How To Be A Good Friend To Someone Who's Caring For a Child in the Hospital

I know, this is the longest post title ever, isn't it? I just couldn't think of a shorter way to say it!

We recently came home from being in the hospital with Finn, who was hospitalized the day after Thanksgiving due to a stomach bug. Because of Finn's Isovaleric Acidemia, he is hospitalized several times a year (always courtesy of GI viruses), and we feel like pretty seasoned hospital veterans now. I was thinking about how much easier it's gotten (don't get me wrong, it's still very difficult on Finn and the entire family) and what has made it easier. Finn's age has definitely made a difference, as he's now old enough to watch a movie or quietly read books or play games in his bed, but we are also really fortunate to have friends and family in our community who reach out to Finn and our family at these tough times. I wanted to share because people have thought to do things for us that I'm not sure I would have thought of, and I hope that this blog post could be helpful to someone else.

(Here's Finn this past week, attempting to eat a meal and keep it down!)

1. Bring a meal for the parent.
Vanderbilt is a wonderful, amazing place, but the food court is pretty dreadful. There's Taco Bell/Pizza Hut, a Subway-type restaurant, Ben & Jerry's (okay, that one is awesome), and a mediocre coffee bar. Even if the food was amazing, it would get old fast. Finn receives meals from the hospital, but there isn't any food brought for whichever parent is staying with him. Secondly, I know that when we're at the hospital with Finn we never want to leave him alone in his room. When he gets older this probably won't be an issue, but I can't imagine leaving a sick 3-year-old all alone in a hospital room. A meal or coffee from some place outside the hospital is such a gift. We've had people bring us care packages with treats from a local bakery, or granola bars and fruit, and that's a blessing, too. Once my dear friend, Jill, brought coffee and breakfast from a super yummy coffee shop and threw in a muffin and a scone for later, and another time my sister, Erin, brought a healthy salad and then kept me company for a little bit while I ate. It doesn't take a lot, but it makes a huge difference.

2. Pray.
Don't just say you're going to pray and then forget about it (I've certainly done that before!). We've had times of being in the hospital with Finn where we could actually feel that people were praying for us. It's amazing when that happens. When Finn was first hospitalized as a newborn I remember driving home from the hospital with my friend Tiffany and saying, "It's really strange but I feel particularly close to God during this wild time" and she replied, "That's exactly what I've been praying for you." You have no idea how much it really means to a parent but it's huge, and even if you can't do anything else, you can pray.

3. Offer childcare for the non-hospitalized children.
Fortunately Grant usually is able to take sick or vacation time to stay with Finn in the hospital and I usually take care of Carolina and Maggie when Finn's hospitalized, but when he was hospitalized last March, Grant just happened to be filming in California. If my mom and step-dad hadn't been able to keep Maggie and Carolina, I don't know what I would have done. Another friend was able to pick Maggie up from school and keep her until my mom could get there. This is especially helpful if it's a longer hospitalization. Luckily Finn's usually only in the hospital for 36-48 hours, but I can only remember how difficult the logistics were for his multi-week hospitalization.

(Here's Finn, chilling in bed. He slept for about six hours during the day on the day he was released from the hospital!)

4. Offer childcare for the hospitalized child.
I know this probably seems strange but the hospital room can get very small very quickly. If the parents are like me and Grant, they probably don't want to leave their child at all. I've had a few trusted friends and family who were willing to sit in the room with Finn for 15 minutes to an hour so that Grant or I could take a little walk or do something else that helps our mental health. When Finn was a newborn and was hospitalized for three weeks I remember my mom stayed with him so Grant and I could eat dinner with Maggie, who we were really missing, and one night my sister, Lindsay, even stayed overnight with him so that the three of us could have one night at home together (after weeks of sleeping apart).

5. Check in with them to see how the child (and the parent) is doing.
It's nice to have little texts throughout the day from friends and family checking in. Don't be offended if the parent doesn't respond right away (or at all). The hospital sometimes feels like a black hole - time passes in strange ways, and sometimes it's just not possible to respond quickly. A caveat - you might want to check to see if they have unlimited texts. We now have unlimited texts but up until about six months ago, we didn't, so my texting plan would quickly reach its maximum, and then all those lovely texts would just add up quickly!

6. Give/loan a movie, book, toy, coloring book, etc., to the child.
Vanderbilt has some pretty great amenities for the children, like play rooms, a toy library where toys can be checked out, and special programs, like visiting zoo animals, magicians, etc. Even with all that, sometimes a child could use a little more. We seem to be hospitalized on holidays quite often (Fourth of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving) when there are fewer activities and Child Life staff, so we actually have done very few of those with Finn. I'm also pretty sensitive to him either spreading or catching another illness, so I hesitate a bit about the play rooms and gatherings. Friends have brought coloring books for Finn and loaned movies for him to watch and he's really enjoyed that.

7. Offer to run an errand.
We've gotten pretty good at packing a hospital bag but we still forget things occasionally. For example, this past hospitalization I realized I had forgotten to pack some of Finn's medicines. We always take his formula and medications with us because they're so rare that sometimes the hospital doesn't have them. It's easier to have them with us, just in case. My brother-in-law, Jim, picked up the medicine from our house and brought it to us at the hospital, and we were so thankful.

(It could have been the medication, but he was making some silly faces on this day!)

Obviously this is a lot and we never expect any of it, nor would it be possible for a single person to do all of it, but in tough times little things have a big impact. If you're reading this and you've done one of these things for us, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You've helped lighten the load of having a child in the hospital. I hope none of you have had a child hospitalized and I hope you never do, but if you do, I hope I'll be able to help make your time there easier, too.

Halloween 2012

We had a fantastic Halloween last night! My sister, Erin, always has a post-trick-or-treat party at her house and her neighborhood has a Halloween parade, which cracks me up because the "parade" is the entire neighborhood, with virtually no spectators. It's cute though.

I thought this would be my last year to force kindly suggest my kids' costumes, so I convinced Maggie to dress up as a woodland fairy (this one was easy), Finn was a garden gnome, and Carolina was a toadstool. I have a feeling that when Carolina is grown and looks back at these photos, she will wonder why she had such a mean mom, but, darn it, they were so stinking cute.

 

I like this version of the photo because you can see Carolina's toadstool hat really well.

 

The toadstool hat lasted approximately ten seconds. I made Finn and Carolina's costumes myself, using this tutorial for Finn's, and this one for Carolina's. And in usual Courtney fashion, I made them both during Carolina's nap, four hours before trick-or-treating. Maggie made her flower wand and wings during art camp last summer, and I made the floral wreath for her hair a few days earlier.

Finn seemed particularly well suited for a mythical creature. Something about him just looks elfin to me, and I mean that as a compliment :)

The kids' cousin, Captain Jake, was also there. Someone commented on facebook that it looks like Carolina is biting his ear, but she's just sucking her thumb. However, she does have a particular affinity for earlobes. She likes to rub mine when I'm holding her, and she tells me "I like to rub your earlobe." Weird.

Poppy was there, enjoying the madness and taking many of these photos. Is that a cute pirate or what?

Every year Jack and Maggie take turns handing out candy to the trick-or-treaters. They like it because a) they are a little bossy and like being in charge and b) it makes them feel grown up. Erin, Jim, Grant and I like it because it keeps them busy and we don't have to hand out candy. Winning!

Okay, I made this photo of Maggie GIANT but I just wanted everyone to enjoy her beauty. I know that's obnoxious but I can't help it. I just think she's so pretty. She also lost her first top tooth at school yesterday. Her teacher LOVES pulling teeth, which works out well for me, as I hate pulling them. Maggie's been trying to get her to pull it for three weeks so I can't believe it finally came out. She looks so adorable but it makes her look older, too. When she got in the car and showed me I was squealing, laughing, and (embarrassingly) crying a little bit. I'm a mess, but I get it honestly. My mom is the same exact way.

Speaking of my mom, here we are together. Maggie asked me to wear this little cat ear headband she had, and my mom is wearing the Viking helmet I got after running the Warrior Dash. She really makes it look good.

Just a woodland fairy, garden gnome, and enchanted toadstool flitting around, doing what they do best!

Tea for Ten

Maggie turned seven on October 12 and she is waxing philosophical on me. I asked her at the end of the day if she had a good birthday and she said, "Well, it's strange. It's been a good day and I enjoyed my birthday, but I don't really feel older. I mean, it's like all of a sudden I'm seven, and I was six yesterday, but it pretty much feels the same."

She started off the day with an idea I found on Pinterest (but it came from here). I was busily baking blueberry muffins from scratch, as requested, so Grant took care of hanging the streamers. When we do this again for Finn, on his birthday in March, I'd like to put about twice as much streamers on and lower everything on the door frame. Check out the action shot!

 

Birthday packages had been arriving for days and Maggie was thrilled to open them after breakfast.

 One of her favorites was a dress from Grant's Uncle Steve and Uncle James in California, who always pick out fabulous clothes for the kids.

 Her birthday was on Friday, the 12th, but her party was scheduled for the next day, a Saturday. I bought a Living Social deal for a tea party at Savannah Tea Co. in Germantown, just north of downtown. I made the invitations myself with actual tea bags, some vellum paper for the labels/party info, and my eyelet setter.

 The label was folded up to look more like an actual tea bag label, and for ease of mailing. But when the recipient opened up the label, all of the party details were available. I did have to pay 20 cents of extra postage to have each one hand cancelled. I was afraid if it went through the machine sorter, the tea bags would disintegrate.

 I didn't mention it was her birthday because I thought that was a given, but I did receive an e-mail asking if the tea party was celebrating anything in particular. Seriously?!

Our party was inadvertently scheduled for the same weekend as Octoberfest, so it was pretty crazy in the area and parking was a pain, but her friends showed up and we had a great time. The tea house provides gloves, fascinators, and hats for anyone who'd like to dress up. Maggie picked out a hat before anyone arrived, but it didn't last long into the party.

 Another special thing the tea house did was allow each girl to pick out her own tea cup. It was fun to see what everyone chose. I also printed out some coloring sheets of tea pots so that the girls could design their own tea pot to keep busy while we were waiting for the food to come out.

 I love the double thumbs up.

 My mom came with me to help and one of the girl's moms ended up staying. It was a really sweet party. Maggie picked her favorite tea (vanilla chai) and the server suggested chocolate tea for another option. I usually despise tea (yes, I meant to use such a strong word) but I actually drank a cup of the vanilla chai. With the first pots of tea the server brought a mini scone with whipped cream (not clotted!) and a maple shortbread cookie. I don't know why dessert came first but I didn't mind! After a little while she brought out tiered trays with cucumber and dill tea sandwiches, chocolate covered strawberries, fruit, and a few other tasty bites.

This was the first party we've ever done for one of the children where we didn't do anything but show up. We've had a few parties at public parks but we decorated, planned games, and brought in food. If you've been reading this blog for a little while or know me well, you know how much fun I have planning parties, but I have to admit, it was sooooooo nice to just show up, have a party, and then leave without cleaning up. I might be tempted to do another one, but not often.

Check back soon for a post about the joint family party we had at home for Carolina and Maggie!

All My Little Chickies

About six months ago I was talking after church with a few like-minded friends. We were talking about our gardens, CSAs, etc., and the subject of chickens came up. I'm sure you know how popular backyard chickens have become. Grant and I had talked about getting chickens for probably a year at this point, and I said to my friends on the playground, "Well, we better get chickens now. It's just what people like us do." I was totally poking fun at myself, except that I actually did want to get chickens!

I really didn't want them because it was trendy; I thought they would be a fun addition to the family for lots of reasons. I knew the children would enjoy them, I looked forward to getting fresh eggs from our backyard, and I thought it would be educational for all of us. I read somewhere that backyard chickens bridge the gap between pet and livestock. As a busy mom who is always cleaning up after little people, preparing meals, wiping booties, and chasing kids around, I simply did not want a pet - another mouth to feed, another thing to take care of and clean up after! But chickens...well, I could name them, give them minimal care (no cuddling required) and they would give me EGGS in return. Perfect.

Grant downloaded free plans for a moveable coop, bought the materials, and built it. It cost around $200. Then he told Maggie (without asking me first) that she could pick the paint color. She picked periwinkle. I actually love periwinkle but I'm not sure I would have picked that color for a large structure in our backyard. She painted about 1 square inch before she tired of painting, so I did the rest. Our neighbor gave us a big piece of aluminum for the roof and it has some rust spots on it, giving it a nice shabby chic look.

Next I went to the Davidson County Farmer's Co-op and picked up five chicks. I think they were a few days old. I picked out five Ameracauna chicks. We picked that breed because their eggs are blue, green, and even a dusty pink. Driving home I was honestly more nervous than driving home from the hospital with Maggie. I was totally freaked out to have these five living things protected only by a cardboard box, sitting on the seat next to me. I imagined them being totally freaked out by a new environment and the motion of the car. I was a basket case. I know I have problems; I'll seek therapy as soon as I have some free time. I got them home and set up a little brooder and checked this site obsessively. The chickens really brought out my OCD at first. I was OCD about everyone washing hands after touching them, I was OCD about their temperature being exactly correct. When one of them (Felicity, named by Maggie) started looking a little wimpy, I could hardly sleep. I got up several times a night to check on her. Unfortunately, the next morning, she had gone to the great farm in the sky. Maggie was beside herself. She cried all day. We had a solemn burial for her in the back yard. Strangely, once she died, I felt a little better. It was like I realized my chicken ownership would go on even if one died. We named the rest of them, too. Maggie named Felicity (after her American Girl doll) and Rosie, the only white one. The remaining three brown ones were named Maybelle (after Mother Maybelle Carter, who strangely looks a little birdish to me now), Clementine (my pick for another baby girl, which Grant vetoed), and Fiona (Grant's pick for another baby girl, which I vetoed).

 

That was all back in May, and now in October they're five months old, full-sized, and doing well. Well, Rosie and Maybelle are doing well. Fiona was eaten by a raccoon or some other animal that pulled the chicken wire off and broke into the coop, and we think poor Clementine was eaten by a hawk when we let them run in the backyard and were inside for a little bit. My kids think that chickens just die all the time. On the other hand, Maggie's initial collapse at the news of Felicity's untimely death turned into a resigned acceptance by the time Fiona died. As my sister-in-law Kajsa's dad says, "You can learn everything you need to know about life by raising chickens."

As for the delicious eggs we've been eating, well, about a month ago we found out that our super special, beautifully-colored eggs we've been waiting for won't actually come until they're closer to nine months old, rather than the usual 4-6 months old. So sheesh. That's annoying.
Here they are now, being chased around by Carolina:

As for some commonly asked chicken questions, here we go:
1. Don't you need a rooster? Nope! You only need a rooster if you want chicks. Otherwise the hens lay unfertilized eggs, which is what you buy at the grocery store.
2. Are they legal? Yes, they're now legal in Davidson County, but you have to register them, pay a $25 fee, and roosters are illegal.
3. What about cleaning out their coop? It's not bad. It takes me about 10 minutes and I try to do it once a week. We also move the coop around so they have access to fresh grass and the poop gets rinsed off of the ground when it rains. 

I also found some more camping photos from last weekend, courtesy of Grant.
Here are Finn and Maggie in the tent, after getting into pajamas:

Here I am with Carolina and Maggie inside the tent. Note: I am smiling, therefore this must have been before Carolina kicked me in the head a hundred times.

Beating a hasty retreat, all still dressed in pajamas. Grant cracked up at the sight of us all walking to the bathroom so he had to take a photo.

And here are Grant and Maggie at the Blue Chair Bakery in Sewanee. Ahhh...so warm and cozy.

And I have a few more random tidbits!
If you haven't seen 2011's The Muppets, you need to rent it ASAP. It's fantastic. We've been listening to the soundtrack ad nauseum. It's impossible not to be happy when you're singing "Life's a happy song with someone by your side to sing along."

Here are two short video snippets of Finn and Carolina. The first is Carolina saying a chant she learned from her cousin, Jack. I'll tell you the words she's saying because I know you won't be able to understand everything she's saying. She's saying "Miss Sue, Miss Sue, Miss Sue from Alabama, sitting in her rocker, eating Betty Crocker, watching the clock going tick tock tick tock banana rock. ABCDEFG wash those spots right off of me. Ushe mama Ushe mama Ushe mama, FREEZE!"

Here are Finn and Carolina cheering for our friend's son, Edison, at his football game. They cheered like crazy. It was adorable.

Camping Fail

Maggie's school is currently on fall break and for the past few months Grant and I have been dreaming about taking the family camping. Back in the day, Grant was a big backpacker. He would hike in with all of his gear and go for long stretches (long for me anyway - I am good for one night and that's it). We've camped quite a bit since we were married, but once we started having kids, the camping trips were few and far between.

Grant took a day off of work on Friday and we planned to leave right after lunch, hoping Finn and Carolina would take their naps while we drove. We went to the Stone Door, part of South Cumberland State Park, near Monteagle. It's a beautiful, beautiful place with great campsites and lots of trails. We LOVE hiking and that was the part of camping I was most looking forward to.
Well, of course we started off the trip two hours later than normal, which meant the kids were up two hours later than normal for their naps. Needless to say, they were cranky. We were in such a rush to get out the door that we left dishes in the sink and actual pieces of food on the floor. Ugh. We got there in good time and everyone did great in the car, with no potty accidents or meltdowns.
We strategized in the car as it was later than we planned, and I knew it would take a while to get the fire going and get coals to cook our dinner on (hobo packs with lentils), so we decided that as soon as we got all of our gear to the campsite, Grant would start working on the fire and I would get the tent up (and make sure the kids didn't wander off a ravine or anything).

 

Where we camped, you have to walk in about a quarter of a mile with your gear, which isn't a long distance and actually makes it more fun to me. I like that we're not right next to the car. Everyone had to carry something, even Carolina.

 

It took two trips but we got everything to our campsite. 

 

The kids had fun exploring right around our campsite while Grant started working on the fire. Due to lack of proper planning, we didn't bring any dry wood or fire starter or anything, and everything around us was damp. He could get a fire started but the bigger logs simply wouldn't catch on fire! (I have to note, in Grant's defense, that he can build a mean fire...as long as he has dry firewood!) He worked on it for at least an hour, during which I put the tent up all by myself! That's usually a job we do together but I was proud of myself for doing it alone. The kids "helped" and had fun threading the poles through the loops. At this point it was starting to get dark quickly and I was worried that not only was dinner not ready, it hadn't even started cooking yet! 

We made a quick decision to skip the dinner that I spent time preparing, and ate a cold dinner of bread, cheese, and apples. Grant rigged up a crazy little fire with his camping stove and roasted 1 marshmallow, and we ate the rest of our s'mores with unroasted marshmallows. At this point it was about 8pm, already half an hour past their regular bedtime. We hustled into the tent to get ready for bed. After everyone got settled and into pajamas, we read played for a while, then read a bedtime story and said it was time for lights out. Somehow we have acquired quite a stash of glow sticks, so we brought those for the kids to use. They must have used fifteen. Once we turned out the flashlights it was still very bright in there with all of the glow sticks, so I ended up hiding them under stuff. Here's Finn with a few of them.

Finn and Carolina were crawling all around the tent and refused to settle down. They were amped up and exhausted, which, as any parent knows, is a brutal combination. I am not lying when I say I got kicked in the face a hundred times. I finally told myself, "Maybe this is how Carolina winds down in her crib at night, by rolling around and kicking. Maybe if I just ignore her she'll eventually fall asleep." Well, it worked, but I was pretty annoyed by that point. I am a finicky sleeper anyway, so I probably got about two hours of sleep that night. At one point I needed to go out and go to the bathroom, but my fear of spiders kept me in the tent. Let's just say that may have added to my inability to sleep. And since we're on the subject of spiders, let's discuss. Have you seen Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, when Harry goes into the forest and it is teeming with spiders of all sizes? Well, we somehow pitched our tent in a daddy longleg nest. I have never seen so many daddy longlegs in my entire life. They were everywhere. I know they're harmless but I honestly think I have arachnophobia. By the grace of God (I'm being serious here), we didn't have any in our tent until right as we were leaving. But anyway, I was afraid to leave the tent by myself in the middle of the night thanks to those buggers.

Somewhere around 2 or 3 AM I was awoken by the lovely sound of rain falling on our tent. It was such a nice, soft sound. We had put the rain cover on our tent so I wasn't worried about getting wet. I just hoped it would stop by morning. (Spoiler alert: it didn't.) I was laying in my sleeping bag at 5:45AM, not sleeping, when Grant said, "Courtney...we need to get up. Finn and I are soaking wet." In our haste and lack of preparedness, we forgot to bring a tarp to put under the tent, so as the ground soaked up the rain, it started seeping into the tent. We immediately decided that we would just get out of there as quickly as possible. Everyone was awake, so we started packing up everything that we could. Eventually we got out of the tent and the kids and I started carrying everything we could manage back to the car, while Grant broke down the tent. The rain had thankfully let up at this point, so we weren't totally soaked.

We happily got on the road and decided to drive to Sewanee, a mountain/college town that we love to visit, and eat at a bakery we like there. It was about 45 minutes away, so we were ravenous when we got there, but we really enjoyed our breakfast and the warm, dry room we were able to eat in.

Grant had more realistic expectations about our trip than I did, but we've both decided it'll be a couple of years before we attempt camping again. And a sweet neighbor reminded me that even though it wasn't great in my mind, that the kids will probably look back at it with fond memories and gloss over the imperfect parts. I hope that's true! I think we made the best of it but still...

And now, to make this lengthy post even longer, here are a few random photos from the last week.

I did the popular top bun on Maggie last Sunday for the first time and I think it turned out pretty good for a first attempt. When I tried again a few days later, it was really fab. It's so fun to have a girl (well, two girls!).

The boys installed a new thermostat in Grant's car. I feel like this was an example of the really amazing parenting Grant does. (SEXISM ALERT!) I love that Grant can identify strange knocking sounds in the car, or certain smells or dripping fluids, and then fix them! He can't fix everything, but he can fix many of the problems that come up. I want Finn to have this same knowledge for his family's sake. And before someone complains that the girls can learn these skills, too, let me say that Grant is showing them all the same things.

 We have lunch most Fridays with my mom and as many sisters/sisters-in-law as possible, and we often go to Bella Napoli in Edgehill Village. Finn and Carolina would have loved to climb to the top of these ancient, rickety stairs, but we restricted them to the bottom third.

Last Saturday I met my sister-in-law, Kajsa, and my nephew, Jake, downtown to watch the Dragon Boat races. I really thought that the boats would have huge papier-mache dragon heads on them, but in actuality, they were pretty dinky. Luckily, we take the party with us wherever we go, and the kids had fun looking at the river, climbing up and down the stairs, and walking on some rails-to-trails unused railroad tracks, AND I got some cute photos of the girls (Finn was at home with Grant, not feeling great). Maggie is looking so grown-up these days. Also, have I ever mentioned how much I love my city? I heart Nashville.

Carolina kept putting her hands in the pockets of her windbreaker and it just killed me. It upped the adorable quotient by about a thousand.

Stay tuned for more Howard adventures! We're always up to something around here, even if it doesn't always turn out the way we hope!

Easy Riders

For the last two summers, just as I did with swimming by herself, I declared that this would be the year Maggie would learn to ride a bike with no training wheels. Up until this summer, however, we didn't meet this goal. Our short driveway is gravel, which isn't very bike-fall-friendly, and it was entirely unfeasible to load up all the bikes by myself and then attempt to teach her to ride, while keeping Finn and Carolina safe and busy. This summer, however, Grant and I made it a priority to take the whole family bike riding so that Maggie would have a chance to learn. After two sessions she basically had it figured out. Starting and stopping were a little tricky but after about five sessions she had that down, too. I have so many fond memories of family biking as a child and I have always had a dream of being a biking family - you know, the ones who ride bikes out to dinner, take long bike rides on trails, and basically live on bikes in nice weather.

As a side note, for locals, did you know that Vanderbilt Children's Hospital has a safety store, selling safety devices (baby-proofing devices, portable cribs, car seats, bike helmets, etc.) at cost? And even better, they have trained employees who will fit the helmet to your child's head? We got these great helmets for $8 and they fit perfectly. I read somewhere that the majority of children's bike helmets aren't put on/fitted correctly.
The last four or five Sundays we've loaded up the bikes and gone to either a park or our church's parking lot (empty, and great for bike riding, and with a playground in case Carolina gets antsy), taken a picnic, and closed out our weekend with a couple of hours of family bike time. It has been so fabulous. Last night Uncle Blake met us at the church. 

 Another advantage of riding at the church is that Carolina can use the church's riding toys. We don't have a bike or scooter for her because she's really just barely too young (in my opinion). My plan is to pass Finn's balance bike down to her soon, when we think he's ready to try a big kid bike - no training wheels! We think the balance bike is the bee's knees around here.

 Here's Finn whizzing around on his balance bike. He can coast for a pretty good distance now.

 The newest addition to our bike inventory is a new bike seat we just bought (for about 75% off!). I've heard that this is safer than the ones that mount to the back, and the bike trailer is just so huge and bulky. We tried it out for the first time last night. Here's an action shot for you:

And in the ultimate gesture of selflessness, I'm posting a terribly, terribly unflattering photo of myself, because Carolina looks so darn adorable here.

If you're done laughing or gasping in horror, let me tell you what I was thinking. I thought "I don't think I'm in this photo. I don't want to be smiling for a photo I'm not in; I'll look like an idiot." Note to self: always smile, even if you're not sure you're in the photo.

Besides biking, we had an action-packed weekend, including a visit to Cheekwood Botanical Gardens (we LOVE our membership there, thanks to Blake & Jenny), my nephew Jack's fifth birthday at Chuck E. Cheese, and the Hispanic Festival. They had free bounce houses and pony rides, and all three kids had fun on the ponies.

Maggie went to a birthday party last weekend which had two ponies for the kids to ride (it probably isn't crazy expensive but for some reason it seems so decadent to hire ponies for a kid's birthday!). All of the other kids enjoyed their one or two rides on the ponies, but Maggie had so much fun she took 14 rides on the ponies at the party. Apparently she got to know the horse handler pretty well and we were surprised to see the same guy at the Hispanic Festival. After her ride at the festival I asked Maggie if she said hello to the horse guy and if she told him she remembered him from the birthday party. She replied, "Actually, he spoke of it first. He remembered that I liked riding Honey better than Justice." Two things: first, that's really sweet that he remembered her. Secondly, I love that she said, "he spoke of it first." That seems like a pretty grown-up way for a six-year-old to talk.

Finn and Carolina enjoyed the pony rides after seeing Maggie ride one last week at the party.

Grant had to walk around the whole time with Carolina to make sure she didn't fall off.

 Our weekends have been so fun lately and I'm finding myself dreading Monday morning in the same way I used to dread it when I had a job! These are happy days; I'm so grateful.

A Summer Wrap Up (Now that it's almost fall...)

I know it's mid-September and Maggie's been in school since August 1, but this is who I am...better late than never! I was really proud of myself for completing every activity on our Summer List. We had lots of fun crossing items off as we did them.

We went blueberry picking. Later we put up lots of blueberry jam!

At the blueberry farm there were lots of fun things to play on.

And swings for everyone!

Here's another one from a story time or puppet show at the downtown library. We went a lot, but only made it through an entire one two weeks ago. Finn and Carolina would get restless after about ten minutes so we'd go in the hallway until it was over and Maggie would join us. Sometimes the little ones would play on the children's computers, too.

Here's another one from one of our trips to ride the glass elevator in the skyscraper next to the downtown library. Cheap thrills, people! Can you see the Batman Building in the background?

Finn, Carolina and I went to Monkey's Treehouse (an indoor play place) with friends one day. Maggie was mad that we went without her but let us cross it off the list anyway.

Here's a photo of Maggie and Mimi (my mom) the day that mom told her she was taking us to the beach for a special part of Cousin Camp.

Here's a random Carolina photo I'm throwing in just for fun.

We did lots of swimming. This was at my dad's house and poor Finn is wearing Maggie's old swim vest. He doesn't mind that it's pink so I don't either!

Maggie finally learned to swim this summer! She's taken multiple lessons but we didn't go swimming too often because it's craziness for me to take all three with none of them being able to swim by themselves. One of my goals for the summer was for her to learn to swim, and thanks to me persistently taking her even though it was challenging and stressful, and Grandma and Grandpa putting her in a swim lesson while she was in Texas, she's finally turned into a fish! Here she is at my dad's pool with cousin Jack.

We got some good porch swing time in (not on the list, but essential to our summers).

We weren't crazily running around crossing things off our list, either. We had lots of time for sitting around reading and playing. Maggie's reading really took off this summer. She would disappear for a while and then I'd find her, quietly reading chapter books by herself. It is possibly my favorite development this summer.

We visited Cumberland Park, downtown, several times. That place is amazing.

The water sprayers would turn off and on sporadically, and I could tell when they were about to turn back on because the water would start gently burbling for a minute. Carolina started playing with a burbling one. A great mother would warn her that she was about to get blasted, but not I. I started recording with my phone, for your (and my) enjoyment. So, enjoy!

We got Krispy Kreme doughnuts one Saturday morning this summer. On this day the sweetness carried over into the car, where Finn and Carolina decided to hold hands. I put this on Facebook but I want to repeat it here so I don't forget it. They held hands and Finn said to Carolina, "Carolina, do you love me so much? I love YOU so much." They still like to hold hands while driving around town. They are such sweeties.

We also took a fun trip to TX to visit Grant's parents. Maggie flew out a few days ahead of us with Grandpa and then we drove up with the little kids. Everyone did great. I think I'm finally over my fear of road trips with the kids. Now that they're all able to communicate, look at books, play games, etc., things have really gotten so much easier.
Here are Carolina and Maggie lying in a dinosaur footprint from the Ft. Worth Science Museum (which is super fun, if you ever find yourself needing something to do in Ft. Worth).

We went out to dinner one night with Grant's parents and grandmother and for some reason that night the kids were just antsy. After they ate I took them outside to run around and get rid of some energy (and save the rest of the diners from their squeals and screams). After a while we noticed that there were some backhoes working on a construction project so they sat happily watching them for about ten minutes. It really doesn't take much to make kids happy - room to run and some big machinery!

While we're in Ft. Worth we always try to go to/eat at Central Market, a beautiful grocery store that's kind of similar to Whole Foods but bumped up a notch. They have live music outside on certain nights and their playground was very popular with my kids.

Wow. That was a super long post! We had so much fun this summer and I definitely plan on doing a summer list every year. It really helped give our summer some structure and we never had days where we couldn't figure out what to do. I never felt stressed about accomplishing everything but I'm so glad we did! I hope your summer was great, too. Did you do anything special? Can you think of anything to add to my summer list next year?