The Biggest Mess Ever

Friday evening Scott was in Tellico Plains on an overnight fishing trip with the guys in our small group at church. The kids were being nice and quiet as I blogged and then talked on the phone to friends. After I was done talking to Amy, I went to check on the kids. First I encountered a huge disaster in the kitchen. Paper, scissors, crayons, playdoh and tape were everywhere, but no kids. I finally found them in the garage, sitting by the car happily drinking Capri-Suns, surrounded by every tool out of Scott's toolbox. Shelby had grease all over her nose, and there was an open Sharpie next to her. She had written something on the car. I was of course, very upset, and asked them what they were thinking. Cooper said very matter of factly, "We were trying to get the engine out of the car, so we could put it in the airplane we were building to fly to Daddy and go fishing with him." Oy!

Upsetting Day

Today we found out Cooper has Fifth disease, which is really nothing more than a virus that caused a rash over his entire body. However it can cause problems for pregnant women. Unfortunately, he was around Amy and his Aunt Kimberly, which are both due in October. He had absolutely no symptoms on Tuesday when Davis came over for a couple hours. The next day Cooper started breaking out in the rash. We thought maybe he was allergic to something on his shirt, because at first the rash was only where his shirt was and a little on his cheeks. We gave him some Benadryl Wednesday night, and Thursday morning he seemed a little better. Last night, when we started getting ready for swim team practice, I noticed it had gotten a lot worse and was now on his legs and feet also. I called the Dr. office and the nurse called me back. She determined it was probably an allergic reaction, and said to give him more Benadryl. This morning the rash was even worse, so we went to see Dr. Wood. He said it was a classic case of Fifth Disease. He said since Aunt Kimberly was around Cooper when he had the rash, she would not get it (you are no longer contagious when the rash appears). But, we were with Amy before the rash appeared, so I hope you will join me in praying that she and Davis do not get it!

Compared to Amy possibly getting Fifth Disease, this is nothing, but it upsets me nonetheless. Scott called me from work yesterday and said he thought Cooper might have dyslexia. I had told him about my frustration with Cooper when we read Go, Dog, Go (the Dr. Suess book). Cooper diligently sounded out all the words, but I just didn't understand why he could not remember the word 'dog', without taking so long to resound it out every time. Shelby would tell him, it says Go, dog, go, Cooper, which of course made him mad. It just didn't make sense, because I know he has an incredible memory. He remembers things from years ago with perfect detail. He also had to go to a class in school called the Literacy Lab for the slower readers, and many times he told me he felt dumb in class. He tries so hard, though!

I pray he grows out of this difficulty, because it breaks my heart to think he may struggle all his life with reading. I checked out http://www.dyslexia.com/library/symptoms.htm and Cooper has just about every one of the characteristics listed. I spoke with Dr. Wood about my concerns today and he gave me some information to read, but he said children can't be tested for dyslexia until age 7.

Cooper's First Movie

Cooper was looking through some of his old Lego magazines last week and became enthralled with a page about making your own Star Wars Lego movie. He spent the majority of the day building some spaceships and practicing the story he wanted to tell. He was so proud of his movie that he asked me to post it on my blog.

Stone Mountain Camping Trip

We had a great time camping and hiking this weekend at Stone Mountain in Georgia. We went with my Mom, Dad, brother Kirt, and neice Anna. My Mom and Dad brought their motorhome, while we slept in our tent. They gave Scott and me lots of little lessons on how to work everything in the motorhome to get ready for our trip to St. Augustine at the end of June. (We are going to take the motorhome on vacation with just our family for the first time.)

We had never been to such a touristy State Park before. The kids loved riding the water taxi across the lake between our campsite and Stone Mountain Village, riding the train, and riding the tram down the mountain. We went to the cheesy laser show, where Anna and Shelby had lots of fun dancing to the music, but the kids' favorite thing was climbing Stone Mountain! Shelby loved getting to ride on Scott's back. I couldn't believe how fast Cooper climbed the Mountain. He never stopped for a break and beat us all to the top. It made me sad in a way, though, because he isn't my little boy anymore. He is my big boy now, so different from last year!

It was very windy on top of the mountain. It was a hazy day because of all the fires, but it was a pretty view. My Mom and the kids took the tram down the mountain, while Kirt, Scott, and I had fun running down the mountain. Then, we took a nice, quiet trail back to the train station, where we met my Mom and the kids.

An Exciting Memorial Day!

You can really tell we are getting old. The big excitement of the day was that while he was outside grilling, Scott got a picture of one of our lightning fast hummingbird friends. We have been trying to get a picture of one for the past 2 weeks. We are going to keep trying for a better one, but this may be as good as it gets. This honeybird, as Shelby calls it, is a female, so it doesn't have the beautiful red and green like the male does.

I am also very excited that my broccoli is sprouting up! Yeah!

Our strawberry plants are growing, but no signs of strawberries yet. No worries, Shelby has lots of fun watering them!

Cooper is Home for the Summer!

This was Cooper's first day of summer vacation! (His teacher sent a note home saying that she would not be there today, so I decided to keep him home.) I am so glad to have my sweet Cooper at home! He was so happy to be able to spend the day with his Mommy, Shelby, and cousin Anna. We did lots of special things today to celebrate the day. We started by eating pop tarts for breakfast (which we never do). Cooper was so excited about those pop-tarts! Then Cooper couldn't wait to have our little homeschool lesson. Cooper put four pillows in a circle on the living room floor for us all to sit on. We practiced a memory verse and sang Praise Him, Praise Him. Then we had a lesson on the short vowel sounds from the book Kathy told me about, The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading. Cooper felt so big getting to help teach Shelby.

Next we went to the Soddy Daisy playground with the big helicopter. The kids had a ball, and Cooper was the sweetest big brother and cousin. He enjoyed pushing Shelby and Anna on the swings, and holding their hands while we walked around the park. After lunch, Anna took her nap, and Cooper asked to do more homeschooling. We did more lessons on short vowel sounds. Shelby got mad about Cooper knowing more than her, and started acting bad. So, she went to her room for a rest. Cooper and I worked on blends, and read some of the science book that my neighbor, Jackie, let me borrow. We read some about the planets. Of course, it says there are 9 in our solar system, including Pluto. However, I have read that scientists have decided Pluto is not really a planet. I didn't tell Cooper this, though. It just didn't seem right to say there are 8 planets, and no Pluto, which is Cooper's favorite planet name.

My Garden Therapy

I have had two firsts in my life this Spring. My first first is I planted my very first little garden! I have had so much fun working on it! There is a perfect little sunny spot on the side of our house where I decided to put it. However, it was filled with rocks, so I had to dig out all the rocky dirt and replace it with topsoil. I planted three tomato plants: one pink beefsteak, one Roma, one cherry, three green pepper plants, and some broccoli. Scott put a chicken wire fence around it to keep our rabbit family from eating the broccoli. (We have a family of rabbits that have taken up residence under our woodpile in the backyard. Our dog, Cosmo, is going nuts trying to catch one, but every time he goes outside, the wascally wabbits hop under the woodpile before he can get one.)

Also, after Joey and Shelby helped me prepare the soil behind our house next to the deck, I planted some sunflowers and painted daises. (Friday, Joey came over while Ruth went wedding dress shopping with her sister , Amy. Shelby was in heaven, because Joey played all the things she wanted him to, which Cooper never will. Joey enjoyed dressing up like a knight and protecting Shelby from the dragon. Apparently, they also played 'wedding' and Shelby kissed Joey on the cheek, which I found out from Ruth. Sorry Ruth, I promise I checked on them often! Check out the funny blog from May 17 at http://www.laurelwreathsreflections.com/ : )



Tomorrow I am going to add some strawberries. I think the birds and rabbits will probably eat most of them, but we'll see. Anybody have any ideas for keeping them away?



My second first is I have my first hummingbird feeder. Scott got it for me for Mother's Day and I love it! Scott hung it on a shepherd's hook right outside our kitchen window. My Dad showed me how to easily make their food. You just mix 1/4 cup sugar in 1 cup water and microwave for around 2 and 1/2 minutes. Scott, the kids, and I have all had such fun watching them dart up for a drink then dart back out into the woods. Shelby was so excited yesterday when she saw one while she was outside playing!