Coburn Kids

Pioneer Day, the 24th, we spent at my parent’s home for a pot luck and fireworks.  I love my parent’s street and neighborhood.  Every year they all get together for the 4th and/or 24th and they BBQ and set off fireworks.  It’s such a blast to see all the kids running around together and it’s just so fun. Not to mention that no night is complete without illegal fireworks from Wyoming.    We didn’t get home until 11:00 PM and the girls just passed out.

The next day, Friday, we all went to Lagoon.  I can definitely tell that my kids are getting older, because we stayed for 8 hours at Lagoon without a single problem.  It used to be, when they were younger, that 3 hours was tops before they were just too tired and the meltdowns would start.  Let’s also take into account it was 100 degrees outside! We had such a fabulous time. Daniel stayed with Caden who was a doll, and I took the girls on the rides. Gena also went on her first “grown-up” ride, the Wild Mouse. I thought she would be terrified but she begged to go again! We didn’t leave until almost 10:30 PM. For little girls whose bedtime is 8pm they did fabulous.

Gena and Adessa waiting to go into Lagoon. Adessa was sad it was taking so long to get the tickets.

Adessa on the boats

Gena riding with other kids on the merry-go-round

Adessa on the merry-go-round

Caden hanging out in his stroller in 100 degree weather!

Daddy and Caden in the tunnel on the train at Lagoon

Saturday was haircuts and shoe shopping. The girls love to get their haircut. We bring them to Cookie Cutters where they can sit in these little cars and watch videos. It’s worth it’s weight in gold if you have a child like what Gena used to be trying to cut her hair.  The first time we went there it took 4 people to entertain and cut Gena’s hair she was so upset. Afterwards we went to Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for treats and Adessa insisted on a picture with the bear there:

Gena is back in school now. Her first day of 2nd grade was yesterday and Daddy walked her to school. She’s in one of the portables this year, the new Eastlake school hasn’t opened yet so their school is crowded. She’s also excited to see that some of the kids from her 1st grade class are in her 2nd grade class too.

 Gena 2nd Grade

Gena 1st Grade

Caden – Has a 102 fever right now.  I really think it’s just from teething.  I know that the docs all say that teething shouldn’t give that high of a fever but I remember Gena and Adessa both having the same thing.  We’ll see how it does today.  I just gave him some Tylenol and he’s down for a nap.  Might be taking him to the doctor later on today. Is now officially sitting up, yeah! And we are making plans for his very 1st birthday coming up on August 1st.

Adessa – Getting excited for school in 2 weeks. She can’t wait to go back, and 3 days a week now as well! She’s sad because I haven’t bought her back-to-school clothes yet.

Genevieve- Goes back to school in 5 days! So busy getting her some new clothes (she grows like a weed), getting both the girls haircuts.  I also need to make an appointment for pictures for all 3 kids.

This weekend we have planned: Thursday – Dinner and fireworks at my parents for Pioneer Day! Friday – Lagoon (we’ve promised the girls all summer and since Gena starts school soon thought this would be a good weekend… only to find out it’s supposed to be 100 degrees that day!!!) Saturday – Haircuts and clothes/shoe shopping for the girls.

Daniel and I spent our 9th wedding anniversary in Las Vegas. It was beyond wonderful, quite a contrast to 2 years ago when I was miserable. We stayed at the Mandalay Bay (highly recommended there). We saw Phantom of the Opera at the Venetian. We had dinner at the Mix in The Hotel. I made a gambling addict of my husband. He spent $1 on a quarter machine and turned it into $125.00. We stayed up late, slept in. Went to the aquarium and to top it all off, my children were all good for Grandma. Just an extra bonus there.

Thought I would do a special blog posting for my dear husband and tell him how much I love him! He’s a fantastic father, loves spending time with his kids and goofing off with them. He would love nothing more then to spoil them rotten. He’s such a great husband as well. He respects me, adores me and I just can not do all this without him! He always puts us first. I tell him that I always knew he was the guy for me when I found out he played football for over a decade and wrote poetry. That combination just does not come along very often! I appreciate so much that we are individuals and can have our own hobbies while also sharing common interests. I just generally have a blast with my husband who can make me laugh like no other.

So this week we had the goal for Gena to learn to ride her bike without training wheels. I thought it would take a couple of days but after a 1/2 hour of help from Daddy… she was off on her own!  In fact, we were talking to our next door neighbor when she suddenly comes whizzing past us by herself.  We were so surprised! You can see pics below:

Gena and Daddy

Daddy helping her

Gena by herself!!

Caden and I sat on the grass watching everyone and I propped him up in a sitting position.  He’s almost sitting up by himself now!  Sitting on our grass was kinda cheating since it slopes downward a lot and he was using more of his legs then his tummy muscles but it was great pratice for him.

 What a big boy!

Also, Caden’s new favorite toy and place to hang out is below.  He loves being upright and being able to move around:

 His new favorite hang out

Another cutie picture.  That outfit he’s wearing, 3-6 months by the way.

I’ve been terrible about updating lately.  I have pics to post and more but I’ll write this really quick here at midnight.

Caden – Still not eating his bottle in the mornings.  Taking about 2-3 oz. during his other feedings.  The only bottle where I can get 6 oz. in him is around 3PM. His new tooth is shiny, pearly white and almost all the way in now.  He has a new toy that he just loves, I’ll have to post pics.  He still fits in his 3-6 month clothing.  He’s 11 1/2 months old and still in 3-6 month clothing!!!! Blows me away.  A lot of the 6-9 month clothes fit him loose but some are still too big.  He’s rolling over onto his tummy still very well.  He’s using those arms to push himself up, still no sitting.  3 weeks and he turns a year old, I’m still holding out that he’ll be sitting independently by 1 year old!  We’ll see.

Adessa – Our cutie pie, pure entertainment.  We can’t let the girl see commercials anymore.  She doesn’t go for the toy commercials, it’s everything else.  Apparently we just MUST buy an aqua globe (it waters plants), vegetable & fruit bags that keep them fresh longer, and some cleaning product that will get out any stain.  She’s a marketer’s dream.

Genevieve – Goes back to school in just 2 weeks to the 2nd grade. She’s excited but nervous.  Adessa and her have really been into the pretend play lately and it’s so cute to watch them play house, doctor, church, superheroes, and anything else they come up with. I could just take them into my arms and smush them when they play so cute together.

This weekend Daniel and I are headed down to Las Vegas for our 9th wedding anniversary. Should be fun, very hot though.  It will be my first time leaving Caden overnight though (k, not counting his first 4 months in the NICU). A part of me is just torn to leave that little bundle.  That smile of his and his entire personality is just golden.  I seriously can not help some mornings not to rush in there and tell him “good morning” and pick him up out of his crib and cover him with kisses and hugs.

I’ll post up some pics tomorrow for everyone.

What a fun 4th of July we had! My parents invited us up to Idaho Falls with them for the big fireworks show that they put on up there and it was fantastic.  The girls and Caden were so excellent on the ride up there, 4 hours long, and on the way back.  Both times they started to get whiny the last 1/2 hour from the hotel/home but they made it through with flying colors. The got to go swimming both days so that was our bribery tool!

We had a nice dinner at the Shilo Inn at 7:30PM, Gena and Adessa both found new friends that they just danced and giggled the night away with. The fireworks were awesome and the girls just loved them.  This was Caden’s very first 4th of July too and he slept through most of it.   Fireworks didn’t seem to bother him a bit. We didn’t even get back to our hotel room until 11 PM that night so I’m very impressed the girls and Caden didn’t have any problems.

We did have all 5 of us in a hotel room!  Daniel and I on the king, Gena in a comfy chair, Adessa on the floor and Caden in a playpen. Was pretty good except for Caden’s 20  minute “thumping” session at midnight.  He loves to bring his feet up and thump them down on the crib.  Daniel and I were laughing, hard to do at midnight, because what else can we do?! Adessa, of course, woke up at 6am on the dot.  Like she does every day.  Announcing to everyone by pulling open the curtains that its “morning time!”

After that we went and fed ducks and geese along the river then walked down to the Idaho Falls waterfalls which were very pretty.

In other news, Caden is getting his first tooth!  Also exciting, he’s finally started rolling over as well.  It’s weird to see other kids who are his age and just a month or 2 older who are walking, eating and exploring while we are all grins that he can finally roll (it’s a 4-5 month old skill).  He’s working on his sitting but not there yet, falls over within a couple of seconds. We’re trying to get him to bear more weight on his arms, trying to get his legs up underneath him so that he can hopefully get to the crawling stage in a few months. In the next 6 months we are hoping that he will master sitting up and maybe standing. Genevieve was a late walker at 17 months and never crawled.  Adessa was pretty average.  So I’m not worried about anything yet.  He continues to be the best lil’ baby ever and is always full of grins and smiles.