The FIRST broken bone

Last week Aleeya and Emerson had swimcamp in the afternoons from 1-4. 

Meaning.......it was during Aleeya's usual naptime. 

On Wednesday we went swimming with some friends in the morning, came home to eat and then I drove her to swimcamp. She had been swimming for around 6 hours. 20 minutes after she got home Brooks and I looked out the window and saw her OUT COLD on the driveway.

Of course we both grabbed our cameras and chuckled while taking pictures. We just let her rest a little while until I went out later and saw that she had turned her head to the other side.

I love the pavement marks on her cheek. (and her pretty little rose-colored lips)

 The first of the week of swimcamp Emerson did NOT like it and Aleeya loved it. He SLOWLY warmed up to it and by Thursday he came home loving it because he had a friend.

Thursday, Thursday, Thursday........

I went to the temple w/ 3 of my girl friends and so I was gone from 4:30-midnight. Meanwhile at home the kids played kickball with Daddy. I guess when Emerson kicked the ball and ran to first he decided to slide (seriously, how many times do we need to say YOU DON'T SLIDE TO FIRST!!!) and his wrist was bent down. As in his fingers were basically giving his forearm a high five.

Bronson heard a crack.He had SOME mobility and since he's SOOO dramatic anyway Brooks decided just to watch him and see how he felt in the morning. 

I had NO idea any of that occurred so the next morning when Emerson starts talking about not being able to go to swimcamp because his hurt hand, I of COURSE got a little suspicious. (I WASN'T BORN YESTERDAY YA KNOW!!!!)

I texted Brooks and he said he's probably not faking. He ended up staying home from the last day of swimcamp....RIGHT when he started liking it. The wrist just hung lose by him and even when he tried to play his gameboy, he just couldn't (now we were 99% SURE it was broken!!!). The clencher was when we were in the Yeti and Brooks said in order to get a cast on it, the doc might need to break his hand again. And if it doesn't look like the other hand then he might have to break his right arm also.

Emerson just sniffed and said, "Okaaaaaay" *sniff*

NOW we were 100% sure. A friend of  Brooks' x-rayed it to confirm the break (I'm tellin' ya, after the gameboy, I already knew!) and Brooks was able to do his FIRST cast. (I think Brooks was a teeny bit excited.....in a weird way.....that it was actually a break so he could try his hand at putting on a cast)

The cast doesn't bother Emerson yet. He DID say that when he takes it off in 3 weeks that a "whole ocean is going to spill out" because of all his sweat though. (This coming from a kid who HAS to sleep with his shirt off.)

And the cast has proven to calm Kellyn down quite a few times. She just loves to bang on it.

We played 4-square last night for the Family Home Evening game and Emerson loved his new "mallot" that he could smack that ball with. I think he'll like the upcoming attention on top of all the extra wins in 4-square.

The ONLY time he has cried/whined since he's had it though was when Bronson told him that when he was sleeping he would sneak over and write with permanent marker on the cast, 

"I love Eleanor"

Yes, it was pretty close to a meltdown.

Our perfect entertainment

The PERFECT entertainment that is stress-free for all of us is something that is outside and not in a public area. I have the most fun when I can let my kids just be kids and not feel like I have to hover and make sure they're acting appropriately.

A nature walk/hike is one of my kids' favorite things to do. We love this place that has so many trails (miles and miles) that we haven't even gone through half of them. 

Last week when we crossed the bridge the kids found a lizard. They chased and chased it and that rascally lizard slipped through everyone's hands. Then Bronson yelled, "I GOT IT!" and he came away with a twitching/wiggling tail of the lizard. Royce thought it was the coolest thing so he ended up getting to keep the nasty tail.

I have to carry Kellyn through the whole hike, but she's a really good sport. This time she just sat and sucked on a sappy pinecone. :)

All the trails have different names. THIS is the trail name I wanted to follow.......for obvious reason.

Flat-tail trail is the one on the left......ya know, the FLAT ONE?!!?!

The one on the right was called "Box Turtle Trail".......so of COURSE we had to go on the uphill one......

it felt like it would never end.

And of course, the name was deceiving. We didn't see ONE turtle.

Before we hike I always tell the rule that we can only go as fast as Royce. On those darn hills Royce was trying his hardest. Aleeya ended up going back and holding his hand to help him.

I never asked the kids to help Royce but I think for them knowing the rule they wanted to make sure Royce stayed up with their pace. It was so cute to see different ones at different times go be with Royce. They were tender moments as a parent to watch.

 By the end he was on Bronson's back.

My three boys.......my two right-handers and my lefty. hahaha

This week we had friends stay with us for 4 days and we ended going BACK to those trails at night. It's where we usually find the toads but this time we also found TWO frogs. Like LEGIT frogs!!!! 

They're little sticky feet were so cool sticking to our fridge.

Aaaaaaaaaaaand, I kind wish Camden put the frog on a different finger for this picture, but whatever.

He had no clue.

Miracles never cease

I tell you what, my little Kellyn Pat does NOT like the water. Never has.

Last week was the FIRST bath I gave her that she wasn't crying through the whole thing. (It may or may not have something to do with the fact that I was feeding her a popsicle during the bath.........but that is COMPLETELY beside the point). She is almost 10 months old. Seriously, it's about time she like her baths. I wondered if she was even RELATED to me. How can a bath-obsessive mom give birth to a water-phobe?

Since I had so much (relative) success with the bath the kids decided it was time to introduce her to the wading pool.

She just loved sitting by the side and smacking the water.

Then she would walk away smiling. 

Seriously guys, HUGE progress.

Then we stuck her in.........she's really thinking about it and wondering how she feels about it.

Good thing she has such a large support group with her in the teeny pool.

I love this picture. Royce and Aleeya actually look quite a bit alike in the this picture.

 My favorite part is Kellyn's sweet hand on the side trying to grab the camera.

 Smiles all around...........except for Kellyn

But seriously, the fact she's not screaming her guts out is huge.

HUGE, I SAY!!!!!

Lake Keokee

A dear friend of mine invited us to their lakehouse for the day w/ a few other families.

My kids were SOOOO excited that RIGHT when we got there they kids threw on life jackets and got right down to playing.

even if they really had no clue how to steer.........

Iris, as usual, latched herself onto some unsuspecting victim (sorry, Jamie!)

(the latch is only severed when we LEAVE!!!!)

 Brooks jumped in and swam over to the island with a young man there.

Brooks told me that when they were swimming over there he asked if the boats would see them swimming and not hit them and Justin looked at Brooks and said, "Oh yea......they'll see YOU!"

Apparently we need a little tan.

 Aleeya jumped on in with our sweet host, Ms. Brenda.

Brooks got on back from the island and insisted Royce get in on the fun. Royce loves water. Like in the bath, wading pool and on the shallow end of the pool...........and that's it. 

Here is Brooks floating away w/ Royce in the kayak SCA-REAMING his guts out.

He did NOT want to go in.

 Brooks just said, "Can you hear something?"

and sailed off.

 Everyone was really over on one dock and knowing Camden, it didn't surprise me that he just went on over to the other vacant dock and sat there fishing.....

 Just by himself for a while.......

Eventually he sat down, propped up the fishing pole on another pole and just sat and chilled.

He cracks me up.

 Then it was time for a boatload to go out w/ the kneeboard. The kids wanted to go out so bad so Bronson, Emerson, Aleeya and Brooks hopped in. Camden hopped in but didn't have a life jacket on. The only one left that fit him was a pink one. 

Let's just say it was reeeeeeeeeeeeally hard to convince him to wear it. But he finally did. (it nearly killed him though)

I wish I sent the camera out with them because apparently they all did really well. Bronson and Camden loved it but Brooks told me he doesn't think they got officially up on their knees. Little Emerson on the other hand got right on up on the kneeboard. I wish I could've seen his smile. 

I bet it was huge.

I stuck  Kellyn down for a nap and was convinced to get Royce to like the water......it took a little effort but I think he started coming around.

(isn't the scenery GORGEOUS?!?!?) The water felt amazing.....like a bath.

Their boat was gone forever, so a few of us "adults" had a Splash Challenge.

They quickly learned that apparently I'm "all talk". But they kept talking about some sort of "pocket" that I needed to find to make my splash bigger. Needless to say, I didn't find it.

 Here's ol' Brooksie coming back from their kneeboarding adventures.

Then it was "Big Mable's" turn to invoke sudden death on us.

I know she LOOKS innocent, but looks can be REAL deceiving.

I finally pried Iris away from her friend to come out with us on the boat. She loved it.

Here's Brooks and I out waiting on Big Mable to get going..........pretty sure I should've taken note of the ominous clouds overhead. It would've at LEAST given me some sense of foreshadow of what was to come.

Mable is ruthless (infact, I'm wondering if that name is even going to be allowed in my house anymore). Immediately my neck, wrists and mostly my abs starting killing me. I sat bounced around in a perma-crunch using abs that do NOT exist and have been blown out 7 different times.

This picture stinks but here is Brooks just laying down next to me in my perma-crunch. If you'll notice our legs he was REALLY trying to push me off.

Okay, okay, I was trying to push him off too. When Mr. Harry (driving the boat) put us in what he calls the "washing machine", I really thought I had Brooks almost shoved off.

Then the spin cycle started turning the other way and well.....

I fell off. Brooks was OBVIOUSLY celebrating.

I was trying SO hard to hold on because I was more afraid of falling off at that speed then I was losing (and that says A LOT!) I tried to brace myself for the fall in protecting my contacts so they wouldn't fall out and when my legs hit its like one leg and knee went one direction and the other kept going with the boat. So with sore arms, sore knee and a wedgie burned in my memory to last a lifetime, I got my old body back in that dern boat.........the official loser.

Then Bronson got one with his friend, Brian. (Bronson is on the right sitting up).

I couldn't get ANY good pictures w/ the boat moving like crazy.

And Bronson celebrates just like his dad when he wins. He was so excited.

Then the storm really started to come overhead

so we started grilling up dinner and stuffed our faces.

Then is started POURING!!!! It was so cool. 

Of course Brooks did what any dad would do when it starts downpouring.....

chucking his kids in the water.

After he threw Aleeya in, someone else pushed Brooks in. But don't feel sorry for them, it was a LOT warmer in the lake then out.

Bronson doing a pretty cool jump.

There were FEW moments she was actually out of the water the whole time we were there. Aleeya is just a little fish.

Royce, on the other hand curled up in a hammock and Mr. Lonnie started singing and swinging the hammock. He was out cold for the rest of dinner and the storm.

I kept running inside to check on Kellyn (she had now been sleeping for 4 hours).....she was STILL asleep, so I came back down only to find out that I missed this!!!!

Bronson had grabbed a piece of hamburger and Brian put it on the fishing pole and he actually got a catfish. I'm not quite sure why Camden is so thrilled since he didn't do a THING to help, but I guess it was bigtime excitement. I was hoping they would catch another one so I could see.....

But this is all Bronson managed to catch.

Royce tried touching him and he kept saying "owie" because that little bugger was pretty spikey.

We finally needed to head home so I went inside and WOKE UP Kellyn (5 hours sleeping inside.....I'm not complaining!) and tried to round up the kiddos in the Yeti.

If you'll notice I have all of TWO pictures of Emerson from the lake and they were right at the beginning. He was just out playing too hard. By the time we needed to go, he kept jumping in and hiding under the docks with a sneaky grin on his face so we wouldn't find him and he could stay there longer. 3 different times we found him hiding under a different place. hahaha

What a fun daytrip.............although the morning after, my biceps/abs/knee beg to differ.

Uh-oh

I have reached a NEW level this week.

My dreams are more frequently interrupting Brooks' sleep.

Let me explain.......... I come from a LONG line of dreamers. Like ya know, back to my mom. She has CA-RAZY dreams (like to the point of getting up, getting ready and leaving for something that isn't even taking place) and thankfully mine aren't to that level.........yet. 

I dream every night. Usually about my fears, my frustrations or anything I recently read in a book or online.

Brooks gets up at 5 and if my dream is about to "end" I wake up and tell him all about it and fall back asleep. I don't usually remember what I tell him.

For example, here are a few from this short week so far:

One night this week I was dreaming about natural disasters (I'm a natural-disaster-phobe) and my house was flooding. I had all the kids in one raft and for some reason Royce was in a single one. In order to save the other kids before something happened to them I had to let go of Royce's raft and let him float away. (MOST of my scary dreams deal with my kids!!!) But for some weird reason I wasn't scared about losing Royce as much as I was worried whoever found him wouldn't know WHO he was because he doesn't really speak words.....like at all. (bless his heart) So I pulled out a sharpie marker and wrote with permanent marker on his arm, 

"R-O-Y-C-E"

so whoever found him would at least know what his name was and he could still grow up with a cool name.

I know, random. I woke up so sorrowful about it all........and heartbroken, really.

(also w/ a resolve to ALWAYS have a sharpie with me)

........And I guess Brooks laughed at it all day at work.

Last night I also dreamed about something scary......well, to me.

I was laying in bed and I saw (in PERFECT detail) above me on the ceiling these two HUGE cochroaches crawling from the light in the middle of the room until they stopped right above my head ready to fall down on me. The thing was, THEY WERE MATING! Did I mention they were huge? Huge roaches should NOT be mating in my house and fall on my head so I jumped out of bed super fast (Brooks said later it was beyond-lightning fast and all he heard was this "swoosh" as I got out of bed) and ran to the light, flipped it on and screamed at Brooks to get the cochroaches out of  our bed. 

He, of course was fast asleep but bolted up and started throwing the sheets and blankets around trying to find the mating roaches I said that dropped in our bed.

Here's the REAL shocker...............

.he didn't find them.

He told me it was just a dream and I should go back to bed.

I laid there incredulous about his claims because I SAW those cochroaches "clear as day".

As soon as those words "clear as day" repeated in my mind, it dawned on me .....

I'm blind as a bat. 

I don't see ANYTHING "clear as day" w/o my glasses on at night.

So, with that, I believed him and went fast back to sleep. (I NEVER have a hard time falling back to sleep, unlike my husband)

Brooks on the other hand was wide awake.

He could've laid there mad, but it turns out he just sat there giggling.

I know it's going to get old to Brooks w/ more and more of my nightly dreams disturbing him at night but hey, he should be REALLY grateful that I don't karate-chop and pull out swords and swing them around while I sleep.......

 like my brother does.

FINALLY

This is the FIRST day (well, it's only 2:00 so maybe it might later?) 

that it has NOT rained or DOWNPOURED in who knows how long!!!!

I really can't remember the last non-rainy day.

I took some great quality pictures w/ my phone of Kellyn sitting in front of the door while it's raining.

It's her favorite thing to do. And entertains her while I make dinner. She loves watching outside but we usually can't leave the door open because of mosquitos. When it's raining they're not flying in (IN MASSES!!!!) so it works out great.

And there IS a reason both of our cars are parked in the grassy area.......actually TWO

You see, it blocks the circle for bikes to ride around in (yes, a very fun activity in the rain)

and you can't park in the basketball court outside or it ruins their game. ;) We're high class.

Miss Kellyn Pat just took 5 steps in a row on Sunday.

By the kids' reaction, you would've thought she won the Nobel Peace Prize.

And WITH all this rain, we've been introduced to extra movies.........

I'm a any-cheezy movie fan so I used my girls as the excuse to get the Barbie 3 Musketeers movie. It's actually my favorite Barbie one, maybe.....

Well in the last scene these ladies are in ballroom dresses w/ weapons and masks on their faces and doing some major whoopin' of bad guys. My kids are SO impressionable that I KNEW after the movie they would act it out...........I came out of the kitchen to this:

I don't know about YOU, but I wouldn't mess with her.

But there's MORE..........she came w/ her friends.....the other "Barbies" 

(seriously, does Royce even have a chance?!?!!)

I love it how Iris even had her horse and they made sure to dress in ballroom dresses. For ONCE Royce isn't dressed up.

And they are SOOOOOO skilled and fast with their weapons that sometimes they just turn to a big blur!!!!

Like I said, don't mess with them.