Calling all secret agents...

Aaron wanted to have a secret agent party this year. I really enjoyed going with this theme although I wasn't quite sure how I was going to pull it off. We sort of put the theme around the new Lego Agents sets. While shopping at Target last week, I scored some spy gear on clearance so I was thinking that we could somehow use the stuff for some fun games. We made the black t-shirts for all the kids and ironed on Lego Agents Image with Agents In Training on them. Mike and I were the Agents Trainers. So we told the kids that they had to become secret agents so that they could help protect Aaron's birthday presents from the evil and envious Dr. Inferno. For one of the games, we made the kids shoot at targets on the window and then sneak down into the family room to secure the birthday present without getting hit by the darts set off by the alarms. The kids really got a kick out of sneaking down there and setting off the motion detectors. Aaron had a great time and on his turn, he got hit by one the darts as he was exiting and he thought it was hilarious. It was so fun. Then we went outside for the water balloon launch. We had the kids pair up and we practiced launching the water balloons with beach towels over our badmitton net. Because Mike and I were in on all the action, I don't have any pictures of the party. Bummer... Meanwhile, Mike and I had our walkie talkies and when we were temporarily separated, Mike would give me reports of Dr. Inferno sightings and all the kids would get all quite. Mike would tell us to be on the lookout. The kids really got into it. After training the kids on hitting targets and balloon launching, they were prepared to take on Dr. Inferno. Thus, Mike in the red wig. So, Mike snuck inside while I briefed the kids. We took our position near the bucket of water balloons. Sure enough, Dr. Inferno crashed the party and we were ready for him. Only problem we had was the balloons would not pop when we would hit Dr. Inferno. So just picture Mike getting smacked all over by all these water balloons but they weren't popping. It was hysterical. We ended up targeting the ground near his feet. The kids had a blast. Then we ate lunch. We tried to stay outside for a few minutes but it was way too hot. I felt bad about the black t-shirts. So we all went inside and sang happy birthday and ate cupcakes. At the end of the party, we awarded each kid with a certificate of achievement stating that they were now qualified secret agents and ready for secret missions. A few of the kids asked where the goodie bags were. I just said, hey, what could be better than an official certificate saying that you're a secret agent! Can you tell, I'm an anti-goodie bag giver?

Date night...

Mike and I went to see John Mayer last week. He is an amazing performer live. Go see him. It's worth it! Mike thought the highlight of his performance was when he took off his shirt and sang Van Halen's Panama as an encore song. Ha!

Finally, a cool kid bike...

Well, Aaron's birthday is on Wednesday and Mike and I knew that we wanted to get him a new bike this year. So we bought him last Friday night and hid it in the garage. He has long overgrown his other bike. He's been riding Connor's bike which is a tad shorter than his bike but the handlebars are further away so I guess it's been more comfortable for him. On both bikes, it looks like his knees hit the handlebars. So, yes, you could say it's about time for this new bike. On Saturday, we decided to go for a bike ride but I didn't have the heart to make him ride his old bike knowing that his brand new bike was hiding in the garage. So I asked Mike if we could surprise him a little early. It was really fun to watch him enjoy his new bike. He was a little nervous at first but got over his nerves real quick. Now if we could only get Connor riding!

Cuteness at 13 months old..

Aubrey is super busy these days. She's starting to protest when we put the gate up. She doesn't like to have limits and certainly doesn't like to miss out on anything. We've been training her to go down the stairs by herself. She's had success all by herself once but usually has trouble getting in the starting position to go down. She's really getting into things. She likes to take all the books off the bookshelves in the boys room and in her room. I've had to restock books several times this week. She continues to adore Mike and just loves Aaron to pieces. She has been so sweet with Aaron this week. She's given him lots of love taps and hugs which he really needed.

One big yellow highlight after a long week...

After being very ill for almost a week, Aaron returned to school on Friday. He is now practically rash free and is feeling much better. The last two nights, Aaron didn't wake up from being itchy. Since Aaron is attending summer school at another elementary school, Aaron gets to ride the bus. He thought it was pretty cool when the bus came to the house to pick him up. It definitely gave him the extra push he needed. It's a big bonus for me as well!

Wednesday night, we spent the evening with Mike's longtime friend, Adam and his wife, Heather and their kids, Keira, Avery, and Calie. They're moving from North Carolina to California. Heather is from NJ and they came up to visit her parents before heading out west. It was great to see them and the boys and Aubrey enjoyed playing with their adorable girls. After a few minutes of the kids getting to know each other, Connor decided that he wanted to put a more impressive shirt on. So he grabbed his cool Hawaiian shirt and buttoned it up to impress the girls. Uncle Marty would have been proud. Then Connor and the girls decided to raid the dress up closet in the basement which is also the temporary closet for Grandma's clothing. Needless to say, Connor came upstairs wearing one of Grandma's shirts. It was pretty funny. Aubrey enjoyed following Keira and Avery around and she was quite taken with Calie. The kids did amazingly well, and we (the adults) sat down for a game called Ticket to Ride. Definitely one we will add to our repertoire.

Aaron Update...

Well, Aaron has been on orapred (steroids), xyzal (a benadryl type med), and azithromycin for the last three days. I wish that I would have taken a picture of Aaron Monday morning and Tuesday morning. Yesterday afternoon, we started seeing improvements in rash reduction. But the rash that remains, gets intensely itchy when the xyzal wears off which is around 12 hours. One of the side effects of both the orapred and azithromycin is stomach pain, nausea and vomiting and Aaron had all three Monday evening. Thus, the new "freckles" covering Aaron's face from vomiting. They're all broken blood vessels. He has really been a trooper through all of this. Yesterday, he asked me if I could take him to the hospital until he gets better. And then last night, he said, "Mommy, sorry for all the trouble." When Aaron gets sick, he gets in apology mode and starts to apologize for every wrong he's done. He's such a gentle spirit and I feel so terrible that he's had to go through all this. I desperately want to take away his pain and I just hate the feeling of helplessness.

Why is it so hard to make lemonade?

I'm sure we're all familiar with the saying, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Well, I've been hit with a few lemons lately and I'm totally struggling to make something sweet out of it. What is the exact recipe anyway? How much sugar do you need to balance the bitter taste of lemons? Sometimes it seems an impossible task for me especially when I just keep adding my own lemons to the mix? So, we're told that this is what life is all about. Learning to make lemonade from lemons? Maybe it's all about the fine art of balancing the positive with the negative.

So here are a few of my lemons...Aaron came down with strep right after we got home from our Seattle trip. He was put on amoxicillin right away. And seven days later, he broke out with an allergic reaction to the meds. Remember the movie, where Martin Short gets stung by a bee and he's severely allergic to bee stings? I used to think that was so funny especially when he swells up so much that he has difficulty getting out of the helicopter. Well, I'm not sure that I will be able to laugh as much. And I am most certainly more sympathetic to those who have kids with severe allergies. So Aaron is now on steroids, benadryl and azithromycin. Poor little guy. I've never seen anything like this before and I hope we won't have to do it again in the future. Hopefully, he will be back to normal in the next few days. He's in pretty bad shape so please add him to your prayers.

During the beginning phase of Aaron's strep, I got a phone call from my mom. She had been in Utah for an annual quilting retreat with her sisters and she had gotten in an accident. As she was driving up from picking up a family friend in Provo, she was driving on the freeway near Centerville and collided with a car that had lost control of her vehicle during a lane change. Mom's car was totalled but amazingly enough, everyone walked away from the accident with only minor injuries. Fortunately, no one hit them from behind. Mom said that a week before she had a premonition that she would be in an accident while on her trip. She was always extra cautious and alert while on the road. The lady in the other car had three small children in the back seat. From the way mom explained it, it sounds like if mom hadn't hit the other car, it would have gone into the median and the damage could have been much worse for the other car. She is now at home and is doing better. Still a little sore and headachy. I am so grateful that she is doing better and is home safe and sound.

On a lighter note, the positives...Mike and I had the chance to go see Wicked and Phantom of the Opera last week with Mike's mom, sister, and niece. We had a great time and enjoyed the oppportunity to finally go see some shows on Broadway. It's only taken us almost a year. :)

Another positive this week was the 4th of July! Our town, Chatham, hosts an annual fourth of July parade where several surrounding towns participate. We enjoyed seeing all the old fashioned fire engines, the bag pipe bands, and the old guys on the old fashioned bicycles. Aaron had a few friends that were in the parade and they would run up to him and give him candy. Later, we invited some friends over for a barbeque and then we all went over to the middle school for the firework display. The kids had a great time running around chasing fireflys while waiting for the fireworks. Fun was had by all, including Aaron who is very nervous and anxious about the whole experience. This year we used some cordless headphones to tone down the noise for him.

She's a total daddy's girl!

San Juan Island

During our recent visit to Seattle, Mike and I decided that we would plan an overnight visit to the San Juan Islands in the Puget Sound. We had such a great time and the weather was beautiful. We were 66% kid free. We decided to take a nature boat tour with Aubrey. She did pretty well, but fell asleep before seeing the wildlife. We lucked out and did see a small pod of orca whales.

What I love about Nanna by Aubrey

She's an amazing example.

And she has really great toys!