Happy 4th of July!

Kurt was working, so it was boys and I on our own for fireworks. I say this like EVERY year I venture out alone with the little boys to see the festivities. That's really not the case--to be honest, this is the first year I've seen them since Paxton was a tiny newborn. We parked ourselves on Uncle David and Aunt Mary Lou's deck with Grandma and Grandpa and waited for the show to begin. There was a nice "appetizer" from the neighbors that kept the boys interested until the main feature. They enjoyed them a lot, plenty of comments that tied into some of their favorite books and DVD's (Oooooh, that one looked like gold dust that Mr. Conductor uses! {Thomas} and Those are like the ones in the Curious George movie!) Paxton kept saying "take a picture of THAT one, Mom" and finally asked me to hand over a camera so that he could do the job he was sure I was slacking on!

Beckett Shares with Kabul

Kabul can spot an easy target from a mile away--small child with food? He's there. He didn't even have to get tough, Beckett very willingly shared his picnic weiner with him. Bite for Beckett, bite for Kabul. Couple more for Beckett, Kabul finished up. The crowd on hand for this scene had quite a laugh, but not at the shared meal. Oh no--it was my cousin Courtney choking and gagging over the fact that the two of them shared the meal in the first place. No pictures of that exsist, Courtney, you may thank me later...

And yes, I do think it's a bit unsanitary that they shared said weiner. BUT, he's child number 4, I know for a fact that there are far worse things that disappear between a childs lips. Besides, a dogs mouth is WAY cleaner than a humans, everyone knows this. Really--google it!

Practically a Nightly Event

Really, practically EVERY night. Parker and Paxton will battle it out with water guns out in the yard--it's not an evenly matched fight in terms of equipment OR skill, but they have a blast anyway. Sometimes Beckett will join in--he makes a GREAT target...

Graves' Disease Sucks...

But I couldn't find an image that I could use saying this. Last week I received the news from an endocrinologist that I have Graves' Disease. I've been having some thyroid issues for a little while now, and after a marked change in my labs within a few weeks time, my MD said it was time to move on to an endocrinologist. After a couple of tests that I had done before even seeing her, she was able to confirm that Graves' was the culprit.

My options are to take a medication that has potentially serious side effects for an extended period of time (ie: possible forever), try to destroy the thyroid with radiation (which will cause a different type of thyroid hormone problem, but easily fixable with a different pill. It would also mean being separated from Paxton and Beckett for several days) or just have the little bugger removed. Again, the second type of pill would be needed for the rest of my life, but removal of this gland is the only way to deal with the damage that the endo fears has been done to my eyes. Needless to say, I have a surgical consult next week to see about parting ways with my destructive thyroid gland.

I'm actually considering myself pretty lucky because far too many people suffer with this disorder for YEARS before they get a definitive diagnosis. THIS website can tell you a little more about Graves'.

Educational Opportunity?

Or plain ol' mess? Beckett is taking hot wheels out of a big rubbermaid container. He COULD be getting ready to count them, or separate them by color or body style, or make patterns or form one huge traffic jam. OR, he COULD be taking them out just to take them out and make a giant pile o' cars AKA huge mess.

Sigh, all those that know Beckett in person or just by virtue of reading my blog know that it's the latter...

A New Park!

Well, to ME, anyhow. Paxton recongnized it right away! For our first picnic of the season, we drove to Eagle Point Park in Dubuque. It is a gorgeous, beautifully maintained piece of property well worth the $1 it costs to enter (for a carload). There are pavillions, multiple playgrounds, CLEAN restrooms, about a thousand picnic tables, a goldfish pond and more. The more is mostly made up of incredible views of the Mississippi, including Lock and Dam #11. We didn't see it in operation (HERE) is a link of the Lock and Dam, complete with a picture taken from this park. The pictures in this post are as much about the park as the boys--one of which (Paxton) didn't want me shooting him. Enjoy.

Another Golfer in the Family

Paxton got new clubs this weekend, complete with kick out stand and nice shoulder straps for carrying. He had a blast getting it all organized with balls in one pocket, tees in another and a perfect spot for his glove. Then he was all ready to crush a few. Well, we've got some work to do on his grip, but we'll take it all in baby steps!

Beckett got clubs too, but we are not quite at the "pictures for the blog" stage yet...