Soccer Tots

Pennington just finished up a six week session of Soccer Tots. To be honest it was sort of a flop for two reasons. (1) The timing was not good. 3:30pm in the afternoon is about the time Pennington is waking up from his nap. Because of this class, we found out that he needs at least 30 minutes to fully wake up and (2) It would have been better if it was at the indoor soccer facility or at an outdoor park rather than at Golds Gym. While I wouldn't say it was a total waste of money I would say that I think we started Pennington too early. We are thinking that we will wait another year until Pennington starts another soccer session. Below are a few pictures of Pennington on his last day at Soccer Tots.

Pretty Piper

I have been trying FOREVER to get a really good photo of Piper. I finally got one. Isn't she just the prettiest little thing you have ever seen?

Fun Weekend with Mommy

For the past few months Daddy has been working 7am to 7pm Saturday and Sunday so the weekends are time to hang out with Mommy. We have started a weekend tradition of making french toast or pancakes on Saturday and Sunday. Pennington LOVES it. His like to shake the Cinnamon, mix the batter, spread the butter, sprinkle the powdered sugar and flip/move the pancakes or french toast. Piper just sits in her seat with a tray full of fruit and watches.

Now that the markets are up and running we try to either go to the Capitol City Market downtown on Saturday or the new weekly Bown Crossing Market on Sunday. The kids LOVED the Capitol City Market last Saturday. They were able to listen to a elementary school band play and eat the mini donuts. I also have to mention that they were super well behaved for me. I honestly think they are better behaved when I am alone with them. We also got to take the BOB out for a stroll downtown and it worked out great. I HIGHLY recommend the BOB for those of you that are in the market for a stroller. It is amazing. Below are a few photos from the weekend. Note: These photos are from two weekends ago. Sorry it took me forever to post them.

Pennington moving the blueberry pancakes back and forth about 20 times.

Pennington playing with his football at the Capitol Park.

Piper at the Capitol City Market. She kept trying to eat the dirt. Silly girl.

Sicko Kiddos

Over the last week or so we have been dealing with two sick kiddos. Piper got it first and it came in the form of a 103 degree fever. Pennington got it a few days later and it totally swiped him out. He would get absolutely winded walking up the stairs and the only thing that would calm him down and get him to eat and drink was to watch "Kipper". It took almost a week for Pennington to recover which meant he missed two days of school (last Friday and this Tuesday). Today was his first day back to school. Since he has been home for the last week he started to get really clingy so it was a good thing today that he was feeling well enough to go to school. I think he is finally back to his normal self.

Side note: Typically when you miss school you are out the money. However, the school Pennington is going to is kind enough to allow us to do make up days. This is a major perk.

5 Years

This month five years old we found out that Johnny had stage four nasopharyngeal carcinoma. It is amazing how far we have come over the five years. Johnny will tell you that one of the hardest parts about going through his treatments wasn't the fact that he was sick and couldn't eat anything but the fact that he might not be able to be a father.

I never once remember thinking that Johnny wasn't going to be able to beat it. However, I do remember thinking that we might not be able to have children. Several people told us that they knew Johnny was going to be able to beat it because they had dreams of us with a little girl. So I have to say that we were some what surprised to find out that Pennington was a boy since everyone told us that it would be a girl. Well you all know how the story ends. Our little surprise came a year later and it was the little girl they had dreamed about.

Thank you Johnny for beating your cancer because you are the best father my children could have ever asked for. Love you.

Piper 9 Months Old

Piper turned 9 months old a few days ago. The first thing that comes to mind is "I made it." Someone once told me you go through 9 months of hell being pregnant and then if you have an epidural live is wonderful for a few hours and then you go through another 9 months of hell. I have to say there is definitely some truth to that statement. However, for me the 9 months after the baby is born is about 1,000 times harder than being pregnant. I remember when Pennington turned 9 months old thinking wow this is really starting to be fun. Well Piper is finally 9 months old and I have to agree that everything is starting to get easier and so much more fun.

Piper is turning into a very happy little girl. She is pulling herself up and walking around holding onto things. She can drink from a straw. She eats pretty much everything we give her. Both of her bottom two teeth are in. She is starting to learn how to climb up the stairs. My little Piper is growing up so fast.

Pennington 21 Months Old

A few things come to mind when I think about Pennington over the last month.

1. He LOVES balls. We took him to his first baseball game and he love it. He is always talking to us about how you kick at ball or hit a ball. The Sports Authority by Timberline HS is closing so Johnny got him his first real golf set. Pennington is very interested in his new golf clubs and likes to get them out whenever we are outside. We have received several comments from people lately that "Pennington ALL boy".

2. When playing with balls isn't on his mind he asks to color and paint. Pennington colors and paints everyday at school so naturally he is starting to ask to do this at home as well. I have started to let him use watercolors at home. Usually he just dumps the water out but he is starting to get the idea

of how painting works. I'm thinking we might need to start thinking about getting an actual easel to paint on.

3. He loves cleaning. Lots of people have mentioned to me that none of their children were ever into cleaning but Pennington sure is. He loves to vacuum, sweep, and use cleaner (water bottle) to spray dirty spots and wipe them up.

4. He started going to the bathroom on the little pottys at school after nap time. He even went to the bathroom for Nonnie on the big boy potty at K'tamin. Definitely not going to get our hopes up on this one. I think we will be lucky if he is potty trained by this time next year.

5. Pennington still isn't talking much more than saying peoples names, more and of course BALL. He also likes to call pretty much everything else "BOB". This could be my fault. I read our friend Magnolia's blog about a story called 15 Animals by Sandra Boynton where the child in the story has 15 animals all named Bob. I just had to buy it especially since I had a Groupon for Barnes and Noble. Pennington really likes the story and now I think he calls everything Bob because of it. Nonnie even bought him a card that says Hi Bob all over it.

Below are some recent photos of Pennington.

Pennington swinging on the big boy swing at the tot lot.

Pennington seeing his new golf set for the first time.

Pennington dressed up a Buzz Lightyear playing Futzbol at Just Kidn Around.

Mothers Day 2011

For Mothers Day we had a Mothers Day Brunch for Nonnie's side of the family at our house. Johnny made three different types of quiche. All of which tasted amazing.

The kids got me a few things for Mothers Day which included a new bathing suit, shorts, and tickets to go see Jimmy Eat World with Johnny. Thanks kids for the great gifts. I love you guys. Pennington also picked out a singing card for me. The card sings the song "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)". I really enjoyed getting to watch Pennington dance to the song in the card. Piper enjoyed playing with the singing card as well. Below is a picture of Pennington dancing with the card.

This evening Poppy's side of the family came over for a Mothers Day BBQ. It was great to see Uncle Kerry, Aunt Shelly, and Grandma Melba.

Today I really sat back and reflected on the meaning behind Mothers Day. I don't think you can truly understand how much your Mother has really done for you until you are a Mother. As a child you totally take for granted everything your Mother does for you. There is no way I would have been able to survive the last year and a half of my life if it wasn't for my Mother. If I hadn't had her around I would probably have turned into a crazy woman and Johnny would have probably left me. Thank you so much Mom for helping me get through what I think has been the hardest two years of my life.

Just Kid'n Around

During the month of May I work out at Western States Equipment Company (aka Caterpillar Dealer) off of Meridian Road and Overland. On Mondays after work, Nonie brings the kids to me so we can go to Just Kid'n Around. Just Kid'n Around is an indoor creative play and party place for children 0-12 years old. It is located by the Majestic Theater. It is a safe, clean, creative, learning play environment. They have comfortable living room seating areas for the parents to sit in while the kids play. They also have a deli that offers healthy foods including an espresso and juice bar.

What I really love about this place is that I totally feel safe taking two kids under the age of 21 months there. Pennington can pretty much do everything and there are toys for kids Piper' age to play with. I love that they have healthy food on site that I can feed my kids for dinner. Overall this place is great. We will definitely be going there whenever I work out at Western States. Below are some pictures of the kids at Just Kid'n Around.

Pennington playing house. He LOVES vacuums. You can see the kitchen area in the background of this picture. They have shopping carts and a grocery store are as well. Behind the kitchen area they have an air hockey table. Pennington was totally obsessed with the air hockey table since the big boys were playing with it.

Pennington playing with the magnets in the arts and crafts area. They have markets for the kids to color with. You can see a basketball by his feet. They even have a basketball hoop which Pennington enjoyed shooting the basketball into.

Piper hanging out by the large piece puzzles and infant toys. Right by here they have a Rody's Rodeo which is basically an area with a bunch of Rody's to bounce on. If you don't know what a Rudy is it is basically a plastic horse that you sit on and bounce up and down. Kids love them.

Piper playing with the Thomas the Train set. You can see the slides, jungle gym, and mini rock climbing wall in the background. Pennington LOVES climbing up the rock wall and the jungle gym.

Oh Roseloa - Round Number 2

Piper got her first fever last week that seem to last forever. It would go up and down from 98 up to 103. I ended up taking her to the doctor on Friday since it had been over 36 hours since the fever started and I couldn't get it under control. Of course when we were at the doctors appointment she didn't have a fever. Well it turns out that after three painful days of fevers it finally went away and the rash appeared. Oh Roseloa! Roseola starts out with a fever for a few days and then after the fever is gone a rosy-pink rash shows up for a few days. Typically the fever is around 102 to 104 degrees and the rash is on the chest, stomach, back, neck and face. Roseola is contagious only while the child has a fever. We aren't really sure how she got Roseola since it can take 7 to 10 days days to show up. I am happy to say that the rash is finally gone and Piper is back to her active self again. One good thing about Roseloa is that you only get it once so Pennington didn't get it again since he had when he was around Piper's age.