bowling.

Our small group had a Sunday late afternoon bowling date scheduled the end of July and it was tons of fun and a bit chaotic! haha - just image 8 adults and 7 children (ages 7, 4,4,3,2,2,1~I think I got that right) all sharing 2 lanes of bowling.  I think all in all everyone had a good time...and can you believe it, I had to work all day Sunday and forgot the camera, so I called Mark to have him bring it (thank you honey!) but I forgot to remind him to make sure the memory card was in it (which it wasn't) so I have no pictures!  oh well.  

The boys, especially Levi, had sooooo much fun that they wanted to go back immediately!  A few days later, Mark and I took the kids again - by this time I'm sure Levi had asked to go bowling at least 30 times.  They had just as much fun and I made sure to have the camera!

And we were all jumping with excitement when Isaiah got his very first STRIKE ever!  Way to go Isaiah!

What a silly sport, but a fun thing to do! 

poor Levi and his pinky finger

On July 19 we were all at a routine doctors appointment.  I always, always try to schedule our appointments within the first couple of the morning or the first couple after lunch, but for whatever reason I agreed to an 11:30 appointment that day.  We LOVE our doctor, but he is always running behind -- mainly because he takes as much time as he needs to with each patient.  By just about 1 we were finally done with our appointment, but we needed to schedule a follow up - the boys and I went out to the receptionist counter while Mark made sure he had the doctor's new cell phone number (see why we love our doctor? rather than go to urgent care or the ER or for any questions he asks that we call him directly at any hour of the day!).  Of course at this hour all the receptionists were on their lunch break but a very friendly older nurse for another doctor came up to ask if it would be okay if they call me to schedule the appointment.  I said sure thinking we could leave, but the lady was so friendly that she kept going on and on about how she just wasn't sure how to use the computer.  Isaiah was getting very restless so he opened the door to the lobby and Levi was sitting on the floor near the door.  Isaiah could tell that the lady was going to repeat again what she'd already said a few times about having them call me to schedule our next appointment so he shut the door.  Levi got white in the face and instantly started SCREAMING.  Isaiah opens the door and Levi looks at me and I see the tip of his tiny little pinky finger is BADLY hurt.  I scream, "I need help!" and Mark and the doctor come running.  The doctor looks and says, "oh sh*t that's bad" (which I've never heard him say anything close to this in my life! and we've been through a lot together including a pregnancy without my husband and 2 deliveries).  He quickly grabs a paper towel and puts Levi's fingertip back on - it had broken all the way through the bone and was hanging on by a little skin (disgusting!!).  He rushes Levi into an exam room and starts calling out to his nurse what he needs.  He assures us that 2 (of his 10) children have had door accidents and he knew just what to do.  I'm white as a ghost and in complete panic mode, Isaiah is in shock and feels really bad about what has happened, and Mark steps up and holds little Levi.  As he begins working on Levi's finger he tells the nurse he will need scissors (to cut the stitches) and Levi instantly begins screaming and crying harder and harder and I quickly realize that Levi thinks the doctor is going to cut his finger off.  Thankfully the doctor knew what he was doing and was able to line up his finger and sew it back on with just 6 stitches and he was very pleased with how it looked.  He was confident that things would be fine with his finger but there was just no telling if he would ever have a nail grow back (as his nail and cuticle were cut off in the door).

 I am so thankful that Mark was so strong and put together during this situation as I was not.  He was able to talk with Levi trying to calm him down and bribe him to make him feel better - I know he offered many things to him, but all I can remember is McDonald's and ice cream and he tried to get him excited about his birthday party at the bouncy place.  The doctor and the nurse were both very concerned for me as pale as I was.  Isaiah did say to me, "mommy, I'm so sorry I shut Levi's finger in the door."  and of course I explained to him it wasn't his fault and Levi will be okay - he stayed close to me and my lap during the whole thing.  And really, if it was going to happen, there wasn't a better place than the doctor's office. 

By the time we made it to the car Levi had pretty much stopped crying and we did make a stop at McDonald's on the way home - a big treat for us!  Levi picked chicken nuggets to eat which he did eat a few and went right down for his nap after a dose of ibuprofen and Amoxicillin (that Mark ran to the pharmacy to get -- I'm telling you, he was super dad!  The antibiotic was prescribed to prevent his finger getting infected).  By this time it was close to 3!  We let him sleep until about 5 and he woke up fine - no complaints about his finger and he even said it didn't hurt!

To be extra cautious of his bandage which the doctor wanted on for at least 2 days without coming off, we had a fun glove/mitten party for dinner that night - everyone had to eat with a glove or mitten on at least one of their hands!  (which worked well to keep it dry/clean but did pull the bandage up a little when removing the glove)

We did have to replace the bandage the next morning because it was very lose after the glove and over night. I tried to capture a picture of what his finger looked like...

 We did keep him on ibuprofen and Tylenol combination for several days, but he never complained that it hurt - after a couple days he did begin to say that it tickled.  We were a bit nervous that maybe he didn't have feeling in his finger since it wasn't hurting, but after several days we poked at it and finally he did say that hurt.  

SO if that wasn't enough, on Saturday (the finger thing was Tuesday) I came home from working all day to find Levi had a red rash ALL over his arms, neck and legs that Mark was pretty sure was Poison Ivy.  I really didn't want to take any chances of it getting worse or getting in his finger some how so off to urgent care we went.  As soon as we walked into the building Levi shouts, "I'm mad at doctors!" and everyone laughed.  I told him I didn't blame him.  We were able to get in to see the doctor shortly and he confirmed that Levi did have Poison Ivy or another rash like it and he put him on Prednisone and Benedryl to help it go away.  So at this point Levi was on medicine around the clock -- poor boy.  (by the way - I had the doctor look at his pinky finger just to get his opinion on it and he thought it looked very good and the doctor did a great job!!  He, too, said there would be no way to know if the nail would ever grow back And they re-wrapped it for me!  Our wrap jobs were not so good haha).  Thankfully after 4 or 5 days the Poison Ivy was gone for the most part.  Mark and I also had a little bit on each of us, but just by being careful not to itch it (too much) it went away on its own!

Then two weeks after the finger incident we went back to the doctor to have him remove the stitches.  Levi was furious that we were going back to this same doctor.  He made it clear that he didn't want to go, but would go see any other doctor.  Of course we made him go and our doctor was able to remove all 6 stitches with just a little fuss on one of them.  He was VERY pleased with the way his finger was healing and said it looked great, but still couldn't say if the nail would grow back.  But Levi was free to do whatever with his finger except play in the mud or sandbox for the next 24 hours to make sure the stitches spots were okay.  (Both boys made sure to let the doctor know that we hadn't even gotten our sandbox out for the summer yet - haha--and no we still have not!  They are just not good at keeping the sand in it)

And to this day, other than the one time, Levi has not complained once about his finger, he uses it like normal (and did even with the huge bandage on it) and appears to have complete function and feeling in it - what a relief!  

I have a feeling this will just be a great story for Levi to brag about in his growing up years -- in fact, I already witnessed how cool it is to little boys that it happened - we went over to drop off a birthday gift for my friend and her 8 year old was there with a couple friends and he told all of his friends, "this is the boy I know that cut his finger off!" and the other kids were like "woahh, awesome!"  and they asked Levi if it was true, and he simply said, "yep, it is." :)

I hadn't thought to take any pictures of his finger in the healing process, but as I was preparing to post this I took a picture of his finger today (just shy of a month later) - you can see it looks pretty much "normal" without the nail but is still pretty red at the tip - it was cut off at about the point where the red starts (and pay no attention to the dirty nails -- we didn't get a bath tonight! haha)

Life sure is an adventure, isn't it?


and by the way - after all of that, the receptionist ladies never did call to schedule our follow up appointment! 

tree climber!

We have a great climbing tree in our front yard - the branches start very low to the ground and there are several that go out in different directions that make lots of paths to take when climbing.  Both boys have had interest in getting in this tree, but I just wasn't sure if they were ready to climb it.  This spring I made the rule that if they wanted to play in it they had to be big enough to get up themselves - I figured good motivation for them to work hard to do it on their own (and good for me so I don't have to lift them up into it over and over again)!  Isaiah carried a big rock over to the trunk in the spring to act as a step to help him get up, but he still just couldn't quite do it.  As the months have gone by he has practiced many times - it's good entertainment for him while I'm in front mowing the yard or picking weeds - and he finally did it!  He's done it many times since then - I'm so proud of him and he's pretty proud of himself!  

This does leave Levi in a unfortunate situation as he stands at the bottom of the tree really, really wanting to get in, but just not able to do it quite yet.  I have stuck to my word and have made him try on his own (but once or twice I've given him a little boost).  I have confidence that by next year at this time we will have two full tree climbers!  Little boys are so much fun! :)

Brothers.

These two are really becoming good buddies (most of the time!)  They enjoy each other, play very well together and look so cute too!  Here's a couple recent pictures of them looking like cute little brothers.  

The tank.

Mark has been wanting to visit the Five Sullivan Brother's Iowa Veterans Museum for quite some time now.  This museum opened several years back and Mark was in the opening ceremony as an Iowa soldier, but he never has had the opportunity to go through the museum.   One morning the four of us went down to the museum to check it out.  The boys were impressed with the huge ship that was sticking out of the wall as you walk into the museum and quickly walked past pretty much every other exhibit until we reached the tank.  Fortunately for us, the tank was near the part of the museum that Mark's unit was displayed so we were able to browse through it while the boys "played" in the tank.  We finally pulled them away from the tank after a good forty five minutes of letting them climb up and down inside the tank.  There is so much history in the museum and so many interesting things to look at; both Mark and I agreed that we need to go back as a couple to spend a few hours (or more) really looking through the displays.  The boys agree that we need to go back too, but only to play in the tank! 

yee-haw!

The summer wouldn't be completely documented if it didn't include a post about Isaiah's good friend (and birthday buddy - born on the exact same day, Isaiah is just a few hours older!) Caiden.  These two enjoy each other so much!  They spend a full day together (like first thing in the morning until bedtime) and still fuss that it's time to part ways.  They play all kinds of crazy things together - super heros, race cars, Rescue Heros, dump trucks, dinosaurs, knights - pretty much any 'boy' activity that you can think of, but their favorite of all time is dress up.  Between the costumes at our house and the costumes at Caiden's house they can be pretty much anything they want to be - Batman, Spiderman, Superman, a shark, a pirate, a dragon, Buzzllightyear, Thomas the train, a transformer, etc!   I'm sad to say that their favorite costume (the ninja)  finally completely ripped out this past week so we are definitely on the look out for new costumes.  And here they are one day playing cowboys at Caiden's house.  

It's so fun to watch these best buds together in action and we are excited to say that this school year Caiden will be spending all of his weekdays with us!  These two will sure be happy!!
We love you Caiden!

Waterhawks.

Mark and I have talked about going to a Waterhawks show for years.  Whenever I drive by their arena I always think, we should go to a show this year for sure and then we never do, until this year!  It was our turn to pick our small group fun activity so we picked a night at the Waterhawks.  Of course it was in the middle of those 115 degree days where it was miserable to be outside for more than 5 minutes, but we went anyway.  All in all it was a good time, but I'm sure it would have been much better had it been 20 degree cooler -I'd also have to say, it might be a little more age appropriate in 2 or 3 more years (in other words, the boys got bored)!

A few minutes after we got out of the truck our faces were very red!

 Each family packed a picnic to eat while we were watching the show.  

 We had quite the struggle keeping all the kids up close to us (and not down the hill towards the lake!)  but I actually got a picture of all 3 boys (Caleb, Isaiah & Levi) together on the blanket.

 I love Caleb's face in this picture - this was one of the first tricks - the boys were amazed!

 I was impressed with the tricks that they did - my favorites were the stacking pyramids!  I couldn't believe how young some of the skiiers were - I think they said their youngest was 4!  I can't image Isaiah out there skiing!

Part way through the show, to keep the kids entertained (and contained!) we put them in the back of Mark's truck.

I'm not sure who's crazy idea it was to do handstands, but they were funny to watch!

 By the end, we were all beat red and sweaty!

 so we headed over to Chad and Erica's to cool off in the slip 'n slide.  The boys had fun running around in the water, but Isaiah, Caleb and Levi were all reluctant to go down the "right" way.  But they did eventually do it! What a fun way to cool off from a hot evening!

It was just another fun summer night!