Learning to skate

Bekah recently expressed the desire to get some skates. I wasn't even sure where you could buy skates, but fortunately, the very next day we found some at a yard sale for $2! Rebekah snatched them up right away.

We headed to the park so she could learn on the walking trail. She was pretty shakey at first, but then started to get the hang of it.

Here are a few of her giving it a try...

...and Lydia flying past her on her scooter!

But with more confidence came more falls. Here are a few of the best.

But she was a real trooper - and only cried once (when she landed HARD).

And finally, Lydia thought it was hilarious to ride her scooter straight at me!!!

Back to School Shopping & A Chickenpox Scare

We took the girls shopping for school clothes and found some fantastic deals, first at Ross, then the shoe store. We bought these too-cute sandals for Bekah. They really aren't practical but they were sooooo cute and they remind me of the shoes I had in elementary school.

And then we found a killer sale at Macy's - quite by accident. (We hardly ever shop in there!) Here are some quick pics of the clothes we found for Bekah...

And for Lydia...

And during our shopping, we noticed a rash popping up on Lydia's arms. (Forgive the grainy picture.)

I gave her a bath and washed her sheets - hoping she wasn't having a reaction to something...

And the next morning, the rash had spread to her face.

We took her to the doctor to rule out chickenpox. (Even though she's had the vaccine, she could still get a mild case. There's a chickenpox booster shot they can get when they turn 5, but Lydia's still 4.

Well, the doctor said that it was still too early to tell and that we should keep her home for the next 12-24 hours. So that's what we did...and missed Sianna's birthday party that night (Saturday) and church on Sunday morning. But by Sunday morning, when the rash had still not blistered...and was responding to Benadryl...we determined that it was just a reaction. We suspect she brushed up against something while shopping (and playing hide and seek in the clothing stands). At least that's the hypothesis we're going with for now. *grin*

But...here is an ADORABLE dress that we found for Lydia. I had to snap a photo. (And she knows how cute she looks!!) Again...forgive the grainy picture. I guess the light's not too good in the hall.

Bekah lost another tooth!

On Thursday night, Rebekah came to me and whispered in my ear that she thought her tooth was about ready to fall out.

And sure enough, when we checked it out, David and I were both very surprised to see that it was barely holding on. But Bekah wasn't ready for us to pull it out then.

So Friday morning, she comes into our room and says, "Well, I didn't swallow my tooth last night!"

We checked her tooth again and it was still very loose, so David wrapped it in dental floss and tugged on it and it came right out!

So here is a proud Rebekah showing off her latest contribution to the Tooth Fairy (which visited her last night, just as expected).

Art Set

Rebekah drew this picture of her art set that Aunt Judi gave her for her birthday. The art set is saying "I have loks." (locks)

The rest says:

I have a rel art set and it is rely cool. And I have clerd pinsle. (colored pencils) And I have paststals (pastels). And oele pans (oil paints). And a eraser. And a scraper. And a pinsle sharpener. And two locks!

Just wanted to share!

Sore loser...

A while back, when we were attending a party at the church, the girls started playing ping pong with Reagan and Asia. Asia decided that she would "officiate" the game.

She had found some floam and made two trophies.
One trophy was of a big #1, and the other was a big #2.

So the match was between Rebekah and Reagan on one team, and Lydia by herself on the other.

Yes, I know, this is totally not fair, but this is how they split it up and Lydia never objected.


Well, obviously, you know what happened. Reagan and Rebekah won.


See them here with their trophy.



And See Lydia with hers.

Yeah.

She wasn't too happy.

Happy Birthday, Jack!

Here are a few more pictures from our trip to Guatemala

Fourth of July

We spent the 4th sleeping in and relaxing and then we headed over to the Greens' for a cookout and some fireworks. We bought some glow bracelets for the girls and for Sarah. And they were a big hit.

We were all heading over to a church cookout the next day, so we spent the night with the Greens.

At the Stempers' we had a great time just playing games and hanging out. They even had some water balloons and the kids had so much fun with that.

We shot off a few day-time fireworks, like the girls' parachutes, but nothing major.

But it was this parachute that caused the most drama of the weekend.

Lydia was pulling her parachute behind her (and looking at it instead of where she was going) and she ran into the grill and burned her arm. Thankfully, the grill had been off for about an hour, but it was still hot. We didn't need to take Lydia to the hospital, but it was close to that bad. We put burn spray with lidocaine and aloe on her arm and now that it's starting to heal, we're putting Vitamin E Oil on it to prevent scarring. Also, thankfully, it didn't really blister. She's been totally fine and not acting like it's bothering her much. We're keeping it covered when she's playing so she doesn't get it dirty, but it's looking better every day. But it was really scary when it first happened (and Lydia did NOT like us putting ice on it).

So other than that, we had a really great weekend and had a lot of fun.

Lydia's summer

Vitamin E Oil: $5

Neosporin: $6

Dora Band-Aids: $3

Non-stick Gauze: $4

First Aid Tape: $5

Burn Relief Spray: $8

Anti-microbial surgical wrap: $6

Being fully prepared for Lydia's summer: priceless