Mud Fight!

The other day, we had a few friends over. The kids decided to take the boat out on the pond.

Not surprisingly, it wasn't long before several kids (and Jason) had fallen, or been pushed in. Morgan actually changed into her swimsuit first!

So, everyone was having a nice time, swimming, boating, or just playing near the water.

Then, someone (look carefully at the above picture) picked up a clod of mud. I think you can guess what happened next!

Yes, I made them hose off before they came inside.

Happy Birthday Brenna!

 Brenna is two today!  Because her birthday fell in the middle of the week, we actually celebrated last Saturday. Since we had plans to pick up a friend from the airport and since we wanted to see our precious little Grandson Carlitos, we decided to take everyone to the zoo for Brenna's birthday.  After several nice, summery days it decided to start raining again, but we didn't let that stop us (at least not at first).

Brenna really wanted to take this little spotted mini donkey home with us. Other than that, the family farm area of the zoo was not much different than being at home.

I think the flamingos were Brenna's favorite. She just kept saying "Pink bird! pink bird", over and over pointing at each and every separate bird.

Cameron in front of the cheetah display. Unfortunately my cheetah pictures didn't turn out.

The zoo has these little footprints on the ground leading to certain attractions. Brenna was fascinated by them and ended up walking on as many of them as possible.

There was a speed check station near the cheetah display so the kids could see if they are as fast as a cheetah.

Brenna runs at about 2-3 MPH. Owen made it all the way to 4 MPH.

Morgan was pretty steady at 4  MPH, but did get up to 6 for a short time.

Duncan and Cameron broke the machine or something since it wouldn't read their speeds.

This bird was convinced that he'd get fish if he just acted like a penguin.

We took the little kids for a ride on the carousel, but Brenna decided she didn't want to go on it after all. Owen wanted to try riding on the seat, but then he expected another ride on a horse and was disappointed that he didn't get one.

Finally, the rain got too heavy for even us Pacific NW natives and we wrapped it up and went to visit Kristi, Simon, and Carlitos. Since it was Brenna's birthday, we let her choose something from the gift shop. She chose a super, soft stuffed cheetah, although she kept calling it a tiger.
Today, she also got a stuffed monkey that Devon sneaked off and bought while we were on the carousel, several pairs of earrings since she can change hers out now (and since she lost one of hers), a snake in a basket toy that she thinks is hilarious, and a box of cinnamon rolls for obvious Brenna reasons.

Surprise!

I am really bad at surprises. Both planning them and being the victim of them. Yes, I said victim, because that's how most surprises make me feel. I'm also really bad at keeping secrets. Mainly because I really hate surprises. Sometimes surprises are fun though and sometimes secrets are worth keeping or trying to keep. Especially when you know the victim or recipient will really enjoy the surprise.
Several months ago, an online friend of Devon's messaged me with his intentions to come for a surprise visit. So, for about two months, I've been keeping a secret and planning how to keep it a surprise for my daughter. We don't often go to Seattle and hang around the airport, so coming up with a good reason to do so was a bit of a challenge.
Our cover story was that we were picking up a different friend at the airport and wanted Devon to come along because she's going to be flying solo in June and we wanted her to check out the airport since she hasn't flown in a few years.
Then we decided to take everyone to the zoo for Brenna's birthday(pictures will be in an upcoming post). That made it seem more plausible that we would pick up a friend from the airport when we were already going to be in Seattle for the day.

Then our Grandson, Mr. Carlitos, decided to come a few months early, so we added a visit to the hospital to our trip. Saturday morning we left for Seattle and after only one potty break and one bout of motion sickness arrived at the zoo. We wandered around the zoo for a few hours until the rain got too heavy for even NW natives like us. Then we headed to the hospital so that everyone over 12 could visit Carlitos and everyone under 12 could sulk in the waiting room about not being over 12. Next we headed to the apartment Kristi and Simon have near the hospital for dinner. Finally, we wrestled everyone back in the van for the original purpose of our trip, picking our New Zealand friend up from the airport.

Unfortunately, Devon had figured out the surprise about a month ago due to an unfortunate Facebook comment NOT made by me. It wasn't my fault. She was still pretty excited to finally meet Jason in person though! As was everyone else except for Brenna who was being a bit shy and grumpy. Jason offered to give us gas money for the trip and we told him that the only currency we accept  is candy not available in the US. This is what he brought us!

Patty, I put some of this on the top shelf of my closet just for you. That way the kids won't eat it all before I get a chance to get it to you like last time.

Jason also brought a birthday present for Brenna. Which she absolutely loved and wore most of the day until she found out it was from Jason. Then she threw it on the floor and wouldn't wear it again until she wanted to go outside. She wouldn't let anyone else touch it all day, even when she was refusing to wear it. She finally changed her mind and decided it was okay that it was from Jason after all because she loves it so much. Owen, on the other hand took to Jason right away. Jason is perfectly willing to be a jungle gym and that is enough for Owen to be best buddies with him. He'll be staying for a week, so we should have a few more Jason stories before he leaves.

Updates {May 2014}!

This pole near our house still hasn't been fixed weeks after being hit.

Our mail box was hit by a car again. This one didn't even make it a whole year, even after Rod moved the post back as far as we can and still have it be accessible. This is the 4th time our mailbox has been hit in the 5 years we've lived here. We know it was hit by a car, not farm equipment or a baseball bat, because the car mirror was on the ground under the mailbox this time. I didn't get pictures, but Devon did take pictures of the telephone pole down the road a little way that got hit almost a month ago. We live on a 50 MPH road that gets a pretty decent load of traffic and doesn't have much of a shoulder, but it is straight. I just can't figure out why it's so hard to stay on the road. I drive it all the time and have never had any problems staying in my lane. I get the poles around the corners being hit all the time. Okay, actually, I don't because it isn't really THAT hard to slow down around the corners, but on the straight stretches it should be possible to stay on the road. It should also be possible to fix broken poles in a timely manner, especially since it happens so often, but obviously that is too hard also.

Brenna has had quite a week. I know that's pretty common too. This week she spread the contents of her diaper all over her body and threw a HUGE fit when I tried to clean her up, then the very next day spread Lansinoh (purified lanolin for nursing moms) all over herself. She's had 4 baths in 2 days.

Owen has been really spoiled with being allowed to watch TV and or play Wii a lot more than our other kids have ever been allowed. With all of his health issues, we have used screen time as a crutch to get us through things like tube feedings, the after effects of bad seizures (sometimes he can't walk without falling for days after), and meals he can't eat; as well as rewards for eating his keto food or taking his medicine. Now that he's doing so much better, we're trying to wean him down to a more appropriate amount of screentime. Let's just say that he's trying REALLY hard to wear me down. He isn't used to entertaining himself (partially because we couldn't let him out of our sight safely for years), so he wants me to pay attention to him CONSTANTLY. Add in busy Brenna and hormonal teenagers, and I'm ready for a vacation. It doesn't even need to be anywhere expensive because I plan to spend most of it sleeping and the rest watching movies of my choice (no cartoons or talking animals) and knitting. Except,  a vacation isn't really going to fit into our schedule or budget, so I just get to plan it out in my head.

I've spent hours the last two weeks on medical stuff. Eye doctor's appointments for most of us, going back to pick up glasses and contacts as they come in, thyroid re-check for me( it was low so they upped my dose, maybe I'll have a little more energy soon), making Owen's next appointments, and dealing with insurance issues.

Tomorrow, we are taking the kids to the zoo for Brenna's birthday (not until the 7th, but easier to celebrate over the weekend), then going to meet Kristi and Simon for dinner. They have an apartment in Seattle near the hospital that they get to use until Carlitos is released. So, we're meeting them there and then we'll take turns visiting Carlitos and staying with the kids who aren't old enough to visit the NICU(13 and up). I can't wait to see the baby again! He's taking about 40% of his feeds orally and just got the top off his incubator! We can't wait until he gets to come home!