What is that?

So a couple weeks ago when leaving a friend's house I noticed Alaina had, what looked like at that time, some scratches on her arm.  I didn't think much of it there were LOTS of kids there and I just figured she had gotten scratched. 

Well, the next day, late morning, I noticed that these "scratches" now were all blistered.  All the way down the entire length of the red mark was blistered and looked like burns.  (Note: the blisters had almost all popped by the time I thought to take a picture.)  I started looking to see if it was anywhere else, and sure enough, she had some smaller marks and blisters around her thumb on the same arm.

I was pretty nervous about it and thought that for sure I would have known if she had gotten 2nd degree burns.  So, I called the Dr. and took her in. 

He knew right away that she had gotten into some Wild Parsnip.  I had never heard of such a thing happening.  Apparently, when you pick Wild Parsnip, the sap from the plant gets on your skin and the UV rays from the sun burn the skin where the sap is.

So, how did we come into contact with Wild Parsnip, you ask.  Well, the day before we were at the friends house where I noticed it, we were at another friends house in the country that is basically surrounded by wild prairie.  Alaina was picking "flowers" all morning there.  Who knew this would happen.  I guess once the blisters heal the dark marks can stay on her arm for months.  We'll see what happens.  

It's HOT!

Sorry for the quality of this picture, but I took it yesterday at 5:30pm while I may or may not have been driving. 

Needless to say, it is H-O-T HOT here!  With the heat index we are talking 115 degrees hot with no air movement yesterday.  And of course it is Backyard Bible Club week.  We did actually cancel yesterday due to the heat, but we endured Sunday and Monday nights, and will still have the block party tonight.  The kids don't seem too bothered, but I know that my girls have no awareness of when their bodies need water.  So, I think it's best to be safe.  

I have come to the conclusion, that there are weeks (months) in the winter when you can't be outside, but likewise, there are weeks in the summer when you can't be outside either.  It makes me very thankful for spring and fall.  

I'm looking at when school starts and kinda freaking out that summer is quickly passing.  We have plans for the next 4 weekends, then school starts.  I have to remember that just because school starts doesn't mean winter starts.  There will still be weekends to camp and enjoy the outdoors.   There is still time to get in some of the activities that we love.  I just need to relax and enjoy these last few weeks that I have Paige full time at home.  But more on that later.

She's so Loving!

Today Alaina found a millipede while playing outside.  She brought it to show me and tell me how cute it was.  She cradled it and carried it around for 15 minutes.  She "lubbed" her milipede.  Then, when she decided she wanted to play on the swingset, she lovingly set the milipede on the sidewalk........and squished it with her foot.  "There, it's dead now," she said, and walked away.

A couple more Alaina-isms

"I found a diamond!" = I found a dime.
"I don't want to eat the bone!" = I don't want to eat the crust (of pizza).
"I want to wear my candles today!" = I want to wear my sandals today.

~Random Fun~

This is my girl who makes huge messes yet hates to be messy!  You can't leave her alone for a second and she's destroying something.

An afternoon nap!  Isn't she sweet?!

 We spend most of our day dressed up or sans clothes. 

 One afternoon during quiet time, I let them play together.  They had dressed up and worked out a "recital" for me.  It was very cute.

My flower child!  This girl loves frilly dresses and picking flowers.  I love that she has on a completely accessorized outfit complete with dress, shoes, headband, necklace, and ring.  She also "lubs" her babies and has one with her almost all of the time.  (Sidenote:  Her babies are still all named Baby Jesus!  LOVE it!)  My siblings say if there was ever going to be a hippy in the family, it would be Alaina.  She is just a free spirit!

Another random outfit by Alaina.  Gotta love the training pants and red tutu under the dress.

And lastly, Paige's lovely go at styling hair. 

Isn't she great?!

Camping!

We finally got a decent weekend that we actually had (mostly) free to go camping.  We found a really nice county campground.  There was a nice playground just down the trail and an arboretum with trails to bike through.  It was perfect for us.  I'm sure we will camp here often in the future. 

There is just something great about watching your kids create play with whatever they can find.  My girls spent a lot of time making "food", riding bikes, playing in the small pool I brought, and just collecting things they found aroud the site.  It was pretty hot on Sunday and poor Paige must take after me.  The girl was drenched in sweat.

Parade. Pedal Pull. Pals.

We headed back to my parents' for Frontier Days.  This is the first year since having kids that we have actually gone back.  My parents usually just have the girls and Mark and I have a weekend to ourselves, but this year we went along for the weekend, then left the girls with them for a few days.

Papa "found" them some new big wheels.  They were super excited and proceeded to drive around collecting things to put in the baskets.

There is aways a parade on Saturday.  It was actually a nice parade and had actual floats and things to see, instead of all advertisements.

Alaina doesn't like the loud firetrucks that had just passed.  You can kind of see The Lone Ranger and Tonto in the background.

Aunt Jenna brought Olivia up for the day.  Papa is in his element with his grand-daughters.  We then headed out to the fort where Paige participated in her first pedal pull.  She had fun and pulled 18.3 feet. 

How many women does it take to strap in a toddler?  Answer:  Two too many!

The girls got to pet "Tonto".

And we went to jail!

Nana swinging with the girls.

We ended the day with their first ever cousin bath.  Olivia actually didn't scream to take a bath for the first time in a while.  I'm sure it was because of her cool older cousins.