Dad's Visit - Gone Fishin'

Here are some pics taken at the new Environmental Center in Chandler. Dad took the boys fishing there. Ethan LOVED it and Rhys liked to try and scare the fish away! Needless to say, grampa took Ethan by himself the next time :).

Ethan and Grandpa Ron

Rhys 'fishing'

Grandpa and boys

Ethan with his GI Joe fishing pole

Ethan and Grandpa

Easter 2009

We had a wonderful Easter party to attend on Good Friday and then spent Easter with Scott's parents on Sunday. The weather was so nice, we even ate outside. We also started a new tradition by making 'Resurection Rolls.' You place a marshmallow inside a thawed Rhodes roll, dip it in butter, then a cinammon sugar mix. When they bake the marshmallow melts, so when you eat it, the inside is hollow, just like the tomb of Jesus! The kids loved putting them together, seeing the 'empty tomb' and of course, eating them :).

The fam on Easter...

Ethan and his Easter gun, hmmm, that sounds kinda funny!

Ethan and Rhys, both smiling for the camera. What?!?! Notice the bed-head? Ha, ha.

Rhys and his Easter basket (AND a haircut).

Ethan with Grandma and Grandpa

Another pic from the museum

I love this shot of the two boys laying in this exhibit...

We went to the Phoenix Children's Museum and the kids loved it! They had so much fun, especially at the 'Car Wash' exhibit :).

Rhys driving his 'train' of cars...


Switching to a trike...

Ethan pulling mom :)...

Ethan pulling Rhys...

Robbie's Bday Party

We had a great time catching up with our old buddies, Mike and Krista at their son, Robbie's 2nd bday party a few weeks back. I didn't get many pics, but the boys had a blast on the zipline at the park where the party was.

Ethan

Rhys

Our Crazy Cat...

Licking envelopes. Seriously?!? Yeah, she loves the taste of that glue that is on there and if I don't put the envelopes away, she will lick it and bite it until the envelope is useless!

Yum!

Emme getting the job done...

See the tongue? Ha, ha!

Birthday Party Fun

One of Rhys' best friends turned 4 last month, so we headed to the railroad park for some fun.

The Fam

Me and the boys

Rhys and Kristian playing chase...

Rhys Dressing Himself

Rhys is at the age where he loves to do everything himself. So, for the most part, I let him :). The other day, he came out with this lovely outfit on. I laughed so hard that I figured I needed a photo. As you can see, the top (which is pajama's) is on inside out and backwards, the shorts are on backwards, and he has his 'wacky' Alaska socks on!

I Cut My Hair!!

One of the things on my "Bucket List" was to grow out my hair and then cut it all of to donate to Locks of Love or Pantene Beautiful Lengths to help women who have caner or other medical conditions that cause them to need wigs. Well, today I finally got my chance! I was able to donate 8" of my hair to the Pantene program. It was so strange to have my stylist chop off my locks, but felt so 'freeing' at the same time! And I can't tell you how much I LOVE my new cut. My old, long hair looked so, well, OLD on me. My new style is much more sassy, just like me :). Check out the before and after pics...

Before-Front...

(OK this is a really bad shot of me, but remember too, I have no 'product' in my hair. It had to be clean and dry)

After-Front...

Before-Back...

After-Back...

Me holding my chopped off pony...

Scott's Breakfast

Scott is not really into cooking, but I was very impressed the other morning when he made himself some eggs 'over-easy.' I find cooking eggs sunny side up one of the hardest things to make, so I had to take a pic of Scott's handy work. He did a great job, take a look!

Two eggs, sunny side up...

Scott with his eggs (he did not want this pic taken, but I was just too impressed :))...

Our cat, Emme (again)....

OK, I just can't tell you how much Scott and I and the boys love our cat Emme. She is just so cool, sweet, nice, friendly and all around just awesome! The things she does just crack us up! The other night, Scott and I were watching t/v and I look over and there she is sitting in the rocking chair, chillin' with us!

Can you pass me the remote, mom?



Dude, I am trying to nap here...


Anyone up for some popcorn, I'm hungry!

Another Great Train Track

OK, I am getting to be a pro at this train track makin' business! Rhys is constantly asking me to build him tracks. We have the die cast Thomas trains as well as the wooden trains. So, since the train table has the diecast ones on it, I get to make elaborate tracks on the floor. Fortunately we have lots of space in our living room since it has no furniture :)....

Rhys happy as a clam with his new train track...

Another pic...

Ethan's Newest Adventure

For Christmas we had the grandparents get the kids classes through the school and the city. Ethan had lots of choices including sports, cooking, Karate, etc, and he decided on an art class this quarter. His father is very artistic as well as other family members on that side, so we figured he'd have some talent/interest. Plus, we love to see his creative artwork that he is always coming home from school with! He is about to sign up for his next class and this time I think he wants to do cooking (no complaining here, I'd love help in the kitchen!) So anyway, here are some drawings that he did last week in class...


Go Cardinals/Boo Eagles



The Bird on the Berry Branch

Our Flooring is DONE!

OK, well the main house flooring is done. We still have to carpet the bedrooms, but the tiling is done-wahoo! We originally had laid some laminate flooring that we weren't liking as much as we thought, so we ripped it out and returned it (thank goodness IKEA has a 90 day return policy on used flooring!). We settled on a nice 20" porcelain tile that we had layed in a brick pattern. Now, since we layed the laminate I figured we could do the tile too. Scott put his foot down and said no way, we are paying someone. After thinking about it, we figured this would be much better for our marriage as well :). So we found some great tile guys that we think did a wonderful job. Here are some pics....(the floor may look hazy, as it takes a 3-4 wipe downs to get that grout residue off).

Pic 1 (no grout)

Pic 2 (no grout)

Pic 4 (our entryway)

Rough Week

All I can say to this past week is THANK GOD IT IS DONE!!! I had no idea how much we'd be 'tested' in such a short time frame. I had laparascopic surgery last week, so going into this week, I was hoping for a quiet, relaxing and restful recovery. Oh boy, was I wrong.....

Monday morning came upon us at 730 am with the tile guys showing up to our door. We decided that right after my surgery would be a GREAT time to tile (what?!?!) Because it was the whole house besides the bedrooms, we couldn't be there. Scott had to be to work early for a meeting, so it was just me (a few days out from surgery) to get the kids fed and dressed for school. Ethan wasn't feeling well, but there was no way I could care for him myself so I sent him to school (bad mom). My mom came and picked Rhys and I up, where we stayed every day, all day for the rest of the week.

Tuesday was pretty uneventful, but Wed morning, we woke up with a BANG. I was feeling so anxious and nauseous about everything, I was sore, Rhys was coming down with something and by day 3 of tiling, I was ready for those guys to be gone! Oh and did I mention I had to be at class that night? Well, back to my mom's I went. Rhys was very fussy and lethargic that day...By 5 pm, he was passed out on the couch, but he'd wake up screaming that his tummy hurt. We put him to bed at 7pm and I was off to class at 8. Scott said that he was up every 30 min crying, wrihting in pain, saying his tummy and ear hurt. We were worried about him...So that night, he slept with us, waking up every 30 min, it was awful. At 330 a.m. he says that he wants to go back to his own bed, so when I take him in there, I am greeted by a flooded bedroom. What?!?! Seems as though our Water Softener System did its monthly purge that night and with the washer/dryer lines moved, there was nowhere for the water to go and it flooded the laundry room and Rhys' room. Oh joy!

Thursday morning comes, we call the peds right when they open and they can't get us in till 1 p.m. I never get that...Anyway, we finally take him in and the Dr says that he has double pneumonia AND an ear infection. That took us by by surprise. I thought it was just a nasty cold, not pneumonia. The kids ear is so infected that it is oozing. I have never seen anything like it!! So Thurs we spend at my mom's (again) just relaxing and trying to sleep when we could.

Fortunately, Friday turned out to be a better day. Rhys woke up with some antibiotics in his system and was feeling well enough to get into mischief :). Plus I was feeling less stressed out and the tile guys finished!!

By Friday afternoon, it seemed like we were all getting back to normal. I have to say, though, Mon-Thurs was really tough and I am so glad that it is over. We are praying for a relaxing and healing weekend so that we can start off next week strong!

Our Kitty, Emme...

As most of you know, I am a cat lover! We have a pretty cool cat, Emme, who is a purebred Ragdoll. We used to have 3 Ragdolls, but it was too stressful (I had to scoop the litterbox 2x a day-ugh!) and expensive. We were able to find awesome homes for the other two and we now have just one. Emme is a cool cat-she loves to snuggle up at the foot of the bed or even under the covers at time! She also loves furry mice and her 5 ft tall 'Kitty Condo." One of the coolest things about her though, is that she plays fetch!! If you throw a furry mice, she will go fetch it and bring it back to you! Anyway, just wanted to post a little something about our fur kid, who holds a very dear spot in all of our hearts :)...

Emme chillin' on our new daybed...

Emme 'helping' mom on the computer! She loves to try and eat or attack the mouse cursor on the screen :).

Scott Got a BMX Bike for Christmas

Scott used his Christmas money this year to buy a new BMX bike. Ethan got one too, so they have been enjoying riding after school/work every day. We found some dirt jumps out by our house, so one Sat morning we went out there so the boys could ride. Well, the jumps were too high for Ethan and in pretty rough shape, but Scott tried anyway. Check out this pic of Scott! As you can guess by his trajectory, he didn't quite make it! Fortunately, there was no injury to Scott OR his bike :)!

Our Little Rhys...

As those of you who have more than one kid know, each child is so different! Rhys is definitely a little firecracker and he cracks us up with his stories and antics. He definitely likes to be heard in this house, that is for sure! Here are some pics of his most recent shenannigans :)...

A few weeks ago, came out of the bedroom to find Rhys helping himself to breakfast and some T.V. Oh I was laughing SO hard. Thank goodness he didn't spill on our new T.V.!!

Rhys likes to 'read' while he goes to the potty (like all the men in his life-grampas, dad, etc.. :) ). Here he is checking out his favorite Thomas the Train catalogue!

I love this pic of Rhys, as you can just see how much love he has for his special pal, Lambert. Lambert literally goes wherever Rhys does. He cannot live without his pal and if he's sad or hurt, I think most of the time he'd pick Lambert over me!