A Day At The Lake!

On Saturday June 10th we headed up to Duck Lake to spend the day with Papa Martin celebrating his birthday. We had no idea what the property was like so we brought a bunch of stuff....camp chairs, swimsuits and games. 

Right away Owen latched onto a fishing pole and pretty much didn't move for most of the day. 

I had never heard of Duke Lake before. It's small, peaceful and a great place to get away. 

I don't remember how long we'd been there, but it really wasn't that long and Owen caught a fish! 

He was reeling that thing in so fast! 

Michael's Uncle Ken said they had just restocked the lake so most of the fish were super little and weren't worth keeping. 

We were pretty sure that was going to be the case with Owen's fish. 

Michael came over to help Owen get it out of the water and we realized that it was actually a decent size. 

This cute guy caught about a 12 inch trout! 

I told Owen since he caught it he needed to kill it! 

It took a couple hits, but he did kill the fish! 

Nice catch buddy! 

Owen wanted nothing to do with gutting and cleaning it though so Michael had to take that on. 

Jackson had fun fishing as well...I think he caught one of the teeny tiny guys. 

One of Michael's Aunts cooked the trout on the BBQ for us. 

We told Owen that he HAD to try it. 

Of course he was not thrilled with the idea. 

But he did taste it. I can't remember if I actually told him he wouldn't get to fish anymore if he didn't try it, but that sounds about right. 

He of course did not like it, but at least he tried it! 

After being there awhile the boys wanted to go out on the lake. They had two paddle boats that we could use. 

I love paddle boats and if we lived on a lake that was this small we would absolutely have one.

Getting my exercise! 

The wind was blowing a bit so we only went across to the other size of the lake and then came back. 

It wasn't a super nice day, but it also wasn't too yucky. We did feel a couple raindrops, but nothing horrible. 

Such a fun experience with these cuties! 

Michael is a bit too tall for a paddle boat...his legs could never fully extend...so he was a bit more uncomfortable than I was. 

For the most part this was my view. I was just sitting around the fire pit eating and talking with Michael's cousins. 

Don't you love how Owen is sitting in the camp chair with his legs crossed!!! That kid kills me!!! As for Ella....she didn't fish...she didn't go out on the paddle boat...she didn't sit around the fire...she mainly was just off playing with the other girls. She was in heaven! 

The whole reason we were there...to celebrate Papa Martin's 67th Birthday!!! 

Later on the boys talked Papa into taking them out on the paddle boat! 

I think during this picture Papa is getting on and Zeke is right behind him getting off. He changed his mind about another boat trip! 

And they're off! 

Once they were back on land Papa and Owen just looked like old fishing buddies! Seriously Owen sat there ALL DAY LONG!!!!

I took the Jack and Zeke out on the paddle boat one more time. There was this little island across the lake and Jack really wanted to conquer the island. 

Ahha!!! I have founded a new land. I shall call it...Jamerica! 

We ended up leaving around 6pm. It was a fantastic day and I can't wait to go hang out with everyone another time! 

And what's a road trip without peeing on the side of the road! Note to self....when the boys say they have to pee...THEY HAVE TO PEE!!! Good gracious I swear they must have each lost 2 lbs after they finished peeing! 

Jack's Braces!

On Thursday June 8th Jack got braces!!! 

He's our first kiddo that has needed braces and we have actually known about this since his very first dentist visit. The kids pediatric dentist noticed right away how small Jack's mouth was and how his teeth had absolutely no gaps between them. We've just been waiting for his 8 front baby teeth to fully grow in as well as his 6 year molars. 

At his consultation the Orthodontist talked about how Jack has numerous issues going on. First off his upper teeth come out too far. They also cover up too much of his lower teeth. Then there's the issue of one of his lower adult teeth coming up behind the other three lower adult teeth. One of the ladies really had me worried that the insurance wasn't going to cover his braces. The total was almost $5000.00!!! We would of course figured out a way to pay for it since this is super important for Jack, but it would have been very difficult. A couple days after his consultation I just prayed that God would go before the paperwork and really soften the hearts of the people that would be looking at his file and that they would see how he really needed this and it wasn't in fact trivial. After I gave it to God I just completely stopped worrying about it. About 5 weeks later I got a call from the Orthodontist office saying that the insurance approved everything 100%!!! Praise the Lord!!!! 

Jack got what's called stage 1 braces. Only the top 4 and bottom 4 are going to have braces. 

In Jack's case he only has 3 teeth with braces on the bottom. Once those three teeth get moved over enough then they will put a brace on that fourth tooth that grew in behind the other three and they'll start pulling it forward. 

Jack chose red for the color of his bands. His next appointment will be in 6 weeks. So far he hasn't complained about his teeth being sore except once when I was flossing his teeth and I accidentally push on them. Speaking of flossing...talk about a pain in the tushie! Just a couple days ago I went on Amazon and bought a really nice water pick on sale for $40...it was normally $120 and had great reviews. That thing is a mess to use...water everywhere...but it's made getting out all the gunk much easier. 

This picture was taken 4 days after Jack got his braces on and look at those two front teeth! There is a gap there! Those two teeth were seriously smushed together....look at the first picture on this post. I can't believe the difference after just a few days. Crazy!!! Plus this kid hasn't been screaming out in pain. He has always had the highest pain tolerance of any of the kids. Just amazes me! 

I'm so excited to see Jack's teeth move more and more into place.

Jack's Birth-Day!

Jack's actual birthday fell on a Monday. I woke up that morning and it hit me that I had completely forgotten to get cupcakes or something like that to bring to his class to celebrate. Jack ended up choosing mini donuts as his treat and I was so thankful because they are super cheap at the bakery outlet that's not far from our house. 

Birthday boy!!! 

The kids sang Happy Birthday to him and they did all these silly motions at the end. I have no clue what it was all about. 

It was so nice after school that I asked Jack if he'd like to ride around on his bike for a little while. He did for about 10 minutes....he's still a bit leery! 

Later that night someone came to the door and it was a delivery lady and she had these amazing flowers. Michael's work had sent them to us showing that we were in their thoughts and prayers. They were SO beautiful and SO thoughtful! 

As well as flowers we had some amazing people at our church sign up to bring us meals. At first I was thinking you know I'm doing okay and I'm capable of making us dinner...I had just went shopping at Costco so we had plenty of food. But then I remembered that if someone wants to bless you, you really should let them because if you don't you might be robbing them of a blessing. In all we were provided with dinner 4 times and it was SO wonderful! It amazed me at how drained I felt from all the emotions. I was so exhausted and making food just felt like so much work. It really truly was a blessing to us and we were so grateful! 

After dinner Jackson got to open his presents from us. 

Right after Christmas Jackson asked for a red boomerang for his birthday. I made a mental note and the next time I went to Wal-Mart there just happened to be a red boomerang and it was only $4.99! 

On one of my shopping trips I stopped by Discount Direct and found this fun Catch Phrase game in the shape of the Millennium Falcon for $4.00!!! I found this exact game at the mall a couple months later and it cost $39.99!!! All the words are of course based off Star Wars. It's a little difficult for the kids right now, but I bet they'll be able to pick it up soon enough. 

This is one of those Usborne Shine A Light books. I had placed an order earlier in the year and accidentally this got this animal book by mistake. I got to keep it and figured I would put that in with Jack's gifts because he loves animals. 

When I ordered the Usborne books I also bought Jackson this new series called Fizz...the books that are on the floor in this picture. There are 4 books in the series and they are all about a dog named Fizz. He has been reading those books like crazy! I love Usborne books and I really hope they come out with more books to this series!!! The last present was something I got on the Des Moines Buy Nothing FB page. They were playing cards that were Disney characters dressed up as Star Wars characters. It is so cute seeing Mickey dressed up like Yoda! They are two decks of cards one Jedi and the other Sith. Jackson has been really enjoying playing War with his new cards. 

Jackson definitely had a wonderful birthday this year. Next year will be his big going out birthday since he'll be turning 10. For right now he still wants to go to The Tag Zone so we are planning on that.