Camping!! At home....

The stake had a father-son campout the weekend of Father's Day. We had been planning to have PJ take the boys, then Tristen injured himself. We eventually decided to have them go anyway, then, 2 days before the trip, Mace came down with a terrible bout of croup. With one sick, and the other likely to catch it soon, we had to scrap the campout this year. But we tried to make up for it with a home campout, complete with s'mores roasted in the fire pit, sleeping on the air mattress in the basement, and a late movie (well, you can't do that camping, I guess).

Side note: Also good we didn't go: turns out Tristen somehow broke the front of his cast off, and we didn't notice (or it didn't happen) until around 10:00 pm Friday. Duct tape worked for the next couple of days, then we went in and got a new one. Good thing, too, since I got to wash his leg and foot. One week, and already it was quite funky. Eeeww.

Mace - the lone holdout to the end of the movie. Independence Day was quite riveting to him - lots of questions about it in the days following.

Brothers

Mace is the consummate little brother, reveling in annoying Tristen with relatively little effort. He loves to say things that just bug T for some reason - with current favorites being "Moustachio!" and "Dino-mite!" And just now, as they're getting ready for bed, I hear Tristen yell, "Stop saying urine!" Ah, the power the second child holds!

Maceism of the Day - 6/22/10

Me - yelling from the kitchen: "Are you cleaning up or playing?"

Mace: (pause) "Uhhhh...that's classified."

5 months old!

Quick update on the cutest baby girl I've seen in almost 4 years.

She's such a happy little baby - but especially when she's with her Mommy. Maybe it's just because it's been so long since I've had a baby, or just faulty memory, but I think she enjoys being with me more than any of the others did. She just lights up when she sees me and leans toward me, squirming to get to me. And when I get close enough, she'll grab my hair and yank me in close and try to eat my face, smiling and laughing the whole time.

She loves kisses - kissing her on her little face will usually calm her down. Can't get any good pictures of her because every time she sees the camera, she freezes up and just stares at it.

Her big brothers and sister just light her up - particularly Mace. He also pays her the most attention, but nobody can get her to laugh like Mace can. He always wants to hold her, and is constantly messing with her face. He'll squish her cheeks together, saying "Supa Chubba Bayba" or hold her ears out and call her Monkey Baby. They're already buddies.

Unfortunately, with anyone other than Mom, Dad or the siblings, she generally cries. Sometimes immediately, sometimes in a couple of minutes, but almost without fail.

She's sick right now - likely a variation of Mace & MaraJade's current croup bout. She's had a fever for around a day now, and a snotty nose. She slept in 1/2-hour and 1-hour chunks last night, and often woke up just crying uncontrollably because she felt so yucky. But once she was up, she's been happy and fun - even though she's still a sicky.

End of the Year - Take 2

On the last Wednesday before school was out, Tristen was playing Tag at Cub Scouts, took a leap off the stage and landed a little funny. He came home limping and hurt, saying it felt like something was poking his foot when he walked on it. Hmmmm.... So the next day, I take him to the doctor, and sure enough, a small part of his first metatarsal (the bone behind his big toe) is fractured. Doctor says just keep him off it for a few weeks. Hmmmmm.... However, by Friday, their office calls, confirming the break and saying we can either continue with RICE or we can put a cast on it. Duh! Monday (after the Oaks Park trip) we get it casted, and Dr. gives us a prescription for a walking cast/boot to go over it so he can actually walk on it. After two days of searching and researching for someone local who can get us one in a child's size, we end up using the same company who got us PJ's post-op knee brace and CPM machine. The guy very kindly goes to Tristen's school to fit it, as it's now the last day of school and I don't want him to miss out. So now here we are - 4 weeks to go!

Oaks Park all-school field trip. Auntie Rae graciously came along to chaperone/assist with Mace's class since I was a bit hampered with baby duty. PJ took Tristen and his group, with Tristen very happy in his "wheelie-chair".

We love Mrs. O!!

Kindergarten Graduation - Mace is officially a first grader!! Oh, that poor, unsuspecting first grade teacher!

Maceism of the Day - June 2010

Mace's current trend is - in addition to asking non-stop questions day and night - to then ask me, "How do you know?" So now, not only do I have to come up with answers that I don't always have ("What does worship mean?" "How does a plane fly?"), but those answers are questioned. And sadly, Mace doesn't buy my patent answer of, "because I know everything" like Tristen did.

Dang.