Why summer is amazing....

Summer is the best.

My kids don't sleep in any later, therefore I don't....and that's okay.

It's hotter than the surface of the sun outside....and that's okay.

We are in summer school, which means less time for tomfoolery around the house...and that's okay.

Because, it is only the end of June and we have already done all of this.....

Lots of swimming

Hanging out with our best buddies

Lots of cuddling in the laps of special family members

Attended a beautiful wedding

Lots of hanging around at the zoo

First day of summer school/camp

First backpack

Swimming lessons

Lots of running through the sprinklers

Special airplane rides (this was on the way home....when I wasn't sick and didn't want to die

Lots of napping

Lots of watering (the golf course...)

And lots of special brother time! 

Not exactly the vacation I was looking forward to.....

So, my crew flew up to Ohio last week, to spend some time with our pretty awesome extended family. Zack  is blessed to have 3 of his grandparents still living, and all within a few miles of each other. Not to mention like a million cousins and their kids. To say I was looking forward to this trip would be a very BIG understatement. I was so excited for the boys to ride on an airplane, for the family to meet Matthew for the first time, for the boys to run through the super soft Ohio grass and catch lightning bugs and....you know, just enjoy life together.

And while we did enjoy our family and the boys did ride on an airplane, that was about the only stuff that went according to plan. The rest was pretty much ridiculous. So much so, that I have to go through it in bullet points.....

• The night before we were to leave, I got a low grade fever and sore throat. Then Matthew woke up at 4:45 am and never went back to sleep. I knew then that things would not be going smoothly..
• On Thursday, I still felt awful, still had fever, but toughed it out anyway and decided to go. The whole way to the airport, I knew I was going to throw up, but I was in denial and able to control myself. Literally, the SECOND Zack put the car in park at the park and ride, I opened the door and threw up in the parking garage...I was okay until we went through security where I almost passed out and had to sit on the floor in line. Could that be any more nasty? Sitting on the floor at the airport? Then I had tell the very nice man that was replacing the garbage bag on the trash can, that I was about to barf in it....he kindly moved out of my way, let me do my business and then gave me an extra trash bag to carry around. And carry it around, I sure did. In the airport, on the plane, in the car on the way to the house....
• On the plane, Matthew screamed for 45 minutes straight....like, full blown screaming. Our flight was stuck on the runway for that long and he was NOT cool with it. Since I was potentially very contagious, I sat against the window and tried my hardest to fall asleep while Zack put on his Super Dad cape and took care of our screaming child. Then on the landing, the weather was so bad and foggy that our super not awesome pilot got too close to another plane and had to back off and keep flying for a little while....not cool. At this point, I thought my ears were going to burst out of my eye balls. I figured something was seriously wrong with my head.... Note to self.....NEVER fly with an ear infection.
• We finally made it to Ohio and I went straight to bed. As far as the rest of my family....They were headed to a scheduled family picnic at a local park. Sounds awesome right? Not when it is 55 degrees outside and pouring down rain. Not sure why they didn't cancel it, but after about an hour, the whole family was home and freezing cold. We actually had a fire in the fire place....in June.
• Friday I woke up and realized I needed a doctor....Urgent Care, ER, I didn't care. My Uncle Randy chanced my germs and drove me to a CVS Rediclinic, where it was determined that I had a double ear infection, dehydration and a swollen throat (possible strep, but they decided the antibiotics would kill it if it was, so they didn't test) 
• I spent the entire day on Grams' couch while my family went out and played. It was still raining...
• Saturday, I felt better, so I was finally able to see some more family! It was still cold, but not raining, so we took the boys to a local park to play....where it was discovered that Jonathan had fever. Awesome.
• Saturday night was a family wedding, which was absolutely beautiful! Praise the Lord for stopping the rain and bringing out the sun! However, when I drove the 30 minutes home to pick up the boys and take them to bed, we realized we didn't have a house key. So we waited an hour while my sister and her boyfriend drove back to the wedding to find somebody with a key. The poor boys didn't get to sleep until almost 10:00.
• Sunday, my Uncle Doug was preaching at a large church in Akron, but since Jonathan was still feverish, I couldn't go. Major bummer. 
• Sunday night, Jonathan accidentally got a double full dose of Motrin (even longer story) so I freaked out and waited 45 minutes for the on call doctor to call me back and tell me if he was going to live or if we needed to pump his stomach.......(kind of kidding, but I was concerned enough to call) "He is fine. Just don't ever do it again, slap on the wrist."
• Around this time, I spilled the remainder of Matthew's pink ammoxicilian on Grams' white carpet. (shhh...she doesn't know...) praise God, I got it out. I would have been in serious trouble! But this just meant I had to call for a new prescription to get the rest of the medicine I needed to finish the treatment. Embarrassing. This was like my 3rd call to Bluefish over the weekend.
• On Monday, all went well. We all felt better, got Matthew's medication, made it to the airport in time...life was good. Until I helped my sister-in-law, Becky, into the restroom.....the MENS restroom. Yes, I helped send my mentally handicapped sister into the mens restroom. Thankfully, a nice man helped her out.

If you are still with me, thanks :) I honestly had a great time, once I felt better. And I am blessed to have been sick there since people where around to help with the boys and I could rest. My Grandma's both went out of their way to make sure I was well taken care of! But, I am really sad that I didn't get to visit with my family more, that the weather wasn't conducive to playing in the soft grass, that Matthew didn't seem to enjoy the airplane....but, what can you do? I was still blessed to go and I am even more blessed to have married into such a wonderful family!!

Our first week of summer!

Well, our first week of summer has come and gone. And dang, it was a doozie....

We decided to head to Austin to hang out with my family while Zack worked late every night. Everybody was excited, our bags were packed and we were on our way! We stopped in Bastrop to get cookies at Bucees (I guess we could have bought gas or something, but at that point, cookies seemed like the best idea...) and Matthew was on fire. At first, I thought it was because he had been napping with his blanket in the back of my heat box of a car. Unfortunately, when we got to my parents, he was still hot....fever of 101.7. It was about this time that I also noticed he had some seriously gross gunk coming out of his eyes...What an awesome way to start summer.

The next day, he still had fever and gross gunky eyes. I talked to the doctor and we ruled out pink eye (thank goodness we have missed that train so far...) and decided to just keep watching him. The fun continued that morning when I somehow walked into the leg of our kitchen chair and bashed my pinky toe into oblivion.You know, the same chair that has been there forever...in the same spot...A few hours later, it was black and blue and really painful. I assume I jammed it pretty bad cause I could barely walk! Luckily, it has gotten better each day since, but man, that was no bueno. Add to it that I am a huge baby....whew, my parents had to hear about it ALL day. not to mention how many pictures of it that I texted to Zack and my friends...

The rest of the week I watched Matthew's fever fluctuate and his eyes get more and more gross. By the time Thursday rolled around, his fever was 102.5 and he was crashing fast. I decided to head home early the next day and take him straight to the doctor. Double ear infections.....poor little guy. 

And finally, tonight we were at my in-laws grilling burgers and Matthew put his hands on the back of the grill....not the actual fire or anything, but it was hot enough to burn one of his little hands. He didn't lose any skin or anything, but has a few tiny blisters on the tips of his fingers. My poor baby, can't seem to catch a break this week.

The good news is that Jonathan was a rock star all week and never got sick and had a wonderful time at Honey and Papa's! He went swimming, on golf cart rides to feed the donkeys, fishing....every little boys dream vacation!

On a related note, another thing I struggled with this week was terrible canker sores. I had 4 pretty big ones that even left my face swollen and puffy. For those that know me, you know this isn't anything new....I get them a LOT. But lately, they have been terrible. I am talking 4-5 at a time and really big/painful. My dentist doesn't really know what to do, my regular doctors don't know what the deal is....everybody just tells me it is stress. But I am not stressed enough to cause this! My dentist has even given me prescription meds and they don't do a single thing. I have switched to a more mild toothpaste, started taking a multi-vitamin (in case they are caused by a vitamin deficiency,) cut back on acidic foods.....I just can't figure it out. Does anybody else deal with these? Anybody have any tips for me? Over the counter stuff doesn't help at all, prescription stuff doesn't help, NOTHING helps! I have to figure it out!!!

So, this week was kind of a bummer. But at least my parents are seriously amazing and we had a great time anyway. They helped take care of Matthew and did everything in their power to entertain Jonathan. I even got to take a cat nap twice while the boys were napping. What a treat!

Here's to hoping for a better, more healthy week coming up!  (and help me figure out where these canker sores are coming from!!!)