1st Day of Kindergarten!!!

Today was Elaina's first day of kindergarten! She was so excited! She has been asking about this day since December, when preschool ended. So it was great that it was finally here. I was going to drive her the first day but she insisted that she wanted to go on the bus. So I let her, and she loved it! She was so excited to drive to school with her friends and not have to wear a seat belt. Her favorite part of school was recess and she learned the about the letter M. She says that her teacher was wearing a yellow dress and that she thinks her teacher is Belle. And that Belle changed her hair color to yellow. Having met her teacher, her teacher really is a real life princess. She has the look and the voice. Perfect for Elaina! I was so worried that we had made the wrong decision about keeping her in the public school instead of taking the spot in the local Charter school. But when I met her teacher my worries were instantly dissolved.
So did I cry? No. I knew that I wouldn't. I was so excited for her. When she was in preschool it was so much fun having her come home and tell me all that she had learned. So I was excited for that again. I know that this means that my baby is growing up. But for me, I feel like she did so much growing up and changing this summer with all her new little friends, that we already went through the "my baby's growing up" phase.

Ready to Go!

Do you think they missed her? They stared out the window for a long time. When a car would pass Austin would say, "Is that Elaina? No, just a car." So cute!

Family Pictures

So, we took family pictures a while ago and then we recently took Elaina's 5 year pictures. I haven't posted any yet because Adam's still editing them, but here are a couple.

Black Donuts

Elaina has been having a lot of nightmares lately. So, the other morning she was telling us about them and then Austin told us he had a nightmare too. He started to tell us about it and it went something like this. He said (in a shakey voice), "I had a nightmare. I had two black donuts but one had red sprinkles on it." Then he got kind of emotional and said, "And the other had red stuff in the middle." At this point Austin did his wail of a cry. It was so funny. If you don't know already, Austin LOVES chocolate cover donuts. But, with nothing else to them.
So, today, a couple of days later, Adam had to run to the store early and so he picked up donuts. He found a black donut with red sprinkles AND red filling! So, Austin, all excited for a donut, gets handed this one. It was so funny. He was so disappointed and said, " No, not that one." Adam talked him into taking a bite, assuring him that there was nothing inside. Austin bit into the red filling and immediately slammed it down on the table and said, "I said not that one." He was pretty upset until Adam got him his real black donut.

Happy Birthday Austin!

Austin turned 3 today! For Austin's birthday we went to the splash pad by our house. The kids had a lot of fun there. Then later in the evening we went to Austin's favorite place, Kangaroo Zoo. He is such a little daredevil! He loves to get on the top of the slides and jump down the slides. Good luck keeping up with him. An hour and a half into the fun he was still running in between each of the blowups with no slowing down. Austin was a little weary of turning 3 because he said that "2 is just too cool," but I think he's finding that 3 feels pretty cool too. We love our little man!

 Ford loved it too. He was so excited about everything!Leave it to Elaina to pose when when she notices the camera. 

My Little Buddy is 3!

Happy Birthday, Austin! We love you so much and are so glad that you are a part of our family! Look how much you've grown and changed! You are such a special boy!

Austin's Party

Austin's one lucky boy! He's Grandma/pa D'Agostini and Dante and Tyler came over tonight to help us celebrate Austin turning 3. He got some pretty cool presents and had to play with all of them right away. Later, we had some yummy apple crisp because it's yummier then cake.

Is that a smile?

This morning Elaina wanted me to take a picture of Ford laying on her. Austin wanted to get in on the action too, so asked me to take a picture of him, too. What a shock! And look at that face! Never, ever, has Austin given me such a perfect face for a picture! I usually get him as he's turning his head or running away. I had to document the first time ever that Austin actually smiled for the camera! And man is he precious.

Elaina's First ER Admittance

Poor little Elaina was sick all day last Monday. She was just crying saying that her tummy really hurt and she wasn't able to hold anything down all day. Elaina's had her fair share of the stomach flu, but it never causes her to change her mood, so this was definitely different, but I just thought it was maybe a bad case. By the time Adam got home from work Elaina hadn't gotten out of her bed the whole day. Adam felt she needed to be seen by a doctor because she couldn't sit up or walk. Adam had his appendix burst when he was a kid, and it kind of runs in his family, so he was worried that she might have appendicitis.
Adam took Elaina to the pediatrician and they didn't have the right equipment to test her, so then they went to instacare and they gave her a urine test which came back with a really high white blood count. So, they sent her to the hospital. Once at the hospital, Elaina had an ultrasound done on her. It kind of lightened her mood, because she said that the ultrasound teck made a star and a smiley face on her tummy with slime. The radiographer's conclusion was "probably not appendicitis" because he couldn't see her appendix. So the doctor concluded that she had a severe urinary track infection. They gave us a ton of pain and nausea medicine and an antibiotic for her and we headed home.
The next few days Elaina was in a lot of pain still which made it so she couldn't walk or sit up. She also couldn't keep anything down, but didn't have an\ appetite anyway. For the most part she just slept all day. In fact, Tuesday Elaina would only be awake for about 10 minutes at a time before she would fall back asleep. It was really sad to see her in that state because she is always so active. Elaina's ER doctor, Dr. Davis, was so nice and called to check up on her. Thursday was a little better, pain wise, but she still didn't want to walk or sit up. Friday, Elaina could muster up some energy while her medications were in effect, but as soon as they started to wear off she would be back to having pain in her tummy, head, and neck. Elaina had a fever, up to 102.7, through Saturday. Finally, Sunday we were pretty clear of all the symptoms and took her off the pain medication. She had to stay on her antibiotic through the following Tuesday.
Poor Elaina was put on the antibiotic Bactrum. When I saw the pink grossness I immediately had a rush of memories of exactly how it tasted. Nasty! So, needless to say, giving it to Elaina for 8 days was a battle. She hated it as much as I remember hating it. But she was a champ and took it anyway. Hopefully this will be her one and only time having to take it.

Elaina fell asleep at the hospital. She hated the thing on her toe.

Elaina's a special little girl and it's so good to see her active and healthy again. All her little friends were so worried about her and even made her get better soon drawings and cards. She even got cookies from one friend and a nice couple at Adam's work even sent her a card and an army clothed teddy bear. I am so grateful for everyone who helped us out and for all their support the last few days. I'm grateful for such thoughtful people who helped lighten her mood. I am so grateful that our family, for the most part, has been blessed with health. And I am grateful for doctors and modern day medicine, even the nasty tasting kind, to help us get better when ill. It's times like these that help you remember all our many blessings!

4th of July

We love the 4th of July at our house. We love to celebrate the blessings that we have by living in this country and it doesn't hurt that we get to set off fireworks, too. This year we decided to have a little water/BBQ at our house with family. The kids had a blast having their cousins to play with.

We have the space, so why not hang a huge flag! I think we should invest in a ladder when it comes time to paint, though. I'm not sure how safe Adam's creation is.

Ford loves the water!

What's better then playing in the dirt when you are soaking wet? Rocky was such a good friend to Ford.

Brooke brought lots of water balloons and the kids turned them all on Grandpa. That's okay. He got them back. None of them saw it coming. It was so funny.

And then we did fireworks. We have a great neighborhood for fireworks. All around us people were doing the aerial fireworks. We were going to go to Camp Williams, but we had such a great show from our porch we just stayed at home. It was a fun day!

Beef

So, Elaina LOVES meat! And when it comes to meat, she can out eat pretty much anyone in our family. We went to Costco with Brooke and Anthony the other day and got lunch while we were there. Elaina wanted their hot dog. She was so excited when she saw it. So we had to capture some of her joy. She ended up eating the whole thing. She's amazing. Those things are big!

6 Months!

Ford turned 6 months today. Where did the time go? He is such a joy to our family and is developing such a cute personality. He amazes us everyday at how good he is. He is so patient with us all and so content. We love him so much!

Baby Food

Baby food is a success! We gave Ford his first dose of baby food tonight and it was a success. Ford ate the whole jar and loved it. Austin never ate baby food because he refused, so I wasn't sure, but Ford loved it.

Monster Jam

Austin LOVES monster trucks! So, when we saw Monster Jam was coming to town we couldn't pass up the chance to go see them. It made it even more exciting when we saw that Austin's favorite, the "doggy monster truck," aka El Toro was going to be there. 

So, a bunch of Adam's family and my dad and Autumn came with us. Adam's family decided to make it a contest to see who could show up looking the most white trash. Adam thought we would fit in with the crowd but when we got there we really stood out. It was quite embarrassing being dressed up like I was but more embarrassing being seen with Adam. He really went all out. Austin had a mohawk that I actually thought was pretty cool and would have probably let him keep for a few days but Adam thought it would be too big of a distraction at church. Adam also had a mohawk, but his was pretty nasty looking.

So, my final review of the event was that it was fun but got long for the kids. I think it would be better in a larger arena because the trucks were really limited in what they could do. The exhaust and the dust did get to be a little much towards the end. But, on the plus side, the motorcycles were really cool and getting to see the monster trucks fly through the air was also pretty cool. All in all, it was a fun family outing.

Hair Cut

Adam and I constantly battle over Austin's hair. I like it short. Adam likes it really long. This time around I let Adam grow Austin's hair out so that we could make a long mohawk for Monster Jam. The final product was actually pretty fun.

Before

During

On the way to monster jam (The mohawk went all the way down to his collar) 

Ford's Mohawk