All About Ardon

Ardon is a funny boy, this picture is from one of the many times (as you can tell by the background) that we've had to keep an eye on the weather lately.

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He gets so excited when bad weather strikes. He'll run to look out the window and come back exclaiming "Mom, I think there is going to be a tornado!" Of course a tornado threat means going to the grandparents house, or if there's not enough time, running to the neighbors house to hang out in their basement. This all equates to an adventure for him!

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It's been nice spending time outside lately. Ardon loves it when the weather allows us to get out for some fresh air.

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.Ardon, like most 3 year olds, has an abundant supply of energy. He loves to expend this during play time with daddy.

Which can sometimes turn out to be rough stuff!

(I know it looks bad, but Bronze didn't actually intend to kick the soccer ball at Ardon's head)

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Fortunately there was a stick near by for Ardon to use defending himself.
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They are best buds, weather it's messing around outside or playing ninjas together they have a great time.
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Ardon is growing up so fast and has become so independent. He is a huge help with his little sister and does a great job helping me around the house. For him every day is full of new and exciting things waiting to happen! It's fun to watch his vivid imagination at work.

All About Elee

When Bronzes grandma came to town she brought this pretty, pink rug with her that she had made for Elee.

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It's nice and soft and gives her some extra cushion for her floor time.

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Of course she's somewhat mobile now so she has a tendency to scoot herself off onto the carpet.

Ardon left this lid by her and it was just too tempting to stay away from!

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She thought it was very handy for playing hide and seek.

She would pull it over her for a few seconds,

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Lay there quietly,

Then push it off laughing and jabbering about what fun it was.

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(Please note, the warning label does not say children shouldn't play with the lid, it just says not to put them in the tub with the lid on;-)

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As I've mentioned before, Elee REALLY likes to eat! I think it's partly because of the social aspect of meal time.

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She thinks she big stuff now, sitting up big and tall.

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Weather it getting fed, or feeding herself,

She just likes to eat!
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Elee has also started spending some time in the walker recently.

Ardon saw her sitting up and couldn't resist putting this hat on her head.

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She's such a joy to have in our family. She adores her doting brother, thinks her daddy is as funny as they get, and even in the moments when I look at her and say "What am I going to do with you?!" she can glance up at me with that little grin and put a smile on my face.

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Unfortunately she has been under the weather again, poor thing, but she still tries to be happy. Hopefully with Summer finally making it's debut we'll get past everything and be well for a while.

Cousin Cowboys/Girls

These two love to play together. Tonight they found these hats and had a lot of fun with them.

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They also had their 'horses' to ride around on.
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Here they are saying "Ye Haw". They had a great time!

Visitors

Bronze's sister is having her graduation ceremony this week so his dad and grandmother came up for a visit and to help celebrate!

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We stopped in this evening to see them shortly after they arrived. It's good to have them in town for a visit, we don't get to see them very often.

Homemade Puzzles

Yesterday Ardon found a couple pieces to a puzzle we don't have anymore. He was somewhat distraught that there were not enough pieces to complete the picture so I suggested we make our own puzzle.

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First we found an old birthday card with a cool picture on the front and cut off the flap.
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Next we cut a piece of cardboard to glue our picture to so it would be thicker.
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After it dried we drew puzzle shapes on the back and cut them apart.
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Then we put our puzzle back together!
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He seemed satisfied with the results. It was a fun, simple craft and a good way to use up old birthday cards!

Our Rainy Wednesday

Our Wednesday brought...

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A new hair cut.

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Play time together.

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And flood waters :-P

Resting and Recuperating

Down time with daddy.

It seems we have been under the weather a lot lately! Ardon ran a high fever last week but seemed to be getting better by Friday.

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Sunday morning -Mothers Day- in church he started acting funny so I took his temp- 103. Needless to say we packed up and headed home. He was pretty miserable the rest of the day.

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Monday -Our 7th Anniversary- we spent a better part of the day at the doctors office, well, Ardon and I in the office, Bronze wrestling Elee out in the van! After a long wait and reading all the children's books twice we finally find out Ardon tested positive for strep, off to the pharmacy! We got to finish off the day, soaking wet from rain, in out neighbors basement waiting out the tornado threat.

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Early this morning I get a call from Bronze, he is working and can hardly see straight, extremely dizzy and feeling very sick! He asks me to check on Ardon to make sure he's okay because someone told him that with his symptoms it sounds like he has carbon monoxide poisoning! Ahhh! I check on Ardon, he seems to be okay, and turn off my furnace. I get kids up and around so we can take Bronze some meds and make a stop to get my dysfunctional phone taken care of.

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This afternoon we find out Bronze's grandpa is not doing well, he had to be hospitalised again, (didn't know he had been hospitalised before) and has had a series of strokes.

(We love and are praying for you grandpa!)

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Whew, and it's only Tuesday! What could tomorrow hold?! Well, for one thing, purchasing a new carbon monoxide alarm, not sure what else, but then again, not sure I want to know!

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The good news is, we were able to find out why Ardon was sick and get him on antibiotics right away, our house did NOT get blown away in a tornado and the meds I gave Bronze earlier seem to be helping. Oh yeah, I was also able to get a replacement for my phone at no cost.

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As we look to that silver lining with the crazy storm clouds that have been brewing (quite literally actually) here's to a brighter tomorrow!

First Parade

We went down to the River Fest tonight to join the crowds and catch the parade. We took Ardon last year when I was pregnant with Elee but this was her first time getting to watch it. She was fascinated with all the people and commotion.

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I kept trying to cover her ears up to block some of the noise but she kept pulling away and didn't want anything hindering her parade going experience.

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Most of the parade was pirate themed, we watched horses...

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Floats with bright colors...

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And pirate ship floats.

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Ardon watched it all from his birds-eye view on daddy's shoulders.

He really enjoyed it this year and got pretty excited when he recognized Clifford, Word Girl and Arthur.
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We were all a little tired and starting to get hungry so we took off just before the parade was finished to start the LONG journey back to the van.

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There was a hill just calling Ardon's name so we let him climb to the top of it to burn off any energy he had left.

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Very tiny, all the way at the top!

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He felt compelled to take the sidewalk down the hill so he ran back since it put him off all the way back down the walking path.

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And here it seemed like a good idea to climb up on this wall.

Then Bronze helped him slide down so he wouldn't fall down!

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It was a fun way to start the weekend, definitely wore us all out, but we had a good time.

Finding Treasure

Today I hear Ardon exclaiming from the other room, "A diamond, I found a diamond! Mom, mom, I found a diamond!" I quickly look down and check my ring to make sure nothing is missing then head over to see what he's talking about. I figured it must be a piece of plastic or something.

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But it was this, a 'dime-ond'!

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He was very happy with his new found treasure and carried it around for the rest of the day.

Munchies and Mail

Elee LOVES to eat these days! If you let her at it she'll try pretty much anything.

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And here's Ardon modeling his new 'hat'.

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I found this site where you can sign up for and receive free trial products through the mail. It's a great way to get some neat free bees, I'm all about free samples! Occasionally I will find something for Ardon and have it sent to him so he gets something to open in the mail. This time it was Underjams, or should I say, a new hat;)

False Alarm?

This is what we do....

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When one of these goes off in the middle of the night.

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Last night we got to call the gas company out in the middle of the night because our carbon monoxide alarm went off. Between the incredibly loud alarm and discussion with the person who came out everyone was awake by the end of the ordeal.

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When it was all said and done, the readings on our alarm had gone back to normal and the sensor brought by the gas company never could pick anything up. Possible down draft? Who knows, but at least all is quiet for now!