Strawberry pickin'

I love June! Our strawberry patch almost tripled from last year. We enjoyed picking them from our yard and also from Hazeltines.

It is a summer tradition for us Baierls. The pickin is so much fun. The berries were beautiful this year and the boys are all so much more independent pickers. Each of our kids have been placed in between the rows of strawberries long before the could walk. As babies they would sit and just eat what was near by.

It was a bit odd to have them all be this independent, but I am not complaining. Less and Less mom is needed for every single task.

Here are some pics from the time we went with the cousins.

My Little Kitchen Snitch

I swear things like this only happen when I am in the bathroom. It really doesn't take me long to pee but then again it only takes a second or two for things like this to happen.

Here is what happened:
Earlier in the week we were making brownies with white frosting. I allow the boys to lick the spoon/bowl, if they help make the goodies. Everyone but Caleb is satisfied by their frosting supply on their spoon. He complains. Normal event at our house, I think nothing of it go on about business.

Fast forward 1 day. I am baking banana bread. For the first time I try Crisco shortening instead of butter. (It is white and has a picture of cherry pie on the container) You know where this is going don't you.

I put the banana bread in the oven and go to wash up and use the bathroom.

I hear spitting noises and running of feet.
Then David yelling "Mom, Mom, Caleb ate the bleach!"(earlier in the day the boys were cleaning the bathroom with me - with bleach - at which time I gave them a lecture about cleaning stuff being poison and not something to goof off with, etc. etc.)

My thoughts are somewhere between:
Oh my! What the ----? Can a guy go pee alone? and Why me?

I run out to discover some white chunky stuff on the floor, Caleb with his mouth open spitting out more of it. David freakin' out and Nathan standing over - stunned - at this spectacle. In a split second I am certain this isn't bleach. The container is way out of reach, it isn't white and it isn't chunky.

Ok, I calm down some, and ask my spitting son. "What is that?"
Caleb points to the Crisco shortening. "I thought it was frosting!"

I laugh out loud. Which receives 3 kids horrified looks? She is laughing when Caleb is poisoned?

I say: "Caleb it is not bleach, you are going to be ok. Try and calm down. Come in here and brush up your teeth and mouth. It isn't frosting but it isn't poison either. Lets clean you up.You are going to be ok."

After everything settled I was informed that his snitching of "frosting" was my fault. I assume this was because I didn't give him enough batter to lick on his spoon the day before. Whatever.

Restitution!

I received my first check from restitution today!
In July it will be 3 years since my purse was stolen. (I was 8 mo pregnant with Nathan)

All 3 people who wrote my checks all over WI were caught, convicted and served time.
2 of the 3 are out on probation and are now working.
That means yesterday I open my mailbox to find my first check from the state of WI Department of Corrections.

It looks like it will be a long time before I get all the court ordered for me, but hey it's a start.

I was able to show David the check too which helps him see the final chapter in the justice of the system. A good lesson for my son who wants to be a cop.

Lake Emily Camping part 2

Caleb is really growing up fast. He is so much gusto. He was just flying thru the campground on his bike (still training wheels but he goes like lighting!) and gets up so much force that taking his left turn to our site results in a full fledge crash. Good thing he had on a helmet he told me later. Yes good thing!

Caleb at the lake was great too. He walked out with Zach's innertube and decided to lean on it like Samantha. Then he began to kick his legs and propell himself thru the water over to John. His smile was huge. He went in the water past the part where he could no longer stand and was so proud of himself. Then he got brave enough to do that with no innertube and really overcame some of his fears.

Both my oldest boys really dislike the water so this is really a huge deal!

Camping with the 3 boys was WAY easier this year than last. Everyone is now old enough to respect the firepit without a hundred warnings. Nathan is substantially more independant and Caleb is now in the big kids crowd. Whatever Zach, Sam and David were doing Caleb was keeping right up with them.

Lake Emily Memorial Weekend Camping part 1

Whoever would've believed that I would enjoy camping?
Well I live in a family of all guys so I am rollin' with it.
Of course Lake Emily has flushing toilets and normal showers so it isn't exactly roughing it.

This place is wonderful. We spent 4 days and 3 nights of outdoors fun in the sun. The weather was picture perfect (except for the thunderstorm Sunday night). It was 80's during the day and full sun and mid 50's overnight.

David and Caleb made great strides in overcoming their fears in the water. The lake is so clean even Caleb wasn't concerned about fish in the lake. Nathan enjoyed the lake too but mostly he liked the sand.

David got to play the part of hero this weekend too. Now I am not sure why these things happen to John but he has once again been the first responder and caller to 911 for a stranger. (In the last few years it has been a bicycle/car accident, a pedestrian/car accident, an auto fire - which John put out himself and a couple others) Now this time he is with David.

David and John decide to go to the pop machine for a soda. They walk to the first machine but then decide to go to the other one clear across the campgrounds. While standing at the machine, John looks over and sees 2 feet hanging out of the bathroom/changing area. He and David walk over and discover a young 20 something man lying on the cement floor unconscious. John calls out "You OK?" no response. So he checks and the man is breathing. John tilts his head back to open the airway better and calls 911. While on the phone he instructs David that he will have to flag down the ambulance. This isn't exactly a main street and the ambulance is going to be wondering where it needs to be. David kept his cool and when the sirens came, he flagged the ambulance over. We don't know what became of the man but David and John sure got more adventure than they bargained for on their way to the pop machine.

Nathan's heart

Yet another heart checkup for Nathan. We took him for his 6 month Echo cardiogram and consult last Friday. His levels are still the same, no change. He is still hanging out in the severe levels but his heart ventricles have not been thickening to compensate for the pressure. That is good news.

The echo cardiogram pictures are showing us a more accurate look at the makeup of his aortic heart valve. His case has been sent over for review to the children's heart intervention clinic. It is not clear at this time if his heart valve would perforate correctly from the balloon valvulopasty. So his ultrasounds will be reviewed by more specialists. That wasn't what I wanted to hear but I will sit tight and wait on the Lord for that.

Because Nathan has been at these levels for some time the pediatric cardiologist felt it was time to get a 24 hour EKG. So on Friday we were sent home with Nathan wired with a portable EKG machine.

I didn't think he would handle this well, but we told Nathan he could be like a robot (super powers) and he tolerated it pretty well. We will not know the results of this test for a week or two, maybe three.

David and Caleb will also have an appointment in June for Echo cardiograms to screen them for the same defect. Just in case either or both have the same problem but not enough to hear thru a stethoscope.

Here is a picture of Nathan as a robot. (The sticker of James from Thomas is the actual size of the EKG digital recorder isn't modern medicine amazing!)

video of whale watching

The 1st one is farther away the last 2 are great clips of just how close they were - so close they touched the boat and got people wet when they surfaced. Absolutely amazing I tell you just breath taking to be that close.