Slide Rock and HFMD

So for most people, Labor Day means it's almost the end of summer, but for us, we're still in the thick of it. :-) The weekend before Labor Day we wanted to escape the heat and had an entire Saturday totally free, so I started asking around for a good idea for a quick one day getaway. We decided to go to Slide Rock near Sedona. It's place where a stream (small river???) runs down these insanely slippery rocks so people slide down it like a slide. It is completely slick and doesn't feel like you're sliding down a rock at all. As a matter of fact, if you try to walk on it you'll most likely fall if you don't have water shoes on.... and even then you're pretty likely to fall. ;-) The only problem was that the water was painfully cold. I did the slide because Michael convinced me that going all that way and not even doing the slide would be super lame, but yikes. The bitterly cold water completely distracted me from the slide and all I remember about it was being shocked by how cold it was. Haha! Okay maybe I'm a wuss but it really was so so cold. ;-)

Also, Matthew wanted to walk into the water up to his ankles despite me warning him not to... of course he immediately slipped (even with water shoes on!) and started to go with the flow of the river. He can swim, but I was going to have to go after him since he's not a strong enough swimmer to get himself out of a moving river. (Even though he slipped into a veeery slow moving part of the river.)  Michael was off with Kate and I had Joshua and I was quickly trying to figure out my best course of action (probably to speed walk down the river a bit and grab him from the dry ground) but luckily there were a couple girls who were right next to where he was so I just asked them to grab him really quick and they were happy to help. Poor Matthew was pretty traumatized for a minute (brrr!) but he was totally fine. And Michael was off with Kate because before any of us had even tried going down the slide, Michael was going to take Kate down it on his lap. Haha! It actually would've been totally fine but the cold really shocked her once she was shoulder-deep and she flipped out. They only made it part of the way down because Kate was crying. I'm proud of her for trying though!!

Overall it was fun, and SO beautiful, but we probably won't go back until the kids are older and can go down the slide by themselves. I do want to go back to Sedona soon though. I'm sure there's so much more beauty to explore!

 Slide Rock (the actual slide was up further - this was more of a wading area... though why anyone would want to wade in that frigid water is beyond me)  ;-)

You can kinda see the slide behind Kate in this picture-

Beautiful Sedona

We stopped at Dairy Queen on our way home and the kids were very excited to get ice cream!

The following weekend was Labor Day and my sweet friend had invited our family up to her family's cabin for the weekend (fun!) but we ended up having to cancel the trip because a couple days before we were going to leave Josh started having red dots appear around his mouth. At first I barely even thought about it but then he woke up looking like this:

He didn't have a rash or spots anywhere else on his body but I knew I should probably take him to the doctor and the doctor told me it was Hand Foot and Mouth Disease. Nooooo! From here, Joshua only got worse. His mouth looked AWFUL and he also got spots all over his body, especially his hands and feet.

He did have a bit of a fever, but honestly he never seemed very miserable at all! The doctor warned me that the other kids would likely get it (it's super contagious!) and sure enough, a few days later Kate came down with it too. :-( She had it a little bit on her face, but she got it BAD on her arms and hands. The doctor told me that kids who get it bad on their hands often lose their fingernails, and a few weeks later most of Kate's fingernails did indeed fall off. (Luckily it wasn't bad because by the time a fingernail came off, a new one had already grown in underneath. Still kinda creepy though!) Anyway, I'll spare you the super nasty pictures of Kate's peeling fingers and just show you these mild ones. Haha. (Her hands got so bad that they were totally covered in red bumps... this pic doesn't do it justice at all.) She felt kind of lousy-ish for a couple evenings in a row but she really didn't have that horrible of sick-symptoms either.

I really thought Matthew would avoid it but he was eventually the last one to get it. I might not have even noticed if I hadn't been looking for it because he only got the rash on the bottom of his feet. He complained once about a sore throat but other than that, it was pretty smooth sailing with him.

Sorry for the detailed description of our bout with HFMD. Haha. Overall it wasn't fun, but I am SO glad that my kids didn't get nearly as sick as a lot of kids do when they get it. I have heard horror stories of how sick kids can get when they have it so I definitely consider us lucky! A small fever and sore throat was the worst of it - it definitely LOOKED much worse than it was! Of course it also wasn't fun having to keep my kids quarantined for so long. At least we had a fun trip to CA after everyone was better! (All about that in the next post!)

Joshua at 18 months

Oh my goodness, this age is so much fun. Joshua is so full of personality and so hilarious. He is becoming more and more his own little person and we are all loving being a part of it.

Joshua is generally happy and well behaved, though like most kids his age, he definitely has his moments. He doesn't particularly like shopping of any kind unless we're in the toy aisle, the Halloween aisle, or he has a lollipop or some other form of candy. He'll also sometimes throw a fit if he's told no. He definitely won't hesitate to let me know how he feels about something! He is usually his grumpiest right before dinner, but does better while eating (as long as he likes his food, ha) and then loves getting into the bath after dinner.

Joshua speaks really well for his age. He can say almost any word we ask him to (or at least make a decent attempt) and has even tried a few words together a few times. It is fun to have him so vocal so young. He still has a cute little wobble when he walks and has recently started running. He's not a big fan of being in the stroller - he likes to walk and go wherever he wants to go. :-) If he hears the word "walk," he'll go bring you his shoes and fully expect to be leaving the house. Good luck if you're not actually taking him on a walk. Eek. Haha. His favorite foods are lollipops, crackers, peaches, pears, chips, pizza, and of course, any type of candy. He's an okay eater. Not terrible, but not awesome either. He can definitely be picky but at least he will eat some healthy foods.

Joshua is completely obsessed with the movie Snow White. More specifically, he loves the seven dwarves and the witch and the poison apple. "Heigh Ho" is his all-time favorite song. He isn't all that into any other movies or TV shows yet. He loves books, which I love. Some of his favorites include pop-up books, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Goodnight Beach, Row Row Row Your Boat, and Little Blue Truck. He definitely prefers to have me read to him, but sometimes I catch him reading to himself and it's super cute.

Joshua takes one nap a day, and sometimes (actually, usually) it's not a super awesome nap so he goes to bed pretty early. At times he's not a very restful sleeper, but most of the time he does pretty well and sleeps through the night. Joshua loves the bath, especially with lots of toys and "pop!" (bubbles) He really really loves wrestling, and will sometimes go right up to Matthew and try to shove him over. Matthew is a great sport and will usually wrestle with him when he does this. Joshua really isn't that into most nursery rhymes, nursery songs, or primary songs. Sometimes he lets me do Itsy Bitsy Spider with him, but he kind of seems to tolerate it more than enjoy it. Haha.

Joshua hates going to the doctor (even when he doesn't get shots) and loves going to the park. He likes to climb all over the park equipment and he also loves the swings. He loves all animals, especially dogs, cats, ducks, and anything that roars. He did awesome his first week of nursery but didn't do so great his second. Ah! So how he'll do in nursery is still pretty up in the air.

This boy is so much fun. He makes us laugh all the time and is just the cutest thing. His insanely long lashes, huge blue eyes, chubby cheeks, and bright blonde hair just kill me. He is a mama's boy and I kinda love it. Stay little forever cute boy!

Matthew's Fifth Birthday

So maybe I'm the worst ever, but this was the first year that one of my kids has had a friend birthday party. I see absolutely no problem with other people having big parties for their younger kids, but I've always just been happy to celebrate as a family - especially since my kids have been too young to really care. Well, I figured that age 5 was a good age to finally throw Matthew a big party. He was ready and I knew he'd absolutely love it.

We decided on a Dinosaur theme weeks (months?) before his actual birthday. It was the perfect theme for him, since it's easy to find decor (I am not one of those talented crafty people that could whip up my own decorations!) and Matthew has always been really into dinosaurs. He loved helping pick out some decorations for his party, and when it came time to make the invitations, he was beside himself with excitement, helping me put the invitations into the envelopes and carefully sealing it shut with a dinosaur sticker. He was also so happy to hand out the invitations to his friends.

His birthday ended up being on a Saturday this year so it worked out that his birthday and party were on the same day. His party didn't start until 1pm, so I knew it would be a long morning while he waited for his party to start. :-)

Friday night I (tearfully, of course) put him to bed and then got to work decorating his cake, putting out decorations, and giving Michael the job of blowing up a bunch of balloons. (I HATE blowing up balloons.) Matthew had actually requested waking up to balloons in his room (we'd done it the previous year) so I guess that it's now kind of a tradition. Haha. Anyway, he was super excited (though not surprised!) to wake up to that.

He was even more excited about the decorations downstairs.

I made him pancakes and we let him tear into all his presents from family. His biggest gift from us was a Razor scooter. He'd been asking for one for months.

We hung out for a while and he played with his new stuff until it was getting close to lunch time. I put Joshua down for a nap and sent Michael and Matthew and Kate to Chick Fil A for lunch. I stayed behind to prepare for his party and clean up a little. :-)

And then it was time for the party! They had lots of fun coloring dinosaur masks...

.... and playing games like Pin The Head On The Dinosaur Bones and Don't Eat Pete. (Dino version!)

And then we sent everyone out for water fun! We filled up the kiddie pool, had a bunch of water balloons, and gave them water guns with a mission to shoot all the tiny dinosaur figurines over. It was a big hit and the boys (+Kate!) all had a blast.

Then they came inside, dried off (sort of) :-) and Matthew got to tear into his presents. Then they had cake and hung out (AKA ran around) for a few minutes before everyone's parents came to get them.

Matthew enjoyed spending the rest of the day playing with all his new toys. He requested spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. I had a feeling he would, so luckily I was prepared. ;-)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATTHEW!

I love this boy to pieces. I say it way too much, but he has a heart of gold. He very much is beyond his years in his desire to connect with people, especially his family. He feels everything deeply and isn't afraid to talk about those feelings. I love my alone time with him when I get to just focus on him, partially because I know how much he absolutely loves it too. He loves life and still gets excited about all the little things, such as a store putting out holiday decorations or a turtle sticking its head out of the pond or getting his little brother to laugh. He makes me so proud in his desire to learn and become a better person.

Matthew is smart. It was a very difficult decision for me to have him wait another year for kindergarten because I know how much he will absolutely love it. He likes structure and is easy to teach. When I ask him if he wants to learn about ___(fill in the blank)___ he will say yes 100% of the time. He is always down to do whatever and is so much fun to have around.

Matthew loves dinosaurs, Legos, water guns/nerf guns, sharks, puzzles, art, sports, the park, the beach, cooking, and playing games. He is an amazing reader but still prefers that I read to him. He is an amazing big brother and is so good at trying to include Joshua in the things he and Kate are doing. He has a freakishly good memory. He'd like to do a lot of things when he grows up, but his latest desire is to be both a chef and to "work with dad." He wants to go on his mission to China, Japan, Mexico, or "Grandma and Papa's house." Currently, his favorite show is Bubble Guppies and his favorite movie in Ninja Turtles. He also loves to watch home videos and hear stories about when he was a baby/toddler. He has learned to swim and can do it quite well, assuming he doesn't start to panic. 

I am thankful every day that I get to be Matthew's mom. He is so patient with me and forgives so quickly. I love you forever Matthew. Now please stop growing up!!!!!!