red desk

I recently painted a new desk for Micah. The desk and hutch belonged to my brothers' when we were growing up and had been sitting at my parents since then. We have the dresser and hutch from the set as well and they look great next to each other! I still need to get a desk chair because right now he's using one from our kitchen table. I also want to get some new storage for his art supplies but won't be doing that until next month when the Great Room Switch begins.

Before:

During: (after I primed it Micah was disgusted

and informed me that He did NOT want a pink desk!)

unusual lullaby

Connor's favorite song to sing at bedtime is Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. For some reason about a week ago he told me to stop while I was singing it and asked me to sing Little Frisbee instead. Since then his new favorite is this...

Twinkle, twinkle little frisbee

How I wonder where you will be.

Up above the world so high

when we throw you in the sky.

Twinkle, twinkle little frisbee

How I wonder where you will be.

little swimmers

We just finished up our week of swimming lessons and I've got to say it was GREAT! Last year Connor hated them and Micah freaked out the first two days and then was pretty ok the last few. What a difference a year makes!

I hadn't originally signed Connor up because of last years horrible experience. I was just planning on practicing with him every chance we got to have in the pool. However, after dealing with a very sad boy on Micah's 2nd day (the first day he was home with Zach) because he wasn't getting in the pool I felt bad for not including him as well. I noticed the water babies class before Micah's class only had two kids in it so the director let me put him in for the last 3 days. He did great with me the first two days and only got mad when one of the teachers came to make him do something. The last day he was BRILLIANT! I"m pretty sure it's because Zach worked from home so he could watch the boys swim (seriously great daddy!). Connor walked right in the pool, straight to his teacher and straight SHOWED OFF!! He went under water with his blow fish face, floated like a champ, choo chooed around the pool, swam to get toys and smiled the whole time. I seriously couldn't believe it but wasn't about to complain!

LOVE this picture of the two of us :)

floating with his airplane arms

swimming to the wall

choo chooing-

p.s. this is just using their arms to get them safely to a spot they can get out of the pool

SO PROUD!

Relaxing after all the hardwork

and being his usual self :)

Micah did great from day 1. He was very excited about taking his lessons this year. The two main reasons were because he got new goggles to wear and because Bella was in his class. She makes everything better. While his teacher said he isn't quite ready for Level 2 he improved a lot with relaxing while swimming or floating and by the end of the week swam the whole 'baby' length while holding his breath and floated on his own. I was most impressed with him during their penny hunt (throw pennies on the bottom of the pool and get them). He figured out how to get himself to the bottom (shallow end), held his breath for a long time, and didn't get frustrated when he couldn't grab one. He ended up with 6 by the end. Seeing him actually enjoy himself swimming instead of getting nervous or frustrated was awesome!

waiting for his turn

blowing bubbles warm up

talking strategy with bella

Smiles all around

floating floating floating

He was most excited about Friday because he got to jump off the diving board. This is him patiently waiting. The rest is on video though so sorry :) He didn't even wait until she counted to three. That boy was READY!

planking

Apparently planking is this new phenomenon. The only thing I know about it is from the random pictures that occasionally show up on my facebook newsfeed. This morning Zach informed me that a local radio station was giving away a free signed copy of Gene Chizik's book to a few listeners who sent a picture of themselves planking while wearing auburn shirts. He figured they couldn't resist two cute blonde boys trying it and asked me to take a picture. In the few short minutes we had between finishing breakfast and getting ready for swim lessons I took this...

Apparently it worked because a copy of the book is on the way to our house :)

the 4th

Our fourth of July was SUPER chill and relaxing. I'm not sure why we didn't have big plans but when the day was done I was kind of glad we hadn't made any. Zach started our day by trying out the new smoker he got for his birthday. He, Micah and my kitchen smelled like a BBQ joint all day long but it was totally worth it. That butt (boston butt) was good!!!!!!!!!! The rest of our day included the first day of swimming lessons. A looooooonnnnnnnnggggggg rest time and an impromptu dinner at the cardozas with us and the moons. I had really wanted to take the boys to see some fireworks BUT a certain 4 year old kept getting freaked out and teary eyed every time I mentioned it because 'they're too loud.' I decided it wasn't worth keeping them awake until 10 just to have them meltdown at the sound so I've delayed my desire until they're old enough to enjoy it. The kids had fun playing, the adults had fun talking, we found out awesome news about a new baby on the way!, and just had a plain great evening :)

rainbow

ER

We experienced our first visit to the ER this past Thursday. Leslie was watching the boys for me so I could go to a baby shower for my sister in law. About 20ish minutes after dropping them off I received 'the phone call'. I could hear Micah in the back ground hyperventilating crying as she explained to me that he somehow tripped fell back into a table and landed face first into the recliner. When she picked him up she realized he was NOT ok. The poor thing bit through his bottom lip.

This might sound crazy but I'm SOOO glad it happened at her house. She is much more calm in those kind of circumstances and actually knows what to do. Since I would have been calling her anyway it was good she was the one at the scene :) I turned around to go pick him up and take him to Scottish Rite Children's Hospital. We live very close to two AWESOME children's hospitals so we decided that would be the best place to head. He was so quiet in the car and only cried when he thought that they would give him a shot.

It was not busy at all which was great and we were in a room within 30 minutes. We ended up having to wait 2 hours though because the ER doctor felt that since we were dealing with his face particularly the lip area he felt more comfortable with the plastic surgeon doing the stitches. Connor was taken care of, Micah was VERY chill from the medication and Disney movies were on loop on the hospital TV so waiting wasn't a big deal. We sat with a very doped up Micah, his buddy Curious George and watched Pochahontas and Curious George the movie. There were a few breaks when the nurses came in to give additional medication and a numbing agent for his lips. Each time they came in George wanted to wave to them and Micah informed them he was going back to his friend Bella's house when they were done.

The surgeon put about 5 stitches on the outside of his lip and 3 on the inside. Micah was so still the whole time and when they were done he looked at us and bragged that he didn't cry! By the time we got back to get Connor Micah was getting sad because he really wanted to play and sick because of all the pain medicine. He ended up getting sick at there house twice and once more at home and was just about the most pitiful thing.

He's been doing great since the incident. The swelling has gone down a lot and he's been very understanding about the 'squishy' food diet he has to be on for the next few days. I am soo soo soo soo soo soo proud of him. He did way better then I would have ever imagined and I'm soo soo soo soo thankful it was just a small injury that was easily fixed and easily recovered from!

waiting room

relaxing after the first round of medication

Micah and George with their matching medicine bandaids

stiching him up

ALL DONE!