Sickness

Phew...the last 3 weeks have been a little rough around our household.  Generally, our kids are pretty healthy and we are thankful for that!  They get the usual colds, but we still haven't even had to use an antibiotic and last year we had zero sick visits...so grateful!

But, 3 weeks ago Sawyer started not feeling well and two days later we realized it was Hand, Foot, Mouth disease.  Of course, they are super contagious days before they show any symptoms so within a week the other two also had it.  All the kids experienced it differently and it was a lot just to keep up with who needed what.  Sawyer had a fever and blisters in his mouth and on his hands and feet which made him really uncomfortable.  He didn't sleep for 3 nights, which obviously means mama didn't sleep. Rilyn had stomach cramps, a sore throat, a fever, and a very light rash.  Ryder just seemed to break out in the rash and blisters, but no accompanying symptoms.

We had lots of baking soda baths, popsicles, tea, and jello.  And were lucky to get some warm weather so we could at least play in our backyard.

Typical Colorado weather...popsicles outside one day and hot tea and board games with snow the next.

The kids ended up with nasty colds from the virus and so far Ryder and Sawyer have had pink eye, which is also a symptom of the virus.  Seriously this has to be one of the worst viruses to get.  We've been stuck at home the majority of the 3 weeks so we don't get anyone else sick.  Ryder still has some bad spots from the rash, but I think they are almost healthy enough to be around other kids.  Once Saywer's pink eye is gone I'm hoping we are officially over it.

We are ready to see our cousins, friends, and family!  Also, mama is ready for them all to go to Grandma Decker's so I get a little time to myself!

January in Review

I can hardly believe that it is February already.  January definitely flew by and I'm just now realizing it.  I didn't get around to blogging in January once...so I thought I would do a quick review in pictures.

The kids started to get super antsy with a lack of sunshine and warm air, but January proved to be a fine month to play outside.  Minus the fact that none of our toys have 4 wheel drive.

We stuck mostly to walks around the neighborhood where all we had to contend with was mud and not so much snow.  The dogs were grateful at least.

We also experimented with a lot of different talents and/or professions.  Like Rilyn says, "I have no idea what I want to be when I grow up because I am good at so many things."

Dance

Rilyn practicing her ballet moves with a free video from the library.  Ha way cheaper than dance classes. Some people might call it poor people ballet I call it genius!

Engineering 

Rollerskating

She got these for her birthday and they were quickly banned from inside the house.

Tantrum Throwing

Oh wait he has already perfected that...

Lining Up Things

Oh wait he has already perfected that...

What child doesn't normally line up their puzzles?

Drawing

Rilyn's latest obsession is taking drawing lessons from Youtube; however, it ends up in lots of tears since she can't make her drawing look EXACTLY like the professional artist teaching the lesson.  Trust me it's as fun as it sounds.

Texting.

At least they got this one down.  What else do you need to be able to do to be successful in life?

Rilyn had her kindergarten open house!  What??? Super crazy this girl is getting ready for school.  I only handed in half the paperwork though because really I still want to homeschool and maybe Tyler or Rilyn won't realize and we can continue with our happy I have all kids at home with me life! Wishful thinking.  

At least she really loved the classroom because it has a pretend washer to wash baby clothes and that is way cooler than the bin I designated as her pretend washer here at home.  

If she goes to school, I'm going to have to take care of HIM by myself and really I need her here to calm this crazy kid down.  She is his safe place and whenever he needs her she is right there with arms wide open.

The boys have been doing boy things like skeeball and light saber fighting.

We also obviously cheered on the Broncos to a Super Bowl spot and are very excited to watch them WIN this weekend.  I think it was my really awesome nail polish that secured that last win FYI.

We joined the YMCA so we spent some time there.  It's great to take the kids swimming and to the childcare so I can workout especially on Mondays because they get to run around in the gym and play in a bouncy house so not only am I physically exhausted, so are they!  

So, according to my iPhone photo dump that is what our January looked like!  

Rilyn's 5 Year Tea Party

This year to celebrate Rilyn turning 5 she requested a baby doll tea party.  She has really been into playing with her dolls recently and I knew we couldn't have a celebration without them.  She has 3 she consistently plays with; however, a couple weeks ago she told me she only has one baby now because 3 are too many to take care of...Amen to that!  

Rilyn invited 3 friends and of course Grandma.  Grandma had Aebrynn that day, so very much to Rilyn's enjoyment she also got to be part of the big girls party!

Probably the most special part was one friend got to stay for a sleepover.

We put up a few "fancy" decorations and of course had a tea set to serve tea a.k.a pink lemonade.

When the ladies arrived they got to chose some pretty jewelry to wear for them and their babies and take pictures all jeweled up.  Rilyn chose her baby, "Princess Queen" to accompany her.

After dress up and pictures, they all sat down for tea.  Even the babies had their own special seats. Rilyn requested cherry tomatoes as her snack, in addition to that, we had a variety of crackers, cheese, fruit, and veggies.

After tea time, the girls decorated tea cups which we used for a game later.  We stacked the tea cups to see how high we could get them before they toppled over.  The girls thought this was hilarious and tried lots of different techniques to get the tea cup tower as tall as possible.

For dessert we had pink cupcakes in tea cup molds with very pink frosting.  Rilyn has always loved red but more recently has decided pink is her favorite color.

Rilyn opened gifts and the girls had a little time to play with her new toys.  Barbies were the toy of choice obviously.

After the party, daddy and the boys returned and the sleepover ensued.  The kids made individual pizzas for dinner.

They watched a movie snuggled on the couch.

And then it was off to bed.

I wasn't sure how Payton would do, but she was so brave and the girls slept all night.  I can't believe these two are old enough for sleepovers.  I've been looking forward to it, but am shocked it's actually here already.

It was a lot of fun having a low key celebration with Rilyn and her closest friends.  She felt very special and has talked about her tea party a lot.  I have a feeling we will be having one again.  Ryder has requested a pirate tea party for his next birthday....