Thirty Five...EEK!

So this last weekend was my birthday and I turned 35...I am not that old am I? Most days I don't feel that old and I like to think I don't look that old. :) I can remember thinking 30 was old and now I can't even see 30 in my rear view mirror. I know that I still have plenty of great, hopefully healthy, years ahead of me. What I am really worried about is whether turning 35 means I actually have to start acting my age. :) Adam and the kids spoiled me with perfume, my favorite treats and a shopping trip for some new clothes! Yay!

Anika watched the boys so we could go out to dinner at a fancy restaurant (thanks mom for the groupon!) and then we went to a free country concert downtown. It was so fun!!

We took advantage of the great weather and took the kids to the KC Zoo. It is a huge Zoo...200 plus acres, so there was lots of walking. We bought an annual pass so that we didn't feel like we had to get to everything in one day. It is a good thing we did because the kids were pretty tired after walking about half the zoo. I'll be honest my legs and ankles were pretty sore too...next time maybe I need to leave the flip flops home and bring tennis shoes! :)

We decided to get a giant pizza for dinner and have Root Beer Floats for dessert! It was a wonderful weekend and definitely made turning 35 feel pretty darn great!

Fireflies and CrAzY Frogs!

We are so happy to see fireflies again...love the little flickers of light from these guys at dusk...they make me smile! The kids love running around catching them, it is nearly impossible for me to get pictures since they are always on the move. I will have to try again next time. I did snap one of Anika; she caught several and put them in a container. Declan accidentally let them all go before I could take a picture.

Got a video of a couple crazy frogs that were hopping around on our back deck the other day. ;) They loved the rainy, warm weather and were a couple of the cutest frogs I have ever seen!

Burr Oak Woods

We decided to do a little exploring over the 4th of July weekend and headed to a local conservation area. First things first the kids found some good climbing trees right next to the parking lot. Anika has always loved climbing trees, spending a good part of every day in the nearest climbing tree. Sadly our current house doesn't have any trees big enough for her to climb. :( We have tons of trees across the street...but she hasn't found a good one. The boys have definitely followed in her footsteps and I think they would have been happy to go there just for the tree climbing! :)

Next we headed to the Burr Oak Woods Nature Center that was filled with all sorts of information about local wildlife and plant species. There were also live animals so the kids could see them up close and a tree fort, slide and hollow log to play in.

Next we headed out to the Bethany Falls trail which was a 1.3 mile loop. The hike was pretty easy, but it was hot and we didn't see much wildlife or water so the kids were getting a little bored...that is until we reached the middle section of the trail that takes you past a bunch of limestone boulders! The kids loved climbing up the crevices and jumping from one boulder to the next. We also found a thick vine that everyone took turns trying to climb....Anika was the most successful one making it up about 15 feet. (In my defense I was in super slippery flip flops) We all had fun and will definitely go back to this trail and try some of the others. Sorry for the picture overload...it was just such a pretty area and I LOVE taking pictures of my kids! :)

Meet Jace

We went to look at a dog Anika found online at a local shelter and she fell head over heals.  He is a one year old Schnauzer mix. His personality is so sweet and super crazy and the kids all adore him. He follows Anika around constantly...when she lays down he lays down, if she gets up he gets up. The second morning we had him she put on his harness and he ran to the front door for a walk, she wanted to get dressed first so I took him out for a minute, but 20 seconds later he headed right back to the door and sat and waited for Anika to come out. Once she took the leash he happily trotted off with her. It is crazy how quickly they have become attached! He loves to play tug and chase balls, but he doesn't really know any commands...or his name yet for that matter. They named him Jase at the shelter...Anika liked it and wanted to keep it but insisted we change the spelling to Jace. :)
The following afternoon she went over to a friends house (strangely the pest control guy sent them our way...he is from St George and noticed our Utah license plates and asked if we were Mormon, then later was talking to another family around the corner who are also LDS...so they decided to come over and say hi. They have 6 kids including a 12 year old daughter, 9 year old son and 4 year old daughter. Anika and Makayla (their 12 year old) seem to have hit it off and have been hanging out several days each week. Celtin and their 9 year have played a few times and he is just as into Minecraft as Celtin so they too are becoming friends and of course Lochlan loves to play with anyone and has enjoyed playing with their 4 year old, although he says "I really want to make a friend my age that is a boy.") 
Anyway when she left he scratched at the window and whined for her to come back...Now whenever she leaves unless you call him or are actively playing with him he scratches for a second then curls up at the front door and waits for her to return. He will play with anyone, but clearly Anika is his favorite.

ER Visit/Fathers Day

Friday I noticed Declan had a little cough, but I didn't think too much of it, then on Saturday evening he started running a fever that quickly shot up above 102 degrees. Because he was under two months they wanted us to take him over to the ER. Carli was kind enough to come over and watch the kids so Adam could go with me and Declan to the ER.

• They gave him ibuprofen to bring down the fever.
• He had a chest x-ray where he had to sit in the Pigg-O-Stat; it looks like some sort of medieval torture device, but is ultimately just an immobilizer and positioner. He did awesome and only cried a little.
• They drew his blood...stuck him in the arm and dug around for quite a while before they gave up and went and got a pediatric nurse to draw blood from the top of his foot OUCH! He screamed bloody murder through most of that ordeal.
• Gave him Tylenol because his fever still was not down.
• Waited and waited for him to leave a urine sample in the little bag, but ended up having to use a catheter which didn't faze him.
• All the tests came back normal and his fever had come down, but they wanted to admit him to the hospital for overnight observation....so at 3:30AM Adam went home to relieve Carli.
• Declan and I rode in an ambulance to the hospital (not out of necessity, just out of policy) where we explained the whole story to the nurse, then tried to sleep; an hour later the in hospital pediatrician came in and examined him and we went over the whole story again. Then we tried to sleep for another hour or two until our pediatrician came in and checked him and we went over the story one last time.
• His fever had stayed down enough so they discharged us that afternoon.

He continued to run a fever for a few days and his cough and congestion got a little worse then he started getting better. All of that and it was just a virus...I know it is better to be safe than sorry and I really am so glad that it turned out to be just a virus.
Needless to say Fathers day was pretty low key. Adam and the older kids picked us up at the hospital Sunday afternoon and we went home and sat around the house; we were so tired that not much else was going to happen. Adam did at least get to open presents! He is such a great husband and father and hope he knows how much we all appreciate him.

Goodbye Brownies...Hello Junior Girls Scouts

Anika has enjoyed being a Brownie for the past couple of years and she is so excited for the adventures that await her as a Junior Girl Scout. She was super excited when she drew the American flag paper which meant she got to carry the American flag in their last flag ceremony as Brownies. After that the girls had a flying up ceremony where they each received their Junior vests and wings. We are so proud of her and all her hard work!
I became an assistant leader this past year and have had so much fun watching her try new things and earn lots of patches. We can't wait to see what her troop leader has planned for next year.