Learning to Read

Connor and Ryan are learning to read at preschool. They know all their letter sounds and are learning to put the sounds together in words. Today they each read their first book all by themselves. The book they read was "Mat" which is part of the BOB BOOKS collection.They have always loved books and people reading to them. Now they are enjoying the process of learning to read. I can't wait for the day when they can read a bedtime story to ME :)

It was a hot weekend...

The last weekend of summer was a hot one. On Sunday, Connor and Ryan cooled off by running through the sprinklers in the front yard.

And it fascinated them to watch the water come out and put their foot over it to try to stop the water.
After getting baths and pajamas, they were riding around in their ride-on cars. Amazingly they still fit on them... both of them at the same time!

One tooth down...

It has been a crazy weekend, and now Ryan is one tooth down.

On Sunday, I took the kids to the park while Ed was out of town for his cousin's wedding. Ryan fell on the stairs and knocked his tooth loose. It bled, but he wanted to keep on playing. I didn't realize it was loose until we got home and Ryan started screaming all over again when he tried to eat lunch and his mouth started bleeding all over again. Needless to say, he didn't eat much and he was mad at me because nothing I was doing was making him feel better.

On Monday morning I called the dentist and got an appointment that morning to bring him in. The dentist took x-rays and discovered that the tooth was fractured. If it was just loose and not fractured, we could just leave it and let it heal. But, since it was fractured at the gum line, it had to come out. Ryan was so brave at the appointment. He held still for the x-rays and then got to watch a movie on the TV on the ceiling. The dentist was explaining what she was doing while putting the laughing gas on him and giving him shots in the mouth to numb up his mouth. Ryan was in his own land watching the movie and didn't even notice what the dentist was doing. He was happy when he got to pick out a prize for himself and pick one out to bring to Connor. He told me the dentist made him feel better. At least the experience didn't traumatize him from wanting to see the dentist again.

The dentist send the tooth home in a little plastic tooth holder. I told Ryan about the tooth fairy and he was so excited to tell Connor all about it when we picked him up at preschool that afternoon.

Ryan put his tooth in his tooth fairy pillow tonight. He usually sleeps with a nightlight, but wanted it dark tonight so he could fall asleep faster so the tooth fairy will come. Below is a picture of Ryan tonight with his tooth fairy pillow.

And here is Ryan a couple days ago with all his teeth. It will be about 3 years until his next tooth grows in his hole. The dentist said kids are usually 7 years old when the permanent front top teeth come in.

And we can't leave out Connor. On Saturday, he was playing in the backyard and fell of his car on the deck. The side of his face is now red and scraped from that. With little boys, it is always something...

I just hope Connor doesn't get jealous that the tooth fairy comes to visit only Ryan and tries the same thing!

Napping in the Hallway

After spending the day playing in the backyard, shopping at Ikea and doing art projects, Connor and Ryan were pooped out. They fell asleep in the hallway.

Our House

This week, our house was transformed with a new stucco coat. Below is a before picture.

We decided to re-stucco instead of just re-paint, in part because of the cracks we have on the walls. The largest of the cracks is where the addition joins the original house. The contractors opened up the crack and fixed it up.
The crack goes all the way through to the inside of the house. When the crack was opened up to fix, you could see light coming inside the house from the crack. The contractors even fixed the crack on the inside of the house.

Here are some in progress pictures.

The first stucco coat turned the house grey.

Today they came back and finished up with the blue color coat. We got foam trim around the windows and doors, which has a white color coat.
We still have to finish up and paint the gutters, doors and garage, but the stucco is all done.

Bring Your Kids and Pets to Work Day

August 21 was Fortinet's annual "Bring Your Kids and Pets to Work Day." Since we don't have any pets, Connor and Ryan just had to do. All the kids got a Fortinet t-shirt to wear.

When we arrived at the office, the boys colored me pictures to hang in my cubicle.

The biggest hit with Connor and Ryan was the bounce house. They wanted to bounce all day long!

There was also a magic show and balloon animal maker.

They had popcorn and a movie in the afternoon, but Connor and Ryan would rather play in the bounce house.

It was a fun day. I got absolutely no work done that day.

Sending love to Great Grandma

Great Grandma is in the hospital, so I spent the weekend in Arroyo Grande to visit Grandma in the hospital. In the picture below, C&R are drawing pictures for Great Grandma (with Eli supervising).
Wishing Great Grandma a smooth recovery. Send all your love and prayers her way.

Mandy & Toby's wedding

Mandy and Toby wed on August 1, 2009. We drove to Boomtown (Reno, NV) on Friday for the rehearsal. Below is a picture of Connor, Ryan and my cousins Danielle and Cody on Friday afternoon.


Below is a picture of Chris trying to entertain the kids while waiting for the wedding to start on Saturday morning.All dressed up...
Mandy makes such a beautiful bride.
A pic of me and my bro.
Connor and Ryan were having fun taking pictures all day long.
Connor and Dani dancing.
Ryan dancing with more girls...
Below are two videos from the wedding.

After the reception, the kids got to play at the Boomtown fun center.
View videos online at daneya.blogspot.com

Swim lessons

The kids have been taking swim lessons all summer. Now, there is only two weeks left. In the picture below, Connor and Ryan both wanted to help carry the backpack, so they carried it together as we walking to swim lessons.

Ryan was so proud of his new pet. He found an ant and named in Vanesse.
The ant flew away. The boys looked everywhere, but the ant was gone.
Below is a picture from a couple weeks ago with the kids lined up to get in the pool. Their teacher for that lesson was Chris and the girl in front is their new friend Kylee. Kylee has been in their class for the last four weeks and the boys get very excited to see her every day.

Park

While I went to Sacramento for Megan's baby shower, Ed and Joe got together for a playdate... or maybe the kids had the playdate?

Anyways, looks like everyone had fun.