2nd Half of June

2nd Half of June

 Gummy Bear Popsicles, Lucas got a corn syrup free version for himself

 Matisyn loves to read to her baby brother, and sometimes, if he is tired enough, he will listen to her!

 The second week Matt was gone Lucas had a really high fever with no other symptoms.  I think it turned out to be roseola.  It didn't fit perfectly, but he did end up with a flat rash on his torso once the fever broke after 5 days.  One night it went up to 105, so I took him into the urgent care at our doctor's office.  They couldn't find anything else wrong, but the fever.  Even the uti test was normal, which was a relief with our bladder reflux history.  They had labs scheduled for Friday if his fever hadn't broken to see what was going on.  The fever broke Friday morning.  It was nice to have our happy little guy back!

 Lucas trying to talk to Daddy on the computer!

 Painting and creating egg carton bugs.  Matisyn made a caterpillar, ladybug, spider, and an ant.  Emilyn made a caterpillar, bumble bee, and a robot guy.  I was hoping this project would help them appreciate bugs again!

 They also painted some pictures while the paint was out.

 With Matt gone for so long, the girls started to move into his side of the bed.  Most nights Emi got there first, but once in a while Matisyn beat her.  One night I went up to bed and found both girls sound asleep, taking up the whole thing!

 We spent one morning at the farm.  Lucas was so in love with the animals.  I couldn't get him to turn toward me for a picture, he wanted to be able to look at them the whole time.  He rode a pony for the first time.  The anticipation was much more exciting for him than the actual event!  He was so happy and ran straight for the pony, and let me put him on.  Once he was up there, he wasn't so sure this was a good idea.  I snapped a few quick pictures and then even with me holding him tight, he only lasted a minute or so before I gave up and just held him while we watched the sisters ride.  He never cried or seemed unhappy, he just gripped me and pulled me tight wanting the heck off of those things!

 Above he is looking through the fence thinking, please let me on one of those guys!  Below he is thinking, what was I thinking, get me off of this guy!!!

 The girls were both happy little riders!  They went for two rounds of pony rides.  They loved visiting the animals too.  Their favorite thing is to feed them.

 With me safely holding him, Lucas was happy to pet his pony.

 If I didn't watch Lucas close he would have crawled right in with the animals!

 Lucas and this cow were having a talk.

 Wagon riding!  Getting Lucas to slow down and look for a picture is getting difficult!

 The peacock opened all the way up so we could see the beautiful feathers.

 We have been working on body parts with Lucas, and I'm pretty sure he said "nose" when he pointed to this sheep!

 Feeding the sheep and goats

 The finished bug creations, they turned out so cute

 Another swimming day at Grandma's.  Lucas and Abby love to play in the buckets!

After swimming Emilyn didn't want to wash her hair.  It is very GREEN already, so Aunt Megan said she would braid her hair anyway she wanted if she would wash it.  Emilyn asked for 6 braids!

 Lucas thinks he is too big for the baby side of the park, and just right for the big kid side!  He is growing up too fast!

 Lucas loved going down the big slide with his big sisters!

 We finally got our first snowies of the season.  They were so delicious!

 Emilyn leaned back in her chair while eating her snowie and said, "This is the life, Mom!"

 The night before Matt got home the Thygerson's had a BBQ at their house.  It was so nice to visit with friends and the kids were so happy to play.  Lucas LOVES the big boys!  He also thinks he is a big boy when he climbs which was making all of us nervous!

 Loving these summer nights with friends!

 The night Matt got home from his trip we went on an outing with the family to celebrate his return.  We decided to finally check out the new Natural Curiosity Museum we have heard so much about.  We all loved it, there was so much to see.  It was definitely crowded, but we were able to see and do a lot.  We spent a few hours exploring, and then headed home.  The troupes were getting tired and breaking down, so we didn't want to push it.  I'm excited to go back and spend some more time there.

 Lucas loved this room where you could push buttons on the screen and control the drums.

 My baby can still fit in the water table!  He played for a little while before being ready to join his sisters with the big kid water stuff.

 That tube was full of water and he crawled right in before I noticed!

 In the wind tunnel with Matt

Lucas and I hung out in the baby areas while the girls climbed around on the ropes and tunnels up above.  He loved all the balls and slides.

 The girls made a movie theater one morning for their animals, ponies, dolls, and even Lucas's trucks!  The best part was that they actually cleaned it up on their own.  That doesn't happen very often!

 Clouds Experiment during a playdate with Matisyn's friend Alena from school and her little sister.  They made the clouds heavy enough to rain.

   Then, of course, they wanted to play with the shaving cream after they were finished!

I had such a nice weekend in California with my mom.  She was throwing a baby shower for my cousin Tiffany, and with our small family, I really wanted to be there.  Matt had barely been home for a few days from his trip when I was leaving for mine.  I was ready for a little time to myself though.  I flew in in the morning, so we were able to have some time on Friday.  Mom and I had a relaxing time going to lunch and getting pedicures and manicures.  I felt like a princess!  There isn't much time for me these days!  My mom, brother, and I had a nice dinner that night.  Chunk spent the night and we went to breakfast the next morning and to a movie together.  It was so nice to have time with them, without other distractions.  The next day was the shower.  It was a long day, and we were tired by the end, but everything turned out so nice.  I'm so glad I was able to be there to spend that time with them and to celebrate Tiffany's baby!  I flew home on Monday.  I'm so grateful to Matt's mom and sister for taking the kids on Friday, and on Saturday for Matt's race, and to my friend Ashly for taking the kids on Monday!

Matt has been working hard getting ready for his big Spartan Beast race.  It turned out that I was in California for the weekend and I missed getting to watch, so I couldn't wait to hear all about it.  He has lost weight, built muscle, and has had a lot of fun talking strategy and obstacles with his friends.  They planned to do this back in December.  He had a great experience, after 12 + miles, 25 obstacles, 125 burpies, he finished in the middle of the pack, completely covered in mud!

 Here is the group before the race started!  McKay, Davy, Josh, Matt, Drew, and Ashly (Thanks to my friend Alisa for the picture, since I couldn't go!)

Matt jumping over the fire at the finish!

 Alison picked me up from the airport and we went for a girls' lunch.  Matt needed to work a little longer, so it was perfect timing to get our lunch in.  Mike and Alison were here for the week, and since the Fourth of July is such a busy one, we wanted to get together during the first few days.  So that night their family came over for dinner (I was exhausted from my trip, so they just picked up food for us), and we were able to let the kids play and visit.  They spent a lot of time outside watching the Dads drive their "big boy" race cars!  The next day Alison came over with the kids for the afternoon, and then the Barrett's and Thygerson's joined us for dinner that night.  We had to talk about how happy we are to have each other (the girls), and how happy we are that these four crazy best friends all married similar girls who have become best friends ourselves!  And with that...I can't believe it is already July!