Hairdresser

M&M loves to learn new, fun hairstyles to try on herself and her sisters.  Here are a couple of recent ones that I have taken pictures of:

Hairstyle #1

Hairstyle #2 - This one is supposed to look like a bow.

Hairstyle #3

Hairstyle #4

Pool time!

Saturday, July 6

We met up with my sister-in-law and her two boys up at the Draper Pool near my parents' house.  We were amazed with how empty the pool was on a Saturday!  I'm not sure if everyone was out of town or what but I have never seen that pool so empty!  We had a lot of fun playing around there and then headed to my parents' house for dinner.  It kept threatening to storm that afternoon/evening and DH had brought his bike to ride back to our house.  I think he got rained on a little but most of it came after he got home.

Happy Pancakes!

Friday, July 5

I had some fun making pancakes with some leftover strawberries and blueberries!

Independence Day 2013

Thursday, July 4

We started out our day with the neighborhood parade again.  This year Luke, Blondie, Kitty and Kay all rode their bikes and M&M pushed MJ in the stroller.  I walked alongside to help Kay out since she still has training wheels.  I was a bit nervous with Kitty riding her bike since she had just learned to ride a two wheeler, but she did just fine.  It turns out that Blondie took a spill and scraped up her knee - which you can see in the picture!

After the parade and pancake breakfast, we came home and filled up the pools for some afternoon water fun. 

After dinner we were debating whether to try and go to a fireworks show or not.  With the way that MJ reacted to our home fireworks, I was not sure if she could handle a professional show.  After some deliberating we decided to try the Sandy City fireworks.  I brought some activities and treats for the kids and some earplugs and some ear protection headphones that DH uses when he does some of the yard work.  I was also prepared to make a quick escape to the car if needed.

After we got to the fireworks location we found a place to sit and the kids were playing some games when all of a sudden we recognized a group of people walking our direction.  It was two families from our ward that we are good friends with.  We ended up moving our blankets closer together to make room for them.  It turned out really nicely because one of the families has two kids that are good friends with M&M and Luke.

Kay posing for the camera with the headphones on.

MJ decked out with her glow sticks and headphones on.  Ready (or not) for the show to begin.

When they turned the lights off to prepare for the show to begin, I grabbed MJ and put her on my lap.  She was not excited at all about the fireworks but with the headphones on and my hands over top of them, I think she was surprised when the first fireworks were shot off and she hardly heard anything!  She sat there calmly on my lap the whole time and about halfway through the show she fell asleep!  Yea!!!

Afterwards it was pretty quick getting out of the parking lot and a short drive home!  Success!!

Cousin fun!

July 2 & 3
My brother from Missouri came with his family to visit for a few days at the beginning of July.  We had some fun with them playing on the slip-n-slide Tuesday afternoon and then on Wednesday we met up at Bridal Veil Falls to have a picnic lunch and play in the water.  DH was also able to meet up with us for the lunch.  That evening we had some dinner at our house followed by a home fireworks show.

 The water was freezing and some of the girls did not like playing in it for very long.

The water at the falls was FREEZING.  I'm not sure how some of the kids kept their feet in for so long.  The younger kids had a blast throwing rocks into the water and making it splash.  A couple of the kids had a little too strong of a throw though and we almost had a couple of hits - there were a lot of people around...

Sparklers!

Fountains!

MJ was absolutely terrified of the fireworks!  Even when sitting with me with my hands over her ears she was completely freaking out so I finally took her inside and let her watch a movie while we were outside.  Kay on the other hand - after the last fireworks were finished (the aerials) she said that she loved it and the last ones were her favorites!

Aerial

Baker's cyst

Tuesday, July 2

Back in May I noticed a big something under the skin behind Kay's left leg when I was drying her off after her bath.  I called her pediatrician the next day and we took her in to have the doctor look at it.  When the doctor saw it she said that it was most likely something called a Baker's (or popliteal) cyst and it was something not to worry about.  To be on the safe side though she gave us a referral to a specialist to have them take a look at it just to be sure.  So I called the specialist and wasn't able to get an appointment for over a month.  The day that they could get us in happened to be the same day that I had an appointment with my surgeon already but the times were such that we could make it to both in plenty of time.  

So on the day of the appointment, I took M&M and Kay with me to my appointment so that M&M could watch Kay while I was meeting with my doctor.  After that we went over to Primary Children's where Kay's appointment was.  When we got to the office, the waiting room was completely packed and there was a sign behind the checkin desk that had a list of how far behind the different doctors were!  We ended up waiting for over an hour past our appointment time before we were finally called back to an examination room.  First we had the nurse talk with us and then an intern came in and took a look at Kay's leg.  He had a flashlight with him and turned off the lights in the room and then put the flashlight up to the bump under her skin.  You could see the light shine right through it which he explained shows that it is in fact a Bakers cyst - a sac under the skin that is filled with joint fluid from the knee.  If the light didn't shine through the bump then it would mean that it is a solid mass instead of fluid.  After that the main doctor came in a basically did the same thing and said that this is something that 99 times out of 100 doesn't bother the child and will just go away on its own.  It can apparently happen when children are growing and some of the joint fluid leaks from the knee because of the quick growth.  Anyway, Kay is pretty proud to show her "bump" to people.  She did really good at the doctor's office and was a cute patient.

This was the best picture I could get of the cyst.  It is there behind the knee of her left leg - and you can only see it when she stands with her knees locked.