Camping disaster

We decided to become campers! For a while we will be tent campers. I am ok with that, but it means we are also fair weather campers! Last Friday we got all ready and went camping. It was cloudy, but nice. We set up our tent, we walked around, we had dinner with Melissa and Adam. It was great-- until about 7pm. Just as Brian and Adam were getting a fire ready some crazy looking clouds started moving in, fast. As soon as the clouds reached us all H-E-double-hockey-sticks broke loose. The wind collapsed Melissa and Adam's tent, Brian held on to ours, it started raining and Sydney started screaming because of the wind. As all this was going on, my phone rang and Brian's phone rang. Both our parents were calling to see if we were ok. My dad advised us to pack up and go home because of the weather advisory he was watching on the news. Then we looked at the clouds that make our decision for us. The clouds above us were swirling in a circle. I really thought we were going to witness a tornado. So, we packed up as fast as we could and went home. Sydney cried most of the way home (Payton slept through it all!) but was fine after a while. When we got home Syd was so upset about missing out on s'mores that I made her one in the microwave. I think it helped! Anyway, moral of the story as quoted by Sydney, "Maybe you should check the weather before we go camping." Nice, advice from the six-year-old.

Kindergarten Graduation

Sydney has had a great year at school. She has learned so much. I can't believe how fast this year went. Unfortunately we had a misunderstanding about when first grade would start: On the last day of school I told Sydney we could go out to lunch to celebrate. She was so excited. On the way to lunch she listed our upcoming events: No school Thursday, camping Friday, her Birthday Saturday, church on Sunday and then, "First grade on Monday." Uh-oh. I thought we'd talked about summer break, but obviously not how long it is. I tried to explain that before first grade we had a fun summer and she wouldn't go back to school until August--after Payton's birthday. She immediately burst into tears. I am just glad that she likes school so much!!

Too cute for words

Cheesey

Last week I took a brick of cheese out of the fridge to make sandwiches for lunch. As I got ready to slice some cheese, I noticed it looked funny. Something was wrong with one corner. As I looked more closely I could see distinct little teeth marks. I asked Sydney if she'd taken a bite out of the cheese. At first she denied it, but then she shrugged and said, "I wanted some cheese." What?? Where did she learn that?? I reprimanded her (trying not to laugh) and called Brian and let me him laugh about it. The pictures do not do it justice, but here they are anyway.

Payton's mishap

Payton is well known for bumps and bruises and running into things. A few weeks ago she was sitting on our back steps and leaned too far forward and rolled off. She had a huge goose egg, a cut on her nose and a cut by her eye that turned into a black eye. Brian immediately wanted to take a picture. Payton tried so hard to smile for the camera as she cried.

Warm Weather Fun

This was one of the first warm days in May. Our rule is it has to be 80 degrees outside to play in the water. It was WELL BELOW 80 on this particular day, but the girls were so excited for warm weather that we bent the rule and they played in the sprinkler, but didn't have swimsuits on.

Easter Egg Hunt with Cousins

I know, Easter was a long time ago. But, we have some really cute pictures of the kids that I wanted to post.

Once again some of my pictures didn't load. I might have to try something else!

Our projects

We have been working on a lot of things around our house in the past few months. Here are some pictures of our projects:

P.S. I had a hard time getting my pictures to load, so a lot are missing. But, all three of the projects are finished. My wall is finally done and I really like the way it turned out. Our basement carpet is so much better than the industrial stuff that was there before and our backyard looks like a jungle. The grass is growing like crazy. I think I am finally able to mow it!

A Princess, a crown and a throne

We are potty training. Payton loves to sit on the toilet, but she also likes to have toys around her. When we first started, she would only sit on the little toilet in her room. Luckily we have moved up. She sits on the regular toilet in the bathroom and is ok that the toys can't come.

Finally some GOOD News!

Last night while I was at work, our pediatrician called and talked to Brian. Our doctor and a local Urologist have been examining Sydney's urinalysis and CAT Scan. They decided that she probably got an infection somewhere in her body (maybe when she had the stomach flu really bad in March) and the infection went to her Kidneys. So, Sydney is taking two 10 day rounds of antibiotics and hopefully she'll be better and back to her normal self. It has been so hard to see her like this. She just hasn't been our little girl for a month and a half. Thank you for all of your prayers and phone calls. We really appreciate all of the support from you, our friends and family.