The Summer of Paint, part 3

The first two rooms were easy because the trim was not painted.  The trim in the living room and dining room had been painted.  Luckily most of the trim in the house had not been painted.  During the month of June I slowly worked on the trim in the living room.  I would paint when would get the chance.  My parents came down to help us celebrate Thomas and Michael's 7th birthday.  While they were here we were able to get two coats on the walls in the living room and one coat on the trim in the dining room. 

Before 

After

The Summer of Paint, part 2

Sue and I continued in the front room.  I was out of school two and half days before the kids were out, so I painted.  Sue and I got one coat on in both rooms on the first day.  The second day I did the second coat in the bathroom and touch up in the front room.

Before

After 

The Summer of Paint, part 1

We have been very busy around the house this summer.  One of the major accompolishments of the summer has been painting four rooms on the main floor.  I had lots of help from my parents and David's mom.  The boys were kept busy at summer school activities and Ethan went to daycare.  Over the next few posts I will show some before and after photos.

Sue and I started in the main floor bathroom.

 BeforeAfter

The boys called this green, camo green.  You can't see it in the after photo but the tub also got a coat of blue paint. I'm not sure I like to picture there, but we are still working on getting everything arranged on the walls. 

Mushrooms Anyone?

 

We have been spending time in the yard at our house this spring tending to all of our gardens.  It has been fun trying to decide what plants we have, what we want to keep and any changes we want to make in the future.

 

Ethan has been my big helper out in the yard.  This morning he discovered we had some mushrooms growing in one of the gardens. 

 

 

He may or may not have eaten some.  When asked if he ate some, his answer is yes. David tried to do some research to determine if they were posiosous or not.  He was unable to come up with a definitive answer.  So we called posion control to see if they could help us.  After talking with posion contol we still weren't sure if the mushrooms were posionous or not.  They advised us to take him to the ER. 

 

Ethan and I headed to the ER.  (a random side note, Abilene just built a new hospital and were able to check it out.  It was very nice.) He was given charcoal slurry, charcoal mixed with chocolate milk.  It looked terrible, but it musn't have tasted too bad because he drank it down easily.  After drinking the charcoal we hung out for a while so he could be monitored.  About 2 hours after we think he may have ate the mushrooms we were allowed to go home.  Either he didn't really eat any of the mushrooms or the charcoal did the job because he has been right as rain all day. 

 

Today was the first day of my summer break, I hope this is not an indicator of what the remainder of the summer will bring.  

Updates

Since I haven't been very good on updating the blog lately.  I will try to quickly bring you up to speed on some of the things that have been going on.

Thomas and Michael were 2 of 3 top spellers in their class and were able to participate in the Kindergarten - 2nd grade spelling bee at St. Andrew's.

 Out of eight spellers K-2 nd grade Michael came in 2nd.  Here is a quick video of him spelling one of his words.

Ethan is growing fast and always a character!





Michael's artwork in the Dickinson County Scholastic Art Fair



Thomas' artwork in the Dickinson County Scholastic Art Fair

David and I went on dates four weekends in a row!

Both Thomas and Michael have recieved two visits from the tooth fairy.

 

We took Thomas back to see the specialist regarding his Kohler's Disease after Christmas.  Thomas had some x-rays taken of his foot.  The doctor reported that his foot is healing.  We didn't need to limit his activity in anyway.  We also don't have to go back to see the specialist unless he starts to have problems again. 

We are enjoying our new 'old' house.  In September we bought a house that was built in 1886.  It has lots of character and plenty of room for the kids to play.  The backyard has lots of established gardens.  Those will keep me busy this spring.  We are also within walking distance to the park and pool.  We will utilize those frequently when it warms up.

Thomas and Michael are enjoying kindergarten.  They have become very good readers.  They do well in math too as well.

Ethan has finally decided to talk and is very good about making sure we knows what he wants.

Spring Break 2013

Spring break is quickly winding down. We have kept ourselves very busy. We started with a quick trip to St. Louis to visit my family. We stopped in Kansas City and picked up my mom. We had a great visit with family and were able to catch up with old friends.

Thomas, Michael and Ethan with my grandparents.

Thomas looks like he is ready to get to work.

Since David took a couple of days off to come and visit us.  We decided to take the boys to go visit The Magic House in St. Louis.  All three boys had a great time.  One of the highlights was an exhibit featuring the oval office. 

Before

After

Before we left to go to St. Louis I watched Ethan try to climb out of his crib.  I was already planning to add a brown border to his walls when we returned.  Since I was going to be spending the day working in his room.  David and I decided it was time to bring out the toddler bed.  So I sent Ethan to daycare on Thursday and set to work making a big boy room.  It saddened me to have to put his crib away.  What made me even sadder is that he didn't want to rock with me at bedtime.  Our bedtime routine included reading a story and rocking for a couple of minutes.  I hoped that he was just super excited to sleep in his big boy bed and he would want to rock again the next night.  I was very excited to rock with my baby tonight before putting him to bed!  He has made a good transition to his big boy bed so far.  He even had to make sure all his toys were put away before going down for his afternoon nap.  My baby is growing up way too fast! 

The rest of our break will be spent watching basketball and getting small projects done around the house. 

Ethan is 2 years old!

It's hard to believe that Ethan is 2.  

We enjoyed a nice family birthday celebration!

He is a happy boy who enjoys every minute of life. 

He loves his big brothers!

He is a ham.

He is happy as long as he is getting his way!

"If Thomas and Michael can do, so can I" is his motto in life.

Kohler's Update

We took Thomas to see a specialist on Oct. 15.  He really didn't tell us any more about what Kohler's is than we already knew.  He did say that Michael has about a 60% chance of having it as well.  He actually treated a family of three sisters and all three girls had it.  So now we know to keep an eye on Ethan as well.

Here is the plan of action for Thomas.  The boot seemed to be helping him.  He seems to be getting better because if we don't make him wear it on the weekend when we are at home, his foot doesn't seem to be bother  him.  We were keep him in the boot for one more week, which means it comes off on Tuesday.  Then we are to wait and see how he does.  If the pain and limping doesn't return then we have another appointment during Christmas break.  If the pain and or limping returns then we are to call the doctor and re-evaluate.

I asked how much we need to limit him.  The doctor said we won't be able to limit his activity so don't even try.  Whatever he can do, then that is fine.  So he has been enjoying recess and PE since the appointment in his boot.  This week he will enjoy life without the boot.

Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers.  We will continue to update you once the boot is off for a bit.

Kohler's Disease

Thomas had been limping on his right leg for about 3 days and it wasn't getting any better, in fact I thought it was getting worse.  We weren't really sure what he did to his leg, he thought he hurt it at his soccer game.So I took him in to see the doctor on Monday. The doctor sent us over to the hospital for x-rays, thinking he could have broken a non-weight bearing bone in his leg. He had booth legs x-rayed so they would have something to compare.  I tried explaining to Thomas that he was going to get a picture taken of his leg b/c we were going to see if a bone was broken.  He asked me if his leg was going to be cut open.  Poor kid, I said no, the were just going to take a picture.  In the end Thomas thought getting his legs x-rayed was pretty cool.

It was late in the day when we went for x-rays, so I wasn't anticipating hearing back until Tuesday morning.  As Tuesday progressed I still hadn't heard back, so I called the doctor's office.  The doctor was out of the office that day.  Would it be okay if he called me on Wednesday?  I said no because I was waiting to hear if he had broken his leg.  The nurse called me back and said, it wasn't broken, but the x-rays showed some differences between the feet and the doctor would call me in the morning.

Wednesday came and I waited and checked my phone frequently to be sure I didn't miss the phone call.  The doctor finally calls around 2:30.  He tells me that Thomas has a rare disease called Kohler's disease. One of the bones in his foot is not getting blood, therefore it is breaking down causing all the pain in the foot for Thomas.  Over time the bone will regrow, but this could take up to two years.  For those of you who want the more specifics, here is link: Kohler's Disease.

There isn't much that can be done for Thomas' foot.  It is a self-limiting disease (meaning it will heal on its own and no treatment will really speed this up).  We are supposed to limit his activity.  We got him fitted for a walking boot.  We will see a specialist on October 15th.  Hopefully we will learn more.

He is coping fairly well.  He doesn't like to wear the walking boot, even though it helps the pain in his foot.  He has handled not being able to play soccer for rest of the season, having to sit out during PE, and having a low key recess.  We have explained to him what is going on, but we don't think he really grasps what is happening or how long it might take to heal.  Hopefully he will continue to have a positive attitude as we continue along this journey.

Summer 2012 Photo Book

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Turn your favorite photos into a photo book at Shutterfly.com.

Check out the photo book I made to highlight some of our summer adventures!

A lesson in telling Thomas and Michael apart.

While at dinner tonight I asked Thomas and Michael if people at school were able to tell them apart. They said that some people were able to tell them apart.  They continued to go on and give me a lesson in telling them apart.  It was too cute not to share.  Apparently there are three ways people are able to tell them apart.

1.  Their shoes.  Thomas has green Nike shoes and Michael has red Adidas shoes.
2.  Their freckles.  Thomas has a freckle on his nose and Michael doesn't.

3.  Their hair. Thomas says "mine is straight and Michael's is curved".  I had to dig a little deeper to figure this one out.  What he was referring to was their hair neckline.  

Now you know all you need to know to tell Thomas and Michael apart.

Bath tub experiment

Thomas and Michael were playing in the bath tub, while David and I were cleaning up supper.  I walk in to check on them to find the bath water a shade of pink and very bubbly.  The fairly new bottle of body wash was in the bath tub and now half empty.  Thomas proceeds to say that it was Michael's fault.  Michael wanted to do an experiment.  The experiment was to see what color the bath water would change with body wash in it.  Well they learned that the water will turn red, when you put red soap into it.  They also learned that when you fill the bath with soap, it gets very bubbly and it is hard not to get soap in their eyes.

I wonder what other things our inquiring minds will want to find out about.

Chores, chores and more chores

The picking up toys battle never seems to end at our house.  I had seen an idea many times on Pinterest about a toy ransom box.  Unpicked up toys get put in the box and the only way to get them out was to complete a chore.   I put off putting it into action because I had dreams of getting all creative with it and printing off chore slips to pick from and a cut decoration for the box.  Last week I bit the bullet and put it into action.  I warned Thomas and Michael that toys left out would get put in my box until they did a chore to earn it back.

The first night I gathered a few things for my box including Michael's favorite hat. He was none to happy when we went to leave the next day and he couldn't take it with him.  We got home and Michael discovered he vacuum.  

Later that night while picking up toys, I gently reminded them that what was left out would go into my box and they would have to do a chore to get it back out.  I told Michael he should pick up his crocs and he said "It's okay mommy, I like doing chores!"  We will see how long that lasts!  In the meantime my floors have never been this clean!

Wind Meter

Thomas' Wind Meter

Today while waiting for lunch Thomas was outside inventing.  He created a wind meter. The job of the wind meter is to tell you if the weather is right for flying a kite.  According to Thomas if it blows backwards then it is okay weather to fly a kite, but if it doesn't move at all, or blows forwards then it is not kite flying weather.

Thomas came in for lunch explained it to Micheal.  Michael then told me that "Thomas made an invention".  After lunch they went outside to play.  I look out the window and see them standing on a stool trying to get high enough to hang the wind meter.  They weren't having much luck.  They brought everything they could think of to get them tall enough to insert the stick in the hole on the clothes line pole.  They tried stacking various stools (stools that really shouldn't be stacked).  They never did try to stand on any of their stacked stools as they were too wobbly.  I finally suggested they try the small picnic table.  This was not an easy task as they had to move it from the porch to the yard.  They worked together and got it down there.  They were almost tall enough, they could get the stick in the hole, but because it was at an angle they couldn't get it all the way through.  Finally a couple of neighbor kids came by and helped them.

They worked really hard on this.  It did appear that Thomas was definitely in charge of this operation.  They didn't get frustrated or want to quit because they couldn't get tall enough.   I wonder what other adventures will be had and inventions will be created this summer.

17 months

Mom's big helper.  

Little Brother

A happy boy!

Mom did my hair!

Ethan is now 17 months.  Most times he seems like he is 1 1/2 going on 5 1/2.  He does a very good job of keeping up with his big brothers.  All three boys get along really well.  He has been walking for a while now. Now he runs to keep up with Thomas and Michael.

We are beginning to hear more and more words from him.  One of his latest is 'mi' which translates to mine! Some other words include car, ball, bird, mama, dada, bye-bye, night night and this.  Even though he has few words he doesn't  have a hard time making his needs known.

Some of his favorite things include, sitting in his high chair watching the birds out the window, eating, opening the cabinets, pulling out a box of crackers and helping himself, even if we just finished eating.  He loves to tell   Thomas and Michael good night with a big hug.  He loves wrestling with his dad and brothers.  Blankets aren't for covering up with but laying on top of. Ethan loves to brush his teeth, usually with his brother's toothbrush.  Apparently his own brush isn't good enough!  Such a silly boy!

Nothing makes him madder than seeing his brothers outside, but not being able to get out the door to be with him.

Books and puzzles are quickly becoming favorites!

Sniffles

We were eating a nice family dinner the other night.  Most of us were finished and Ethan was definitely  done.  He throws his plate, fork and spoon over board.  David says in a stern voice "Ethan we don't do that."  I'm in the other room and can't see Ethan but all the sudden I hear sniffles, like he is trying to hold back tears.  I think he might have fake sniffles, but David said they were real.  I am cracking up in the kitchen and David is trying so hard not to laugh in front of him.

I get Ethan out and make him help me pick up the plate and silverware.  I head to get the vacuum. (carpeted dinning room brilliant!)  When I come back he is picking food up off the floor and putting it on the high chair.

It's good he listens to David because when I raise my voice at him he totally ignores me.

Appendicitis??? or not???

One night a couple of weeks ago I picked the boys up from school and Michael practically falls asleep on on the two minute drive home.  He gets out of the car crying and can't really explain what is wrong.  We get in the house and I finally get it out of him that his stomach hurts.  I have him lay down to rest and take his temperature as he feels pretty warm.  He was only running a low grade temperature.  As I'm working on dinner I keep coming to check on him and try to get more information out of him. He tells me that it is the right side of his stomach.  I asked him if he pooped that day, and he said no, but he did the day before.  The thought of constipation  crossed my mind, but I didn't think it would be that bad after only a day. My mind starts wondering about appendicitis, David of course has a late meeting and I'm home with all three boys.

Michael falls asleep in the chair after he didn't want to get up and come to the table for supper.  I'm really starting to get worried.  David finally gets home and we start deciding what is wrong and what we should do. Michael in the mean time didn't seem to feeling better.  We call Grandma Susie (the nurse) to get her opinion.  We decide to take him in to the ER.  I ask Michael to get up and put on his shoes and he tells me he can't.  I bring his shoes to him and I have to put them on him because he can't.  At this point he tells me that can't walk to the car.  I am really starting to get worried.

We drive the couple of blocks to the hospital.  The ER in Abilene Kansas wasn't really hopping that night so we got right in.  We get in the room and he seems to perk up a bit.  While we are waiting to be seen he asks if I brought anything for him to do.  I pull out a notebook and pen.  He practices spelling the names of his classmates. Hmm, he seems to be doing a lot better.  We get seen by the PA and he tells me that he thinks it is just constipation, but we could run some labs to be sure.  I went back and forth about doing them, but I didn't want to have to make another trip to the ER, so we go ahead and get them.  Michael was a rockstar while getting his blood drawn.  I told him he might want to close his eyes or look away, but he wanted to watch.  No tears at all.  By this time it was approaching bed time and he is starting to get tired.  So he lays down and tries to rest while waiting for the results.

The labs come back and confirms that it isn't appendicitis!  Michael gets some stickers on our way out and is right as rain.  I'm sure the staff at the hospital thought I was nuts bringing him in because he didn't seem to be hurting too much.  All in all we were only there for about an hour and a half, not to bad.

We get home and he walks in all excited to show dad his stickers.  David can't believe this is the same kid I left with earlier that night.

Luckily the constipation didn't last too long.  He was able to go before school the next day.

Ethan is 15 Months Old

I can't believe where time is going.  Ethan is 15 months old already.  While home Christmas break He decided to take his first steps.  Within the last week or so he has just taken off.  He will now walk all over the house and does more walking than crawling. 

As you can see by this video he loves to help Mommy.  His new thing is putting his dirty diaper in the trash after a diaper change.  I made the mistake of throwing a diaper away while over at friends house and boy did that upset him.  Since that time, he won't even wait for you to put his pants back on.  As soon as you snap up his onsie, he is up and grabbing the diaper and off to the trash can.

He also loves to help pick up.  He does a great job of picking all the blocks up that he dumps onto the ground.  He is mommies big helper when it comes to laundry.  His favorite part is closing the washer and dryer doors.

He lets us know what he is thinking, we just can't always understand what it is he wants.

Ethan is very proud of his big brothers.  They are doing great in school.  Their teacher just asked mom and dad if she could send them to reading groups in a kindergarten classroom.  They love to read!  They have also been busy working on their writing skills as well.

Christmas in Africa

As we were driving home tonight and updating the boys as to Santa's location, which was in Africa.  Thomas says "Santa delivers presents to Africa"?  We reply "yes".  Thomas says "wow, that is cool and there aren't even any people in Africa".  We say, "Thomas there are people in Africa". Thomas says  "Oh, but do they have houses?"  "Yes, Thomas they have houses".  To finish the conversation "but the houses must kind of blend in".

Merry Christmas!

The Christmas Tree

According to Michael we didn't decorate the Christmas tree today, we trimmed it!