Sick Kid

Maddie got into some sort of poison ivy or poison sumac earlier in the week. Her rash started friday, and has gotten progressively worse.
Last night Maddie woke up itching and upset because of her rash. Martin was sleep walking at the same time, which involves him screaming and yelling and being disoriented. I had to direct him to the bathroom and then back to bed. Caleb also woke up, but he was the least difficult to deal with.

I called the nurse about Maddie's rash and she told us to come in to see the doctor. So that is where we went.
The Doctor prescribed prednisone, as well as a topical steroid cream and hydrocortisol for her face. The prednisone is disgusting, and she has to take it twice a day so Maddie gets icecream after her medicine. Two small ice cream cones twice a day for 5 days.
hopefully that is a prescription for a content little girl.

We will feed her lots of vegetables next week to make up for the nutritional shortfall.

The itching should go away in 24 hours.

Good thing I haven't had the baby (due today!) because Grandma and Grandpa would have a much more difficult time figuring out how to take her to the doctor and get prescriptions, etc.

Swimming

It is Summertime. It go up to 80 this week! So we have started swimming. The water is still pretty cold, but the kids still have fun. Caleb threw rocks in the water.

Martin and Maddie looked for shells.

pictures

Caleb's Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday Caleb!

Caleb had a dragon party. there was a dragon cake, and the only game was "find the dragon" which was really everyone wandering around looking for Maddie dressed up in her dragon costume.

ZOO!

We went to the Zoo today. Martin is a great brother and plays very well with Caleb.

Caleb likes to dance and play around. He is holding a bag of grapes which he did not share very well.

Everyone climbed on the giant tortoise statue.

We rode on the carousel and the zoo train. Martin and Maddie rode in the coal car.

After the Zoo, we went 'wading' at the lake near the zoo. Maddie got completely wet and had to be carried most of the way back to the car. Everyone had fun and I got in a little strength training.

All day long Maddie has been climbing every tree that she can find. She is probably immitating the animals from the zoo.

She seems to have a similar expression on her face everytime she is in a tree. I wonder what she is pretending to be. I am sure that her little mind is a very interesting and exciting place to be.

mothers' day cards

So here are the card I received from my kids for Mothers' Day.

Dear Mom, You Rock!!
My mom rocks because...
She keeps me healthy
She takes me to fun places
She is kind to me
She lets me play video games
She lets me watch TV shows with guns in them
Love,
Martin

My Mom and I...
My Mom and I play board games
My Mom and I eat cucumbers
My Mom and I go to Plant
My Mom and I watch Nature
My Mom and I read Star books
My Mom and I like to Play!!!
Happy Mothers' Day
from: Martin

My Mom and I...
My Mom and I play Mermaids
My Mom and I eat Macaroni
My Mom and I go to swimming
My Mom and I watch Nature
My Mom and I read books
My Mom and I like to go on picnics
Happy Mothers' Day!
from Maddie

Caleb also made a little flower with his picture on it.
Maddie made me a tissue paper rose.

My kids think a lot, and I can figure out what they like about me from what they write or tell other people to write. Everyone enjoys watching Nature, and It looks like Martin enjoys our little outings a lot. The "tv show with guns in them" refers to The A-team.

Walk

We went for a walk today. Everyone had fun.

Martin and Maddie found a side trail that led to a sandy beach. They had lots of fun exploring it. They called it their "secret beach"

There are stepping stones across the stream. In the summer there is very little water, but as you can see there was a lot of water today.

Here is an excerpt from a conversation between Ben and Martin this afternoon.

Ben: You need to stop teasing Maddie and Caleb.
Martin: but it's my hobby.

atypical day

This afternoon Caleb was playing in the playroom all by himself. "Wow, independant play" I thought, "I will just listen to him and I will not interrupt his creative independant time".
Well, about 10 minutes later he comes to get me, all covered in flour. Then he showed me his beautiful creation, 2 bags of flour poured out on the floor. So much for independant play.
I think I will interrupt his creativity from now on.









We got some serious rain this evening. There was hail, and then it all let up for a bit and the kids splashed in the giant puddle of rain water in the backyard. They started out wearing boots, but it was about 60 degrees and pretty humid, so the boots came off right away. Martin found a piece of wood for a boat and put clothes pins on it. No one needed a shower before bedtime.

I made a hammock and put it up today. Maddie spent most of the afternoon in it.

Caleb has enjoyed playing with the Boggle game. He likes to play with letters and pretend to name them. He can count to 3, though I am sure he doesn't really know what it means.

Martin has a cool new talent. He can jump on a POGO stick! we found this at a yard sale saturday and have already gotten our $1 out of it. The school has pogo sticks in gym class, so Martin has been wanting one for a while. He is pretty good.

Typical Week

This week was pretty uneventful. On Monday the kids found a great looking bike rack.

Maddie helped to get compost. She loved the giant pile of dirt.
She was less enthusiastic about helping to put the compost in the garden, but she does like the garden, especially the rhubarb.

We went for another walk along a bike trail. The kids threw rocks in the water, and Caleb used the binoculars to look for birds. There were indian mounds in the area, but we weren't able to find them.