camping

We were excited to go on our first camping trip of the summer. It is also the first camping trip as a family since Rylan was a baby.  The last few years I would stay home with the baby, while Ky would take the kids camping.  He usually went with friends or for the father son campout. Dallen was so excited that I was going camping too.  At first I thought it was kind of funny because he kept making sure and asking me over and over if I was going to camp too.  Then when I thought more about it, he had never been camping with me.  So it was kind of a big deal to him.  

Dallen and his dirty face.  Him and his dirt!

We went up one of the Ogden Canyon's.  Our ward at scheduled the father son campout and then had a conflict, so they canceled it.  They had already reserved the campsite and couldn't get a refund, so they said who ever wanted to go and use it could. So we went with our good friends from the ward. 

We had yummy smores and got all messy!

Rylan loves to roast marshmallows.  He would roast them all night if we would let him. 

Our tents.  We got another tent since we outgrew our big one.  The girls get their own tent and were pretty excited about it.  Rylan, Dallen and Bryleigh slept with us. We didn't take a crib for Bryleigh so she had fun playing when it was time for bed.  We finally got her asleep and she slept pretty good after that. I never sleep good while camping though, it's one of the reasons I'm not a huge fan. 

Eating breakfast. 

Being silly!

Playing in the hammock.  We had a good time overall, especially the kids had a blast!

Rylan's tonsils

Rylan followed Hannah in getting his tonsils out.  His weren't quite as big, but still big enough.  His were more of a 3+.  He was having enough problems it was worth it to get them out. His were weird in the way that one sat higher than the other, so they were lopsided. This is him at his pre op appointment.

Rylan before his surgery with his hospital buddy. 

His surgery was scheduled earlier than Hannah's which we were hoping for.  We had to be at the hospital by 8:00.  Because we were earlier his surgery stayed on schedule and it all went much smoother. 

 He really wasn't worried about his surgery.  He told me he wasn't worried about hurting and didn't really care about that part.  He was just excited to get to eat ice cream and macaroni and cheese and get the "special" treatment that H got. Even H warned him that it was going to hurt afterwards and he won't be so excited anymore.  It was a great attitude to have though, and I went into it hoping that his recovery would go a little smoother since he wasn't stressing and worrying about how much he was going to hurt. Plus they say the younger you are the easier they heal.

 He was looking forward to his wagon ride!  I think he was starting to get a little nervous about the unknown, but was being so brave.  I still hated this part of them taking them away.  Totally the worse part of it all, seeing your little boy being hauled away!

Enjoying his first popsicle after surgery!

He did so good with his surgery. He did everything the nurse's asked him to do.  It went smoothly and we were surprised at how fast it went. He was pretty out of it for awhile afterwards. He was very concerned with his IV in his arm.  He kept complaining about it hurting him.  The nurse loosened the bandage and that seemed to help a little. I thought it was cute that his bandage matched his pj's! I have a hard time with IV's hurting me if they aren't in just right.  And sometimes the liquid can kind of have a burning sensation since it's so cold. So I felt for him, and wished the nurse would of tried to help him a little more.  I was not impressed with the pre op nurse or post op nurse.  The one he had during surgery I liked but the others were pretty short with us.  Especially the post op, she would just kind of forget to come check on him and acted like we were bugging her.  Hello it's your job!  She also acted like we didn't know anything but we just did this same thing 4 weeks ago.  So that was a little frustrating. 

He was hurting quite a bit for the first hour too.  It always hard to see them suffering.  The popsicles seemed to help and eventually the medicine kicked in and he perked up quite a bit.  He had fun playing games and watching shows on daddy's ipod.  

He got up to go to the bathroom twice. I think he started getting restless laying in bed.  He was excited to get a wheelchair ride out to the car.  He was looking forward to stopping at arctic circle and getting his ice cream cone and shake to save for later. 

A picture of his lovely tonsils.  Similar to Hannah with food in them. His came out very smoothly and had very little bleeding, which usually means a easier recovery. Who knew tonsils looked so nasty!!

His recovery was a little smoother but still rough!  The first day he was feeling pretty good.  He was talking normal and it was a fight to get him to stay in one place.  The next day he was starting to hurt a little more, but was still doing pretty good.  For pain medication when they are younger you just give them Tylenol and ibuprofen. Things got worse as the days went on, which we were expecting.  It was kind of hard with him though because he wasn't feeling well, but was still having a hard time just laying down and resting.  He didn't want to miss out on anything.

He was so excited about the ice cream, but he actually requested macaroni and ramen noodles more.  He really enjoyed getting to pick out what he wanted and getting to eat on the couch.  

He liked sleeping in our room and I didn't enjoy being woken up 3 times a night with him crying that he hurt. He didn't like to drink water because it hurt, but that is one of the tips is to keep them hydrated and his throat  wet to help it heal.  It was hard to get him to take a sip, so I'm sure that didn't help at night. 

We ended up going camping the Friday after his surgery and was worried that he wasn't going to good enough to go.  I almost left him home with my mom, but he went and did fine.  He was up once during the night, but went back to sleep easy enough. He was quite the trooper. The last day he needed pain medication was the Sunday after, and he was good to go. 

He was perfectly back to normal by his post op appointment and everything had healed up great!

We were so glad we made it through the both surgeries and we should be good to go for awhile now! 

Both Hannah and Rylan are sleeping so much better and have seen great improvements since the surgeries.  

arts in the park

I mentioned that we had a busy summer right!!  Bethany, Hannah and Rylan also did arts in the park.  It ran 3 weeks, 3 days a week they went to the park by our house for 2 hours and it was kind of like a mini summer camp.  They divided up into age groups, and they had a art station, theater/game station, a sports station and then free time.  They loved it and had so much fun! Every Thursday they did water day, in place of sports.  

Slip n slide day! Water day was their favorite day!

The kids loved it and had so much fun!!

Rylan had his tonsils out at the end of the first week.  So the 2nd week he missed a couple days, and then when he did go I stayed up at the park with him in case he needed me. Dallen and Bryleigh had fun hanging out and playing at the park!

tennis

The girls also took tennis lessons. Bethany was more excited about it than Hannah, but I think they both ended up liking it.  Hannah is kind of anti sports, and I would like to help her change that attitude.  She struggles with sports like soccer when all the kids are going for the same ball.  So I was hoping that tennis may be better because you get your turn when it comes to you.  Which I think it was.  The thing she didn't like about it was that it was hard.  That's another thing about miss Hannah if something is hard, then she doesn't like it either.  By the end of the 4 weeks she was getting the hang of it and was enjoying it more.  We'll see if she wants to play again next year. 

Bethany is totally opposite when it comes to sports.  She loves them all and is not afraid to try something new.  She enjoys learning new things and can have fun even if she's not perfect at it. She loved tennis and wants to play again next year. 

This kind of sums up their personalities with sports.  Bethany into it and ready to go, and Hannah just kind of chill'in. Sometimes Hannah will make up her mind before hand that she doesn't like something and will just try half way.  It was good by the end of the class that she was enjoying herself more and trying harder.  That made me so proud of her for overcoming the hardness and frustration of it all!

Bethany foot would go up when she would hit the ball. 

Both girls did so well for never playing before.  Now we just need to get some rackets and balls and practice with them. I was so proud of them for trying something new and sticking with it!

The little kids had fun playing in the sand during tennis lessons.  There was a mile walking path around the park.  So first I would run pushing the two little ones in the stroller and Rylan would ride his scooter along with me, then afterwards they got to play in the sand.  They had a lot of fun!

Cute kids!

Some days we would stay later so the girls could play too.  They made Hannah into a mermaid.  They were so proud of it and needed me to take a picture of it.  They did a good job!

ice skating

The girls got to take ice skating lessons over the summer.  It was a last minute decision, but well worth it.  Some of their cousins were going to take the class and so I decided to look into it so we would know for the future.  I felt like our summer was already busy enough.  They were doing a deal that if you signed one kid up the second kid was free.  So it cost $34 for them to take a 5 week ice skating class along with 4 free skating passes each.  Well worth the price, and they got to take the class with their cousins, double bonus!!

They both did really well!  It was their first time ice skating and I was expecting them fall a lot more than they did.  I think it helped that they have been roller skating a lot, and they both own roller blades.  They did awesome and learned a lot!

By the end of the 5 weeks these little ones were getting restless.  They were having too much fun going up and down the bleachers. 

This is Bryleigh's new pose for pictures.  Silly girl!

Learning how to skate backwards.  It was funny watching them shake their little booties! It worked though, they went backwards!

Hannah had this outfit that she wore every time.  It was her ice skating outfit. I had to dig out their gloves from the winter clothing, to help keep their hands warm.  Especially if they would fall, it helped a lot!

Just cruisin away!  Her ice skating clothing of choice was a skirt also. 

They were awesome and had so much fun!  It was kind of nice doing it during the summer, cause you got to cool off in the rink.  It was nice to get a break from the heat!

last day of school

We had fun pool party on the last day of school!  The kids were so excited!

Bunny ears!

Crazy Hannah!

We had a little graduation before our party. 

Rylan got a award for being a great student and for graduating from Kindergarten.

Hannah's award was for being a good student and graduating from 2nd grade. 

Bryleigh got a award for being an awesome 2 year old!

Dallen got a award for being an awesome and funny 4 year old!

Bethany's is for being a great student and graduating 4th grade!

My happy kids!

It has been a lot of fun homeschooling these munchkins the last 6 months.  It was full great times and not so great times.  It was the right thing for our family at that time and I'm glad we got to learn through this together! We are excited for our new adventure next year!