March Madness

March really has been full of madness for me and I'm not talking basketball frenzy either!!!!

Liam has been really sick this month and after 4 trips to the doctor, 2 strep tests and a blood test he was finally diagnosed with scarlet fever a week ago today. He is on antibiotics 3 times a day for ten days. I was relieved to finally have a diagnosis for him.
It all started fairly innocently when he complained that his neck hurt one night and I figured he was just sore from a hike earlier in the day. When he woke up the next morning and he wouldn't straighten his neck and I noticed that he had a big bump on his neck I decided I better take him to the doctor. When the doctor checked him out he told me the bump was a swollen lymph node. He told me that it could be strep or possibly mono. He took a strep culture and gave me a lab form to get blood taken. Both those tests came back negative, so the doctor said it must have just been a virus that ran it's course because the lymph gland was also down. That evening Liam started running a fever of 103 and had the fever for 4 days. I took him back to the doctor on the 3rd day of the fever and the doc gave him another strep test and looked him over and discovered the rash all over his stomach and back so he gave me a prescription for antibiotics. This time the strep test came back positive which meant that the doctor was correct that Liam has scarlet fever. He is feeling better though and we are thankful that it wasn't something more serious.

Sunday

Yesterday Ben and Peter went on a whale watching trip. They didn't get to see any whales though. Liam and I went to Legoland for a fun, relaxing day. Liam doesn't like roller coasters, so he was really excited that he only had to ride the rides that he likes (ones that stay on the ground and go slow...) We only spent a couple of hours there, but it was a beautiful day. Since we have annual passes, I don't feel so bad only spending a short time there. Yesterday Legoland unveiled their new area/rides. Only pass members and media were allowed to ride yesterday. It was a lot of fun.
Then we came home and took a short nap to recharge. Not much else to report from this weekend.

Misc. posting

This rainbow was even prettier in person....
I was helping the boys look for fossils...
Our car next to one of the steep canyon walls. As we drove the path got narrower and narrower...

I really don't have much to say today, but thought I'd just update my blog again. My parents were here last week and I really enjoyed spending time with them. We didn't do much of anything, but spent a lot of time just playing board games and relaxing. We had planned to go to Yuma, Arizona for a visit, but didn't make it. Mom got food poisoning, and a couple days later dad came down with a 24 hour flu bug. So out of 5 days, two were not much fun. And all but one day it rained. The one day it didn't rain we went to watch Peter play rugby, which was fun...we all came home with a sunburn though!!! But even with all the bad stuff it was nice to have my parents around.

My sister asked for some more pics, so thought I'd add a couple of those too. Hope everyone is doing well.

busy family

Well, the title of my blog is busy kids, but I think maybe I should have titled it busy family. Seems like we are all involved in activities that we enjoy, but that use a lot of our time.
Liam is probably the least affected of us and even his "schedule" could be considered full for a 5 year old. He attends preschool 3 times a week and on the other two days he has speech therapy. Friday he plays soccer which he absolutely loves!!! He has scored a goal in both of the games his has played so far. This is only his second time playing, but he really seems to understand the point of the game.
Peter is our busy boy. On Mondays he has cub scout meetings, Tuesday he has rugby practice, Wednesday is CCD day, Thursday is rugby again, and Saturday he has a rugby game.
Hubby is busy being a den leader for the cub scouts as well as the cubmaster for the entire pack. He is also involved in church choir. And he works full time as an engineer.
As for me...well I am not only the taxi driver for both Liam and Peter's activities, but also the chef, maid, and nanny. On top of these activities I am also on the Board of Directors for Poway Pop Warner Football. Although football is only from August through November the board meets year round. Right now we are gearing up for signups which start in March. And just to keep life interesting I volunteered to chair a committee to organize the cub scout blue and gold banquet. I am thankful that I have a great committee to help me organize this event.
So I guess maybe all of these activities are why I don't blog as often as I would like to. By the end of my day I just want to veg out, I don't have the brain capacity left to think of blog entries. I miss my friends and family and I will keep trying to blog for you!!!

Moody day

I am really feeling extra moody today. I'm not sure why exactly, but everything seems to be getting on my nerves. I worked this morning and one of the kids in the room wanted me to hold him the entire time. He felt warm and we took his temp, and he had a low fever but we weren't allowed to page the mom because the fever wasn't high enough. It was obvious that the kid felt horrible and I felt like he ought to go home.
Then I went to Liam's school to help out, and Liam decided that he didn't want to wear a jacket. It was about 68 degrees or so and I told him it was fine if he didn't wear a jacket. At recess time the teacher told all the kids they couldn't go outside without a jacket. So I walked up to the car and got a light jacket for Liam. After being outside for about two minutes Liam was begging to take the jacket off. I went ahead and took it off him and the teacher said "well, that's fine...I guess your mommy knows if you're warm enough". Coming from living in Nebraska for 30 years, I still can't get used to the idiots out here that think 68 is cold.
Anyway...I'm hoping for a better day tomorrow.

Family desert outing.

Wow, I can't believe I haven't blogged for awhile. Mostly it is because my life is generally ho hum, not all that remarkable. I go through the day doing the things that stay at home moms do, and enjoying my time with my kids.

Yesterday, the whole family went to the desert to go explore some trails. We have an Xterra that we bought with 4wheel drive just for these sorts of occasions. :) The "trail" was through a desert wash and took us very near the side of some cliffs. We parked and got out to explore in the oyster shell wash. We found a lot of gypsum sticking out of the rocks. Then we walked a little further and found lots of really neat rocks. Liam filled up his back pack with rocks that he just couldn't live without. It reminded me of when my aunt used to take my sister and I fossil hunting in Nebraska. Even if we didn't find a fossil, we always managed to bring back a lot of rocks. I was always fnding interesting rocks...my sister wasn't so interested in digging around in the dirt and grit. Yesterday I think I enjoyed our digging for neat rocks almost as much as the boys did. Geology is really fascinating for me, and I really enjoy sharing what I know with my boys.

After picking up rocks we got back in the car and drove to another spot that had a trail to some wind caves. We parked and hiked about a mile to the wind caves and it was a great spot that the boys enjoyed immensely.

Then we headed back to the main road, and we saw another side trail that caught our interest. It was called the Elephant Tree trail. It was an easy mile long loop trail hike through the desert shrubs.

All in all, it was a really fun and relaxing day. It was nice to get out of the house and spend time with my boys and husband.

Reflections

Wow, I can hardly believe this is the last day of the year. Seems like the year flew by almost without me realizing it. I realize that I have so much to be thankful for...great family and friends, healthy kids, my own health. 2007 was a pretty good year overall.
Thinking back I really can't think of too many bad things. The worst of course was the October wildfires that caused us to evacuate, but even then we were able to return home and had no damage to anything. I enjoyed going to Puerto Rico in April, it was warm and we got to go swimming almost every day. The ocean water was so blue and clear...and warm. I also loved going back to Nebraska in August to see my family. I just wish it could have been a longer trip so that I could have visited friends too. Most of the rest of the year was spent doing things with and for my kids. Peter played baseball and football. Liam played soccer for the first time. We went on a couple of camping trips and a family vacation to the Grand Canyon and New Mexico. Now, my boys have both had their birthdays and are a year older...Peter is 9 now and Liam is 5. I can honestly say that I don't know where the time has gone since they were born. I love those two boys so very much and I know how blessed I am to have them.