Chaos On the Home Front

It has been a wonderful week here, and if the things that happened this week had happened any other week, I probably would never say that. But despite the chaos we are loving having Dad and Dave home. We picked up Dave from the airport last Sunday, we were heading out the door to church when he called, so away we went for a car ride in our Sunday best. No one was complaining. It was so nice to be together again!


We stopped at this cool airplane display outside of the airport and let the kids run around while I fed baby Jake. Dave became acclimated to the "wet heat" again, as I like to call it.




Jake had broke out in this terrible rash on his face over the course of the last few weeks, we think either a bad case of cradle cap or baby acne. But this morning in particular Jake looked terrible, his eyes were swollen shut and face looked so swollen. Poor kid. I felt so bad bringing him to meet his dad this way. After a few doses of antibiotics he looked so much better.

We spent the first part of the week just chilling around the house and enjoying dad, the girls were not thrilled they had school, but mom and dad sure were. There simply is not enough of him to go around!

On Wednesday we celebrated Maren's birthday with a pool party.

It was fun to watch her show off her new swimming skills to Dave,

and fun to watch Amanda try out the high dive for the first time

(sorry all I got was a picture of the splash!)

We were all exhausted after so much partying and I think Dave was ready to head back to Iraq to escape the chaos of four kids, piles of laundry, packing preparations, and a house that went from fairly clean to completely destroyed in less than 24 hours.

Dave and I headed up to Alex for a trip to see the Pediatric Orthopaedic again for Spencer the next morning. He said that we could give him more time before we need to make any decisions about his bow legs, as it is still capable of correcting itself. Hurrah! I am hopeful that will be the case, I am not thrilled about the prospect of bracing.

After returning home we tried to pack quickly, which didn't happen, for our weekend getaway to the lake. So we abandoned our dinner plans and picked up pizza on the way, which turned out to be a good thing, since we took a wrong turn and ended up driving 20 minutes in the wrong direction...while the girls ate in the car and the boys slept.
Amanda showed off her kayaking skills with Dave following in the canoe the next morning. Amanda got soaked and kept kicking up sea weed on her. By the time she went from the marina to our cabin site she was done. But true to Amanda form she had picked up garbage along the way to help clean the lake.

After we came in to dry off, the kids went up to the loft to play and somehow Maren stumbled while climbing down the ladder, this is a very steep ladder, and she fell near the top flat onto on her arms and face. She fractured her right wrist, is still tender on her left wrist, bruised her nose, and was stiff all over for the next 24 hours. Poor girl. And to think we were worried about Spencer falling...
Thank goodness for a well stocked first aid kit, and Tylenol. Dave came to the rescue with a homemade splint so we could stick out our second night at the cabin, and enjoy our BBQ and smores! Thanks for being a good sport Maren!
After returning home Saturday, Dave and I were able to go out for dinner, but not after having to scramble for a babysitter after the first forgot. After a yummy Thai dinner we ran into Walmart for a loaf of bread, literally ran, since there was a thunderstorm and heavy rain outside. While in the store the storm moved directly overhead and after a few big booms the power was out. So no bread and soaking wet we called it a night.
Sunday things were somewhat calmer, and we enjoyed being in church with dad, and hearing Jake's blessing. Amanda came down with flu symptoms that morning, so I headed home with her. And well yesterday, we just chilled, with one girl sick, one with a broken arm, and two totally exhausted and ready for school again parents.