Special treatment!

It's hard to see, but the engineer is waving at us. Gave us a few whistle blows, too. Guess driving alongside him for a few miles was a clue the kids were enamored. The kids loved it!

Watching the train

Quite a thrill for our kids!

Micah checking on his sister

He cares, she's the one who feeds him the good stuff and teaches him "cool" things!

Selah and her clothes

She got a new swimsuit tonight- and she's not letting it out of her sight!

Going for a record

Took the stitches out of Mr Micah's forehead yesterday (as you can see it looks pretty good!) So today we are at the Urgent Care thanks to a pair of scissors to his leg.

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Noah's the first to get stung

Surprisingly, Jonah's almost 10 and has never had a bee sting! Noah got one today at the park. He was actually stung twice, once under the eye and once above. Bryan said he thought it was a yellow jacket. And I'm relieved to see a very mild reaction- no anaphylaxis this time around!

Poor Micah

Miss Selah hit poor Mr Micah in the mouth with a pair of handcuffs and split his lip. He just can't catch a break...and im running out of kitchen washclothes to ruin! (Because of the blood.)

Our new friend "Nobody" is up to no good!

Selah's feet AFTER I cleaned them up!

Father's Day 2011

I took the kids and had some pictures done for Father's Day this year. It was the first time doing professional pictures since Micah was 3 days old. And, since I was surprising Bryan with them, I had to do it all alone. It was rough! But, we not only survived, we actually got a few good ones!

My Favorite
Jonah- 9.5   Noah-5.5   Selah-2.5   Micah-18 months

Micah

Selah

Jonah

Noah

I am not at all a fan of fake backgrounds. They insisted. Not bad, but would be tons better with a different background!

Are you kidding me?

Love that little face!

Thinking about trouble.

Trying SO hard to behave.

I love the boys in this, but Selah is just goofy looking.
Jonah looks all grown up.

Again, Selah's ruined it. She was trying to catch bubbles they were blowing.

The best we got. I was pretty disappointed, but they weren't terrible overall.

Sergeant Jonah



<>

Are we done, yet?



I'm done, I don't know about you.

MOM!!! Make them stop! I said please and they didn't listen!!

Sweet  Sergeant Noah

So grown up.

Unnaturally angelic looking. As if.

We aren't seriously going through this again, are we?

This is ridiculous!

Seriously. I'm done.

We ended up giving Bryan this picture framed with a border around it that said
My Dad, My Hero along the top and
We want to be just like you when we grow up!
along the bottom. Wasn't perfect, but we tried!

11 years

Bryan and I kind of have two anniversaries. We weren't able to get a marriage license in Ohio before our wedding, so we got married in California (where we were living) first and then went to Ohio for the wedding. And then Miss Selah came along on our wedding anniversary. SO, we kind of, sort of, celebrate both. But it really means we get confused and don't REALLY celebrate either.

This year we did get a babysitter and go out to dinner, completely alone. We went to Andiamo in downtown Detroit on the river. It was very nice and the food was excellent. I would highly recommend it. Especially the chocolate brownie-mousse-ganache thing they have. HEAVENLY.

I'm wearing 5 inch heels, Bryan's barefoot. Guess I'll never be taller than he is.

YAY, BRYAN!

(I think I forgot to post this...but if I did already post, sorry for the repeat.)

Bryan finished his Master's degree in Economics back in December, and his diploma finally came in the mail as we didn't make it to Commencement. The graduation was an all day affair, and with 4 kids and only one car either he went alone (seemed a bit pointless) or we all went...for the whole day. Unfortunately, it was doubtful that the kids and I would enjoy any of the experience- if we even got to experience it. Seems like by the time they actually did the graduating, we would have been sitting in the car.

We're very proud of him and hopefully he'd rather have us than get to walk at commencement!

Micah's Turn!!!!

WARNING: Pictures contained in this post may be semi-disturbing for those with weak stomachs.

Contains blood.

Mr. Micah has a cold. And has been a bit grumpy because he isn't feeling well. He also isn't sleeping well thanks to said cold. (Perhaps it's a "hot" instead of a "cold" since it's summer?)

This morning, after having been whining in his sleep last night, he got up at 6:00 sharp. Always the best when you've gone to bed after midnight (me, not him). So, neither one of us was in the best of moods. But, we had some out of town company to distract us today. Uncle Mike was visiting Aunt Pat and GG from FL and they all made a quick jaunt up to MI (from OH) to see us! We were having tons of fun, and I thought I would go grab a quick run before it got hot since they were forecasting 100* today. (In MI! And yes, We did hit 100 and set a new record high!)

So I am just about to put on my shoes, when Micah comes in the kitchen, I hear a thunk and then crying. Not horrendous screaming, just normal "I'm grumpy and I bumped my head" kind of crying. I calmly walk over to him and pick him up, only to see the blood dripping onto the floor. Of course terror always seizes a mother's heart in the moment between knowing this could be very bad and actually identifying where the blood is coming from and that all limbs and teeth are still attached and accounted for. Oh, and the eyes, let's not forget the eyes. I'll stop, as I'm making myself queasy here.

First glance, mouth is not what's bleeding. All teeth are intact, and tongue and lips are still in once piece as God intended. Whew.

Gaze moves further up the face, not the nose. Momentary relief followed by....uh-oh. There's a lot of blood here, if it's not the nose, it must be the...EYES?!?!?

WHEW. NOPE.

So that leaves the...yep. Forehead. And that much blood coming from the forehead can mean only one thing...

This one's going to need to be stitched.

Mr. Micah at 7:45 this morning, just moments after having his face cleaned up. Really, doesn't look too bad. Until you think of the scar that will leave if not treated.

Well, there were a few giant blessings this morning in dealing with this. The first is that my family was here visiting so I not only had a car to use (as Bryan was 30-45 min away at work) but I also had 3 capable adults to leave the other 3 kids with! (Can you even imagine how bad the experience would have been taking all the kids in to have Micah stitched?)The second was that I had convinced Bryan not to throw away the extra carseat chilling in the garage, so I didn't have to drive not only illegally but also unsafely with a child not in a carseat! The third is that Bryan called as I was leaving to say that he was coming home to work at home today as the A/C wasn't working in the office (remember the 100* discussion above). This is particularly significant as I had offered to watch a friend's four kids while she went to a dr appt this morning. I felt less stressed knowing that Bryan was there and there were now 4 capable adults to mind 7 children until I got there. And fourth would be that I had not yet left on my run! I never take my cell and probably wouldn't have even thought about it this morning.  That would have been horrible for everyone!

Doesn't seem so bad when you realize all the things that went right!!

Mr. Micah on the way to Urgent Care realizing his head really does hurt!

Looking a little worse for the wear waiting for the doctor, having given his head a couple rubs.

All stitched up and headed back home...and making sure the invisible man next to him isn't going to steal his treat!
Got himself his first sucker and I was in a panic with him holding it while I was driving. I am so afraid him choking while I am driving, but he wasn't really eating it anyway, just holding it.

The finished product. 3 stitches later and he's almost as good as new. Scars build character and make great conversation pieces anyway...right? RIGHT?? As a mom, it's hard to see my still perfect and smooth baby's face marred but it's all a part of growing up...plus, it could have been far worse- see above.

And, to conclude, yes, stitching the face of a 19-month-old is a very unpleasant task. Actually, I do believe the doctor had it the easiest. He just wrapped him up in a sheet so he (in theory) couldn't move and then made the nurse hold his head still and me pin down the rest of him. FUN TIMES, let me tell you. And saying he screamed would be quite an understatement. Luckily, there was only on other patient waiting to be seen, and she was very sympathetic to the poor little guy when we left. Glad there weren't any kids in there waiting, they would have likely left. With or without their parents.

OH! The story!! Not so interesting but he wasn't even running. He has a toy car that he (or someone else) had pushed across the floor and he chased. It stopped at the kitchen island. He bent down to pick it up- and apparently misjudged the size of his head. (In his defense, it is quite large.) He smacked his head on the edge of the island which appears to be quite sharp! So you can't even blame it on anything that he shouldn't have been doing. It was just one of those things.

Glad we have that behind us, now I just ask for your prayers that we avoid infection...not ready for that experience already again! (Doctor said 5% become infected and oral antibiotics used to prevent the infection have not been proven to make any difference at all. In other words, not only is there nothing really we can do to prevent an infection, but there likely wasn't anything we could have done differently with Jonah a couple months ago to avoid it either. So, that leaves prayer!)

Always be aware...

Or the little 2 might decide to replant, or was it unplant, the plants. Hope they had fun!

Scientists

Jonah had found a tremendous interest in his microscope this week. And he has been concocting experiments to investigate under the microscope. Most of which have been mixed things from the fridge. Here he is, preparing himself to try one of these experiments. I believe this concoction was aloe vera juice, water, cherry juice, and chicken stock! This was by far the most mild, as he then started adding lemon juice, milk, chocolate syrup, and A1, just to name a few!

Coffee thief!

Luckily we drink decaf around here-could you imagine???

Sweet baby

Fish update

Meant to do this sooner, thanks for the reminder, Jamie! Well, the extra food didn't seem to harm the fish, so we thought we were good. And Bryan switched containers and cleaned the bowl, added fresh water and conditioner and was letting it sit for a bit. A few hours later, he went to transfer the fish- who,of course, flopped out into the sink. So Bryan tries to block off the garbage disposal with his hand, and the fish JUMPS over his hand...into the disposal. Bryan goes to get some tongs to get him out, and the drawer is stuck. So he goes to find something else by the stove...and the dishwasher starts draining. HOT water, of course. Well, he immediately turned on the cold water, stuck his hand in and got the fish out. But, it seems the damage had been done. He laid on the bottom of the bowl the rest of the day and then was found floating on the top upside down the next morning. Poor
fish.

Visitors!

My parents came up to visit this weekend, and boy did the kids have a blast! Here's a quick snapshot of Micah and Grandpa cracking up about something!