Catch Up

Hard to believe, but it's been a month since I last posted. YIKES!

Let's see... what have we been up to?

We took a road trip to northern Arizona to see not one, but two Great-Grandmas! Add to that two Great-Aunts, two Great-Uncles, three second cousins, and a Great-Grandpa. There's just a whole lot of family going on up there. Laurel and Ian are very lucky to have an abundance of family nearby.

Right before we left for the road trip, our computer died. I was trying to make a collection of pictures of the kids to print and take up to the grandparents. In the middle of editing a picture, the hard drive took a turn for the worse. We had not backed up last month's pictures and were worried they were lost for good. Paul is a genius and managed to recover them all and fix the computer.

Paul and I celebrated our third anniversary. Thanks to our gracious parents babysitting the kids, we went out for a very stereotypical dinner and a movie date. LOVED IT! We saw Superman Returns, a very fun movie in my opinion, and ate at Cheesecake Factory, super yummy.

We spent the Fourth of July at my parents, along with the very energetic cousins Miss Allison and Miss Madison, and their not so energetic dad. The girls definitely know how to get Ian excited and bouncing off the walls. We stood out on the street and were able to watch not one mind you, but three firework shows! BANG!

Lucky Ian got to see the dentist. In the past, Ian has screamed bloody murder the minute he has to lay down for the checkup. I thought I would help the poor little guy get mentally ready by talking to him days ahead of time of what to expect. We even role played the visit. Pretending to be the dentist, I would tell Ian to open wide and then I'd count his teeth while I brushed each one. He was cooperative and seemed ready for the real thing. Confidently we went to our appointment, Ian talking about the dentist on the drive over. The second I laid Ian down in the big chair, I could tell he was not ok with the proceedings, whimpers and sobs were heard throughout the exam. At least he didn't scream this time, a huge improvement in my mind.

A couple unpleasant events occurred this last month. Our air conditioner went out on a Friday night. The soonest we could get someone to take a look was Monday. We quickly packed for the weekend and headed to a cheap motel, big mistake. The room we started out in was having cooling problems itself. Ugh. We packed everything back up (which of course is an easy thing to do with gear for a toddler and a baby) and headed to another room. At least it had a working AC unit. Monday morning, we left the kids with grandparents, Paul headed off to work, and I waited in a sweltering house while the technician determined we needed to replace the compressor, ouch. Of course, he wouldn't be able to pick up the parts until the following morning, double ouch. Tuesday, I lounged in a 97 degree house while the guy worked in 110 degree heat for seven hours. Thankfully, we have cool air again.

We also have had swimming pool trouble. We feared there was an underground leak in the pipes leading back to the filter. The soonest we could get someone out for the repair was two weeks later. Despite us manually trying to scour and skim, the pool was slowly getting dirtier and dirtier and turning green from algae. To our relief, the leak was above ground and did not involve jackhammering the deck.

Currently, both Ian and Laurel have colds. It seems every time Ian and I go to a toddler class, he comes back with another cold to share with Laurel. At least their immune systems are getting a workout.

I think that catches us up. Hopefully, I'll be able to find time to keep a little more current.