Sequence of events

So this morning around 1 am we were awakened by Marlee screaming with major leg pain. This is a common occurrence in our house. I have always suffered from severe pain in my legs so of course one of our kids had to inherit that. We gave her some medicine and within 20 minutes she was back asleep. My head had just hit the pillow when I hear, "Mom, my stomach hurts." Rhaegan is sleeping at the foot of our bed (we were at Shae's brother's house for the weekend). I tell her she's probably just hungry and to go back to sleep. She keeps insisting her stomach hurts really bad and she thinks she needs a bowl just in case she needs to throw up. Shae humors her and goes up stairs to look for a bowl. When he gets back downstairs he just has enough time to set the bowl on the floor in front of Rhaegan's face when the vomit starts flowing. That first episode happened around 1:50 and from then on every hour was welcomed with another vomit session. This poor little 40 pound girl was so weak by the time 7 am rolled around I had to carry her upstairs to lay her on the couch. She continued to throw up every 40 minutes until 10 am. I was so preoccupied with Rhaegan that I forgot about Marlee. So at around 815 I realized oh my goodness I haven't gotten Marlee out of bed yet. As I open her door she immediately says Mom, go out. Don't look. Ok that sentence is never welcomed with something pleasant and of course why should this time be any different. Smeared all over the sides of her mesh pack n' play is POOP!!!! I mean seriously. This is not what I needed after a night filled with vomit. I throw her in the shower, run upstairs to help Rhaegan throw up again and then head back downstairs to get Marlee's bed cleaned up. Shae cleans Marlee off, gets her dressed and joins everyone upstairs. Rhaegan is so tired and weak and her throwing up has now turned into dry-heaving. It is still so violent that her eyes are blood-shot and she's sweating buckets. She goes about 2 hours without throwing up and I think we are in the clear when a spell of diarrhea starts. I have never seen my little girl this sick and it's breaking my heart to watch. She falls asleep for about 2 hours and wakes up feeling a little better, sore but better. Luckily that was the end of her episodes. She is still so weak and tired but at least her body can rest. This was a Friday I could have lived without.

Happenings

We have been in Utah for the past 2 weeks and have been loving every minute of it. We have taken over Shae's brother's house and I'm sure they're ready for us to leave but it's been a lot of fun catching up. All the kids missed each other so much and have been playing nonstop everyday. I of course was so anxious and excited to see my friends.

A night out at Chili's was a must.

It's soccer season so a lot of our evening have been spent at games and practices. Luckily all the fields have had playgrounds to keep the little ones occupied.

BFF cousins! Rhaegan missed Ashton and Madison so much and has loved spending so much time with them.

Now these two are another story. They may look like they like each other in this picture but looks can be decieving. Brooklyn and Marlee should be renamed Oil and Water. They are the best of enemies. Our days are filled with time-outs, melt-downs and screaming matches. Their personalities are the exact same so it's no wonder they struggle to get along. It's a good thing they are both adorable.

And of course I had a make-over. My wonderful nieces and daughters could really have careers in the make-up business.



We miss these guys

We really enjoyed our time in Ohio and we miss all the wonderful people we met while there. This was our last day in Lovelend and so we thought what better way to say goodbye than with a good old slip and slide party.

 Rhaegan and Marlee made some amazing friends. We will miss hearing the famous words, "Can Rhaegan play?"

 It was so nice having friends just over the hill in the backyard to run and play with.

We will sincerely miss all of you guys. Hopefully we'll see you soon.

Blessed

I just have to say I am pretty lucky. I have the best siblings ever. Even though Quinten tormented me as a child he and Nick are still the best big brothers a girl could ask for. I love knowing that I have three people I can count for anything. Having a sister is like having an automatic best friend. We may have our differences but Krista is that best friend. Thanks guys for always being there for me. You're the BEST!

NC 2011

This year our North Carolina trip was a month earlier than the previous years. We also went as just the Cupps family minus the Noble clan. It was definitely a different experience without the whole crew. We really miss having them but we did have fun being together as a family since that is a rare occurrence. Rhaegan and Marlee loved having their cousins there and are still talking about them. We made a lot of great memories and can't wait until our next trip to the beach.

All the girl cousins looking at the turtles.

We had to take a ferry ride over the Okracoke island. I think the boat was a big hit at least for my kids.

Each day we all relaxed at the beach under this amazing yard sale find. Josh got a steal of a deal on this enormous umbrella. Thanks, Josh!!

Marlee's swimsuit was always giving her a weggie. At least she's got a cute tush.

Our house this year had it's own pool which Rowdy and Snarky took full advantage of. Rhaegan loved swimming with them.

The cousins enjoying the waves fully clothed.

Fishing at the canal behind our house.

My little ladies!

The Cupps kids. Aren't we a good looking clan?

May-June Recap

May and June seemed to fly by for us this year. We had so much going on I couldn't find even a spare second to blog about our happenings. We had a preschool graduation, an end of the school year picnic, a family night at a Reds game, a trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina (pictures to come) and more days at the pool than I can count. All in all, we have had a great past two months.

Rhaegan's "End of the Year" picnic was a huge hit. It was unbelievably hot that day but luckily the ice cream truck was about to make a pit stop at our park.

After long days at the pool I would often find the girls doing this...Marlee is starting to really love books (thanks to Rhaegan).

Rhaegan loves going to the Reds baseball games. We decided we would have a family night there and of course it wasn't going to be complete without a little cotton candy.

Uncle Josh and Aunt Krista were able to be there too which made it even more fun for all of us.

And at the end of May our little miss Rhaegan graduated from preschool. She made so many wonderful friends there and will miss them all so much. She can't wait for kindergarten to start this fall.

We enjoyed a week at the beach and some other fun outings which I will blog about soon.