Why Is Dakota Smiling?

Dakota went in for his hydrocele surgery on Tuesday, July 27th. Dad, Mom and Dakota were up at the hospital at 6:45 a.m. Around 7:00 a.m. they called him in for his pre-op......

.....and here he is all ready to go. The Urologist came in to talk to us and Dad told her how the lump has really gone down in size, however, at his pre-operation physical Dakota's pediatrician said that he thought we should still go ahead with the surgery. The Urologist took a look - and looked at us - and said she doesn't think we should operate and sent us home!

That is why this boy is smiling (and behind the camera his Dad and Mom are smiling too:-)!)

Rock County Fair

The last two years we have been taking the kids to the Rock County Fair in Janesville. One reason is to see the kids' cousins who farm in Evansville and show their cows. It also brings back memories for Dad (who grew up in Evansville). We missed seeing our cousins this year, but still enjoyed some farm action!

Then, the kids favorite, playing in corn! Oh my gosh, they were SO dusty when they were finished.

RyAnne saw this man teaching others how to lasso and just had to get in the action.

And, as always, the food!

Rock Painting

Mom and RyAnne have a new hobby - painting rocks! We got into it after Grandma Carter bought RyAnne a rock painting book. Then Dad got some new rocks in the pool area and we found many smooth, flat, oval and round rocks - perfect for painting!

Here are some rocks she painted for Grandpa and Grandma. A bat and ball for Grandpa who loves baseball and is an umpire. Also, a flower for Grandma because she loves flowers and taking care of her flower garden.

Mom painted the family.

Mom repainted this 'Welcome to the Franklins' rock. RyAnne found a heart shaped rock and painted another flower.

Water Bugs

The last few weeks have been HOT! To cool off, the kids have spent a lot of time doing water activities!

Sprinklers! We have 6 to choose from - but this one is their favorite! It's sprinkler hopscotch and when you step on a square it squirts real high!

RyAnne has made huge strides in the pool! She can swim, go down the slide, do flips, and jump and dive off the diving board with no floaties. She begs us to swim EVERYDAY and - for the most part - we do!

As for Zachary - CANNONBALL!

Dane County Fair

We took the kids to the Dane County Fair this weekend.

We saw the cows, chickens, pigs, horses, bunnies, and the kids favorite goats! Above is a picture of them petting a baby goat AWWWWW!

Corn dogs and cheese curds of course!

It was dollar days so the kids had fun riding on tons of rides!

Dakota was in heaven - semis, cars, and motorcycles! He is such a boy!

RyAnne enjoyed some smaller rides with the twins and then hit the bigger rides.

Yes, Dad and Mom rode some too!

6th Birthday Luau!

The invite....

The birthday girl...

The friends ready for the luau....

swimming

making shell braceletes

opening presents

yummy cake

A great birthday luau!

BEES!!!!

Dakota and Bailey were playing 'follow the leader' so nicely outside when all of a sudden Bailey let out a deafening scream and yelled, "BEES!" I looked and saw her in one of their play structures surrounded by bees and one her leg that she was desperately trying to get off. Mommy ran to get her out of the play structure and away from the bees. Dakota was behind her and also screaming, however, he was climbing down the stairs to get away. Mom could not grab him too - but she knew Dad was close behind. When she turned around to look at Dakota he was standing in the middle of our play area (about 10 feet from the play structure) with a bee on his leg! Daddy grabbed him and we took them inside to find out they both got stung twice on the leg. We put ice on their legs and checked for stingers (there was none thank goodness). Mommy put a paste of baking soda and water on the stings and then a Dora bandaid for Bailey and a Spiderman bandaid for Dakota.

Here they are relaxing on the couch talking about the mean bees that chased them and stung them.

Daddy went outside to check things out and found out they had made hives in the poles. He got his spray out and killed around 20 - 30 bees and 3 hives!

Cabin Fever

We have not gone up to Grandpa and Grandma's cottage in Briggsville at all yet this summer because RyAnne has been sick. However, she begged us to go up there this 4th of July weekend because she knew her two friends (the grandchildren of the neighbors) were going to be there. We caved as long as she promised us that she would take it easy.

Take it easy? Okay, so we caved and let her go tubing - in the sit down you don't get wet in tube because everyone else was "doing it". SHe had a blast!

Yummmmm smores!

Messy smores!

We couldn't miss the annual Lake Mason boat parade. Yes, about 20 boats all decked out in their 4th of July gear parading around the lake blowing their horns and blasting music! Above is a picture of RyAnne watching it with her two friends.

Dad teaching Dakota and Bailey the proper parade wave!

On Saturday, July 3rd, we went out on the pier to watch the fireworks show - which this year could be seen in two directions. The twins were inside sleeping with Grandpa and Grandma and in not too long RyAnne asked to go inside too. She was too tired to even watch the fireworks!

This picture was taken back at home on the 4th. Too much excitement (and the forecast for rain) sent us back to Madison for a nice relaxing "early" 4th of July at home.

Go Brewers Go!

The kids had a lot of fun at the Brewers game. RyAnne still wasn't feeling too well, however, we had bought the tickets awhile ago and she was a real trooper and went with us.

The twins enjoyed playing catch with their "bro" before the game!

A picture with #1 Bratwurst - who by the way won the race that night! Where's Dakota? He is hanging onto the camera man's leg!

Such a silly boy!

The Brewers #1 fans!

Go Brewers Go! The Brewers beat the Astros 7 to 5! They had 4 homeruns - Dakota and Bailey loved the fireworks and seeing Bernie go down the slide. We had to leave early because RyAnne was really tired, however, it was a fun time for all!

Bad Beginning

So..... the summer hasn't started out so good for us. First, we noticed that Dakota had a lump in his scrotum. Okay, so we thought maybe he bumped it and it would go away in a few days. Then, RyAnne just wasn't feeling good for a few days - and couldn't really tell us why. Of course, on a Saturday she tells us her throat hurts. Dad took her to urgent care and they said she had a double ear infection and gave her amoxicillan. Pete asked the doctor there about Dakota's lump and he suggested to make an appointment with his pediatrician on Monday. By Monday RyAnne needed to go back in. Their doctor checked out RyAnne and did a blood test and said she had mono. He was very concerned about her...her glands were huge, she had a terrible sore throat, ruuny nose,and she had an enlarged spleen (it was outside of her rib cage). He took her off the amoxocillan and said she would need a lot of rest, to stay hydrated, and NO activity because of her spleen. He ordered an ultrasound on Dakota and made him an appointment with an urologist. Two days later, Dakota had his appointment and we found out he has a hydrocele (fluid filled sac) on his epdidymis (thank goodness that was it - we were so afraid it was the "c" word). He will have surgery on it later in July. Meanwhile, RyAnne was SO sick!! For a week she just cried and laid around. Finally, after 9 days, she was feeling better. She had an appointment today and her doctor said she looked much better.

RyAnne now takes daily naps. Here she is sound asleep (and snoring loudly) in Mom and Dad's bed. It is really hard to sleep at night with her like this!