Long time, no see....again!

I really think I'm trying too hard here. It's been nearly two weeks since my last post and so much has happened. I'll keep the updates quick and photo-filled. We've been busy! lol

On Friday, May 15th, my Mom, TJ and my brother, Daymond, came up to spend the night for Evan's birthday. The boys all loaded up and went to the Arkansas Naturals baseball game while Mom and I stayed home with Annabeth. Mom and I baked all the cupcakes and had some girl talk. It was fun! The guys had fun, too! They came home late with upset tummys from all the junk food. They stayed for the whole game and the fireworks at the end. It was a great father/son outing for them. I was happy to have sent Nick with my camera...

Evan with his high dollar foam finger:
Evan's birthday party was on Saturday, the 16th. He invited some kids from his class and a couple other friends and we had this huge backyard carnival planned per his instructions. The weather didn't cooperate with us, though, and it rained all week prior to the party and the back yard was complete mush! I was sad, but we swept out the garage and set some games up on the front yard off the driveway. We made the best out of the cool, windy day and Evan had a great time, which is all that really matters.

The whole gang (minus one that came late):

Blowing out the candle:
Pinata time:
Our family photo from 5/17:

So on Monday the 18th, Annabeth started complaining her ear hurt. She had fallen on Saturday morning and hit that ear on the side of a chair. We put ice on it and gave her some Tylenol and it seemed to help. There was a purple spot on the top of the ear by the end of the day, but no real complaining until Monday. She took a good nap and I had to wake her up to go pick up Evan from school. That doesn't happen very often, but when it does, she's whiny and mopey. So I didn't think anything of it until we got home from getting Evan and she complained her ear hurt again. I took her temp and it was low grade. The light went on that it was probably an ear infection and she needed to go to the doctor ASAP. I called and they got her in that night with a diagnosis of a "massive ear infection" on one side. Poor baby. I felt terrible that I didn't think about that sooner. We all just thought it hurt from hitting it on the chair the few days before. The doctor gave her an antibiotic and some pain meds with codine to ease the pain. He told me to give her the first dose as soon as I could, so I dosed her up before we left the doctor's office. Big mistake. She didn't want anything to eat and just as we pulled into our city limits, she puked all over the car. She started gasping and I panicked and pulled the car off the road. Nick was following me so he whipped in, too and helped me strip her down and move her into his car. I spent forever tying to get the car seat apart and washed. Luckily, she felt better the next morning. Ear infections are for the birds!

So, last week was the Spring Fling at Evan's school. This is a BIG PTO fundraiser that I had signed on to help out with. I had been working on behind the scenes stuff for weeks, but it all happened on Friday. I worked all day on Thursday and then got there at 7 am on Friday. I even beat Evan to school that day! I did have my camera and took some shots of Evan out on his field day, but am so bummed to report my camera software is acting up again and it "ate" several of my pictures. I'll share a few I still have anyway.

From the indoor carnival part:
Tug-o-war. Boys vs. Girls. GO BOYS!!!
When he got home from school, I got out the new FJ Cruiser we bought him for his birthday. He had outgrown the tractor he has and it was only a one-seater and he and Annabeth had been fighting over it to the point we had to put it up, so he was thrilled to have some they could share. So was Annabeth!
Nick had been promising Evan for weeks that they would camp out on the Friday night of Memorial weekend and he made good. We set up the tent in the back yard and Nick put together the new fire pit so we could roast marshmallows for s'mores for our first time ever. The photos leave a little to be desired, but at least I have some!

This is Evan's scary face:

Yesterday was a full afternoon at Chuck E. Cheese for Evan's friend's birthday party and then home for some much needed R&R. I'm totally spent after the past few weeks and my dear husband let me sleep in til nearly 11 am.

Then today was church, the grocery store, a rebuild of our monkey bars and now bedtime. My camera ate ALL of our family photos from this morning. Really a bummer, but I do have this:
Oh and a cute video of Annabeth today. Her new favorite song is "You are my sunshine". Here is her version. This is a keeper for sure!



I need to share a cute story about Evan, too. Tonight, he and Nick starting watching Star Wars on TV. We had already decided he could stay up a little later as long he was still and cuddled on the couch with Daddy. So he looked at the clock and noticed it was 8:14 pm. He giggled and told us it was past his bedtime. Nick told him if he went and brushed his teeth, he could stay up until 8:30 and watch Star Wars. Evan replied, as serious as he could be, "Daddy! I can't brush my teeth that long! My arm will hurt if I do!" I burst into laughter because I knew what he meant right away. He was thinking Nick was saying he had to brush for 16 minutes and he was sure that was impossible! Too funny!

My little guy is turning 6 this Thursday. Just feeling a little sentimental today! Happy Memorial Day, everyone!