Not on our Summer Bucket List

So, the stomach flu wasn't on our Summer Bucket List. No, really. It wasn't. But, we got it anyway. Ick! L got it Saturday night. We thought it was food poisoning from noodles he ate at a local restaurant. A couple of days went by where nobody in the house was sick and we thought we were out of the woods...until I got sick. And holy moly was I ever sick! At one point Daddy had his hands full because L's symptoms temporarily resurfaced and he and I were both sick at the same time. Our illness didn't overlap too long, then I was the only one who was sick. I honestly think that was the worst case of the stomach flu I've ever had in my entire life. I won't go into the gory details, but I will say that I slept on the bathroom floor for part of the night 'cause it was nice and cool and because I just didn't have it in me to walk back to my bedroom. Poor, Mama! I gradually recovered over the course of the next twenty four hours, then N woke up with it. Fortunately his symptoms occurred during the day, so I was able to take care of him during the day and not through the night. This bug lingered long enough to consume one whole summer week. Boo! But, we did the best we could with it. At the beginning of the week when L was sick (and N was not), N and I made a hopscotch game using painter's tape on the tile floor in the kitchen. We pushed the kitchen table and chairs back and played hopscotch while L rested. We also played Legos and ate popsicles to encourage L to get some sort of liquids in his body. When I was sick and the boys were not we camped out in the basement and played our bowling game that the boys enhanced with a ramp contraption. We also loaded up in the car for a short outing to the drive through to pick up some lunch for the boys. When N was sick and L was well, L wanted to take care of him. It was super sweet, but I was concerned that L was getting into all of N's sick germs. I decided I better distract L, so we took the sensory boxes out to the front porch and played with them while N got some rest. I brought the baby monitor outside with us so N could yell for me if he needed something. L played with our Play-doh for a few hours in the afternoon with both me and Grammy. It's been a long week, but we made the best we could of it and are moving forward! Here's to checking off the things that actually are on our Summer Bucket List!!

GFDF Pancakes

Okay, so I'm almost afraid to post this recipe because my kids have eaten it two times and I'm afraid if I post it, they will suddenly decide they don't like it anymore. So I will try to prevent the jinx by typing this with my fingers crossed. It's hard to type with your fingers crossed! Anyway, I'm happy to say that I think we've added one more meal into our "rotation" that everyone in the family will eat. Yaaaay! And, I'd like to thank Aunt J and Grammy for introducing this to us. They're pancakes. Ya, ya, I know, pancakes seem like a staple. But, these are special 'cause Aunt J taught me to make them Dutch Style by adding a fruit and a meat into them. She made ours with apple and bacon in them. I really loved it with the bacon inside the pancake, but I'm not sure the kids would. I thought I'd introduce the boys to the pancakes with shredded apple only before introducing the bacon to them. Baby steps. When we were at Grammy's she served us turkey sausage that the boys ate, too! Nice. Another nice thing about these pancakes is that I can make them GFDF for myself. Rather than making two separate batches, one GF and one with gluten, I just took the easy route and made them all GFDF. The boys ate them like champs. Here's the link to the recipe I used from the GF Bisquick box. I doubled the quantity. I used almond milk (vanilla flavored) and added one shredded apple. I put a teaspoon or two of teeny tiny chocolate chips in each of the boys' pancakes. The turkey sausage Grammy made is Jennie-O's and I think the boys liked is so much 'cause they don't have the casing on them.

Gluten Free Bisquick Pancakes 

(These measurements are doubled from the original recipe)

2 cups Bisquick Gluten Free mix
2 cups milk (Dairy-free vanilla Almond milk)
4 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 egg
1 apple shredded

- Stir ingredients until blended.
- Pour by slightly less than 1/4 cupfuls onto hot greased griddle.
- Cook until edges are dry. Turn; cook until golden.

Makes 10 pancakes.

It is perfectly normal for L to wear his bike helmet at dinner time. One of his favorite foods is "blue dip" or ranch as the rest of the us call it.

4th of July

We stayed close to home for the Fourth this year. N and I did our typical routine of going to the gym in the morning while Daddy and L stayed home and worked on a project. We ate lunch at home on 4th of July themed plates and napkins. I mention the themed plates and napkins because the boys were crazy about them. It's so funny what strikes them. You would have thought they'd never seen a decorative paper plate before. Anyway. L went down for a nap and D and I made our final decision on the plans for the day. We decided that it was going to be too hot outside to do our usual routine of attending fireworks at a nearby community. Our plan B was to stay home, play in the Kiddie Car Wash and have our neighbors (B, J and their four children) over to watch the fireworks on TV in the nice, cool basement. So, during nap time, I headed to the store to stock up on party stuff.

D and I had a blast running through the Kiddie Car Wash with the boys. We usually sit back and watch the boys play in the water, but it was much too hot not to jump in with them. D and I both ran through the car wash several times, had a water balloon toss and played water balloon chase with the boys. We had so much fun! After that we came inside to eat dinner. Then it was time for the neighbors to come over. We got out the basket of 4th of July goodies (snap caps, silly string and glow in the dark necklaces) and played with those outside. It wasn't long before everyone came in and took their turn making an ice cream Sunday. It didn't take long for the sugar to kick in, so everyone headed to the basement to play, run around and watch the fireworks on TV. The night went super fast, but we all had a great time. We might just make this a tradition!

                                              Silly String.

                                          Stepping on Snap Caps

                                   Create your own sunday!

Activities

I think it's safe to say we are working our way through our summer bucket list quite beautifully. N is participating in his first ever sports class (outside of swimming lessons). It's an indoor soccer class that teaches the kids basic soccer skills. L cheers at him from the side lines yelling, "Go, N go!" N usually replies with a , "Thanks L" from the floor. The boys are taking an art class. They have sponge painted, marble painted and made homemade play-doh. We are taking part in the library's summer reading program, we're playing at all the various parks around town, we made s'more bananas and we're eating our fair share of popsicles. During nap time N and are crafting (making super bouncy balls below), reading and playing Lincoln Logs or Legos. When it's not too hot out the boys are playing Power Wheels and diggin in the dirt with all our  neighbor kids. Life is good

Snow Day in June?

The past few days at our house have felt like snow days...except there's no s now. In fact, we've got the opposite of snow and by that I mean we're sitting through our first heat wave. We try not to become "shut in's" when it gets hot out, but I've been fighting off a tough little virus that has irritated by asthma. I asked D to stay at home with us on Thursday so I could get some rest and kick this thing. Having him home was wonderful. I was able to rest and the boys got to spend lots of time with Daddy. They sorted, organized and played Legos allllll day long in the basement. No joke, all day. They took breaks for meals, that's it.