Ethan turns 4!

Happy Birthday Ethan!!

A few pictures of Ethan opening his presents...

Kaitlyn Velouria Patten

My baby girl is here!!!

December 19, 2009
Saturday 5:48 am
Modesta, California
Kaiser Permanente Hospital

Kaitlyn Velouria Patten
weighed 8 pounds 14 ounces
21 inches long


I went in on Friday the 18th around 8pm. I got admitted this time, unlike two weeks ago when I was sent home. This time being at 5 cm they had to let me stay! However I was stuck at 5 for a very long time even after they gave me Petocin. About 5am in the morning they broke my water in hopes that that would bring baby. About 48 minutes later Kaitlyn was born! She was out after two pushes, after all she is my smallest baby. Cory and I are so happy she is here... our family is complete! Kaitlyn's first bathProud Daddy!







































Kaitlyn's first car ride home
















Kaitlyn at home and surrounded by family

What's New?

Well November went by in a flash! We went to Cory's parents' house for Thanksgiving this year. We played tons of games, ate lots of good food, and did some shopping too. I guess I only took this one picture while we were there... Adam and Ethan really wanted to help Grandpa peel the potatoes for the Thanksgiving dinner!


Wednesday, December 2nd, I threw a birthday party for Jonathan. He requested a Transformers party this year. We played pin the head on Optimus Prime and Transformer Bingo! Jonny designed his own cake this year. He asked for chocolate cake with green frosting and skittles on top. So he helped me decorate his cake before the party. Jonny had so much fun with his friends, at the end of the party, they didn't want to have to go home. I was happy to get this party in before our baby girl arrives later this month!





Here are the pictures I took of Baby Girl's room all put together!(click on pictures to enlarge) I had painted her room back in October and made all the bedding for her crib, including the matching curtains! The quilt draping over the crib is the project I most recently finished for the baby, I am quite pleased how it turned out. I also made cordinating paintings and framed them. I still want to make a cover for the rocking chair, but I'm feeling pretty tired lately and will most likely spend my energy on making her some cute burp cloths. I'm almost all the way packed for the hospital and am very anxious to meet this cutie pie!


















On Thursday December 3rd I went to the doctors for a check up. She said the baby looked like she was measuring big and ordered an ultrasound for that same day. The ultrasound tech said that she was estimated to be 7 pounds and 3 ounces already. He also said my due date looked like it should be December 24th instead of January 2nd! So we will see when she comes just how big she turns out to be! I took a picture of the ultrasound picture, sorry I didn't want to get the scanner out.


Saturday December 5th... Christmas Party!!
So we ventured to the church Christmas party. They provided lunch and had a ton of games the kids could play. Megan got her face painted, Jonny won a giant cupcake in the cupcake walk, Ethan liked fishing for candy and toys and Adam enjoyed eating all his candy before we even left for home. Before the party was over we headed over to get our picture taken with Santa Claus!! Ethan was nervous and didn't want to stand more than a foot closer to Santa and Adam liked going up to Santa but was very nervous sitting on his lap. Adam calmed down after Santa presented a goodie bag to him. Ohh the power of candy! When we were leaving Adam kept saying "Gangkoo Ho Ho!" and "Bye Ho Ho!".

The Procedure

On Monday October 5th we took Adam in for his endoscopy biopsy. He wasn't allowed to eat any breakfast and was asking about it a little on the car ride to the hospital. He was otherwise happy and pointing out every cool car he saw as we drove past them.
When we got there we had to wait around for a little while. He was weighed, which he doesn't like and then they put a hospital band on his wrist which he really didn't like!

Then we brought him in to the operating room. Cory sat on the bed with Adam in his lap and held his arms down so they could put the mask on him to make him fall asleep for the procedure. Adam screamed and cried so loud, it made me so sad to see him so scared and upset. Finally he fell asleep. The part that really made me choked up was when I was leaving I kissed him and saw him breathing peacefully but he still had a tear in the corner of his eye.

The whole procedure only took about 15 minutes. They rolled him into the recovery room where we waited patiently for him to wake up.










When he finally woke up, he was quite upset. And when he woke up he woke up fast and suddenly. The nurse went to get a popsicle, in case his throat was a little sore. At first he rejected it but then realized he was hungry and took it.

On the way home he kept shouting "Daddy... uh food!!" We kept trying to ask him what kind of food and such things and he would yell NO! He was beyond hungry. We drove through the drive-thru at Burger King and got him chicken nuggets and french fries. He was very happy and scarfed every bit of it down. Those were probably the last BK chicken nuggets he'll ever have again. Now he is on a Gluten-Free diet for the rest of his life. We are glad that he is going to be okay and that he will heal.

Summer Fun

Here are a few snapshots of the fun things we've been up to this summer.

SWIMMING

BIKING























AND HANGING OUT

So tired...

We had Matt and Brenda and their 3 children come and spend the night on Friday night. Of course no child fell asleep before midnight! They had a ton of fun running around and playing together. Saturday morning we left to go to the beach with our friends. We stayed at the beach from noon until 7pm! I didn't get any pictures because Cory left the camera in the car and there was no way I was going to trudge all the way back up and get it. Brenda took a few pictures so hopefully I will be able to get my hands on a few of them. The kids had so much fun digging in the sand and playing in the water. It started out overcast but ended up being sunny and beautiful! We even took Lucy to the beach for her first time! I was very nervous that she was going to freak out from the noise the waves make or not liking the sand. This was not the case at all... she loved everything about the beach! She loved meeting new people and dogs and actually loved going in the water!! The only one who still doesn't like the water is Adam. Hopefully he grows out of this sometime soon, preferably while we are in San Diego for vacation!
By the time we got home it was late, we fed the kids and quickly put them to bed. The next morning the kids did not sleep in, we have afternoon church. So on Sundays Ethan and Adam do not get a nap because church is right when they are supposed to be napping. When dinner was ready at 6pm Ethan could not stay awake, even Jonny said he was really sleepy.

Fireworks and Birthdays

This is a massive post...

July 12th
We celebrated Adam's Birthday with Grandma, Grandpa, Jimmy and Christy. We had a wonderful meal... grilled teriyaki chicken and grilled vegetable kabobs, with rice and a pasta salad. Then we sang to Adam. I made him a cute bannana/monkey cake. He wouldn't blow out the candles this time. He sort of blew the candles and then would get shy and just stare at everyone. Eventually I helped him and he blew the candles out. The cake was yummy and I think Adam really liked it, especially when he asked for more! Adam was excited to open his presents, I think he liked that Grandma wrapped them in Spongebob wrapping paper. He got a cool car ramp set and extra cars to play with it! All the kids were crowded around trying to play with it. We had a great time and love when they come to visit us!

















July 8th
Adam's Birthday!! We started the day off by driving Cory into work. Right across from where he works is the theatre. We watched "Igor" for free! After the movie got out we picked Cory up and went to Red Robins for lunch. They sang to Adam and gave him a free ice cream sunday! After lunch we dropped Cory back off at work and we headed home to let Adam and Ethan take naps. Later we picked Cory up from the train station and came home to have Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner. After dinner we let Adam open his presents. Cory spent some time putting his new bike together. He was very happy to get his bike and couldn't wait for Daddy to finish putting it together! Then we sang Happy Birthday to Adam. Part way through the song he blew out his candles! So we re-lit them and finished singing to him. I made, from a box, Oreo pie!



















July 2nd - July 6th
On July 2nd we packed up our van and drove to Utah. First we dropped off Lucy in Modesto at the C&R Ranch Pet-o-tel. I was a little sad to have to say goodbye and leave her with complete strangers. The drive to Utah was much more pleasant than I had imagined. We had the dvd player hooked up, with two screens: one for Jonny and Adam and one in the back for Megan and Ethan. So we pretty much had that playing the entire trip. I thought I was clever this trip when I packed ziplock baggies to pass snacks out. I could zip it shut and just through the bag all the way to Megan in the back row! I also packed plenty of water bottles and froze half of them and used them as ice in the cooler. One of our favorite snacks, when going on a road trip, is crackers with sliced cheese, salami, and pickles... so yummy!! Cory had planned out our entire driving portion of the trip, where we would stop for gas, where we would eat and how long each activity would take us. Of course we didn't follow it exactly but it did help us stay close to our schedule. We got to Shawn's house late and ordered the world's best PIZZA!! Pizza Pie is so filling you could be done after your first slice, but who wants to stop there when it tastes so awesome?!!
On Friday we eventually made it to Thanksgiving Point and went to the Dinosaur Museum, but not until after we made a quick visit to Cabella's sporting outfitters store. We met my sister Rhianna there and toured the store admiring all the cool animals that were stuffed.

































Later in the evening Rhianna and Brad came over and, as tradition is held, the boys drove to Wyoming to buy some big fireworks! Unfortunately I did not get a picture with our camera of their loot but Shawn and Jimmy did. I will get a copy someday.

On Saturday we went to the Floyd and Fanny Patten family reunion. I only knew a few people there, but it was cool to see so many people who are related to each other. Lunch was yummy but the cinnamon roll I had for dessert was even better (Sorry I'm always talking about food, it's the pregnancy talking)! After awhile we headed out toward home and stopped by Bridal Falls. The water was quite cold but it felt so nice in the hot sun.


































After the falls, we went to Grandpa Patten's house to have a BBQ with the aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was funny cause it was very much like when we came 3 years ago except my sister Rhianna and her Fiance came instead of Jada and her husband. After dinner they brought out a yummy cake and we all sang Happy Birthday to Shawn. When night fell the boys began to light off their many fireworks. It was a little more of a challenge this time since the backyard was flooded for their irrigation day. Also many of the trees in the backyard had grown since we had last been there and were more in the way. This fireworks display seemed a little more dangerous but just as beautiful. Neither Shawn nor Cory came close to even lighting half their own stashes of fireworks!


















On Sunday we went over to Kim's parents house for lunch. It was nice to meet Kim's parents, they were very nice and lunch was very delicious. Kim had made a cake for Shawn and put sparklers in it as candles. Apparently some of the ashes from the sparklers fell onto the cake and a few people said the frosting tasted like gun powder! The kids had fun playing on the huge playground they had in their backyard. Adam was twirling on the swing on his stomach and then his pants started falling down! Cute diaper butt! Not so cute the night before when his leaky diaper got Grandma again. Sorry Grandma! Later that night Cory, Shawn and Jimmy lit a few fireworks while I sat a couple yards back watching. There were a few duds mixed in with the good ones but the craziest was when Cory went to light one of those strobing ones and it didn't quite do what it was supposed to. Almost instantly after he lit it, it exploded with an extremely loud bang!! Chunks of it went flying in every which direction including a giant flaming piece that whizzed right past where I was sitting! A few neighbors heard the explosion and came out to see if everything was alright, luckily everyone was. I think we were pretty much done after that one!

On Monday morning we packed up and headed back home. I was ready to sleep in my own bed again! The kids were well behaved except a little crying from Adam who was just trying to get comfortable enough to fall asleep and take a nap. Home again, home again, jiggety-jig!