Elephantitis

I've posted before about Sawyer's allergy to mosquito bites. Once we became aware of it, I was really diligent about bug spraying him....until I went on my trip to Tucson and unpacked my bug spray from my diaper bag and haven't really thought about it since. Then Saturday we went to the park and in a matter of minutes he had 3 on his arm. I borrowed a friend's spray and I thought he would be okay. The bites were a little bigger and redder than normal bites, but nothing more than expected for him. The next day I was sitting in church and I notice his hand was a little puffy. When we got home we gave him some Benadryl and kind of forgot about it. Then Ryan left for a meeting and I was bathing and jammying my kids before bedtime. We were chatting on the computer with my sisters when all of a sudden I look down and his hand was ginormous! It seriously looked like it was growing right in front of my eyes! I started calling my Dr (why do kids always get sick on the weekends?) and waited for a nurse to call me back and she gave me some advice and I put him to bed. This morning it still looked bad. Actually, it probably looked a lot worse! I had no idea what to do. Sawyer didn't seem bugged at all. He was sitting and playing just like normal...except for the one hand 3 times bigger than the rest of his body! so I took the poor kid to the Dr. He said it was more severe of a reaction because the 3 bites were all right by each other, but he wasn't worried. He said just to guard against infection he recommended antibiotics. Phew. His hand is still ginormous, but its nice to know now that I am doing the right things for it.
And I'm never leaving the house without bug spray again.

Summer isn't over just yet...

I went to our fun YMCA pool this week to meet a friend, only to find out that the "fun" pool is closed because summer is over and we had to swim in the lap pool. We still had fun, but I was missing my baby pool, shallow ends, and fun water features. I just couldn't believe that summer was over! My kids don't go to school so summer should last until I say so! And because its still 90 degrees here....I say so!
Today we took our Daddy to the pool to enjoy our extended summer and we had fun.

Is it just me, or is that belly the cutest thing in the whole world?

psst...

Sawyer tells secrets now! Yesterday he saw Kate and I whispering things to each other, and because he has to do everything his sister does, he walked up to me and started doing it too. Kate and I both were laughing hard everytime he would do it so then he knew it was a fun game! It is now his latest trick and I love it!

fun pumpkins

Hey, you guys should totally check out these pumpkins from my favorite blog to stalk! They are completely adorable! Anyone want to sew some up with me?

dolly diapers

I found the blog makeitandloveit.blogspot.com and have basically been obsessed with it. I spent forever going through all her old projects and found so many that I wanted to try! I told Kate about these diapers and she's been talking about it non-stop. ("Mommy, why have you not made La La some diapers yet?") Needless to say, she is going to be surprised by projects in the future. No more telling her in advance.
But the nagging was worth it because she loves them. And I love watching her love them.
But poor La La...she has been pooping nonstop all day long...

random Kate quote...

Kate: "Mommy, I can't wait to go to Disneyworld and give Mickey Mouse a hug!"
Me: "Who else will you hug?"
Kate: "All of Mickey Mouse's friends."
Me: "What about some princesses?"
Kate: "Oh yeah, I forgot! I'll hug Belle and Cinderella....but I tink I won't hug Ariel because she'll get me wet."

Edible Painting

When we ate at the Aquarium restaurant last Saturday, I was looking at the dessert menu (because it never hurts to look, right?) and they had the cutest kids desserts! They were served on little white painters palettes. One was a make your own ice cream sundae with different toppings in all the little circles. There was also an ice cream cookie sandwich with different toppings. My favorite was the shark shaped rice krispie treat with "paint" and a paintbrush! How cute is that idea? So I decided to try to duplicate it for our FHE activity.
All you need is:
*Regular recipe rice krispie treats (although I make mine extra gooey) cut into shapes with cookie cutters
*Edible Paint. I mixed powdered sugar in water until it was a paint consistency and then I added food coloring. I added WAY too much food coloring, and I knew for sure my kids were going to be stained everywhere. To my surprise, it actually all washed off just fine.
*Paint brushes. For some reason I only had one and so I broke off a shishkabob stick and that is what Sawyer used. Luckily he didn't know the difference.







Kate loved it and I was surprised how much Sawyer enjoyed it too!

a few talented boys...

pictures...

So in case you can't tell....I read about how to make pictures really big on my blog. This is a little over the top but I think the technique is one I'll use in the future. I did it through photobucket and I had this picture already there. This vacation to Mexico was so fun. And can you believe how little Kate looks? Can you believe Sawyer is almost that age? And can you believe I was pregnant with Sawyer at this time....and can you believe how totally unready I am to get pregnant again right now?
I love pictures. I think that is why I love photography so much, because I love how pictures capture time, events and memories!
Anyways, I know that is totally random....back to folding laundry.

Houston Aquarium

One of the nice things about living so close to downtown Houston is all the fun things that are close by. Today was our first Saturday with our Daddy since our long long trip so we decided to make the most of it and use our free tickets from the library summer reading program. It made for a really fun, long and hot day! I was a little surprised at how little the "aquarium" was, but they made up for it with fun unlimited rides on the carousel, ferris wheel, and train ride to the shark tank. It has been a long time since I've gone on any big rides like the ferris wheel and definitely the first time with my first time with my kids. I wouldn't describe myself as a person who is afraid of heights....but I was rather overcome with that fear today! (take a look at Sawyer trying to jump out and you'll be scared too!) To end the day, Kate ran through the fountains that we didn't know were there....otherwise we would have brought a swimming suit or at least a towel! But it was a lot of fun!
Also, yesterday Sawyer was trying to climb a chair to reach a sticky ball stuck to the wall a little too high (he learned how to bring a chair over to reach high places at Grammie's house!) and he fell and hit his head pretty good. It left a big bruise/goose egg! Then today he was sitting on a picnic table at the aquarium and he fell off and landed straight on his head again! So now his goose egg is covered in cement scratches! I seriously can't get over the injuries this kid gets. I think he needs a helmet and pads everywhere he goes!

Bear Lake part 1

When I lived in Utah I had heard of Bear Lake before, but I had never been. I am seriously in love with Bear Lake now! It is gorgeous! The water is gorgeous! Everything surrounding it is gorgeous! I am totally smitten. Ryan had a good laugh when I told him we are moving to Bear Lake when we graduate (seeing as that I've pestered him about living in NYC for so long and always given him my long list of reasons I won't live in a small town..and now I think Fish Haven, ID is the place for me!) My kids both loved the lake too! Kate was so brave playing in the water, she laughed hyserically and didn't want to get off after tubing, and she LOVED sitting on the boat. Sawyer did well on the boat also and even had a driving lesson. I have visions of family boating trips already running through my head!
Besides the wonderful scenery and fun wakeboarding, it was also so much fun to be with family. I have a great family and I was lucky enough to be able to create great memories as a kid on our summer vacations up to Grandma Townsend's house. It felt like old times playing games and talking with my aunts, uncles and cousins. (Except without our mermaid fins....how come we left those at home, Jenny?)
And, of course, there was a ton of yummy food! Cinnamon rolls, cowboy cookies, s'mores, world famous raspberry milkshakes, brownie cookies (is that what they're called, Miranda?), half-baked brownie yumminess with ice cream (is that the official name, Jana?)...and that was just the desserts. It was all so delicious.

I took just a few pictures...and since this is my family journal, I'm going to put them all up with no apologies!








These boys were all born in a period of about a month. It was so fun to have them all together! But they sure are on the go! It was pretty hard to even get this picture of them. And Ethan is about to cry so I have a series of tons with him crying. And yes, my son is holding chapsticks. He loves them just as much as his sister!







I want to go back!