181

181

Days that is. I have now reached the 1/2 way mark. I have blogged every day for 6 full months. I can hardly believe that I have made it this far. When I decided to do this, I was pretty sure I could succeed, but not positive. It has been fun, and there have been great days, and days when I just did. not. feel. like. blogging. There were also days when I forgot to take any pictures at all and had to rush around at the last min to get SOMETHINg, ANYthing to post so I wouldn't fail. But through the ups and downs it has been worth it. It has motivated me to do more with my kids, just so I will have something to post about, it has motivated me to take more pictures, and have more fun.

I love looking back at my old posts and seeing all the fun things we have done this year. I can't wait to see it in book form, what a wonderful gift to my kids to have this daily photo journal of their life for them to look back on. I wish I had something like this from my childhood. I am looking forward to the next 184 days of this year, I no long have any doubts, I can do this! I feel so accomplished, like I have really done something, even if it is just words and pictures on an online journal.

This would be a good time for a give-away wouldn't it? Too bad I didn't think of that earlier. Oh well, maybe on my 365th post.

Today, we went to the Monaco Free Summer Movies again. Today was Nim's Island. This time we took our friend B with us. She was a great help and we enjoyed her company. After the movie we had pizza and then home for naps. A nice summer day. I think tomorrow, I want to go swimming. That will be on the plan, as long as the kids are good. Thanks B for coming with us and being so helpful! Also sorry the picture is so bad, in my defense, it was dark when I took it.

The many faces of Ella

Today I made a deal with Ella. I would let her watch Dora the Explorer (which i HATE) if she would do a nice photo shoot with me and listen and make nice faces. She agreed to the deal and was a wonderful subject. One reason I LOVE to photograph my little girl is that when she is on, she is ON! She does lots of expressions, body language and sass. Not all of it works, but much of it does. I am planning on trying to get some of Wesley as well today, we will see how that goes! But for now, here are some of the many faces of Ella.

play

Today we tried to get out early so that we could beat the heat. It didn't work. It was scorching before 9am. We went to the playground anyway, because we are evidently CRAZY! The kids had fun, and I had a nice chat with our new friend. All the kids had fun playing, and there was even a little bit of shade for the Moms. Not that we got to stay in it long, most of the time we were running around the playground after the kids and keeping them out of trouble. After the playground we ran to the store to get the stuff to make enchiladas. We are bringing them to two different families for dinner tonight. Aren't we helpful? It is H-O-T, just in case you didn't know. I wish we had a pool.

Silly

Today we are silly. Digital cameras are fun!

Roller Skating!

When I was a teen, I LOVED to roller skate. Whenever we happened to be staying near a skating rink, we would beg to be able to go. Often Mom and Dad would drop us off at opening time and pick us up late, 10 or 11, at closing time. It was so much fun! I couldn't really do any tricks, but I loved to skate and talk and have fun.
Today I wanted to do something together as a family. We discussed several options, and then I remembered that there are several skating rinks around and I looked it up. We were lucky, and one of them has a special skate time on Saturday mornings for "inexperienced skaters" Ella fit that bill so we decided to go. It was only $15 for all of us, admission and rental. We ended up staying about an hour. Ella did ok, she was scared to go on the floor because it was "too fast" but she enjoyed skating on the carpet. They didn't carry Wesley's size, so he just ran around. Happily, it was very empty, maybe only 1 or 2 other families, so he was free to run around at will. I had a BLAST. I want to go on a date there with Jon sometime soon. I think it would be even more fun without having to watch the kids. After our skating adventure, we went to CiCi's pizza for lunch then home for naps. What a great Saturday!

Friends

It is so nice to have friends here! Today we went to our friend Lauren, Josh and Mikey's house. Ella had a great time playing with Josh, they played so well together, with no fighting! Wesley was overwhelmed with all the awesome toys Lauren has in her living room. He couldn't decide what to play with. He was the most interested in their kids trampoline. He loved bouncing. We had so much fun!

slow day

Today was a lazy day. We spent most of the day at home waiting for the Terminex guy to show up. He never did. GAH! I hate waiting for people who never show up! We had fun playing out in the front and with our toys. It was H-O-T so after we gave up on the termite dude we went over to Bridgestreet to play in the fountains. That cooled us off nicely! I love hanging out with my kids.

Lunch Sushi and nebulizers,

Yesterday Wesley gave me quite a scare. He woke up from his nap and he was really struggling to breathe. He was wheezing, and breathing rapidly. He woke up around 4:45 and his Dr. closes at 5, so I placed a quick call to see if they would/could see him. Luckily for me (and Wes) we only live 5 min from the Dr. and he was willing to wait for us. We rushed over and he looked at Wesley. He gave him a breathing treatment, and checked his various orifices. Ears and throat were clean, but his lungs sounded bad. After the breathing treatment, Wes was much better, still wheezing but able to breathe much easier. The Dr. gave us a prescription for a nebulizer and some breathing treatments. He also sent us over to Huntsville Hospital for some chest x-rays to check for pneumonia. (No pneumonia thankfully) Jon and Ella picked up the prescription while we were down at the hospital. I had to give Wes a treatment every 4 hours throughout the night. Easier said than down with a 1 year old! I hated having to wake up twice last night almost as much as he hated being woken up and having a tube stuck in his face. Before bed, I had Dad come over and he and Jon gave Wes a priesthood blessing. It was much easier for me to sleep knowing he had been blessed.

Today Wes is looking much better, no more wheezing! I still have to give him the treatments, at least until we see the Dr. today at 4pm. Hopefully he is better enough to stop them tonight, I am too tired to do it again!

Wesley took a morning nap today, instead of an afternoon one, so Ella and I got to spend some time together reading books and making a special lunch. We made PB&J sushi with grape "wasibi" They turned out great, and Wesley loved his special lunch once he woke up. We will have to make this again, Wes loves PB&J, and this is much less messy than a traditional sandwich.

While Ella was taking a picture for me of Wesley's breathing treatment, she took a cute picture of me, so I thought I would include it.