Trevor's Big Boo Boo

On Friday night Sara organized a gathering for new and old neighborhood friends up at our favorite Friday night place....bull riding!!  It's so nice to be able to go up there as a family and everyone have such a good time!  Even Ashley loves it there and a few of Trevor's favorite friends - Jack, Claire and George were there so he was a happy camper too!

But about 45 minutes in, Trevor tripped while running around with George.  He came over and his lip was bleeding.  After taking a peek at it Daddy was sure that he was going to need stitches and a security guard who happened to be an EMT confirmed that he needed to go to the ER pronto because his lip was cut through :(  So we packed up and got him to the ER in about 20 minutes.  He cried at Buffalo Chip for a few minutes but that was about it.  He is such a tough kid.  And the bleeding stopped within 10 minutes!

  Luckily there was no wait and he got right in.  He walked back with the nurse and Daddy.  Our brave son!!

Even though at this point it was past Ashley's bedtime she was on her best behavior while waiting.  She sat and read books.

And pulled around a wagon! 

The nurse confirmed that he would need stitches...

 And our brave boy took it like a champ.  It helped that Daddy had some stitches done after getting some moles removed so that Trevor knew what stitches were!  He looks so little in this bed :(

They sprayed some numbing spray on his skin and then gave him Novocaine.  The shot was probably the worst part but he counted to 10 and it was over.  They were worried about him moving all around during the stitches but nope, he laid there straight as a board waiting for it to be done. 

And before he knew it, it was done!  5 stitches on the outside, 2 on the inside!

While waiting for the ER paperwork his lip started swelling.  Poor guy!!  But he didn't complain once!  He understood it was going to hurt and went with it.  Probably didn't hurt that he knew he was going to go to Target and get any toy he wanted for being such a good patient!

That night he slept like an angel and told us that he was sure to sleep on his back so that he didn't get the vaseline on his sheets.  Seriously, he's 4 going on 16! 

On Saturday he started on antibiotics and started his first of 5-7 days of soft foods.  Poor guy!  His lip looked even worse today because of the swelling but he still didn't complain.  He just didn't want people touching or getting to close.  Lucky boy got to go to Disney Live with Grandma Pauline and Papa John and they did a good job of taking extra good care of our little guy to make sure he didn't fall again (no more flip flops!!) as well as only eat soft food.  Pictures of their outing yet to come!

Saturday night our friend Nick who is a surgeon (who would have been at that particular hospital had he fell on Saturday instead of Friday!) popped over and took a look at his wound.  He said the doctor did a really good job stitching him up.  If anything she did it really tight so the swelling might be bad but lots of ice and ibuprofen would help with that.  It's so nice having friends that know things!!  So we laid low the rest of the weekend!  Ashley is very into reading books right now.  She even tells the story in words only she can understand ;-)

Ashley and Mommy did run out once to go to Babies R Us while the boys got haircuts.  We really need to thank Babies R Us for planting this apparatus at the entrance of the store.  15 minutes after entering we finally got to our shopping.  But if Trevor got to see Mickey it was only fair that she did too :)

Then on Sunday our friends Bobby, Julie and Remy popped over.  It was so fun to just be able to casually hang out, have the kids eat and play and just relax.  It was an added bonus that Bobby (a pediatric dentist) took a look at Ts teeth to make sure they were fine.  We think what happened was that he hit the corner of a bench which caused his outside lip to split open and then he bit through his inside lip.  Luckily his teeth looked good!  Now we just have to keep a busy on-the-go 4 year old on the down low for a few days so that he doesn't re-injure himself.  Cross your fingers!

What Ashley is learning in school!

One word...tantrums! 

Seriously, since starting at Primrose 2 weeks ago she has now learned how to throw herself on the ground.  Lucky for Mommy this isn't her first rodeo so she ignores her and she gets up pretty quickly and moves on like nothing happened.  Hopefully she gets over this phase really quick!

Trevor is such a good big brother and really enjoys teaching his little sister things.  Today he taught her to build with Lincoln Logs...

...as well as do finger paint!

Diva doesn't like to get dirty though so she was perfectly content watching big brother, which we know he loved!

Other than that Ashley continues to struggle a bit with the transition of being with Mommy all day to going to school 3 days a week.  It is expected but each day is a little better.  She even slept 45 min this week which is her record.  We'll see how she continues to do...we may switch her to half days to see if that helps.  It's not easy watching her struggle with this new routine but we know that she will love the socialization soon!

La Casa Open House

Trevor's preschool had their annual family night/open house and this time Daddy got to come!  Mommy remembers all too well last year's event with a 3 year old and 10 month old and so many fun activities!  Aye caramba!  He was so excited to show us his room and all the projects they have been working on!

This first month of school was all about a pirate adventure!

Some of it looked more like Little Mermaid but cute nonetheless!

They sure do a lot of art projects (thankful for teachers that do all this fun stuff!)

Here's Trevor proudly pointing out his mermaid.  Daddy has him convinced they do exist!

And his whole class!!

It just so happened that Trevor was the star student that day!!  When asked why he got it he replied 'because all the other kids already had their turn' LOL

It was hot and the mosquitoes were out and it was late (our kids are headed for bed at 7pm) so there was a little breakdown while getting pizza (ie Trevor wanted to go home because he was tired) but he rallied long enough for little sister and our neighbors Annastyn and Maci to do the cookie walk. 

Trevor was so excited for the cookie walk all day but then when it came down to it he just wanted to watch.  That's okay.  Ashley won cookies and luckily she is a good sharer!  We can hardly believe that Ashley will be at La Casa next year....time must slow down!!!!!

Baby Kendall

Today is Kendall's 2nd birthday and we are sure God is spoiling her up in heaven with lots of cake, ice cream and balloons.  It's still hard to believe that she is up there and not here on Earth with us but we have to believe in His plan even if we don't like it. 

We thank you all for continuing to honor Kendall through her foundation (www.kendallscourage.org) and for remembering Mike, Nicci, Adam and Cole in your prayers.  Today is not an easy day for them which is understandable.

Not sure if we said this before but it is such a weird coincidence that we have to make sure it is documented.  A while back Sara met a girl named Kaelyn who bought a lot of Ashley's clothes and other baby things.  Well they became friends and one night when Kaelyn and her family were over for dinner we were talking about mosquitoes and Sara mentioned how they had good friends that complained about the mosquitoes when it rained because the water had no where to go and left standing water for all the bugs to thrive.  Well they described that they had the same thing and Sara wondered if they lived near where Nicci used to live.  They described it and Sara grabbed the address book and said what Nicci's old address was and guess what?? That is the house they live in now!!!!!!!  So a new little girl will be in Kendall's room mid-November.  Amazing huh????

What a weekend of fun!

We started the weekend with Bagels and Brew at our Clubhouse.  The kids just love this!  Although this time they loved bagels more than donuts.

And Trevor didn't finish his entire plate so Ashley was a-okay with having two plates!

That night we went to mass with Grandma Pauline and Papa John and then attended 50s night at church.  So much fun!!!  Trevor thought it was great because they had orange soda, his favorite!

And Ashley got her first taste of orange soda.  She thought it was delicious and wanted more, more, more!

They played oldies but goodies and the kids loved dancing!

Especially with the disco ball on!

Sara and Trevor couldn't get in enough dancing!

And Ashley just loved being part of the action!

Trevor found a good dancing partner in Grandma Pauline!

And then we all had fun.  Ashley is like 'hey!  That's my dancing partner!'

More spinning....

...and twirling... until it was time to go home and call it a night!

On Sunday our new next door neighbor Bryn had a birthday party and it said to come dressed as your favorite superhero or princess so we went as super heroes!

Even Mommy!  Super heroes unite!  Tough girls!

 She had 4 friends and her two siblings and it was a nice time.  Not sure how Daddy heard the football game while lounging in our pool with all of the commotion but he had a good time relaxing while Ashley slept.

Then once Ashley woke up we went over to Brooke and Paul's house to celebrate Chloe's 2nd birthday!  No pictures there for some reason but we had a great time.  Still weird that Mike, Nicci, Adam and Cole aren't at those events but it is nice to see Olivia, Trevor and Beckett become good friends as well as Ashley and Chloe.  Life is good!

What's a Few More?

Our neighbors Becky and Brandon ran into a bit of a jam for Thursday and asked Sara if she'd watch the kiddos from 11-3.  Lucky for them that Ashley was in school so it would totally work out car seat wise to do so (because we'd have to pick Trevor up from school at 11:45).  No need to twist Sara's arm to spend time with these cuties!  All three of us even went into La Casa to get Trevor.  People wondered where Ashley was and where these three came from!

After picking up Trevor we went through the Chick FilA drive thru and brought it back to their house to eat.  What the above pic doesn't capture is how sweet Annastyn and Trevor were whispering back and forth!  Everyone was so good including Maddox, our Godson!  He's getting so big!!! 

Becky got home early a little before 2 and then we all just hung out and chatted for a bit.  It's so nice to be able to be flexible and help out in times of need.  Or just because, because that's what friends do!

See You Soon Toby

Poor Toby isn't doing so well again....he has these coughing fits and has a crusty nose and calloused foot pads.  Poor guy.  So after talking with the rescue we had a few options.  1) keep him with us and take care of his needs 2) have him go back to the rescue group and they will take care of his medicine and breathing treatments and anything else he needs for 3 months or so and then we can evaluate next steps or 3) give him back to the rescue group and we can have a refund.  Ugh.  Not an easy decision!!! 

But we decided #2 was best for him at this time so with Brian home sick from work, Mommy and the kids drove Toby to the rescue place.  So sad.  Mommy was hysterical leaving him but it's for the best.  They can see what we are saying about him not being well and he can get the care he needs.  For not really wanting a dog, this little guy sure has left his paw prints on Mommy's heart :-)  Hopefully we can have him back home again soon!

Projects

Now that the trade show has come and gone Mommy has a little more time on her hands which has been nice.  She is taking full advantage of this down time and making sure it is all about the kids and make sure we do a project of some sort every day.  Ashley is very into peeling stickers off sheets and putting them on a piece of paper so we often have sticker projects. 

But when Ashley is in school we do things that are more age-appropriate for Trevor.  He loved this one where he matches up the upper case and lower case letters. 

When he got done, he said 'Mom, this is easy!'  Guess we'll move on to harder projects :-)

Ashley's First Day of School

As we mentioned earlier, big girl Ashley is attending Primrose (aka fire truck school) part-time so that she can get some socialization and really, so that Sara can work a bit.  She was so excited to go to school!

Cheese!  And big brother was so excited to drop her off because usually it is Mommy and Ashley dropping him off!

She did great at drop-off even though it was a chaotic mess of confusion because of kids transitioning rooms and Mommy wasn't sure she wanted to leave her but she had a relatively good first day.  She only napped for 30 minutes (she naps for 3 hours at home) but hopefully this gets better as time goes on.  It's good for her to have this time around kids her age.  We just pray she isn't the biter as she learns to share ;-)

Saturday Fun/Celebration Day!

Sara couldn't get enough of the kids since getting home from the trade show so bright and early they headed to the park for some fun time!  Was nice to give Daddy a break too since we're sure he was exhausted after 4 and a half days working and being a single parent!  They all did great though (thanks babes!!)

Saturday night we headed out with the Yangs to celebrate the trade show success!

We went to Elements at Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain.  Everything was amazing!!!  The view, the drinks, the food, the company...

...and they sent over a congratulatory dessert!

After that we checked out the new Top Golf hot spot and yes, it was packed.  The wait was 2-3 hours so we headed closer to home to check out a dive bar.

Julie and Sara played Jenga.

Play at your own risk...and watch your toes!

Of course, Sara won LOL

The boys set up shop at Golden Tee!

We played pool, danced a bit, had some drinks and then it was time to get home!  Grandma Pauline and Papa John were babysitting and we didn't want to be too late!

Brian swore he was here before with his good friend Frank...Aunt Nancy you'll have to ask him? 

Thanks again to everyone who made the trade show a success!  Julie for being a great boss, Brian for being a supportive husband and wonderful Daddy, and all the babysitters that allowed Sara to work to prep and attend the show.  Big things ahead for Cool Carats!