Poor Maddox! This is what happens when a mosquito bites him. The actual bite occurred right over the right eyebrow. This picture was taken at the worst of it all, which was TWO days later! (Approx. 30-40 hrs later.) Currently he has another bite on the side of his face near the temple, and there is an area of about 3 inches in diameter that is just swollen. The mosquitos are so bad. It only takes one and they get to him before I know they're out yet. We had been really enjoying the evenings, but I'll have to find something to use to repel the mosquitoes before we can be out at dusk again!

Here is Lacey at Lake Somerville. All 6 of us went camping with the cub scout pack. The first night it poured down rain. Our tent held up very well, but others were not so fortunate. We took in some water along any edges that were being touched by coolers, etc, and there was a slight misting from the top. Since Lacey and Maddox slept through it, however, we just stayed put. It was just wonderful to be out in otherwise great weather, spending time with the family.

Here is Maddox hunting eggs. He was just so cute!

It's too bad this is a fuzzy pic, but this is Maddox's hand holding a screw for me so that I could drill it into the deck. I pre-drilled the holes and he would come along with a screw and hold it in place for me. :o)

This pic is courtesy of Kailyn. Maddox really enjoyed the building stage of the deck!

I love this picture. This is Lacey and Maddox sharing their suckers. I got to enjoy just the two little ones while Jeff went to the lake with the older two. That day was so sweet.

When I came upon this I was on the phone with my mom and said, "I can't even describe what I'm seeing right now!" There was cereal all over the chairs and the floor. The dog was circling the table eating what she found. (By the way, Lacey calls this particular cereal "yucky" charms. She likes it too!)

Here's Kailyn (in the middle) selling GS cookies. I'm so glad that is over! I spent lots of time on that, but I learned a lot and won't need to stress as much next year. (As cookie mom) She really enjoyed selling with her friends. (It was definitely about the friends!) She makes friends so easily. I love to watch her around others. 

Korbin FINALLY received his DSLite. He anticipated that thing beginning in August when he found out about the contest. He found out he won late Jan. There was a shipping problem, so it took until March for him to receive it! THEN he had to save money to buy a game. Poor thing. He's on his 2nd game now. I wouldn't have bought it for him, but he really appreciates it and enjoys playing when it's time.

Here's Lacey looking like a garden gnome. We were digging holes for posts for our new deck Jeff built. Lacey stood inside the hole and we all cracked up. I'll have to post a pic of the deck. It's a wonderful relaxing spot to be!!!! Lacey has undergone a personality change since her 3rd birthday. It takes more patience to get through to her. She has always been so compliant and obedient... she still is, but there is a strong sense of independence- she wants to do for herself instead of others doing things for her.

Here is Rachel looking pretty! She chose a great dress for her basketball banquet. The slide show prepared by the coaches was really fun!

I don't think people get a chance to see Maddox smiling. He doesn't do it much unless he's at home, but he's full of smiles.  Here he is reaching for the camera!

Kailyn is well on her way to making her goal of selling 400 cookies! (She's at 385!) Here she is with her friend Ryleigh, delivering cookies last week.

I love this one! Looks like Rachel and Maddox are texting each other. He is such a button king. He loves anything and everything with buttons! :)

For the past couple of weeks everyone here has been sick. Two weeks ago it was pink eye. This week it's sinus/upper respiratory infection. The little ones had double ear infections last Friday. Lacey constantly sucks on her two middle fingers and since she's always the 1st one sick, I'm sure that she's picking up germs. I've started really making her wash her hands more often and I got some hand sanitizer for shopping trips. I'm not really one to use the stuff, since it not only kills bad bacteria on the skin, but ALL bacteria on the skin. Our skin needs the good bacteria to fight off the bad ones and protect the skin. My lotion FINALLY came yesterday. (It was backordered.) I love it since it contains nutrients for the good bacteria on the skin. I much prefer that over the sanitizer, but for now it's sanitizer plus the lotion after, at least when we're away from home. Too bad I wasn't doing it before, because this cough the kids have is horrible! We have been at home, though, the last few days. I let Kailyn do a Girl Scout badge fair on Saturday and then cancelled all other plans so far. I'm hoping she can attend Girl Scouts tomorrow. They'll be having a GS "birthday party."  I was hoping a few days of rest would get us over this yucky cough. It's definitely helping...but not moving fast enough for me.  :o) 

 

black eyes

Lacey and Kailyn... This is what happens when I say, "Sister picture!" (so sweet!)

Korbin... his Daddy's son!

Lacey and Mommy

She's so used to taking pictures she's getting silly! :o)

Close-up. The bruising on the left is just at the nose and forehead now.

Not much else going on at the moment. Grandma is visiting for the weekend and the kids are really enjoying her company. (Especially Lacey!) Jeff stayed home from church today with 3 sick kiddos. I took Korbin to Scout Sunday at our host church. (The church that allows us to use their facility each week.) While he was home he vacuumed the whole house! (Among many other things.) I can't remember the last time I vacuumed upstairs. What a guy. :)

Well, it's bedtime and there's a tired screaming baby needing a bath. :o)

ouch!

Lacey and Kailyn

Lacey fell Sunday at church and hit her head on a table. She had her arms out to catch her fall on the floor but the table got in the way! Last night after her bath we could clearly see 2 black eyes! It's not as obvious in the pictures, but you get the idea. We are so thankful she didn't receive a concussion from the ordeal!

Lacey and Maddox eating grapes. :) They look like trouble, don't they?

Korbin received his popcorn awards last Thursday at scouts. He was so excited about it. He received a participation patch, a super salesman patch (for selling over $250), a fill-it-up certificate and patch (for filling up one whole order form), a marshmallow blaster (gun that shoots marshmallows- also for filling the order form), an Academy Gift Certificate (for being the top 3rd salesman), and a k'nex picture blocks (for being a popcorn photo contest winner). He is also watching the mail and waiting for his DS to arrive from the photo contest.

Whittling Chip and Girl Scout Cookies

Korbin's birthday cupcakes - lightsabers! For his 9th birthday we celebrated with cupcakes and friends at a park nearby.

Jeff teaching Korbin how to use a knife

As a Bear (3rd Grade Cub Scout) Korbin is at the age to use a pocket knife. During den time they carved a bar of soap. He is pretty careful with his knife and does well. If you remember in December we entered a photo in a "Best Popcorn Pix" contest. His entry was one of the winners!!! He is overjoyed to be getting a Nintendo DSlite. He always sees other boys (and girls) who have them and we told him if he wanted to enter to try for it, we'd let him have it if he won. From his popcorn sales he earned a free ticket to watch the Houston Aeros play hockey. He wanted it to be a father/son deal, so I bought Jeff a ticket to go with it. He said the seats were great and both of them really got into it and enjoyed being there. After the game, Korbin was able to go down with other scouts to take a shot on the goal. Too bad we forgot the camera! 

Kailyn is in the midst of selling Girl Scout cookies. She has earned the initial prize by selling over 160 boxes of cookies! She has a goal of 400 boxes... so at this point, she has 149 to go! It's fun for me to circle the prizes she has earned as she goes. I cleared out my "craft room" as it had become a junk room. (or overflow, depending on how you look at it.) It will be the cookie room whenever the cookies get here. I volunteered to be the cookie manager, therefore keeping any cases of cookies at my house until picked up by the girls who sold them or until we finish our cookie booths, etc. Last year they were against all the walls in my living room and we had four boxes of cookies fall at the mercy of the 2 yr old cookie monster. This year I'm locking them in a room with a key. She's too smart for the bathroom locks too, so I will replace the door handles with the outer-door variety. I have an extra one I keep on a storage attic we keep Christmas presents in.

Meet Julie (& Audrey)

This is Julie the rat. She is very sweet. Too bad their tails aren't furry like a squirrel, people would like them more! I'm not big on holding them, I simply don't have the time, but Kailyn is just giddy over them both. We got Julie late Monday night as the pet store closed. Audrey, her sister, came home with us today. While the mice, gerbils and hamsters are cuter, the rats bond with humans better and bite less. Kailyn is always begging to hold her. Her sister, Audrey, looks very much like Julie. I think Audrey's head is darker and the fur around their tails are different colors.

Christmas

There were two expressions Korbin had on Christmas day. He was really excited!

We called the open-mouth expression "the look of the day." He just kept dropping his jaw. It was so funny.

Kailyn was so sweet. She said her favorite thing was the pink legos. Who knew? She asks for everything under the sun, so that actually makes it hard. She says she wants stuff, but then doesn't really play with it. One thing I did for her was make felt food. I didn't have time to do much, so I just tucked the needle in with the gift, and explained to her that part of that gift is that the two of us can sew more of it together. She was thrilled about that!

Lacey was so tired when the kids got her up. The first thing she said was, "I'm tired." We finally talked her into opening a gift... and she just stared at it. Notice the two pics that look alike aren't exactly the same. She just sat there for the longest time. Didn't even touch it. :o) It wasn't until she opened the scooter that she started waking up and getting excited!

Maddox was just so cute. He loved the whole day. He even got into unwrapping a bit.

I LOVE this picture. All the kids got bathroom stuff in their stockings. This is Maddox's first toothbrush. I handed it to him to see what he'd do. :O)