In 2011, it is one of my resolutions to stay connected with family and friends and share important moments in our daily lives with each of you... hopefully this will give you a glimmer into our home, see our children grow, and be involved in our journey during the year.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Week in the Life - Monday


Yesterday was the start of the Week in the Life project by Ali Edwards. This is a project where you document a week in your life - all of the everyday moments. At first I was worried about doing the project during this week since I just got back in town from my trip to Chicago last week and Cory is leaving for Afghanistan, but then I thought what a great week to record. I am sure when the project is all done, the boys will love to look through the album and see pictures of Cory and our last few days together before he leaves for deployment.

The day started out really productive. I got up with Cory at 4 AM and started on things for work - I had a contract that needed to be reviewed and sent out before everyone got to the office. Cleaned up from dinner the night before, had a cup of coffee and just spent some time with Cory before he left for work... all before I even heard a peep from any of the little ones. It was really nice having a few hours to myself to get ready for the day.

Here are a few pictures from the day.




Once the boys were up, the quiet morning came to an end. Milly was off for the day and so I knew it would be a crazy day trying to keep up with the boys, design work and everything at Yates... little did I know how crazy it would be. After breakfast, Chase and Knox immediately wanted to play on the patio with their toys. I sat outside with them and checked email on the ipad. I think they enjoy just following each other and Chase loves how Knox follows him everywhere. It is almost a game of tag. Knox then decided to sit in one of the children's patio chairs and he was waving to me. He constantly gets out of the chair and then sits back down... its a never ending cycle. For some reason he lost his balance getting out of the chair and he fell down. Poor little guy had a huge bump on his forehead and a scuffed nose. I felt so bad for him. I hate it when he gets hurt because he can't really communicate to you other than crying. So I held him for a while with ice until he felt better.




Riley was so excited to play on the Nintendo DS for an hour. We have really been limiting this toy this summer and trying to play outside more. Wills colored for a while and Chase watched Mickey Mouse. For lunch we kept it simple with a frozen pizza. Cory came home for the day after lunch. We needed to finish up the yard work from the weekend so while Cory mowed the backyard, I took the boys to the pool. They love it! Chase has finally learned how to keep his feet underneath his body and dog paddle around the pool. I think he enjoys the freedom of not having to sit on the steps anymore. Knox on the other hand was just content walking around the pool with a pair of goggles.





I noticed Chase wasn't acting normal, so I pulled him out of the pool (thank goodness for the handles on the back of the life jackets) and he started to have a seizure. At first I thought it was going to be ok, just like the previous ones we have been having, but this one lasted more than 5 minutes. After about three minutes I called 911 and the ambulance came and took him to the hospital. So Chase and I spent the rest of the day in the emergency room. He was fine after a few hours. It just took him a little longer to recover this time since the seizure was longer.


Cory and the boys picked us up around 6 and we picked up KFC on the way home. After dinner the boys went to bed. It was definitely a long day. I was ready to get into PJ's and crawl into bed.



Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Trip to Disneyland

While Cindy and Roger were here this last weekend, we went to Disneyland with my cousin Matthew and his wife Rachel. The boys absolutely loved it! Matt and Rachel went out of their way to make it a memorable trip. They set up a private meeting with Mickey Mouse, the boys were picked out of the crowd for Jedi training, and we had reserved seats for the Fantasmic show.






Riley and Wills loved riding the rides, especially Star Wars Tours. Chase and Knox had fun watching the parade on Main Street and waving to all of the Disney Parade characters. Goofy ran up to Chase and at first Chase was startled but then he laughed and squeezed his nose. WHile we were watching, Knox walked away and when I turned around, he was sitting on the ground behind me eating popcorn that someone had dropped.





When Riley and Wills were waiting for the Jedi Training Show to start, they were so excited. They were hoping to get picked to participate in the training. It was so cute. Wills was so serious. You could tell he was listening very carefully and could not wait for his turn to fight Darth Maul.



Here are a few more pictures from the trip...










Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Saturday at the Farmer's Market and the La Brea Tar Pits

Cindy and Roger flew in Saturday morning and we decided to spend the day in LA. We went over to the Farmer's Market at The Grove for breakfast. The boys love to watch the water feature and we looked around at the different shops.




We then went over to the La Brea Tar Pits and looked around the museum. Riley and Wills loved it. They could not believe that the fossils belongs to real animals at one point in time. They had fun walking around the atrium. It was open to the roof and you were allowed to go up to the roof and look down on the atrium. There was a family of turtles and we must of watched them for 10 minutes. Riley didn't want to leave them.










Fun in the Pool... Loving the Summer Weather!

We had a great 4th of July weekend... we have had great weather and we spent a while in the pool on Sunday.The boys had been waiting for a while to go in and they really enjoyed playing with Dad and Grandpa.


The water was warm so there were no complaints. Chase learned to swim by himself with a life jacket on instead of flopping around. He was able to keep his feet underneath him and dog paddle around. It was so cute and he was excited to be able to be in the water without holding on to someone.



Riley and Wills actually spent more time in the pool than sunbathing... they were so excited to have warm water. They jumped in the deep end and played games to see who could hold their breath the longest or swim the fastest.



Knox on the other hand really didn't want to get in. He just wanted to sit in his beach chair and eat Froot Loops. It is no wonder that he weighs 26 lbs. and he is in the 75th percentile for weight.




Cindy also bought them each a pair of goggles and they had a fun wearing them. I was surprised that Chase would put them on, but he loved them!