Joseph gets his first stitches!
Well I don't think anyone is too surprised to hear that Joseph got his first set of stitches (and yes I did say first because I honestly don't think this will be the last time for him) on Saturday. We were getting ready to go to Oshkosh for the day and Joseph was being his usual goofy self and hit his head on the coffee table in the living room. After a quick look both Bryan and I were sure he was going to need to go in for stitches so I called the on call Dr. and they sent us to Children's Hospital. The staff there is excellent, but my goodness the wait was LONG! We were there for over 4.5 hours when it was all said and done, we waited in the waiting room for about 2 hours before even being called back, but as I said once we were back there the staff was outstanding. The Dr. was great with Joseph and once they were doing the stitches they had the "distraction team" come in, they gave him a squishy ball to squeeze, put a Dora video right in his face, gave him a Popsicle when he was done-it worked he didn't cry at all when they were doing it! He ended up with 5 stitches in all, 1 internal and 4 external-the internal will dissolve and the 4 will have to be removed later this week, he is already protesting going to the Dr.



This is Joseph in the waiting room with the bandage they gave him upon entry. Sorry I can't figure out how to turn the video.

The kids hadn't eaten since 10:30am and Joseph wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything until his stitches were done, which meant no one could eat or drink anything until his stitches were done. We had a very tired, hungry, thirsty crew on our hands by the time we left the hospital-we stopped at McDonald's on our way home. Here is Joseph with his juice box and his last bandage.

Bryan trying to get Joseph to sit still and cuddle on the couch


We had to put medicine on his stitches so I gave Joseph a Popsicle to eat while Bryan rubbed the cream on his stitches.

Waterpark Pictures

I didn't bring my big camera into the waterpark (for obvious reasons) but boy was I missing the high speed shutter with the kids moving so fast in there! Very few of my pictures on this camera turned out and I don't have any of Eileen since she was sticking with Auntie Krista the whole time!

Walking from our condo to the waterpark!

Joseph lounging pool side-if you look closely that is Eileen in the pink two piece running past Joseph

Olivia trying to warm up, poor girl-at least we had the hot tub in the room for her

Brenden swimming in the big pool

Nathan waiting for his mom to get back from the roller coaster ride with Eileen so they can take off to the big slides again!

Joseph playing with the sprayer, he liked putting his hands in the water but he did NOT like it when the other kids sprayed him and he would shoot them a dirty look!

The Dells
We started Spring Break on Thursday afternoon by joining Krista and the boys at the Chula Vista in Wisconsin Dells. Krista booked us a two bedroom condo for two nights, it was tons of fun but we were all exhausted after the trip!

We took the kids to the water park (those pix are still on the other camera, I will up load them soon), but after a few hours and a snack Olivia and Joseph were ready to go back to the room and warm up in the hot tub.

The kids showing off their webkinz from Auntie Krista, the first for my kids

Krista bought the new Madagascar movie for the kids to watch, she also got them a Madagascar sticker book and stickers...not to gender profile but...where are the boys?

My kids were up bright and early the fist morning, Joseph checking out the view with his new froggie

Once again after swimming for a few hours and eating some "food" Olivia and Joseph were ready to go back to the room to warm up. This time Brenden joined the little kids. Krista was so nice to stay with Eileen and Nathan who could not get enough of the water slides!

Eileen and Olivia working on their new puzzle

While we were in the Dells Eileen lost her second tooth! There was a bit of confusion with the Tooth Fairy, she left the money at home under her pillow but took the tooth from Mom's pocket in the Dells-that crazy fairy was all over Wisconsin! Thank goodness she left a note so we knew what was going on.

The big kids watching a move on the little DVD player

Joseph and Olivia painting their monkeys (another quiet activity that I brought) after a nice nap.

I made sugar cookies at home and brought them with us along with frosting and cookie decorations for an evening activity.

Joseph got the wrong part of the sugar shaker open, check out the speed that sugar has coming out!

After dinner we (and by we I mean Auntie Krista) took the kids to the arcade after dinner on the last night. This is Eileen playing the jump rope game

Joseph on Jay-Jay the jet plane, his mean mommy wouldn't put any money in the machine

On the last morning, looking a little worn

Olivia

Nathan

The breakfast club

Eileen in a great mood, she didn't get up until after 9!

The kids all packed up and ready to go! Thank you so much for inviting us to go with you Krista, we had so much fun!

Story Hour

We have been attending a weekly story hour at a local coffee shop (what a brilliant idea!), John Harbor's here in the Falls. We have listened to some great stories and Miss. Stacy always has a fun activity for us to do when the books are done-she also gives the kids a treat, this is easily Joseph's favorite part. This week Miss. Stacy made a bunny cutout for the kids to stick their head in and have their picture taken.

Joseph inspecting his animal cracker while working on his coloring sheet.

Joseph Cotton Tail

Joseph and his buddy Abram

The boys together

Abram wanted to give Joseph a hug, such good buddies.

Next week they are going to try to have an egg hunt (weather permitting), and I will have all 3 kids!!

Eileen's First Research Paper!

This month Eileen will earn her Citizenship Award at school. She has worked very had to accomplish this award; she had to take care of Cassie independently for one month, take charge of all the household recycling for one month, keep her school desk neat and tidy for one month, learn about, help make and bring in food from another country (She made Chicken Tikkas, thanks Maria!), and research and write a report on the American Flag. We went to the library and selected about 5 books on the American flag, she read the books and then recorded her facts using a web. Using the web we worked together to organize her facts into 3 general ideas; showing respect for the flag, history, and what the flag looks like. Eileen took these ideas and made them into thoughtful sentences within a paragraph. When she was done writing it up, she typed her entire paper by herself! She worked so hard and I am so proud of her!

Checking her facts as she writes

Writing it up

Typing takes a very long time!

Adding artwork to her report

With noting exciting panned for the weekend, we still managed to have a lot of fun!
As I posted yesterday Bryan took the kids to Menards by himself, and they also went to Home Depot (more basement stuff) this happened to be at the right place at the right time! They were able to take part in the Kids Wokrshop at Home Deopt. The kids each got an apron, a certificate of completion with a pin to add to the apron, and a bird house that they each made themselves. The girls were so excited and proud of themselves, Joseph was not in the mood for it and didn't want his picture taken-hence him walking in the background with his jPod on (I have a feeling this scene will repeat its self many times in our house in the future!).

The girls showing off their project

After all that shopping the kids were ready for lunch, and decided to make it for us!
Joseph being a nut while his sisters serve him

Olivia LOVES to cook and be in the kitchen, here she is peeling a carrot with a butter knife.

Bryan showed her how to use a peeler, Eileen was so proud to pour all the milk all by herself.

Part of the work for this weekend was cleaning up/out the basement so the mud and tape guys can get to work on Tuesday!!! Bryan and I (mostly Bryan but I did help) brought up all the remaining dry wall and put it in the garage for the time being. We had some smaller pieces that I thought the kids would have fun painting, and if they looked good maybe we would hang them on the kids side of the basement...when it's done. The kids work was all so unique and such a true expression of themselves. Eileen went in with a plan and created an image, Olivia's (our little artist) thinks outside the box and her painting was an exploration of color and texture, Joseph's was a wet mess but it was about putting color on the board for him-and constantly dipping his brush in the water bucket.

Joseph hard at work

Eileen making her picture

Olivia creating


The kids loading up their paint brushes, check out Olivia's pants-apparently being creative means you roll in the paint!

The Finished Products

Eileen's first picture, its was on cement board so it was hard to get the paint to take well.

For this paining she worked on drywall and the goal was to have no white show.

This was Olivia's first picture

This one she told me is a waterfall

Joseph's first attempt

Joseph's second picture.

We put them in the garage to dry, it looks like a gallery in there! The kids are very proud of their work and can't wait to hang them up.