February 19 - Day 50

Today was the last day of Aidan's first set of swim lessons at the Y. The final day, kids get to head down the waterslide. Dan put Aidan on his lap but they got going just a little too fast at the last turn. Both ended up under water. We asked Aidan if he wanted to go one more time and he promptly said, "No."

February 18 - Day 49

Today we took the kids to an Earth Cache down by the river. It was educational and I had fun teaching them about the formation of the rocks and the river, as well as the early history of Indian camps here. We tallied 9 geocaches today.

February 17 - Day 48

Another day of caching. Aidan's holding our cache kit, complete with trackables, pens, paper, and ziploc bags. He loves "treasure hunting."

We also saw the aftermath of an accident today. Thank goodness no one was seriously injured. The garbage truck one this round.

February 16 - Day 47

While Ian was at school today, we took Aidan out for some geocaching. We've missed caching and were happy to find their were some new hides near our home. This is a photo of Aidan holding the first find of the day. 

About an hour into our quest, Ian's school called and reported Ian had plugged his right ear full of Play-Doh. 

Off to urgent care we went to get it removed!

February 15 - Day 46

Our new bed. We got rid of our old Sleep Number Bed after 7 years and finally decided on a Pedic Solutions foam mattress from QVC. We were hesitant and waited about 3 weeks before going for it. Today, it arrived. It took a couple hours to completely expand. I'd hate to think how the heck we'd return it if we end up not liking it! We'll see how it goes.

February 14 - Day 45

It's Valentine's Day. Dan and I celebrated early by going out to dinner last Friday. We knew today he'd have to work and Ian had swim therapy.

Today, Ian volunteered to be the "target" while his therapy buddy (another little boy) tossed inflatable beach balls to him, trying to make it through the hoop. Ian loved it and giggled constantly. I am loving how much he is loving the water and how he really tries hard to socially connect with the other little boy. His progress is just amazing. 

February 13 - Day 44

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day and that means 3 parties at the kids' school. Two for Ian and one for Aidan. The boys helped make more than 30 dipped marshmallows for Valentine treats. We got the idea from Our Best Bites and sort of used whatever we had as chocolate and topping. I did buy the special chocolate swirl marshmallows, as well as the strawberry marshmallows. We melted 3 kinds of dip - semi sweet chocolate, white chocolate, and a pink candy melt that had a vanilla flavoring. For toppings we used crushed graham crackers, crushed Oreo cookies, mini dark chocolate chips, candy sugar sprinkles, and chopped up conversation heart candies.

Ian had the most fun dipping while Aidan was mostly interested in just eating the chocolate chips :)

February 12 - Day 43

Happy Birthday June! 90 years young!

Dan's maternal grandmother celebrated today with a huge party and an intimate dinner afterward. She's really 90 going on 65. This woman is the epitome of youth and staying active. She still golfs, bowls, writes, and drives! She's a rock :)

At the party, Dan and I were able to present the photo slideshow of her last 90 years. Dan's mom (June's daughter) scanned over 200 photos for us to put together with music. It turned out quite lovely. 

I didn't have my camera out much during the actual party since Dan's uncle Jay had the better camera out, taking photos. I did happen to get this lovely shot of Dan's forehead. Aidan accidentally stabbed his daddy with a fork. Oops. 

February 11 - Day 42

CoastalContacts.com was offering their Facebook Fans a code for a free pair of complete eyeglasses. The catch was that there was only a 2 hour window to snag the free lenses and only for the first 10,000 orders. I hopped on that bandwagon. I SHOULD have gotten a new pair of lenses for my three year old Vogue frames last Dec (before my insurance benefits renewed in Jan), but I didn't. Too much procrastinating. I couldn't pass up this deal. I was a little leary of picking out frames without trying them on but since free is free, I figured I had nothing to lose. I chose these Vera Wang frames. 

February 10 - Day 41

So I am supposed to be taking it easy and I have had a mani/pedi appointment scheduled for the last 6 weeks. I really didn't want to miss it and since it's mostly sitting, it's still taking it easy, right? I got the super duper package with paraffin wax and all. Pampering myself!

February 9 - Day 40

Home from the hospital today. I am still mostly couch bound for the next couple days but the boys are making some Martha Stewart recipe brownies. 

I love this shot of Aidan licking the mixing paddle. 

February 8 - Day 39

At the hospital, with only my iPhone to snap a photo. It's almost 1:00am and I am waiting for a breathing treatment. I was admitted after 2 hours in the ER on Monday afternoon. I have 4 residents and an intern managing my care and it's like a science project gone bad. On one hand it's great for them to suspect and check for everything, on the other hand I've ended up going through a lot of unnecessary treatments like a scan for blood clots in my legs and lungs. And it goes to show you that doctors don't always ask the right questions OR read your chart - for some damn reason I had an ultrasound done of my gallbladder to check for gallstones...guess who had their gallbladder removed in 2004???

The RNs have been great though. I can't say enough good things about their bedside care and knowledge. I love me some nurses. 

I get to go home though as soon as my breathing is under control and my O2 sats are up from 93 to at least 97.  It's looking like bronchitis combined with a severe uncontrolled asthma attack. I've been given an IV steroid and albuterol inhalation (every 4 hours). I will continue to take the pill form of the steroid for the next 5 days after my release. 

February 7 - Day 38

Dan snapped this photo. Statistically, don't men tend to run out of gas more often than women? ;)

I'm also not doing well and a trip to the ER is in order today. It's been guessed I have pneumonia but the antibiotics aren't working. Whatever it is, must be viral. 

February 6 - Day 37

Ian LOVES to climb the walls. Literally. 

February 5 - Day 36

Too bad this one picture came out blurry. Ian got a new computer game today, a Dora the Explorer adventure. He can work the computer like a pro, I see a technical genius in the making. 

February 4 - Day 35

Who me? I always catch Bonesy the Cat sitting in Ian's chair. And he always acts innocent, especially when I tell him to get down. 

February 3 - Day 34

My Ponytail Palm is thriving! Love the greenery it adds to the kitchen :)

February 2 - Day 33

Flashback! Unfortunately I didn't get a picture today. I've been sick for weeks, and only getting worse.

This photos is from when Dan and I lived in Kenmore, WA in 2006. I was about 7 months pregnant with Ian and that summer was extremely hot. It was a dry August night and we all of the stores in the area were sold out of air conditioners. We resorted to buying an Aero Bed and put it on the ground floor of our townhouse, in the living room, to escape the 90 degree temps upstairs. 

February 1 - Day 32

It's been chilly outside. Not much to report today except I think I'm getting much worse with this cold. Last night I could hardly make it home from Dan's grandmother's without having a coughing fit. I can't tolerate moving around much because it interferes with my breathing. However, I did manage to get this great shot of a tree in our neighborhood. I want to take a photo of this tree once a month to document the seasonal changes. Hopefully, I'll remember next month!

January 31 - Day 31

Today we celebrated the life of Dan's maternal grandfather. It was a beautiful but very cold day. There was a military service in addition to the regular service and both were done so beautifully. I wanted to be invisible and respectful, taking a few remembrance photos. I particularly love this moment of Dan and our two boys placing roses on Grandpa J's casket.

In loving memory of J.S.

January 30 - Day 30

My grandpa had given me a stack of slides he wanted me to scan and in the process, I found a photo album that included photos of me as a toddler. My baby photos are few and far between (lost in a move!), so it was awesome finding a few more in his collection. I had to post this photo because it's one of my favorites. I am on the right (with my eyes closed, laughing) and the other two kids are my cousins. Our son Aidan is pretty much a carbon copy of me at that age!

January 29 - Day 29

Aidan had his first swim lesson today. It was part of a group session for 18 to 36 month olds. Dan was the co-pilot in the water. Ian and I stood on the sidelines and cheered him on. He also got his first "dunk" today! (see video). I took several pictures but these were the best at showing how happy he was to play in the pool.

January 28 - Day 28

I stayed up with Ian all night until 5:30am this morning, while he coughed in his sleep, on the couch. The steroid didn't kick in until then but after the coughing stopped, it was peaceful. I headed to bed for a few hours and heard the kids and Dan get up around 9:00am. When I woke up, Dan had snapped this shot of Ian, lying in bed and reading a book. (too cute!)

January 27 - Day 27

We've been battling colds in this house. Everyone but Dan has bronchitis. Whenever a respiratory infection arises, so does Ian's asthma. He'd been on inhalation albuterol for about a day when after the last 3 treatments, it just wan't cutting it for him anymore. At 9:30pm, we took Aidan over to Dan's parents' house and drove Ian to the emergency room. He ended up getting 3 more back to back breathing treatments and a steroid. This is a great photo of him watching Dora the Explorer in between treatments. Ian's a trooper in keeping his spirits up despite how sickly he's feeling.

January 26 - Day 26

Tonight I had a major craving for Lemon Meringue pie. I don't always give into my cravings but this was a strong one that had been building up for a few days. Dan graciously drove over to Marie Callender's and lucky for us, this was the pie of the month, which meant it was on sale :) This is probably the best lemon meringue I've ever had.

January 25 - Day 25

Not much to report today. My cold and TN pain came back full force today, probably the worst day of the year for me and I ended up sleeping the afternoon away. I decided to take a shot of Aidan's moon light. He loves this IKEA light and insists it be on until he falls asleep each night. (It's hidden a bit behind his Pottery Barn Kids "Aidan" chair).

January 24 - Day 24

Swim day! Ian had a little bit of a setback today, due to a little runny nose. He was less excited about swimming on his own and insisted on hanging from the sides of the pool when needed to get from point A to B. Overall though, his attitude was mostly sunny and his spirit was brightened when Abby suggested he get his Spiderman flippers, gloves, and goggles on.

January 23 - Day 23

Library day! Ian loves picking out book and movies at the library. We try to go once every two weeks or so but today was a special stop just to pick up some holds (and Ian grabbed a few movies too). I am thankful that when I forget to grab my camera on quick trips from the house that we always have the iPhone as a back up. 

January 22 - Day 22

It's been months since we've done much geocaching, so today we got back in the swing of things. It was a wet but decent day and there were quite a few new caches on the GPS. I loved the idea of this cache, a Christmas ornament hanging in a tree. This particular cache was placed just off Indiana, east of Sullivan. 

Another one on our "to find" list was at the Coke building on Montgomery. Unfortunately, neither Dan nor I could find this one and we blame it on faulty coords. We'll be back to look again.

And several months ago, we placed a cache in a little park along Knox Rd and forgot to submit it to the geocaching site. In the meantime, someone else placed a cache elsewhere within the park. Today we decided to check to see if our cache was still where we placed it. No dice. Someone snatched it. 

Overall we logged about 8 caches around the Valley today.

January 21 - Day 21

I was craving blueberry pancakes and the boys were restless after running some errands (we got our new laptop today!), so we stopped at IHOP for dinner. Aidan kept busy by counting sugar and Splenda packets, and Ian quickly tackled the maze on the back of the kiddie menu.

January 20 - Day 20

We are busily editing photos for June's 90th birthday party next month. I have been super sick the last two days so there was no actual photo taken by me today. However, since we're working with older photos, I thought it appropriate to use one of June's photos for the photo of the day today.

Janie has been scanning the photos and we've been editing them for a slideshow. This photo is of her mom and dad (June and John) during their engagement. John had just made June a bracelet out of spoon! I have seen this kind of jewelry on many Etsy sites so I thought it neat to learn that June used to wear it.

Out of all the photos we've come across this week, this one stood out most to me. It just speaks to me and I love it.

For blog reader notes: Janie is Dan's mom, and June and John are Janie's parents. 

January 19 - Day 19

Ian is reading by sight.

He gets those cute little Scholastic book flyers at school (I LOVED those when I was little!) and we found a Thomas the Train reader set. The books are simple and perfect for learning to sight read with sentences like, "Thomas can not go," or "The fox is in the box." Ian picked up on these smaller words immediately. And of course he recognizes the names of all the engines (Thomas, Percy, Gordon, etc) from having played with these trains for the last two and half years.

This is an exciting time for Ian (and us) and we are just beaming with pride over our kids' love of books.

January 18 - Day 18

Ian loves Riverdance.

Actually, he loves listening to music, making music, dancing, and anything artistic, really. Riverdance was on TV one evening about two years ago and he got up, put his little arms next to his sides and began doing kicks, just like the dancers. Over the last couple years, you could out of the blue ask Ian to "Riverdance" and he'd happily dance around the room. When Ian was two, I'd discovered the An Daire Academy was teaching kids from the age of 4, how to dance the Irish dance. Well, here we are two years later and Ian is 4. We asked if he'd be interested in trying the class and he said yes. Today was the day. He loved it. He had fun with the other kids, learning the dance, learning some culture, and singing and playing games.

 However, after looking at his schedule (he does 23 hours of school and therapy a week already!) We decided to postpone his classes until the next session in three months, when things may be a little calmer.

January 17 - Day 17

Today, I suggested putting the kids in the stroller and taking a walk around the neighborhood. I like using the RunKeeper app to keep track of mileage and time, and I really love the little map of my route that it saves.

We haven't geocached in awhile but by luck, Dan remembered a new cache right by the paper mill. Of course, neither of us planned on doing any caching today, so we didn't have a pen with us to sign the log, but we did take photo proof once we found it.

I love these photos of Dan, finding the cache.

It ended up being a magnetic key holder stuck under a bench.

After our walk, the kids burned off some energy in the backyard.

January 16 - Day 16

Not much going on this Sunday. We slept in, did some chores around the house, the kids played, and we visited some family from out of town.

Ian has been helping out around the house lately. We learned in Love and Logic that kids should do chores without expecting rewards (aka allowance), but that allowances are good to give kids, to teach them about money, as long as they're not attached to household work.  L&L says giving $ for extra jobs around the house is fine, but that kids shouldn't expect to get paid for doing normal chores. Anyway, we started an allowance jar for Ian, and before we started taking this class, he was earning "monies" (that's what he calls it), for helping me out with laundry or picking up his room.

Today, Dan pitched in to help with folding clothes. Ian willfully helped and didn't even ask to put "monies" in his coin jar. (I, of course, snuck some in later). These were really cute shots of Ian:

Later today, we went to my mom's for dinner. My cousins Charlotte and Maria made the best enchiladas I've probably ever eaten. Charlotte is also expecting and is due in June too, and her brother's fiancee was there and she's due in July. It made for quite the pregnant table. :)

Before dinner, Aidan (yes, my 2 year old AIDAN), snapped this photo of Ian and Auntie Tanya:

January 15 - Day 15

The family was brought together today by a memorial service for my dad's father. He passed away on New Year's Eve, and today we were celebrating his life. My dad made a really great slideshow of photos and many family members spoke wonderful things about the life of a wonderful man. My cousin was part of the 21 gun salute in honor of grandpa's service to our country, namely during the Korean War. 

In Memory of 
A.L.,  1929-2010

January 14 - Day 14

During Ian's OT, Aidan sometimes runs himself bored playing with the same waiting room toys. We let him borrow our iPhone this time, so he could watch a Netflix episode of Dora the Explorer. He was ecstatic. It was cute to watch him shout out the directions and other words in Spanish. Because of good ol' Dora, Aidan can say the colors blue, red, green, and yellow in Spanish. He loves to tell us when something is "rojo" or "azul."

Later this evening, Dan gave the boys piggy back rides around the house. The last ride resulted in a double.