Memorial Day Weekend Trip

 We had a wonderful weekend at our friends' house in Virginia.  Brian and I got to see our godson.  We hung out, went to Mass together, and went to a party too.  I didn't get much sleep since the adults stayed up talking to the wee hours of the morning, but it was worth it.  We miss them so much already!

Drew quickly raided the dress up stuff.

Didn't realize until looking at these pictures later that our godson's face is hard to see in these pictures.

See the brotherly love!

The line for the microwave to have a mac-n-cheese snack between Mass and the party.

At the party, we got to have our first swim of the summer.  The kids had to be drug out of the water at the end of the party.  They swam for hours!  Judah didn't swim this time.  Brian and I took turns in the water so he could hang out on dry land.  The water was a bit cold, but once you got used to it it wasn't bad.

Even after I got him out of the pool and in dry clothes, he was still wanting to wear those goggles.

Judah's Talents: At Just Over 9 Months

(Update on Judah:  I wrote the rest of this post before he got sick.  He had a really rough night.  I had to hold him all night long.  He slept very fitfully.  At 11pm, I was thinking I was going to have to go to the emergency room any minute because his breathing was so labored and he was wheezing loudly.  I had my hand on his chest so I could see if it got any worse at all.  Suddenly at 11:30 his breathing quieted and he fell asleep mid cry.  He was sleeping hard enough for me to put him next to me in bed for 2 hours.  His fever broke and he was sweating.  When he awoke at 1:30am he was upset, but not as barky in his cry and cough.  The rest of the night he was restless, but seemed like his breathing was much better.  Brian took a shift with him at 4:30am so I could get a little sleep.  He still had no fever this morning and was even playing a little.  We felt the prayers.  Thank you!)

This boy has some crazy dexterity.  He can pick up the tiniest things.  The other day I caught him picking up a Nerd and transferring to his other hand while studying it.  Do you know how small those candies are?  He spots these things from across the room too.  He's got the eye of a tiger.  If you see him belly surfing down the hallway at an alarming pace, it very well means that there is something tiny that he spotted from far away and he is trying to beat me there.  I pull something out of his mouth most days at least once no matter how carefully I check the floor when putting him down.  He gets things out of corners and behind the fridge too.  I guess he is trying to get me to have a cleaner house.  I have to admit my house is no spotless palace since homeschooling and surviving has to take preference over deep cleaning.

He's pulling up a lot now.

Judah has been repeating some words (not every time.)  Mama, Dada, and All done.

Our bath tub is leaking water so Judah's been kitchen sinking it.

I had quite the helper while unloading the groceries.

One was unloading and shaking things till they opened, and the other was eating the opened food as fast at he could.

This week Drew has been talked into calling him Benny by Genna.  I keep telling them it isn't fair to do that.  Technically, I would have the most sway and I'm not abusing my power.  :)  Isaac waffles often, but Hannah and our friends are still on the Judah side

Pray for Judah

Yesterday Judah started coughing a bit, just a normal kid cough.  He didn't eat his solids as well.  I had a gut feeling he was getting sick.  By the evening he wouldn't let me put him down and he started to run a fever.  I wrapped him up on me and gave him some Tylenol.  When he went to bed, I noticed his cough was getting barkier and deeper.  Isaac and Drew had recently had very barky coughs with no other real symptoms.  I never worried about them.  However, I had a nagging feeling after I nursed him at 10:30pm that this was more serious than that.  I kept thinking croup.

At 5am, I awoke to Judah waking up and have crying, half coughing.  It sounded really bad, like wake up your husband for a second opinion and a calm down talk kind of bad.  He was also burning up.  I gave him more medicine for the fever, and then I nursed him.  Brian and I both felt he needed to be seen by a doctor today so I called the line and got a 2pm appointment.  Turns out I had the right instincts, but the wrong diagnosis.  His heart rate was 180 while he was laying his head down on my shoulder.  He had a chest x-ray (those hold the baby still for an x-ray contraptions are pure torture if you've never experienced that before) that confirmed the doctor's suspicions.  He has pneumonia.  I was sent home after 2.5 hours at the doctor with antibiotic and strict instructions to go to the ER immediately if his breathing gets any more labored or he refuses to nurse.  I'll be sleeping right next to that sweet baby's crib tonight to keep watch.

My heart just hurts so much for him.  He is miserable and sounds it every time he makes a noise.  My heart goes out to all the mothers who have chronically sick children.  It is so hard to watch them hurt.

Clark Kent Prays the Our Father

I was praying with Drew while I rubbed Vicks on his chest before bed.  I usually let him fill in the blanks when I say the prayers he is supposed to know.  (All my other kids could say them all by now, but he can just fill in the blanks...when he feels like it.)  Well, I said, "Give us this day, our daily,"  (pause.)  Drew chimes in with, "Planet."  Daily Planet?  I guess the kid is a bit superhero obsessed, huh?

Mother's Day!

I know this is late, but that's how it's been going lately.  I had a lovely and relaxing day.  We went to Mass and to an azalea garden in the morning.  In the afternoon, I opted for a nap and we ordered Chinese food.  I didn't want to wait forever for a table at a restaurant like we have every other year on Mother's Day.  Of course, I didn't want to cook.  Brian's not the biggest fan of Chinese food so I picked it because it's not something we get often.

My gifts included real flowers, a duct tape flower with a duct tape vase, a duct tape wallet and a duct tape bookmark.  Brian also ordered me tags to sew onto my creations (quilts, etc.) that say, "Sewn with love by Kelle."  That was quite an unexpected and extremely thoughtful gift!  I promptly sewed it onto the back of Genna's quilt and will be sewing onto all the kid's blankets and quilts soon that I made.  Yay!

First Communion: The actual day!

The day was a beautiful one!  Everything went pretty smoothly on our end, minus the small flood in our unfinished basement the night before.  I didn't even feel super rushed in the morning.  We had friends staying with us and so the kids were all up early because they were so excited to play.  It was a little like Cheaper by the Dozen in our house in the morning, but without the frog.  We gave Genna her crucifix in the morning so she could wear it.

Hannah was super happy for her sister.  She's not so much a hugger, so this was huge!

Our Pew

The reception was held at the Izaak Walton Leaugue Chapter house.  Brian is a member.  We went late the night before to set up.  I forgot to get a picture of the room with all the decor.  We had vases with lemons or limes mixed with silk white flowers (and filled with water) on each table.

A series of events prevented us from getting a family photo with everyone.  Several kids went to the potty when I was getting a picture of Genna with Brian and I before he left.  Brian had to leave immediately to go to open the reception hall.  Then Judah crashed in the car on the way to the reception so this was as close to a family picture we got on the day.

The reception was in honor of Genna and her friend Catalina.  I love this picture!

Genna chose the cake from several I had on my Pinterest board for me to make.  The cross is vanilla and the bottom rectangle is chocolate.

The cake turned out better than I expected since that was my first shot at using gum paste and making lilies.  I tried to make a bow out of the gum paste, but I wasn't as pleased with it so I threw it away and covered the wire stems with the pink flowers to add some color.  The pink flowers are just buttercream icing.

The white swirls on the border of the cross turned out nicely too.  They were the hardest part as far as my hands were concerned.  Squeezing out a continuous line through such a small tip is painful.

In this picture you can see some of the love I put into the cake with each pearl placed ever so carefully in each piped dot and in the center of each pink flower.

The next morning after Mass we got to get a picture of her in front of her banner.

We are so happy for our sweetheart!  May God bless her and keep her close always!

Brothers

Genevieve's Birthday Deal

As I mentioned before, Genna and I made a deal concerning her birthday.  No party, but I'd take her to the American Girl restaurant to eat lunch with two friends of her choice.  They had to be home schooled friends since it was during the week.  Who wants to brave that store on a Saturday?  Brian was able to take off a day of work and stay with the boys.  I even timed it so Judah could stay with him.  The girls had a blast!   We listened to Genna's new Frozen CD all the way there and all the way back.  I am still singing all the songs 24 hours a day, yes, even in my sleep.

They were super excited about the doll highchairs.

Funny moment:  The girls all had to go to the bathroom after pink lemonades at the same time.  I was left in charge of all the dolls...babysitting.  They came rushing back to get their dolls to go with them since apparently there are places to hang your dolls while you go potty and while you wash your hands.  So fun!

And feeding their dolls was fun!

My favorite was the conversation starters in a box on the table.

Each meal came with an appetizer.  Fancy fruit fondue for 3 girls.  Pretzel bites for one and spinach and artichoke dip for me.

Brownie Pops for dessert