Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Summer Weeks 5 & 6 - 4th of July & Sickness

Playing with Bruiser & Tiger






Monday night, I was watching some gymnastics I had recorded from the weekend. Hollon stopped to watch.

And then started doing this:




On Wednesdays, Hollon's daycare has a "dress up" day to coordinate with the learning theme of the week. This week, the theme was animals, so on Wednesday they were supposed to wear animal print. Hollon doesn't have anything animal print for summer, so we just had to settle for an leopard print bow.
Too busy checking her emails to look up for the picture

The only animal print we have
 Bring it Thursday

Excuse the mouth full of fig newton
 Jake was home with me all week. Each day, at the end of my workday, but before we went to pick up Hollon, I tried to coordinate a fun activity. On Friday, we went to get ice cream.

Dad had been in Arizona for business earlier in the week (Jake is wearing his souvenir shirt), so Friday we were ready to just hang out as a family. Hollon's pink bouncy ball is currently the favorite backyard outdoor toy.




You know supper is good when it is all over your shirt






Bless that hair!



Jake has been practicing on running faster



What happens when you have a blowout right before bedtime? Wash it off outside.


Saturday morning, I took the kids to run errands. We stopped and had lunch at Which Which.


Saturday afternoon, I dropped the kids off at the Bush's and Robbie & I attend a friend's 40th birthday party. 

On Sunday, once we got the kids back, we came home and played outback with the neighbors. We combined their huge ball water sprinkler with the bounce house. Jake & Collins loved it. The little girls did not. They refused to get in.



That night, we went to Chelsea's fireworks display. We met up with my friend Amanda from Hattiesburg who was in town visiting her in-laws. It was fun to celebrate and hang out Saturday night with them. Because it was so dark, I didn't get any pictures. Jake loved the fireworks. Hollon was super tired and I was scared she would freak out (she is not crazy about loud noises), but she sat in Robbie's lap and was okay. I wouldn't say she loved it, but at least she didn't cry. 

I am sad that I didn't get any pictures of Hollon in her 4th of July outfit. It was a cute little red bubble with navy sandals and her hair in pig tails with a navy bow. Because she had not had a nap, she was in a mood that afternoon. Then by the evening, it was too dark to take pictures. She was in no mood to take pictures anyway. She looked precious on the outside, but that attitude was not having it.

Then Sunday night, it all went way downhill. Hollon woke up around 1:30 screaming. She screamed for a good 15 minutes, so I figured something must be up. I went in and she was burning up with a fever. I gave her some medicine and milk and put her in bed with us. The rest of the night consisted of her sticking her feet in our faces, picking our noses, tossing and turning. Then about 4:30, I hear Jake up and see the hall bathroom light on. I get up to check on him and he is throwing up. One kid with a fever, the other throwing up. It is the stuff dreams are made of.

By mid morning, both kids had completely recovered and were fine. But we still just took it easy. We hung out at our house, played with friends, cooked out with the neighbors and died laughing watching the people on our neighborhood facebook page all accuse other people for shooting off illegal fireworks. 

It wasn't the most exciting 4th of July, but it certainly was a fun one (minus throwing up & fevers).

 Jake was back at camp last week. When I picked Hollon up on Tuesday, she had a slight fever, cough, runny nose and just didn't feel good. 

So Wednesday I kept her home with me. She slept a lot, stayed in her pajamas all day and just rested up. We did go outside for a little while that afternoon and played with some sidewalk paint.

Thursday, the fever was gone, the cough was confirmed by the nurse to be related to the runny nose drainage, plus Hollon was feeling better. So we decided to head back to school on Thursday. All was fine, until she didn't get her way.

Since we missed dress up day Wednesday (the theme was America), we wore our patriotic dress on Thursday. I made the mistake of putting Hollon's red sandals on her. She did not want to wear those. Which shoes did she want to wear? Her dressy white Willits buckle shoes. They are the dressiest shoes she owns and would be the worst shoes for daycare. (And didn't match her outfit.) Hollon let me know that she was not happy with the decision. Who cries to wear church shoes anyway?


These are said shoes causing the meltdown

Better once she finds a book she likes

Dress shoes forgotten and the smile is back

Hollon loves water, so I had purchased a cheap little water table from Big Lots. I brought it out Friday and just knew she would play with it for hours. 

For starters, she filled the cup up with water and poured it on her shirt. So we changed into a swimsuit and she insisted on the boots. 

 Minute One:


 Minute Two:


And then she was done. What I thought would be hours of fun was 2 minutes of fun. Then she just wanted to play in my car.

 In this picture, she is throwing a fit because I won't shut the back of the car. I try explaining to her that in 100 degree weather, you can't have a child in the car with all doors shut. There are people in jail for doing that. 

She doesn't care. Life with an almost 2-year-old.

Jake is such a sweet brother and lets her watch Curious George in his room. She loves his room and now that she is past eating the Legos, we let her play in there as long as Jake is okay with it. He likes it, because he gets to be the boss of her while we are not in there.


 Saturday, the boys got haircuts, so Hollon & I rode with them and then we all ate lunch afterwards. Hollon is getting to that sad age where eating out is dicey. She may be good, but chances are, she will not be. We ate at Mellow Mushroom. All she wanted to do was run around the restaurant. And prance in front of tables. And refuse to eat her food once it came. Basically Robbie & I had to take turns wrangling her, while the other one ate. See you in about 2 years restaurants!

Back home, free to run wild.



Her hair is getting so long! Still thin, stringy & straight, but long.



Happy when she gets the ball

Mad when she doesn't


She feel asleep reading her book in her crib

Sunday Funday
Outfit smocked and made by Mimi

Trying to get a good picture of these two....


 Right now, this is her favorite book. Dress Up Minnie Mouse.

We met the Bush's after church for lunch. We all held her breath on how Hollon would do. Thankfully she managed through most of lunch without acting like a crazy woman.

Friday, July 1, 2016

Summer Week 4 - Prattville FBC VBS

Last week, Jake was in Prattville all week with my parents. He attended their church's Vacation Bible School. My parents were both teachers and Jake's cousins go to church there, so it was a family affair! He had an awesome time.
They performed Wednesday night. I cannot even begin to pick out where Jake is.
Nana & Gran with their 3 oldest grandchildren


Marrell & Jake
After the Wednesday night performance, they had games & food setup outside. Jake had fun defeating Goliath.

After VBS in the mornings, they came home and had fun at my parent's house. My parents live in the country. I grew up there, so it is normal to me. But I forget that Jake has always grown up with a tiny yard, houses right next to each other and a paved road. So going to Nana & Gran's is like an adventure for him. 

My parents had gotten the kids these rafts that had water guns attached. The kids loved them.

They also had a water balloon fight



Jake is obsessed with American Ninja Warrior. He is always wanting Gran to build him an obstacle course. (My dad built him {this one} last fall.) Dad built him this tightrope obstacle this time. Jake was actually pretty good at it.


There was also lots of zip lining, hikes, playing in the creeks and a fun activity of "feed grasshoppers to fish". He had a great week and cried when I showed up Friday to pick him up. He wanted to stay "just 2 more days". The exhausted look on my parent's faces said otherwise. I convinced Jake that we had missed him greatly and were looking forward to spending the weekend with him. He finally agreed and we headed back to Birmingham. 

What were we all doing in Birmingham while Jake was in Prattville?

Hollon had "her" school

Taking very good care of baby
Note: this is the supper that she refused to eat. But evidently it is good enough for baby.


A very exciting rendition of If You Are Happy And You Know It.

Ice cream & pig tails. It doesn't get much cuter!

What is not cute? Her expression.
She is mad that I'm taking a picture and not opening the frig for her.


Watching Curious George or Mickey Mouse in the morning


I bought Hollon a new toothbrush and it has Mickey & Minnie Mouse on the handle. She has walked around with it in her mouth all week.

Which causes her to leave drool marks on our sofa


She just lets it hang out like it is a toothpick

On Friday when we went to pick up Jake, they had a wrestling match. One of Jake's very favorite things is to fight with my dad. He has loved it since he was a toddler. Hollon was excited to get in on the action as well.

Once we got back to Birmingham, we ate and hung out outside. Collins left a bucket of princesses and dolls at our house. Hollon played with them for the longest time.





Saturday morning. Hollon drug my yoga mat out from the laundry room. She then proceeded to "exercise".




Later that day, just playing outside



Robbie showed Jake how to throw the ball up on the roof and it roll down



While we were trying to get dinner ready, we entertained Hollon by this....

After dinner and after we put Hollon to bed, we had what Jake calls "Family Movie Fun Night". Robbie picked us up glass bottled sprite & coke, gummy bears and popcorn and we watched ET outside. 

Sunday after church, we ate at Panda Express (Jake's request). He wanted to get a fortune cookie. But he refused to actually eat the cookie. He only wanted the fortune.

Hollon gladly ate his cookie.