Holy crap... There's 6 of us!!!: Long overdue update...

Oh my goodness.... Where do I even begin??? What a summer it's been. First of all it's been HOT! I'm so happy to see the cooler weather finally arrive, and the kids are definitely in much better moods :-). It's been a pretty busy summer for us between work, play, and sick kids. But, we've tried to make the best of it, and we have a great support system of family and friends.

Hmm... Where to begin. Well, we've spent the summer going around to various parks. Out at Lakeside park, they had the petting zoo back this year. I think it's been 2 summers that they haven't had it. The group that normally runs it could no longer afford to support and feed the animals that were there and decided to focus on their main mission, which is to rehabilitate handicapped children through riding therapy. But this year, a different group took it over and brought back a different variety of animals. Also, we went to Menominee Park Zoo in Oshkosh. They have all sorts of fun animals there too, and it's right next to Lake Winnebago (which is a pretty gross lake, but it had a nice breeze). Goopa went with us to there, so we were able to spend the day looking at the animals and playing on the GINORMOUS playground they have up there.

Aunt Becki, Uncle Chris and cousins Piper, Atticus and Mazie came for a visit last month. It was really good to see them, and the kids had a great time together. Piper celebrated her 6th birthday. I can't believe it!!!! I remember when she was first born! How fast time flies!! We all took the kids bowling, which held their attention for a little while, but for the most part they were only interested in the video games that were there. But Declan and Atticus are so cute together. They really seem to play together well which is a lot of fun to see.

The kids and Devin also took a trip to Marshfield to see Grandma and Grandpa Keenan. It's been an extremely wet summer (up until mid-August) so Declan and Sam had a great time running and jumping through puddles.

We've also had our share of sick kids this summer. First we had a string of stomach viruses that made their way through the house. Those are ALWAYS a blast.... Then Molli got Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease. She got it bad too. She had lesions in her throat that prevented her from eating, and a rash all over her body. She was pretty miserable for a few days. Then she started doing this weird "head drop". It seems like she loses muscle function in her neck for a second, and she drops her head back. So, we had to make an emergency trip down to the Children's Hospital in Milwaukee to be evaluated. They thought she was having seizures at first, so they hooked her up to an EEG, and had her under audio and video monitoring. Our trip down there was pretty much a bust. They told us that she wasn't having seizures (thankfully) but then they completely lost interest in her. The doctor told us that he "didn't know what it was, and it must be a developmental stage" and sent us on our way. So we left with no answers. Today, Molli had an MRI for further evaluation to see if we can finally solve this mystery. I feel terrible. She's been poked and proded, and hooked up, and sedated, and everything else this past week. i know that she won't remember it, but I will... And every time she has to go through something like this, it breaks my heart a little more. So, we'll see what tomorrow brings and if we can get an answer.

Devin and I have been busy with work, and chasing around two VERY active children. Nana has been a HUGE help this summer. So, that's all for now. Enjoy the pictures, and I promise to try to be better about updating the blog!!!!