VBS

Reese had Vacation Bible School at our church this past week (Mon-Thurs) with about 70 other kids, and she had a blast! We have her VBS concert tomorrow during our church service, so I'm excited to see her sing and dance up on stage. I am glad she had something to do this week, as Kyle was traveling in Germany all week. His third trip in the last two months, and hopefully the last until the Fall. In two weeks Reese and Preston will be doing a summer camp our church (and the church preschool) hold for a whole week from 9-1. I will be KID FREE 4 hours each day that week- I'm either going to fill it with activities I hate to do with the kids (shop, appointments, groceries) or maybe just come home, sit on the deck with coffee, and read a book. The latter sounds much better.
I took Izzy to the vet yesterday where she had surgery, and she got all of her stitches out. The cut healed wonderfully and instead of waiting another 3-4 weeks for the x-rays, he said I could come back in 2 weeks for x-rays and if everything looks good, he will clear her for normal activity. I took the cone off yesterday and I think she is glad to have it off. But, still no running, jumping, or any real movement- so thus the barking continues for 2 more weeks.
We went to the zoo this morning and it was great! We finally got to see the new $22 billion orangutan exhibt, and it was really neat. I was hoping we would see more movement, but most of them (8 total) were taking naps. Maybe next time. The kids were great and Preston LOVED looking at the animals. He gets more and more into it each time we go. He would have stood and watched the tiger walk around the whole morning if we would have let him. That and the sting rays were probably his favorite. Not much else happening in the Montgomery household. Enjoying the summer and taking full advantage of the pool, not this weekend though as it is only in the high 70s making the water only in the low to mid 70s- not exactly swimming weather.

Strawberries and more

We had a weekend FULL of strawberries! Kyle's mom came to visit on Thursday afternoon and we went to Spencer Farms in Noblesville (about 20 min north of us) to a pick strawberries. We, along with all of Hamilton County, must have decided to go on the same day. Literally, hundreds of people were out and about to pick strawberries. It took me longer in line to pay for them than it did for us to pick them! Thank goodness I had Julie to entertain the kids and play around the farm while I waited. Anyways, I am glad I did wait in line, because they are the sweetest, most delicious strawberries I've had in a long time. Well worth the wait. I now have to figure out what to do with all of them! I have made 2 pies thus far, sharing some with neighbors, and am going to look up jam recipes this afternoon. 

Julie took off Saturday morning to head to a wedding in Bloomington, IL so we headed to the annual Fishers Strawberry Festival. It corresponded with the regular Saturday morning farmer's market, so we had a good time. Lots of food, yummy treats, face painting, live music, and more. Wore the kids out! Reese (who RARELY naps anymore) slept for 2 hours yesterday. AMAZING! We had a great time. 

Working on making my first ever strawberry pie (turned out quite delicious I must say!)

We had/have about 10.25 lbs of strawberries we picked!

 Getting ready to head into the fields to pick, Preston did not seem to enthused.

Fishers Strawberry Fesitval 

Izzy check-in

Many people have been asking how the pup is, so I thought I would give an Izzy update. She is doing quite well despite the circumstances. She had surgery last Thursday, so we are on day 5 of the 30 day plan. By the looks of it, it is going to be a LONG 30 days. She did well the first couple of days, but of course she was tired and on pain medication to help keep her sleepy, but now she wants OUT! She no longer wants to sit in her crate- and boy, does she let us know. Bark, bark, bark, all day long. UGH. It's really starting to drive us crazy :) I mean, I don't blame her one bit, I wouldn't want to be cooped up all day long. She has SO much puppy energy she is dying to get out, and we still have 25 days left of this. Her leg is healing well thus far, and she is now putting weight on it when I take her out to go the bathroom. I do take her out when the kids nap and when they go to bed, so I can keep all eyes on her and make sure she doesn't run or jump, which is all she likes to do! So I try to keep her with me, and basically give her a chew bone to help distract her from wanting to run around. Even when I take her out to the bathroom, she wants to just run and pulls on the leash. She does has a soft cone, but is managing to contort it so she can lick her stitches. I'm ready for the stitches to come out in 9 days, and then I won't have to worry about those as much. Here are a few pics of her.

On the ride home a day after surgery: One sleepy pup

 Her left leg is shaved (stitches are on the inside) and she tried constantly to pull the cone off

Memorial Day

Want the good news or the bad news first? I always want the good first, so that's what we will do. Good news: We pulled off my mom's 60th SURPRISE birthday party and she had no idea! It was so much fun. We held it at Cannovas in Freeport and she thought we were just meeting some friends there for an early birthday dinner. My sister and her family made it back for the weekend too, so we had my cousin babysit all 4 kids, and off we went. She was so surprised. There were about 40 family and friends there and we had a great night. A big thanks to everyone who helped me out getting things coordinated and all lined up :) We also had fun on Sunday at our family friend, Butson's, annual Memorial Day party. The kids went home early with Kyle's parents to spend the night there, so Kyle and I enjoyed a night out kid free. It was a good time!

Monday we spent at Kyle's parents house hanging out enjoying the nice weather. Reese always has such a good time playing with Maddy and Mekenna. Ready for the bad news? Izzy broke her left leg Monday evening. Kyle's brother accidentally stepped on her while he was also playing with his dog in the yard. I had figured it may just be sore, as my foot would be if it were stepped on, but come Wednesday when she had stopped eating and drinking, I called to get her in right away Thursday morning. Sure enough, x-rays showed a break in her left fibula and tibia. So, we were left with 2 options. Surgery to fix it (a plate with screws in her fibula, or put her to sleep. The surgery was not cheap. But I couldn't imagine putting her to sleep. Only 6 months old, and when you sign up to be a pet owner, you also have to take into consideration that something like this may happen. So, surgery it was. They referred us right away to a surgeon on the south side of Indy (about 40 minutes from our house), and by 12:30 on Thursday we were on our way. They went over the x-rays and surgical plan with me. We were on our way home around 2:00, and Izzy was going into surgery at 3. He called around 4:15 and said everything went great and we could pick her up in the morning. She is on a STRICT plan. Antibiotics for 5 days, pain killers for 10 days. She has to be confined to a 5x5 or smaller area (basically her crate) for the next 2 weeks. At 2 weeks, she gets her stitches out of her leg (about 20 of them) and then she doesnt have to stay in crate all the time, but she still cant run/jump/or go up and down stairs and on a leash at all times when outside. At 5-6 weeks we have another appointment for x-rays, and if they are good, she will be released for all normal activity. So, we are looking at 5-6 weeks of a puppy with alot of energy being crated and restricted. No fun! But what are you going to do? Atleast we have her and she will be all healed up and good to go once she is healed. 

So, we had lots of good times, and one not so great thing happen while we were back home, but it was nice to be back and see everyone for the weekend! 

May 2014

Ok, back to the beginning of May. The first weekend in May was spent in FLORIDA! One of my good friends from college got married in Clearwater, FL, so Kyle and I had a nice long weekend (Thur-Sun) without kids. My parents came out Wed- Mon so we were lucky to be able to fly out of Indy. The weekend was a bit gloomy, rain everyday, but the wedding and company of friends was far from gloomy. We had a great time and the wedding was gorgeous!
We got home on Sunday eve, and on Tuesday Kyle had to fly out to travel to Germany until that Friday for work. Not fun for him. Little did I know it was not going to be fun for me either. Preston came down with a 103 temp Tuesday eve and it just would not break. It was awful. Imagine a crying baby, nonstop unless he was sleeping, hanging on your body ALL day. Talk about tiring. With no help from Kyle since he was traveling. Finally on Thursday I took him in and they were quite worried. They put him on antibiotics for a sinus infection, and said if he fever did not break by Saturday they wanted him back for more tests (he tested negative for strep and the flu). They were also worried about dehydration since he wouldn't eat or drink on Wednesday and Thursday. Finally Thursday night I got 2 juice boxes in him, and lots of popsicles on Friday. His fever was upto 102 still on Friday afternoon, but must have broke during his nap, because it was at 99 all evening, and back down to 98 on Saturday. Kyle got home Friday night, and I took a deep breathe, poured a large glass of wine, and took a 40 minute shower- BY MYSELF :) I may chalk that week up
to one of the hardest I have had as a parent.
Oh, by the way, he leaves Monday again for another week in Germany, let's pray it goes smoother than last time....
Here are some wedding pictures and some new pics of the kids I took this past week:

Grabbing some lunch and drinks with the bride!

Thursday afternoon: our only few hours on the beach

 Cassie, me, Darcy- college friends

Before the wedding

The stunning bride, Lauren

Easter

I am cut short on time due to Kyle needing his computer for work, so I am doing a quick update of our Easter in pictures! We had a quick trip back to IL over Easter weekend and loved enjoying the great weather outside. We did three egg hunts- the first was the Winslow community hunt at the Winslow park, the second was at my parents house, and the third was at Kyle's parents house. Reese sure had a blast!

Zoey (her friend) and Reese coloring eggs

They did a great job!

 Preston loved the slide at the park

Reese and Grammie swinging

Cheese!

 All her eggs she found at the first egg hunt

Preston didnt care about searching, he just wanted to open them up!

He even won the raffle Easter basket for his age group!

Didn't like Santa, doesn't like the bunny either (I do have to say, he is creepy!!) :)

Easter morning

Trying my hardest to get a good picture

Usually they keep their distance....

 and RARELY do we catch a hug :)

Cousins- Preston- 1, Mekenna- 7, Maddy- 9(almost 10!), Reese- 3

Pics and more

Kyle made it back safely to the States late Friday night and my sanity was re gained yesterday :) Kidding, but not really. Last week was a tough one. Reese was a stinker the whole week, and by saying stinker, I am trying to be nice. I can think of many more not appropriate words that I could say instead :) She was a handful to say the least, even turning into a teenager at one point saying (I mean screaming) "Mom, you are so mean." Ugh, terrible 3's. She was doing a lot better, but lately we have been struggling. And it only seems to be with me. She doesn't treat Kyle badly, or her teachers, friends, etc. Just me. I'm sure its because I'm with her the majority of the time. So, we have a whole new set of consequences I have set up when she acts out, and it seems to be working the past 2 days. I hope we are turning a corner.
In other news, we enjoyed a BEAUTIFUL weekend this weekend, and spent it all outdoors. We hit up the zoo yesterday and had a BLAST. The last time Preston was there was last summer, when he just took a joy ride in the stroller the entire time. This time was SO fun because he LOVED watching all the animals and made all the animal noises along the way. It was really neat to watch him watch the animals. His favorite was the penguins, which he proceeded to shout at them "DUCK, DUCK, DUCK" very loudly and attracting a lot of attention to himself :) It was quite funny.
Here are some pictures to recap our past month or so. Hope you all have been enjoying the nice weather. We hit 81 yesterday and 77 today- Spring has finally arrived.
We head home for Easter next weekend and Reese is very excited to see what the Easter bunny will bring. We are coloring eggs tonight, so she is counting the days!

Our fur baby Izzy- 4 months old, 7 lbs 

 Lauren's (college roomate) bachelorette party

AMAZING truffles at a winery on our bachelorette expedition

Playdate with my MOPS friends and kids (Mothers of Preschoolers)

A sucker make the haircut much more pleasant :)

Mr. P sporting his Cardinal gear

Enjoying a morning at the park