Thunderstorms and The Zoo

We have been having a lot of thunderstorms here lately. Last Saturday Derek and the kids were outside and there was some distant thunder. Jared freaked out and ran inside crying. We coaxed him back outside eventually. He was hanging out with Derek on the hammock when he heard more thunder. This time he didn't say anything. He just got off the hammock and ran as fast as he could inside. On Wednesday night we had a severe thunderstorm. It kept me up because it was so loud. It woke Jared up and he was terrified. Derek calmed him down and went to lay him back in his crib. Right as he did there was a HUGE crack of thunder. That sealed the deal and Jared was not going back to bed. Derek told him he could sleep with us. We are pretty strict about not having our kids in our room, but we felt that this was an OK exception. He slept in between us. I have to say that of all my children he is the easiest to share a bed with. He stays in the same little spot. He doesn't try and press up against you. He even stayed asleep when Derek and I got up at separate times (me to go running, and him to take a shower). Now I have had to practically throw him outside because he is afraid there will be thunder. If he even hears an airplane, he will come inside crying and refuse to go back out even if the rest of us are outside. I hope this is just a phase. :)

Last Wednesday (yes I am a little behind) all of the kindergarten classes at Kevin's school went on a field trip to the Richmond Zoo. It worked out well that it was finals week for Derek, and he didn't have any finals that day. Derek went as a chaperon, but only was in charge of Kevin, which was great. Because Derek drove up separately, he and Kevin were able to stay after all the classes left. They pretty much had the zoo to themselves. It was a great experience for them. Just to warn you, there are a lot of pictures. There were 63 though, so be grateful I didn't subject you to all of them. Ha ha! :)

(Oh, one other thing...I found out the reason we didn't have water one day last week was because of a scheduled upgrade. They thought they could get it done without interruption, but they were wrong. Apparently!!! I was really annoyed when I read that in the local paper. They really couldn't have at least warned us? This is when I really hate monopolies. I don't have any other choice for water. Argh!!)

Enjoy the pictures (You'll notice that Kevin makes a funny face in almost all of the pictures. He refuses to make a "normal" face):

These were some very talented acrobatic monkeys. Kevin thought they were very cool.

I love Kevin's expression in this picture.

That is a huge tortoise behind him.

The children each had a cup of food they could give to the animals. These giraffes would eat out of their hands.

Kevin refused to let it eat from his hand, so this is one of his classmates.

Kevin would only feed the animals that he could throw food to. :)

Kevin and the penguins.

The zoo had a sky ride (i.e. cable cars) that allowed them to see the animals from overhead. Kevin was a little scared at first, but he warmed up (at least a little) by the end.


Derek said when all the Kindergarteners left the noise level in the zoo dropped dramatically. He said the animals were pretty warn out from all the little kids. I think these rhinoceroses paint the perfect picture. I must admit that I often look (or at least feel) like that when my children go to bed each night. :)

The peacocks would just walk along the paths with the people. Pretty cool!

Kevin and the flamingos (sounds like the name of a band, doesn't it?)

Rough Week

This week has been a little rough around here.

It started out well. Monday and Tuesday we a little hot, but there was a nice breeze and it wasn't too humid. Spring is in full bloom here and it is so beautiful. This is my first spring since coming back east after 10 years in Utah, and I am amazed at the beauty of it. I took some pictures of the house. The previous owners did a great job planting beautiful plants, flowers, and trees. Unfortunately I have no idea what types of plants they are.

This tree is a dog wood. Those are very popular here. Charlottesville has a dog wood festival every year. They really are beautiful when they are in bloom. Some areas of the city have rows of them in several different colors.



On Tuesday things were still going well. Jenna had "Field Day" at school. She had been talking about it all afternoon Monday and all morning before school on Tuesday. They had a bouncy castle the kids could jump on. They had some water games (it was 90 here). They had pony rides (that and the castle were Jenna's favorite parts). They did face painting (she wouldn't let me take a picture). And finally, they had "bike day" at the same time so the kids could ride their bikes. They blocked the parking lot so that no cars would get in the way. Jenna had so much fun. I did finally get a couple of pictures of her riding her bike. She is getting pretty good at it.


On Wednesday things started going down hill fast. Kevin got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. He came down to tell us that the water was barely trickling out of the faucet. We don't like to be bothered in the middle of the night, so we told him not to worry about it and to go back to bed. Shortly thereafter I got up to use the bathroom. Our faucet was doing the same thing. I told Derek, and he got a little worried that we had a leak. He went out to the crawl space (mind you this was about 5am) to check for a leak. He didn't find anything, so we went back to sleep. When we woke up about 6:30a there was no water at all, not even a trickle. The water company wasn't open for business yet. Derek stepped outside to see if any of our neighbors were without water. Sure enough, no one had water. We are on public water, so there is no excuse for being without water (at least no good one). Everyone that called (myself included) got the run around. They never did reveal why we didn't have water. They said it would be back on around 11am. Like magic it came on at 11am. What a joke! Luckily I have a decent supply of bottled water, so we at least had something to drink. No one could shower (I finally showered around noon), so I decided to clean the house. If we were going to be stuck home dirty I figured I should make the most of it. On top of that, they put a boil advisory in place (meaning we were supposed to boil the water before using it). They didn't bother to actually tell us this, they just posted it at the entrance to our neighborhood. Since I hadn't gone anywhere that day I had been drinking the water. Luckily I was the only one. When I went to the bus stop I found out about the boil advisory, so we drank bottled water for the next two days. Does this seem ridiculous to anyone else? :)

Wednesday afternoon I got a call from the school nurse saying that Kevin had a headache. She gave him some Tylenol. However, when he got home from school I could tell he didn't feel very good. He spent the afternoon in his room (that was due to being grounded for being sassy to his dad and sister earlier in the day). When he came down for dinner he looked terrible and just pushed his plate aside. We could tell he was running a pretty high fever (I rarely take their temperatures, so I don't know what it was). We got him to bed and later that night he threw up. That continued for the next two days. He hasn't thrown up in over 24 hours, so he is improving there. He has also had diarrhea (which I think is improving). He is still running a low grade fever. Curiosity got the better of me on Friday night and I actually took his temperature. It was 102.5, and I could tell he wasn't quite as warm as the night before. He has eaten better today. He seems to have caught a cold on top of everything else though. Poor kid. He missed school Thursday and Friday. He is going to stay home from school again tomorrow. I am hopeful I can send him back on Tuesday. So far no one else has gotten sick, but I am guessing it is only a matter of time.
Here's Kevin asleep on the couch. He has been sleeping a lot.

Saturday morning Derek took Jenna and Jared with him to run some errands. I stayed behind with Kevin. They took some leaves to a big mulching area in our neighborhood. Derek was talking to someone from the HOA and Jenna and Jared were playing in the trunk of the van. Eventually Derek was able to leave, and when he did he realized why they hadn't been bothering him. Jared had found a permanent marker I had left in the car, and had drawn all over the backs of the seats, the ceiling, the walls, the windows and floors. I got it off of the windows, but it stuck everywhere else. For the first time ever, magic eraser failed me. :( (Yes, I have used it to remove permanent marker before). I am going to try toothpaste tomorrow. It may be too late.
Jared's lovely "artwork" (please excuse the crumbs all over the trunk)



Today things seemed to be improving. Kevin is still sick, but I can tell he is doing better. Hopefully this next week will fare a little better for us. :)

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.