Hot Sunny Days = Swimming Pool Fun!

Today has got to be one of the funnest days. We have been in our pool a lot over the past couple of weeks but today tops it! Today, we have Dillon (our friend) and the three boys (Wayne, Weston and Wyatt). Everyone was wanting to go in the pool first thing this morning but I was able to hold them off until after lunch. Once they were finished eating, they all had swimsuits on and were heading out the door. We got sunscreen on everyone, the pool cover off and ladder in, and let them loose.

I was able to catch this photo before they got too wild.

They all had tons of fun jumping off the ladder and seeing who could make the biggest splash.

These two were having a blast in the pool...can you tell?!

Brenna was amazing with Weston! I was a little nervous about putting him the pool with the big kids. We had all talked about how we needed to be safe with the little ones and needed to watch out for them. Brenna took it to heart and protected Weston from the big kids. She would swim around with him on her back and when he was ready to get out, she was right there with him. What a girl! She is making her momma proud!!

I love the fact that Brenna couldn't get his arm floaties off so she just wrapped him in the towel with them on. He looks like he's ready for some football!

Wyatt was amazing! He just hung out on the grass, crawling around checking things out.

He found the cord for the pool pump and that seemed to keep him occupied for a little while. Eventually, we decided that he needed to be a part of this pool party also! We couldn't just let him sit and watch the big kids.

He loved dangling his toes in the water and at one point decided that he wanted to splash a little with his hands. It was so cute!!

I love how Wayne was right there making sure Auntie wasn't going to let Wyatt fall in. He kept saying, "He is too little to swim Auntie." He is such a great big brother!

I'm so thankful for the fun that we can have with our friends and cousins. I'm looking forward to many more days of this!!

The King of Worms

So, Ethan spent some time over at Uncle Tyler and Aunt Tanya's on Saturday. Go here to read about his day. Only boys would do something like this!



So glad he could go and spend a day with boys and have a break from his sisters. He really loves to be the 4th Silves boy!

A noise I never like to hear...

At 12:40 am I was awoken by a sound that I always dread hearing coming from Ethan's room...the sound of croup. I ran to his room and he was crying and making all sorts of unpleasant noises while breathing along with a cough that sounded like it ripping it throat to pieces. I picked him up, grabbed my bathrobe and a cold glass of water for Ethan, and ran for the front door. Thankfully it was a cool night with a breeze. I had him start taking deep breaths. The hardest part was that he was so upset that he might have to go to ER and he was crying so loud that we couldn't stay outside long. (His crying and harsh cough were echoing throughout the neighborhood. Anyone with their windows open, heard him!)

We eventually made our way back inside to the house only to go sit in a very steamy bathroom. By now, Jason was awake and fully aware of what was happening and took Ethan into the bathroom so I could get a few other things. We both got the "gut feeling" that he was going to need something other than the cold/steam treatments to help get him through this. Thankfully, our doctor had given us the medication to keep on hand. I just knew that if I didn't get it in him we would be on our way to ER. So, I crushed the 5 little pills scooped them up with yogurt and fed Ethan what he thought was yogurt. He ate it like a champ. I took over with Ethan so Jason could at least try to go back to sleep...he had to be up early for work.

5 minutes in that bathroom and I was nothing but a sweaty mess but it's worth it for my baby to be able to breath! Ethan kept saying over and over, "Mommy, I don't think this is a good plan. I just want to go to bed. I just want to feel better." I tried to convince him that Mommy's plan was going to work. And then he says, "Mommy, you just need to give me my medicine. That's what the doctor would do." I informed him that when he ate his two bites of yogurt that the medicine was hiding on the spoon and that he already took his medicine, we just needed a few more minutes for it to start working. His eyes got big, he wrapped his arms around me and said, "Thank you mommy, thank you! Now can I go to bed." He didn't like to hear that we had a few more minutes in that very warm and steamy bathroom and then had to go back outside.

Things eventually settled down enough after our second visit outside for me to feel comfortable putting him back to bed. I pulled out the humidifier and have had that going all night. Now, I get to call the doctor's office, of course our doc is out on vacation, and explain everything and let them know that we will be needing another prescription for the medication. I just hope that our nurse is in the office and that I can talk to her. She will be able to explain to the on-call that we don't need to be seen for this prescription.

So much for growing out of croup by age 5! (Every doctor we have seen for croup has told us, "Once he's 5, he should be grown out of this." Not Ethan!) I am really hoping that tonight will be uneventful and that we will all get some good sleep. Too bad there's no time for a nap today.

It's a beautiful day!

Yes, it is indeed! After getting a few things done around the house this morning and then a trip to the library and a few errands here in town, we are spending our afternoon in the sun! I decided that sitting in the sun sounded a whole lot better than vacuuming...a chore that did not get done this morning. It has been awhile since I have just gone out to SIT in the sun. I put on my cute little sun dress and headed out with the laptop. However, the glare was so bad that I couldn't see the screen without draping a towel over my head and the laptop. So, after a few minutes of online "shopping" with Brenna, I decided to shut the computer down and just enjoy being outside listening to the kids play in and out of the pool while I did nothing! It felt so good!!

Dillon, our extra for the summer, and Alyssa are currently playing with a ladybug. I remember being a kid and playing with ladybugs. Now, I can't stand to feel them crawling on me. Ethan has a bug farm that they have this ladybug in. It is kind of fun to watch it crawl around all the different obstacles.

Okay, it's back out to my recliner and the sunshine. I came inside for a little break and something cold to drink. Good thing it's pizza for dinner tonight...I really didn't want to turn on my oven.

Happy sunning!

Summer time fun!

So, I realized that I have no pictures to go with this post...oops!

With the heat that we had this past week, and I'm not complaining, we spent a lot of time either in the swimming pool or having water fights.

I love that we have neighbors with kids and that they all play so well together! One set has a pool like ours so the kids go back and forth between the two pools. Thankfully we each have the same rules when it comes to the swimming pools so it's easy to transition between the two. I think the best part about the two pools is that Alisha and I both get a chance to enjoy the pool to ourselves while the kids are at "the other pool". So, when they are here, Alisha is laying out in their pool and when the kids are there, I'm in ours! LOVE IT!

We have worked really hard this week to tidy up the house each night so that we aren't spending any play time having to clean the house.

I think yesterday was the best day of the whole week! It may not have been the hottest day of the week but the events of the day made it the best.

As I mentioned earlier, the kids were doing their usual back and forth between the pools between our house and the Ramermans. At about 5:00, Alyssa came running home with the biggest smile on her face. "Jeff and Alisha want us all over for hot dogs. Can we PLEASSSSSE go?" Of course, we didn't turn this down. We love spending time with the Ramermans and the Seigmans but the Seigman kids have all been sick. Hoping they will be well soon. Any way, I quickly started going through the cupboards and refrigerate. Pulling out chips, fruit, anything that I could find to take. We was a great spur of the moment dinner! The kids barely finished dinner and they were heading back to the pools.

By the end of the night we were all over in our yard roasting marshmallows and making s'mores. We introduced the Ramerman family to making s'mores with Recess Peanut Butter Cups. I hear these are now on their shopping list!

We will definitely be doing this again! The kids all had fun, the adults had fun. We are so thankful for neighbors that we can call friends!

**I'll try to do better at getting pictures of this week's summer time fun!**

Happy 4th of July!

This year, Mom and Duane invited opened up their place out at Birch Bay Leisure Park to anyone who wanted to stop by. So, once Jason got home from work, we loaded up and headed out. The girls swam (for about 10 minutes...it was cold and raining) and the kids played with Paige and my cousin's little girl, Samantha.

It was mainly family from the Silves and Groen families. We all had a great time just hanging out and chatting!

Duane barbecued burgers for everyone and then those of us that were there all brought salads or whatever else it was that we wanted to share that day. We had quite the spread of food!

The girls didn't really leave Paige's side, especially Miss Alyssa!

Once dinner was cleaned up, some of us walked down to the beach. We had fun trying to get family pictures and pictures of the kids. The kids had more fun searching for "treasures" to bring home.

Once we got back to the beach house, Brenna was in the kitchen helping Grammy get a dessert ready. Grammy put her in charge of decorating. She was suppose to create a flag out of berries. She looks so big here!

We had to get a picture of the dessert before serving it. I think she did a great job!

It was a great day to just sit and relax. We ended up going home before the fireworks started down at the beach. Jason had to get up very early and was exhausted! Thankfully, we have neighbors that put on a pretty good show so the kids didn't miss out on seeing any of the big fireworks. We got home and unloaded the van and then sat out in our front yard and watched the few different "shows" going on around the neighborhood.

Happy Birthday Ethan!

Saturday, July 3rd, our baby officially turned 5!

I have a tradition of waking our kids up on their birthdays and videoing them while singing happy birthday. The kids are all at a point now where they expect this the morning of their birthday so it's really not as mean as it sounds. Sometimes, they are laying there just waiting for me to come in.

We celebrated with a few of Ethan's little buddies the morning of his birthday. He was so excited to have his friends here. The boys immediately started playing with the Legos that Ethan had received the night before.

Once the boys became comfortable in our home, they were ready to get started. We had Ethan start with opening his gifts from his friends. They were all so cute to watch as they sat there watching Ethan open the gift that they brought. We have a tradition in our home with the friend parties. The birthday child sits with the friend that gave them the gift they are opening and then we take a picture of the two together with the gift. It's fun to look back and to see how each of our kids and their friends have grown over the years.

After gifts, we gathered a few things and took the boys out to the garage for some pinata' fun. Three boys blinded with a metal bat, let's just say...SCARY! Thankfully, I had Brenna and Alyssa there to help remind the boys that we all needed to stand back while the one blind folded swung the bat at the pinata'. They had so much fun doing this!

We collected all of the candy and moved back into the house for cake and ice cream. I wasn't sure how singing would go with the boys...not all boys like to sing. However, these boys did not hold back and "belted" out Happy Birthday. I loved it!

They loved the cupcakes and ice cream...some left the evidence on their faces! :)

 

The weather was so nice so we headed outside after they finished their cupcakes and ice cream and had some fun with bubbles. We pulled out the Bubble Rocket that Ethan had received the night before from Uncle Ryan and Auntie April. It was a huge hit with all of the boys.

The boys headed home around noon and I was able to get everything picked up and dishes done before Jason was home from work that afternoon. (Yes, my dear husband has been working 6 days a week, which means working on Saturdays.)

We took time in the afternoon to celebrate Ethan's birthday with just the five of us. The girls had each picked out gifts for Ethan. It's neat to see how they have really started to put thought into the gifts they get for people, especially for their siblings!

Alyssa gave Ethan a Buzz Lightyear...yes, Toy Story characters are his new favorite toys! It's fun to watch how his imagination go so many new directions now that he has seen the movie!

Brenna gave Ethan a set of Crayola 3D Sidewalk Chalk.

And, from Daddy and Mommy, Ethan received some fun things! We gave him a new Lego set, Toy Story cereal, a Veggie Tales Bible with a Veggie Tales bag and coloring book. And then, he got his new tent! He use to have a little "one man" tent but one of the poles broke. We have searched and searched for a replacement pole and have not been able to find one. Ethan loves having a tent because he can close the door on it and have a place of his own. We decided that we would just get him a new one for his birthday and he was so surprised! Now that Daddy is finished working weekends, or we are hoping he is, Ethan and Daddy will have camp outs in the backyard. Ethan can not wait for this!

We set the tent up in the living room so that we could sleep in it. However, he only lasted for about 30 minutes before deciding to go sleep in his own bed.

At least he looked cute in it!

Later that evening, we headed over to Uncle Deryl and Aunt Shari's for dinner with the extended Groen family. They have a beautiful new home and a great yard! It was fun to have everyone together. They were all so sweet and sang Happy Birthday to Ethan...thank you Aunt Tanya. She tricked Ethan into standing on a chair and then told everyone that it was his birthday and that's when they all started to sing. The poor boy was so embarrassed but he did very well!

Our baby turns 5!

It's hard to believe that it's been 5 years already since God blessed our family with a beautiful baby boy. We never imagined our family changing as much as it has with this little guy now a part of our family. He has brought a whole new level of energy to our lives and we wouldn't change it for anything.

Friday, July 2nd, we celebrated with family and friends.

"Aunt" Janice and Nathan came before the party to give Ethan his gift. (I have to add...this was Nathan's first time to our house since his accident! We were so thrilled to have him walk through our front door!! Okay, back to party stuff!) "Aunt" Janice took care of "something" outside while the rest of us kept Ethan busy. Aunt Tanya was getting set up with her camera for pictures of the most exciting moment. (Thank you Aunt Tanya!!)

Once "Aunt" Janice joined us in the house, they gave Ethan his gift. He pulled out a box that had a picture of the real gift on it but inside was only part of the gift. Nathan had fun tricking Ethan for a bit but eventually we convinced him that he needed to look at at the swimming pool.

 "Aunt" Janice and Uncle Tyler had put the actual gift in the pool. Nathan made sure it was inflated and ready to go..."Thank you Nathan!!" Ethan was so excited when we saw his new Pirate Ship. He wanted to be in the pool so bad playing. Uncle Tyler went ahead and put him on the ship but mommy had one request, "Please stay dry." Eventually, Wayne made it on the ship with Ethan and they had a little bit of fun. After a short time on the ship, we got them off and onto dry land!

Ethan gave big birthday, thank you hugs to "Aunt" Janice and Nathan and then they had to leave but the fun did not end!

Uncle Tyler ended up in the middle of a big wrestling match. He better watch out because eventually, Wayne, Weston and Ethan are going to be big enough to actually take him down. It was so fun to watch them play. The best part of the whole ordeal was watching Paige's reaction. She wasn't too sure of what was going on. Wyatt, he just crawled around watching all the action.

We eventually got started with the birthday party. He received so many wonderful gifts.

I had a very hard time getting the candles lit because the wind had picked up a little. Once I got them all lit, we had to sing Happy Birthday pretty quickly. I don't know that I've ever sang that song so quickly. We were all laughing by the end of it!

It was a great night of fellowship with people who love Ethan and were excited to celebrate with him. He has so many special people in his life. Thank you to those of you who were at the party for coming and celebrating with him!