Blog the Frog

This morning Keira asked me to blog the frog. She made a frog sculpture out of homemade play-dough for a school project, and she wanted me to post it for everyone to see. It is a mommy frog and her three little babies.

Keira is a fan of frogs. She received two African Dwarf frogs for her birthday. She also has stuffed frogs, and she loves to draw them. Here's a few of Keira's many frogs.

Indian Summer

The girls were enjoying the fabulous fall weather last week by running around in the backyard in their bathing suits. They had a blast spraying each other...Natalie especially liked making her sisters squeal with the cold water from the hose.

RMNP

We love to visit Rocky Mountain National Park in the fall. It is a great time to see some fall color and to view wildlife. It is rut season for the elk, and the bulls are busy rounding up the females. What an amazing experience to see the elk up close. The elk are also very vocal at this time of year. The bulls bugle and the females signal to their young to keep them close.

Every time we go to RMNP I diligently scan the meadows and forest for moose. Every time I have been disappointed to not see any. I have been told that there are moose in the park, but they are very shy. This year, we finally spotted moose, not one, but four! The first two we spotted because there were several cars pulled over. It was a mother and her young. We also spotted a bull moose. It was very exciting because I first saw his antlers as he was running through the willows. It was getting dark, so I wasn't quite sure what I was seeing at first. I asked Drew to pull off on a side road so we could get a closer look. As we came around a corner, there was a massive bull moose! Look at the size of those antlers!
It is hard to imagine their bulk until he is a stone's throw from your car. He was amazing! We also saw a female moose nearby and figured that the bull had probably been chasing after her. I did take some photos, but they did not turn out very well since it was dusk. The girls had a great day. They especially liked that Drew let them watch the moose out of the sun roof of the car.

Our Day Out

Fiona gave us a day out as an anniversary gift. She took the kids to the museum, and we played all day. We started with a bike ride in Red Rock Canyon followed by a yummy lunch at Edelweiss. Next, we hit some golf balls with some good friends at Patty Jewett. Then we had a quick dinner at Smashburger before heading to see a movie. It was a full and fun day...thanks, Fiona!

Helping Daddy

It melts my heart to see things like this. I love how Drew invites his children to be involved in what he is doing. He seems to have an endless amount of patience with his girls. I fondly remember being my Dad's little helper when I was a girl. He taught me the names of his tools so that I could go and fetch things for him, and I was happy to help. At least...that is how I remember it.

Keira's Stitches

In July 2009, Keira's finger was pinched in a door (see post here.) In July 2010, Keira again needed stitches. This time she was playing soccer barefoot in the backyard when she stepped on the lawn edging. Keira was so brave! I was playing with the girls when it happened, and she looked down at her foot and rather calmly said, "Oh, Mommy." Due to her response, I was rather shocked to see her injury, and I was not so calm. Thankfully, the Lord helped me to respond how I needed to...I called Drew! I also grabbed a washcloth to put pressure on her wound. I was amazed, and thankful, at how quickly the bleeding stopped. Blood makes me woozy, especially when it is coming from my child. By the time I had the three girls buckled into the car, Drew was home, and he drove us to the doctor's office. (We learned last year that you can have stitches done at the doctor's office and skip the emergency room.) Here is a before and after photo of her injury. Click on it to enlarge it if you really want to see how awful it was...12 stitches!!!
Unfortunately, our pediatrician wasn't comfortable stitching this injury. She referred us to another office and off we went. They took Keira back to the procedure room right away...very unlike our experience at the emergency room last year. Keira was very interested and watched most of the work done. They cleaned out her wound which Keira handled very well. Then they started the shots. As you know, the shots did hurt and she complained a bit. At one point Keira pulled her foot away and actually bent the needle that the doctor was using. Ouch! Once her foot was numb, Keira layed back and played the bubble game on Drew's cell phone while the doctor put in the twelve stitches. I only gave Keira one dose of ibuprofen for the pain. I wish I had her pain tolerance.

Keira had to stay off her foot for several days, and she had to stay out of the pool. We had just started our two-week swimming lessons. This was the hardest part of the injury for her. We either had to carry her, or push her in the stroller. I was thankful that she could fit in our jogging stroller because it was difficult to get around with her and Natalie by myself. We are so grateful that her foot healed up without complications and it doesn't bother her anymore.

Cancun

We went to Cancun last week to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary. I can hardly believe that it has been that long! We had a very nice relaxing trip just the two of us. We ate some fabulous food, sat by the pool, played beach volleyball, and went for long walks on the beach. Even though we missed the girls, it was nice to know that they were being well cared for by a family in our church.