Bee Sting

On September 28th the kids were playing outside and I heard Joseph crying so I went outside and saw he and Gracie trying to wash mud off their hands and feet in a little left over irrigation water. I told them to come to the hose and Joe told me he got stung by a bee. I began washing his hands and feet to try and find the sting and then noticed him picking at something by his lip. There was mud there too because of his muddy hands toughing it. I looked and saw a stinger right above the corner of his lip. I got it out but didn't suck the venom out because it was covered in mud. I washed him off and brought him inside to put on our favorite Dr. Christopher's bites and stings cream. That seemed to help him feel better but it wasn't long before I could tell he was going to swell up. This is him a little while after it happened.

After his nap I could tell it was spreading up to his eye. He wasn't having any trouble breathing and was happy as could be so I wasn't too worried about it. But I did decide to give him a little Benadryl even though it says not to give to someone his age. I had the Relief Society Broadcast to go to that night and Russ was still at work so my father-in-law watched the kids for me and Russ got there as soon as he could.

This is what he looked like when I got back (above) and when we were getting ready for bed (below).

 The video below is from when he woke up the next morning. He was so happy and funny. I was sad and worried but it was hard to show it when he was cracking me up at the same time. I called my cousin Jacie whose husband is a pharmacist to find out how much and how often we could give him Benadryl. Once we got that answer we stated him on that and by the end of the day he was so much better.

 A day or two later you couldn't even tell it had been swollen.

I set up an appointment with an allergy dr. where we found out he has a 4 out of 5 allergy for honey bee. We will get an Epie pen just in case a future sting is more than a localized reaction. Obviously I hope it never comes to that, but just in case.

 I was so glad to find out he didn't have any food allergies. He tends to get dry skin and rashes a lot but now I know it is just that, sensitive skin.

September Homeschool

One of the really fun lesson we did was learning about the digestive system and this lesson was on the different vitamins our bodies need and they got a snack to go along with it. They LOVED it. Again, easy to please.

When I woke up on September 11 I realized I had not prepared a lesson for this special day. I decided we would take a field trip to 9/11 memorial at Tempe Beach Park.

Before we left William decided to make his own flag.

At this memorial they have a flag for every person who lost their life in the 9/11 attacks. It is quite a sight to see. It is very moving.

Someone that worked there gave the kids their own flags. 

Every flag had a card with a name and age on it. Some told a little about the persons life. Some had a teddy bear attached to the pole and that meant that it was a child. This really affected the kid. I think they read all of the ones with the Teddy Bears and they still talk about them. On the way home in the car I was able to talk to them about my feelings of 9/11, especially my feelings for those people on flight 93.

Another day the weather was so nice I let them take a break to play outside. 

I thought it would be hard to get them to come inside but it wasn't long before William and Gracie came in telling me Joseph peed on them. Then I saw Joseph standing there without his pants on and asked him why he did that and he said, "cause it's funny." When I tried not to laugh and tell him that it is not funny he said, "well, it is to me." So that day Joseph learned about where to and not to pee.

Gracie's birthday at Grandma's

We celebrated the July Christensen birthdays on July 28th (Roxey's actual birthday) and Don made the coolest Mickey cake for all them. Joseph doesn't have a July birthday but he was too cute to kick out of the picture.

It was half cake and half rice crispy treats and it turns out I really like rice crispy treat cakes.

Gracie was spoiled by her Grandma and Grandpa.

Bear Canyon Lake 9/23

We really wanted to go camping before this baby comes (kind of like I want to get caught up on this blog before she comes). We borrowed a canoe from the Carlings from our ward and headed up to Bear Canyon lake.

Here we are, finally ready to go and Joseph slept most the way there. We got there pretty late so we wanted to get set up and dinner going before it was too dark so I didn't get any pictures but it was nice eating hot dogs and smores and reading stories around the campfire.

Starring at the campfire first thing in the morning.

After we got up and had our breakfast we decided to see what the hike down to Bear Canyon Lake was and if we would be able to carry the canoe down there. It was beautiful but we decided that it would be too hard to carry the canoe down to it so instead we drove a little ways to Woods Canyon Lake for our little boating excursion. 

Russ hung up a hammock for me and realized it is more of a kids size.

The kids sure loved it.

Ready to go canoeing.

I enjoyed being on lake I just wish I had remembered sunscreen.

We found a spot where Joseph could play and Russ could try to fish.

We found a purple beetle.

William really wanted to steer the canoe so we let him take Gracie for a ride. He did a really good job.

Joseph had a lot of fun potty training in the woods, unfortunately he felt like he needed to undress completely to go to the bathroom.

See this belly, the is the reason we decided to stay just one night. I could not get comfortable and got no sleep. Russ also didn't get any sleep cause he was cold.

So we made dinner had smore's one last time and packed up camp.

Looks like Joseph is having a good time.

This was the driftwood "fish" that William found at the lake.

It was so fun. We really do love camping and hope to go more often.