The Beach!

We didn't fall off the face of the earth - in case you wondered where we were... We went to the beach for the week! It was wonderful and I will post pictures of the trip throughout the week... Jack is having his tonsils/adenoids out tomorrow morning. We'll let you know how that works out!

1 day since our last illness - take two

Okay - so ALL the boys have strep. That's right - ALL OF THEM! We are thinking it may not have been croup now after all last week. I think Jack never completely got rid of it and has spread it to the other two... Anyway, they are all on antibiotics.

1 day since our last illness

Have you ever seen those signs by factories that list how ever many days since their last 'accident'. There was one at a plant in Opelika. It was up to four hundred and something and then one day it was back to one. I digress. We need one for the health of the kids.

Drew has strep now. He seems fine. His throat just hurts a little when he swallows. I went to the doctor myself to make sure I am not carrying the bug since he and Jack have both gotten it. But I am not the carrier. Could it be daddy? We don't know...

I thought I would post some pictures of the kids at the famous (at least it is to them) Pirate Playground near gramma and grampa's house.

Anna Cate

This is one of my precious nieces - my sister's baby, Anna Cate. She is almost nine months old. She has a very strong resemblance to her dad. Anna Cate is the lone girl on my side of the family. She also has a great big brother - Henry. He is absolutely Drew's best friend. It's really neat that each of my kids has a cousin that they correlate in age to. Drew has Henry. Jack has Becca. Bo has Anna Cate.

Our Daddy

Father's Day

I have to recognize John for Father's Day in this post. He is the best daddy in the whole world for our boys. They love him and think he is completely invincible (he really is!). He has always been the most fun dad - playing with them and helping them learn new things (fishing, riding a bike, taking them camping). He makes sure he spends quality time with them every day. My hope is that our boys grow up to be strong, family-minded men just like their daddy.

On another side note - he makes my life easier every day. I know some people give their spouses credit sometimes, but John truly helps and does just as much around the, if not more, than I do. I think we make a great team. And I love him.

Bo's Birthday Party

Bo's first birthday is next Saturday, but we had his party this past weekend to accommodate schedules. Here are the highlights!




The boys stayed with Gramma and Grampa Friday night and we got things ready for the party. We had Gramma, Grampa, Cawkie, Pops, Aunt Katie, Uncle Kevin, Aunt Cindy & Uncle Mark, Aunt Elaine, Gigi, Henry and Anna Cate come to the party. It was a great party! Bo received many wonderful presents (that Drew and Jack seem to like equally well - if not more). It was great to be with family!

Summertime Pictures

Nothing exciting to report - especially in comparison to my friend Melanie's new baby boy, but here are a few pictures from the past week... I will note that on the one of Bo in the little chair, right after this, he spotted a brownie Jack had not eaten on the little picnic table. He grabbed it, turned and saw me, and did the fastest run his little chubby legs would do. I let him have some of it!

Welcome to the world!

Our friend, Melanie, had her baby yesterday - Nathan Quinn was born last night! Congratulations to all of them and WELCOME NATHAN!

Aunts & Uncles

Aunt Katie has been a big help in the past couple weeks (along with our parents) helping assist with babysitting, meeting me at the doctor and picking up Drew Bear from school. I wanted to post a couple pictures of the kids with Katie and Kevin. Note Bo's shirt - Katie got that for him!

Couldn't resist

Posting this picture - I tell you, he is a little ball of sunshine!!

FYI

The ENT office called and we've postponed the adenoidectomy/tonsillectomy until Monday, June 30th.

"Croup has a certain sound"

You know, I called the after hours line this weekend to see if we should bring Jack in since he was breathing poorly and coughing. I told the nurse he had a 'croupy cough' to which she launched into this whole thing about how 'well, croup has a certain sound'. She asked if it was a barking sound. I said, "yes, that's why I said it's croupy."

I don't know why that aggravated me, but it did. I was actually more worried about Jack than aggravated, I suppose. Anyway, an update on the health of my kids today. Bo apparently did not want to be left out of this round of illness. He's got a fever 100.5 and slept until our sitter WOKE him at 10:30. He has NEVER slept that late. Looks like another call into another nurse (still waiting to hear from the ENT nurse)...

Rainbow

There was a beautiful rainbow at our house the other day... Had to share a picture!!

SQUASH!

I had to post a picture of my first harvested squash. We picked it Sunday - I can't believe I grew it from a seed!! WOW!

Another year bites the dust

I am officially a year older. I felt every minute of being 33 yesterday after sleeping on the floor in Jack's room over night. He had croup - aggravated by the huge tonsils he has and woke up with trouble breathing a couple times. He has bounced back well. We don't know if his surgery is still on for Thursday - waiting for the ENT to call us.

I did have a good birthday. My mom and dad took me out to lunch and it was great! I don't get to have lunch out with them often and it was a delicious treat. My friends at work decorated my office in TAB logos (I got a 12-pack of TAB recently) and Olivia Newton-John stuff (I did want to be her when I was little). To top it off, my sister Katie brought a delectable cake over and John brought me flowers. Awww... Drew worked with Katie to get a picture of all my boys framed and John got me a basket for my bicycle (a gift from my parents), a kickstand and a water bottle. Everything was wonderful. Absolutely WONDERFUL!

Like I said, I don't know yet if Jack is having surgery this week or not. We are still planning a dinner for Bo's birthday this Saturday evening with family.

Drew & Bo

Drew loves entertaining Bo - as noted from this picture from dinner earlier this week.

Peek a Boo

Bo loves to play peek a boo with John when he's on his shoulders...

I also posted a couple pictures of the boys from the week...

Summer in the City

Well, I don't live in a large city, but it is finally summer around here. The kids are enjoying their summer 'vacation'. Our babysitters are working out wonderfully. And we are planning a beach trip in a few weeks. Nice.

The kids aren't getting to go to Vacation Bible School this year so I am going to 'home school' it. I have come up with daily themes and we will do a bible story and craft each evening next week. The boys are also participating in the library's summer reading program. I don't want them to be bored this summer!

Anyway - keep my fellow blogger Melanie in your thoughts. She is awaiting the arrival of her second child - due tomorrow. We go way back now that I think about it - I've known her the better part of twelve-thirteen years. Wow. That makes me feel old. Anyway, she has one little girl and will find out what baby #2 is soon enough. We are thinking of you Melanie & Eric!!!