Our Week in Review
- Alivia is not one to entertain herself so I was quite surprised to find her mixing water and dish soap with my kitchen whisk in a pie tin. I asked her what she was doing and she said she was making bubbles and using our cookie cutters as giant wands.
- The Mr. took Friday off from work. He cleaned the house, wrestled with Isaac and then he took Alivia upstairs and started working with her on her letters and an hour later she was reading! I kid you not that man taught her to read in an hour. And then while I was grocery shopping that same child took a nap (which she never does). That man should be the stay at home parent, he works miracles!
- A very thoughtful and sweet friend from my ward brought me a birthday bouquet of flowers and a balloon. It was the sweetest gesture EVER, it made my whole day. Heavenly Father puts the greatest people in my life.
- I turned 32 this Friday. I know I've said this for the past few birthdays, but I just don't know how it's possible to be the same age I remember my parents as. That I am my parents, living through most of the same challenges and difficulties that they faced. I am them... and that's just mind blowing for me! I caught myself telling people that my birthday was just another day of cooking and cleaning and all the things that a mother and wife does, when I had a sweet moment of realization, that I am in fact living my dream. All I ever wanted in life was to be loved and to have a family of my own, to be healthy and to have a home. This 32nd birthday I had everything I had ever hoped for and I realized it was in fact the best birthday ever. I got to see friends, go grocery shopping kid free, we went out to dinner (which meant I didn't have to cook or do dishes). And then I received a beautiful picture drawn for me by Miss Alivia. She and the Mr. also bought me cake and ice cream and the family gave me a new camera.
- We put the new camera to good use Saturday. Some friends from the ward invited us to go to Galveston and play at the beach with them. I was probably more excited then any one to go. I've been aching to find something down here that is fun to do, that we can make a tradition with our family. Since I haven't spent a lot of time at beaches I went in very open minded about what a day at the beach might be like. As long as I was getting out of the house and the kids were being entertained I didn't much care about anything else. The beaches down here in the Houston area are not pretty beaches. The water is a muddy brown and seaweed litters the beaches. BUT the water is warm and the sun shines ever so bright and I loved every second of being there. My kids loved it too. Thankfully our friends had lots of extra water toys, so we got to do all sorts of things! Almost from the minute we got there we were making a checklist of things we'll need for our next trip out there.
- We almost had the perfect experience at the beach, if it weren't for Alivia's run in with a jelly fish, I'd have called this family outing one of the best we've ever had. They fly colored flags at the beach to warn people of water conditions and dangers, since we were new to this I didn't know what the flags actually meant. A blue flag means venomous animals or sharks have been reported. And the blue flag was flying. Dylan had screamed earlier that he had seen a jelly fish, but I thought he was making it up. It wasn't until Alivia started screaming that her arm was stinging that I realized Dylan wasn't telling stories. I hadn't prepared at all for something like that so I was clueless on how to help her. We walked her to the "ranger station" and they had us dowse her arm in vinegar and then we made a paste with meat tenderizer to put on it. She said that made her arm feel better. She really was brave about the whole thing. And next time we go we'll definitely be a little better prepared. We'll plan on jelly fish stings, since they are everywhere in the warm waters of Galveston, and we'll use a whole lot more sunscreen, because the Texas sun is merciless.
Alivia's Jelly Fish Welts
Even though I was slightly traumatized by her run in with the Jelly Fish, Alivia mostly brushed it off (after it stopped stinging of course) and went on having fun in the water. I'm glad it didn't scare her so bad, and that she was still willing to go back in the ocean and play.
Interesting side note: It takes at least 60 jelly fish stings a day before they will fly the blue flag...That's a whole lot of people getting stung every day...Ouch!
