Happy Halloween

We had a great time trick or treating! Paige got more candy then I know what to do with. Ethan was unsure of the whole thing at first, but once I gave him his bucket and he went to the first door and figured out that he could get candy he was loving it as much as his sister.

Pumpkin Patch

We visited a small pumpkin patch in Farmington this year. They have a few animals there and both the kids loved the cows, great grandpa Lloyd would be so proud. One of the cows kept licking Paige's shirt. It was funny and Paige was amazed at how long the cows tongue was.

Great Grandparents

We have been fortunate to spend some time with my grandparents recently. The Liimatainens in September at my cousin Katie and her husband Brett's going away party. They are volunteering in the Peace Corps and moved to the South Pacific Island of Tonga. We also enjoyed an evening with Grandma Brown and Duane last week. They were on their way to Texas for the winter and stopped for the night so we had dinner and we were able to catch up. It is so nice to spend time with family!

Great Grandma Brown & Duane with Paige

and Ethan



Great Grandma Brown and Duane with Paige





Great Grandpa Ron and Great Grandma Dotty

With Paige and Ethan.

Almost Halloween! Already?

I haven't blogged in awhile, or done any scrap booking. I have been knee deep in video editing. I was a full year behind. Shocking, I know! I just have one video left it's going to be Gymnastics and swimming lessons. I am waiting because Paige's last swimming lesson is this Saturday. We have been busy since the last time I checked in . First and foremost Ethan is WALKING! Practically running. He has been walking since the last week in September, seems like he has been doing it forever now.

Chad's parents were here the second weekend in October for Corey and Krissie's wedding. It was a short trip and flew by but it was nice to see them. The wedding was very nice and a lot of fun.

Paige has been in swimming lessons, she is learning a lot and really likes them. Her only complaint is that the water is chilly. She is also doing well in preschool. She has made some new friends and really likes her teacher this year. My dad has been helping drive her on Mondays and Fridays. This is such a huge help for me! Thank you dad!!!!! I don't have to drag a bunch of kids into school and pray that they will be good for me.

Ethan is growing like a weed and amazing us with new things everyday. His new tricks are crawling up on the dinning room table, trying to walk down the stairs rather then slide down on his tummy and he says kitty. Tonight he threw Paige's bath towel in the tub with her, I thought it was funny but Paige didn't!

Star of the Day!

Paige started back to pre-school the first week in September. She goes to school 3 mornings a week. So far she has fallen back into the routine of school very well. She has a diffrent teacher this year, Mrs. Meliza I really like her and so does Paige. Today Paige is Star of the Day. She is able to bring a poster with pictures of her friends and family. During circle time she gets to talk about her pictures and she also has other special jobs like weather helper, line leader and tapper today. It is a very big day for her and she was so excited when I brought her to school.

Croupy Ethan

We met with an ENT in June because Ethan has had croup about every six weeks since December. He suggested that Ethan have a bronchoscopy so he could look down his throat and see if there was anything abnormal. Chad and I himed and hawed about the procedure because Ethan would need to be put under anesthetic to have it preformed.
We finally decided to go ahead with it so we would know what was going on. He had the procedure at Children's Hospital on Thur day August 21. Ethan did great! The procedure took about 20 minutes and then he had a few hours of recovery. He did not like waking up from the anesthetic and was fussy for about and hour but did wonderfully aside from that. The staff at Children's were top notch and made us very comfortable and less nervous about the procedure.
The doctor explained to us that Ethan has an artery laying on his trachea. This causes his throat to be a bit more narrow then normal and when he gets a cold if his throat swells at it causes him to have a croupy cough and noisy breathing or stridor. The doctor is confident that he will outgrow this and we shouldn't need to do anything further unless the croup gets worse or more frequent, then we would need to do a CT Scan and an Angiogram and possibly have surgery to move the artery. The technical term for this is called innominate artery compression of the Trachea. There is a great article about it on Medscape but it won't let me post it here. If you are intrested in reading about it just google it. We are praying that he just outgrows it!

Cabin Weekend

Chad's parents, Cathy and Jerry visited us for two weeks. They were here for Paige's party and then the following weekend we had a relaxing weekend at Merredith's family cabin. We had a great time boating, hanging out at the Cabin Bar and sitting around the fire at night.

One and Five year photos

Todd and Pam came over to take photos of the kids one Sunday. Thank you VERY much Todd and Pam! Todd you take beautiful photos!

Paige's fifth birthday was our second party in two weeks. She had a pony/petting zoo party. It was so much fun and right up her alley. She is such an animal lover! She was able to invite some of her neighborhood friends, daycare friends, preschool friends and of course family. The highlight of the day for me was watching her pick up a chicken that was bigger then her to put it in the kennel when it was time to pack up the zoo. When I asked her what her favorite part was she said, "the whole party mom!" I can't believe she is five already. I remember the day we brought her home from the hospital like it was yesterday. There was the most beautiful rainbow in the sky as we were driving down county road 42. We had no idea what parenthood would bring us, but neither Chad or I would trade it for anything!

Happy First Birthday Ethan!

Well we survived the first of back to back birthdays with Ethan's birthday bash on Sunday July 20. I can't believe he is one already! He had a great day despite the fact he wouldn't take a nap. He must have known it was his special day. He did well with the cupcake and wasn't super interested in opening gifts. Thank you to all of our friends and family that were able to celebrate his day with us you made it more special!

July 5, 2008

Happy 4th of July

We went the Apple Valley 4th of July Parade during the day. It was fun and Paige got a lot of candy! We spent the evening setting off fireworks and watching the Apple Valley fireworks display at Pam and Todd's.

Surprise!!!! I'm not 30 Quite Yet!

On June 7th, Chad and my mom along with help from Pam, Merredith and Shalla threw a surprise 30th Birthday Party for me. It was a lot of fun and they sure did surprise me. I can't believe Merredith was able to keep a secret from me.

Sprinklers?

Chad spent the weekend helping Dwight and Judy install a
sprinkler system. I took the kids over to check progress on Saturday and Ethan wanted to help his daddy!

Memorial Weekend

We went to Judy & Dwight's cabin for Memorial weekend. We enjoyed hanging with Dwight and Judy and the Donahues. It was Dwight's Birthday celebration. Also Cassie and Madison came up the first part of the weekend with some of their friends from Louisiana. Ian and Matt joined us for the second part of the weekend and Matt had a birthday as well. Ethan enjoyed his first boat ride, and Jaxon did not enjoy his life jacket at all. All the kids had fun in the sandbox at the cabin Bar. We really enjoy going to the cabin it is always a good time and Judy always feeds us well!