Halle was in heaven as always when there's a baby around.
Kate even tried her hand at holding Cameron. However, he was a little too wiggly for her to handle. But seriously, look at that little grin. He ALWAYS had a smile for everyone.
He even humored us and grinned through tired tired eyes while we dressed him up in the right school paraphernalia.
And Carter has been sleeping in his own bed!! Meisha has attached herself to Carter and it is just the cutest thing. She follows him everywhere and lays right on top of him when he sleeps. Do you think I could talk Ben into letting me keep Meisha? It sure has been great for me to be able to get a full nights rest.
Oh my lawsy lawsy!!! Talk about NASTINESS!! A BIG ol' tick had found itself a happy little home in Kate's scalp. I'm telling you, I will NEVER not look at an "ouchy spot" on a child's head ever again. Tell me, (okay really don't because I have enough guilt of my own) HOW does a mother miss a tick that big in her baby's head??! And finding it in front of my inlaws....sheesh....where was a hole to hide in?
Luckily, they are all just as fascinated by disgusting things as I am, and soon, Kate's head was the event of the night. She was so funny. She laid still as could be, didn't make a whimper or a peep, while we surgically removed the tick. She kept saying, "The tick is sucking my juices out." LOL!
I LOVE Halle's disgusted expression and Kate's bored out of her mind expression in this shot.
This is what the Lyme rash looks like if you get Lyme, and IF you're lucky enough to actually get the rash before other symptoms develop. See how it looks like a target? This can develop anywhere from 3-30 days after the tick bites. Sometimes the rash never develops, and sometimes it can develop months after the bite. Lyme is a tricky thing to diagnose.
First it started swelling with no redness. (I was brushing her hair and she told me she had an "ouchy bump". You'd better believe I looked this time!) About 24 hours after the swelling, the redness showed up and started looking very suspiciously like a red target. She also ran a fever of 101.5. So, we ran her to the doctor and they began treatment for Lyme Disease. About a month on amoxicillin, 3 times a day, and that should do the trick.
If treated early, there is a VERY high success rate for curing Lyme. Within 24 hours on antibiotics, Kate's fever was gone and the rash is slowly going away. It is now about the size of a dime. We feel very confident that we caught it early enough that no serious symptoms or complications will develop. What a blessing.
The moral of the story? Well, just be a better mother than me, and THOROUGHLY check your babies' heads after camping. Oh, and Lyme really does exist in Idaho.
After postponing our annual Memorial Day trip due to cold, we finally made it to Yellowstone....and it was still cold. But it was fun and we made memories as we do every year. Get ready for a slew of pictures.
First animal sighting of the trip. "I want to see! I want to see!" And just what were they looking at? You can see a little black-ish dot in the middle of the sage brush meadow.
It was this Grizzly Mama and her two cute cubs. (The cubs had just popped back down below the sage brush.) Later that night the park rangers came to our campsite warning us of a Grizzly sighting in the campground.
We decided we'd take the opportunity to get a couple of close up shots with the bear.
Okay, not really. We never saw the bear, and the rangers patrolled the campground all night long with their trusty bear spray. In all my years camping at Yellowstone, I've NEVER had a bear come right into the campground. It was a little exciting.
Ants on a log. We had a fun time with cousins.
Halle and Liberty had a great time coming up with poses for the camera.
Silly girls.
They even came up with a pose of two for Grammy.
We picnicked outside, until the we could no longer stand the chill. (Then we had to move things indoors.)
We played in the fire.
We used the outdoor outhouses.
We enjoyed the wildlife.
We climbed trees. (Kate felt SO high in the tree. She was so proud of herself. It was hilarious. Jarom kept telling her she was going to get a tick from the tree. We all poo-pooed that. I've never gotten (is that a word?) a tick in Yellowstone.)
We raced back to the car after playing on Frog Rock.
We played so hard, some of us had to squeeze in a nap, right on the boardwalk while waiting for Old Faithful to blow. (The best part of this was when the Asian tourist whipped out his camera and took a couple shots of the sleepers. HILARIOUS!)
In the end, we went home warn out, dirty, and smelling like campfire. Until next time Yellowstone!
They did end up finding homes for 3 of the 5 in the 3 short hours they had. Which I think, is pretty successful. This is going to be one of those stories that their family will tell for years, "Remember when we hid 5 cats in the basement?" LOL!
Sunday afternoon we decided to go for a nice drive in the hills and take a little walk.
Jump, jump, jump. Across the creek we go.
We didn't get far because we wore the wrong shoes.
At least we didn't end up like this guy.
Or these guys. I think they're going to be there for a while.
Then we decided to visit the grandparents and Grampy practiced his knot tying skills. He had them all hog tied at one point, and they loved it. Silly kids.
After the soccer game, we high tailed it over to Alyssa's piano recital. It was a Disney themed recital and the kids were supposed to come dressed as their piece's character. Alyssa played "Under the Sea" and needed to dress up like Ariel, so the day before the recital, I whipped up a mermaid costume. (And when I say whipped up, I mean practically pulled my hair out and said a lot of bad words. You all know just how much I "love" sewing.) With a tuck tuck here and a snip snip there, Alyssa had an Ariel costume and it was so tight, the poor girl could barely sit. But it worked for the 30 minutes she needed it too. And she did excellent playing her song too!
Then, it was off to Rexburg to celebrate my mom's and nephew's birthdays. Mom had German Chocolate cake and Kayson had a dirt cake full of worms.
All this, and only on the first day of summer. This tells you how the rest of summer is going to go. In a blink of an eye, it will be Fall, but until then, the mom taxi will burn rubber and hope I keep my head screwed on tight. (I already forgot piano lessons today. Whoops! But I did manage to get t-ball and ballet taken care of.) Here's to a wonderful and BUSY summer!!
The kids were a little bummed about not getting to go camping, so we went to Grammy and Grampy's and roasted hot dogs in the tee pee. Doing that, plus having a sleep over made the weekend all right. (And don't mind my gray faced son, it was field day and got his face painted. He refused to wash it off until his daddy could see it.)
I think Kate got a hold of the camera for this shot of Grampy.
So annoying, this picture won't turn no matter what I do. But, Carter fell asleep by the warmth of the fire. He was quite comfy.
Then Monday we drove to Malad for a family reunion with Jarom's mom's side of the family. We hardly ever get to go to this because we are always camping, so it was a nice change and fun to see family we haven't seen in years. (Here Kate is visiting Uncle Ralph's grave.)
Alyssa, McCall, and Olivia ran the penny candy station. These girls used to be the best of friends years ago. It was fun to see how quickly they reconnected.
The kids all had to find "a rich uncle" (since Uncle Ralph is no longer with us) to give them a quarter. Then they got to shop at the candy store. This was a hit.
We played a rousing game of t-ball.
And even some horseshoes. Nice form Honey!
Becky and Maddy were the t-ball cheerleaders.
Halle is bound and determined to make Maddy her buddy. Maddy is bound and determined NOT to be Halle's buddy.
We finished the day with a few spins on the merry-go-round. Who knew the laughs falling off a merry-go-round could provide?