Losing teeth already?

Over the past month, Isaac's two bottom middle teeth have been coming in. Yup...they just come on in and push the baby teeth out of the way. Audrey's did the same thing. Eventually the baby teeth do come out. Isaac, however, was much more proactive than Audrey, wiggling and "checking" them every day once he knew they were loose. Saturday morning he pulled out his first tooth, and Sunday afternoon, his second one. The tooth fairy DID come two nights in a row...and, just like sister said, left a "special" gift, along with the dollar, for the first tooth (a gift certificate for ice cream at Baskin Robbins with Dad).

A visit from Grandma and Grandpa

The visit was short and sweet this summer, but my parents did fly in for a couple days to see us and their parents in Visalia (all 4 of them are still living). It was a FULL week, so here goes with the "report" of their visit. We picked them up on Monday morning in Sacramento (it was more than $200 cheaper, per ticket, for them to fly in there) and stayed for the night to enjoy some of what Sacramento has to offer. We checked into our hotel and walked the river walk a mile into Old Town to visit the Train Museum that afternoon. We also wandered around Old Town, stopping for a snack of ice cream and to "pan for gold" in front of the Gold Rush Discovery Museum. We headed back to the hotel down the river walk and passed the Sacramento River Water Intake structure. It's a pretty amazing structure! We walked out onto it, into the middle of the Sacramento River and enjoyed the cool breeze! Then we finished our walk back to the hotel, cooled off with a jump in the pool, and then drove to the Old Spaghetti Factory in downtown (which is housed in the old train depot, fitting for the day). YUM! Tuesday, after checking out of the hotel, we headed to Fairfield to visit the Jelly Belly Factory. Did you know that every Jelly Belly in the world originates from the factory in Fairfield? Well, after our tour we headed home for a relaxing dinner with my dad's sister, Yvette, and her family. We enjoyed chatting and watching the amazing All-Star game all the way to its conclusion! Wednesday we drove to Visalia for visits with the grandparents but managed to make it home in time to catch the last matinee showing of Wall-E. This was Violet's first movie in the theater (minus one she slept through in her car seat at 8 months old). All the kids loved it! Thursday morning my mom got some one-on-one time with the kids as Randy, my dad, and I went golfing in Madera. Thursday afternoon was finally a chance to relax. Friday, my parents drove back to Visalia for one more visit with their parents, and after a small shopping trip into town that afternoon we had a family BBQ to end our time together. Saturday morning we dropped the kiddos off at Grandma Arlene's house so that we could drive my parents back to Sacramento for their 4 p.m. flight. Like I said, short and sweet, but packed with lots of fun! We were so happy they could come out! Even with today's technology (ie. our blog, iChat, pictures and phone calls) there truly is nothing like being in the same room with someone you love. I am so thankful that Randy was able to take the whole week off to be with the family, and that my parents took the time and the money to be with us and our kids! Thanks Mom and Dad for a great visit! Enjoy all the pictures! Panning for "gold". Looking at stuff in the train museum. In front of the train engine! Grandpa and Audrey checking out the trains. Grandma with the girls at the toy trains. Audrey's photo of me and my mom. Violet and I ready for the tour! They don't let you take photos once you're in the factory...so we only got a couple right before. Audrey waiting in line with her balloon flower. Randy and I in front of a portrait of Ronald Reagan (the president that helped make the Beans famous) made entirely of Jelly Belly Beans! A game of baseball in the front yard. Just Isaac being Isaac! Daddy and Violet goofing off. Audrey's ready for the pitch! Grandma and Violet sharing some popcorn.

Camping with the Wiens'

Last weekend we escaped the heat and headed up the mountains with the Wiens family to our favorite campsite. Yes, we do visit other places, but Kings' Canyon is just so accessible (only an hour and 15 minutes away), always 15 to 20 degrees cooler than Fresno, and just beautiful, sun or snow. We were only there for the weekend, but it was a nice break. The word "vacation" is a relative term for a parent of young children (as Christa mentioned on her post) since you are not actually getting a break from your "work" which is caring for your children...and since you take your kids with you when you go "on vacation", thus, the work follows you. But, none the less, it is still a change of scenery...and a great one at that! Not to mention all the adults share the load of watching the kiddos! Another great bonus of camping with friends is that when the kids are tucked in their sleeping bags and asleep in the tent, you can stay up with the adults around the campfire, have uninterrupted conversation, a cold drink from the ice chest, and more smores than your stomach can handle! Enjoy the pictures (and click over to the Wiens' blog for even more)!

Photo updates

Okay, okay, there's some photos I've left out recently (according to comments on the last couple posts). So, here it is, not real exciting, but our new chair. The other request was for some of the pictures Audrey took with her camera from our recent camping trip. Well, I plugged in the camera yesterday to load them on and, apparently, Audrey had erased them all to create more space for some "home videos" created by her and Isaac. Here is Isaac's first film...something he did while he was supposed to be resting during "quiet time".

A new toy

Being married for eleven years, Randy and I have slowly replaced all of the hand-me-down furniture we received when we were college-age newlyweds. The massive, L-shaped, "so low you have to roll your pregnant self out if it" couch was finally replaced with a new coach and recliner, paid for with an unexpectedly large tax return after Audrey was born. The burgundy, "so heavy it takes four grown men to move it", hide-a bed couch that we had by the fireplace was also replaced with a much lighter, reclining love seat a couple years ago (also with tax return money, I believe). When the wooden rocking chair with golden upholstery (from my great-grandmother) broke two years ago, I decided I couldn't part with it, and instead found a welder in town to fix the springs for me. But there is one chair that has never been replaced with a new version. Our swivel-rocker, "reading" chair has always had a slip-cover, but it has actually been four different chairs underneath through the years...either handed down to us or garage sale finds. When the rocker broke last week, I thought, "This is our chance!" We hadn't used any of our stimulus check yet, just put it in the bank and wrote a tithe check from it. So I took a trip down to our local furniture outlet and found exactly what I was looking for within the first few minutes. They had one in stock, so I got to take it home only 20 minutes later. The kids, in turn, got a brand-new fort-sized box to play with. By the end of the day they had cut it to the correct configuration, reinforced it with packing tape, made a sign outside the door that said "Mack kid clubhouse" and even taped a couple of their favorite pictures to the walls inside. The timing of the new box could not have been more perfect. With Audrey needing to stay indoors and recouperate, not to mention the weather being close to 110 degrees the last few days, the kids needed something extra to enhance their creativity! As Audrey's been feeling better, the girls have also resumed their dress-up times. Here's the latest ensemble (note the single earring).

Isaac "Worm-Burner" Mack

"I'm gonna be a professional golfer someday," he says to Randy as he's about to swing his club to whack a ball a good 80+ yards across Hoover High School's green.

Our not-so-notable Independence Day

This year's Independence Day was much different from our norm. In past years we would travel from place to place, starting with a pancake breakfast and ending with a Grizzlies' baseball game. Not this year. On July 3rd, Audrey made a trip to the Emergency Room at Children's Hospital. She'd had a fever for 13 days, was looking really pale, hadn't been interested in eating much (so, consequently, lost 3 pounds in 13 days), and had been complaining off-and-on of side and/or tummy aches. She'd already been to see her regular doctor twice, which included a couple tests and x-rays, but no "figuring out" what was causing the fevers. So by Thursday, he and Randy and I were all ready to figure out what exactly was going on in Audrey's little body. Well, our trip to the E.R. proved successful. After getting a diagnosis of UTI and sinus infection, a large dose of antibiotics through her IV, a scrip for more antibiotics, and an order of "stay indoors, rest, and relax" through the weekend, she headed home. So for Independence Day, we opted out of the pancake breakfast and any other family gatherings so Audrey could relax and rest at home. She stayed at Grandma's house for the evening, and enjoyed some macaroni and cheese, watching Enchanted, painting her fingernails, and reading by candlelight (due to a power outage) while Randy and I, Isaac and Violet went to the Grizzlies' game with the Wiens and Lee families (sorry, no pics).

I am happy to report that after two days, Audrey continues to get better. Her fever hasn't returned, and she's eating like normal again! Thanks to all of you that have been praying for her over the past two weeks.