End of Preschool

Last Wednesday we had our friends Amielee and Sadie over to play.  The kids played in the sandbox, jumped on the trampoline, and played fetch with Porter.  It was such a beautiful morning.  Then we had a picnic in the backyard and played some more.  By the end the kids were pretty wired up.  It's good to have friends to be silly with.

Eating a picnic

On Thursday Kirsten had her last day of preschool.  They had a water party and ate pizza.  Kirsten had a great time.  I know she loved preschool, and I can tell she is a little nervous about starting kindergarten in the fall.  She has asked me a couple of times if she will like kindergarten.  Of course, I tell her that she will like it, but in my head, I think about how much I'll miss her.

I actually woke up sick on Thursday, which was a bummer because the night before I had purchased tickets to take the girls to see a play of Charlotte's Web at BYU.  So, instead of taking the girls to the play, Matt and I watch Last Man Standing on Netflix while my parents got the pleasure of taking the girls to see Charlotte's Web.  I was kind of jealous, but I was really happy that the girls got to see the play with their grandparents.  How neat that my parents live so close!  When the girls got home, I could tell that they had really enjoyed it.  They couldn't stop talking about Charlotte!

Kirsten with Teacher Lynda

Reagan wanted a picture, too.

 Friday morning I woke up feeling better, and Friday evening we walked over to my parents' house to tell them goodbye before they left for Fargo.  Then on our way home our neighbor stopped us to ask if we wanted to come to their house for a weenie roast.  We decided it would be fun and spent the evening at the Cope's house.  I pushed the girls on their tire swing and roasted them a couple of hot dogs.  They gorged themselves on chips and sugary drinks, and then they ran around playing with "those boys."  Kirsten and Reagan were by far the youngest kids there, and they were the only girls.  "Those boys" were so nice though and included them in all their games.  It was such a nice evening and everyone had such a good time that it was hard to pull ourselves away.  They girls didn't end up going to bed until ten o'clock!

On Saturday we went to the Rec Center for our usual exercise classes, and afterward we ate a picnic lunch at the park next to the Rec Center.  Then we went swimming for a couple of hours.  The pool felt great, and the kids loved the water slides.  It was fun taking them down on our laps.  They wanted to do it over and over again, which Matt and I didn't mind doing at all.

Memorial Day was pretty quiet.  Initially I wrote "relaxed," but I had to edit that because Memorial Day was not relaxed.  I used the day to get a lot done.  I properly cleaned both of our bathrooms, including mopping the floors, and I painted the trim on the back door.  I felt very accomplished.  In the evening we went to have dinner with Norma, William, and Sierra.  Apparently, Norma forgot to mention that Brian was out of town, which was kind of funny, but we were just fine without him.  The adults had a nice evening chatting while the kids played with make-believe Elves outside.

Unfortunately, this morning I woke up to a horrible surprise.  This is what Reagan's face looked like:

Her left eye was terribly swollen, droopy, and starting to bruise, and her cheeks were bright red like they'd been slapped.

I was horrified to see her face.  It looked like someone had hit her, but I knew that hadn't happened.

Fortunately, she was really happy and said it didn't hurt at all.  When I showed her her face in a mirror, she laughed really hard.  I'm glad she wasn't old enough to be concerned, though she did ask me when her face would look normal again.  She didn't have a fever or any other symptoms, but I set up a doctor's appointment the minute it turned 8:00 because I was horrified.  I mean horrified.

The doctor told us it looked like Fifth Disease, which I had never heard of before, but it is apparently quite "common."  It's also known as Slapped Cheek Disease for obvious reasons.  In the beginning it seems like a regular cold, and then a few days after a child seems better from the cold, they develop a rash, which may get worse for the next couple of days.  Apparently, the rash can last between one and three weeks, but on the bright side, by the time a child develops the rash, they are no longer contagious.

Honestly, I can't wait until my Reagan looks normal again.  I'm grateful that she's not uncomfortable, but it looks so uncomfortable I can't seem to get over it.