Summer is flying by!

July has kept us running in all directions.  School supplies are out in the stores and the calendar for August is looking pretty booked up, so we're trying to squeeze in summer fun whenever we can.  July has had some ups and downs.  Before heading into July, Trevor had a cute haircut and got some gel in his hair to spike it up.  Cutie!

We left off on the blog after our trip to Texas in June.  As soon as we got back, we had the last games of the soccer season for Austin and Sarah, then headed to Iowa for the anniversary party of our dear family friends.  We had a great time celebrating with friends, but Trevor came out with a battle wound from falling on the driveway at the open house.   The poor guy scraped his forehead and his whole nose.

We had a small harvest of strawberries from our garden and Sarah and Trevor devoured them as soon as I brought them inside (actually, Trevor started picking them out of the garden and biting into them right away). 

Unfortunately, as soon as July came around, Sarah got sick!  Hand foot and mouth has been running rampant lately (I have been seeing TONS of kids in clinic with it), and unfortunately, Sarah caught it. On July 3, she had 102.6 degree fever and sore throat. She felt terrible and I decided to pop in to clinic with her to swab her throat for strep. However, when we got there, I discovered she had a blister on her finger, so we skipped the swab and took her home to rest and recover.  Unfortunately, she threw up in the garbage can by my desk at clinic before we headed home.  Poor kiddo!

By July 4th, her fever was gone, she only had a few more blisters, and her throat was starting to feel better.  We were still able to (carefully) celebrate the 4th of July with family after I was done rounding at the hospital for work.

We then had 1 good day on the 5th when nobody was sick...so we headed to Chutes and Ladders to play!

Trevor loved the sand scoops, but was too little to do it on his own.

Sarah has been obsessed with wearing dresses every day and insisted on dressing up in her maxi dress for the playground.

 Trevor tried out the tire swing with Austin.

And the big kids had fun climbing up to the really tall slides.

 Trevor actually managed to climb all the way to the top a couple times too!  Then back to the sand scoopers. 

The roller slide was the biggest hit!

Sadly, by the next day, the boys were down for the count.  Trevor and Austin both got fevers and sore throat, so we knew what was coming.  Austin only got a few little blisters, but poor Trevor got a TON!  His legs were covered waist to toes. He had them on his hands, face, throat, diaper area, and legs.

Some TV time while recovering. 

The poor kid recovered well, but had a rough time.  Here he is showing off a shiner on his forehead from falling in the garage, his scabbed scraped up nose from falling the week before, and his blisters around his mouth from his hand foot and mouth infection.

Austin has been enjoying baseball season.

Fans!

Here is a video of Austin's times at bat and also some of Sarah and Trevor playing "Ring Around the Rosie" with some new friends.

Austin is also learning to play the piano!

I found an iPad app perfect for his age group that teaches how to play the piano.  He gets to play along with songs on the app while the iPad can hear and sense what he is playing on the real piano. It give him rewards and feedback on the accuracy of his notes, timing, etc. and he works through different lessons (starting with middle C, then moving on to multiple notes, then using both hands, etc.).  He will play it almost every day and yells from the basement, "This is AWESOME!"  He is loving it and I love that he is learning to play the piano!  We'll probably pursue piano lessons later, but this is a great way to start!

 More fun playing at the park.

Sarah found a giant lollipop that had been hanging around in the pantry!

We took a Saturday to enjoy the "Ultimate Dinosaurs" exhibit at the Science Museum of Minnesota along with the IMAX movie about dinosaurs.
There is a big skeleton on the ceiling as you enter the museum and Trevor was interested right away!

 We enjoyed the musical stairs while waiting for the IMAX movie.

 We enjoyed checking out the big dinosaurs like giganotosaurus and carnotaurus.

Trevor tried climbing into the exhibit and actually, at one point, made it between the glass partitions.

Sarah listening to info about the dinosaurs on the phone...

Trevor wanted in on the action and was talking on the phone like he was having a conversation.

Austin also got into his dinosaur excavation kit that he got for his last birthday.  Because of all the plaster dust it was giving off, Daddy called me at work to ask me to bring masks home.  Hence, the 3 little masked bandits...

We also enjoyed an "Angry Birds" party at the Shakopee library the other day.  They had big Angry Bird stuffed animals and big carboard blocks to set up a big Angry Birds game. They also had some fun crafts, coloring pages, games, etc.

That's about all for July...soon we'll be on to August!  In August, we've got our family reunion at Ruttger's Bay Lake Lodge, Trevor's 2nd birthday party, a wedding in Chicago to go to while the kids have fun with Nanny and Grandpa, and then Elizabeth's wedding in St. Paul.  Then school starts!  Wow!