Summer Continued

So yes, I am still trying to catch up on our Summer activities now that fall is here. We had a lot of fun this summer, starting with a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Knudsen.

Wesley loves being outside and helping Grandpa.
Every Summer we attend Fort Herriman Days as well as the parade. The kids loves it and this year was not different.

One of the main reasons they love the parade is the candy . . .
and of course playing with their friends!
We also made a trip to Gardner Village with Grandma and Grandpa to feed the ducks.
Wesley playing with Molly. He loves her and wants to feed her all day long.
Of course no summer is complete without a trip to the Zoo.

Everyone has to take a picture at the water fountain right?
As you can tell, this is me trying to take a picture of Wesley on the "fun" playground at the zoo, and him just not enjoying it in the least.
One of the reasons we had to go this summer was to see the new baby elephant Zuri.

On the train ride.

Enjoying the backyard with Grandma and Grandpa.

Wesley's 2nd Birthday

Wesley turned 2 in June and or course we had a party to celebrate. Wesley loves all cars, trucks and motorized vehicles so we went for a "Cars" theme.

I made a cake just for him to dig into and I must say, he at a lot of it. I'm surprised he didn't throw up later.


Here are the cupcakes for everyone else.

Enjoying his cake.

You are an awesome little boy, and we love you so much! All he has to do is smile and show those dimples and he will melt your heart.

Time has passed me by

I haven't posted in two months! I really need to get my act together! So here begins a long string of posts to catch up. Here are a few pictures of the kids back in June.

My little guy with his long curls (future post coming about his hair)

Lydia posing for the camera.

June is the month of rodeos for Herriman and the fact that Rafael works for the city gets us into all of them free. The kids love it. Another perk, free snacks. This is Wesley enjoying his first cotton candy, which he just licked and wouldn't eat.

Me and my little man.

This rodeo Rafael was able to get some tickets for some friends (The Coombs) so they joined us. Here are the four kids enjoying the rodeo.

Checking out the animals up close.

Here Comes Kindergarten

Lydia graduated from preschool last month and so we started the process of getting her ready for Kindergarten. She learned so much in preschool and loved her teacher and class. They had a cute little graduation program where they sang songs and repeated some poems they learned.

Getting her graduation certificate.

She is so excited to start Kindergarten, but we all know there is that Doctor's appointment our kids have to go to. Lydia has been especially nervous about going to the Doctor's because she is afraid she might have to get a shot. This all comes from when she was in the car accident 1 1/2 years ago. She absolutely hated the IV she had and remembers that most of all.

I scheduled her appointment and let her know that we needed to go to the Dr. for her checkup and that she would need some shots to be able to start Kindergarten. I didn't want to surprise her and have her freak out. She is so excited for Kindergarten that she said she would be brave. We went in for her appointment last week, and I thought for sure when they gave her the shots she would cry. NOPE! She had to have 4 shots, and she didn't shed a tear. She turned to me after and said, "I was brave!" My little cutey!

She just found out who her teacher is and she can't wait to start in August! It will be weird to have her gone everyday, but oh how much I can accomplish with one at school and one taking a nap!!!!!

Day at the Park

A few weeks back we decided to go to the park, since Lydia had been bugging me to go on a daily basis. It was finally a decent day, so we headed off. Here are a few pictures of the kids playing.

Lydia's First Bike Ride . . . on two wheels

Yes everyone . . . safety first! Lydia asked Rafael to get her bike out so she could go riding. He told, only if we take off the training wheels. About 5 minutes later, Rafael came in and said you need to get the camera. There she was riding down the street. What? She loves it and hardly ever falls. Now she just needs a new bike.

My Little Piggy Is Gone

Anyone that has spent much time around Wesley, knows that when he breathes he sounds very congested and dare I say sounds a little like a piggy. You should hear him eat. The poor kid would take several bites, then inhale deeply to get air. Well since this has been a condition for him since about 9 months old, I thought it was time to get things figured out, now that he is approaching 2. At all of his check-ups they just said we will watch him and see if perhaps it will get better. He was too little to do much to correct the problem, anyways. Finally we took him to an ENT Specialist and within minutes they had diagnosed him with large adenoids. He was also finally at an age, where they could do something to correct the problem. So last, Thursday we took him to the hospital to have his adenoids removed.

Getting dressed in his very attractive hospital gown and awesome socks.

Passing some time before surgery.

About 15 minutes before the surgery they gave Wesley some medicine they said would relax him. Slowly you could see his eyes glaze over and he became more relaxed and silly. At one point he wanted to get up an walk, but I soon realized he was like a drunk little baby. He would have never passed a sobriety test. The picture below is off him just before they took him in for surgery. I think maybe they slipped some of that medicine to Rafael as well.

The surgery went really well. The doctor said his adenoids were huge and were almost completely blocking his nasal passage. The surgery didn't take very long and he was doing great by that afternoon - the picture below is a few hours after surgery. He decided to go lay down in Lydia's bed and thought it was pretty funny.

Wesley is so much happier now that he can breathe. I wasn't sure at first if it was just the medicine he was taking, but, his happiness has stayed. I guess I didn't realize how miserable he probably was. There is a lot less whining from him, he is eating well, no snoring at night, no snorting at the dinner table, and he laughs a lot more. I guess the only side effect is that now he has become a Momma's boy and doesn't want me to leave his side. I have to keep reminding myself to enjoy his clinging, because he is not one that usually likes to cuddle and one day I will miss it.

Fieldtrip to the Fire Station

Lydia's preschool class was able to go tour a nearby fire station. They learned all about what to do in case of a fire and then we got to go look at the fire truck.

All the kids watched as one of the firemen put all his gear on. Part of the gear is his oxygen mask, which he put on and of course he then had to turn on the tank to breathe. When he did that it let out a loud rush of air, which scared Wesley. I'm pretty sure he probably peed his pants.

Inspecting the inside of the truck.

Lydia posing with the now calm Wesley. This didn't last for long though.

Lydia's cute little preschool class. As a final send off the turned on the sirens, lights and honked the horn. Wesley didn't enjoy this loud noise either, but I at least was smart and covered his ears for this one.