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.

Good Times with Grandma

My mom came out to visit and meet Declan for the first time. We had lots of fun while she was here. We had Portillo's Italian Beef Sandwiches, Chicago Style hot dogs and sandwiches at Potbelly's. We went to the focean to relax and play in the sand.


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We went downtown to Buckingham fountain, Soldier Field, Sears Tower Sky Deck (I know it is the Willis Tower, but we refuse to call it that), Navy Pier and Memorial Park.

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The kids kept her busy with all their games and I really enjoyed all the chatting we were able to do. She was able to watch Anika fly up to Junior Girl Scouts (post to come) and see her at gymnastics practice. The week went by so quickly; we were sad to see her leave and can't wait until we get together again. Thanks Mom for coming out to see us. You are already missed!

Father and Sons

Adam took Celtin and Lochlan to the Stake Father and Sons camping trip. Celtin loves to go and was so excited and even though this was Lochlan's first time he was also super excited. They slept in the back of the Tahoe and did some hiking and hung out around the campfire. I guess Lochlan got tired, but he didn't want to go to bed yet, so he snuggled up with his pillow and blanket next to the fire. Lochlan loved going hiking and had so much fun choosing which path to take. Now everywhere he goes he says, "We have to take this path." as he points down the grocery store isles or each time we turn down a new street. Declan had to stay home with the girls...maybe he will get to go next year.

I always send the camera with Adam and ask him to get a picture of them together. Last time he didn't take a single picture, so I guess even though he didn't get a group shot I should be happy he actually got the camera out to take these cute photos!

Projects

Both Anika and Celtin had projects due a month before school got out. Celtin made a paper mache Jupiter for his Solar System Unit and Anika made a model of the Shedd Aquarium for her Chicago Landmarks Unit. They had to do research and answer specific questions as well as choose additional interesting facts to share. They both did an excellent job on the projects and, according to their scores, the presentations. I wish some days I could be a fly on the wall to watch how it goes. We are so proud of them both!

1 Month Old

Wow, time really does go by so quickly when you have a newborn. I can hardly believe Declan is a month old. His is now up to 10 lbs 14 ozs and 21.5 inches long. He is still such a good baby and only cries when he is hungry...but if you don't feed him right away, he can throw quite a fit. Here are some of my favorite pictures of him over the past month.