4th of July

 Today was the 4th OF JULY! We all went to the parade in Melba and Joel was able to take the day off of work. The girls all got lots of candy and had a great time. We were surrounded by family so the girls had lots of cousins to talks to and we had a blast. 

After the parade we stopped by and picked some cherries and visited with grandma and grandpa Hirtle. Grandma was selling things at her stand and the girls had a lot of fun helping her even though there were not a lot of people that stopped by.

We spent the evening at grandma Verna's house where we enjoyed some hamburgers and hotdogs and we lit a few fireworks that Joel and the girls got. The girls all loved them this year. Even Miriam was clapping and excited about those fireworks. There were a few sparklers that the kids all got and they had fun with those.

 We headed back to Melba that night where the girls got their traditional french fries to eat while we watched the big firework display. Joel and I tried to skip that part this year but the girls were talking about it and so excited about those fireworks that we decided we didn't want to disappoint them.  Joel's cousin Simon was in town from Canada so we talked to him and his wife Danielle while we waited for the fireworks to start. The girls danced and put on a little show for us while we waited. They all liked the fireworks this year. Summer was super scared of them last year so I was worried about how she would do. She was still a little nervous and stayed right in mom or dad's lap but she really did pretty good. Kyla also seemed more relaxed and not so scared this year.

I am always grateful for the time and the memories I get to make with my little family. 

Miriam at 11 Months

Miriam is walking all over the place these days and is getting into whatever she can find. She spent the entire month trying to walk. She was still pretty wobbly and was falling all over the place just a week or two after she turned ten months when she decided she was going to do this whole walking thing and she pretty much stopped crawling all together. She would walk almost everywhere she went at only 10 and a half month. She was one determined little girl. With all that practicing she got pretty good. These days she walks pretty well and can keep up with her sisters most of the time. It is still crazy to me to see such a little thing walking around like it is no big deal. She loves to follow her sisters around and try to do all the big kid things they do. She crawled all the way up the stairs one day when they went up there and left the gate opened.

Miriam is still pretty bald and has no teeth. I keep thinking she is teething and that her teeth are getting close but nothing has popped up yet. Not that she needs any teeth yet so we are not in a hurry. She does love toothbrushes and Summer gives them to her a lot so Miriam will walk around pretending to brush her nonexistent teeth all the time. She absolutes hates bows and headbands and pretty much refuses to wear them. She pulls and tugs until she gets them off. She is not a huge fan of shoes either and puts up a pretty good protest whenever I try to put them on her.

Miriam still wakes up several times at night and is not on a super great nap schedule. I made Joel put the crib up in Annanlyn's room so the goal for this next month is to get her on a good sleep schedule and to totally move her out of my room. I am hoping that will help her to sleep through the night better. The good thing is that she is great at sleeping in our arms on the go and in her car seat. 

Miriam loves to play outside. She seems to love animals and chewing on rocks. She absolutely loves to play in the water and had fun splashing in the water at the splash pad the last time we went. She loves the swing these days and laughed the entire time I pushed her the last time she was in a swing. She doesn't mind crawling in the grass and likes to play in the sand.  

Miriam loves to play in the dishwasher and she loves to empty out and play in all the cupboards and drawers she can open. She makes this cute little growl and a gurgle sound all the time. She says mama, and mom, and dada. She has repeated a few other words after we have said them. She likes to empty out any box she can find. 

Miriam got to ride a horse this month and loved it. She rode with her Aunt Joanna. She also went camping again the month and was great. She loved playing in the dirt and got nice and dirty. She got to celebrate the fourth of July and loved watching the parade and fireworks. We did a few fireworks in our front yard and Miriam clapped and seemed to love them. She was mesmerized by the big ones and loved watching them too. 

Miriam eats whatever we eat these days. She is starting to get a little bit pickier and would rather eat the pasta or the sweet things over the veggies. She likes to play in cups and she loves to try and steal my ice cubes. 

Miriam is one sweet little girl. She is starting to protest when she doesn't get her way or when we take things away from her but for the most part she is such a happy and easy going baby. She did get her first ear infection this month. She never did get a fever but she was super fussy all night and when she woke up that morning there was a clear fluid oozing out of one of her ears. Turns out that she had an infection in both ears and the one was super bad because the eardrum most likely ruptured. I am honestly amazed that she wasn't a lot fussier than she was. Luckily she loved the medicine and was happy to take it. She is a trooper and we sure are glad this girl is in our family. We love her a lot. 

      

June 2019

The month of June started off with a trip to quick care to get Annalyn tested for strep throat. She had it so Then we had to get her some medicine. She had to miss her soccer game later that day and we almost canceled Kyla's birthday party. In the end Annalyn was the one who missed out because we made her stay outside and away from everyone else for most of the party. Joel stayed home with the rest of the kids while I took Brynlee to the soccer game. 

     On the second day of June we went to visit Joanna and her family and we got to hold puppies and play with all of their cute animals while we shared some of Kyla's huge birthday cake with them. 

     On Monday we went to the library and then went to a friend's house for a fun water party. On Tuesday it was Kyla's actual birthday so we celebrated with cool whip and sprinkle covered strawberry pancakes for breakfast. We went to parenting class that day and then all of the girls (except for Miriam who was asleep) Went swimming and had a blast playing in the water. The water was cold so the girls didn't last a super long time but they still had a good time.

     For Kyla's birthday we got her a little pool for the backyard. We aired it up and the kids had a popcorn movie night in that thing and played in it all day for several days. They had a few "last to leave the pool" challenges, movie nights, and Summer even fell asleep in there one night. It took us a few days before we actually set it up outside. For dinner that night we had homemade pizzas and we even made some dessert pizzas for dessert.

   Brynlee ended up with a fever that night and was sick for the rest of the week. She had been complaining of a sore throat since the day Annalyn got diagnosed with strep and she had been begging me to take her to see a doctor. I told her she had to have a fever before I would take her. I bought some strep throat test strips on line and we have used them a lot. They said she didn't have strep but when Bryn got the fever she was convinced the test was wrong and that I must take her to see a doctor. I took her in but she didn't have strep so their was nothing they could do for her. She ended up getting a fever for five days in a row. She still wasn't feeling super well on the day of her last soccer game but she really wanted to go. I knew we would be missing two other players so it was a long and hot game for the kids because Brynlee only played for a little bit to give some of the kids a break. I could tell she still wasn't feeling well. They got to have cupcakes and get a lanyard and pin after the game. They were both pretty good little players and I had a lot of fun being their coach. At first Brynlee said she didn't want to play again but has since changed her mind and I just signed the girls up to play again in the fall.

      Luckily Brynlee was all the way better for our trip and we had a super fun time on our trip to Washington. When we got back it was only one day until Brynlee's birthday. We ended up waiting to do her party until after my aunt Lisa and her girls came up from Texas. She requested that I let her make her own cake and I got her a cake decorating kit as part of her present so she was excited to try it out. For lunch we had grandma meet us for lunch at Idaho Pizza. Brynlee also got five dollars and I took her to the dollar store so she could spend her money. She decided not so spend her money there in the end and had me take her to the snow cones shack where she spent almost all of her money on a large snow cone. She then ate the entire thing. I also made Brynlee go to speech on her birthday and she went to counseling the night before. Her teacher ended up getting sick so that was her only session for the month.

When Lisa and her kids were here, we had a lot of fun playing with and hanging out with them. We made slime and did crafts, they went to book and a bite with us, we went to the library and ate ice cream with them, and we played as much as we could. Most of the girls spent the night at our house the last day and that was lots of fun. We always love it when they come to visit and have so much fun with them. 

Joel ended up getting sick in the middle of the month and felt downright miserable. There was one day he got a super high fever of almost 105F and we had a hard time getting the fever to come down. The next day I made him go to see the doctor and they did some chest X-rays and found out he had pneumonia. Brynlee broke out in a rash all over her body so I had him take Brynlee with him. They didn't do anything for the rash but Joel got medicine for the pneumonia. That stuff really wiped him out. For the next week and a half he only did the work he had to do and then came home and went to bed as soon as he got off of work. It was terrible and I am so glad he is feeling better now. 

 

While Joel was sick we spent a lot of time with Lisa and her girls. We took Chloe and my sister's girl Remi to visit Aunt Joanna one day while they were here, Kennedy wasn't feeling well and everyone else had other plans. Those girls all had a blast riding on Aunt Joanna's swings and petting their puppies. Although Summer hated the swing and the dogs, the rest of the girls loved it and could have stayed there all day. Aunt Joanna was even nice enough to saddle up a horse and let the girls ride. They loved that. Summer was reluctant to get up but then she didn't want to get down and was able to sneak and get in two rides. 

     As soon as we got home that evening Kyla ended up getting a fever. We had planned to go out to the Sand Dunes to play with everyone the next day but Kyla still wasn't feeling well and with Joel still suffering the effects of Pneumonia, I decided to just sent Brynlee and Annalyn with my parents and they had a blast playing in the sand. Kyla had a fever for four days so I took her to the doctor where I showed him the rash Brynlee still had. The doctor suspected that they had fifth's disease. It is a super contagious virus with a fever and a rash that comes a few days later. Annalyn ended up getting the rash and it showed up on Kyla a few days later so it looks like that was the right diagnosis. As far as I know they didn't spread it to anyone else luckily and it went away after a few days. 

We finally went to check out the new splash pad that the put out in Kuna and the girls all had a lot of fun playing in the water. We went to the park a few times on nice days. Annalyn's first grade teacher helped out at Book and a Bite this year so it was super important to Anna that we went so she could give Mrs. Dalke a big hug. We did that several times and they had fun activities at each of them. We went and got snow cones for family night once and really just enjoyed the warm weather and the simple days of no school. We also went to the library and picked and pitted some cherries. 

We went swimming after parenting class again and this time the water was warmer so we had a lot more fun. They had a bike parade at the church for the kids and they had a fun time riding their bikes around the church parking lot. Brynlee got to spend a day with my sister Alesha and she had a lot of fun swimming and hanging out with her. Miriam started walking, and we had a lot of fun adventures. The girls got to play in the water in the pool in our backyard and they ran through the sprinklers a few times. 

I made a chore chart and a rule this summer that the kids are not allowed to turn on the TV until after 2:00. It has made the morning so nice. The girls all play well together. They have spent a lot of time outside and then when it gets hot, they can turn on the TV. This really has been a fun summer. We have been so busy the girls haven't even asked to have a friend over. They have played really well together.