4th of July Part 2

The weekend following the 4th we went up to Mark Twain Lake with our friends Amy & Nathan and their boys. Will & Jaden are great friends and they had a blast all weekend. We lit up sparklers, did snakes and of course pops. Out on the boat we went fishing, tubing and found a nice beach area for the kids to play. Will & Jaden actually tubed by themselves for a little bit but then Jaden went all by himself for quite a while. We had a great time!!

4th of July Part 1

The Fourth of July was a 2 part event for us.  The 4th fell on a Wednesday and the  night before we had a slumber party with all the cousins (Kali, Ava, Will & Emma) and we made some yummy treats...

I put them all down to bed and went down to clean up the kitchen when all of a sudden they all came running downstairs saying "Someone is knocking on the windows!!!"  I knew there was no way they were going to sleep any time soon so I let them go outside and see what that knocking noise was.  They sat outside and oohed and aahed for the next 20 minutes.

  

They had so much fun and I guess I was the "cool mom & aunt" at least for a little while!!

The next morning they were helping me get ready for the big party and I put them to work cleaning and buffing the floors!! HaHa!!

Emma sampling the yummy treats and getting a sugar high!!

And now for the crash!!

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Ready Set Slip N Slide

Summer just wouldn't be complete without a good old fashioned Slip N Slide. It is funny how something that seems so basic to us kids have no idea what to do with it until we show them. Prime example is the Slip N Slide. I got it all set up and all the kids were doing was splashing water on eachother. I had to demonstrate the Slip N Slide for them so they knew what to do with it. It was pretty funny and they had a blast watching mom go sliding down.

I snapped a great picture of Emma just having fun!!

Vegas Baby!!

Well, we have been having a lot of fun. So much fun that I have not even had time to blog. I hope to update everyone on all the fun things we have done. This may take several posts so bare with me.  At the end of June Mike and I went to Las Vegas for a mini vacation with my sister Sarah, her husband Sean, my friend Lauren, and her husband Matt.  This was Mike and I's first weekend away without the kids ever!!!  We Honeymooned in Vegas and at that time we said we would come back every year.....we are shooting for every 6 years now.  We had so much fun and just enjoyed spending time with eachother.  We ate really well while we were there.  In fact I think we spent more on food than on anything else. 

While we were having fun in Vegas the kids were having fun with my parents in Kansas. 

Hubby and I having fun!!

Some great shots of all of us.

This last pic was for Will because he is absolutely in love with everything Spiderman right now!!

Little League

This has been a very busy summer so far and continues to be.  One of the many things we have been busy with is t-ball.  Will is having a blast and we are having a blast watching him play.  He is getting good at his hand eye coordination and can now hit the ball without using the T.   As far as the position he plays....let's just say whatever he feels like.  The main goal right now is to teach them the bases, how to run the bases and the basic objective of the game. 

We don't know what sports or activities Will is going to do but we figure we will introduce him to a couple and see where it goes.   

4 Years Old!!

Will I cannot believe you are now 4 years old.  You are quite the handsome big boy.  You are getting so big and you make me proud to be your mommy everyday.  You just got over having your tonsils removed and my how things have changed.  You are sleeping so much better which makes me a happy mommy.  You love to play with just about anything but right now you really like to play with your new Fiddlesticks (the ones we grew up with) and build any creation you can think of.  You are a wonderful big brother you and Emma play really well together most of the time.  Instead of reading books at night right now you love to have Daddy read you Comic Books and stories he has downloaded onto his Iphone.  Mommy loves you so much and your are turning into such a big boy.  I love watching every minute of you growing up.

 

I have seen this done by some other people and thought it was a great idea and something I hope to do in the coming years to see how Will's answers change.  I gave no prompting at all and these are all straight from the mouth of a 4 year old boy.

 1. What is your favorite color? Green & Yellow

 2. What is your favorite toy?  Pirate Ship & Castle

 3. What is your favorite fruit? Peaches & Apples

 4. What is your favorite TV Show?  Shrek & Tangled

 5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?  Grilled Cheese

 6. What is your favorite outfit? Pajamas

 7. What is your favorite game? Blocks

 8. What is your favorite snack? Fruit Chews

 9. What is your favorite animal? Crocodile

10. Who is your best friend? Jaden

11. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play with bubbles

12. What is your favorite drink? Apple juice

13.  What is your favorite holiday?  Halloween

14. What do you take to bed with you every night? My Animals

15. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Grilled Cheese

16.  What do you want to be when you grow up?  Policeman

17. What are you good at? Games @ Chucky Cheese

18.  What do you and Mommy like to do together? Play outside

19. What do you and Daddy like to do together? Play guns

20. What is your favorite thing to do?  Play

Memorial Day Vacation

We went on The Horn Family Vacation over Memorial Day weekend. We headed to Osceola, MO to our family cabin where we did lots of fishing, atv'ing and lots of other fun stuff with the kids.

Here are all the fishermen and women!!

Fun with glowsticks!!

My boys!!

Roasting marshmallows in the fire ring Mike made my dad.

Silly Emma!!

Bye Bye Tonsils

On Wednesday May 30th Will had his tonsils and adenoids removed.  It has been a rough several days for him but I think we are rounding the corner.  It is actually a 14 day recovery period before he can return to  normal activity and eating.  We are watching a lot of movies, playing board games and eating lots of ice cream and popsicles. 

They don't normally remove tonsils in a 3 year old but they had to go.  What led to this we may never know exactly but I hope this solves some of his issues.  Will is almost 4 and I can count with my fingers the number of nights he has actually slept an entire night straight through.  We have what I thought to be night terrors, nightmares, bed wetting and many other issues at night.  There have been many times I have wondered what I am doing wrong and what I can do differently.  We have tried everything from being mean (thinking it's a behavioral issue), lights on, lights off, sleeping with us, his own room to using melatonin.....nothing has worked. 

I saw an ENT at the beginning of the year asking if he could possibly have sleep apnea and it was ruled out at the time.  I was kinda left thinking that this is just my son and I just have to find a way to deal with it.

Fast forward a couple months and Mike and I notice that Will's tonsils are extremely large.  He never complained about a sore throat, never had a fever and tonsils are not something you look at every day so we don't know exactly when it started.  We were into the pediatrician several times and he never tested positive for strep.  His tonsils were the size of ping pong balls and we finally ended up back at the ENT.  Over those couple weeks I swear they continued to get bigger and Will started losing weight because he wasn't eating.  His sleeping was worsening too and he was snoring like a freight train. The ENT took one look and said they had to go along with his adenoids. 

After the surgery I was somewhat relieved but also didn't like to hear the news that not only did he have sleep apnea but he is also a breath holder. I guess during surgery and coming out of the anesthesia his O2 levels kept dropping into the 80's. What does this mean? Well, hopefully the sleep apnea will be cured by this but the breath holding is a separate issue and we will just see where we end up.

Here is Will getting his ride to the OR, playing in the pre-op room and in the recovery room.

Nana & stuffed animals make it all better!!

Camping Time

This past weekend we went camping with our good friends Amy & Nathan at Cuivre River State Park and had a blast.  There were 4 adults and 4 kids (a 4 yr. old, 3 yr. old, 2 yr.old & 1yr. old) and we all survived and the kids did really good too.  The kids did lots of bike riding to burn off some of their energy.  Emma had fun being pushed all over by Jeffrey. We also hit the beach (forgot the camera) where everyone got to play in the sand and swim a little.  I also realized I didn't take any pictures of tents or kids in tents (oh well....maybe next time).  We took Emma's playpen and she slept in that and Will had his own sleeping bag.  I had brought a 2 man dome tent I thought the kids would love to play in but they had more fun jumping on the air mattresses in the big tent.  Hopefully this is just the first of many fun little trips with Will's best friend Jaden.

Can't go camping without yummy smores!!!

Playing with Pops!!

Sydney's 4th Bday & Mother's Day

Sydney the birthday girl turned 4 on May 12th.  We went in town to help celebrate and everyone had a great time.  Will and Syd are only a month apart and it is so much fun to watch them grow up.   Happy Birthday Miss Syd....you are turning into quite the beautiful little girl.

Emma had to practice her hula hooping and art skills.

Everyone had to hitch a ride in the car!!

The very next day was Mother's Day and we it was such a beautiful day we decided to go to Shawnee Mission Park and just have some family fun.  GiGi was able to enjoy and was in fairly good spirits and the got to spend time with all 3 of her great grandchildren.  Since we live out of town it is not very often we can all get together.

We go to enjoy some very traditional family activities.  Frisbee and soccer, tea parties in the park and keep away from Will.

Here are some random pictures from that day.

 Uncle Tim and Emma

GiGi with all her great grandkids and Nana (and yes mom this was the best picture I got).

The 3 Amigos

My handsome boy climbing in a tree took a moment to pose for me!!

Will giving GiGi a hug goodbye!!

Carnival Day

Friday was Will's last day at school and we finished it off with a carnival.  I can't believe his 1st year of pre-school is done and next year he will be in pre-k.  Will has come so far this year and has learned so much.    Will had so much fun at the Carnival he actually came straight home and took a nice long nap for me which rarely happens any more.  We started our day with a 3 legged race.  There was a jump house, an obstacle course, games, musical chairs, riding bikes, snow cones, face painting and many prizes.   We then finished off the day with a picnic lunch.

Just like brother

Emma got ahold of Will's backpack and was strutting her stuff all over the house.  She thought she was the coolest and was having the time of her life so I had to take a few pics.   It's not that long they are this age and before I know it she will have a backpack of her very own.

Awww........

My Mother's Day present from Will that he made at his pre-school.

Sprinkler Fun

It was about 90 degrees yesterday and we still haven't opened our pool so we broke out the sprinkler.  Even as hot as it was Will had to wear his rain coat and boots as he played in the sprinkler. The clothes still got completely soaked but he had a lot of fun.  Emma wasn't too sure about the sprinkler but decided to practice her soccer skills.  I think we are going to have a lot of fun this summer!!

Here's.........................Woody!!!!!!!!!!

I thought this picture was just too cute to not post.

Learning to walk is hard work.

The Performer: William Horn & his Preschool Class

Will's Preschool Class (look for the boy with the cheesiest smile!!)

Will had his School Spring program on sunday.  Here is the entire Preschool singing togetherThe first song is "Trust and Obey":

The 10 Commandments:

"If your happy and you know it"

Here is Will with his class singing "Someone Special":

Matthew 19:14 "Jesus Said let the little children come to me" and "Jesus loves the little children"

The last song is "Waddily-Acha".  I have never heard of this song but this one was Will's favorite!!

And She is off...............

On April 17th 2012 (3 days after her 1st birthday) Emma took her first steps:

My little Princess Emma turned 1....

I can't believe it has been a year. WOW!!! This had been a year of many ups and a few downs and when you are in the midst of it, it seems like it will never end. Now looking back I wonder where the time went. Emma is doing wonderful now and the ears are finally cleared up and she is just starting to walk. When I say walk I mean hold onto our hands and walk. She has taken just a couple steps on her own but of course there was no video camera around at the time. I know it won't be long.

We had her 1 year check-up today and here are the stats:

Height: 29" (50%)

Weight: 16.8 lbs (5%)

We still need to pack on the poumds but she is completely healthy!!  We are trying a lot of cheese and Greek Yogurt for the calories and whatever else I can get her to eat.  She is a self-feeder so she won't take anything from the spoon. 

In our typical party fashion Emma got to enjoy 2 parties to ring in her 1st birthday.  Here are pictures from the parties. 

 Her 2 cakes in Kansas (one smash cake)!!

Here are her 2 cakes @ home:

Here is a picture of Will wearing his Mickey shirt and Emma in her Minnie Mouse shirt (this was as good as it gets!!)