Allergies

About two months ago, I took Nat in for another allergy follow up appointment. They gave her Singulair to try instead of the Zyrtec she had been taking with some, but not complete relief. After doubling up for two weeks (as I can't take her off the Zyrtec or she will feel so bad she can hardly get out of bed some days), I tried to take her off the Zyrtec. Nope. Didn't work at all. So, I took her back in on Thursday. Every time we go, its a different doc. Its annoying, but at the same time, they all have different outlooks on things...sometimes you get lucky and get a good doc! This doctor was actually really nice, calm, and willing to talk to Natalie instead of down to her. He explained what our options were, and that it wasn't feasible to send her to a specialist until we exhausted all our other options first. And the most affective and reasonable is Flonase. She is very scared to put anything up her nose because nurses forced her down and put saline up her nose to test her for the flu a while back...ugh. To top it off, they prescribed some other stuff that stings when you put it in your nose (fabulous thing to prescribe a KID!). He told her that it doesn't hurt and that it can make her feel better in less than a week. I told her that I was prescribed the same thing the day before, so we could take it together! (Fun fun!) She agreed, and we'll be starting it tonight...we'll see how it goes!

He also prescribed her Zyrtec pills instead of the liquid so I can stop dealing with all those annoying measuring cups! (And we'll actually have the right amount, as we always run out and its difficult to get more...another story.) I taught her how to swallow them using mini-M&M's yesterday! It was quite entertaining! It only took about five before she was doing it!

Lets all keep our fingers crossed that this helps as I really want her to start feeling better, and I won't be able to pick her up from school because of allergy issues anymore...

* * * * * * * * * *

And...today Maggie turns ONE!

Happy birthday Maggie!

:-)

Head Tilt

Firsts

Yesterday Ethan had two interesting firsts...for a mom anyway!

First, and easiest...he lost his first molar. He thought this was a rather odd thing. Probably because of the size of the tooth, and he is loving the giant GAP it left behind! Good thing the Tooth Fairy was informed of a total of six loose teeth between the kids and is prepared!!!

The other first...is that I'm pretty darn sure he got his first concussion. He was riding his bike with his friends and I got a call from him, crying, saying that he fell and hurt his head. I ran (ok, jogged) down to his friends house where the friends mom proceeded to tell me that he fell pretty hard, hit his head and that was all she knew because she wasn't outside.

Ethan told me that he saw black for a couple seconds, and was pretty dizzy. We walked home, he relaxed on the couch with ice on his head for a couple hours while I kept an eye on him. I did give him some Tylenol...or Motrin I can't remember as he had a pretty good headache.

I informed him that if he had had his helmet on, he wouldn't have gotten hurt. He seemed surprised. I highly doubt this will make him wear it, but if we ever ride bikes outside the neighborhood he WILL!!!

He seems fine now, I'm probably over-reactive, but...what's a mom to do?!?! :-)

A Good Book...Or Six

I love to read. Not being able to read for fun is hard for me. With a difficult summer class and a very difficult two years coming up, I know that I won't be able to read much for a while. Many years ago, my brother, Nathan, introduced me to the Ender's Game series by Orson Scott Card. (He even named his dog Ender!) When we had our base house inspection, I had mentioned this to the inspector. He had also read those books, and recommended that I read another series by him. There are six books in the series, and I read the first five in less than three weeks. I have put off the last book as I know when I start it I'll want to finish it and not do anything else! Because I was reading them so much, Roby wanted to see what all the fuss was about! He read the first book, the second one in about a week, and has started the third.

A pic of Max, just 'cause he's cute! :-)

Maggie sneaking in a toe lick.

I want to finish up my Chem. class so I can finish the series! Maybe that will be my reward! ;-)

4th Of July Videos

So...I realized that while uploading videos, its important to follow directions. Apparently there is a MB limit, and I wasn't fallowing that before. While I was uploading the rain videos, I discovered this, and had to edit one of them...so decided to do the same withe the 4th of July videos. I've done this before, but more for length issues. So, a couple days late, here are the rest of the 4th videos! I know, not totally entertaining, but I'm still impressed by ten year olds being careful with explosives! :-)

Summer Rain

As we were sitting down to eat dinner last night, it started to rain. Not a gentle rain, but downright pour! Seconds later, there was a knock on our front door. I opened it to see Ethan's friends. Both drenched, one in his swim suit! They asked if, "Ethan and his sister could come play in the rain"!!! How cute and fun is that?! We all remember playing in the rain, but forget to encourage our kids to do the same! We had told the kids they were staying inside after dinner as they had things that needed to get done...but summer rain was calling!

After I finished my dinner, I headed out with my point and shoot camera to take some pictures and video. I couldn't resist! I was surprised that you can actually see the rain in some of the pictures, it's usually hard to capture it!

Crazy kids!

Natalie getting ready to splash one of the boys.

I love the water movement!

Water angels?!?!

I just love her excitement!

Ethan was riding one of his friends scooters through the gutters. BIG puddles of water = F U N!!!

I'm always amazed at how it can be pouring in one area and sunny in another!

They hid in a garage for a bit.

Blue skies were coming.

But not quite yet! A little more puddle splashing must take place!

I had to take a pic of the water and Natalie's feet! There was just so much in such as short period of time!

And my favorite picture of the 15 minutes that I braved the rain (I did have an umbrella, but my lower 1/3 was still soaked!):

My SIL, Shastyn, saw it on Facebook and mentioned that she liked the perspective (which is what I was going for). She also said the only thing that could make it better was if her head was silhouetted by the clouds (NOT the tree). I couldn't agree more! Next time I'll take a little more time to go for a good shot...but today I was so excited to capture their joy playing in the rain, that I wasn't thinking of technical aspects! ;-)

And because I've been all about little videos lately, here are a couple videos of them playing in the rain! (Sorry for the loud rain sound...there wasn't much I could do about it!)

Ethan's phone did get so wet in the process that it is currently no working...this is part our fault, part his. We told him to take it with him so he would know when to come home...we also told him not to get it wet. It has been sitting in a bag of rice all night. It has not helped so far. I'm not sure how long it is supposed to sit that way before you know if it will work again or if it is really ruined... Oh well! :-)

Train Time

There is nothing better than watching your kids actually use their imaginations. Except, maybe, playing with the same toys you grew up playing with! Our family room has the perfect space to get the Brio train track out in. (The kids' rooms are too small to have much fun with it.) Because a lot of the track is made in Europe (the company started in Sweden), we added a GREAT deal to the collection while we lived there! (I'm talking a LOT more track and fun parts!)

Nat grabbing a track for Ethan.

Figuring out a cool bridge.

One of the trains we got goes by itself. Max isn't so sure about it...

Still not sure...

Natalie loves it!

She was showing me that the part she made was as big as her!

Ethan concentrating on his section.

Almost done.

They played with it for quite some time. I think its a fabulous thing to have down there as the parts aren't too small and it can be played with in so many ways! Great for days when its too hot or too cold! It's back in Ethan's closet for now, but I'm sure it will come back out quite soon!

4th Of July Celebrations

I had to share a picture of what we had for dinner last night! :-) The ribs turned out pretty good! For those vegetarians out there, sorry! I'm not much of a pork eater, but every now and then, decent ribs are yummy! I put a dry rub on them and had them "marinate" in that overnight, then baked them for 2 1/2 hours with a BBQ sauce. Let them sit for about 20 minutes to "firm up" before throwing them on the grill to help caramelize. Roby and I were snacking on the watermelon for quite some time before dinner, and with the corn and fries, we had plenty food with only one rack of ribs for the four of us.

Ethan's friends live across the street from each other at the end of our block. They invited us to join them for lighting off fireworks as it started to get dark. We grabbed out loot and headed down.

Ethan lit a "snake" for Natalie. She thought they were quite entertaining...as did I! :-)

As it got darker, the boys (and "big" boys) lit off fireworks almost the entire time! (My pictures aren't great as I had my little camera and didn't mess with the settings very much...I was taking video more than anything.)



Not fabulous, but firework pics are always kind of fun!



Ethan and I cuddling, watching other peoples fireworks after ours were all done.

Roby and Natalie! She loves her daddy!

We finished after 10pm. Then it was time to clean up!


Natalie was a good helper too!

I have a bunch of videos of the boys lighting stuff off, but it wasn't letting me load them all day today. I'll keep trying and see if I can post them in a separate post...

Happy Independence Day!!!

Two years ago today we were visiting Roby's mom back in Washington. Two years from now, I should be done with school!!!

Earlier this week, we went and got a few fireworks to satisfy the boy in Roby! :-) Our budget was small, especially compared to our neighbors, but it got a lot more than I thought it would! We got some of the usuals, butterflies, roman candles, big sparklers, etc. But we got some bigger ones as well. For $8 we got the big packs that have six shots that will shoot up and make a big firework in the sky! We're really excited about those! :-) I asked if they gave a military discount, they didn't, but decided to throw in the kids pack that we were purchasing for Natalie for free! Gotta love asking!

With Ethan's allowance, he decided to purchase fireworks as well. The first time, he spent just over seven dollars. Then when we went to get some groceries, he asked if he could spend the rest of his money. He literally spent every cent! He had a couple more things, but had already set them off before I took the picture. (Mostly smoke bombs I think.) This was a big step for me, as I wasn't fully ready to let my baby boy play with fire...let alone fireworks!

Ethan's loot.

Last night, Ethan had his two new friends spend the night. Both of them live on our street and go to the same school he will be attending next year!

Their favorite past-time, video games!

Natalie being a goober!

They made a big tent that they played/slept in almost the entire time!

To give them something to do, we decided to light of some of the fireworks last night. Many of the people in our neighborhood have been lighting them off for days. All was going well, for about five seconds. Then it started pouring. I think they each got one lit before we had to go back in.

About an hour and a half later the rain stopped long enough to light some!

Boys and their toys...aka explosives!


Because Natalie wasn't allowed to light anything, she took it upon herself to hand out the fireworks to the boys.


And, several videos of them playing with fire!












About ten minutes after we came inside, it was pouring outside again!

This morning I made a double batch of pancakes. When they saw the stack, one of them said, "That's the most pancakes I've ever seen!" I had to laugh at that! I set it on the table, and within five minutes most of it was gone! Ten and eleven year old boys can eat a LOT! I'm sure they'll eat a lot more as they get older too! Before they started eating, I asked if they wanted to get the chairs they used to make their tent so they could sit. Their reply??? "NO!!! We'll stand!" Allrightythen!

Pretending to sit.

These boys are a lot of fun to have around, they are both well behaved and very polite. They stayed until about 4pm!!! Ethan is outside playing with them now, we'll be eating dinner (ribs that have been slow cooking for almost three hours) in about ten minutes, then watching neighborhood fireworks in a couple hours. A fabulous Independence Day if you ask me!

Hope everyone else had a fabulous day!!!

The Difference Between Guys And Gals

A little over a year ago, Roby and I started a coin jar to start saving up for a trip. We were thinking of doing something for our tenth wedding anniversary. But, now that I was accepted into the Dental Hygiene program, that trip that we've been wanting to go on...and keep pushing back...just isn't going to happen. Its fine, we'll go someday, but we're still going to save! In this last year, I've continued to use cash and not use the change just so I could put it into the jar. I've also put money in here and there when I had an extra $1/5/10 or whatever. Not only that, but when I've sold something on Craig's List or had a yard sale, the money went in the jar. As the jar continued to fill, I realized that it was about time for a new one! The kids and I love animal crackers, and it comes in a perfect size jar! Fabulous. I had it ready to paint, and was going to his weekend...then I saw Roby take the decorating into his own hands. :-)

And this my friends, is the difference between guys and gals:

Yes, Duct tape.

Duct tape cures all! It's the obvious choice for decorating our coin jar!

Before we emptied the old jar (to cash it in, and put in the new jar), I just had to weigh it. It weighed over 18 pounds!!! I was pleasantly surprised by what we've been able to save up over the last year. It may not be as much over the next two years, but every little bit will help! Maybe the summer/winter after I graduate we can finally go on that fabulous vacation we've been dreaming of!!! :-)

House Work

When we moved in, the kitchen and bathroom faucets were the original, cheap ones that came with the standard house. No upgrades were made, and little/no maintenance or cleaning was done. When Roby got the new locks for the doors, light fixture for the front entry and several other things, he purchased faucets for the bathrooms. Because he's not a plumber, he hadn't gotten around to replacing them. I had noticed that there were some dings/discolorations on the kitchen faucet, but didn't think much of it...until after cleaning it several times. A trickle of water started coming out of the middle of the spout. Then one day there was a three foot spray of water straight up! It was not cool. Because Roby was gone and I had no idea what to do, I attempted to wrap duct tape around the area (because duct tape cures all!) until we could figure something out. It didn't fix it at all, but we were able to use the kitchen sink at a slow trickle just to wash hands and dishes. When Roby got home, we quickly decided that it was time to buy a new faucet and add shut-off valves to the water lines. For some reason none of the sinks had shut-off valves, but he thought it would be a good idea to have them!

These are the copper pipes that were under the kitchen sink before. It was the same thing under the bathroom sinks. He had to cut them out, put the shut-off valves in, then install the new faucets. (There is one shut-off valve leading to the dishwasher.)

Hard at work.

Looking up how to do something online. The internet can be an amazing tool!

Our new kitchen faucet!!! I love it! Its so pretty and works so well! It pulls out and has a spray option. It came with a soap dispenser on the side as well! Roby put dish soap in it, but I like the Dawn Direct Foam, so will most likely put hand soap in it after it's used up.

The kids' bathroom faucet. Not as fancy as the kitchen faucet, but MUCH nicer than what was in there previously.

Our faucet...the same one. I'm all for ease of use. The previous ones had the hot/cold knobs, which I can't stand, so I was thrilled when he brought these home on his own!

Ethan told me the next day that he loved how he could turn the water on with one finger in the kitchen/bathrooms! So funny!!! And pretty entertaining that I'm so excited about it! :-)

Our bathroom didn't have a medicine cabinet/wall cabinet. While I was wondering around a store one day, I saw this "space saver" unit on clearance (50% off!) because the box had some dings. There was nothing wrong with it and it fixed my space issue for 1/8 the price of what I was expecting to spend!

I've been pretty excited about having plants at this house. With the "tree" by the front door, and Natalie's plant, I wanted more! I saw this plant as a hanging plant, but wanted to put it above our kitchen cupboards.

I'm loving the ease of (fake) aquaglobes! :-)

I also got a ponytail palm to put on top of another shelf unit that I put between the front room and kitchen area. Its really cute and requires very little care! I'm all for ease!

For the most part, things are where they should be. I have more pictures to post, but have a week of quizzes and a test coming up. But one last thing for today...

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!