Backyard fun!

A few weekends ago my Dad told me he had a surprise for my kids. So, on Saturday Blaine and Garrett went with Doug and my Dad to get the surprise. There was some assembly required (well dis-assembly first). They brought it out to the back yard and we started spray painting.



Then the assembly part started. Its taking shape and my kids were ecstatic!!!

Yay! A swing set! My grandma's old swing set to be exact. The swing set needed some repair but my handy Dad welded a few places and with some paint, its good as new. Only one of the original swings was salvageable. The other was torn. (They are made of conveyor belt material and can support even the heaviest rear end!). We got another swing and a baby swing so all three kids can swing together. Thanks Dad for getting the swing workable again and thanks to Grandma for letting us have it!

The kids all love to swing high. Even Ryan. He just laughs and laughs.

Its a good thing he is belted in or I'd be nervous that he'd fall out. When we first bought our home, the back yard was not very kid friendly. No toys. Then we got a trampoline. Then a basketball hoop, now a swing set. We got a hand-me-down playhouse as well and now our backyard is the place to be!! My kids want to be outside every second of the day. Hannah's new phrase is "Swing me high, mom."

Happy Birthday to Me!

I had an awesome birthday this year. Usually I'm happy to get my birthday over with and move on with my life and last year I could have done without a birthday all together but his year was different.

First, Blaine threw me a surprise birthday party the day before my actual birthday. Yay me, I showed up late to my own party. In my defense, I was doing something that my husband encouraged me to do but I don't think he thought I'd be as late as I was. Also, he told my family to show up at 6:30 pm and to everyone's surprise, they were ON TIME! Haha! Yup, my family usually trickles in for events.

Anyway, I got there and everyone was wearing party hats and they started singing Happy Birthday to me as I walked in the door. It was awesome. My family sings Happy Birthday with 4 part harmony. Its a wonderful sound.

Blaine got me this special crown with pink feathers. It says Happy Birthday and lights up in the middle. Hannah was jealous and only let me wear it for a few pictures!

This is as I was just walking in the door. Ryan ran to me and couldn't wait to get rid of his hat. I started bawling when they all started singing to me.

Everyone had a party hat. Even the babies. My sister made me a wonderful cake called an Eclair cake. No cake, just Graham crackers, pudding and frosting. It was delish!

The next day was my birthday and I started the day out right with a trip to the dentist for a cleaning. What was I thinking when I scheduled that?? Oh well, no cavities! The day was great, though. I went to lunch with my Grandma Purcell, went shopping for clothes with my hubby (what a good sport!) and then went to a concert. It was the Teton Chamber Orchestra with guest performer Jon Schmidt. It was a very cool concert. Blaine was worried it would be all classical stuff and that he would fall asleep but Jon Schmidt was very good and catered to all the husbands that got dragged to a "piano concert". He even had his dad come up on stage and tell jokes.

No, this is not how we dressed for the concert (although I was surprised and how casual most people were. I must be of an old school mentality that tells me to dress nice for concerts and other things.) Blaine and I went to the 2nd chance prom with some friends a few days before my birthday. Fun, Fun, Fun!

OK, I know you are sick of hearing about my birthday but I just had a really good day and wanted to tell you all about it! Thanks to my sweetheart, Blaine, for making the day so awesome. Also, thanks to my mom for keeping my kids so much that weekend. Thanks to my family for all you do for me. Love you all!

Night at the E.R.

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DISCLAIMER! MEDICAL-TYPE PICTURES AHEAD! NO BLOOD BUT PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!
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I had to put that first bit up there in case any of you get queasy when it comes to medical procedures. Anyway, last Monday night, Blaine was out in our shed, working on our rototiller and he accidentally splashed gasoline in his eye. He came into the house and flushed it out but we thought it might be a good idea to have it checked out in the E.R. The gas splashed in his right eye luckily. I say luckily because he has had a cornea transplant in his left eye.

Anyway.....

They tested the pH of his eye. It should be a 7. His was about a 6 1/2. That meant he had to have his eye flushed out some more.

He layed down on the stretcher and they put a bunch of towels under his head. The plan was to put a Morgan's lens in his eye and run saline in it until it was sufficiently flushed out. They were very nice and numbed his eye first.

Blaine thought he could put the lens in himself but its really big so the nice nurse had to help. I was taking picures on my phone the whole time and she probably thought it was really annoying. I couldn't help myself. I wanted to document the process!

The saline is running into his eye and flushing it out. Blaine said it felt really cold and wished the fluid was warmed. Oh well. After this bag of fluid, they would retest the pH of his eye and he might have to have another bag of fluid. We would get them to warm it then. Luckily, the pH was right on and he could go home. After some antibiotic ointment in his eye, we were on our way home.

This is the Morgan's lens. It looks like a great big contact lens but it is very rigid and sits right on your eye. After being checked out with his eye doctor the next day, all is well and his eye will be fine. I'm very thankful for that!

Ryan @ 15 months

Ryan is almost 18 months old. We had his pictures taken in March. Our photographer was Lindsey Briggs. I found out about her from my sister. She did an amazing job with Ryan and was so patient. He didn't really want to hold still, so she followed him around and just snapped pictures the whole time. She got some really great shots of his "real" facial expressions. I plan to have her take our family photos in May (if it ever warms up!). You can take a look at some of her other work here.

I love this picture. It makes me laugh and gets one his "mean" faces. He's a pretty happy boy most of the time but when he is cranky, look out! That usually means it is time for a nap (like in the picture above!)

He is getting so big and has the longest eyelashes! At his last checkup he weighed in at 21 pounds, 6 ounces. (15th percentile). His height is 30 1/4 inches (also 15th percentile). He is my smallest of my kiddos. But, don't forget the huge noggin on this kid! Haha! 49 1/2 cm = 97th percentile!!

This is a view of him I see everyday. I love it! His communication skills are growing daily. His first real word was "Hannah" and his vocabulary includes but is not limited to, Garrett (hard to say), mom, dad, cat, up, more, woof, banana, no-no, car, yes, that, grandma and grandpa. He also says, "here kitty, kitty" and curls up his fingers to call the cat. He is pretty consistent at signing "please" and "thank-you" (the only two signs I have taught him). He will say phrases that will make you say, Did he just say that? I think he did but I'm not sure! Haha!

Ryan is up and running everywhere. He thinks he is as big as Garrett and Hannah. He has discovered the outdoors and begs to be out there every minute. He is a runner though, runaway that is. Our back yard is not enclosed by the fence and he has figured out ALL the escape routes (even the small opening on the edge of our shed). This little boy is going to make me finish the fence! He loves books, balls, or anything with wheels. If he can push it around, he's a happy camper! He's a fun, busy little guy and we just love him!