Down: 5/5

If you live in the Wenatchee area, you'll want to stay far away from this house!  :(  Here's what we've been up to:
Week of April 12th: Shelby sick with stomach bug of some sort - all week.
Week of April 19th: All three kiddos had fevers and some cold symptoms...Vivian's turned into pneumonia.
Week of April 26th: Vivian in the hospital for four days; Shelby got pink eye the day Vivian went into the hospital; Josh got sick on Tuesday (fever and sore throat); Vivian came home Wednesday; Shelby and Jared got fevers again; Friday night Josh got bad pink eye!  Saturday Josh went to Urgent Care to get medicine, which he describes: "it is like putting Vaseline in your eyes."  Jared is getting a tooth.
Week of May 3rd so far: Jared has pink eye; I (Sharon) have a sore throat and have just about lost my voice; Josh's eyes are still yucky...but!  The girls seem to be good!!!  Aside from Shelby's cough.

Needless to say, we haven't done a lot of school these past three weeks!  We did still throw Jared his 1st Birthday party on Saturday, April 25th and it was as good a day as it could have been to have a party.  No reports of friends that came to the party being sick so we are thankful for that.

Gesh ~ it's been crazy around here.  I know lots of others are sick, too.  We are praying for you! And we are sooooo thankful to all of you who have been praying for us!  There were some scary times and we know that God always has each of us in the palm of His hand. We are blessed to be together as a family.  We are blessed by our loving friends here in Wenatchee helping to take care of us.

Here are some pictures of our family these past few days.

Vivian doing her albuterol inhaler (4/26/15, after first ER trip and before going into the hospital).  It didn't help.

Yesterday: Kiddos having a blast in the "waterbox" ~ we decided to do all water instead of 1/2 sand and 1/2 water, for now anyway.

Saturday: Josh's yucky pink eye.

Saturday afternoon: Handsome boy sitting on the soccer ball.

Jared is getting to be a fast crawler!  He is especially fast if there is something he wants.  Here's what he crawls fast for:

-open dishwasher (so he can crawl onto the open door)

-open door to go outside

-open refrigerator so he can play with condiments or anything he can grab

-the bathroom - he loves taking a bath!

-to chase the girls 

-to get to someone laying on the floor so that he can cuddle with them

-crayons, markers, stickers, paper...anything he isn't suppose to have

He is getting to where while cruising he will let go of something on purpose to see if he can stand on his own.  Pretty cute!  

And just a fun fact about our kids right now ~ 

Shelby weighs in at 44 pounds

Vivian weighs in at 33 pounds

Jared weighs in at 22 pounds

Hope you have a great week!

Vivian was sick

I haven't had a chance to update the blog this week as Vivian was sick.  She had pneumonia which caused breathing issues (wheezing, retraction, and up to 60 breaths/min), high fever (105), and increased heart rates (as high as 167 beats/min resting).  The poor girl's body was working really hard.  She was in the hospital Sunday through Wednesday.

IV in the ER - stayed in the whole time and she did great with it.

Exhausted.  She did earn three beanie babies for doing well taking medicine and being brave.

Up and moving around a bit on Tuesday.

Being silly with Daddy.  Josh stayed the first two nights with Vivian and was with her a lot.  They had a strong bond before and even more so now.  Very sweet relationship! 

Mommy and Vivian snuggling a bit.

On a walk down the hall.  She had to wear a mask if she left her room.  And everyone that came in our room had to wear a mask.

They were so glad to be playing together again!  

She'll be on antibiotics for another 8 days.  Vivian is very glad to be home!

Jared's 1st Birthday Party!!

We had a fun time today celebrating Jared's 1st birthday!  Despite Vivian being sick (fever and cough) we enjoyed having friends over to play, eat cake and open presents.  Jared had a lot of fun with everyone!

Jared had a "dirt mound" with a dirt bike on it for his cake.

Little water before the cake eating / destroying began.

Since Jared hasn't really eaten much food yet (still nursing) he wasn't too sure about the cake.  Shelby gave him some bites and I tried as well.  He semi-ate it, but mostly just like crumbling it.

Jared liked the wrapping paper and envelopes the best!

And he likes the balloons!

We didn't get a picture with all the kids and I'm bummed about that.  We had 11 kids and 7 adults.  It was a nice afternoon and we all enjoyed playing outside on the swingset.  Josh hooked up the fountain in our backyard and I am very thankful as I enjoy it!  

Thanks for coming everyone!!!

Happy 1st Birthday, Jared!!!

We are so excited today as it is Jared's first birthday!!  Here's our handsome fella ~

Dawson's Race!

Oh my!!!  We had such a fun weekend!  For several weeks now we have been looking forward to going to Spokane to watch Dawson Newby race.  We have known the Newby's for many years and have been wanting to see Dawson race.  With Jared just shy of 1 year and because he does well keeping his ear muffs on we hit the road Saturday morning and headed to Spokane for some Arenacross!!!  Here's all the pics ~

Outside the Team Faith rig.  Russel (my brother) drove the rig up with Dawson on Wednesday/Thursday.

Watching the time trials Saturday afternoon.

Look at that cute baby boy!

Grandma was able to come up to Spokane for the races!!!  It was such a blessing to have her with us ~ love that lady!  Grandma, Josh and Dawson serving the Team Faith devotional dinner for the riders and their crews, and anyone with a Pit Pass.  

We got to walk around the track!  Vivian especially loved this!  She would run up and down the hills, falling a few times just to get up, dust off and start running again.  The dirt was more like clay it seemed.

All the riders were lined up signing autographs and we got our picture with Dawson.  The girls told us tonight that they think he is handsome.  ;)  He sure has grown up to be quite the young man since we saw him last!  We are very proud of him as I am sure Jason and Jodi are, too.  

The Pit Passes were so fun because we got to be down where all the riders have their bikes.  Here we are by Dawson's bike.

Dawson on the "whoops"

At the starting line - Dawson is the one with the white and orange helmet with a cross on it.  Go God!

Shelby, sitting with Glenn and the Thayer boys.

The Thayers and Brookelyn (and Chloe) from our small group came too!  Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of all of us together, but here is Chloe with Vivian, Jared and me watching the race. We are so glad that the Thayers and Brookelyn came for the weekend!

Then we got to pick up Uncle Russel from the airport this afternoon, as he and Dawson and Steven (another rider) are driving the Team Faith rig to Portland.  This worked out well as they gave Grandma a ride to Richland where she will spend some time with Kim and family. 

Such a fun Uncle!  He just hopped right into the back seat with the girls.  :)

Dawson with the Bonus family.

Love those crazy sibs!

A very fun and crazy weekend!  We are glad to be home, but we sure enjoyed our time with family and friends and dirt bike racing!

Easter and kiddos playing

We had the chance to visit Kim and Adam in Richland for Easter and it was awesome!  The Bonus family just bought a house, after being in apartments for several (too many!) years.  The house is SO GREAT and we were glad to help them get settled and get a few projects done.  We had so much fun together!

Easter morning ~ Pretty girls and handsome boys!

Vivian and Shelby mid-way through the Easter Egg Hunt in the Bonus' back yard.

Jared hung out with me and Aunt Kim while the older kiddos hunted for eggs. 

On the homefront ~ Jared likes to empty the towel drawers.

And he did so well play-sleeping with the girls!  Shelby laid him down and tucked him in.  He laid in this bed for a long time.  It was precious!

Jared's first hike

We hiked up Castle Rock here in Wenatchee and had a fun time, but boy was it windy!  We didn't make it to the top as our hats were blowing off.  :)

Pretty neat view looking over Wenatchee.

Jared laid his head on Josh's head throughout the hike.  It was pretty sweet!

Our sweet boy - super excited to be holding a slice of apple!  

It was a great hike and we plan to go again, soon.  :)