Caleb's first day of "summer school"

Today Caleb finally, FINALLY got to go to "summer school" at Miss Shannon's house.  He has been dying about the fact that his brother and sister have been going to school since Monday & he has not yet been able to go.  This was the third week of summer camp at Miss Shannon's but because of swim lessons we missed the first two weeks.  Yes, he was deeply disappointed & asked when he was going to get to go EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Today at summer school they learned about cats/dogs/pets.  The kids each got to make either a cat or a dog.  Caleb chose to make a dog.  I love that it's 2 different colors like our Charlotte.  He loves this little dog & I have a feeling he's going to be packing it around everywhere for awhile.

Today we also took all four kids to the Logan Aquatic Center despite Nash still being croupy & Brookelyn being very sad.  I am pretty sure Brookelyn is working on one, maybe two, molars.  She just has not been the same happy little muchkin that she usually is.  I was hoping that being in the pool would cheer her up.  Turns out, it did.  And not only that, the girl worked herself into an exhaustion nap!  She's been trying to quit taking naps (no, not my idea) lately.  We got barely 2 blocks from the pool and she was out cold - snoring - loudly!  Caleb followed suit not too many blocks later.  I do have pictures of our excursion but seeing that it's 2 am & I really only got on here to add the name of the book I just finished, I will wait to upload them until tomorrow!

Our Daddy's Home!

For Father's Day this year I made my own dad some Oatmeal Chocolate Chip with Walnut cookies.  Brookelyn "helped" and licked the spatula clean!  I love that all 4 of my babies love cookie dough as much as I do!

 Yesterday Travis spent the day washing the vehicles.  The kids & I got bored so we busted out the bike.  I haven't taken any kids on my bike since Caleb was about 2.  Brookelyn LOVED the ride & she LOVED her helmet!

Caleb was pretty stoked about getting to ride in the trailer too.

We rode the 2 miles or so to Grandma Terri's house & Travis came down & picked us up.  Samantha rode her bike along with me.  Nash wasn't feeling well so he stayed home with his dad.

Here's Caleb's face after being glued and after he managed to pull half the glue off!  Grrr.. Dang kid!  Splits his face open jumping from one couch to the other & makes it so I have to haul him to the pediatrician.  I pay the co-pay & spend the time waiting in the dr.'s office.  All just to have him pull half the glue off before the day was even over!

He asked me if I'd use my glue to glue it back up.  The only glue I had was Elmer's Glue & rubber cement.  After much begging and some tears, I finally put some rubber cement on his face.  Now it just looks like he has dry rubber cement boogers on top of the last half of his super glue!  As I looked at it a second ago, it also looks like a bunch of skin has come off around the area where it split open - think popped blister amount of skin missing.  Guess I'll have to take another photo tomorrow!

We took the kids to the splash pad in Providence today.  Even though it was only about 70 degrees today and the wind was blowing the kids still had fun.  Well, they had fun until Sam skinned her toe and then she was crying!

Before we went to the splash pad we stopped at the library.  The kids got to have their summer reading checked off and pick a sucker off the sucker tree.  No one won a prize with their sucker this time, maybe next time.  They were also doing a make and take at the library cafe today.  I had forgot that they were doing a few different activities throughout the months of June & July.  The kids each made a little bird nest with three birds.

On our way home from the splash pad we stopped at Grandma Terri's house to get some ground beef.  Travis got to talking to Grandpa Larry about fishing.  Next thing I know we're headed home to get fishing poles!  We took Grandpa's boat and went out on Hyrum Dam.  It was our first boat outing this year.  Brookelyn loved it!  She thought the wind in her hair was great!  It was beautiful when we got there.  Very little boat traffic and the water was nice.  

We kinda killed it with the fish tonight too!  Nash caught 2, Caleb caught 1, Sam caught 1 and Grandpa caught 2.  Sam caught hers on my pole I got for my birthday.  It was the first time we had the pole out to use it!  Nash caught his fish on the fishing pole Grandpa Russ & Grandma Ruth gave him for his birthday this year.  First time out for that pole too!

Tomorrow the kids are going to summer school again (yep, meanest mom ever).  While the big kids are at summer school I'm going to take Caleb (and maybe Brookelyn) out to the Historical Farm to go to story time.  Last time we went we ended up getting to ride the train.  Who knows what tomorrow's story time will bring!
We are having a good time while Travis is home.  We are suppose to go swimming at the aquatic center with some friends on Thursday after summer school.  Caleb also gets to go to his first day of  "summer school" on Thursday too.  He's so super excited.  He loves Miss Shannon & has missed going to preschool two days a week.  He'll be thrilled when he figures out he gets to go three times a week this next school year!  We have a wedding on Friday and Travis has to take a test for school on Friday too.  Friday night/Saturday morning we're taking the kids and going camping.  I have no idea where we're going to end up, but we're taking the trailer and we're heading out!

So much for that item on the bucket list!

This morning Caleb was using his pirate flying suit to "fly from couch to couch".  Apparently, the pirate flying suit doesn't work too well.  Little man fell & face planted on the foot rest of the couch.  This picture was taken when we got to the dr.'s office so he didn't have blood streaming down the middle of his face anymore!

Our pediatrician glued the wound back together.  Now it looks like this but with a big purple glue dot over it!  Dr. Clarke said that the glue should come off by Saturday.  It just so happens it's conveniently located directly below the Harry Potter scar he incurred 2 years ago.  At least he didn't split that one back open, right?  Guess I have to cross off the item on my summer bucket list that said, "Stay out of the dr.'s office!"

It's the simple things that make me smile

The other night as I was getting things ready for bed, I caught a glimpse of Caleb on the couch out of the corner of my eye.  How this kid sleeps in these kinds of positions & doesn't wake up feeling like he slept in a suitcase is beyond me!

Lately little sister has not been her happy little self.  I'm certain she's working on one, possibly 2, molars.  She has been pulling at her right ear (the one that's had 2 sets of tubes in it) all week.  I finally caved & took her to see the ENT again yesterday.  Although the right ear looked excellent, we had to unclog the left one (curses!).  We are now back on ear drops for another week.  The left ear wasn't infected or anything, but the tube was blocked.

Yesterday since Brooke was just so sad I striped her down & put her in her high chair & then gave her a chocolate peanut butter hi hat cupcake.  You would think she died & had gone to heaven.  Chocolate makes EVERYTHING better!

Today I picked the first official picking of my strawberry patch.  They don't look too big in the picture, but the two top berries are about the same size as the ones you get in the store.  Of course, after I snapped this picture I had to sample them!  They are so juicy & totally tasty!  My patch is loaded with berries that are ripening quickly.  I hope we get enough I can make at least one batch of strawberry jam!

Tonight Caleb had some chocolate ice cream & when I got up from the table he was squishing his cheeks & grinning as big as he could at me.  Totally made me smile.  I grabbed the camera but he started to shy away. Still a pretty cute stinker I caught on camera though.

Last year at the Farmer's Market in Hyrum, my dad bought Sam some fluorescent green flip flops that had tule ties around the top.  Dad only paid $1.00 & they lasted until just recently.  Sam wore the heck out of those suckers.  In thinking about on site fundraising for Relay, my mom thought it would be a good idea to make some.  Yesterday I picked up some flip flops from the dollar store.  I helped mom pick out some more from JoAnns and then we picked out some tule to go with it.  Mom dropped it all off at my house last night & I got all the tule cut into strips.  Tonight my girlfriend came down & we decided to start working on putting them together.  Neither one of us thought we'd get many done (we had 25 pairs).  Amazingly, we got every single pair done!  They turned out pretty stinkin' cute too.  We're hoping we can get $5.00 a pair out of them.  If they sell really well we'll have to do it again next year.  They were super easy to do the biggest pain in the rear end was cutting all the tule into strips! 

Relay for Life is only 26 days away!  My team fundraising has reached just over $1,000.  My goal for this year was to hit $1,500.  The first year we did Relay we did about $1,900.  I still have 4 boxes of Cards for a Cause.  If I can sell those that would mean an extra $195 for my fundraising.  If we sell all 25 pair of flip flops at $5 each, that would be another $125 for our fundraising.  We also have a quilt that we are doing an "opportunity drawing" for.  Tickets are $1 each.

With the help of a few people I've been able to secure $6,000 in sponsorship's for Relay this year.  That doesn't count all the things that have been donated instead of money either.  Our event fundraising goal this year is $150,000.  I'll be happy if we meet last years mark of $97,000.  I think Grandma would be absolutely astounded at Relay and what it accomplishes each year.  It makes me happy that my own kids, as young as they are, realize how important Relay is & that they want to be a part of it.  I hope the team I've created in Grandma's memory sees many, many, many more Relays.

In an effort to bribe Sam to behave for her first round of allergy shots I asked her what she wanted in order to not freak out at getting her shot.  She told me she wanted a "grandma day with Grandma Terri."  My mom graciously agreed that if she got her shot without making a dramatic scene that she could have a grandma day.  Since she didn't create a fuss over the shot (honestly, I was shocked) she got to have her grandma day last weekend.  It was actually a sleepover and an all day grandma day.

A day or two later my mom asked Nash what he was going to do to earn his grandma day.  He quickly replied that he too was being allergy tested.  Again, my mom agreed that if he got all the shots, etc. without a dramatic scene he too could have a grandma day.  Well, Nash is my tough kid and there wasn't a scene at all.  So, last night my mom stopped to pick Nash up so he could have his sleepover and grandma day.

As my mom was leaving with Nash, Caleb got so upset because he too wanted a grandma day.  My mom reminded Caleb that in order to get his grandma day he had to do something to earn it.  We had already decided that he had to use the potty for a whole week without any accidents in order to earn his grandma day.  I've been putting pull ups on Caleb at night only for about 3 weeks.  He still has accidents, but it's better than putting a pull up on him.  He's developed this theory that if he wears a pull up he doesn't have to rush to the bathroom if he needs to potty because he has a pull up on.  Thus, we did away with the pull ups except for at night time.  Considering how stubborn the kid is I'm surprised that he's doing as well as he is.  Now, if I could just break him of going outside to pee instead of using the bathroom, I'd be thrilled!  Maybe he will be potty trained by his fourth birthday after all!

Nash has an allergy test

Thursday June 14 I took Nash to be allergy tested.  I'll admit, I figured this was going to be a waste of my time.  Nash is our healthiest kid by far (sad, I know) so I figured that this was just me being overly worried.  Turns out I did a good thing by taking him in to be tested.  After seeing how allergic Sam was to all the molds and cow's milk, I figured we'd better have Nash tested (just to be sure).  After talking to Travis about it I wondered whether or not it was going to be a good idea after all.  But, realizing my insurance would pay the entire cost of the test, I went against my gut & made the appointment to have him tested.

They stamped his back with all 50 allergens - just like Sam.  The kid was super tough and didn't cry or fight at all.  He did tighten up & said "Ow" but hey, 50 pokes in one day I think he's entitled!

As I was sitting with him & waiting the 20 minutes to see what he would react to I felt like I was wasting my time.  His back didn't appear to look that reactive or bad at all.  The two big red spots are where the histamine was so they were suppose to break out with a hive.

After the 20 minute wait time, the nurse came in & made marks on his back with a marker so she could go back & measure the size of the hives.  Surprisingly, his histamine was 11 cm (Sam's was only 4 cm).  I started to wonder if maybe he was reacting to more than I thought it looked like he was.

As the nurse was making her marks she noticed that he was getting hives between his hives.  Meaning, he was getting hives in places he hadn't been stuck with an allergen.  She was really surprised to see that!  Turns out that doesn't happen too often.  Also turns out he reacted to nearly everything that they poked him with.  He did react to the three molds on his back but because he was getting hives between his hives she didn't dare do the mold ids down his arm like they did to Sam.  She told me he would be covered in hives if she did that to him.  After she measured the size of all his hives she gave him Benadryl right there in the office (they didn't give any to Sam after her test).

After we were done being tested, we went over & talked to the PA at the ENT (where the dr.s for the allergy clinic are based).  The PA is really nice & I really like her.  She was shocked by how many allergens he reacted to as well.  She told me that if I tried to avoid all the foods he reacted to all day, every day, I'd drive myself crazy.  She recommended that we do a rotating diet.  This means that he doesn't eat too much of the same thing all in one day (or even all in one week).  By doing allergy shots (like Sam) they can reduce the effects of the inhalant allergens by 80%.  If they can reduce the inhalant allergen symptoms by 80% then the food allergies won't be too bad to deal with.  Fortunately, his isn't deathly allergic to any of the foods he reacted to (no peanut allergy here).  

So, after all that torture, we now know that Nash is allergic to:

Almond, bakers yeast, cacao bean, corn, oat, orange, potato, rice, soybean, tomato, whole wheat, beef, chicken, pork, 5 trees, 1 grass (of course it's a different one than Sam), 5 weeds, all 12 molds, dog & feathers.

What I thought was interesting was that the food he reacted the most to is potato.  Nash hates potatoes.  I guess this explains why!

In comparison, Samantha is allergic to:

cows milk, 3 trees, 1 grass, 1 weed, all 12 molds and cat.

I was crossing my fingers that this means since we'll be making weekly trips to the allergy clinic to get allergy shots for 2 kids for at least the next 18 months that perhaps we may be done at the ENT's office.  This morning, however, I feel like that hope was dashed.  I took Brooke back to the ENT's office because she's had her fingers in her right ear for about 5 days, she's had a low fever, hasn't slept well & just hasn't been her happy little self.  I was worried that the right tube would be clogged again.  Turns out there was no infection in either ear & the right tube was clear.  However, we did have to unclog the left tube & are now back on ear drops for at least five days.  Have I mentioned I think I should have married an ENT?