4th of July and the end of Nate's Tonsils!

It has been a busy few weeks but I'm going to hit the highlights!

The week before the 4th of July was a busy one... spent cleaning house, re-cleaning house, messing up the house and of course trying to stay on top of the laundry! The best part of the week was spending time with my sister Jen and her two cutie-pies! The kiddos and I spent two days and one night in Arkadelphia... it too was eventful... Nate made a trip to the doctor for some strange bite in his belly button that turned red and swelled up, Ben made a trip to the doctor the next day and had an ear infection, and sweet Matthew got bitten by a mosquito (he's very allergic) and his eye swelled shut.... and yet we managed to have a wonderful time together... lots of swimming and playing on the cool blow-up slide that Papa Doc has. Matthew also came to Glenwood and went to summer day camp at N & Z's school!

We also hosted our 2nd (?) annual 4th of July gathering for the Oosterhous crew at our house. It was a very fun weekend filled with lots of canoe trips, good food, long visits on the back porch or wherever you could find a quiet space, and cool fireworks! All of the cousins had a great time swimming in the swimming hole, helping Uncle Tim do work, and of course canoeing! Mom and Dad and my Aunt Mary and Uncle Jim came up to Glenwood on the evening of the 4th to enjoy the festivities! My boys loved spending time with them. Nate gets a big kick out of spending time with "Mar Mar"! The fireworks were one of the highlights of the weekend. Our neighbors down the road do a show every year with professional-grade fireworks that he gets from a good friend who supplies the big fireworks to cities... needless to say it was AWESOME and almost in our backyard! We also celebrated Grandma Judy's birthday this weekend!

The end of the weekend was capped off by a visit from our sweet friends Abby and Louie and their two precious children Cati and Gus. Cati (4 then, now 5) and Gus (2) got to go on their first canoe trip with their daddy and did excellent! No tip-overs thank goodness! Nate and Zac enjoyed playing with Cati and Gus and I'm sure taught them a few new things.... good things I hope! Ab, if your reading this, I love you and couldn't be more proud of you... you are a wonderful, friend, mommy and wife and behind every good woman.... there must be a good man... at least in this case!!

On Monday following the 4th, the boys and I went to Hot Springs to the Alligator Farm/Petting Zoo. The boys had a great time. I spent all my time trying to wrangle 3 boys so I didn't manage to take any photos.... batteries were dead in the camera too! The boys were really good and enjoyed feeding the goats, deer, lama, ets. The alligators and loggerhead turtles were pretty cool too! We then ate lunch at a nearby park with daddy.

Tuesday was T-day! Tonsil and adnoid removal day. Nate was really brave and managed to even laugh a little the hour before the surgery. When they were walking him in to the surgery room he was so brave. He put on his brave face with tears shining in his eyes. Broke my heart. I walked away and started crying. Tim told me not to cry when we went back in to the waiting room or someone might think we lost a child. So I toughened up. Nate did great and actually had an abscessed tonsil.... unbeknown to us and the doctor! It will have been a week since they were removed tomorrow.... it has been a LONG week but he is doing great... still on pain meds but he's moving right along.

Well that summarizes the past couple of weeks! I'm going to go ahead a post this blog but I will go back and insert pictures soon so CHECK BACK TO SEE SOME PHOTOS!