Random Experiences from the Week

FYI: This first story is not for the faint of heart. It is also a little graphic.

This week started out with a shocker for us. On Monday morning Kevin woke up early and came down saying that his private part hurt. We told him to go to the bathroom. He did, and that was the end of that...or so we thought. Later that night we were eating dinner, and he started complaining again that his private part hurt. Again we told him to go to the bathroom. This time he was really crying and very upset while he was in the bathroom. I just looked at Derek and said "This is your territory." He replied that he didn't know what he could do, but he would take a look. He was gone a minute or two and Jenna, Jared and I were happily eating our dinner. All of a sudden Derek yelled "Amanda, get in here! I think Kevin has a tick!" I ran into the bathroom and sure enough, a tick had bit Kevin on the tip of his penis. Isn't that awful?! Derek was horrified.
We quickly looked up how to remove it. They are pretty hard to remove. You have to pull really hard and straight so that the head doesn't break off. Any males reading this might be getting queasy thinking about pulling like that. Derek was. :) Derek was able to get it out completely, but we had to hold Kevin down to do it. It was horrible. Kevin recovered fairly quickly afterwards. Derek, on the other hand, took a couple of hours. :)
We called the doctor and she told us what to watch for. I called my sister to tell her, because I just had to tell someone. Her husband is from Virginia, and in med school. He looked up a bunch of stuff for us, and told us some ways to keep ticks off in the future. Ticks are very common here this time of the year. My brother-in-law also told us that it is very common for ticks to bite people in the area where Kevin was bit because it is so dark and warm. As we have related this story to some friends and family, we have learned of many other people who have had a similar experience. Derek and the kids had gone exploring in the woods on Saturday and that is where we think he got the tick. We had neglected to check the kids over after they were done. We won't make that mistake again.

The rest of our week was pretty mild in comparison. Jenna has finally learned to ride her bike (still with training wheels). We bought her a bike last year for her birthday, but she has had no interest in riding it until about two weeks ago. She still needs a little help, but has improved tremendously. I haven't gotten pictures of her riding yet. Hopefully next week.

We have had extremely hot weather for April these last couple of days. It has been in the 90s. We tried to avoid using the AC, but even with the windows open and fans on, it was just too hot. The kids have enjoyed playing outside. The hot weather doesn't bother them. Unfortunately, the AC went out in Derek's car a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully he can get that fixed before it gets really hot and humid. By the middle of this week we should be back to spring temps (i.e. - 60s and 70s). I love spring, so I am anxious to get back to the 60s and 70s. I really need to get some pictures of everything in bloom here. It is beautiful!

Anyway, enjoy the pictures from this week.

Jared got this firetruck from his Great Grandma and Great Grandpa for Christmas. He LOVES it. He plays with it almost every day. I thought he looked adorable riding around on it with the firefighter hat on.

Jared got a few more birthday presents this week from his Great Grandma and Great Grandpa. The kids played outside with the chalk and bubbles on Friday. Jared managed to dump all of the bubbles in less than 1 minute. Kevin was heartbroken. I had to remind him that they were Jared's birthday present, so he could do with them as he pleased. Kevin was still annoyed about it.
I was excited that the chalk was HUGE, so it wouldn't break easily. However, my kids managed to break it in less than 5 minutes. I was annoyed about that.


Great Grandma and Great Grandpa also sent Jared an umbrella. He loves his umbrella. He asks for it first thing in the morning. It had rained for several days before he got the umbrella, but it has been nice since he got it. The first few days after he got it, Jared kept saying "Rain, Rain?" It was cute. There is rain in the forecast for this week, so he will be very excited. :)


Both Kevin and Jenna have figured out how to swing on their own by pumping their legs. Kevin figured it out a few weeks ago, and Jenna figured it out this past week. They are pretty excited that they can swing on their own. I am too.



Derek planted some herbs in our planter boxes on the rails of our deck. We have wanted to have fresh herbs for several years. We planted some in Provo, but they didn't take very well. Hopefully these will do better. He planted Chives, Rosemary, Oregano, and Sage. Now I just need to figure out how to use those herbs. If you have any good recipes send them my way. :)


Yesterday we went to D.C. so that Derek and I could attend the LDS temple there. On the way back we stopped at Burger King to get the kids some food. (I had packed them lunch, but had accidentally left half of it at home). They got BK crowns while they were there. Jenna really liked hers and decided to embellish it today with stickers. She is very creative.

Jared

This post is dedicated to Jared. Everyone says that you will have a child that challenges you. For me this is Jared. He is by far the funniest of my children. He always has us laughing. He almost always has a huge smile on his face (even when he is doing something that he shouldn't). Jared is definitely the most loving of my children. Ever since he was very little he would crawl, and then later walk, over to Derek or I and force his way onto our lap just so he could sit with us. He loves to give hugs and kisses. He is so adorable when he talks too. We love his little voice.

So are you wondering why I said that he is my most difficult child? Well, he likes to cause trouble. He doesn't listen at all. He doesn't think he needs to, I guess. He could get put in time out for doing the same thing several times in a row and it doesn't phase him at all. He will steal Kevin and Jenna's candy from Easter and eat it. When he gets caught he goes straight to time out. As soon as he is out he will do it again, if he can find more. I try really hard to keep all writing utensils out of his reach, but somehow he found some three different times last week and wrote all over the walls. One of his favorite things to do is to remove the vent covers and stick things down the vents. Most of time someone catches him doing this. He can't put the cover back on, so we usually notice. He is starting to sleep in a big bed for naps. One day this week instead of sleeping he was shredding books from the book case next to his bed (I didn't find that out until hours later). If I tell him not to do something, he will smile at me and do it anyway. He will fake cry sometimes when I put him in time out, but as soon as his two minutes are up he'll go right back to doing whatever he was doing before. Those are just a few of the many examples I could give.

Sometimes he is quite difficult do deal with. However, when he gives me that great big grin and gives me a squeeze hug, I can't help but think about how great he is. He really is such a great addition to our family, even if he is trouble. He will be the one that keeps us laughing for years to come. We love you Jared, even if you do keep us on our toes.

Enjoy the pictures.

One day this week, while I was showering, Jared decided to strip down to a diaper and get into the lotion. This is lotion that I keep on the back of my kitchen sink. He moved a barstool over to the sink and got the lotion. He is a thinker. :)

At least it wasn't as hard to clean up as when Kevin got into sunscreen. Remember that? :)

This is Jared talking on the cell phone and wearing one of Jenna's dress-up shoes. I told you he is funny.
This is just proof that he naps in a big bed (Kevin's bed to be specific since we don't yet have a big bed for him). He was just waking up when I took this picture.

This is how we found Jared one night. He was sound asleep with a Winnie the Pooh playing card stuck to his head. He loves those cards. He carries them around all the time and is always asking for "Pooh" cards. I guess he took some to bed with him, and one got stuck to his head. :)

Easter and Spring Break

This past week was spring break for Kevin and Jenna. (Derek's spring break was at the beginning of March). We stayed home and relaxed. It was nice. The kids spent time almost every day playing outside with the neighbor kids. It rained at the beginning of the week, but it was pretty nice by the end of the week. Kevin and Jenna helped me clean the house. That was great. We even made it to the park for a play date one day. I was really worried about having all three kids home all week (I know, I'm a great mom. :p), but it went well. Kevin even entertained himself a few times by reading a chapter book (from The Magic Tree House series.). He kept saying "Mom, it is so cool that I can read by myself now." I was pretty excited for him. Reading is so empowering, so I am thrilled that he is getting so good at it.

We had a great Easter! We left Friday after Derek got home from school and headed down to my sister's about three hours from here (the perfect distance, I might add). The kids were great in the car and we didn't have to stop. My brother and sister-in-law and their children came too. It was so fun to have all the siblings together. We missed my parents though. They live a little too far to head down for the weekend. The kids had a great time with their cousins and Derek and I had a blast with the adults. We had 14 people in my sister's two bedroom townhouse, but we made it work, and it really didn't seem too crowded (I'm sure it helped that we were only there for two days).

We took the kids to the park for lunch and an Easter egg hunt on Saturday. The kids really enjoyed that. We had hoped to go see a battleship, but the weather kept threatening rain. It never materialized, but we were too nervous to push our luck. Saturday afternoon the kids dyed eggs. They turned out cute. Sunday we went to church, had a nice lunch and headed home. We were back to our house by 5:30p. Thanks again Rachel for letting us come and making it so much fun.

Enjoy the pictures.

Kevin at the Easter egg hunt (I really like this picture)

Jared at the Easter egg hunt

Rachel helping Jenna count her eggs at the Easter egg hunt. Each child was allowed 17 eggs.

Jared and Jenna eating lunch at the park after the egg hunt.

Kevin eating lunch at the park. Notice the silly expression. This has become a common thing whenever I try to take his picture.

Rachel and David's little boy, Levi. Isn't he so cute?!

Kevin dying Easter eggs. Notice the expression again. I think this expression is pretty fun though.

Jenna, Derek, and Jared dying Easter eggs.

Jared dying Easter eggs (or at least that's what he was supposed to be doing).

Every year for Easter my mom made us a bunny cake that looked a lot like this one. It is a tradition we have kept. Rachel made this one, and she and Derek decorated it. I think it turned out really well.

No artist would leave their work unsigned. Rachel put her initials. Derek put "ph@ d-rock" - ph@ is to be read "phat" as in Pretty Hot And Tempting. You certainly can't fault him for lack of creativity. :)

Lazy Sunday

This picture has nothing to do with this post, but I thought it was cute, so I included it. Jared is wearing Kevin's hat and gloves. My kids have always loved to wear hats and gloves.


Today has been a wonderful lazy Sunday. This weekend is General Conference for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We gather to hear the leaders of our church speak to us. Because of modern technology we are able to watch this in the comfort of our own home. That means we can just rest, hang out, and enjoy some food centered conference traditions (Kevin couldn't wait for the cinnamon rolls and OJ this morning). I didn't get nearly enough done this weekend, but it has been very relaxing and uplifting. Plus the weather has been in the low 70s, which has been great!

About two weeks ago we took our children hiking along some trails about 15 minutes from our house at a place called Pleasant Grove. It was pretty fun. I am amazed at how much easier it was than a few years ago. As the kids get older those sorts of thing become easier and more fun.

Last Saturday I ran my first 10K. It was actually really fun and went really well. The race was huge (over 26,000 people...yes you read that right). However, they did a great job making sure it didn't feel too crowded. I ran it in 50:34. My goal was about 54 min., so I was thrilled. It was a nice flat course, so easy to do well on. My running partner and I are trying to find another race to do in May or June, but most of the ones we find are on a Sunday. I hope to do this race again next year. Unfortunately (OK, maybe fortunately) I don't have any pictures from the race.

Below are the pictures from Pleasant Grove.

Kevin and Jenna on a piece of an old railroad track near the start of our hike.

Kevin and Jenna throwing rocks into a stream along the hike. We actually crossed the stream on the rocks on the left side of the picture and continued our hike on the far side.

Jared throwing rocks in the stream.

Derek and Jared by the Rivanna River where the trail ended and we turned around to go back.

Kevin in a great little spot by the river where the trail ended.

Kevin with a walking stick he found along the way.

Kevin, Jenna, and Jared resting near the end of the hike.