Road Trip to Texas

The kids and I just returned from a 9 day trip back to Texas. Just us, C stayed here for work. I am very proud of how well the kids handled the trip! They just clicked with how they had to behave with only me driving 14 hours home...only me on potty stops....I'm just puffed up with pride in their behavior. Of course when we got home they started their usual shenanigans....but man, they really shine when it counts!

We stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge one night, spent time with Andria and her kids (thank you for the hospitality!), hung out with the bluebird "gang" (all the little boys from our old street) and spent a few nights there, saw our favorite babysitter (who gave me the time to get a pedicure and have a dinner out with girlfriends!!) and we spent a very fun night with Holly and her kids. I SO enjoyed the company of my friends!! We all did.

Sunday we got to spend the whole day swimming with our family in Keller. The kids had a great time and Collin fell in love with snorkeling. Justin has mastered diving to the bottom of the deep end, and Blaire decided to jump off the diving board! It was a very nice, relaxing day.

Our drive home was nice. We did 9 hours the first day and 4.5 on Thursday. The kids were cooperative and made our stops short and sweet. I did get pulled over for speeding in Texas (the SHAME!)and Collin burst into tears asking "are you getting arrested?"!! Fortunately the trooper was kind and I got a warning. I haven't been pulled over in well over 10 years, so I was mortified. The kids will be glad to give you the full story. They have told everyone they have seen since then. Boogers.

Thanks to Andria, Carrie and Holly for the meals and places to rest our sleepy heads. Thanks to Emily for watching my kids so I could work on the flower beds at our TX hous. Thanks to everyone who made time in their very busy summer schedules to see us! We miss all our friends and family in Texas, and were so glad to see you all again! And thanks to Drew for joining us on the ride out to TX.

K

Great Wolf Lodge



C @ the park




Pool cue chalk, or makeup?


My bunch with a's


Carousel:






Justin and his best friend, Zach


Swimming @ the grandparents:




The super snorkeler:


deep diver:




Big girl:


BRAVE girl!


With Blue:




Sir Collin the knight:

Collin's first tball game...

Collin has started his first season of tball......he's the youngest on his team, and isn't quite sure about the whole thing yet. He likes batting...he just isn't sure if the other parts of the game are worth his time. :)

But the snacks...those are definitely worth his time!!

K

continuing the cooking tactic...

Letting CJ cook worked so well, I let J take charge of a side dish tonight.
He made Pioneer Woman's "Crash Hot Potatoes". Delicious! We had them with a peppercorn pork tenderloin and broccoli. Everyone is happy.

I posted just to point out her blog. Her recipes are amazing. As is her photography. And her wit.
Enjoy!
www.thepioneerwoman.com

and the potato recipe:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/

Yum, again.
K

How to survive the summer, Part I.

Allow your 4 year old to cook dinner. Actually, invite your 7 year old to cook as well.....but it's just not his thing.
Collin is still in love with Ratatouille. So on this, our ninemillionth day of quarantine (ok, technically it was 3 days last week...and we are on day 4 this round...) I decided to appeal to his love of all things culinary to keep him from climbing the walls.

After naps, I asked him to make us Pepperoni rolls (all Aggies say, YUM, Double Daves!) for dinner. I set out the sauce, pepperoni, crescent rolls and cheese....and showed him how to make one. Then I went about my business.....he was in HEAVEN!!!

So, chilling in the fridge we have 16 pepperoni rolls ready to be toasted up for dinner shortly. And one very proud four year old!

I think we'll try risotto tomorrow. Actually, I'm hoping tomorrow the rash has faded enough that the kids can tolerate a bit of sun and heat....but I think I'm just hoping. They are still really rashy.

Happy Summer!
Kelly

Oh fifth disease....how I hate you.

Fifth (or fifths....the name seems inconsistent....so maybe I'll just call it Parvo...) disease has reared it's ugly head again in this household.

Back story.....when I was pregnant with Blaire (which was a bit of a surprise in itself....) I had progesterone issues. So she worried us the first 12 weeks. When we got to that point, we were very relieved. So we told our children, friends and family.

The next week, I found out I had been exposed to fifth disease. I had kept my friend's son for the night......bathed him, etc.....so I was pretty exposed! So off we go to the doctor to have titers run. Of course, fifths isn't like being exposed to German Measles or something that horrible....but after the previous weeks of worry....I was very anxious.

Two loooong weeks later, the results came back that I had previously had fifths...as a lot of people have. It's a very common childhood illness. So all was well. Justin got it a few weeks later, no big deal. And, as you know...Miss B arrived happy and healthy and ready to boss us all around.

Fast forward to present day. Last week, Collin got pinkeye. We had drops phoned in and I kept the kids in all week. Friday we had a culdesac party to celebrate the last day of school. Collin was symptom free and had been on drops for 4 days. So he was in the clear. We had a great time, visiting with our neighbors.

Blaire and Collin both had a bit of flush friday night.....but specifically NOT on their cheeks (fifths is referred to as "slapped cheek disease")....it was across their noses and below their eyes. Like a sunburn. As our culdesac party started @ 4pm....I thought they were flushed from heat. Heaven knows it wasn't actual sunburn, since I'm a sunscreen freak. Anyhow, kids were put to bed...and eventually, so were the adults.

Saturday, we wake up to Blaire with raging pinkeye, and both Collin and Blaire with that "sunburn" look times ten. But it still wasn't the "slapped cheeks" hallmark of fifths. We got in with our new pediatrician's office. I had both kids looked over, the pinkeyes and the rash. The doctor said, well...it looks like a viral rash, but it doesn't look like fifths. Just let it run it's course. Ok.

By Sunday afternoon, it was unfortunately clear that it IS fifths disease. This is a very long story to get to one point, sorry. One of our neighbors....with whom we hung out all afternoon and night on Friday, is pregnant. Nearly 16 weeks pregnant. So, talk about a phonecall I didn't want to make today!

I didn't call on Sunday, because I didn't want to freak her out....and her not be able to reach her OBGYN, and start googling. Because I know when I was in her shoes, the internet scared me to death, and the physician was like, "it's not a big deal". So I waited until today (Monday) to call. Based on what our pediatrician said, she should be in the clear, as the kids had the rash Friday (though we didn't know that's what it was!) and fifths is only contagious BEFORE symptoms appear. I HATE illnesses like that. Where your child can be spreading the love before you have any idea they HAVE germs to share!!!

So, hopefully the odds are good that this won't cause problems for our dear neighbor. She's been a teacher for many years, so we have our fingers crossed that this wasn't her first exposure. Hopefully her titers will show she's resisitant, and it will be a non issue.

Keep her in your thoughts. I'm sure she's very worried...and for once I can say I know exactly how she feels. And I feel horrible because we exposed her. Just horrible. I wish I could make this go away for her.

I do tend to be a sliver lining kind of gal.....and at least now I will be able to 100% reassure Princess B when she is pregnant that she is a-ok when it comes to fifths disease exposure. She had a rip-roaring case of it at 18 months.

She has the worst of it, Collin's is much milder. Sun and heat make it worse, naturally....which is fun since school is out for summer!! Hopefully in a week or so the rash will be behind us, we'll be at the pool, and good news will be had in regards to our neighbor.

Take care -

K