her first official phrase started last month, prob right at 22 months.  Randomly throughout the day she will say, "I wanna go."  It goes more like this, "I waaannnnnaaaa dooooohhhhhhh."  Occasionally she puts on her shoes too. :)

Also last month, she started saying uh-huh.  Before that it was only 'no.'  And in just the last week she is saying, 'yeah,' instead of 'uh-huh.'  It's awesome!  Communication is so much easier when we understand one another.

What surprises us the most?  She has no name for her brother!  She has names for her grandparents, Lola, obviously mom and dad, Dora, Jake, Minnie, her Lovey, her babies and a few others I know I am forgetting. But, no Cooper.  Not even some made up name, she just grunts at his door when she is awake from morning/nap...I know she is asking if he is awake.  For some reason if he isn't in the car with us, she points to his seat and grunts.  Other than that, nothing.  Of course he is clueless that she doesn't know his name.  He is more concerned that she doesn't say please or thank you yet.  

 Oh yeah, that almost 2 year old high pitch, ear piercing scream at the most inappropriate time and places...she's got that one mastered.  

 Oh Laney Faith, our life would be a lot less lively without you in it!  We love you so much!!!

Puzzle Master

I dragged our bin of puzzles out from upstairs and put them with the games downstairs.  I hated that they were in a closet and we never really seemed to work on them.  So happy I did!  Laney is just getting familiar with the idea and still gets frustrated when she doesn't get the pieces to fit just right.  Cooper has jumped back in and is currently attached to this dinosaur puzzle.

 He needed quite a bit of help the first few times we put it together.  Just a couple weeks later, he can do it almost all on his own!

Smile Fridays - week 42

We got to see baby #3 today!  It was so incredible, I wish I could bottle up these sono memories...they are so few and far between.  We didn't give in on the gender...it's still a surprise!

This has kept my kids pretty happy this past week.  They take all the cushions off themselves and then I make sure there aren't any gaping holes to the wood floor.

She is loving anything Dora these days...not sure where this new obsession came from.

Cooper had a reptile birthday party tonight.  There was a  Creature Teacher with lots of animals to share.  The kids had a choice to hold the bunny or snake for a picture.  He chose snake, I was shocked! No really, could.not.believe.it.  Such a fun party idea!

Happy Weekend Y'all!

Laney's bug bite

This wasn't just any bug bite, this was a severe (well, i consider it severe) allergic reaction to some bug bite.  Here's the scoop...

**warning, lots of details you could probably care less about but i need it documented in case it happens again.  this baby is apparently eating my memory**

Here's the background...last Saturday was cuh-razy.  We had a teeball game, 3 birthday parties and a BBQ/swim party.  When changing Doodles into her jammies (still at friends' house and already after 9), we noticed she had a red spot in between her eyebrows.  We had no concern since she is almost 2 which means she constantly has red spots, bumps, bruises.  She was happy as can be all night, even when not getting home to bed until 10:30.  She wasn't up until after 9 the next morning (her brother at 10am!) and woke up with some swelling.

 We went to brunch Sunday morning and couldn't figure out what had happened.  At this point we saw no sign of a bug bite.  We are pretty laid back so not really concerned at this point.  She wasn't acting any different at all.

 The morning and early afternoon come and go and this is when I start getting a bit concerned.  The swelling just seemed to be getting worse.  We thought if she had hit her head the swelling would be immediate and not 12-15 hours later.  We decided to let her nap and see what she looked like after.

I was in the office working when Adam is carrying her down from nap and says, "yeah, i think we need to take her to urgent care."  I about died when she came in to see me, happy as can be.  Her eyes were getting smaller and smaller!  So we packed some snacks and the fam to head to Urgent Care at 4:30 on Sunday afternoon.

 Believe it or not, this was our first trip to urgent care here in Texas (i think...there's that memory thing again).  Our pediatrician is linked (not location, just same organization?) to the main children's hospital in Fort Worth and so is the Urgent Care!  It was nice to go somewhere that is specialized in children.

Seriously, she was so happy!  Well, until the doctors started poking and prodding.

She snuck in lots of time on Dad's phone and ipad.

At this point the bug bite was easy to spot.  So, the doc treated her as having an allergic reaction to bug bite with Benadryl but with it being in that sensitive area they took some further precautions.  There was the fear it was or could lead to a bacterial infection.  They drew blood (wow, that was fun) to make sure all her blood levels were good.  They were.  When the doctors left the room and she was still so upset, Cooper (with his back to us coloring) says, "no fear Laney, the doctors are gone now."  This kid melts my heart with the things he says to his sister.    

Since they weren't sure exactly what had happened (no idea what had bit her and when) and why there was so much crazy swelling, they gave her an antibiotic to cover the infection worry.  It was 2 shots, one in each leg (even more fun) :(.  Poor baby had a hard time walking for an hour or so.  We had to wait 30 minutes after shot to make sure there was no reaction to it.  

Our new coloring habit came in quite handy for those hours in the urgent care room.  They were playing Monsters Inc on TV but the kids didn't want to watch!  Our crayon colors were limited and apparently it was Christmas in July at urgent care!

We went to dinner since it was 7 after Doodles was discharged.  Of course when the food comes Cooper says he is feeling sick and wants to go to the car...what?  He has never done that before and since he was the only one that the 24 flu bug didn't hit just recently, I totally obliged fearing he may ralph all over the table.  As we were walking out he tells Adam, "get a box for my chicken, I may want that later." :)  And he did.  About 30 minutes later he ate it all and never got sick.

After dinner we go to fill Laney's prescription.  Well, 3 pharmacies and almost 2 hours later we got her prescription filled.  Remember it was after 8 on a Sunday, boo.

Our poor Laney Faith!  But I am telling you, she was her same happy self which made us so happy and not feel as bad.  She still scored her very own cookies'n'cream shake from Sonic...who could turn that face down?  At some point on our drive home she poked that straw right thru the bottom of the cup so Adam was greeted with quite the mess when he got her out of the car.

It was a crazy few hours but we feel so lucky that it was nothing serious and the kids were seriously so awesome throughout all of it!  

This was Monday morning!  She seriously couldn't open her eyes any wider!  I tested her vision by giving her my phone, she maneuvered right to the photos section and pointed out people she knew.  Again, happy as can be!

Monday afternoon, huge improvement from morning.  We had a follow up appointment with her pediatrician.  All seemed to be okay, they just told us to stay on top of Benadryl and antibiotics.

Monday night at Cooper's end of season tee ball pizza party.  Again, improved from just a few hours earlier.  I told Adam I couldn't even remember what normal Laney Faith looked like!  I already become accustomed to swollen Laney!

This was Tuesday morning.  Besides the crazy expression, 100% better than the morning before.  You can really see the bug bite now next to her left eyebrow.

Wednesday morning, still a bit red but basically 100%.  Now, if only we were done with the antibiotics, she's on Clindamyacin.  It's 3 times a day for 10 days and we just finished day 4!  The doctor and pharmacist warned us about how nasty it is even when flavored.  For the most part though, this sassy girl is a champ and has made it easy on us!

So what caused all that crazy redness and swelling is up in the air!

1st piggy bank cash in

After seeing Grandpa empty his grown up piggy bank...

and filling his own pockets full of change :), it gave us an idea. His piggy (tractor) bank was just about overflowing so we decided to cash in too!

 It turned out to be a great real life math lesson.  I l-o-v-e-d teaching about money when I was teaching! He was a great helper at separating and counting.

We headed to the bank, ready to drop off and get deposited for his KU fund!  I love that he is still young enough (clueless) to not ask to spend any of it and have no problem handing it all over to the bank!

Coloring Cuties

I could not be happier about my kids' new hobby....we have entered the world of coloring!  Woot-Woot!  We came back from our midwest tour and all of a sudden they had a new obsession and it's awesome.  They will set at their little table and color for up to 20 minutes!  20 minutes people!!!  Do you know what I can get done in the kitchen in 20 minutes???   Even sister is into it!  I love sitting with them and taking part too, coloring is so relaxing, right?  

We have started watercoloring too, but Doodles needs close supervision on that one since she likes to suck on the paintbrush.

  Maybe this will make our next road trip a bit smoother???  

 I just adore how he colors.  Everything is in colored in so neatly (well, in a mother's opinion) and so full of color!  I love how he makes most things striped and doesn't leave a space white!  He has made some crazy coloring progress in the last 6 months.  Wish I had a timeline of his coloring pictures.

I adore how she colors just as much.  Cooper calls it scribble-scrabble. She also uses lots of colors (and never puts any of them back :)) in random scribbles all over the page.  She is our gal of little words and we just love, love, love how she comes running to Adam and I proudly holding up her latest masterpieces saying, "me, me, me!," waiting for confirmation on a job well done.  Then when we ooh and aah over it she beams even more!

And then when they go to bed at night I sneak about 95% of their creations in the recycling bin...don't tell.  It kind of makes me sad, but it could lead to an episode of hoarders if I kept them all.

My 32nd Birthday in an 8 hour car ride home

We don't always plan our road trips the best.  I spent my 30th driving back from KC with Cooper, pregnant with Doodles.  Adam spent his 31st driving back from Thanksgiving.  And I spent my 32nd earlier this month driving back again!  However, this time Adam was along so I got out of driving for the day.  But really, the passenger seat isn't easy in our car...you spend most of your time turned around fishing toys from the ground, handing out snacks, getting movies situated, basically trying to keep Laney Faith happy.  

 This is a family tradition for as long as I can remember and pretty sure I started it??  I am sure I will stand corrected if wrong :).  Thanks Dad for the sign, who cares that daughter is spelled wrong!  Alli and Rusty brought requested Einstein Bros and donuts for breakfast before we hit the road.

 This sweet pea is not so patient on car rides.  Unless she is eating, sleeping or on her dad's phone/ipad, she is miserable.  And if she is miserable, we all are.  

 Leaving our lunch stop he tells us he's not tired and not taking a nap.  Less than 2 minutes later he was out.

Here Cooper is trying to negotiate that ipad back in trade for a coloring book.  Look at her grip...how do you think that turned out??  Sister usually wins.

We had a great 10 day Midwest tour.  However, 24 hours total in the car with 2 toddlers over the course of 10 days was a bit much.  Thanks to our families for all your love!  

Happy 2nd Birthday Gunner!

Since we don't live near family, we are always so happy when we happen to be in town for a birthday party!  This time Gunner was turning 2!

 Love this picture!  It was a Toy Story party as Gunner is currently obsessed.  My incredibly creative sister made Woody and Buzz costumes.  Gunner is lucky to have 2 very sweet uncles to dress up and show up in character.

 The little kids' reactions were priceless!

 My kids weren't sure what to think and definitely would not cooperate for a pic with Woody and Buzz.

 Cooper was really into Gunner's gifts...that's putting it nicely.

 My sweet Laney Faith lovin' her dessert!

She loves me, I just caught her at the wrong time!

4th of July

Our third and final stop of the midwest tour was Kansas and we had a jam packed few days.  Fourth of July, planning and throwing my sister's baby shower, nephew Gunner's 2nd birthday, meeting our new niece Landree, lunch dates with friends...the list goes on and on.

I adore 4th of July in Stilwell.  The traditions haven't changed in years.  Family comes over to my parents to swim/eat, then everyone goes to watch the parade thru town (which we conveniently hang out at Bryson and Tara's house) and the night is wrapped up watching the city fireworks.  Sounds pretty perfect, right?  Warning...I took lots of pics.

My parents have a big, beautiful backyard that backs up to fields.  A family friend happened to be out that morning in his combine while the boys were in the backyard watching.  He stopped to chat and Coop got to ride with him for a while.  I would just love to have heard the convo happening because Coop had no clue who he was (anything for a combine ride!), and was still rocking his PJs!  He was in heaven.  I will spare you the video :).

The kids got lots of quality time cruising Stilwell on the gator.

 My kids drank so many sugary drinks on our midwest tour, it was making me cringe.  I was like a drill sargeant when we got home, 2 choices, milk or water, the end.  *by the way, that's my sis's cute baby bump*

 I rarely really dress my kids looking cute and matchy.  When I do, I better be getting a good pic to document it.  Well, you can see how this went down.

Thanks kids :)

 Waiting for the parade to start with Mamaw...Laney wouldn't abandon that Gatorade.

 God Bless America,

 and God Bless these thumb sucking teeth!

 Gunner and Laney were totally content after catching one sucker.

Cooper was on full time candy patrol and rocked his job!

 Not only did I want a pic of my 2 kids but of all the grandkids since Landree was a fresh addition still. Well...that didn't pan out.

 Someone had to be removed from the situation after getting violent with her cousins.

Her and Gunner quickly made up over an episode of Mickey Mouse.

Hope you all had a safe and happy 4th!