7-20-08 Week in Review

I will begin this blog by announcing that I will NOT be blogging until next Sunday due to the fact that my family and I are taking a week off from technology and not watching TV or getting on the computer for a week. I suspect that next weeks review may just be one long scream but I'm willing to try it if they are. Ok, they're not willing but oh well, it's happening. So...if by chance you visit this week and happen to be the 1000th visitor let me know! There's no big prize or anything...just cool to me. Ok...on with the review!

Corben has begun Tae kwon do and is really loving it. It's just a fun thing for him to do this month. The gym had a trial membership that I could kind of afford so I thought we'd go for it and just use the gym as much as possible. He went to 3 classes this week and seems to have a knack for it. The instructors have even told some other children to try to do their moves more like Corben. He gets very serious and attentive in class. It's fun to watch. He really loves it.

Tuesday and Wednesday we spent the day over at Ryan's brother's house taking pictures of their new baby and then my kids. Ryan's dad recently purchased some studio lighting and backdrops so we were able to get a more "professional" look. Some looked really good, others looked like an old 70's school pic or something from a department store studio. Oh well, I'm still learning. Not bad though, I think, for my first time.

Friday our little RJ was sick so we planned to head to the park with my sister-in-law. Unfortunately, it began to poor down rain just as we were leaving so everyone came and hung out at our house instead. Ryan made pizzas and we had a nice night. I did have a nervous moment a bit earlier though. I was heading out the door to get in the car to take the kids to the park when I noticed the rain. Ella went running out into it while Sylvie was sitting in the kitchen packed in her car seat. I was trying to call my sister-in-law on my phone (which only gets reception on my porch) and chasing Ella (who was screaming at me) so I grabbed her and dropped her inside the house and closed the door so I could hear. That's when she reached up and turned the lock! I was locked out! (This has happened once before to me when Dade was a year old and ended with fire trucks and police cars and broken windows....don't ask...well you can ask but be prepared for a long story.) Anyway, Ella was crying and wouldn't turn the lock back. I called Ryan who couldn't come home right away so I was trying to figure out what to do when Ella, in tears, finally figured out how to turn the lock back and let us in. Yeah! I am not fired as a mother!

Late Friday night everyone over at the house decided that they would love to go to the lake so we packed up before bed and headed out to Sandling Beach in the morning. Ryan tried to get his boat going to bring along but it wasn't happy about leaving it's shelter in the driveway so we left it. We spent most of the day out there and the kids had a blast. My SIL brought a wonderful circular gate that we set up with an umbrella that kept Sylvie and Ella contained and happy playing safely in the sand. Sunburns were minor but the fun was major. I'm waiting for some pictures from my other SIL that I'll have to post next week.

I also want to list Sylvie & Ella's milestones lately. Our Sylvie is walking, trying to run, and actually jumped this week with both feet off the floor. She is climbing up chairs and getting down off of the couch all by herself. She is also finally standing up without aid of a wall or piece of furniture! Sylvie is really into talking right now. She says everyone's names (except Corben but his is hard for Ella to say too). She says no, don't, feet, and will copy most any word at least once. She is also beginning to sign though I never taught her. I assume she's copying Ella. Ella has also started talking more lately. Maybe Sylvie is encouraging her. She has started saying Where'd it go? Though it's usually more of Wa go? with shrugged shoulders. She's starting to say go a lot and uses it to tell Ryan when she wants to play, when it's time to leave, and when asking where something is. Right now she can say Mom, Dad, Sylvie, & Dade and has attempted Corben. She says go, bye bye, night, trees, sky, duck, no, and will sometimes throw in a new word though she only usually says it once and then never again. She did try to say butterfly today. It came out fly fly...kind of. She's trying. I'm proud of her!

All in all, a very nice week. Click on the pictures if they're not big enough to see. I'm still learning all the settings on my camera so sometimes the coloring on my pictures is off due to the light settings. (I use auto setting most of the time which is not always best...actually indoors it's usually wrong.) So I've been able to adjust a few to correct color and some are just a bit orangey...(thus the 70's feel) though most were fine. Anyway, have a great week and tell me what you think!! I'm also including some of the pics I took of my niece and her family!

Here's some pictures of baby Gabriella, Xander, and Jamie!