Gavin's first broken bone

On August 4th we had just finished saying family prayers and Aaron's phone fell off Zack's bed so Gavin went to get off the bed to get it and lost his balance while he was doing it. He stuck out his arm to catch himself and I knew instantly something was really wrong because he was crying so hard and was almost inconsolable. It took me probably at least an hour of holding him before he fell asleep and he only slept for maybe an hour before he was up crying again. It ended up being a really long night! We fashioned a sling out of an ace bandage to try and support his arm and he slept in our bed so every few minutes I could console him because every time he twitched he would start crying.

I took him to the doctor the next morning and they did x-rays, but they weren't sure it was broken so they wanted us to see an orthopedic surgeon in case it was in his growth plate. The orthopedic surgeon didn't want to see us until Monday to let some of the swelling go down so at his pediatrician's office they put a splint on him and a sling.

On Monday when we went to the orthopedic surgeon he didn't want to do more x-rays because he was pretty sure it was broke so he put a cast on him and thank heavens gave him a prescription for Lortab because the poor little boy had been in so much pain since Thursday. He was so brave and tough!He had the cast on for 3 weeks and we went back on Monday to have it removed. I was so glad to have it off, that thing stunk! They did more x-rays where the doctor saw new bone growth so now we know for sure that is was broken. He broke the front, back and across the humerus so it was called a supracondylar fracture. He called it a monkey bar fracture and said that Gavin was a little young for that kind of break, but the way kids put their arms back to catch themselves is exactly how Gavin put his arm out so it totally made sense.

His arm has been really sore since they took the cast off and I have to do range of motion exercises with him. We go back in 2 weeks and if his range of motion isn't good then he will have to go see a physical therapist, but I'm hoping that doesn't happen. It's so hard to see your baby in pain, but I can't believe how tough and brave he's been! I love that boy!

Dinosaur Park

Earlier this month we went to the Dinosaur Park in Ogden. To say my kids loved it would be an understatement! They are obsessed with dinosaurs right now so it was right up there alley. We went up and saw the dinosaur robots that are on the upper floor of the museum first. Zack and Austin have never been afraid of them and they absolutely loved them this year; it was by far their favorite part. Gavin on the other hand was terrified of them!He was cracking me up because he kept putting his hand over his mouth and would say, "dinosaur rex scaren me." And if you would walk closer to them he would start crying saying, "scare me, scare me."I know this picture is a bit blurry, but I love their expressions. I bet we spent at least 40 min. sitting there watching those dinosaurs.

They loved walking around looking at all of the dinosaurs. We had a nice picnic there and then finished off our fun playing at the playground.
One of there favorite things was the Pteranodon slide.He looks like we forced him to take his picture, but don't let his look fool you. He wanted to ride the dinosaur and he loves having his picture taken.Everyone had to ride the dinosaurs. Don't you love Gavin's cheese face?
Austin
Zack

I never planned on dressing them alike once they were 2 or 3, but I didn't count on the fact that they would want to wear the same clothes all of the time.
He just wanted to spend his time throwing rocks and whatever else he could find through the fence.And we of course had to finish our fun off with going to see the dinosaur robots again.

Gavin aka Picasso

After the great days I had with my kids on Monday and Tuesday I was on an emotional high. (Monday- Dinosaur Park with Mandy, Neal, Henry, Abby; Tuesday- This is the Place State Park, Soccer) Apparently Wednesday was the day for it to come crashing down.

We were just getting ready to go to Costco and the library so I took Gavin's jammies off and then went downstairs to put a load of laundry in. When I came upstairs I found poop smeared on Gavin's carpet so I went looking for him. I found him in Zack and Austin's room and carried him in to his changing table where I found him with poop all over his arms, hands, chest, legs and feet. Then I looked over and saw a huge piece of poop on his rocking chair and smeared all over the arms and back of it and the ottoman. Needless to say I wasn't very happy! It took me about an hour and a half to steam clean the chair and the carpet in his room, the hall, and Austin and Zack's room.

While I was cleaning that he went and did something to the computer. So I fixed the computer and went in my room for about 3 min to start folding some laundry when he wondered in my room holding a marker. I took it from him and went to go put it away when I saw marker all over the walls in the hall, the walls in the stairway, the walls and door in the entryway, all over both of the wood floors in the entryway, and on every single stair in our house.These pictures don't do it justice. Look at the bottom step especially in the last picture.

Not only is it red marker, but it's permanent marker. I tried quite a few things to get it off the carpet and walls and nothing works. On the walls it just takes the paint off and the stairs it just slightly lightens it.

We had a carpet cleaning company come yesterday that specializes in red removal and the good news is that they only charged us $70 to do the stairs, hall, and our front room; the bad news is that they couldn't get the marker out. It is lighter, but you can still see it. :(

I don't remember signing up for these kind of days as a mom! I guess you have to have the good to appreciate the bad, right? You'll be happy to know he survived the day and I still after all of that love him to pieces!

Soccer!

Tuesday was Austin and Zack's first soccer game. I love that they play on Tuesday instead of Saturday. They have been so excited!
Austin, Zack
I was a little worried they would not go after the ball because they aren't very aggressive especially when there are a lot of kids around so I kept telling them they needed to steal the ball from the white team. Aaron kept telling them to be nice. Luckily they listened to both of us and did a great job!
They both lost a shoe at one point during the game.
Zack going after the ball. This kid on the other team was good, it was obvious that he has already played a year.
Zack
Austin
Zack is number 11, Austin number 12
I don't know what they are doing, but this picture is funny to me.
I love this face Austin is making. It's the face he makes whenever he is trying to run really fast.
Austin going after the ball. He did a great job taking the ball down the field. The only problem was that he was usually taking it the wrong way. We obviously need to work with him on teaching him about his goal and the other team's goal.
I had to include this picture for Aaron. Austin was picking a wedgie the whole game. It was making Aaron crazy!

This is the Place State Park

On Tuesday I took my kids to This is the Place State Park with my mom. I was a little nervous that it would be too grown up for them, but we absolutely loved it there! We were there for about 5 1/2 hours and that was with half of there stuff being closed already for the fall season, we will definitely be going back. The kids all voted to go to the animal petting area first which was no surprise to me.Gavin riding Chocolate Chip. Whenever you ask him what we did there his first answer is always Chocolate Chip and if he sees pictures of the horse he remembers that name. I guess that means he liked it, huh!
Zack riding Dale. Sorry for the washed out picture.
Austin riding No Name. No that's not the horse's name, but we can't remember it so that's what we call him.
Austin so badly wanted them to eat the straw out of his hand, but they wouldn't stop eating out of the trough to eat it from him. It was funny to see his persistence though.
The goats did not want to let us leave and kept blocking the gates. My mom went and got some leaves to feed them and distracted the goats while we hurried and got out. Then a guy about a minute later thought he could hold all 3 goats at once, needless to say he let the goats out after all of our hard work. Austin roping the steer.
Zack showing his skills, he was pretty good!
Gavin could have cared less that he had the wrong end of the rope, he just thought it was fun to throw the rope.When we went to the schoolhouse we were surprised to see my cousin's daughter Madison was the teacher. It was fun being able to talk to her for a little bit.
Uh oh, Austin wearing the dunce cap.
This is the first of at least 4 times that we rode the train. I love that Zack is sticking his tongue out, I'm sure this will not be the only picture I have a son doing that.
Gavin panning for gold. I took Austin and Zack to the bathroom while we were doing this activity and asked my mom to watch Gavin. She was being like most grandma's just letting him have fun and he fell in the river a couple of times and got soaking wet, including his cast.
We all got rich and had a lot of fun panning for gold. The cold river felt so good in the hot sun!
The boys all had fun doing the pioneer children's chores. Austin especially liked learning how to milk the cows.
And we all had fun playing the games they played.
My cousin Holly also works there so it was fun to see her and she was nice and helped us walk on the stilts. That is so hard to do!
Getting the wool ready to go on the spinning wheel.
Isn't my mom brave; daring to hold that while Austin was hammering.
Then we went to the leather shop and they all got to make bracelets. Zack and Austin instead of wanting their names on them wanted Utah Utes with no prompting from me. Aaron was very proud!
We finished off our fun with getting ice cream cones and eating them while riding on the train one last time. They had ice cream on every possible body part and place on their body by the time they were done. That just means they are good, right?! I really don't want summer to end!