Camping

I must apologize at the very beginning, but we did not take a single picture while camping. I guess we were having so much fun relaxing that it never occurred to us get the camera out. So you will just have to survive with a verbal summary.

The campsite was beautiful. We were situated in a large meadow with some really cool hardwood trees (I don't know what kind). A shallow river ran by our site. Josiah enjoyed sitting on the bank and throwing rocks into the the river and watching the water splash. He also enjoyed playing with Hank and Syd, his two favorite dogs. He did really well and we only had two or three disciplinary issues the entire three days. For the most part everyone had a fun and relaxing time. The weather was amazing. We couldn't have asked for a better weekend.

Jason's arm is pretty much healed, though his body is still recovering from the effects of all the drugs he took. We are trying to feed him some mild foods (he feels nauseated a lot) and making sure he gets lots of rest. Hopefully he feels better soon.

An Exciting Week

We have had an exciting week at the Swick residence. Monday at lunch Jason was stung by a bee. We've known from past experiences that Jason is allergic so we watched him closely for signs of any respiratory problems and other than a large swelling spot on his arm he seemed fine. The next day we woke up and found that his arm had swelled up to elbow. We went to the doctor to see what we should about it. The doctor wasn't too concerned until he noticed Jason had a red streak heading up his arm. Immediately the doctor put him on steroids and antibiotics and told if it got worse to come back in. We woke up the next morning and it was worse. We went back to the doctor and she put him on all sorts of antihistamines. Below is a picture of how many pills Jason had to take this morning.

It may look like a lot, but the swelling went down and poison site looks better. Thank God for modern medicine.

We also did some more work in the garden. Below shows what grew out of the seeds I planted. Most everything but the bell peppers and half a row of beans and the lettuce came up. Not bad for my first try.

My peas and half row of beans

Radishes

Yellow summer squash

We had a coupon for free vegetable starters so we went to the store yesterday and bought some lettuce and broccoli. Here is how the garden looks with everything planted.

Peas, Beans, & Lettuce

Radishes, Broccoli, and Carrots (when they come up)

We also received a hand me down swing set from a family from church. We got it set up and here is a picture of Josiah and I swinging on it.

We are headed off camping with the college students this weekend. Should be a lot of fun to get a way for a few days. Hopefully we will have some fun pictures to share next week from that.

Happy Mother's Day

This a bit late, but I have been out of town most of the week, but I thought I would share a story from Mother's Day.

For Mother's Day Jason and I made plans for the family to take a hike after church. I woke up early Sunday morning, took a shower, got dressed, and packed provisions for the hike before Josiah woke up. I was so proud of myself for being organized.

Then Josiah woke up.

I picked him up out a his bed and changed his diaper and dressed him. While I was dressing him I was trying to explain to him it was Mommy's Day. "Josiah can you say Happy Mommy's Day?"

He smiled at me and said, "Josiah's Day!"
"No baby. It is Mommy's Day. Your day is in July."
"Josiah's Day!"

I gave up asking him to say Mommy's day and I took him out to the kitchen to make him breakfast only to find the bagels were moldy. "No problem," I said to myself. "Because I already have our stuff together we will just run down to the store and grab breakfast before church." As I was grabbing the bags to take out to the car I noticed Josiah playing with my keys. That's okay", I thought, "I'll get them from him when I come back in." By the time I came back Josiah didn't have them anymore. I asked them where they were and he ran down the hall to his room and shut his door. I walked in and asked again and he just giggled. "Great, now I can't find my keys." I looked for 10 minutes before I gave up. I grabbed the extra set of keys and went back into Josiah's room to take him out to the car. When I walked in I noticed he was naked and playing with his toys. I looked at the clock and noticed that by the time I got him dressed again we wouldn't have time to run by the store before Bible class. I walked back out and scrounged around for some food that would make a good breakfast while riding in a car. I managed to find a lost granola bar and cut up some apples.

I walked back down the hall and noticed he was in the bathroom. I was praying that he had decided to try to use the potty since he was naked but considering how the morning was going I wasn't hopeful. As I turned the corner my suspicions were confirmed. Josiah was standing in a long string of toilet paper that he had unraveled and was tearing it into pieces and putting it in the toilet. When he saw me he knew he was in trouble and jumped and screamed. I scolded him because he knew he is not allowed to play with the toilet paper. He helped me pick it up. When it was done I told him it was time to get dressed and Josiah took off down the hall to the living room giggling.

I finally cornered him in the living room. As I scooped up my wiggly giggly son, I sighed and said to myself,"Happy Mother's Day, Amanda."

So Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers who have gave up their sanity to raising kids, and given the chance, would do again.

P.S. By the way...Josiah made it to Bible class fed and on time and we had a wonderful hike after church.

How to use a dump truck and a fun video

When Jason's parents were here, Chuck bought Josiah a big dump truck. While it was meant to be an outdoor toy the weather hasn't been consistent enough to take it outside yet. Josiah has come up with creative ways to use his dump truck.

One evening I told him it would make Daddy very happy if we cleaned up all the toys before he got home. Josiah decided to he would help by put by putting all his toys in his dump truck.

All his loot.

Josiah also decided that a dump truck is a good place to read a book.

Josiah has always liked music. Now he has new appreciation for it because he can actually understand the words and try to sing along. Here is a video of his new favorite song. At the end of the video he is distracted because he found McQueen.