Fishing Tips

Jason found this site when searching for fishing accident first aid. Anytime he goes fishing with me he gets a little nervous. The first time we ever went fishing together was when I was 16 and he was 17, and I "caught" him with my hook. Yes, you read that right, I drew my pole back, went to cast my line and I got my hook hung up on something. I thought I had gotten my hook caught on the boat, but no, it was embedded in Jason's head! Our two friends who were in the boat with us were both in shock as I kept yanking on my fishing pole, trying to get my hook off what I thought was the boat. When I learned the hook was actually in Jason's head, I of course felt terrible and to this day haven't lived it down. There's still a scar on his head from my hook, and every time I cut his hair, I can feel the scar.
Needless to say, just a warning to exercise caution if you find yourselves fishing within close proximity of me on the family vacation. And if you happen to find yourselves in the same "boat" Jason was in so to speak (excuse the pun), check out these instructions for proper hook removal and care:

"Fishing is a great sport not void of its own injuries. This young boy acquired a fish hook in an unlikely location. When a fish hook is embedded on the face it is NOT advisable to use the "pull and jerk" method, which would cause more pain. This fish hook was removed by anesthetizing the area and slowly maneuvering the hook out of the entrance hole. In the outdoors, if available, one can use ice, liquid Benadryl as an anesthesia before removing the hook. Always remember to clean and irrigate the wound and making sure your tetanus is updated."

Bug Bites

My kids are terribly allergic to bug bites. Imagine how a normal bug bit looks and then multiply it by 10 and that's how bug bites look on the boys. Chloe hasn't had enough of them to be able to tell yet, but hopefully her skin isn't quite as sensitive.
I think I first noticed this hyper-sensitive allergy when Gabe was 2. We were in the airport on a layover coming home from Maine and Gabe showed me this huge lump he had on his arm. It was hard, red and very big, and Jason & I seriously thought about the possibility of it being some sort of tumor due to its large size and hardness. It looked, and felt, like a golf ball under his skin. But upon examination, we noticed it had a small bite mark in the middle of the lump, and figured we'd keep an eye on it but that it's probably just a harmless bug bite. It went away a few days later, but since then, every summer, Gabe get's these gigantic lumps in various parts of his body. He has had his ear bitten twice lately, and it swells up, gets red and warm to the touch and looks like an elf ear. It's kinda funny, but I do feel bad for the poor little guy because it can't be comfortable.
Now Cooper's becoming the same way. His forehead is so swollen on one side that he's starting to look a little like this guy from the 80's:


See the resemblance:

Poor Cooper, we don't want his nickname to be "Sloth" from the Goonies! So hopefully, this bump will heal fast. Couple the bug bite swelling with the bruise on his nose and he really is stating to look a mess!
Here's some more bite pictures:
Cooper has another bug bite that has gotten pretty swollen behind his right ear.

The top of Gabe's ear has been bitten and is quite swollen, and he also sports another bite on the shoulder blade, which is actually quite mild compared to other bites he's had in the past.

The Big 3-0!

Today is the day that one decade ends and another begins in the life of Jason. Yes, he turns the Big '30' today! I can't believe that he is 30, because that means that next year I'll be 30! Where does the time go?
I made a few "posters" and secretly put them up around his office last night. I thought I'd post them on the blog so that everyone could see them.
I know I brag about my husband a lot, but I truly am so thankful that God blessed me with such a sincere, kind, fun, and wonderful husband (even though he is gettin' a little old :)
Happy Birthday Jason!

Addicted

I found this quiz on a friend's blog and thought I'd take it just for fun. As suspected, I need to join bloggers anonymous!
74%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

OnePlusYou Quizzes and Widgets

Deep Thoughts by Gabe

A couple of weeks ago, Gabe and I had some time alone together. Cooper and Chloe were napping an incredibly long time, and Gabe had already woken up. So, during our time together, he shared a couple of deep thoughts with me. I had to share them on the blog, because they're so sweet!
We were sitting on the couch reading a book about how people are different. It talks about how everyone looks different and different talents God gives to people, and ultimately that God makes everyone special. After we read the book, Gabe turned to me and said, "Mom, you know what I think about you that's special?" I said, "What's that Gabe?" He said, "You're the prettiest girl I know, and not just because you're my mom." Isn't that too cute! Usually a comment like that would follow with some sort of request like, "Can I have ice cream now?" But he was so sincere and was just sharing what was on his mind. So sweet!
A little later that same day we were playing baseball. I grew up playing softball with my dad and loved going out in the yard and throwing the ball around. So now, I am thrilled to carry this tradition on with my kids. I was pitching balls to Gabe and he was hitting so well. It was time to gather up the balls he had hit, and Gabe said, "Mom, I'm so glad you're my mom!" I of course was thrilled to hear this, but it gets even better. He then said, "God gave me you as a mom on purpose because you like to play sports and I like to play sports. Not all Moms like to play sports, so I'm glad you're my mom!" Isn't that so sweet. Of course, being the ultra sensitive person that I am, I started crying. I thought that was a pretty deep thought for a five year old. I just had to share those stories. I am so thankful to have the kids I do. They're so sweet and kind, and I love them so much!

Rough Play

A regular event at our house is floor wrestling. I blame Jason for this. It all started when Gabe was a baby and Jason would wrestle with him on the floor. Gabe, being all boy, of course loved to wrestle and continued the tradition when Cooper was a baby. But Cooper never really liked to wrestle quite as much. He isn't nearly as aggressive as Gabe, so the rough wrestling matches aren't always what Cooper is in the mood for. And then there's Chloe. She too is pretty laid back and mellow, but she absolutely LOVES it when Gabe plays rough with her. He'll literally pick her up, swing her around, and roll on the floor with her, and she laughs hysterically. He also has started having pillow fights with her. Gabe will throw a pillow at her with such force that it will knock her down, and she just laughs. I constantly remind him to be more gentle with her, and his response is, "But she likes it mom!" And it's true. I can't think of one time where she's started crying when they're playing rough. She loves it!
Today, all three kids were wrestling on the floor. Here's a couple of photos:

Hay at Night

After Dad got home tonight, it was time to give him a tour of the hay bales. So, we went out to the field to take a closer look. There was a beautiful sunset, so of course, armed with my trusty camera, I took a few more photos.

Hay

We now officially have bales of hay. This is something we are pretty excited about, because in a way it is a momentous moment. We are now officially producing something off our farmland, and I know that makes Jason's day. It made the boys day too, as we learned that hay bales can make for some fun play.
I took the kids out to see the bales and got some photos of them. Chloe wasn't cooperating very well when we were outside and it was too bright to get any great shots. But here's a few from our time:



This was the best one I got of the three kids, which is not great, but they are all looking at the camera! Look at the squinting...way too bright for pictures!


Here's the boys sitting on top of the hay bale.


I missed what it was that one of the boys said that was so funny, but caught their reactions!


Gabe & Cooper by our tree. Seriously, I think it may very well be the only tree on our 20-something acres of land. We'll have to give it some friends when we do our landscaping someday :) Anyway, this was a cute one of the boys.


I thought this one of the kids holding hands was a cute one for black & white.

And Again With the Stairs!

Chloe's obsession with the stairs has now evidently become my obsession. I had yet another photo shoot with Chloe on the stairs! But to my defense, I had just come in from photos outside by our bales of hay and she went right to the stairs, looking so cute and just begging to have her picture taken. She is so happy on those stairs that it's easy to get cute photos of her when she's on them.
Here's today's stairs shots:

Flood Photo Update

In a previous post I had explained that we were having trouble with our camera and memory card. The flood photos were not registering on the memory card at all. Other photos that I had taken were showing up, but not the flood pics. We thought it was our camera, which has been recalled by Nikon for repairs. But it's hard to part with our camera for who knows how long (last time I had to have work done on it, the company had it for 4 months!) so I haven't sent it in for the warranty work yet. So, we took the memory card to Target to pull the photos off the card. That didn't work either. So, we bought a new external card reader and hooked it up to the computer. That didn't work either. So we bought an internal card reader and installed it in the computer. That didn't work either. (Are you seeing a pattern develop of the kind of luck we have with technology!!!)
Well, last night Jason had the idea to call Best Buy to see if they could tell us of any other ways to try to pull photos off a memory card. The employee told Jason of a free online program you can download that retrieves photos from a memory card that aren't registering, but that are still embedded in the card. I'm happy to report, it worked. I haven't had a change to download all the photos yet, but I just wanted to report the good news that our flood photos are not lost and will be posted soon! Hooray!

Stairs

Chloe's new fascination is the STAIRS!
She just can't stay away from them for too long. She's not the aggressive climber the boys always were, meaning she doesn't tackle the stairs determined to climb to the top in 8 seconds flat. Thankfully, she just likes to play around them. She'll climb up one or two, possibly three stairs, and then she will either turn herself around and sit on them or she'll stand there with this terrible fear in her eyes, like she's thinking, "Uh oh, I'm stuck. What do I do now!"
This morning I went upstairs and had left Chloe playing on the carpet. I was up there doing laundry for about 3 minutes tops, and when I came back down she had climbed to the third step and was just sitting there. I took the opportunity to take a few pictures. As soon as the boys saw the camera, they of course joined in the fun! Warning: I got a little carried away with the stairs photos :)
The first one is Chloe sitting on the stairs.


I love this photo. She looks like such a doll, not that I'm biased or anything!


Here's another cute one!


Chloe found that we could play a good game of PEEK-A-BOO through the stair slats.



I got a couple of cute photos of all three kids!


I love this one. Chloe looks a little scared, and Cooper's holding her hand trying to comfort her. Awwwww!


The boys with silly faces and Chloe thinking they're funny.


Here's a closeup of sweet Cooper. Notice the summertime owies on his face are healing quite nicely, but he does have a bruise on his nose from watching the summer Olympic girl's gymnastic tryouts on Sunday. (The boys don't just watch, they try every stunt they see on tv, making gymnastics kind of a dangerous program to watch! But Gabe did discover a new talent of walking on his hands, quite impressive really!)


Gabe, always the dramatic. He was tired of taking photos by this point. Can you tell?

The kiddies

I have a few random photos of the kids to post. Yesterday, I got out the camera and attempted to get a photo of the kids together, but this always proves to be a daunting task by myself. So, I didn't get any that were very quality, but I did get a couple cute ones, or at least ones that show how easy it ISN'T to photograph the 5 and under crowd!
This first one shows the boys trying to tell Chloe that it's going to be alright. Coop said, "Just smile Chloe, it's ok babe," which was too sweet! Gabe said to Chloe, "All you have to do is smile and then Mom can take the picture and then we can get back to playing," which made me laugh. He's become such a logical thinker!


I looked at this photo and thought, "wow, I can really see the resemblance between Cooper & Chloe!" It's kind of a day to day guess of who looks like who. Some days, we'll be out and people will say, "wow, she really looks like Gabe!" And some days it's, "wow, she really looks like Cooper!" To me, she looks like Chloe. But I can definitely see a resemblance between all of the kids.


Here's a closeup of the boys with their hats. For some reason, yesterday was "hat day" and both boys wore those hats for most of the day. Aren't they cute! Cooper actually looks pretty goofy in this photo, but that's why I love it!

Secret Sister

Today I got a great gift from my secret sister. I wanted to show it to everyone because I'd never seen anything like it. It's a bouquet...a cookie bouquet. This is a perfect gift for me, because it's very girly, and very yummy at the same time! I just love a good cookie, and they're so cute! Almost too cute to eat, but not quite. And you should have seen the look on the boy's faces when they saw this gift. "Is that for me," Cooper said. And Gabe's response upon learning that they were mine said, "But you'll share cause you're the best mommy in the whole wide world." What a sweet talker!
Anyway, whoever my secret sister is did a great job and pretty much made my day!

Buddies

Today Gabe had a friend over to play at our house. Brayden is five, only two months younger than Gabe, and these two have pretty much grown up together. Our families go to the same church where the boys started Sunday School together, Awana together and they also go to the same preschool.
These two hit it off from the start. I think it is because they have so much in common...both love sports and are very competitive. Both are all boy and love things a typical boy loves. Both are silly and have the funniest conversations together. And most importantly, they play so well together. They share toys and never seem to fight over them. Even when we went on a Colorado ski trip together when the boys were only three, they still didn't fight over toys in the condo all week long (at that age, that's pretty impressive!) Gabe is truly fortunate to have a friend in Brayden, and I won't be surprised if they are friends for life.
Here's some photos of their fun day of play.

Gabe sliding on the water slide. Doesn't he look like a crazy man!

Brayden sliding on the water slide.

A cute photo of the boys.

Poor Cooper looks so beat up. He's had a lot of little scrapes and bruises lately from playing outside and he really does look like he's been through a battle! But, he's still happy about it :)

Here's Gabe, Cooper & Brayden on the trampoline. They were running in circles and having a blast!

I asked Gabe and Brayden to give me their best pose, and I thought it was funny that they both chose a "fighting" pose. They really are all boy!

Time for a water break!

Father's Day

Sorry for the long absence from blogging! With the flooding and the ear infections and the camera issues, I haven't gotten a chance to post lately. (The camera will not 'communicate' with our computer, so I can't download any flood photos to share until we get the new memory card reader in the mail...hopefully in two days. So rest assured, I will do a flood-related post soon.)
Anyway, I wanted to take the opportunity to brag about what a wonderful father my husband is on father's day. Jason, we love you so much! You are such a hard worker and such a man of integrity who always strives to do what is right. Most importantly, you are a man of the Lord and an awesome spiritual leader for our family. Our children are blessed to have such a wonderful father who loves them so much and who teaches them what's important, loving God and loving others, both through showing them in God's Word and by example. And there's no dad around who is a better playmate for the kids too :) My children truly couldn't have a better father, and I couldn't ask for a better husband. Happy Father's Day!





We also wish a happy father's day to our dads. We love you both and thank you for all you've done for us and continue to do for us.