Snow Days

I'm so behind on blogging! It seems like we keep getting sick at my house...

First, Saxon got strep throat right after Christmas. Then, of course, passed it on to me, Nate, and Brookie, while she was in town. So, we spent one of the days that Brookie was here at the pediatrician, and another day at instacare.

After we all got over strep, Bridger starts coughing. Pretty soon it sounds like barking, and I'm pretty sure he's got croup. It was too late to call the doctor though, so I figured I would just take him in the next morning. All that night, he had a fever and sounded like he could hardly breathe. First thing in the morning we went to the doctor. The doctor said it was definitely croup and it was pretty bad because his breathing was labored even during the day. He said with most cases of croup, it's only bad at night. So, poor Bridger got a shot and then we went home. He did better for one night and then the next night I was up all night again watching him because he could hardly breathe. So, the doctor called us in another dose of steroids, and it seems to have worked.

Nate is working graves again this week, so I've been trying to keep the kids busy and out of the house so he can sleep. Yesterday we went to the Legacy Center Pool and then to McDonalds to meet up with Andi and Holly and the kids. At lunch, Saxon curled up on my lap and said that he played too hard and it was making him sick. I've never heard those words come out of his mouth. My kids don't seem to have a limit of "playing too hard." So we went home, both kids fell asleep, and Saxon woke up with a low fever. He seemed ok, and then at night his fever got a little worse and made him uncomfortable and so he was up all night. Every hour or so he would wake up and ask me if we could just get up for the day. Each time I said no, he would ask for something else like, a sippy, a movie, his lion quilt, to go back to his bed, to come back in my bed, to call Daddy at work, to watch animal planet, etc. It was a long night.

Today everyone seemed better, so we went to the Dinosaur Museum. The kids looked at everything and played in the sand. Bridger loved that I didn't make him ride in a stroller. After, I let them pick a treat at the museum cafe. After he had his treat, Saxon asked me if we could just go home? I usually have to drag him out crying because he loves it so much. Sure enough, when we get home, he falls asleep and wakes up with a fever again. Poor guy! All he wants to do is watch Mary Poppins over and over.

So, since we've been sick, and I haven't been taking pictures or blogging, here are some pictures I have been meaning to post. Nate took these of the kids when he took them sledding. As you can see, Saxon loves the snow, and Bridger isn't so sure:

Pirate Island

"Now and then we had a hope that if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."
-Mark Twain

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed with the things you didn't do than the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
-Mark Twain

On Friday night, Mike took us to Pirate Island. It's like a combination of "The Mayan" and "Chuck-E-Cheese." The whole restaurant is pirate-themed (even the servers) and there is an arcade for the kids and each kid gets 2 free tokens. I heard that there is usually a live band, but they weren't there last night. The kids menus turn into pirate hats and someone comes around making balloon animals. Bridger's was a dog before he dismantled it to be a sword like Saxon's. We got the "spicy" pizza which was pretty good. It was cinnamon-spiced pinapple pizza. The arcade was packed, but the kids loved it. Saxon tried everything, while Bridger stuck to his favorite, Dance Dance Revolution. They ended up winning a pirate flag and 2 pieces of candy. It was fun and Saxon made Mike promise before we left that he would get to go back 2 more times :) Thanks again Mike!

Aunt Brookie

While Brookie was in town, the boys favorite game to play with her, was pictures on her computer. I think by the time she left, she had taken over 300 pictures. She sent me a few of her favorites:

I can't help but laugh every time I see these :)

Saxon had taken so many pictures with Aunt Brookie that he figured out how to do it himself.
On New Year's Eve, when Brookie went on her date, I turned my back for one second and Saxon was on the couch with Brookie's computer, taking pictures (sorry Brookie!).

Bubby seemed to think that sticking his tongue out was the perfect pose. As soon as the computer would start counting down, Bridger would stick his tongue out.

Seriously, I could look at these all day long and laugh! Thanks Brookie!

Meet Juarez

The other night we went to Jeff's house for the animal show.
We finally got to see the hedgehogs (which Saxon called porcupines):

The box turtle:
(Bridger keep trying to eat it)

The Bearded Dragon:
(Jeff had to leave the room for a minute and told me to grab it if it tried to run. I tried to pass the responsibility off to Mike who didn't want to chase it either. Luckily, it didn't run.)

The boys' favorite, KING HENRY:
(Bridger would just giggle and squeal every time he got to touch it, it was so funny!)

And now, I'd like you to meet Juarez, the rat we accidentally adopted...

Saxon always begs to keep one of Jeff's pets every time we do the animal show. Jeff, however, has told me that he will never give me an animal because he doesn't trust me with them. I don't blame him because I don't really like animals. Saxon was crying when it was time to go because he didn't want to have to give Juarez back. (Juarez, like on G-force). This Juarez, I'm afraid, might be a boy. Anyway, Jeff said we could borrow Juarez just to try it out. He gave us the box, the food and water bowl, food, sawdust, and some advice about animals. Apparently, rats make pretty good pets because they don't stink, they'll eat anything (our Juarez has already had peanut butter and jelly, bread, cranberries, apples, and anything else Saxon has decided to sneak into her cage), they don't bite, and they don't require a lot. So, we decided to try it out, and that is how we have Juarez. Saxon has played with her constantly since we brought her home. He LOVES her! So does Bridger. Juarez has turned out to be leverage for anything we want Saxon to do. All we have to do is remind him that if he doesn't go to sunbeams, go to bed, brush his teeth, etc., Jeff will take Juarez back. Saxon can get Juarez out all by himself, so every time I turn around, there's Juarez. We had our first scare with her today when Saxon let her go because "she wanted to run". I freaked out, but luckily Saxon found her under the entertainment center. Apparently they are pretty resilient too because poor Juarez has really been man-handled these last few days with my kids. The best part of this whole deal is (other than free entertainment for my kids) is that if we get sick of her, Jeff said we can just give her back. I told Holly that we got Juarez and she thought it was cute and brought Bryn over to see her. I told Andi that we got Juarez and she told me to have a baby if I need something else to take care of. Ha ha. We'll see how long this lasts...

Happy New Year!

This last week, we've been lucky enough to have Brookie staying with us!
We love her so much!!!
She was so great to have around. She helped with the kids, helped clean, we cooked veggie dinners together and made a TON of cupcakes. My kids are crazy about her, and so am I :) Unfortunately, while she was here, we all got strep throat. That was not fun. So, we spent one day at the pediatrician, and another day at instacare. Oh well...it didn't slow us down too much. We still had time to both get our hair done :)
Here is Saxon and Aunt Brookie in the snow:

On New Year's Eve, we got Cafe Rio for dinner and then Nate bought a bunch of fireworks for the kids. The fact that it was FREEZING didn't stop them for throwing fireworks off the balcony...

Brookie was asked out to a New Year's party, so here she is all dolled up with Saxon:
He cried so hard when she left because he wanted to go to the party with her :)

But, he cheered up when we brought out the Martinelli's and the plastic champagne glasses:

Happy New Year from Saxon!

He managed to stay up until the ball dropped, then fell asleep in our bed.
Sometime in the middle of the night, Nate went into the kids room to check on Bridger who was fussing. Brookie was asleep in Saxon's bed, and he was sleeping on top of her. It was so funny! They were crisscrossed on top of each other and it didn't seem to bother either of them :)
The coolest thing Brookie brought with her to Utah was her computer. She took hundreds of pictures with the kids. Saxon begged her all the time to take pictures. She did it enough with him that he learned how to do it himself. They turned out SO FUNNY! I'll post some as soon as she sends them to me.
We love you so much Brookie! Thanks for coming to stay with us! We can't wait until you come back...