Oh Yesterday...

Yesterday was not fun.  Two kids woke up sick...with different things going on.  Owen has a cold...no big deal, kids get them all the time.  Ryan had a fever...a nice high fever, especially for a kid who never ever has a fever.  He also was complaining that his belly hurt around his belly button, a lot.  I gave him meds and they did nothing.  Nothing at all.  Fever went higher.  I called the doctor and she basically told me to take him to urgent care for a strep test.  So I did.  It was negative.  Did I mention I had all 3 kids with me?  Yeah, and no iPad, coloring, or anything at all to entertain them -- oh and they had not had a snack -- oh and it was 4pm.  So then they do blood work.  The doctor tells me I need to get to the ER, they are concerned about his appendix.

A great friend meets me at the ER to take the other two kiddos and Ryan and I wait around for a bit.  Finally, we are seen and they do their thing there, he goes for an ultrasound, check his urine, review blood work, etc and finally we are released with a diagnosis of some sort of virus.  Thanks urgent care for scaring the crap out of me.

Oh and did I mention that my Mother-in-law had a stroke this week?  She is better now, thank goodness!  Did I also mention that my 91 year-old grandmother also had a stroke this week?  She is still in the hospital recovering.  Oh and her house was robbed.  Seriously, this week is nearly enough to push a person over the edge.

I honestly do not remember the last time this happened.

pitiful. 

While I was helping with keeping Ryan entertained while they drew his blood, Owen snapped 178 pictures of my butt.  Thanks kid.

Kindergarten

Ryan's first day of school was a few weeks ago.  I was a mess the days and weeks leading up to the start of elementary school, but now that we are a few weeks in, I am ok with it.  In some ways I am super happy that he only has school half of the day (granted, the time isn't the most convenient thing ever).  I think 3 hours is a little short for Kindergarten but I am glad that he isn't gone the entire day just yet either.  

Those of you that really know Ryan know that he isn't exactly the best at filling in all of the details of his days at school.  Most of the time I am lucky to find out what he had for snack and if he played with anything cool.  Here are all the details my 5 year old gave me about his first day of school. 

He rode the bus to school.  Riding the bus was the most fun part of his day.  He sat with two of his friends that live across the street from us.  When the bus got to school they waited outside with their teachers until everyone arrived and then went inside the building.  Their backpacks go under their desk.  The first thing they did was sit down at a table and cut out bears.  Then he found out that he was the "Honey Bear" for the day.  That means he is the line leader.  At some point they have to choose if they want chocolate milk or plain for their snack.  Ryan chose plain (we asked him to choose plain every day except Friday and shockingly he has done exactly that --- even though most of his classmates have chocolate every day).  He opened his milk all by himself.  It was good.  Then they went outside for recess and played with chalk, balls and hopscotch.  They weren't allowed to kick the balls though but he didn't know why.  His teacher honks a bear horn to signal the end of recess.  At the end of the day a voice comes out of the speaker in his class.  The teacher walked him to his car and his day was done.  

The first thing out of Ryan's mouth when he got in the car was "Mommy, I am starving!!!"  I guess that is the drawback of afternoon kindergarten.  Ryan also made a friend the first day of school, Chase.  

Ryan's first day of Kindergarten -- September 3, 2013.  He wants to be a fireman when he grows up.  

I totally expected to be a sobbing mess when the bus drove away for the very first time with my baby on it.  I was not expecting O and E to immediately burst into tears.  They provided just enough distraction for me to not shed a single tear.  For the record, they were more upset that THEY didn't get to ride the bus too rather than being upset that Ryan was gone.  The three hours Ryan was at school seemed to drag on forever that day.  I could not stop wondering what he was doing the entire day. 

So it's been a while...again

I have decided to come back to this blog because I like how everything is in one place instead of two.  :)  I am also going to try and post a bit (or a lot more regularly).

So it's been a while...

and that's an understatement.  Here is a picture heavy update from the past month or so...

sister loves her twirly dress.  loves it. 

 he loves taking pictures of himself and has put a camera on the top of his Christmas wish list

this was the best picture I got of all 3 kids on the 4th of July.

 I love taking pictures of sleeping babies

We went to Busch Gardens with friends.  She was all about giving high fives when she got off of rides. 

 all of our kiddos

dinner with 7 kids

she chose herself as the canvas

we spent a lot of time at the pool

and a lot of money at the grocery store (the boys have been HUNGRY)

princess slippers are the cutest slippers

went to the farm for our annual summer trip

she loves shopping and carrying the bag, just don't try to buckle her in the stroller...she doesn't like that

she also will only ride in a shopping cart like this.  

loves Hello Kitty

or anything with a kitty

found some great new playgrounds

went to Chuck E Cheese and all he did was make these cards...

she showed just how much determination she has, fell off the beam at least 10 times and would climb right back up to go again.  She would not take any help. 

new chucks

did a few photo shoots while the boys had summer camp

took the kids to the fair alone which meant I got to take them to the bathroom in one of these...alone. 

not sure that she was really liking the rides that much by her face, but she kept going on them! 

someone was so tired that he didn't really make it too far when I asked him to walk inside

started a Friday donut tradition

one year ago comparison. 

movies under the stars in our family room

she is a monkey

throwing coins into fountains

waiting for the babysitter...he loves her

earned a trip to the movie with Dad

while he slept because he was having a tough day

took the boys to watch airplanes up close.  Owen took this pic

then we went to DC

the Washington Monument looks so cool right now.  They are doing some construction on it. 

Our family according to Owen

spent a lot of time doing this -- it's tough to be 3

had our first shoplifting experience  --- big lessons learned here

another day, another farm

more playgrounds