A Bee Sting Gone Wrong

We discovered the other day that Micah is allergic to bees. Last Friday evening, we were getting ready to go to the VBS closing program at church. I was finishing up doing Lily's hair and Micah and Lucy went outside to get in the car. Pretty soon, Micah came running inside screaming that a bee had stung him. The little bugger got him under one of his eyes, right above his cheek bone. Anyway, he seemed fine and he has been stung before and never had a reaction, so I didn't worry too much about it. Saturday morning, he woke up and his eye looked a little swollen, so I gave him some allergy medicine. As the day went on, it just kept getting more and more swollen. By Saturday night, the other eye was looking pretty swollen, too. I gave him another dose of Benadryl before bed and the next morning he woke up like this:



Poor kid! He could barely even open his eyes! I took him to Urgent Care and all the doctor said when he walked in and saw Micah was, "Whoa!" He checked Micah out and determined that he was having an allergic reaction but that it was a localized reaction, meaning that it was not spreading to other areas and not affecting his breathing or anything. He did give Micah a prescription, though, which helped the swelling go down and within a couple of days, he was back to normal. It was pretty scary, but we were glad it was nothing too serious. Just one more reason to carry Benadryl around.

Happy 6th Birthday, Lily!

I don't know where the time went, but I still can't believe Lily is 6 years old! She is growing up more and more. Here is a little about Lily as a 6-year-old.
-She has become the little daredevil of our family. She loved the zipline and the giant swing at camp this year and is always up for a challenge.
-She loves the spotlight(she must get that from her dad). Any chance she gets to go up on a stage or get a microphone in her hand, she is ready.
-She loves animals, especially kitties and little dogs, but any animal will do.
-Her new found love is horses. She started taking riding lessons this summer and decided she wants to be a "Rodeo Princess" when she grows up.
-She is our nature girl. She loved going on "nature walks" with her Grandma Neen this summer. She is always collecting pinecones, rocks, leaves, and feathers.
-She loves people and is very social. She will be anybody's best friend.
-She is a nurturer. She loves taking care of things. If we take her to pick out plants, she will pick out the wilty, scraggly looking ones so that she can take them home and rescue them.
-She is very sensitive and gets her feelings hurt easily.
-She can be emotional at times (not looking forward to the teenage years).
-She is starting to get the hang of being a big sister. It is really neat to watch her and Lucy playing together now that Lucy is getting older.
-She is a very special girl. She has a big heart and some big dreams and I hope she never lets anything stop her from achieving them.

Happy 6th Birthday, Lily! We love you!

A Rodeo Princess Party

Lily was set on having a Rodeo Princess party this year and as always, I went a little overboard in the party planning. I meant to keep it simple this time, I really did, but Diana knew a lady from work who has ponies and well....it kind of got bigger from there. Anyway, we ended up having pony rides, pink cowgirl hat decorating, and a float ride. Not to mention all the pinwheels and cupcake wrappers I made out of this really cute cowgirl scrapbook paper. We ended up having 16 kids at the party, not to mention a few siblings who stayed to hang out with Micah. Of course, it was all worth it. The girls all had a blast and Lily felt like a real Rodeo Princess for the day.

Here are all the pink cowgirl hats laid out, ready to be decorated. The girls all did a great job decorating them.


I just had to try out my Cupcake Wrappers Cricut cartridge. These took forever, but they turned out pretty cute.


My handmade pinwheels. I had already made some of these for Lucy's birthday, so I was a pro, thanks to Sarah who came over and helped me. We even got to use power tools. Hooray for girl power!


Every Rodeo Princess has to ride on a float in a parade, right? So, I had this great idea to use this old trailer that Isaiah and Garry had made and turn it into a parade float. Pa hooked it up to his little tractor. Then, we gave the kids a bunch of balloons and streamers and let them have at it.


We even let them color on it with markers.



Pa had made some benches to go inside the trailer, so after it was all decorated, we all piled inside and went for a ride.



Lily and Lucy love Pa's tractor. They beg for rides whenever they see him on it.


Garry was such a good sport. Not every grandpa would put on a pink cowgirl hat and pull a bunch of 6-year-old girls down the street on a trailer covered in pink and gold balloons and streamers. We love you Pa!


Next came the highlight of the party...the pony rides! The kids each got to go for a ride on a pony. The birthday girl even got to go twice.


Diana's friend, Carrie brought two ponies and this little beauty was definitely the favorite with the girls. Who can resist a little white pony with its hooves painted pink?



She's a natural...



Lucy wasn't too sure about the ponies at first, but she ended up doing great.


After the pony rides, it was time for cupcakes and presents.


By the end of the day, we had one happy Rodeo Princess. Here she is practicing her Rodeo Princess wave with her new pink cowgirl boots from Aunt D.


Oh, and don't forget one tired mama...Yeehaw!

Summer Camp

I am slowly getting caught up on the summer blogging. Every summer, Isaiah directs a summer camp through our church and the kids and I get to tag along. This year was extra fun because my mom got to come too. This year, Micah was one year short of being able to be an actual camper. We had a few rough moments with him since he seemed to think he was too cool to hang out with his mom and sisters or to listen to his mom much. Overall, though, it was a good week and we all had fun. Micah discovered a new sport-volleyball. We could always find him on the mini golf course, the volleyball court, or the craft area. He got really into the crafts this year. They had lots of wood scraps and he went to town with a glue gun and some paint. Way to make me proud, Micah! Lucy was just happy playing on the beach and getting carried around by all the middle and high school girls. Lily went on "nature walks" every day with Grandma Neen and showed her daredevil side on the zip line and giant swing. She also got to live her dream of being a "rockstar". We had a band for the youth group and Isaiah's friend, Ryan was the lead singer, so he had Lily come up on stage with him one night and help sing a couple songs. That girl loves the spotlight and didn't want to give up the microphone! Hmmm...I wonder who she gets that from.

Lily is definitely the daredevil of the family! I was so proud of her, trudging up that hill all by herself.





Rockstar Lily!


Fun on the beach!



Here are some of the many crafts that Micah made over the week. He wanted his picture taken with each one and was cracking me up with his poses. And yes, that is dirt all over him. He was constantly covered in dirt from the sand in the volleyball court.





I love these kids! This was my last year at camp with all three kids. Next year, Micah will be a camper and can stay in the cabins with the other kids. It is kind of a relief, but makes me a little sad, too.

Pedicures

While Aaron and Ashley were here, my mom decided to treat all us girls to pedicures. Even Lucy got her first pedicure. It was such a fun girls day out and we all had pretty toes, just in time for summer!

All the girls...


Lily had fun choosing just the right color. Aunt D. took her to get a pedicure last year, so she was a pro.


Lucy was not too sure about putting her feet in the foot tub at first, but once she got them in, she loved it.


We even got to share a foot bath.


...and the finished result! Ashley and Grandma Neen have their new matching sandals on too. Grandma Neen's are the red ones, then Ma, Lily, Lucy, and me.

Lucy's 3rd Birthday

I still cannot believe that Lucy is 3 years old now. That means that I officially am past the baby and toddler stage, which I am having mixed feelings about. It is exciting to look forward to this new stage of our life as a family, but I loved the baby stage so much and will miss many parts of it (but not all parts). Lucy is definitely growing up fast. At three years old:
She is very sweet and loving. She is always the first one to run up to me, give me a big hug, and say, "I love you, Mommy." She is also the first one to run up to Isaiah when he gets home from work, saying "Daddy's home!" She also tells Micah and Lily how much she loves them all the time and loves to snuggle on the couch with anyone in our family.
She had the greatest laugh and a way of making me smile, even when I am in a bad mood(which hardly ever happens, right?).
She will do anything to keep up with her older brother and sister, including following them around an copying everything they do and say. This can be especially challenging when one of the older two are doing something they shouldn't and I ask them to stop. After I tell Micah or Lily not to do something, Lucy will have to do the exact same thing just so I will tell her not to do it too.
She is very active. She loves to run and jump(she is getting fast, too). She will jump over anything and loves to jump on the trampoline.
For being the youngest, she sure doesn't let anyone boss her around. She almost always stands up for herself when she doesn't want to do something. Some of her favorite sayings are "No, I will do it myself!", "I don't want to...", and "Leave me lone!"
We are so happy to have little Lucy in our family. She has made our family complete and brought so much joy with her smiling face and happy-go-lucky attitude. Happy Birthday, Lucy!

Lucy shares a birthday with my mom(Grandma Neen) and this year was extra special because Grandma Neen got to be here to celebrate with us. On her birthday, Lucy told everyone we saw that it was her birthday "and Glamma Neen's too!" Since Grandma Neen was sleeping in Lucy's room, I decorated their bedroom door early that morning.



We celebrated the next weekend with a BBQ with family and friends. Lucy has always loved monkeys, so we did a monkey them which turned out pretty cute.



As they arrived, the kids all made paper bag monkeys, which they later used to put their treats in from the pinata.


And this is the pinata I finally tracked down. My original plan was to make a monkey pinata out of paper mache and one of those huge punching balloons. However, I set it outside to dry(this was my first mistake) and sent the kids out to play(this was my second mistake). Lucy knew I was making her a pinata, so when she saw it sitting outside, I guess she thought she would try it out. Needless to say, it did not survive the baseball bat she found to "whack" it with. There wasn't enough time to make another one, so I ended up driving all over town looking for a monkey pinata. I finally found one a couple hours before the party.


Lucy really got into opening her presents this year. Last year, she wasn't very interested in her presents so Micah and Lily had to open them for her.


Here is me with my mom and brother. Can you see the resemblance?


Lucy with her two "Aunties"


Isaiah was King of the BBQ, as always.


And...the Birthday girls! Happy Birthday, Lucy and Grandma Neen!

Last Day of School!

Ok, I know I am a little late on this but Micah and Lily had their last day of school on June 10th. I just had to snap this picture of them when I dropped them off at school. Micah has been such a good big brother this year. He really took Lily under his wing and helped her adjust to Kindergarten. Of course, he had to constantly remind her of all the rules, he helped her get on and off the bus, let her play with him at recess on early release days, and stuck with her during special events like Field Day.



Here is a picture of them on the first day of school. Is it me or is Micah a lot more taller than Lily now? I think he has definitely grown more than she has this year.


It is amazing how much they have grown and changed this past school year. Just another reminder of how quickly they are growing up and to cherish every moment. This year is going to be hard for me having them both in school all day. As much as they drive me crazy sometimes, I really miss Micah when he is at school and know I will miss my Lily too. And to top it off, Lucy will be starting preschool...sheez, I better stop now before I start bawling.