Memorial Campout 2014

It had been four years since we last embarked upon a Memorial Day Campout extravaganza, so we were super excited to join in the fun this year! Luckily and Thankfully for us - the weather was GORGEOUS! Seriously, it is usually cold, wet, and often snowing, so my hopes were low for anything different.  The 70's were there to greet us, and we took full advantage of all that nice weather.  

The kids were hardly inside during our 4 day trip - either out on the reservoir getting wet, fishing, or getting disgustingly gross with mud/marshmallow/dirt/etc. 

The highlight of course was spending time with our families, and this year we had a special addition.  Christine and Tom's baby Dallin came to his first campout and the little girls couldn't get enough of him.  Lyv loved snuggling with him (so did I)! Holding this sweet boy made me think of Ryan, and how the last time I spent with him was at Memorial Campout 2010.  His absence was felt, and I can't ever really go camping up to Island Park with thinking of him, which I am grateful for.

 

Max did not like his life jacket - nothing restricting his ability to make messes.  On the other hand a little dirt never hurt, right?  This is how Max appeared 85% of our trip.

 As is Jack's life - if it's going to happen it will happen to Jack.  He happened to be standing by the water, and wet sand found his face!) He loved it.

 Sam at his second attempt water skiing - he no likey!  He hadn't even got in the water when he started to moan about not trying it.  To make matter's worse, the rope got wrapped around his ski and his skiing was over before it began.  Hopefully we can coax him into trying again in July.

 Razor rides were thumbs up for all the kids - awesome sauce.

 Random shots from camping - I was good about taking pics the first night there and then we got to busy.  So I guess it was a good sign that I don't have more pictures because we were having too much fun!

 These two little ladies had a great time!  I loved that Lyv got to have some girl time with such a girly-girl!  Princess Leah and Princess Lyvie did their fair share of dancing, singing, and playing "camp".

Max 18 Month Update

 This little cutie turned 18 months in May!  He is such a sweet sweet boy!  Seriously I have never had a child that gives out so many hugs, kisses, sweet faces, and snuggles - mostly for me.  He loves his momma!!

About 3 weeks ago, Max started to have some major bowel issues, and they weren't resolving, so we took him to the doctor, everything checked out normal.  That's when he started to vomit every time he drank milk!  Ahh…food allergies are something that I just don't think I could handle, but we went 10 days without milk for Max, and started to look up a bit, at least not vomiting anymore.  We decided to get allergy tests to rule out a celiac allergy.  The day, I'm not kidding, the day we got the blood test done, Max all of sudden got better!  They think he probably had a bad virus, that stripped his stomach and intestines of the good bacteria that helps you digest foods, like milk.  So he was "dairy intolerant" but it was only a temporary case while his digestive track got back to normal.  Seriously it was the most nerve wracking 2 1/2 weeks of my life trying to figure out what foods were making him sick, or if they were!  So he's back on milk again, and doing well. But I am extremely grateful that there were no further issues with allergies.

Max thinks he is a pretty big boy, and he tries his best to keep up with the olders.  He loves being outdoors, jumping on the trampoline, playing in the sandbox, running away from me - that's right, down the street - away from me!  He has a lot of Jackism, which is a little scary.  Case in point:

The one in the orange is Max, the one in the blue is Jack - twiners! I about died when I saw that he had crawled in the dryer! Talk about deja vu!

He loves Frozen right now, intact his first real words besides the usual is Elsa!  He even "sings" Let It Go - and you can recognize it when he does.  He is such a good player and will play with whatever is at hand - DVD's, scissors, rocks, my shoes, toothbrushes, etc.  Again, a lot like Jack!  BUT - he does play with real toys as well, so that is a positive. 

One Happy Momma

I had a great Mother's Day and felt extremely blessed to be able to be mother.  It is such a blessing to learn each day from my four kids how to be a better person.  I wouldn't trade any of them (at least not permanently) for the world.

Lyv had her first haircut ever last week!  I just couldn't bring myself to cut off the baby curls, but they were so snarly and ratty all the time, it just had to be done.  We only cut off about 3 inches - so not much a difference in the way it looks, but a lot of difference when I comb it out.  Lyv is almost finished with ballet until after summer.  She is continuing to love being beautiful with her friends.

 I went on my first field trip with Sam and his 2nd grade class to the Capital Theatre.  I was so happy that he was excited to have me there.  He even sat by me!  I love his classmates photo bomb!)

As we are approaching a year in Yakima, we are so grateful for this wonderful neighborhood we moved into, that helped make Yakima home.  Our kids have great friends, and we are never short on buddies to spend the day with.

Eye Candy

The latest joke amongst our medical friends here is that Shawn is the new eye candy at the hospital.  A few of the nurses commented on how good looking Dr. Summers is.  Well, they are right!  Shawn is especially fetching the past few months - due to a lot of hard work, and a lot of cottage cheese!)  I have always thought he was a good looking piece of of wool, but he wanted to loose a few pounds, and by a few he meant 40!  He looks great.  Watch out nurses - he's spoken for!

Outside Fun

We have been blessed with incredible weather the past few weeks, and the kids have been taking full advantage of it.  We decided to convert the box garden in our backyard into a sandbox since it was a losing battle trying to keep the kids from digging in anyway.  They have been loving it!

Sam and Jack's baseball seasons are in full swing.  Sam is starting to his his groove and his last game was 3 for 3 at bat and keeps moving up the batting order!  He still has a lot to learn, but I am glad he has the great coaches and team he has this year.  They are all very encouraging and know what they are doing, so Sam gets see how it should be done (instead of rolling his eyes at me try to tell how it's done!)

Jack has been a constant form of entertainment for everyone at the games.  He either slides into every base, wears his hat backwards, even at bat (so he looks like a catcher), and falling down at every other step.  He really enjoyed baseball and was sad to have his last game on Saturday.  He is still determined to throw with his right hand, and bat lefty.

Two Christmases ago Sam got a butterfly kit from his cousin.  Between the packing - moving - etc. we had forgotten about it, until now!  For three weeks we watched the butterfly cycle and the kids thought it was pretty amazing to watch the butterflies emerge.

Some of my favorite and Not so favorite things...

Life seems to run away from me, especially with how busy our life has been the past few weeks, but my hope is to continue journaling our experiences big and small - so here are some small things of note:

1) My sweet date three weeks ago to Captain America!  What a great night it was just the two of us, and Sam, was such a gentlemen and bought the popcorn for us with his own money!

2) Opening Day! Baseball season has started and the boys are head over heels in love with baseball!  I love this time of year, but I have to admit that this year watching Sam is harder.  This is his first year of kid pitch, so the game is for real now.  The kids are expected to know what to do and they all have a huge desire to be GREAT.  That is a lot of pressure for 8 and 9 year olds.  Sam has a lot to learn, and is still trying to get his groove.  I know he loves being part of the team and that he is willing to try, and I admire his courage in that, but it’s hard to watch your kid strike out, miss a ball, or make a mistake!  I try to remind myself, it’s a game, it’s fun, it’s character building, he’s still learning – but I don’t like seeing him get discouraged.  I loved playing sports and I was leaps and bounds from being a good athlete – and I never took it very seriously; so I’m sure Sam is fine.  But being a parent is sure a hard thing, and not letting yourself get emotionally involved in everything your child undertakes is a chore in itself.

Musical beds – the favorite game of late at our house!  AHHHH…seriously this is getting out of control!  Max goes to bed just fine, without any crying or fuss at 8:30.  Lyv, who shares a room with Max, doesn’t like to be in their while he’s falling asleep, ends up in our bed until we move her back to her bed around 10:30.  Then around 2:30 am Max starts yelling Maa! Maa!, which wakes up Lyvie, who refuses to go back into her room and ends up on the couch. There is no consoling Max, the only thing that works is having him laying literally on top of me in a bear hug!  Sweet yes, but exhausting.  When I can finally manage to move him off of me, he still likes to have his hand in my hair, so there is no chance of putting him back into his crib.  After a lousy 4 hours of sleep I wake up and move Lyvie back to her bed so she can sleep while the boys are getting ready for school!  YUCK!  Will this ever end?

Max though not a great sleeper is the sweetest, happiest boy in the world!  I just love this boy, and boy does he love me!  He hugs and cuddles, smiles, and giggles – perfect boy!  He is 2 weeks from 18 months and nursery!!!  At 18 months he loves playing outside – digging in the sand box, jumping on the trampoline, running around chasing the olders, he just loves the outdoors.  When he’s inside he is happy again chasing around the olders in their adventures.  He’s become a hoarder and will hold grapes and small candies in his hand indefinetly!  Any attempt at getting them out usually ends in tears.  He is a head wound harry and is always bonking his cute head on the ground or doors and results in a goose egg!  I don’t think we’ve had a decent picture of him since he started walking.  He is starting to attempt words – favorites: Elsa (character from Disney’s Frozen, thank the kids for this one Max), Uh-oh, Mom, Maps (Max), thank you, bye-bye.  He brings an instant happiness to our house and I’m so grateful for his sweet spirit in our family.

Lyv is still loving ballet and she keeps telling me that she has to do a lot of perfect finishes in ballet!

I was able to crowd three of my four around me a few morning ago and take a picture, capture a moment - next year things are really going to start changing three of the four will be in school!  Life sure goes by quickly.

Jack's First Teeball Game

Jack is really enjoying his first year of baseball, playing for the Orioles.  Teeball is one of those rites of passage, but one that I love and abhor all at the same time.  The games and practices can be grueling trying to get the kids to stay focused on the game, luckily Jack likes to bring a certain entertainment factor to his play.  At his last game he slid HEAD FIRST into home plate after each at-bat!  It was hilarious and compeletly unnecessary, but so Jack!  He seems very committed to wanting to be the “goodest” player and runs after every ball.  He of course, falls over in that attempt, but he’s working on it!  I am so happy that he is happy playing and hope that joy continues.

 Jack still loves his beverages!