Momma, I wanna sleep in my tent.

4th of July

Mom always cooking up a feast!

Happy Birthday, Dad! - Great Picture

Tom, Lisa (my sister), James, John, Thomas, and Andrew

Charles (my brother), Jamie, Jessica, and Cynthia

Me and one of my sweet boys.

Me and both my sweet boys

Wrestle time!

Awww, I love this picture.

My new car rider...

This little guy held on from my house, to daycare, and then to work. I was at speeds of up to 70 and he still held on. I'm not sure what he was but he was kind of scary looking. I tried to go fast to knock him off but he wasn't budging! I Googled him and here's what I found.

"The rattling or buzzing call in tress at night is cause by a male longhorned meadow grasshopper. There are a number of species and include the true katydids and brush and bark crickets. They are large green grasshoppers with antenna as long or longer than the body."

A trip to the doctor...

I now understand why children hate the doctor's office so much. Just about every child came out crying. We as parents purposely don't fill our children in on the shot portion of the visit because there's no way we could get them in the car. Well, today I was that parent who tricked my son into going to the doctor just for a "check up". Hey, I never lied and said there would be no shots. I just didn't mention the shot part of the check up. At least he's done with shots! It was horrible. There I was by myself with a 4 year old and a 9 month old baby and we had been sitting in this little room for almost an hour. Lucas couldn't figure out why we were just sitting there after the doctor's examination of them both. Then here came the nurse with 3 shots on that small tray and those bandaids ready to go. It took a while but then he figured it ALL out. Poor guy. It took me, the nurse doing the shots and an additional nurse to hold him down. That little dude is one strong guy. You'd thought we were going to cut his leg off. Poor Isaac had a melt down, too. He had not idea what was happening. Lucas was fine after the fact but tonight he's complaining that his leg is really hurting. I guess all parents go through this but it's hard to see your child in pain. Thank God Isaac wasn't due for any.
Both of my boys are growing great. Lucas is 32 lbs (25% and finally on the chart!) and 41 inches tall (75%). He's going to be tall and skinny is what the doctor said. Isaac is 21 lbs (65%) and 28 inches tall (70%). Hopefully Isaac will keep up the 70 percentile until he's done growing. At birth 18 inches long is considered short, in my opinion. I still think there was a mistake made.

My sleeping baby and a few randoms

New Car Seats

I bought both these car seats at a garage sale. They are used but are in very good condition. Once Isaac turns 1 he'll be able to use his. For now he's still in his carrier seat and base. I cannot believe my baby will be 1 in a little more than 2 months.

Chicken "Pops" and "Bumps"

Here are the pics from the boys getting the chicken pox. Lucas didn't have as bad a case since he did have one chicken pox vaccine. I think it was a little worse for him because he knew he could scratch them AND, boy, did he. Poor guy. I still feel like junk for giving it to them both. Glad that's all over with, though!

Lucas' 4th Birthday

We had his party at this year at the park at Charlie Daniels. It was just family this year so we all met up at the park after church. I was a very hot day but the kids had a wonderful time playing on the playground. Lucas had a wonderful birthday but poor Isaac wasn't able to attend due having just gotten the chicken pox; therefore, Nancy and Keith stayed home to watch him. He'll never know but I really missed the whole family being there for Lucas' celebration.

Fire Station

Every year I try to do something for Lucas' birthday that he's never done before. I want to make every one of my childrens' birthdays as special as I possibly can. When Lucas turned 1 he had his first McDonald's Happy Meal and went to the park. His 2nd birthday we went to an inside tree house www.monkeystreehouse.com. For his 3rd birthday we went to the movies to see Monsters v. Aliens. This year it was a trip to the fire station. He was so surprised that he couldn't even talk. He's so shy anyway but when he was a "real" fireman and a "real" fire truck it was just TOO much. I think the only thing he said was "4" when one of the firemen asked him how old he was. Thanks to Mrs. Christy for arranging the visit and Captain David for showing us around, the ride in the fire truck and explaing all the tools. You're the greatest! He had a blast and he hasn't stopped talking about it.

What's been happening lately...

I know I keep apologizing but it's been so hard lately trying to keep up with the kids, home, work, and my life that I just keep putting off updating my blog. I feel really bad and hope you continue enjoying our blog.
Well, about two months ago I got strep throat which then led my psoriasis popping out all over me 3 weeks later. I haven’t had an outbreak in 10 years! That was the last time I had strep. I kept thinking they'd go away but they never did. They in fact continued to keep popping up.
In the mean time, I kept having pain in my back which then started to hurt underneath my arm by my breast. I thought it was probably my back out of whack and radiating to the front of my body. Nothing that my chiropractor couldn't fix. He told me I had a rib out of joint and said that he could fix it but that it would hurt. So he put me on the table and preformed this maneuver which really did hurt. He said it would be sore for a few days but then it would feel much better. Well, he was right. I was really sore for the next 3 days.

While all this was going on I had this rash pop up on my chest which looked like poison ivy. It itched and was quite painful. After getting my mom to look at it she said it looked like Shingles. I was like, "Yeah, right!" As soon as I could I Googled Shingles and it sure enough looked like that's what I had. So I broke down and finally got an appointment with my dermatologist. That's exactly what it was. There was nothing she could do but give me pain meds which I declined. But she did give me a shot for my psoriasis.
I had read that children who have not been vaccinated or infected with the virus could possibly catch Chicken Pox, meaning Isaac! I asked my dermatologist and she said he would have had to had contact with my rash. Well, before I knew what it was Isaac did have contact with it. I told her that my pajamas are low cut and he has touched it several times via me putting him down in his crib or just by holding him. She said it was highly unlikely that he'd get it.
Well, sure enough he got Chicken Pox. He started off sleeping longer but didn't put two and two together. Then Nancy, my mother in law, said she thinks he's been bitten because there are a few red spots. Then all of a sudden he popped up EVERYWHERE. Poor guy. I feel HORRIBLE because I was who gave it to him. Everyone keeps telling me that he won’t have to have the shot plus he’ll be immune to it now. It still has been pretty bad for him. He even missed Lucas’ birthday party.
You'll have to click to enlarge the picture to see how fast his Chicken "Pops" (as Lucas calls them) spread.

A day at Charlie Daniel's Park

We decided to take the kids to the park because we knew that the next few days were going to be rainy. We never dreamed that the floods would start the next day. It was so beautiful outside. The kids has a great time!

This was the first time Isaac has been in or seen sand. Of course he wanted to eat it.

8 months old

Gosh, didn't I just have this kid? It is crazy how fast he's growing. Carrying the kid in his carseat/carrier has pulled one of my ribs out of joint. He is bigger than Lucas was at 18 months! Here are a few cute pics I took of him.