Under Water

(be sure to notice the freaky Kansas weather...today it's super hot and we're swimming....in the pics from yesterday's strawberry picking, Jayden is wearing warmup pants and a hooded sweatshirt!  the weather here is so weird.....)

For Royal's birthday, the kids and I got him a waterproof camera for his upcoming fishing trip in Alaska.  I thought a camera that he could get wet, could withstand him dropping it in the boat, and could handle cold temperatures just might be exactly what he needs to document all the huge fish I just know he is going to catch and bring home.  And well because I kinda like gadgets, I thought it would be great to take to the pool with us this summer, since I never get any pictures of the kids swimming because I'm in the pool with them and my camera can't get wet.

Our neighborhood pool is finally open and it was hot today!  So...we went swimming!    I know there are going to be lots of better pictures to come because the pool water is still a little too chilly for me to stick my head under.  :)

Strawberry Pickin'

This year we managed to get down to Sargeant's Farm and pick strawberries.  We have always seemed to be too busy before and the strawberry season is so short down here that if you blink you miss it!

 

I wasn't sure how well the kiddos were going to do or how long they'd let us pick.  But once Jayden discovered we were pretty much the only ones in the strawberry patch this morning, he was running all around our section finding the best spots to pick them.  He even agreed to come back on Monday (if they stay open) as long as we listened to him as to where the best strawberries are. 

Willow did pretty well too.  She had trouble trying to get over the rows of strawberries without stepping on them to try and chase Jayden down.  But she did really well eating the strawberries, and she always picked the biggest ones out of our boxes!  Thanks to eating all the strawberries, we were able to stave off lunch for awhile longer and get a 3rd box picked.  :)

Here's what we walked away with.  Not nearly enough strawberries to get us through the winter! But we'll take what we can get!  I'll probably freeze most of these, but we have to at least save enough to make some strawberry rhubarb crumbles for dessert.  We actually managed to get our rhubarb to grow in our garden this year!  Although it was nothing we did - I swear we've ripped it out every year because of poor performance or an animal ate it, but somehow it has managed to come back each year.

Jayden's 1st Girl

Today, we had Jayden's end of the year party with his class at Watson Park, which meant for Jayden another day to hang out with Pilar (pronounced pee-LAR), the girl from his class who has been in love with him all year.  I can't say that Jayden exactly feels the same way, he's been up worry at night because Pilar wants to marry him, or she tells him she loves him, or that she keeps calling him her boyfriend, or because he says he doesn't want to sleep at Pilar's house - he wants to stay with me (sweet!).

Jayden loves playing with Pilar and talks about her all the time, but that she is ONLY his friend.  So, I guess this isn't so much Jayden's first girlfriend as it is the first girl Jayden's lead on.  She's in love with him....he just wants to be friends..... :)  If he keeps this up, there could be a lot of broken hearts in the future!   I was talking with Pilar's dad today and he said we have to set up playdates for the two of them because Pilar is going to drive him crazy.  I guess over Christmas break Pilar wrote Jayden love letters everyday, her dad's a little worried about them being separated for so much longer now....since they won't be going to the same school next year...:(

Picking flowers and chasing the geese.

Eating pizza for lunch with Pilar's best girlfriend sitting across from her.  Jayden's even had to deal with a bunch of crazy drama from the friend of his girl - Pilar's best friend was always trying to break them up!  It starts so young....

We all got to go for a train ride around the park too!

And finally, here's Jayden with his teacher, Mrs Burcham.

Let summer begin!!!

Last Day of School

I can't believe it, but Jayden's last day of Pre-K was today.  I'm actually kinda glad, I'm quite tired of the whole school thing and I'm looking forward to having both my kids with me again!  Jayden has just grown so much this year, I'm so proud of him!  On to Kindergarten I guess!

What Willow Wears :: 14

I know I just posted one of these, but today Willow finally picked a different colored outfit than her usual pink.  Today, her color was green!

...mostly because she discovered this skirt would really twirl when she did...

Firefighter Vest

One of my bestest friends in all the world, Pammy, who swore she'd never have any kids, had a little baby boy almost 2 months ago.  I knew this was going to happen if I moved away!  I just can't believe she's home with a itty bitty baby, and I don't get to come over and hold him!   So, I made her a couple things.

Little baby Brycen's dad is a fire fighter, so I made Brycen a little vest with fire trucks on it.

...and a little squishy Penguin to cuddle up with.

What Willow Wears :: 13

Lots of Pink!

Lumps

Sometimes these two can get along really well and they are just so cute.

 

5 minutes later Willow was screaming about something and Jayden was antagonizing her.  Such is my life....

Paint the Towne (again)

I know this is shocking, but I have been back to Paint the Towne on numerous occasions.  It's just so convenient that it is only like 5 minutes away from the house, the classes are late enough in the evenings that I still get to hang out with Royal and the kids beforehand, the classes are early enough in the evening that I get a break from putting the kids to bed for a night (not that putting them to bed is difficult at all, but still nice...),  I get to drink a margarita (or whatever) while I paint, AND I get another piece of art to hang on the walls.  It also helps that I've been so many times now I've filled up 2 punch cards worth of free paintings, so painting lately has been free!  :)

I painted this for my mom for mother's day, the class was called Half Full.

This is The Turtle painting I did, and it now hangs in the kid's bathroom.

And this picture I just did last night and I think might be my favorite, although I say that about almost every painting I bring home....Three Pears (worth 1500 points if you are playing Farkle...ha ha ha! I love that game!)

Heating Up and Cooling Down

It's gonna be a hot one outside today.  Supposedly we're right on track to bust on over 100 today, the earliest it's ever been 100 degrees here in Wichita - I wonder if it's setting the pace for the rest of summer - which if it is, I might just start digging out a pool in the backyard!

I kept Jayden home from school today since his temp only just cooled down to below 100 this morning and he is still getting regular breathing treatments.  But he is finally feeling SOOOO much better, he really had me worried for awhile, but he had a little more energy last night and is getting back to his old self today.  Still not eating much but at least he isn't spending all day on the couch.  There is a lot more fighting and bossing around going on between the kids - the ultimate sign he's feeling better.  :)

Since it is going to be so hot today, Jayden begged me to find all the water toys for the backyard and get them blown up.  So, that's what we spent the morning doing.
Jayden didn't have quite the energy I think he wanted to have, because he'd run around and then have to sit down and take a break, and then run around, and then have to stop and cough and cough and cough, but at least he's running around!

Another sign Jayden is feeling better is that when he gets his breathing treatment he uses it as a kazoo.

Sick Jaydo

Jayden, all of us really, have had quite the year with sicknesses - colds and flus and antibiotics and antivirals and now Jayden's second bout with pneumonia.

We headed off to our doctor's office again this morning, Jayden's breathing was getting bad and his inhalers didn't seem to be helping much, and he was complaining that his heart hurt when he breathed and his ears were plugged.  He also was running a high fever and threw up last night due to being so hot.   I am so thankful there is a walk in clinic at our doctor's office on Saturdays AND that our regular doctor happened to be the doctor on call this morning.  I was the first one in line at the door this morning!  After listening to Jayden's lungs and taking his temp (103) and taking his oxygen level (92), she sent him off to get a chest x-ray.

His x-ray's showed that he has double pneumonia, really bad in his left lung, as well as the cold-induced asthma he's been struggling with this year.  Our doctor said that his lungs were bad enough to get him admitted to the hospital, but if I could keep him hydrated and if a breathing treatment made a difference with how his lungs sounded I could take him home.  So, we sat there while Jayden got to inhale some meds.

And luckily it helped enough.  Sadly, he also had to get an antibiotic shot right in the rear end...poor guy.  But at least we got to bring him home with breathing treatments every 4 hours and more antibiotics to help the infection in his lungs, and as long as he doesn't start throwing up and we can keep him hydrated and he's making a significant recovery, he'll get to stay here.

Outside for the Summer!

Our Strollers in Motion class has moved outside for the summer, which means way more running while pushing about 100 pounds down the road.   Oi...

But it also means we end our classes right next to parks, which is so much more fun for the kidlettes.

I love these swings, I totally want one in my backyard!

And just like that...

...Jayden's lost another tooth!  I guess his baby teeth like birthdays, the first he lost the day after his birthday, his second he lost on Royal's birthday.  Guess we'll see how well my theory holds up when my birthday rolls around next month!

Happy Birthday, Royal!

Happy 33rd birthday to the best guy around!!!

 

(I personally like how both kids are eyeing the pie!  And the candles are arranged in a 3 and 3 per Jayden's request - not to mention I didn't have 33 candles sitting around!)