Rough Week

Rebecca has had a rough week. She had her one year checkup last Tuesday and is weighing in at 21 lbs. 2 oz. and is 30 inches long. Her checkup also included shots which really did not agree with her. She got 2 different shots that she had had in the past and a new one - the Chicken pox vaccine. She was not herself for 3 days after the shots. She had awful body aches and hardly moved or wanted to crawl or cruise around. We gave her Tylenol which helped some. Here she is laying on one of the pillows holding the Tylenol, she loves to chew on the rubber top.

Then on Saturday she broke out in a rash that started on her head and spread down to her stomach. Sunday the rash got worse and so did her temperament. We've never seen her so cranky or heard her cry so much. It was awful. This morning I took her into see her doctor, but other than the rash, which is now fading, and her irritability she is fine. Her doctor thinks that she had some allergic reaction the the Chicken pox vaccine so all she said was we would not repeat that vaccine again at age 5 when most kids get a booster. Today I gave her some benedryl and she took a great 4 hour nap and is feeling better. So I guess it is back to school for me and to daycare for Rebecca.

Even amid her aches and pains, she still had enough smile to show off her new pearly whites!

Birthday Bash

Our little baby turned 1 yesterday!! It's hard to believe that a year has already past, but it's been full of blessings and we had a lot of fun celebrating her birthday. We had Dan's family over on Saturday for a little party. Here are the highlights.

Balloons, presents, and chocolate, cream filled, caterpillar cupcakes.

Making birthday wishes...

...and digging in!

Opening presents.

The favorite present of the night - a new pink cell phone :)

We concluded the night with a bonfire down by the pond, marshmallows and all.

Garden Fresh

I wish that my garden would flourish during the summer while I am home from school, but that never happens. I did get a few sweet peas, green beans, and lettuce early on. School is in full swing now and I am so busy and tired that I don't want extra things to do. But none the less, here is what I found in the garden this morning - cucumbers, green beans, spaghetti squash, and zucchini.

And on top of that I frozen 20 quarts of sweet corn this morning and into the afternoon.
While I was cleaning the corn Rebecca found plenty to do out on the deck. "I don't care what you say mom, I like to eat dirt!"

And while I was freezing corn Rebecca had fun getting into mischief in the house too.Now Rebecca is down for a nap and I need one too :)

Tubing Fun

Last weekend we decided last minute to head down to Lake Rathbun. It was nice to just get away for a little while and enjoy the calm of the lake. We borrowed another tube and realized how fun it is to double tube. Here is Dan and Scott tubing at sunset.

This next picture looks kind of funny, but Dan and Scott had just switched tubes while being pulled. It was quite funny to watch :)Dan and Rebecca enjoyed a nice slow troll behind the boat. Rebecca doesn't sit still for much and she was pretty squirmmy in tube, so the ride wasn't too long.

I guess Rebecca would rather drive the boat than be pulled behind it :)

Swimmy

Rebecca enjoyed a nice cool swim in her turtle pool this week!

4 years

It's been a while since we last blogged and I feel like there is some catching up to do.

On Thursday Dan and I celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary by driving 2 hours to go see and buy a tractor - fun, fun (at least Dan thought so :) To his credit we did have a date night earlier in the week while my sister Rachel was still here and watched Rebecca for us. Here's the new tractor, an IH 1086.

After about 6 weeks in the states Rachel has returned to Nicaragua. We will miss you and thank you for all the fun times! Here is Rebecca and Rachel on the South Haven pier.

A few weekends ago we went camping at Lake Rathbun with friends Eric, Val, Scott, and Chelsea. We had nice weather and Rebecca did pretty well for her first camping experience.

Finally, last weekend we enjoyed an Iowa Cubs game with Dan's coworkers at First State Bank. We had a great view from an outfield sky box and a personal visit from Cubbie.

MI Vacation

Last week we spent a fabulous week in South Haven with the Pontiers. It was so great to be back together as a family again. Some of us hadn't seen each other since last Thanksgiving. The house we stayed in was spacious enough for us all and everyone loved the pool and hot tub. Some activities that we enjoyed were swimming in the pool, cooking for 16, a ladder golf tournament (a shout out to Dad and Andrea on their big win), strolling downtown, taking in the sunset on the beach, visiting with local friends Cara and Jamie, watching the 4th of July parade, lot of wine tasting, and finding some treasures at a local antique shop.

I just downloaded all the pictures from our vacation and there were 104. I wish I could post most of them, but since that would be nearly impossible, here are my favorites.