Saturday, June 29, 2013

Project 365 Week 26

Another week of summer has flown by! I can't believe it is almost July. We were home a lot this week because we had new grass put down in the front and-after 7 years-we had air conditioning put in. These Colorado summers get hot sometimes, and nothing is worse than seeing E's red cheeks from the heat! So, as I type this, I am enjoying the cool air in the house. Nice...

On to our week!

Sunday: We have a new addition to the family. His name is Ace. He is a lhaso apso, and he is too cute. However, he immediately took to Emmalyn's toys, which she was none to happy with. The first picture shows the sequence of him stealing her ring. I love his dejected look in the second picture.



Monday: Emmalyn fell over in the bath ring, so we don't use it. Now she sits on a towel in the tub with water. Notice the brown trail out behind her? Yup...it's what you think it is.


By Monday night, we could tell something was wrong with this sweet girl. She woke up 3 times after we had put her to bed, and she started slapping at her left ear. This is a picture of her in the emergency room. Sure enough, she had an ear infection.


Tuesday: Even though I didn't get home from the ER until 3am, and E still woke up bright and early at 7am, I promised the boys we would go see Monsters University. They posed for this picture in front of Turbo.


And, of course, guess who was feeling better by the time we got home?


Wednesday: I was attending a conference in Denver on Thursday, so I decided to go up Wednesday night and stay in a hotel. This is a picture from my FaceTime chat with Ed and the kids. Apparently these 2 cuties were also Ed's bedmates. Needless to say, he didn't get much sleep!



Thursday: Yup. This is the only picture I took at my conference. I should've taken a picture of the presenter, Debbie Diller...work stations guru, but alas, I did not. But isn't the Coke bottle cool?


Friday: I ended up going to the math portion of the conference, and I had lunch at this place in Denver. I was amazingly disappointed. Sigh.


But...that disappointment went away when I got to IKEA! (Okay, so this was not a "real" picture. It was actually my way of not having to write down what I needed to pick up in the self-serve area.)


Saturday: Last summer, we had someone come and aerate and fertilize our yard. Not sure what the guy did, but IT TOTALLY DIED. So, this summer we had to have all new grass put down. It wasn't cheap, but it sure looks good! (The grass was actually laid on Monday, but we just finished weeding and moving bricks today.)


This is a picture from the fire. but you can see how bad the yard looked.


Well, I hope you have all had a blessed week!

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Project 365 Week 25

It was a pretty uneventful week (thank goodness!). Here it is in pictures...

Sunday: Father's Day! We took Ed to Zio's for lunch and gave him season 6 of his favorite show, Burn Notice. Due to other tv shows (the DVR can only record so many), he missed that season. He actually finished the entire thing on Thursday.


Ed and his little boys.


And his little girl.


Monday: I'm on the make-your-own-baby-food bandwagon. Drove around for FOREVER on Monday night trying to find one of these. Apparently they've been discontinued. I'm hoping that's not a bad thing. It's been working great for me!


Tuesday: I also bought a new stroller for E on Monday night. She's moved up to a bigger carseat, so we decided to upgrade her stroller. I forgot I needed it put together for a trip to the zoo on Wednesday, so I was up at 11pm assembling it. I was so impressed with myself that I woke up Ed to show him! I didn't remember to take an "after" picture. Figures.


Wednesday: I met Shari at the zoo. Her friend Jen was visiting. We also met up with Chazlyn (former co-worker) and her 18 month old son, Cole. He is such a cutie! Tyler decided at the last minute to tag along, which made me super happy. I would say that he and E had a great time.


Tyler rode the train with E. After a couple of times around...she was DONE. :)


You can buy sticks to feed the birds. E was fascinated by them.


Tyler is a pro at feeding the birds!


One of the most fun things you can do is feed the giraffes. Shari was helping Emmalyn. I love E's face in this picture.


This is Chazlyn and Cole. Aren't his glasses so cute? (And I love Shari's face in this picture.)


And that's Jen's arm. How did she manage to get out of this picture? Ninja skills...


I would say he had a good day!


Ed games on Wednesday night, so the kids and I had frozen yogurt for dinner. E had to suffice with her yogurt melts.


Thursday: We had some random appointments. But, the morning started out with this cutie. Man, she loves those letters.

I had the two littles with me at the mall while we waited on Ed and Logan. Tyler sees E as his ticket back into the kids' playground at the mall.


And when we got home, I made some food for E! I started with carrots, green beans, and squash. Sure...I had to google how to peel a squash, but we all start somewhere, right?


Friday: More random appointments...but this angel woke up extra early and hung out with me while I dried my hair. (Notice the letter!)


Tyler's been complaining that he can't see out of his glasses, so we went to the optometrist. I told him this was called terminator vision. Turns out the kid really couldn't see. After multiple tests (which of course were not covered by insurance), it was decided that he just hit a growth spurt, which can affect vision rather quickly. 

I went to get a new contact prescription. See the lady in the picture? Well, she gave me my last prescription the last time I went. She was pregnant. And the kid she had just turned 3. Maybe I should go more often.


So, last week I decided to clean out the spice cabinet. I also get so irritated looking for spices, so I decided to label the top of each container. This was the first night I had reached in to find specific spices and WOW...it was so much easier!


Saturday: A rather lazy day at home...made some sweet potato fries for the girl. She loved them!


Not too exciting, which is fine by me! Hopefully this week will be just as laid back. We're hoping to check out a drive in theatre nearby. We'll see!

Have a blessed week!

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Project 365 Week 24

What a week! We finally made our way back to Colorado on Monday. It's always so nice to be home after time away. The last time we were in Texas, the huge Waldo Canyon Fire started on the west side of Colorado Springs. By the time we made it home, the fire had already burned thousands of acres. It was so sad to see the smoke every day. We couldn't see the mountains either. By the time it was all said and done, the fire had burned over 14,000 acres and over 300 houses.

This year, we got home from Texas on Monday. On Tuesday afternoon, as I was leaving work on the south side of town, I noticed smoke in the distance. I remember telling Ed, "That's going to be a doozy of a fire."

Unlike the fire last year, which was quite a ways from our house, this one (The Black Forest Fire)was much closer. We ended up being on the very southern edge of one of the pre-evacuation zones. The laundry from Texas was washed and repacked, and Ed and I had the discussion of what we would take with us. I didn't go to work the next 2 days because if they turned our pre-evac zone into a mandatory evac zone, I wouldn't be able to get back to help Ed. Scary stuff. In a matter of 5 days, over 14,000 acres and 502 homes were burned, and 41,000 people were evacuated. If I remember correctly, the damage of last year's fire took days. For this much damage to happen in 5 days was frightening and shows the force of this fire. 

Thank goodness much needed rain arrived the past few days, and the last I heard the fire was 95% contained. Many people were able to return to their homes. Please pray for those people who lost everything and the two people who lost their lived while they were trying to escape.

But-on to the rest of our week.

Sunday: I'm not sure why I posted these with last week's post, but here they are again! You really can never have enough Lolita's!




Monday: The whole clan was ready to get home!


Tuesday: This was the first time this cutie rode in a shopping cart. She's so tiny in this picture!


This was what the fire looked like by late afternoon Tuesday from our front porch.


Wednesday: This is what kept us up pretty much ALL night Tuesday and into Wednesday morning. Ed and I would set the alarm for every hour to check and see the if the evacuation area had changed. We were on the southern edge of a pre-evacuation area.



Thursday: We woke up to the sound of a Chinook flying over. It was filling its water bucket at a reservoir just past those houses. 


By Thursday afternoon, it seemed that the fire was moving away from us. We definitely had cabin fever, so we went to the grocery store and tried out the new Steak & Shake. (Side note: Ed ordered a banana shake. I'm pretty sure anything with fruit doesn't count as a "treat"...much less a dessert.)


E was more interested in chewing on the table. I put the Hello Kitty mat out in an attempt to make a germ-free barrier. She chewed through it, too. I figured if she was that determined, I would let her go for it. Besides, the restaurant is new. It hasn't had enough time to become disgusting under the tables, right? Besides, maybe she's part beaver.


Friday: Speaking of the beaver...she's not picky. She'll chew on metal, plastic, cloth, your arm, rubber...you get the picture.


And her bow hanger is finally full! Sure, she'll need like 5 more of these to catch up with her cousin, Brynley, but it's a start.


Saturday: After being stranded at home for what seemed like an eternity, we went to the pool! This boy definitely needs some more meat on his bones!


Hope you all had a great week!

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Project 365 Week 23

Another week...another late post! So much has happened since we got home from Texas, so things have been crazy. More about that in the next week's post!

We finished up our week in Texas, leaving Riesel and going to Austin for Ed's national tournament for Flames of War.

Sunday: This is Emmalyn and her Aunt Emily, my brother's wife. 

And I'm bummed that this is the only picture I got of E and her cousin, Jax, Cody and Emily's son.
I have the best video of Jax dancing. If I can get it transferred, I will post it.


Seriously...how cute is this girl? She grew so much while we were gone!


 Monday: Bath time in the "Texas Tub", aka, Mimi's sink!


Tuesday: We went into Waco and had lunch with my Aunt Nita. While we were in town, we went by the cupcake shop and got these yummies!


That night, we went to Tanner's game. I thought I had pictures of Tanner actually playing, but maybe they're on my other camera.


Wednesday: We went to the Mayborn Museum. It is so much fun! They were having a special exhibit called "Goosebumps!" You got to participate in experiments that measured fear. It was pretty cool.


In this experiment, you were listening to certain sounds, and then suddenly a scary sound loudly played. It would record your reaction. This was Cayson.


And here was mine and Brynley's reaction.


And here is E tootin' around in a cop car.


And her tea party with Brynley.


Logan is always fascinated with the bubbles. He loves entertaining the other kids.


Tyler was the only kid who could get this to work!


Then he gave the body bubble a go.


Even Ed took part in the fun!


This was after we got home. My dad was making his evening rounds in his garden. E was about to go to bed.


Thursday: I think this kid could get used to this! And we bought her some of those letters when we got home. She loved them!


And here is some of the clan at Peter Piper Pizza. From the left it is Tyler, Cayson, Katie, Dad, Michael, Tracy, and Brynley.


And this cutie was waving to her fans!


When we left on Thursday, we headed to our hotel in Austin. Not too shabby!


Friday: While Ed started his tournament, the kids and I and Ed's mom and stepdad (who drove from Georgia) drove to San Antonio to see Ed's daughter, Steffani, and go to Sea World. This was Steffani's first time to see her baby sister!


We saw the Shamu show, the boys rode the Steel Eel, and then we saw this great penguin exhibit.
And then it poured down rain for like the next 2 hours. We left. Oh well!


Saturday: After the bust at Sea World, we decided to go to Inner Space Caverns in Georgetown. I had never been before. It was really cool! However, I could not believe the humidity! It was only 72 degrees in the cave, but I was sweating! They said 95% of the cave is still growing. The boys really liked it, and Tyler got to be a Junior Explorer Guide.


After Ed's tournament was over, the whole family went to The Salt Lick. YUM-O! They had us come behind the counter to the pit to take a family picture. From the left it is: Doug (Ed's stepdad), Liz (Ed's mom), Logan, E, Tyler, Ed, Rob (Steffani's husband), and Steffani. I wish this picture was scratch-and-sniff.


I promised the boys a night of swimming back at the hotel. They crack me up!


As we were walking back to our room, we noticed Tyler doing this. He told us he was "reading morse code." Ha! That's Braille, buddy!


Sunday: It was time to head back to Colorado. But, Ed promised me we would stop at Lolita's in Waco. I can't get enough of these tacos!


And neither can these two! Although they prefer breakfast tacos.


And, of course, this cutie got herself a tortilla. 


Sorry it was so long! We've done a lot! See you soon with this past week's pictures!