Fall

Friday night, I was painting in the upstairs bathroom.  The kids had been put to bed quite a bit earlier but I could still hear them talking.  Then there was some commotion.  I thought I heard something about Caden falling and there was obvious distress.  I was trying to picture in my mind how Caden had fallen (I assumed off his bed) in such a way to cause so much excitement.  I didn't hear any crying so thought it must not be too serious but I should probably go and take a look.  I start putting away my painting stuff when Kailyn comes in hysterical.

 

Kailyn-"Caden fell!  Caden fell out the window."

Me-"He fell out the window!!"

Kailyn-"Yeah he was kicking the screen, and I told him not too, and then he fell."

My stomach dropped and all my head could process was 'Caden fell out of the window.  Caden fell out of the second story window.' Luckily, I could hear Caden faintly crying through the open bathroom window, good he was conscious.  I ran outside to find him laying in the bush.  He scratched up his face and head from the bush he landed in but really not bad.  He was obviously shaking.  His hands were literally shaking.  I asked him if he hurt anywhere other than the scratches on his face and he said no.  Then he tried to push himself to a stand and was in obvious pain.  After checking it out, I thought his arm was broken.  I put the girls to bed and tried to decide what to do.  

Luckily, Ken was at the end of his shift so I decided to call him.  I told Ken that Caden had fallen out of his bedroom window. 

 His response, "Caden fell?" (with a tone of why are you calling me)....

"Caden fell out of his BEDROOM WINDOW!!!" (OK now it registered what happened).  

Ken ended up coming home and getting Caden and taking him into the ER.

From what I hear Caden was a star patient.  Smiling the whole time, laughing, and generally in a great mood.  It turns out he broke a bone in his forearm, not a serious break though.

I feel so lucky that it wasn't worse.  Yes, I feel like a horrible mom.  So how did this all happen?  I had recently rearranged the kids bedroom in an attempt for a better layout and to allow cool air from the window to blow on everyone.   I am guessing Caden had climbed up on the window sill.  The window is very big and closer to the floor and it has a ledge on it that is big enough for a little kid to stand on.  After this I immediately rearranged the furniture so that Kailyn's daybed is blocking the window.  

When I was putting the girls to bed that night Kailyn said, "Mom, that was the scariest thing I have ever seen."  I can only imagine. 

Caden in his new cast.  Holding the hippo he got from the hospital.

Here is a picture of the second story window Caden fell out of.

Hot and Humid

Today was hot! It was 93 and humid. Yuck! We spent the morning strawberry picking at a u-pick farm. Unfortunately, the strawberries were small and it was hot! The kids all had a lot of fun, saying they wanted to go again, and the strawberries were delicious. I decided this was the perfect time to drag out the wading pool. Kailyn said it wouldn't be any fun cause it was too shallow to actually swim in, looks like she may have had a little fun.

Caden (2 1/2 yrs), Kailyn (5 1/2 yrs), Jordan (4 years) Even Chase got cooled off, thanks to a helpful older brother.

Busy Week

So, here is what we have been doing the last week to keep ourselves busy. I must warn you, the pictures are not in order of when the events occurred.

The kids took free swim lessons for a week from the YMCA. Actually, only Caden did the whole thing cause the class the girls signed up for ended up being way too simple for their ages. The class was good for Caden--he has come so far this year. He started out a couple months ago holding onto your neck for dear life anytime we went swimming. Now he is swimming by himself (with his swimming tube or arm floaties) jumping off the side, blowing bubbles and just plain loving the water.

On Saturday they had a big swim party free to all participants of the YMCA Splash swimming lessons. They had free food, inflatable toys, crafts and free swimming at this great outdoor swimming pool.

Eating a little lunch before we hop in the pool.

There were a lot of people there. This is the little kiddie wading pool. Can you find my 3 little munchkins? We spent most of our time here and then once Ryan fell asleep we spent a little time in the big pool.

Even Chase dipped his feet in to cool off on this hot, muggy day. I wanted a picture of Chase and since Ken did not come with us. Kailyn offered to hold him real quick while I snapped a picture. Too bad Chase suddenly became serious.

Back in January Ken took a shift for someone that was unable to get anyone else to take it. As a thanks, Ken received a gift card to a place called Bravo (an italian restaurant). The kids were SO good. We got a couple compliments on how well behaved they were-one from a couple sitting behind us and another from the manager, who came as we were leaving and told us that she had heard through the grapevine that the kids had done really well.

Jordan coloring as she waits for her food.

Chase was so cute, very smiley.

Caden loves to dip things.

Kailyn loves to draw people. Here is a picture of our family (the table cloth had white paper on top of it).

The local Tropical Smoothie Cafe gave away free smoothies to everyone that came in wearing flip flops. Note to self, smoothies are not something we will be eating on our trip out to Montana in a month. The kids had to use the restroom over and over and over again. Makes sense, look how big those things are. They also each got a free beach ball and balloon.

Unfortunately, Ken was not around for Father's Day, but he was able to join us for a yummy dinner of pot roast, potatoes and carrots, rolls, and salad. For dessert we had mud pie. Yum!

The kids made these signs for dad to see when he got home from work (we were gone at church when he got home)

One of Ken's attendings had a pool/ultrasound party. Family came for swimming and dinner and the residents stayed to learn about ultrasounds.

We are so glad that the Phillips have moved here. We knew them back at medical school in Arizona. The kids have been having so much fun together. Here is Jordan, Kailyn, and Jenessa at the pool party.

They had a fun slide. Even Taevin (the Phillip's 15 month old baby) loved it.

Thanks to the Phillips who let Caden borrow their arm floaties. We forgot ours at home.

We also went to the zoo this week (minus Ken). We were able to see our good friends the Wells there (unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures together)

Jordan, Kailyn, Caden, Chase

We even got to see them clean the elephants. The kids loved watching.

We also went to a thing at the local PBS station. It was an activity to encourage reading (this was actually last Saturday)

Jordan got a butterfly painted on her cheek.

Kailyn got a rainbow.

Caden getting his cheek painted.

Group picture, minus Kailyn who didn't want to get in for some reason.

Taiya, Jenessa, Jordan and Caden in the front.

Got everyone this time.

Last Saturday we also went to a baby shower and played at the park.

Chase slept in the stroller through most of it.

Jordan loves to be outside.

Caden loved the cake.

We also got Chase in for an ultrasound. They had a really hard time seeing anything due to a lot of gas in his stomach and then him being so hungry that his stomach was all clamped up (they didn't want him to eat for 3 hours prior and we were pushing 5 by the time they were done). It sounds like everything was fine though.

Chase has been doing so much better. Zantac has helped SO much. I think that his stomach has finally gotten a little bigger too. His spitting up has decreased dramatically and his crying is what I would consider normal now. He is so smiley now, too. I love, love, love that he will start laughing and kicking his feet with joy when he sees me. I can't believe how many people this week have commented on his smiley nature, never happened even 2 weeks ago. He is also so much more content. He will actually just sit there and be content with his hands and feet. He is seriously a new baby, I just can't believe how different he is from even a month ago. We won't mention his night time sleeping habits though....baby steps right?

Johnstown, PA

I'll be honest I was somewhat excited for summer. I thought it would be nice to slow down just a little--no more making sack lunches for Kailyn, making sure she did her homework, having to wake up Caden from his nap so that we could go and pick Kailyn up from school, etc. Unfortunately (for me), summer has been super crazy. We started out the summer by making a trip to Johnstown, Pennsylvania (a little town 1 1/2 hours outside of Pittsburg). Ken has a great job possibility there, so we thought we needed to check out the town to see if it is something we would consider.

The good:
-Great job with great potential and a great learning experience for Ken
-Job would maybe allow us to potential get a job out west where we really want to settle down
-VERY safe town. We were told even downtown you never have to worry about being robbed, and kids actually walk to school with no worries.
-The people were very friendly
-Beautiful area (lots of mountains--by eastern standards).

The bad:
-Far from all of our family
-Small town (I LOVE big cities)
-Library not that impressive. You had to pay to participate in their summer reading program. (Never heard of that one before.) You also had to pay to check out any videos.
-The ward is small and VERY spread out. No playgroup, no cooking group, no book club...what would I do.
-The only YMCA is downtown and far from where we would probably settle down. I have loved the Y these last few years, it is how I survived.

Here are some pictures from our journey:

Kailyn loves to draw on the magna doodle. Here are a couple pictures of 'Mom and 'Dad.'

On the way to Johnstown we stopped at the Children's Museum in Pittsburg. (We got in free with a season pass we use to get into our zoo).


Chase and Me going down the slide.

Kailyn

Caden

Caden climbing around in the ant maze.

Kailyn

Jordan playing in the water

Ken and Kailyn building some waterlines.

Caden meeting Bob the Builder.

Jordan and Bob the Builder

Pictures of Johnstown,

Looking out over downtown.

The brand new High School. It was huge!

The playground shared by the Elementary and Middle School.

Playing on a crazy see-saw

As you can see the kids loved it.

Jordan

Kailyn was not in the best mood after getting only a little sleep the night before.
Luckily, Kailyn eventually cheered up and had some fun.

Chase tickling Caden.

I love this kid.

Chase practicing his sitting.Caden

We were able to go to this great community event.

They gave all of the kids free books.

Even Chase got a book.
They did some arts and crafts.

Kailyn and Jordan going down the inflatable slide.

Even Caden went down. He loved it.

On the way home we stopped at the Cleveland Zoo (got in free once again with our passes).

Jordan, Kailyn, and Caden climbing up a rope tower.

Chase fascinated by the top of the snake tunnel.

Caden, Kailyn holding Chase and Jordan checking out the camels.

Kailyn seeing how kangaroos hear.

Kangaroo Jordan.

Family picture: Jordan, Caden, Kailyn, Chase and Ken

Caden's favorite part was riding the tram back to the car. He spent the whole time at the zoo asking when we could ride it.