Drowning

Nice weather is well on its way! That means more swimming too which is so much fun.

That also means one of my biggest worries will be worried about even more, drowning! Chris and I are extremely careful with our children around water and make learning to swim a top priority but it still worries me.

Especially when I read this today....



The Maryland Accident Law Blog cites a few chilling statistics on Children and Drowning incidents:
Drowning is the second cause of injury-related deaths for kids ages 14 and under. In 2004, 3702 children (ages 14 and under) were treated in emergency rooms after nearly drowning. (USA Safe Kids.org)
40% of these near-drowning incidents took place in swimming pools. (USA Safe Kids.org)
19% of drowning deaths involving children occur in public pools with certified lifeguards present. (Drowning Prevention Foundation).
In 2000, there were 3,482 unintentional drownings in the United States; that's an average of nine people per day (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
A swimming pool is 14 times more likely than a motor vehicle to be involved in the death of children 4 years of age and under (Orange County California Fire Authority).
Children under five years of age and adolescents between the ages of 15-24 have the highest drowning rates (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
Of all preschoolers who drown, 70 percent are in the care of one or both parents at the time of the drowning and 75 percent are missing from sight for five minutes or less (Orange County, CA, Fire Authority).
The majority of children who survive (92 percent) are discovered within two minutes following submersion, and most children who die (86 percent) are found after 10 minutes. Nearly all who require cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) die or are left with severe brain injury (National Safe Kids Campaign).
After reading drowning statistics for children it makes one realize that water safety is crucial for children. If you are a lifeguard or parent with small children, please take every precaution not to leave a child unattended in a pool for even a few minutes. Take all the necessary precautions and protect the safety of a child swimming.



I found this information at this link so go and read more on it if you have a moment...

http://injurylaw.labovick.com/tags/connor-freed/





Watch your children and I pray that even though we watch our children very closely around water they will also have their angels watching too....

A spring walk, toddler style...

The other night I asked Ben if he wanted to go on for a walk after dinner. Not the exercise for me kind, the stroll with my toddler kind.
He was excited and definitely wanted to go. So we went for a spring walk, toddler style.

First we put on Ben's new and adorable monkey boots.

Then we headed out for our walk.

Ben pointed out all the things he saw along the way.

Like the rocks on the ground.

Then there was a lot of puddle splashing.

And we stopped to check out the airplane flying over us.

We, of course, had to visit Chewy, the dog that lives across the street from us.

The dog that Ben wants to visit and says he wants to pet but has never actually touched.

That, my friends, was our walk. Our spring walk, toddler style, that didn't actually bring us more then a hundred feet or so from our house but, nonetheless, was a great spring walk!

Leprechaun traps

For the past week or so the three older kids worked very hard on making leprechaun traps with hopes that this year they would catch one.

Katelyn's trap, she hoped he would climb up the unsteady stairs wanting to get her soccer medal. When he reached the top the stairs would then fall down and he would be stuck in the box.

Connor's trap, he wanted the leprechaun to see the chair and want to sit down. When the leprechaun tried to move the blocks the pan cover would fall down on top of him trapping him underneath.

Maggie's two traps were boxes that had string cheese inside. I guess she was hoping the leprechaun would go in and not remember how to get out.

But, none of the traps worked. Instead, when the kids woke up they found goodies in the traps but no leprechaun.

They were more disappointed then I expected but were happy about the chocolate gold coins, cookies, and lucky charms that were left behind.

After checking all the traps the kids put on their St. Patrick's Day shirts and we went about our day!

I didn't get the camera out before the big kids left for school but I did get a picture of two of my little leprechauns!

Bubble bath

Not your typical bubble bath.
Not the kind where you run bubble liquid under the running water to have tons of bubbly suds.

This bubble bath is where mommy, that's me, blows big bubbles.

And my two youngest children try really hard to catch them without popping them.

If you have really wet and very gentle hands it's not too hard.

That's what kind of bubble bath we had here the other day!

Cooking with Ben and Katie

Recently when I had Katie and Drew for the day I asked Ben and Katie if they wanted to help me make frosting. I had some cookies that I wanted to transform into chipwhiches and some grahm crackers that go great with frosting.


Ben thought for a minute and said, "Happy Birthday cake?" I said, "Oh, you want to make a cake?" He and Katie both said, "YES!"


Since I happened to have a cake mix in the house, which is very unusual, I happily said ok. So, while the big kids were off playing, the two little ones and I baked a cake and then made some frosting.






And, of course, after such hard work they were rewarded with a beater and spatula to lick. Not the cake mix, although I did do that when I was little, since it has raw egg in it. But frosting, yummy!

Neither of them missed even a tiny bit of frosting!

Later, after Ben's nap, it was time to enjoy the fruits of our labor.

And boy did they enjoy it!

So did all the big kids, and maybe me too!

Julia

My wonderful niece, Julia, spent school vacation week here with us.

I just love her.

The kids love her.

After she went home the kids kept saying how much they missed her and Katelyn's answer to that was, "Don't worry, we'll get her back for April vacation!"

Crazy hair day

Why in the world would I put mini ponytails all over Katelyn's head?

And then use washable markers to color her hair a rainbow of colors?

And, why would Katelyn be happy about this?

Really the answer is quite simple.

It was CRAZY HAIR DAY at school....

Monkey boots

I can't even begin to tell you

How beyond excited I was

To see these boots at Walmart a few weeks ago!

So excited, in fact, that I bought the next size up from what he wears normally because they didn't have his size and I fell in love with them!

ice and snow

In the cold winter...

When it is too cold to go out.....

We just bring the

Ice and snow

in!!!

Ben's 2nd birthday party

I am behind on blogging, the fact that we had Ben's 2nd birthday party almost a month ago and I am just now blogging about it proves that fact.
Oh how that can happen when I am trying to keep up with four monkeys....
So, about Ben's party...
When I saw this farm theme in a birthday catalog just for 2nd birthdays I knew it was meant to be that Ben have a farm birthday.
Which, if you know Ben or have read my blog at all, you know Ben is CRAZY about farm animals!

So we decorated the house from a big birthday banner right down to farm plates and cups.

Then we decked Ben out in his "cow shirt" which he was thrilled about and greeted our friends and family as they arrived to celebrate with us.

A week before his party I was driving along and was chatting with Maggie and Ben in the back seat. I said to Ben, "Do you want to have a birthday party?" He thought for a minute and replied, "Cow Cake!" I laughed, this kid loves cows and loves cake!

I was just gonna order a cake from a local store and throw some plastic cows on the top until three days before the party I spotted this cake on line. I went on face book and asked a couple women that I know make cakes if they could possibly pull this off with such late notice. Thankfully one lady could!

Is this not one of the most adorable cakes you have ever seen? Ben was over the moon about his cake!

Without a doubt or a moments hesitation Ben picked the cow cupcake for himself!

Katie also without doubt or a moments hesitation chose a chicken and she loved every bite.

Then it was gift time and, again, Ben was adorned with wonderful and beautiful gifts!

He especially seemed to love this mommy puppy and baby puppy that Uncle Joe and Brandy gave him. And, he wasn't the only one to love them, all the other little ones wanted some time with them.

Ben loved all his gifts and is still enjoying them.

Hi Leah! Could you be any cuter? I don't think so!

Ben turning two wasn't the only milestone of the day either... Auntie Jen, who is very scared of cows, actually wanted one of the little cows we bought for Ben's little friends. Baby steps...

Julia, what is that face you are making???

I will admit, I went a little crazy with the decorations for this party thinking Ben would just love them, like this gigantic pig balloon, and he didn't seem to care about them as much as I thought he would.

He did, however, care very much for his "cow shirt" and was proud as could be every time someone mentioned it.

Just look at him! Oh, how I love this little guy!

Happy Birthday Ben!