We needed this

There are times when your family goes through a difficult time and comes out on the other side stronger, refocused and in a strange way blessed. In many ways July was a terrible month for us. There were frequently times we kept saying just get through the next few weeks and we will be in a better place. There is no way to describe everything we have faced. There were too many small moments of tears, tantrums and fears to describe it all. In a quick summary we had three moves: Kirsten moved her classroom, Ken helped pack and move out all of the items in a duplex we needed to move into while Kirsten packed the entire house of our own belongings. Luckily we had tremendous family and friends to help us. Through this the kids suffered with hand, foot and mouth disease documented in an earlier post. In additon the kids absorbed a lot of the family stress and reacted in their own ways out of frustration. We moved from a 2,600 square foot 4 bedroom house into a 900 square foot 2 bedroom duplex. We lost the beloved family pet hamster when a neighbor kid currently known as the "devil child" squeezed and tortured it to death. We participated in 2 garage sales and are adjusting to living with only what we need. We are also learning to communicate with one another and try to accomodate the various needs of the family.

There have been times where it has been very difficult, but we are also very thankful. There is still a lot of laughing and generosity in our home. I always used to laugh that despite the fact we were living in 2,600 square feet I would often have all 4 children usually within a 10 foot radius of me at all times so nothing has really changed. I have also realized that it is very important that I set aside a little bit of time each day to do something by myself. Currently I am excercising to books on tape. Perfect for a multitasker like me.

The other thing that works for us is that we try to get back to the things our family really enjoys. Summer isn't normal without our usual fly fishing trips. So when we could do this trip I breathed a sigh of relief. This is normal. This is what our family loves to do.

Baby Huck had to be introduced to our family tradition. Considering that he was outside and had a 1,000s of rocks within his reach he was an instant natural.
Our eldest took on her role as cruise director immediately ordering the crew to gather
wood for the prompt building of a fort. Baby Huck rushed to follow her orders,
but a rather large log proved a frustrating obstacle.

Of course Ken provided the entertianment with the capturing of fish, which the kids promptly placed in their fish trap in order to further play with.

Yep we definitely needed this! I had to take this last picture. Towards the end

of the night baby Huck came and positioned himself like this between my legs and

laid back to relax and just watch his siblings. Too funny.

When it rains it pours

There is something just wrong about getting sick in the summertime. There once was a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon about Calvin telling his mom he needed an extra week of summer vacation because he had gotten sick during the summer. Things have been rough around our house. It started with baby Huck coming down with a double ear infection and hand, foot and mouth disease. Did I mention that he also was getting his molars at the same time. He was miserable. Not eating or sleeping. He was able to get on antibiotics. We thought we were home free until Leo and Midge started developing spots on their hands...

feet...

and mouth. All of these pictures are taken towards the end of their illness so they are healing. During the middle of the sickness if I would have tried to come near them with a camera they would have punched me. Not to mention the fact the blisters in their mouth would not allow them to even open their mouths. That was the worst part. They were hungry and thirsty, but they couldn't eat or drink so instead they just cried all the time. The pain was so terrible even popsicles and ice cream was too hard for them to eat. The doctor recommended rinsing with mylanta, but it would take us a lot of time to get them to even try opening their mouths to get the medicine in them. We eventually would get them to suck up the medicine in the side of their mouths with a straw. They would rinse and then they would have about 5 minutes of reprieve which we would use to force food and drink inside them and then the crying would start back up again. The whole thing ended up lasting for almost a week. By the end the kids were so sick of being cooped up and were bickering and plain nasty to be around.

Finally at the end when they started getting better we breathed a sigh of relief. Then I changed Huck's pajamas and found this. The picture doesn't do it justice he was covered in hives. Turns out he is allergic to penicillin.

Luckily he had a happy disposition throughout the whole thing.

Did I mention that throughout all of this that we are moving? Yep that's right. We like stress. The only thing I can say is thank goodness we have a support system because goodness knows I would not have survived without the help of friends and family. At this point we are just looking forward to next week when we can breath a sigh of relief that we have moved and can start unpacking.

Little Miss Sayings

Little Miss: "I hate everyone in the whole world. (pauses for a moment). Except for Brother Hunter I love him. (Brother Hunter gives her a piece of candy every Sunday.)

Another Day

Little Miss: "Mom it is all your fault that I didn't get dessert."

Mom: "Why is it my fault?"

Little Miss: "Because you made a disgusting poisonous dinner and I didn't want to eat it. Why are you so mean to me? I wanted to eat brussel sprouts, corn and bread and you made a disgusting dinner."

Leo's 7th Birthday

Another big event last month was Leo turning 7. For his actual birthday daddy made him homemade doughnuts.

We got Leo a remote control car, which Huck is terrified of and fascinated with

at the same time. Leo's absolute favorite gift (it is also his sister's favorite)

is a new scooter from his Mimi and Papa.

I always love how he shares his gifts so easily with his siblings. For his friends birthday we invited 2 of his buddies and went to Krocks in Salem. I love this place. It was only built a year ago and it has so much for the kids to do.

As soon as we got there I had Huck and the girls changing in the dressing room. I didn't realize it but Huck had climbed out of his straps, stood up in the stroller and turned around. He caused the stroller to tip backwards with him in it, and hit his head very hard on the tile floor. He

started crying hysterically right off. The staff that worked there helped me get some ice on his forehead and calm him down. He cried very hard for about 10 minutes, and then he started to calm down. They asked me if it was his nap time because he was starting to fall asleep. Huck never falls asleep in public (a wonderful trait of all Woodward children). Yet when I looked at him sure enough his eyes were closing. I was terrified that he had a conccusion, but the medical supervisor stated that with as much crying as he had just done he had probably exhausted himself. Ken held him and he feel asleep on his shoulder for about 15 minutes. He then just stayed in Ken's arms. I was still worried about him and wondered if we needed to take him to a doctor because he wasn't his usual self. After about 45 minutes the other kids were getting hungry. While we were eating lunch Huck kept begging for food. We would only give him a little bit at a time, but he kept wanting more food and drink. After eating a lot his regular personality came back and his activity level came back. We kept watching him closely all day, and he looked fine but it really scared us.

Part of your day pass allows you to do the climbing wall. The kids loved it and kept wanting to go back and forth between the climbing wall and swimming pool, which was a bit of a pain because they had to change clothes each time. In the end they were having so much fun they didn't want to leave so we stayed an extra 2 hours.

I really enjoy doing cupcakes. It just seems easier to serve them to the kids. These were our pool theme cupcakes for this year. Each kid got a cupcake that looked like them.

The below one was Ken diving into the inner tube.

Krock also had a game room that was a lot of fun as well. The place is amazing, just make sure you bring photo ID for all adults because they won't let you in otherwise.