January!

Brynn reading to Parker. Yes he is wearing a Christmas stocking.... strange child

Chris building Parker's birthday Pirate Ship.

My goobers

Parker's birthday at school

His Boba Fett cake for his party

Passed out on the couch when we were watching Alice in Wonderland

Scarlet Fever hands. It was like candle wax. So gross.

Can't tell they are both sick. This was when they both were starting to feel better.

Our basketball star.... maybe a few more years =)

At the game.... She looks enormous!

The month's highlights....

- My Mom and John came to visit for New Year's Weekend. We celebrated Christmas, Parker's birthday and New Year's all in one weekend. We took the kids out to Kirshner Wildlife Reserve. Probably one of the coolest places you can take a kid or adult that's only 20 minutes away.

- Parker turned 5. We celebrated with family and Parker's two best friends from school. Lots of craziness in one house for an afternoon but, it turned out great.

- Brynn started basketball. I wasn't sure about signing her up since she is my child and a little bit of a sissy like me. Come to find out, she loves it. She has one practice a week and games every Saturday until the end of February. They lost their first game by two points. It was a very intense game for all the parents. Chris said it's the most fun he's had in a long time. Their second game they tied with the other team. Brynn was definitely not on top of her game. After being sick she really wasn't into it.

- Parker had his 5 year check up at the doctor. He has grown a lot since last year. He's 41 inches tall and 36 pounds. He's in the 15th percentile for height and the 40-50th for weight. The doctor said he's doing great. I was shocked to see him that high on the chart for height! The highest he's ever been is the 5th percentile and most of the time not even on the chart. While we were there the doctor asked if Parker had been sick. I told him yes but, seemed a little better. He said well he's got one heck of an ear infection and definitely a sinus infection. So he put him on antibiotics and he got bettter quick.

-Brynn went to her first ever slumber party. I was so worried that she would get upset and want to come home. Well she made it. Her friends mom texted me in the morning and said all the girls did great. None of them went to sleep until 3am but, slept until 9. They also had their first basketball game that day so, Brynn and two of the girls were extra tired. She went to another one the next weekend for her friend's birthday. They ended up getting three hours of sleep total. Brynn laid on the couch most of the day after.

- Chris, Parker and Brynn all got sick this month with a pretty bad cold. As I said above with Parker's doctor's appointment. Chris came home from work with a really deep hoarse voice and a horrible cough. Parker was sick ath the same time. Brynn caught it about a week later.

- On that note, we went back to Oakland Children's since her doctor wants to see her everytime she gets sick like this. We were there last month during Christmas vacation and now he said that she definitely has bronchitis, tested her for strep, and her ear infection is odd since she had blood collecting behind the ear drum. He still wants to wait on doing surgery but, has her scheduled to see the audiologist for her hearing and to come back and see him in March. So hopefully we can keep her well until then.

- While we were down at Oakland Children's I noticed Parker's hands peeling. Since he had been sick I remembered that it can be associated with something more severe. I called the pediatrician on our way back from Oakland. They got him in right when we got home. Turns out he had strep that went undetected and it turned into scarlet fever. They said since he was on antibiotics it was treating it too. So, he has nasty little peeling hands but, all his organ functions came back fine, since that is a concern when a person gets scarlet fever.

- Parker started soccer. Our Thursdays have become a little crazy now. We have Brynn's basketball from 4 to 5 and then Parker's soccer from 5-6. At least it's not too far to drive to his practice and his coach said it's fine if we are late. Thank goodness. (I'll get a pic of the soccer player this week)

-AND THAT IS JANUARY IN A NUTSHELL.