Just what the doctor ordered...

My poor little man has got the worst chest cold, coughing up a storm and running a temp. He has good moments throughout the day, but mostly is just sad he's feeling poorly. I walked into the living room yesterday to see this...




Takes some talent to fall asleep on your feet like that! Poor kid. Because he's so miserable, I'm coming down with it too, and we're all so freaking hot (113 almost everyday!) we've been going through a ton of popsicles. This morning while pulling breakfast out of the cupboard Kaeden grabbed a package of cookie mix, so I figured we'd change the medicine for these colds up a bit by baking a little. (Heck, nothing beats a good chocolate chip cookie!) Yes it was hot, but he had so much fun being my little helper I didn't care. His favorite is stirring all the ingredients, but he also wanted to put them on the sheet...




and as every good chef knows, always sample what you're baking!




Hot baths help him clear the gunk out of his chest, so we took a bath after. Most of the time you wouldn't know it to look at the kid, but he's got my curly hair. It only really shows when his hair is wet...




And with it getting longer, it's quite the head of hair! (Taury, eat your heart out :-) )

Birthdays

Wow, July has truly flown by. As my poor sick son lies crashed out on the couch (fever, chest congestion and new teeth. only the swing will make him happy),



I'm updating what has been happening. After the fourth came Kevin and my birthday's. His is the 10th, mine is the 11th. First we went out for sushi with our good friends Ed and Liz Thomas. I've never had it, and Kevin has only had grocery store stuff, so we were excited to try it. The restaurant had half price that night, so we all ordered something different and shared, going back for what we liked, and ordering others for what we didn't.







I liked anything that wasn't too fishy tasting. I thought I'd have to eat tons of it to get full, but it's actually more filling than you'd think, so it didn't take long for me to get stuffed. Although it's not my favorite, I'd go back if asked.

We kept things simple this year for celebrations, cards and cake. I made Kevin's cake, which Kaeden dug into with me for breakfast.


Kevin got me an ice cream cake (delicious!) so we've been loaded down with cake for a while.



And of course, we hit all the 7-11's in the neighborhood for free slurpees! (That's why my birth date is the best!)



And that's how we entered our 30's. Weird to think I'm 30, that sounds so old, but so far it's been a great three decades :-)

It's Bloody Hot!!

Summers in Las Vegas are always tough. You'd think that having sun would be fun, but when that sun beats down on you at 105 or more degrees, it's not fun! The wading pool is great, and Kaeden is still having lots of fun, but we've also gotten to go with my friend Liz to a big pool - which is always an adventure for little kids! Kaeden has been twice now, and he has no fear of the water! You put the little floaties on and he just jumps right in! Next summer we'll definately have to do some toddler swim lessons!




We've also had to work on being entertained while indoors. When it gets over 105, it's just too hot to be outside, even in the water. I've been working on getting Kaeden to sit and read, and I thought he wasn't interested until the other day when I came into the living room and found this...




I was ecstatic to see him flipping through on his own. He's still not into going in order, he would rather do random pages and all the books have to have something moving on it (flipbooks) or he doesn't stick around long, but we're working on it! Books with balls seem to be his favorite at the moment.

And Kai has been becoming more aware of his surroundings lately. When he sees movement he tries to follow it with his head, he responds to sounds, turning to see where it came from which is usually Kaeden. He's also really squirmy, finally figured out he doesn't have to keep his limbs tucked cuz he's got room, so he flails about with arms and legs, smiling at everything. I've been trying to get the smile on film and only just succeeded the other day...



So fun to see the personality starting to come out :-) Can't wait to see what else this little guy has in store for us.

Fourth Festivities

The 4th of July is one of my very favorite holidays. The fireworks are always so much fun, and usually there are lots of friends, family and bbq-ing! This year we went to Jamie and Nate Websters' on the 3rd for a swimming/bbq. We had a great time, they had a pool for the kids to play in...



and salmon burgers and turkey burgers on the grill. We all ate our fill, talked and laughed and watched the kids play. Soon enough it was firework time. Since our kids are all under the age of 4 we just got some of the smaller fireworks, pop its and sparklers...







Kaeden and Luke threw some of the pop its, but not quite hard enough to make them pop, so it was mainly us adults (yeah right) who threw them at each other :-) All the kids had a good time playing with each other and toys, and we loved to see them wear themselves out.





The next evening, the 4th, our family gathered out in the backyard, traditional rootbeer and cherries on hand. There were tons of fireworks going off on our street and across the valley. Kaeden was wide eyed, watching intently, saying 'wooow' (very wall-e like) with the really big booms and lights.






The video below is really dark, but Kaeden is a hoot, I love the little gasps he gives whenever a new or loud firework goes off...