Birthday Boy

      This Thursday was Joey's 30th birthday!  I felt very bad because not only did I have to work on his birthday, I also had to attend a four hour class that night.  I literally saw Joey for about 20 minutes on his birthday.  He did work Saturday, so he got Thursday off.  He did get to spend his birthday with Ashlyn and Dawson.  I hear they had a nice day that included a birthday lunch with my mom and sister.  Since we couldn't do much on his actual birthday, we decided to celebrate on Friday night instead.  Joey said he wanted a steak for his birthday dinner so we all went out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse.  After having a good meal, we came back to our house for a little birthday celebration.  My sister and I had made Joey a banana cake (his favorite), and it was pretty good.  Ashlyn really enjoyed singing happy birthday to her dad.  It was a nice night.  Joey also celebrated on Sunday by going to the Broncos game with my brother, Bryan, and a friend.  Joey and Bryan had amazing seats in the end zone about 18 rows back.  Joey said they had a great time.  I am glad that Joey had a good birthday/weekend.  The next birthday coming up is Ashlyn's 4th birthday.  I am already hard at work planning lots of special treats and surprises for her. 

In other news, Dawson has started to say "mama".  It just melts my heart every time he says it.  I LOVE it!  He is such a sweet and adorable boy. 

Dawson eating his dinner.

He decided his hand might be tastier.

Such a goofy boy!

Playing toys with his sister

Mickey tastes good!

They were having such a good time playing together. 

I am so glad Ashlyn finally has someone to play with!

Family picture for Joey's birthday

Ashlyn excited to sing to her dad

Daddy and his girl

Mommy and her boy



It wasn't much of a spread, but I did the best I could with very limited time. 

Musuem Fun and More Sickness

This last week Jacob, Maya, and Nadia were in town.  We just love any chance we get to see them.  Ashlyn just absolutely adores Nadia.  She asks about her all the time.  On Tuesday, they invited us to join them at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.  I haven't been there in several years, but much is still the same.  Ashlyn had a blast looking at all of the animals.  There was a big group of us and lots of kids for Ashlyn to play with.  They have added a new interactive area that is a lot of fun.  Ashlyn loved exploring and discovering.  We had a great time and I definitely plan to go back to the museum but I want to take Joey next time.  The kids had a great time and they all fell asleep the second we got in the car.

On Wednesday night, Dawson started coughing and got really fussy again.  He coughed all night long.  Poor thing didn't sleep well at all because of his cough.  (His sickness always has impeccable timing on nights were I work the next day).  I had to go to work but called the doctor during my plan time.  I described his symptoms to the nurse and she said that he better come in to be seen.  I brought him in as soon as I got off work.  The doctor he saw was the same one he saw the week before.  She looked in his ears and said that they actually looked worse than they did last week.  She said the ear infection he had was resistant to the antibiotic he was on. So, she prescribed him a new antibiotic.   We started the new meds and he seems to be getting better, but he is still fighting the same nasty cold that Ashlyn fought for weeks. Ella has it too, so I spend a lot of time wiping poor baby noses.  I pray that they both get better soon and stay that way!

On Saturday, Joey took the kids up to Woodland Park.  I had to do my long run, so I couldn't join them.  They went up there for the awards ceremony for horse competitions.  Ashlyn got a ribbon and a $10 McDonald's gift card.  She is very excited to buy some Happy Meals with her card.  They also got a chance to ride the horses which Ashlyn just loved of course. 

Here are some pictures from the week. 

Our little cowgirl.

Papa and his grandkids

Dawson and Ashlyn riding the horse together.  Melts my heart!

It looks like Dawson was having a blast on the horse.  He is a natural like his sis.

Ashlyn getting her award. 

Ashlyn loves goofing around with Papa.

Ashlyn and Grandma riding horses.

Nadia and Ashlyn hugging goodbye.

Dawson also loved the kids discovery area.

This is what Dawson and Ella did.  They had a great time.

Nadia and Ashlyn digging for dinosaur bones. 

Having fun

Ashlyn with antlers

Nadia and Ashlyn have so much fun together.  I so wish she lived closer!

Ashlyn and her crafts

Sick Baby and Last Cabin Weekend

Sadly, we won't be enjoying this beauty for some time. 

     What a week and weekend we had! Ashlyn developed a cold earlier in the week.  She was congested and coughing.  I was really hoping that Dawson wouldn't get it.  Well, Tuesday and Wednesday he was pretty fussy.  I didn't put two and two together that he may be getting sick.  I put him to bed Wednesday night, and he struggled falling asleep and staying asleep.  Thursdays are a work day for me and I have to be up at 5:00.  Joey got up with Dawson and laid with him for most of the night.  I managed to get a couple of hours of sleep.  Around 3:30, I woke up with him.  Poor thing was just miserable!  He was so congested and his cheeks and nose were bright red.  He had a fever too.  I knew that me staying home wasn't going to be a possibility.  Since its so early in the year, I don't have any sort of sub plans set up.  It was the worst thing in the world to have to leave him when he was so sick and needed his mom the most.  Joey stayed home with him and was able to get him into the doctor first thing.  Turns out he had an ear infection.  Ashlyn has never had a single ear infection, so I was very surprised he had one.  They prescribed antibiotics and he felt better later that day.  He is back to his happy self once again.  It was just so hard to see him so sick.  Joey was such an amazing husband.  He not only stayed up with Dawson so I could sleep, took him to the doctor,  I also came home to a sparkling clean house and the laundry done! I definitely have an amazing husband!

We headed up to the cabin for our last weekend of the summer.  Joey and I dropped off Dawson and Ashlyn off at his Dad's house on our way up Saturday.  They had a blast spending the night with their grandparents.  Ashlyn got to see her beloved horse, Pistol.  On Sunday morning, Joey and I picked the kids up.  I took Ashlyn to the hot springs.  She has never been there before, and really had a great time.  We will be going again for sure.  We spent the rest of the weekend relaxing at the cabin.  It is very obvious up there that fall is looming.  Not only was it quite a bit cooler, leaves were already changing.  I'm so sad that we won't be going up there for a long time.  I'm glad that we were able to go up there so much this summer.  I know that all of us had so much fun there. 


Ashlyn left her dinosaurs out this afternoon.  Dawson crawled by and saw them.  He immediately started playing with them.  It was pretty cute. 

He was very intrigued by them.

He knew just how to play with them.

He's so cute!

He had a blast at the cabin jumping in his bouncer.

Ashlyn showing her mom what a rugged cowgirl she is.

Ashlyn was so excited to see her favorite horse.

Ashlyn and I did a lot of art this week.  She just can't get enough of art projects.  Here are some of the ones we did this week. 

This is a ladybug made from her footprint.

This is recycled art.  She used an empty toilet paper roll as a stamp.  She made this one for her Papa to hang at work.

Ashyln has been loving monkeys.  She insisted we do a monkey craft.  She really liked the way this one turned out.  She decided to add some finishing touches to his face.  One of ears also fell off before I took a picture because she was playing with him.

Ashlyn had a blast making this fish.  Her favorite part was going outside and gathering rocks for the bottom.  I think it turned out adorable!