Timmy's eye

It's not over yet...you'd think that by 3 weeks later it would be all healed up and feeling okay. Nope....it's been looking really bad. Red, puffy, irritated..it's been real tender to the touch and there's a weird lumpiness (is that a word?) under the skin. Then yesterday morning he comes up from his room and he's got a black eye. HUH?? I called the dr. office and was told to come in last night to have it looked at. He has an infection brewing under the skin. The topical part is looking okay after a week of overnight triple antibiotic treatments, but all the rest of the mess needed to be treated. So, now he's on an antibiotic.....a $71 antibiotic! Good greif....we're over $200 into this injury. Dang, kids are expensive. I think I'm going to ducktape them all to the couch, turn on the TV and forbid them to get hurt anymore.

First family camping trip

With the new camper anyway...and on our own, not with Chuck and Amy this time. It was a lot of fun. Some rain on Friday, but total sun all day Saturday made for a wonderful 4th of July. We got to the site at about 9pm Thursday night with little daylight left to get set up. The grounds were just okay, but who could expect much when they were the only place with an open spot 3 weeks earlier. Hey, the price was right. There was a good swimming spot, so that's always a good thing.







We rented a pontoon on Bay Lake Saturday afternoon and spent most of the afternoon at Church Island at the sandbar where a live band was playing on the water. About 100 other boats had the same great idea. We anchored in, met up with Pat and Lindsey, Mindy and Kaylee and mom and dad.




The boys really enjoy spending time on the lake. Whether fishing or helping dad drive the boat or just enjoying the view and breeze.





After returning the pontoon, we went to Lonesome Pine for some cheesy bread and then to the other's campsite to sit by the fire for a bit while we waited for fireworks to start in Garrison. This was probably the first year that we didn't have a scared child to hold during them.

It was a good weekend. It ended quickly, as usual. The traffic was terrible for the first hour, but I guess that's to be expected on the 4th. Everyone heading home for another week back in reality.

I think the plan is to find someplace to go for Labor Day weekend, not sure if we'll go again before that. I love that we have this family time together and something that the boys will always remember doing as kids. Good making family memories.

It's been a while

Well, it's either been a really busy week or a really boring one with nothing to write about. It's been a bit of both. It's always busy around here....that never changes, but there hasn't been much to report as well.
I ended up not doing daycare last Wednesday because Tony woke up at about 5am and was wheezing and coughing that barking cough like croup. I took him in that morning and had Jason call the parents. Later that day, I called the parents to let them know that I would be open the next day and it was up to them if they wanted their kids here. They were already exposed anyway and all the parents went ahead and brought them. As it turns out, 3 of the daycare kids are now sick with it. One was this past weekend, and 2 of them didn't come yesterday. In fact, they won't be here today or tomorrow either. This must be a very contagious virus with how agressively it's passed between so many kids.
Speaking of daycare parents.....I got a call at 2am yesterday. Scared the heck outta me. Obviously, when you get a call at that time in the night you think something is wrong. It was one of the parents!! She said she had a huge dilema..that her daughter had that croupy cough and would she still be able to come in the morning. HUH???!! I didn't say anything for a second I was so caught off guard. Then I told her that I can ask the offer the option to the other parents of coming to daycare when one of MY kids are sick, but I can't ask them that when YOUR child is sick. Um...duh. I hung up and wondered what in the world she was thinking! Why would you call me at 2am??! I am going to say something to her on Monday when I see her again and ask her to not do that again. I don't want any calls before 5:30am. Unbelieveable.

Tomorrow we head up to Brainard for the 4th. The drive is going to be hideous with the traffic of everyone doing the same thing. I'm really looking forward to it though. I'm going to get some packing done today so that I'm not too swamped tomorrow. I want to leave as soon as Jay gets home and the kids are gone.

Belated Father's Day

We spent a day with Jay doing what I had hoped for LAST Sunday. We had sick kids, so it got postponed until yesterday. After church, we went to Perkins with mom and dad and then off to the Mall of America. I had made an appointment for him to do an hour in the flight simulator at Flying Aces. Mindy had gotten him a gift card for Christmas a couple years ago and he had never used it until now. We got him checked in and then I took the boys and we walked around for an hour. We went to the Jelly Belly candy store and I let them all pick out a few treats. That was fun since they had tons of different flavors and all sorts of candies from the past when I was a kid.....like Zotz! Remember those?! The hard candy that has a fizzy center. I didn't have one, but I got one for Jay. It's funny the little things that can bring back memories. Then we tried some samples of cheese at the WI cheese store and I bought a couple different kinds. After making a quick stop at the dollar store, it was time to get back to Jay. He had a blast and said it was even more fun than he thought it would be.

I'm more stressed out than usual these days. I have an unannounced visit from my licensor coming sometime this month. I am up for renewal by Aug. 1st, so any day now she'll knock on my door and expect everything to be in tip top shape. UGH! That never happens, so all I can do is have it at it's best and be in compliance with allt he rules. Blah!

I made a decision about something that does relieve some of the stress of all these hours. I asked Kelsie if she would be interested in being a substitute for me on days when I need to get out of the house for something. Dr. appointments, dentist, salon work meetings/classes. I can never make any of them....even the kids' field trips. With her as a backup, I can make some of these mornings out and not worry about taking kids or being stuck in the house all week. As soon as her background check comes back, we're good to go. I'm thinking twice a month or so would be so great! Ask me why I didn't do this sooner.

Don't repeat this in public

Tanner keeps walking around the house for the past 2 days saying "I really need some alcohol".......He means the ginger ale that we bought for the kids' tummy aches. HA!! I'm waiting to be in public when he says it sometime.
Innocent?? Hmmmm.....Maybe he knows EXACTLY what he's saying......Nah.

Pics from the past week

My boys..

Tyler caught his first northern this weekend. He caught a second one later that day.

Timmy's poor face...


The boys meet baby Christopher for the first time.

Home sweet home

As much as I like to get away and have a week of relaxation, there's always something nice about just being home. My own bed, my own everything. We came home Friday night since I had to work Sat. morning and that worked out best. I was able to get up at a normal time rather than try and leave the cabin at 5:30am.
Trae and Tanner weren't feeling well by the time we were leaving and within a second of walking in the front door, Tanner threw up in the foyer. Molly and Sam were sick at the beginning of the week and now 3 of the kids and myself, I think, have come down with the same thing. Kinda hard to avoid when we're all in such close contact for a week. The only good thing about catching a sickness from someone else is that you sort of know how it's going to pan out. Like we all have sore throats, but I hesitate to get strep tests for all since I know that wastn't the case with Molly and Sam. The other symptoms are all the same too. I'm thinking after a couple days, we'll all be good as new. Tomorrow will not be fun with 10 kids here.
One good thing....when I walked in the door on Friday night, between getting Tanner to the bathroom and cleaning up the floor, I remember thinking....Geez, I don't remember the house being so clean when I left. Well, it wasn't. HA! Turns out, Cindy and Erin came over while we were gone and cleaned the whole house. Jason knew all about it and gave them the key to get in. What a treat that was to come home to!! The house definately needed some work, but the things they did that I just love are those things that I never get any time for. It was one of the nicest things anyone's ever done for me.