We had a visitor!

We saw this snapping turtle in our backyard on Thursday. It was quite big! The kids were amazed. We of course ran out to see it up close, and our neighbor Mr. Dave helped us "catch" her and put her into a bucket so that we could show her to Daddy. Neat.

I let Owen play with the cars on Thursday, and now he loves them! It's funny to watch him. He doesn't quite get how to play in them. He climbs in and climbs out, and most often makes the car fall over. But he has fun!

One more week of summer vacation! Wow! Last night we went to the mall and bought new shoes and some clothes for Sam. When did Sam start "needing" so many clothes??

Art is still working on the house...but he says he can see the light at the end of the tunnel!!

Happy Saturday!

Join the party-- win some prizes!

Who doesn't love free stuff? Three Boys and a Dog is having a Back 2 School Blog Bash 2009! She is giving away something every day!! Check it out here http://momof3boys3702.blogspot.com/2009/07/back-2-school-blog-bash-2009-month-of.html

Monday!!

It's Monday!
And oh what a day today has been!! I started watching a little girl named Ilana today, and her sister too, but her sister will only be here for 2 weeks. Ilana got along very well with Owen, which makes me very happy. They played nicely with little people and blocks. Had crackers on the deck. Played outside on the little castle and little trampoline. It's been a great day.
Samantha and Sarah were here... and then their friend Michelle came over, who is spending the night. And then Tommy came over to swim and "hang out".
Will is here. Jordan and Lucas and Aldin have been here too. Swimming and playing.
Colby went to Cameron's for the afternoon!!
The boys were supposed to go to tae kwon do tonight, but they asked to stay home because Jordan is available to play tonight. Since there is only 2 weeks left of summer vacation, and it's a nice night, and they already have lots of stripes, we're letting them stay home and play.

The kids had a great time camping with Grammy. Jenn was there so Sam was happy!!
It was so so quiet without them here. But, it's even better to have them home, chaos and everything!!!

Happy Monday!

It's Sunday!!!

It's Sunday. Owen had me up at 5:30 this morning. I tried and tried to get him to go back to sleep but he wouldn't. So I got up. Didn't want to, but I had. Now it's 8 am and guess who is napping? Yes, Owen fell asleep around 7:30. I figure I will update the blog and then shower in peace.

Last week Samantha went up to Lake George for a week with her friend Alexis. She ended up coming home on Thursday because she was sick and throwing up. We first thought it was a reaction to the meds, but seeing as she had been on them for a week at that point, the dr. didn't think so. Sam wasn't 100%, but she was "good enough" to go to camp with my mom on Friday for the weekend. Actually, all 3 older kids went.

Last week, without Sam, I took the boys to a splash pad I found in Rensselaer. It is really cool! I couldn't get many pictures because, well, there is water spraying everywhere!! But I was able to get some. The boys had fun. But Owen LOVED it. Loved it!! He just walked around to all the different fountains. He doesn't like getting water in his face, but after a while he was okay with that too. There were a few beach balls there and he really liked them. I need to get him one. It was a great day and it was fun. We only stayed an hour because Owen got tired and the boys were hungry. It's closed now, but next year we'll go back!

This was a hot week so he were in the water whenever we could. The hot weather made the pool turn a little green, so Art had to shock it and fix it. There were a couple of days when Owen and I went in the pool every couple of hours! It's just so refreshing when you're dripping with sweat. (eww)

Colby caught a frog. He tried to keep it in the little plastic container, but the frog was smarter than that. Not only did it get on the edge *where Art took a picture*, but when I went to go outside, it hopped after me. So we let him loose.

Art and I went to a barbecue with Owen yesterday. It was fun! Everyone loved Owen. Art's friend made him a little sandbox, that was very cute because Owen's never played in sand before. He kept grabbing it with his little hands and then letting it seep out through his fingers. It was cute. But then it rained. We stayed in the garage, but Owen wanted to be out in the rain. We let him and he got soaked. But he had a blast! We were there for 6 hours-- and as SOON AS we put Owen in his carseat, he fell asleep!

Have a happy Sunday!

Update on us

Well...the results are in. Samantha has Lyme Disease. I'm so glad I took her to the doctor, and didn't ignore her pains. (Last Monday she couldn't walk, couldn't climb stairs and was in a lot of pain.) She is now on an anti-biotic that she has to take 2 times a day, for 3 weeks. She has to swallow them, which was tough for her because she is really scared to swallow pills. The first day, she opened the pills and put them in food, but it really grossed her out. Today she swallowed them!! She was so proud of herself!! She is still in a bit of pain (it's only her second day on the antibiotics) and has a headache. But the dr. says the meds should pretty much get rid of it, though it may show up in the future.

Art is still working on the house. Still.

And the other day (the 12th) Samantha informed me that it was her half-birthday. She is now 12 and a half... 6 months until she turns 13. Oh no!!

Summer is going well. We're finally getting really hot weather and getting use of our pool!! Today there were 8 kids in there! it was fun.
I also set up Owen's little "pool". He likes it. But he's rather just eat leaves and dirt. He's weird. Ha ha ha.

Small update, but I gotta head to bed. Enjoy the photos!!

Back from Virginia!!!!!

It is SO good to be home!!
We left bright and early at 4 am on Wednesday morning. Poor Owen had a 102.8 temp the night before so I worried he would be sick going down. Luckily, it went to 100 by the time we left, and by the time we got to VA there was no temp at all.
We drove, 2 adults and 7 kids, for 11 hours to get to VA (added time for bathroom breaks, nursing breaks, eating breaks and traffic). Owen cried for almost 2 hours of the trip down, right in the beginning, which was pretty hard. Thankfully he settled down and slept a lot. He also ate anything the kids would feed him!
The kids were amazingly well behaved during the drive down.
We got to VA and Mike and Renee and Leah were still there. It was raining, so we couldn't go to the lake that night. Instead we visited with everyone and got acquainted with the house, and were able to tour Wally and Mom's new 4,000 square foot house on the lake!!
On Thursday and Friday we spent lots of time at the lake. It rained on and off on Thursday but not at all on Friday. We all swam in the lake (which felt so good, like bath water!) and went on Wally's boat. We tubed a bit (my arms are still sore) and some of us went on the jet ski (not me). Owen was only in the lake for a little while, he didn't like the life jacket at all. He did enjoy the boat ride though.
On the top of Wally's "dock/boat house" is a roof, and we all jumped off of it! I only did it twice... once willingly, and the other time because Colby decided he wanted to do it and then we spent 45 minutes trying to get him to jump. We finally had to get him back down the ladder, and I had to jump.
On Saturday Wally's sons and their families came to spend the day with us, partly the celebrate Wally's 60th birthday. We had cakes, gifts, and lots of fun. His grandkids were really nice to our kids, about the same ages, and they all got along very well. They exchanged email addresses before they left!
We talked for a long time with them all, and it was great to finally meet them.
"Dzia Dzia" (what the kids call Wally) was so nice to offer his home to us, and we hope to go back again!!

One minor emergency we had though... on Thursday morning, Will woke up covered in poison ivy, and his face was swollen from it. Mom and I drove him into town to the local CVS to ask them what to do. The pharmacist was worried that it was too close to his eyes, so we had to call the doc in NY, get them to call in a script to VA for a steroid, and then wait to get it filled. We also got him zyrtec and benadryl and oatmeal soap because he was really uncomfortable. It's a lot better now, somehow the lake water helped it dry up while we were there. But I forgot the steroid in VA... my mom is bringing him home today.

It's so nice to be home. Not so nice to be in this humidity with no lake! But, we have a pool and the kids are in it! Yee ha!