Shoe Love

Yesterday I pulled out some of Big Man's old shoes for Little Man since his other shoes were getting small. I just put them in his shoe pile and he noticed them a little while later and said Mine? I told him yes, and when I asked him if he liked them he said I Love Them! He slept with them in his bed last night and then today for his nap he absolutely refused to take them off.

I just went to check on him tonight and they are in his bed again! Who knew shoes could make a 2 year old so happy. He has an Uncle who also loves shoes so I had to call him and let him know that Little Man also loves shoes. He is excited to have a shoe shopping buddy:)
He keeps a good strangle hold on Grover all night as well.
I just took this one because I thought he looked cute tonight, and I'm always taking pictures of Little Man sleeping and not Big Man!

It always seems to take my kids a few days to recover from vacations, and today that was very evident. They were both sooo cranky and Little Man just keeps crying for no reason which is very unusual. He did allow the barber to cut his hair today, though, which he does not allow very often. When he woke up this morning it was pretty funny because he went straight to the mirrow and said I have crazy hair, I need a haircut. I said O.K. lets go right now before you change you mind! If I try to make him get a haircut when he doesn't want to he will not sit still and will scream the entire time. Not so fun. On a positive note I did feel the baby kick today for the first time! I had been hoping to feel it this week since I am 16 weeks tomorrow.

The Crazy Hair
Now he looks like a cute little boy:)

We're Home!!

Our last night there one of the hubby's cousins brought a horny toad for the kids to play with. They could not understand why I would not let them take it home! Even my hubby wanted to take it home.

You could buy fireworks at the grocery store up there so Grandma bought the kids some 4 foot sparklers that they thought were lots of fun.
It was another long drive home yesterday, but it is good to be home. I got a bad head cold the last couple of days camping so it was very painful driving home yesterday with all of the ups and downs from the fluid in my head and ears. Hopefully I start feeling better soon, though, because all morning I have been looking at 10 loads of laundry that need to be done!

Fun Continued!

We let all of the kids get into the creek and play with the fishies!
What a nice big brother helping him out.
Then we did some fishing and caught about 10 fish in an hour in the creek, they were pretty decent sized fish as well. We threw them all back since the kids do not seem to want to eat fish lately.
The kids each got to take turns reeling them in.

More Fun In Utah

The hubby brought a little electric airplane that we took the kids out and flew. It only had one good trip, but it went a good 50 feet in the air and flew for a couple of minutes. Big Man had to jump a fence to get it back and we are going to try and put it back together so we can fly it some more.
Isn't this beautiful countryside?
Of course the kids had lots of fun with the worms and scaring their girly cousins.
Don't worms belong on heads?

Utah

It is incredibly beautiful up here! It was a long 8 hour drive, but now that we can relax today it almost seems worth it. My hubby's family has a reunion up here every summer so he has been coming every summer for his entire life.
This is the creek that runs right behind our trailor, last year we caught a lot of fish in there so hopefully this year will be the same.
The kids just rode bikes and hung out with cousins and grandparents and great grandparents and uncles and aunts.
Most of the day I spent reading and watching hummingbirds which there are quite a few of.

Our Day

Today Big Man got to go the allergist. He had a scratch test for allergies since he is still having a lot of tummy issues even though he has been gluten free for a year. He had no reaction to any grass or weed, but all of the foods except for two he had a reaction to as well as almost every inhalant! So he can't eat anything but he can roll around in the grass all he wants! It was a traumatizing experience for the poor guy as he had 4 other people, other than myself, holding him down while they scratched his back:( I'm sure everyone in the building heard him screaming as well. It made me feel so good as he was screaming Stop it Mommy, Your hurting me Mommy! The welts don't look as bad in pictures, but they were bad enough that they have to do more testing (Oh goody), he has to have some blood work to check his immune function and then some more specific allergy test. I also have to keep him dairy free for 2 weeks before his next appointment. So now he can have no gluten and no dairy. Hopefully that will only be temporary. She also tried to put him on other medication for allergies and asthma. I do not think he has asthma, but they did some lung function tests today that show that he may have some airway constriction. He runs around all day and doesn't cough, and the only time he wheezes is in the winter occasionally when he has a cold. Oh well, hopefully they will figure out what is wrong with him soon.
After we left the Dr. he went to go play with the kitty's at Grandma's who are now living in her laundry room while waiting for a home. They really are precious. The kids just love them (although Big Man is probably allergic to them as well!)



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We have also been getting ready for a camping trip we are leaving on tomorrow for a week in Utah. This is a real camping trip as there are no hook ups and no cell service which means no internet:( I think I can get service when we go to town, though, as I don't know if I can go without for a week!

The Blanket

At what point is a blanket ready for retirement? According to Big Man this blanket is still perfect. It was once his duvet cover that he continued to want with him when he moved to his bigger bed. There is only one spot on the blanket that he wants to hold and that is the knot. I can hear him sometimes at night looking for "the knot." He will be saying Where did it go, I can't find it, Oh there it is. Then he will go back to sleep. I don't understand it, but whatever works I guess!

Sea Creatures At The Science Center

Today at the Science Center Big Man learned all about Sea Creatures! It was one of the funnest classes we have taken there. They had a huge touch tank filled with different sea stars, sea urchins, fish and crabs.
All of the kids loved touching all of the different creatures and learning about them and feeding them. This is a Chocolate Chip Sea Star.
A beautiful Sea Urchin.
After they were done touching all of the animals, each kid got their own squid to dissect. Being the biology lover that I am I thought that was pretty cool. Big Man was really into it too, so I'm hoping he will be into biology too.

Some Things Never Change...

Like how much kids love running through sprinklers in the summer. I can remember doing this as a kid all the time.
They were burning up from playing outside for several hours, but after running through the sprinklers for 10 minutes they were freezing cold.

Another Dr. Appointment

I'm not sure if it is just my midwife, but when I have an appointment I have to wait forever. Every appointment takes about 1.5 hours, which seems like 4 hours when you have two kids with you, and I am only in the room with her for like 15 minutes! Anyways the baby is looking good. The heartbeat was 155 and we could see all of its limbs and head and eyes and stuff today. I am 13 weeks 5 days and the baby's head measure 14 weeks 4 days so it looks like I will be having another big baby. The baby weighs approximately 4oz, so I guess the other 8 lbs I have gained are going elswhere:( Last appointment the baby measured 4 days smaller than it should have, so it has really grown in the last month. Next appointment, if the baby cooperates, we will find out what it is!

In Need Of A House Cleaner?

Have 4 year old ready and willing to vacuum and dust anyone's house (in his pajamas!). He especially likes vacuum's with attachments and is willing to get on hands and knees to get under furniture. He has recently confided in me that when he grows up he would like to be a housecleaner, so I am more than happy to give him all of the practice he wants.
He is not easily distracted by others trying to get him to come play as well. He will be happy with 10 pennies for pay and can come as often as you need:)

More Rain

I just love the way storms look moving in.
Big Man loves to be in the rain when it is only sprinkling. Especially in his pajamas, even though it is 5 at night and he still has them on from the previous night (I never even changed out of my pajamas today!) It has just been one of those days:)
Of couse he has to run full speed around the yard a few times as well, because that is just what you do in the rain.

Rainy Days

Last night I decided to take the kids to a concert in the park that goes on every Thursday. The kids love listening to music and Little Man had gone the week before with my Mom and really liked it. We get to the concert walk the two blocks from our car, sit down and it starts sprinkling. After the first song the conductor canceled the concert because it was raining even harder. I can’t even explain to you how quickly the rain and wind picked up. I tried to get the kids to some sort of cover to see if the rain would ease up a bit before we walked the two blocks back to the car. It only got worse. We even had umbrellas and they did nothing to help with the rain. My Mom decided to run back and get the car and come pick us up. Thankfully there were some friends there to help with the kids who were shivering uncontrollably and very scared. By the time we got to the car we were totally soaked. By this time it had been raining maybe 15 minutes and the streets looked like running rivers of water. The water was so high it was pouring from the street over the sidewalks. I was so wet that I literally had to wring out my underwear after I took it off (I know TMI)! Just so you get the idea of how wet I was:) It was quite an adventure that I do not want to repeat again. Big Man has a major fear of rain now, he told me last night when he was going to bed: I thought I liked the rain, but I don’t, I don’t like it at all. Today both of the kids have runny, stuffy noses and have been sneezing like crazy. I had always thought that it was an old wives tale not to get wet and cold because you get sick. I am thinking it is true now, though. My car smells horrible too from being so wet inside; it smells like a moldy shoe:(

Spin The Bottle

Aren't they a little young to play spin the bottle? They thought it was a fun game that they made up though!
Thankfully there was no kissing involved, just a lot of laughing.

Swimming

We went swimming at a friends house and Big Man did awesome. He would jump off of the diving board and could swim wherever in the pool he wanted. He could come up and take a breath and then begin swimming again. Since we swim in a pool that is only 2 feet deep every day I was interested in whether he truly could swim as well as I thought. He did much better than anyone expected.

It was a little tiring to swim everywhere so he began using his board.
Of course Little Man wanted to jump in the pool as well.
He had to have someone help him out right away, though. Next year I bet he will be swimming as well!
Even little Mimi had fun in the sun.

Fun In The Tub

A bath with shaving cream is sooo much better than water!
Makes clean up very easy as well:)