Day 3 - Tuesday

On our last day of the trip, we went to Holiday World for the second time. This time, no rain was in sight and there was plenty of sun and hot temps! Matt and I hit the wooden roller coaster called " the Legend" first and then we took Cody and Carleigh on the Scarecrow Scrambler again. Then, it was off to Splashin' Safari water park. The kids had a blast in the lazy river inner tube ride and enjoyed the kiddie water slides in the toddler section of the park. Carleigh was scared of the wave pool, so Cody and played for awhile. Every time a wave would hit Cody's legs, he would burst out with laughter. It was so cute! After an hour or two in Splashin' Safari, the kids feel asleep and we walked around the park, bought sovenirs and spent the rest of the day in kiddie land. We left the park a few minutes before 6pm and arrived home a quarter til ten. It was nice putting all the kids in their beds and we fell asleep fast. It was a fun time for all!

Cotton Candy anyone?

Cody and Carleigh brought home a couple of bags of cotton candy. They love the stuff. Daddy and Carleigh posed for a silly pic!

Cotton Candy anyone?

Cody and Carleigh brought home a couple of bags of cotton candy. They love the stuff. Daddy and Carleigh posed for a silly pic!

Loving the rides

Cody and Carleigh loved all the rides! Carleigh's favorite was the small merry go round. On Tuesday, she rode it four times! They could ride all the rides in the Rudolph's Reindeer Ranch (kiddie land) and they were tall enough to ride the Scarecrow Scrambler in the Halloween section and the Turkey Tilt-a-whirl and Gobbler Getaway in the Thanksgiving section. I am really proud of them for wanting and enjoying the big kid rides this year!

Water Bumper Boats

Carleigh was such a big girl by waiting in line by herself and riding the bumper boats while Cody was snoozing in his stroller.

Getting Ready!

This will be my last post before heading off to Santa Claus, Indiana! Tomorrow, we will be leaving right after church. It is a 3 hour drive. Once we are there, we plan on enjoying the hotel by swimming, playing on the playground and going on a scenic walk. There will be 12 of us in all going and our van will be filled with more children than adults....eeeeek!!! On Monday and Tuesday, we will be having a blast at Holiday World. We will be traveling back on Tuesday evening.

Tonight, we have been doing laundry and packing. I should have everything packed and the van loaded before church in the morning. There is just so much to bring for a family of four, especially when you have to bring diapers!!!

Until next time, look for pics on Tuesday night or Wednesday!

The grandchildren

L to r: Ryan, Cody, Raygan, DJ, Riley, Devon and Carleigh

Fourth of July 2008

We had our annual Independence Day cookout at our home. We have 19 guests which was done from last year. Despite the rain, we had a nice cookout. The rain stopped so a game of kickball went on and on. Everyone had a blast! Cody and Carleigh gorged on food and we will all be going to the fireworks in Hamilton in a few hours. Cody socked Carleigh in the mouth and busted her lip! She was so unhappy! You can really tell by looking at the third pic!

Our cookout!

First pic: Some of the cupcakes I made
Second Pic: Jesse, nephews Riley and Ryan
Third pic: A rare pic of Matt and I

Enjoying the food

First pic: our friends Shannon and Niki
Second Pic: Matt's sister Michelle and Jesse
Third Pic: My father-in-law doing what he does best-eating!

Playhouse fun

All the grandchildren piled into Cody and Carleigh's playhouse. I am sure they were over the kid capacity. Can you believe that there were 6 kids in that house?

Carleigh decided to pull Cody in the wagon!

The kickball game

The kickball game was fun for the kids as well as the adults!

Back to Normal

We are all getting back to normal health! Phew! The kids and I went to PT/OT today and then did some minor shopping for our picnic under our carport on the 4th. Wouldn't you know it that that storm is supposed to hit right in the middle of the day?!! Argh! We are still going to have the cookout since everyone has to eat, but we will not have the lawn activities like in the past. Maybe we need to break out the board games lest the wind kicks up. It could be really interesting to say the least!

We are hoping to see from fireworks tonight and are hoping that it isn't too "scary" for Carleigh. Today in therapy, she had to go down a slide with bubble wrap popping underneath her and it scared her! She is the frightened little rabbit these days. Of course nothing scares Cody!

May you and your family have a wonderful, safe 4TH OF JULY!!

Speech Explosion!

Both kiddos are talking like crazy! This is such a good thing! Cody is starting to repeat words if I ask him! Wow! He is also starting to put two words together and somtimes three! I am so proud of them both!

I walked out of the kitchen briefly while Cody and Carleigh were eating lunch today. I hear a crash and of course Carleigh's booster seat tray was on the floor and there was a mess there as well. Carleigh looks up at me and says "I sorry Mommy!" Of course I couldn't get mad at her after that!

Even though her behavior can be so frustrating at times, I think we have moved up to a better mother/daughter stage. This summer, she has been attatched to me now that I am home all day and all evening, she doesn't want me to leave her side. One of our little moments is when she hurts her finger or something and wants me to kiss it and then of course she says "hug" and wants me to hug her hurt finger. She is too cute! If I am laying on her bed while she is falling asleep for her nap, she will smile at me and hug me until she falls asleep. I can't even express how long I have been waiting for this to happen!

Cody's latest thing is to munch on whole apples. If he had this craving a few years ago, I would be hysterically worried as he had MAJOR feeding issues, but now he has come along way. He yells "more apple please" and of course I have to give him another apple!

Recuperating!

Well, we are all on the mend thankfully! Carleigh was really sick, lifeless and slept almost all morning and afternoon yesterday. She would wake up briefly ask for her juice and then go back to sleep. When Matt arrived home, it made a spark in her and she was up! She didn't go back to sleep until bedtime. It is amazing how quickly she can get over a bug! I think prayers also helped! She was playing and back to her normal self of bugging Cody and taking his toys away. She was craving crackers and ate over a dozen of them over the course of the evening!

I still do not have an appetite, but my stomach cramps are over for the most part. The good thing about not having an appetite is that it is helping my diet that I started a couple of week ago. I have now lost 10 lbs in 2 weeks! I have a goal of 25 lbs before school starts. I haven't been able to exercise due to getting ready for the yard sale and being sick so now that I am back to normal, I plan on starting my exercise regime today and hopefully more pounds will melt away.

We are also finding more items to sell at our final yard sale over at Matt's sister's house this Saturday. I sold my baby swing on Sunday. Woohooo! That brings my total to $151! I am hoping to sell $100 at the yard sale this Saturday. The cash will be needed for admission prices for a family of 4 to Holiday World!!

On top of getting ready for the yard sale, I am getting ready for a picnic on the 4th of July at our house. We are expecting 19 people including us. Last year we had a bigger number, but since the 4th starts a 3-day weekend, alot of my family will be going out of town.

It should be a fun time for all, hopefully no one else gets sick!!

The sick bug has hit us

**Do not read this if you are eating or have a sensitive stomach!**

After dinner last night, I started feeling REALLY bad. The stomach cramps began and other things happened. I was up and down all night long. I crashed on the couch as not to wake up the whole family. Around 5am, I hear Matt's voice talking to Carleigh. Apparently she threw up and he was cleaning things up. I couldn't help him because I was in so much pain and was running to the bathroom.

The majority of the day went ok although my mommy antennae was up when Carleigh wasn't eating well and acting strange. Then, this evening, it went from bad to worse. My stomach as still killing me and I had no energy. Well, Carleigh got up into my lap, burped and had this strange look on her face. I thought, oh no, is she going to throw up? Then, I couldn't react quick enough and she started vomitting all over me! ICK! It was like that scene from "Problem Child" when a child was on a ride. I had to shower and then Carleigh needed a bath. Suffice to say that we are all sick except for Cody. I am thankful that it is hitting now and not a week from now when we will be on vacation.

I am now starting to feel better, and hopefully everyone else will be on the mend in the morning!

Yard Sale Lowdown

It has been a LONG day! I forced myself to wake up at 6am. The yard sale began at 9am and ended at 4pm although we closed a few minutes early due to the impending storm. It downpoured for about 5 minutes and drizzled a couple of other times, but then the sun came out and it became really HOT! At first, it was REALLY slow. Then I came up with a brilliant idea to have 2-3 people stand at the top of our dead-end street where there is an intersection of 3 roads and hold up bright neon pink, orange, yellow and green signs. My nephews helped and pointed and various family members took turns and it REALLY brought in the customers! I sold both toddler beds, walker/bouncer, jumperoo, bassinette, and lots of other items. We decided to have the yard sale next Saturday at Matt's sister's house. Then whatever is left will be donated to charity. The stuff is not coming back to my house!! I sold $145.00 which was great! Hopefully I will sell another $100 next week at Michelle's. All the money is going toward our expenses for our Holiday World trip in a week.

Now, I am tired, sunburned, and counting the hours down until bedtime!

Cody's Dr. Appt

Cody's doctor appointment went well. It was basically a follow up to see how his stomach and intestines were doing. I really like the doctor who saw him. My mom said that he has even checked me out when I was a child. He took his time, was very knowledgeable, went over the x-rays, gave some suggestions and was really nice. We are lowering his meds to once a day because he is miserable (he was up at 4am with stomach cramps and soiled his pjs) and I am having to change his diaper every hour. He and I will be much better off!

This evening, I have to finish pricing the rest of my stuff, put up posters, go to the grocery store and get Carleigh ready for VBS. *sigh*

A better day

Today was a much better day all the way around! Cody woke up feeling better although the medicine hadn't worked at the time. Cody drank 4 -9oz of juice and water and ate a light breakfast and lunch/supper and kept it all down! Yay! He was playing more today which was so encouraging!

Carleigh was her typical funny self. She just cracks me up with the things she says. Today, she decided to burst out in song whenever the mood hit her. She started spouting a list of people while I was dressing her. Then, she would say, "Where Jerry?" (My brother in law). First thing this morning, she asked "Where's daddy? Where's Cody?" She also went to Vacation Bible School this evening with my sister. I am sure she had a blast. If it goes well, she may go for the rest of the week.

While she was gone, I cleaned out the living room closet and found more stuff for the yard sale. Then I power cleaned the screen porch and now everything is fresh and clean. It will really help when we sit outside since I cleaned the screens and siding. I just love a clean porch!!

The medicine is starting to work on Cody. This is a huge praise! We just hope it doesn't affect him at night since he and we need our sleep!