SuperCork

We've moved our website!

2011-04-20T22:17:00.001-07:00

So, we've headed on off from Blogger into our own hosted environment over at TheCorks-AZ.com

We've also pulled in all of these posts so that you can see them there. We will not be posting at this location any longer. Please use the new URL: http://TheCorks-AZ.com

Kal is walking!

2011-03-30T14:32:00.001-07:00

We are so excited that Kal started really walking this week! He looks
like he is having a good time too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlTIwAGpp2o&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Sent from my iPhone

I'm incredible!

2011-03-11T12:17:00.001-07:00

2011-03-08T15:28:00.001-07:00

Saturday was Kal’s birthday and we celebrated here at the house. The poor guy got a fever at 8pm the night before and got hardly any sleep all night. He was not real happy the afternoon of his big 1st birthday. He was a trooper though and hung out with us outside for his big party. We put him down to eat his birthday cupcake that his mom made but he wasn’t terribly excited. So we filmed him having at it again the next night (tonight)… which was a bit more fun because he was feeling a lot better.
Enjoy!

Here’s the fist take on signing happy birthday to kal:

Here’s a video of Kal getting whacked in the face by the elastic strap on his birthday hat.

Big Boy!

2011-01-03T22:49:00.001-07:00

Kal amazes me everyday with all the new stuff he can do. He pointed
for the first time yesterday! He was sitting in his high chair
fussing to get out and then he saw me get out an avocado to cut up for
my lunch. He pointed and babbled with a big grin on his face because
he wanted some. He loves avocados! I just started to show him how to
point to things in a book the day before.

Holiday Moose

2010-12-17T11:09:00.000-07:00

Ethan told me he was a moose with moose ears. How cute!

Another Ethan Quote

2010-10-29T21:37:00.000-07:00

Another great quote from Ethan tonight as we were driving home from Costco: Ethan: "Daddy! Home is that way!" ME: "No it's not silly, home is this way." Ethan:"Don't be bossy."

From the mouth of babes....

2010-10-28T21:23:00.001-07:00

I kid you not... This is word for word out of Ethan's mouth tonight.... ME: "Okay Ethan, that was last story, time for Dad to tuck you in." Ethan: "ooooorrr.... another option is that we go into Daddy's room and play?" ---> Where does he come up with this stuff (he's just barely 3 years old)??

Rainbow

2010-10-20T09:56:00.000-07:00

We saw a beautiful rainbow this morning outside our house. Ethan took
the picture. :)

Weekend highlights

2010-10-18T08:42:00.001-07:00

See and download the full gallery on posterous

1. Ignite Phoenix: Wabi-Sabi "wear your old furniture!"
2. A lucky "Da da" while my 6month old crawls to me... Impressing other parents by accident!
3. Successfully executing on Ethan's 3rd birthday party!
4. Family time with another birthday celebration thrown in on Sunday night!
5. Driving home after moving a ton of stuff from Gilbert to Buckeye... Good lord we moved a ton of stuff!

Posted via email from joshcork's posterous

We have a climber!

2010-10-08T12:11:00.000-07:00

Kal was playing on the floor and decided to climb up next to the couch
from a crawling position. He was very proud of himself and now he
keeps trying to do it again. We will definitely be lowering the crib
this weekend!

Drawing of us

2010-09-22T00:41:00.001-07:00

This is the first drawing of ethan's that actually resembles a person.
Ok, so I did draw the nice round circle and the cowboy hat on the
left, but the rest was him. This is actually a picture of Ethan on the
left and me on the right. He drew a neck and a tummy for the bodies.
I did ask Ethan if they were happy and he said that they are thinking.
Not too bad for an almost 3 year old.

Ethan has started using new words that I don't think he learned from
us. The latest ones are jealous and command. He said that I was
jealous, bur he wasn't sure what it meant when I asked him. He also
commanded me to come play with him tonight. I told him that he should
ask instead of commanding...we'll see if this one pops up again.

I also started Ethan on a learn to read program. It is "teach your
child to read in 100 easy lessons". He is doing pretty good at it so
far. The hard part is to keep him focused. I read in a review for the
book that someone used stuffed animals as guest presenters to help
teach. I tried it today and it worked out well. Sebastian (ethan's
husky) helped out today. He will be reading In no time!

Napper

2010-09-18T23:50:00.000-07:00

Ethan wanted to take a nap on the couch today instead of in his
bedroom. He still insisted on having layers of blankets though. He
actually slept really well and through all my busy work around him.

Go Cardinals!

2010-09-05T22:48:00.001-07:00

Friday was football shirt day at daycare. Ethan got to break out his
cardinals jersey for the first time this season. We had a busy day
going to the slide, the pet store and lunch with the cousins. Ethan
and Kal were great the whole time. I couldn't help taking the picture
of Kal snoozing with his hands crossed. He looks like such an angel!

Rolly Polly

2010-08-19T22:35:00.000-07:00

Kal is rolling all over the place! I went into his room tonight
because he was fussy and found him rolled over in his tummy in his
crib with his arm hanging out the side. He was not happy about that,
but he has to learn sometime. I think he still gets a little
surprised when he rolls over. He also started rolling on his side to
fall asleep. I love seeing him grow!

I'm Growing!

2010-08-12T21:49:00.000-07:00

Kal is growing so fast! I heard his first word yesterday...mama. I
was working with him while I was making dinner and he was doing pretty
good at his mmmm sound. Then he was upset at me later that night
because i was giving him nose drops. While he was struggling to get
away, he said mama. He probably would have said something else, if he
knew more words. :)

Kal just started on rice cereal this week. I think he likes it. He
opens his mouth pretty wide to smile when I say "yum, yum, yum, yum",
so I slide a spoonful in. Ethan wasn't really into cereal, so I don't
have high hopes. In fact, Ethan wasn't a big fan of being spoon fed at
all, so it will be interesting to see what kal thinks.

Kal's face lights up when he sees familiar faces, especially Ethan. I
know they are going to be such good friends when they are older. Here
are some recent pics of them together.

Up, up and away!

2010-08-11T16:49:00.001-07:00

Ethan told me that when he grows up, he is going to fly like superman!
What an exciting imagination!

Interesting things Ethan did this week....

2010-08-08T18:08:00.001-07:00

Remember... this boy isn't even 3 years old yet:

Invented his own booty shaking dance.
Dressed like a Knight and danced to his backyardagains "I'm a knight thats right" song.
Used the iPad to make drawings with stickers and emailed it on his own to Mom, Dad, Grandpa, and Grandma.
Sent 10 more of the above drawings once he realized how to type in the email addresses & do it on his own.
Grabbed a microphone from the xbox and proceeded to sing multiple songs to mom and dad.
Used the iPod remote control to play JayZ Forever Young over and over. He also sings to this song.
Listened to "Peaches" by The Presidents of the USA over and over and then started singing the song.
Looked for sympathy from Dad: "Dad, Mommy's Teasing Me!"

1+1 = Number 2 dad!

2010-08-02T18:06:00.001-07:00

That's according to Ethan! This little boy....Goodness! So on our way home today I thought I would teach Ethan some math and start working on that since he's pretty much mastered his ABCs and Can count to about 20 no big deal. So I asked him in the car on the way home: "Ethan... what's 1 + 1.... there was silence... then I said use your words... do you know what 1 + 1 is? " I fully expected him to just say no... to which I would reply with the answer. Ethan suprised me though... out of the blue he said "its number 2 daddy" with a big smile on his face! I was floored! We hadn't worked on that before .... i suppose he was paying attention at school.... since he's not even 3 years old yet I'm pretty impressed!

Too funny!

2010-07-30T06:55:00.000-07:00

Ethan was eating breakfast this morning and put down his bagel upside
down. He said "that is funny! I want to take a picture". So here it is
on the blog. This was the first time he wanted to take picture of
something he thought was funny. It is so cute how something so little
can make him laugh. He is almost always in a good mood.

Summer Swimming

2010-07-19T14:35:00.001-07:00

> We had a great time swimming today! We hung out with the Laws and had
> a blast! We found some great deals at walmart on swim toys and the
> floatie for Kal. Ethan and Kade loved chasing after the motorized
> penguins.
>
> It was Kal's first time swimming. He did awesome in the floatie and
> enjoyed lounging and working his abs to lean forward. He played with
> rings that we brought and tried to eat the floatie.
>
> Ethan did great in his swim trainer swim suit with floaties built in.
> He swims on his own (thanks to cori). He also loves jumping into the
> water and piggy back rides.

Funny

2010-06-24T16:58:00.000-07:00

Sometimes kal wants more than just his finger to suck on.

Hugs

2010-06-23T09:32:00.000-07:00

The boys with their stuffed animals. So cute!

Doggers

2010-06-19T22:51:00.003-07:00

Mozy snoozing on the dog bed.

Zoey & Riley chillin

I can't believe it has been a month since we adopted Zoey & Mozy! They are 2 adorable boxers that we adopted from AZ Boxer Luv Rescue. They are sisters that were found in the east valley and given to Boxer Luv. We think they are a little less than a year old and they definitely have the energy to show it too! So far they have chewed up a few kids toys, a couch pillow, remote control and more...but who is really counting. :) We are working with them to learn the basics - sit, lay down, no...at least they were already potty trained though. We love them and are happy to have them as part of our family!

What a Great Week!

2010-06-08T00:18:00.004-07:00

Last week we had a great week! There were so many exciting things going on with the boys. The biggest change was

moving the boys into their own rooms. Ethan has been napping in the Super Hero room for a while now and doing really well. But now that he is sleeping in that room, he wakes up in the morning and says "I had a good nap". So cute! Kalvin is doing great sleeping in his bed too...we just got his

bedding and we love it. We are still finishing up the decorating, but at least Josh got the curtains up to

help Kal sleep a little longer. (Thanks honey!)

Ethan started pooping in the potty last weekend. (sorry, no pics of this) :) He is doing awesome! We are so excited at the prospect of getting rid of the pull-ups. I am embarrassed to say that we have offered him so many things to get him excited about doing it. The last thing added to the long list (cookies, candy, movies, stickers, walk, and ice cream) was money. The money is for the charity coin drop can at Walgreens. He loves putting the money in and watching it roll down. I feel a little strange bribing a 2 year old i with money, but whatever works.

Kal and Ethan are both teething...I thought we were all done with this for Ethan, but he is just getting in his 2nd year molars. He constantly has his fingers in his mouth and I even found him chewing on books...at costco, luckily we were buying the book and not just reading it. Kal started drooling all the time and just figured out how to get his fingers in his mouth instead of his fist.

Kal has been sitting up more and more. This week we decided to change his bath to be sitting up instead of lying

down. He loves it so much more!

Kal Laughing

2010-06-06T20:32:00.000-07:00

These are some of Kal's first laughs. I took him into the bathroom
while Ethan was taking a bath and he thought it was funny. Ethan
couldn't stop talking about how he made him laugh the rest of the
night. They are so cute together!

Boating Trip

2010-05-31T21:48:00.004-07:00

We went on the boat with Uncle John and Jamie last weekend. Ethan had a great time! Kal stayed home with Emilie, Diego and Declan. He also had a great time! Thanks for watching him!

Ethan's favorite part was going fast when we were on our way back to shore. He was also scared at the same time, but we focus on how fun it was. He has asked several times this week if we are going to get on the boat again.

I am so Fast!

2010-05-31T21:46:00.001-07:00

Ethan has really been into being fast lately. In this video down below he is running down the hill very fast (in toddler speed). He is so proud of himself.

His favorite songs right now are:

"Freight Train" - He gets to pick where we are going, but it is usually Micky's House, Donald's House, Minnie's House, Goofy's House or Pluto's House.

"Santa Clause is Coming to Town" - I thought we had gotten rid of this in December, but he knows what the picture of the album looks like and knows how to find it on my phone. He had it on repeat this morning for at least a half an hour!

"Freeze!" - He likes to dance and freeze with this song. They also do it at his school.

Here are some of his sayings lately:

"You are beautiful Mommy" - He is charming, just like his daddy!
"I am fast" - We can get him to do lots of things by racing him or saying that he is really fast.
"We better hurry" - He may have gotten that from me being late for things and needing to hurry to leave.
"There's Big Jet" - Little Einsteins of course. Big Jet is trying to get their treasure map in one of his favorite episodes.
"Hurry, there's a monster" - Not sure where he got this from, but it is entertaining because I ask him questions like what color it is or what it's name is. He has some fun answers, but it is usually green right now.
"Gabby called me Daddy" - One of the girls at school woke up and called him Daddy. He thought it was so funny. He tells us about it all the time.
"I am happy now" - It is nice when he can tell us that he is over being sad.
"The sun is out" - We usually hear this in the morning when he is waking up.
"Holy Crap...." - He just started this,but luckily he doesn't say it that much. I think we can thank Daddy for this one.
"You're Awesome Daddy" - It is so cute to hear him say Awesome.
"I am funny" - He likes to agree with you know when you tell him that he is funny.
"He's looking at me" - He says thisabout Kalvin sometimes. I think he got it from one of his big brother books.
"That's Cool"
"We made it" - He says this as we are pulling into the major street by our house. He must not think that we are ever going to make it home.
"No Way Hosilly" - I think they may have taught him this at school instead of no way hosa.

Here are some good pics of Ethan:

The first one was our ice cream treat after swimming lessons. Of course he picked the brightest, messiest ice cream. Luckily he liked mine better.

The bottom right is Ethan holding the Mother's day gift that he made at school, a pencil holder with some pencils.

Almost 3 Months Old

2010-05-31T21:00:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we went for Kalvin's 2 month appointment. The doctor said he was doing great. He is now 11lbs 14 oz and is in the 50th percentile for weight and height and 25th percentile for his head. Ethan always had a small head too, so it runs in the family.

Kal has been smiling for a couple of weeks now and is such a charmer. He likes to raise his eyebrows and I think I even saw him wink at me once. I have mentioned several times that he is very strong, but he amazes me all the time. This week he rolled over a couple of times from his tummy to his back. Of course his arms happened to be in the right position, but he did have to scrunch up and use his muscles to push very hard to get over. He has now moved on to sitting and standing since then. I haven't gotten him trying to stand on video yet, but he will stand until he is shaking because he is using all his energy to stand. It makes me laugh.

Here are my picture picks:

Kal loves to sit up and see what everyone is doing.

Kal is doing a great job at holding his head up!

This is just a close up of how cute he is.

Kal "crawled" off the play mat and fell asleep with his head on the couch. His crawling is really just scrunching his body up and then extending really quickly...maybe it is more of a scooching.

DinnerTimeConversation

2010-05-30T23:05:00.000-07:00

Here is a fun video of one of our dinner time conversations. You can see how Ethan is growing up and has a fun personality of his own!

Muffin Man

2010-05-20T15:43:00.001-07:00

This is a Muffin Man, at least that is what Ethan says it is. I am
about to give it to the doggers to play with. So far today I have
found them fighting over a pair of eyes off of one toy, stuffing from
another toy, and 2 legs from another toy. I am guessing the muffin man
will last an hour.

Haircut

2010-05-20T11:05:00.001-07:00

Today Ethan got his first professional haircut. He really needed it!
I decided that his hair was getting a little too long a couple of days
ago, so I cut the hair around his ears. It looked awful! I do not
recommend ever doing that. Ethan was awesome the whole time and moved
his head how he was supposed to. He did like to look at himself in
the mirror when he could. He got a sucker when he was done and ate
the whole thing. His haircut looks really good now. Thanks for doing a
great job Fantastic Sams! Family pictures are back on.

Before

Tummy Time

2010-05-19T11:16:00.001-07:00

Kal loves this mirror! It makes tummy time so much easier.

Yummy!

2010-05-14T18:37:00.001-07:00

We tried something new today! We like to try something new from the
barrels at Sprouts every time we go. (luckily we haven't made it all
the way through the candy) we tried yogurt pretzles and Ethan loved
it! They are very messy in the AZ heat.

Strong Boy

2010-05-14T06:23:00.001-07:00

Kal is such a strong baby! He has moved on to trying to sit up. Kal
normally goes right to sleep after he eats in the morning, but this
morning he kept grunting and doing mini crunches for about 15 min. I
thought he was trying to work out some gas, but it turns out he wanted
to try sitting up. I grabbed his arms and helped him sit up for a few
seconds and then he laid back down on the pillow and got his glossy
eyes. Within a couple minutes he was sound asleep. Too funny! His
personality is already showing....he is going to be a very determined
boy.

Sent from my iPhone

Wow, a full nights rest!

2010-04-29T06:09:00.000-07:00

Did I mention how much Kal likes to sleep? Twice this week he has
slept the whole night, eating at 8:30pm and not again until 5:30 am.
It is a real treat to get to sleep through the night! He is growing
up so fast!

Sleeping

2010-04-16T13:11:00.000-07:00

Here are some really cute sleeping pictures. It is so nice when he is
sleeping!

Kal is Growing!

2010-04-12T11:28:00.000-07:00

Kal just turned 1 month last week! I took him to the doctor for his
check up and shot. He is now 9lbs 11 oz. (it is still hard for me to
believe that babies are born this size, since Ethan and kal were so
small). Kal is in the 50th percentile for weight, 25th for height and
10th for head circumference. He is doing great! He did turn bright
red after they gave him his vaccination.

This week Kal has been surprising me by sleeping longer at night. He
slept for 6 hours yesterday and 7.5 hrs last night! It has been nice
getting so much sleep all together, but somehow I am still tired in
the morning. :)

Here are some of my favorite recent pics...enjoy!

Pirate Sudsman

2010-03-31T19:41:00.001-07:00

While taking a bath tonight Ethan discovered that he could put suds
over his eye like an eye patch and started saying "Argh!"

Ethan's baby

2010-03-30T12:47:00.000-07:00

Ethan loves his baby brother. I took Kal to pick up Ethan the other
day and Ethan ran over in front of the other kids and said "my
Kalvin". He also likes to hold him and play with the toys on the
playmat

Ethan has started carrying around this stuffed Shrek and calling it
his "baby". I am just glad he didn't pick something girly.

Crazy Hair

2010-03-24T17:06:00.001-07:00

Kalvin has crazy hair! He's got a lot more than Ethan had at this
age, so it is fun to spike it.

Snoozer Kal

2010-03-22T07:46:00.001-07:00

Kal was having a tough time falling asleep while he was swaddled, so I
thought I would try the oversized snuggly jammies. (these are 3-6
month jammies and he barely fits newborn) It worked so well for Ethan
when he had enough of being swaddled. I think he likes it...out like a
light. Now I can get some sleep. :)

Smiling babies

2010-03-18T13:23:00.001-07:00

I already sent this to most of the family. Ethan and Kalvin look so much alike. Can you tell which is Ethan and which is kalvin?

Kalvin Pics

2010-03-18T13:21:00.001-07:00

It has been almost 2 weeks since Kal has joined us. He has been a great baby! The first week he slept most of the time. We had to wake him up to feed him and he rarely cried. He woke up the second week though! He now wakes up and cries to let us know when he is hungry every 2 to 4 hours. We are lucky that he isn't very colicky. He is slowly growing and filling in the newborn clothes. Grandma Sharen bought Kal some new clothes since we only had 1 or 2 outfits that actually looked decent on him. He is pretty small since he

was a week early and almost a pound lighter than Ethan when he was born. We were excited to have Sharen stay with us the first week. She helped out so much!

We took Kal to the pediatrician a few days after he was born and everything looked good, so we don't have to go back for a month! We also took him for the standard heel prick for the state newborn screening. We were all amazed that he didn't scream. He was sleeping at the time and only let out a little cry/whine and didn't even wake up. We heard the baby before him cry much louder.

Here are some pics of Kal from my phone.

Here he is after he was first born...very red!

This was in the hospital wearing the standard newborn apparel - knit cap from the hospital and "kung fu" jammies also provided by the hospital.

This one makes me laugh. He makes the funniest faces when he is trying to poop and falling asleep.

Welcome Baby Kalvin James Cork

2010-03-06T06:51:00.001-07:00

For those of you that may not have seen the flurry of facebook posts I was making yesterday, we now have a new family member in this Cork household. Please welcome baby Kalvin (Kal) James Cork!

Born: 3/5/2010 - 2:37pm

Weight: 6lbs 13.1oz

Length: 20 Inches

Mom and baby are doing fantastic! Leann let me get a solid 5 hours of sleep last night while she took care of the baby! She and Kalvin are both resting right now.

Pictures can be found on Flickr: http://flickr.com/gp/supercork/1CoUj4

A few Videos here on You Tube:

Cute Pics

2010-02-17T08:37:00.001-07:00

At Ethan's school they decorated for Valentines day by having the kids
give hugs and taking pictures. Ethan is a really good hugger!
Teachers from other classrooms mention how they go in to get hugs from
Ethan. My favorite is the last picture where Ethan is getting hugged
by two girls. He has a lot of his Daddy's charm already!

Potty Training

2010-02-17T08:31:00.001-07:00

Ethan has been doing a great job with potty training! Yesterday he
got a Valentine sucker at school for going on the potty all day. He
was so excited to eat it too!

I have to say the investment in the "froggy" potty and the Elmo video
were well worth it. I am sure that seeing the other kids go potty at
school and the reward candy afterward helps too.

I can tell that going on the potty is really sinking in. Last night
when we were in the store he told me "pee pee in the potty" and I
tried to rush as quickly as I could to the bathroom. He held it until
we got there and I was a little surprised he actually went considering
he said "I don't like it" about sitting on the large toilet seat. He
did enjoy flushing it several times though.

I was also impressed later when we got home. I was putting some frozen
food in the garage freezer and I shouted to Ethan that if he needed to
go potty before bed, now was the time. When I came back in he was on
the potty and went without me having to help him. He is becoming such
a big boy!

Funny picture

2010-02-15T21:02:00.001-07:00

This is another picture from daycare that makes me laugh. It was their
Christmas project that they sent home. His teacher said she tried
really hard to make him laugh, but it didn't work. Guess I should
take it off the fridge since it is February...

Farewell Old Friend

2010-02-09T23:49:00.001-07:00

Today we lost one of our family members, our dog Zeus had been with us since we rescued him in 2002 with the help of some caring people over at Arizona Boxer Rescue. Below is my creative outlet and my way of dealing with this very sad loss.

Zeus, we will miss you so much and are so grateful for time we got to spend with you! You were a fantastic dog that battled through adversity your whole life. As a puppy you were abandoned and then traded from home to home prior to Arizona Boxer Rescue getting involved and placing you with our family. In 2003 we almost lost you because of some over zealous eating habits that led you to believe that a piece of hard black plastic was the perfect tasty treat for a growing pup.... a rush to the emergency room, stomach surgery, a little ziplock bag labeled "removed this unknown foreign object", and a maxed out credit card later you were back at home with us (we never did figure out what that black piece of plastic was)! A year later you were diagnosed with boxer-cardio-myopothy - a disease that the doctors thought would take your life within a few years, but we didn't give up on you and you on us.... so with the help of some drugs to slow your giant energetic heart down we were back on track and having lots of fun camping, taking trips to the dog park, and doing lots of wrestling around! A few years later you got yourself stung by either bees or a scorpion and scared the bejesus out of me when you wouldn't leave my side and I noticed that your face (and peeper... poor guy) were 4 times the size they ought to be!!! After a bit Benadryl and forced lounging around the house and you were back to the races again! You stuck with us year after year of going in for your halter monitors, walking shamefully around the house in your "special jacket" while the other dogs poked fun at you so the doctors could tell us how far the Boxer-Cardio-Myopothy had progressed. In the end it wasn't any of those things that finally slowed you down... instead it was something hidden, something we couldn't see and you didn't show any signs of... which I think I'm glad for. I'm glad you lived such a full life and one that didn't end with you being in a lot of pain for a long duration of time.

You were such a wonderful friend. You were a dog that I had complete trust in... even when Ethan came along and as the months went by you moved further and further down the chain of command you still showed unconditional love for our family and all it's members. I appreciated how good you were with Ethan letting him constantly try to ride you like a horse or pinch you when he got over excited... or even accidentally fall on you as he practiced walking... and then jumping. You should know he asked about you for the first time tonight on his own on the way back from picking him up from school. Leann and I asked him if he wanted to go out to get dinner (because neither of us felt like making anything at home) to which he replied "No, I want to go home... want to see the dogs: Riley, and Rajah, and Zeus!". He had so much fun with you over the last few weeks and I know that he will miss you a lot as well. Trying to decide what to tell him about why you aren't at home.... why we are only feeding two dogs... and when he starts asking "Where's Zeusee?" has been one of the hardest things I've had to do as a father in this short amount of time that I've been in this position... I haven't had to have the conversation with him yet... but I think I'm going to tell him that you are on a "special mission" and that you won't be coming back home to us because your energy is being put into other things... other VERY IMPORTANT things and we that we should be happy that we got to spend time with you while your mission was with our family. I think he'll get that.... at a minimum he'll think that the mission part is cool :)

In the end I'm sorry that I didn't get to say goodbye to you in person.... I'm sorry I made you get off the couch this weekend when we were watching movies... when all you wanted to do was snuggle with us. I loved you very much as did everyone in this family. You're energy, unconditional love, and snuggles will be sorely missed. I'll do my best to try to convey to Rajah and Riley where you are and what happened... I know they will miss you probably even more than I can imagine and I'll do my best to see them through their mourning period.

Goodbye for now my friend.

Holy Fruit Baskets Batman!

2010-01-31T17:06:00.001-07:00

So I just met our awesome neighbor Kathlene, who was trimming up her
fruit trees growing into our back yard. She gave us these giant bags
of grapefruit and lemons... This morning I got a bunch of oranges off
the orange tree growing into our back yard (not pictured). Take a
look at the size of that Lemon!

First Dentist Visit

2010-01-19T12:27:00.000-07:00

Ethan had his first dentist visit today and he did awesome! He opened
his mouth and sat still during the x-rays, let the hygenist clean his
teeth and the dentist examine his teeth. He liked the air suction they
used after they rinsed his mouth. He has no cavities and will be going
back in 6 months for another cleaning. He does have 2 teeth that are
fused together, but the dentist said that they see that a lot. His
permanent teeth will not look that way.

The pediatric dentist office was great for kids. There were movies
playing, video game consoles and great art displays to keep kids
attention. Ethan had a good time. He really liked his orange tooth
brush, purple bouncey ball and stickers he got when he was done. I let
him open the toothbrush in the car and little did I know that the
carseat has a built in toothbrush holder. I will have to upload a pic
later. It is too funny.

2010 Already!

2010-01-08T21:56:00.002-07:00

We had a great Christmas and New Year's Eve. Ethan enjoyed opening presents so much this year. It was really fun to watch! He got a lot of books, puzzles and a bike. Here are some of my favorite pics.

Christmas Photo Outtakes!

2009-12-14T21:14:00.001-07:00

DSC_0076

DSC_0075

DSC_0043

DSC_0042

Funny pic

2009-12-10T14:18:00.001-07:00

This is what they have in the hallway at ethan's daycare...it makes me
laugh every time.

Christmas Music Rocks!

2009-12-09T11:39:00.002-07:00

Ethan was grumpy, but very cute this morning. He wanted to listen to music, but instead of his music he asked for Christmas music! The Christmas spirit has spread to him too! We have actually been listening to Christmas music every night at the house and in the car. I guess he is just used to it playing. Last night while we were putting together a puzzle, he just repeated part of a song that was playing "Christmas day...". He also started bouncing his head up and down when a rock Christmas song came on and said "yea!" when it was done...I think he likes my kind of music. Sorry Josh! :)

Ethan is a big talker, but here are some of the things he says regularly:
"Awesome"
"Bless you" (said it for the first time for my sneeze today)
"Fee Fie Foe Fum, I'm gonna get you...Wa ha ha ha" (except his F's sound like B's)
"What's that?" or "Who's that?"
"Crackers" and "Goldfish" (his favorite snacks...even first thing in the morning)
"I'm Sorry" (usually have to prompt him for this one...Hands are not for hitting book is not working)
"Oh Man"
"Oh Miss" (usually when he is trying to throw or catch something and misses his target)
"Where Daddy go?" (We hear this a lot in the morning or in the car)
"This way" (He likes to be a backseat driver...he does know the way to daycare)
"If your happy and you know it..." (He adds his own things - clap your hands, shout hooray, stomp your feet, yell Mommy..)
"Yea" (He yells this after songs he likes, when he gets a puzzle piece in the right place and he just started yelling it after he gets the Monkey preschool games right....every single one)

Christmas time is wonderful!

2009-12-08T19:26:00.001-07:00

So Ethan was introduced to his first Christmas tree train this last weekend! He played with this for a good 40 minutes... he and his uncle Jamie were having a great time!
Ethan was so excited chasing the train around the track and making it start, stop, and making the little Santa on board shout merry Christmas!

Finally got the Christmas tree up!

2009-12-05T22:17:00.000-07:00

Yup, we got it done! Even if it is right next to the treadmill in the
"Office". Now to decorate it! The pregnant lady is hanging ornaments
and telling stories about each one as I type this from a few feet
away! Notice her Christmas "SuperStar" pants (oh, she's going to be so
angry that I posted that picture)! We watched Rudolf the red nosed
reindeer, and listened to Christmas music tonight... We are starting
to get into the spirit!

Fun times

2009-12-03T19:52:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted any pictures in a while. We have finally moved and
are loving it so far. We still have some work to do around the house
and plenty of boxes to unpack.

Ethan loves his little dog...Too bad it is mia right now.

Nate Cork

2009-11-22T14:30:00.000-07:00

This week I got to hang out with Nate Cork, he's brilliant! What a
great weekend!

Freshman Year English Papers

2009-11-18T20:27:00.001-07:00

Wow, I was just going through some of my English papers from my
Freshman year in college and came accross quite a few gems. It's so
wild to read now and see what my mindset was then. I'm thinking about
posting them somewhere so some of the folks that I wrote about can see
and get nostalgic. I have one about my first varsity football
scrimage that's awesome to look back on, another on written about a
best friend, and one centered on trust. Crazy to look back at these
now!

Crazy Stuff in North Scottsdale!

2009-11-10T22:07:00.001-07:00

Tong Mask!

2009-11-10T12:31:00.001-07:00

> Ethan's been having a blast helping us unpack.... he especially
> likes the box with all the Kitchen Utensils!
>
>

Tong Mask!

2009-11-09T20:56:00.001-07:00

Ethan's been having a blast helping us unpack.... he especially likes the box with all the Kitchen Utensils!

DSC_0034

DSC_0033

Halloween 2009

2009-10-31T22:20:00.001-07:00

We just had a great Halloween here at the Cork household! Ethan dressed up as a Cowboy, Leann was.... um creative?, and I had my usual Great Pumpkin shirt on.

We had lots of trick-or-treaters but not as many as last year. Aynsley & Nicholas stopped by and had a good time going door to door with Ethan, Leann, and their mom. We got out the Spirit Ball again and scared some kiddos and entertained some others. The Spirit Ball is a talking head in a big clear ball ... that looks a lot like Ed McMan... it has a speaker and a wireless microphone so we set it out by the sidewalk and talk to the trick-or-treaters as the walk up! You know, like "Hey Superman! Cool costume!" -- Some of the kids, and some of the parents too, are like .... how are they doing that? It's lots of fun! We also had out the fog machine, the strobe light, the black light, and a big green spiderweb. Ethan had a great time and said by to all the kids in costumes as the left along with "Happy Halloween" when they arrived! He had tons of fun passing out candy and being a ham as people came up to the door. All-in-all it was a great Halloween!

Nite Nite All the Time

2009-10-20T20:01:00.000-07:00

Ethan likes to pretend to be sleeping a lot lately. He grabs this
little pillow and lays down and closes his eyes. Of course he was too
fast for my picture taking this time. Josh was pretending to sleep
next to him.

Last week he grabbed a sheet and laid down on the couch and pretended
to sleep. He thought it was hilarious when I picked him up like a
baby and said I would put him in bed. Of course he would open his
eyes after I picked him up and laugh. He wanted to do it over and
over again.

Happy Birthday!

2009-10-15T16:22:00.004-07:00

Today is Ethan's Birthday! We took a cake and stickers to school to share with his friends. They made him a sign on the door and a Birthday King crown to wear. The kids didn't really sing happy birthday, it was really the other teacher and me. They were all excited for the cake though!

Here is a video too

Lots of fun!

2009-10-13T21:07:00.001-07:00

We had a lot of fun last week! With the weather getting nice, we can
go on longer walks in the mornings. Ethan and I take one if the dogs
and stop at the playground. Ethan learned how to go down the slide on
his tummy for the first time. I was surprised he did it.

Ethan playing peekaboo in the back seat!

2009-10-04T15:37:00.001-07:00

No, we aren't driving... Just waiting for mom to couture of the
grocery store!

Sweet, Sweet Boy...

2009-09-29T21:48:00.001-07:00

Ethan's been a real ham lately.... well, Ham / Stinker. He he is
showing off his sweeter side at Grandpa's house. Not sure what to
call this pose... but he was pretty funny just chillin in this chair!

Hat

2009-09-17T18:50:00.001-07:00

We had a great time visiting trish and grandma great today! Ethan
loves playing with all their toys. He found grandma's gardening hats
today and decided to wear them around. Have I mentioned how much he
loves hats?!

Ethan also loves his teachers at daycare, especialy Victoria. This
morning was the first time I heard him ask for Victoria after he first
woke up. Usually it goes "mommy, daddy, cori". He has learned that
sometimes cori comes to save him in the morning. He usually wakes up
whiney and ends up singing to himself.

Ethan last week....

2009-09-14T19:37:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Ethan was really fighting his nap. On Saturday we put him in his crib at 1:15 and he stayed there playing until almost 3:30 when he finally quit singing, talking, and playing with his toys and fell asleep. We had to leave the house at 4:30pm and came up to find him like a sweet little angel in his crib passed out. We couldn't resist taking pictures before we woke him up and he turned into a low blood sugar terror (since his missed his mid afternoon snack (and refused to eat much at lunch to boot).

Later at Dinner he was pretty hungry and ate well. We headed off to Claim Jumper's for Leann's Birthday Celebration where he had is first bites out of an apple on his own. It was a mini apple but he seemed to like us allowing him to eat it on his own with out cutting it up for him. I played around with the picture a bit in a new iPhone application I purchased called ColorSplash that turns your pictures black and white and then lets you reveal the color by swiping your finger on the screen. It's super cool and very addictive!

Lastly at Leann's birthday dinner at Dad's house we let Ethan dig into a birthday cupcake of Leann's all on his own. He choose to forgo the actual cupcake and instead focus on the frosting.... The picture I took of him licking the frosting off the top didn't come out but this one of him picking the frosting off the top with his fingers did. Enjoy!

Fun time!

2009-09-01T13:28:00.000-07:00

Ethan and I had a good time at Tempe marketplace today. We had lunch
with cousin Emilie and Declan. We also went to the splash pad and ran
around. Ethan had a good time getting his wonder pets wet and
splashing them in the water. Ethan was ready to go after a half an
hour since it was after his nap time. I decided to stop into a store
before we headed home and he didn't like that. He kept saying "home"
as we walked though the store, so we were only there for 5 min. He
was asleep before we left the parking lot.

Good Times!

2009-08-28T17:14:00.002-07:00

Ethan loves to get into the front seat of the car. Of course we start out in the back seat to get into his car seat and then he squirms his way into the front seat. Whenever he gets a hold of the keys, he sifts through them to the house key or mailbox key and starts walking toward the car, like he is going to drive away with it. Luckily, he doesn't quite know how to put the key in and start the car. He is showing off his driving skills. He found the caution lights today and didn't want to leave the front seat until I mentioned the snacks that were in the back seat. That's my boy, always thinking with his stomach! He takes after his mommy.

Ethan did the cutest thing today...sit-ups! I know you are wondering how that could be cute, but seeing him wiggle and try to sit up from a lay down position is hilarious! I noticed on his sheet from daycare that they went over exercises, so I decided to try it with him this morning. We were sitting on the sidewalk by the grass eating our usual morning snack and I asked if he wanted to do sit-ups. He didn't know what I was talking about until I laid down with my knees bent. He instantly laid down (well, it was kind of a slow wobble from side to side to lay down since he is not that coordinated) and then I said let's get up and he squirmed and leaned on his elbows to help him get up. Once we were up he said "again!" That lasted 10 times and he still wanted to do more, but that was enough for mommy and the public display of exercising. I decided to try some of the other exercises that they went over, but he didn't seem to recognize the push-ups. He tried to do a jumping jack, but then decided running around was more fun. I am going to have him demonstrate for Josh tonight! Maybe i will even get a video this time ;)

Enjoying lunch with Ethan today!

2009-08-21T11:41:00.000-07:00

Enjoying Rumbi's again!

Funny stuff

2009-08-11T08:18:00.000-07:00

Here's proof that it was Ethan putting the hat on Riley. :)

Funny stuff!

2009-08-11T08:15:00.001-07:00

Ethan loves playing with hats now. He runs around with it on
backwards. He thought Riley should wear it the same this morning.
Riley's a good sport and leaves it on for a few seconds.

Another great day in Northern Michigan!

2009-07-24T22:18:00.000-07:00

So, today was another fantastic day!
We slept in and then headed off to the Boyne property after spending
some quality time hanging out and goofing off at home. We walked the
property line in Boyne and the girls caught a toad. Then we headed
into Petoskey for some quick shopping and gillato icecream. After
that we took Ethan into the park area next door where he had a blast
running up and down the steep hills and chasing his cousins! We ate
dinner at a Mexican food restaurant on the edge of town, and Ethan was
absolutely wild after downing half a cup of chocolate milk! After
dinner we did a bit more shopping then back home for some more
relaxing and a suprise early visit from Mom coming up tonight instead
of tomorrow! Ethan and mom will be so excited in to see each other
the morning (he was already in bed when she got here)! Now I'm laying
here in bed with the windows open listening to the sounds of the
sprinkling rain, breeze through the forest, and thunder in the
distance! Man, I Love Michigan!

Fun Videos

2009-07-20T15:50:00.002-07:00

Here are some fun videos of Ethan. Enjoy!

Slip and Slide Fun

Cowboy Ethan

Tryke fun

Lol

2009-07-16T19:41:00.001-07:00

Ethan said the funniest thing in the tub. He was standing up in the
bath tub and farted. Then he said "I toot". It made me laugh so much.

I thought I would also show off ethan's favorite bath toys...2 cups.
I don't know why we bother buying toys sometimes. :)

Fun day!

2009-07-16T19:23:00.001-07:00

Ethan and I went to Grandma Great's this morning after we dropped off
the car to be worked on. He had a good time running in the grass
racing me and reading books. We brought over muffins that he loved eating.

Tonight at dinner we had a fruit salad for dessert with cool whip. He loved the cool whip part and the blueberries. He had 3 helpings of the berries. He couldn't get enough. He also had to eat all the blueberries out of my bowl.

Great weekend!

2009-07-12T21:23:00.000-07:00

We had a great weekend hanging out with uncle John, Emilie & Diego
tonight. It was Ethan's first time in a big pool. He was a little
scared at first, but he had a good time splashing on the steps by the
end. He only fell in head first once...he wasn't even scared
afterward. He was really relaxed when we were all done and looked
like he could have fallen asleep...yet he is still awake on the way
home and it is 45 min past his bedtime.

We played on the slip and slide earlier today with the cousins. We
washed it off from last year. It worked great. Aunt cori had an
inflatable boogie board that helped the kids actually get all the way
down the slide. It was also easy to push the little ones down. We
had a blast, even though it was 111 outside.

Yesterday we went to dinner with cousin Emilie and walked around Tempe
Marketplace. We bought a couple books at the bookstore and played in
the water area where the water shot up from the ground. Ethan was a
little shy about splashing around with the water without us standing
nearby. He had a good time!

This picture was taken earlier in the week. Ethan loves putting on
his cowboy hat and dancing around. We think he is trying to sing a
song from one of his favorite Backyardigans episode 'Polka Palace
Party' where they are cowboys trying to get to the polka palace in
Cheyene, Wyoming to play at a birthday party. We call him Cowboy
Ethan when he is wearing the hat. He also likes to get on the rocking
horse that Grandpa gave him. It makes nieghimg and galloping sounds
too.

Fun Stuff!

2009-07-02T21:45:00.002-07:00

This is a picture of Ethan they have at daycare on the wall. It made me laugh a lot! I guess they traced the outline of the kids and cut it out on big pieces of paper and stuck it to the wall. Ethan's pose is with him laying down with his hands behind his head. This is his favorite position when he is laying down. The teachers mentioned that he is doing it all the time now when he is getting his diaper changed and when he is sleeping. They think it is soooo cute! I also love the fish face, he does that all the time too!

Here's a picture of him sleeping like that when he was younger.

Tweet from JoshCork (@iSundevil)

2009-07-02T17:59:00.000-07:00

http://twitter.com/iSundevil/status/2446358410

"Made mac&chz for the boy tonight. He's refusing it & only wants
salad! Is this my child? Eating so much http://twitpic.com/93n4p"
- JoshCork (@iSundevil)

Good Times!

2009-06-28T08:10:00.004-07:00

I have been meaning to post for a while. We have had a great last few weeks. My sister Tiffany came to town with her daughter Makenna. We had a great time with them. We had a couple of family parties and had a girl's night out. Ethan was a little territorial with Makenna, but by the end they were able to have fun with each other. This is them playing in the laundry basket while Josh swung them around.

We celebrated my grandma's 83rd Birthday. We had a great party where the kids got to decorate cupcakes and sing happy birthday. Here is a slide show of all the pictures Josh took with his good camera.

This is a picture of Ethan in his Fort. We created it with a card table and a sheet. He loves it! We hang out there all the time now. We gave him a flashlight to play with, but it only lasted a week and then it broke!

Cori and I took the kiddos to the park and had a good time playing on the slide and feeding the ducks, pigeons and geese. Ethan loved running around and swinging. It was still a little warm, so we didn't last that long there before we were all thirsty and hot. Ethan went down the big slide by himself...he wouldn't let me go down with him. He is getting more independent all the time.

We went to Tempe Marketplace to celebrate Father's day. We had a great time at dinner at The Keg. Ethan liked everything there. He ate a bunch of vegetables and a lot of his chicken strips. Afterwards we walked around Tempe Marketplace and he had a good time playing in the water. He wasn't sure what to do at first, but he loved it! We also hung out with Uncle Jamie and Laura for Father's day the next day.

This last week Ethan and I took a trip to the Pet Store. We needed more dog food, so I decided to take him with me. He loved it! He liked looking at all the animals. We saw a chinchilla, mice, rats, guieni pigs, hamsters, fish, snakes, lizards, turtles, frogs, parrakeets, finches, and other birds. His favorite was the turtles. He kept asking for more turtles. We found 2 different kinds, but he wanted more. I got a picture of him doing his sign language to say More turtles.

Ethan was also sick this week. He got to lay in bed and watch more tv than usual, so he wouldn't play too much. He had a fever for a day and was better the next day...although he has been cranky this weekend. He has a tooth coming in for sure.

Playing Outside Again!

2009-06-25T18:42:00.001-07:00

We've been so fortunate lately here in the PHX! We are having another
gorgeous overcast day and are currently outside enjoying the weather
with the boy!

Late night fun!

2009-06-20T20:27:00.000-07:00

One of the good things about it staying 85 degrees at 8:30 at night!

We are sitting at Tempe marketplace watching Ethan. Have fun in the
fountains!

Little hiker

2009-06-18T16:40:00.001-07:00

Ethan's favorite thing to do before he goes to daycare is to walk/run
up and down the wash next to our house and the mini hill in our front
yard. He plays for at least 15 minutes and then I have to carry him
away. Maybe I will start reading while he play so he can play
longer. I think he is going to love hiking when he is older.

Pictures

2009-06-17T09:50:00.000-07:00

Ethan likes taking pictures! He's getting pretty good, if you hold
it. He took 40 pics of the ground the other day. Gotta love digital
cameras.

Monkey!

2009-06-17T09:47:00.001-07:00

Ethan was so excited to see Abu, his monkey. He found him in the car
today.

Ethan Playing with Water

2009-06-10T22:24:00.001-07:00

Ethan loves playing in the water now! He has water day at daycare a few times a week and he always makes the biggest mess. He likes playing with the hose too.

Ring Around the Rosies

2009-06-10T22:21:00.001-07:00

This is one of Ethan's favorite games right now! His cousins like to join in too.

Fun day!

2009-06-07T22:11:00.001-07:00

We had a great day today keeping busy with things. We washed the car,
played with jello and made a movie for grandpa great. We were trying
not to let our being sick get in the way! But now it is nighttime and
I an really feeling it!

Tomorrow starts a new chapter in our life! We moved things around
so that I (Leann) can stay at home more with Ethan and start working
on other things. I know you are wondering what other things....but we
like to keep you guessing! More to come later...nite nite.

I missed you this morning Daddy!

2009-06-05T08:12:00.000-07:00

Ethan was sad when he went to the bedroom and you had already left for
work.

Good Luck Daddy!

2009-06-04T08:48:00.000-07:00

Snuggler

2009-05-30T07:34:00.001-07:00

Ethan was full of energy last night. Even though this picture makes
him seem calm and sweet, he was a handful. He now gets really upset
when things don't go his way.

He had a good time playing ring around the rosie.

Happy boy!

2009-05-23T17:22:00.000-07:00

We had a great time walking around the mall with my friend Christine
and Abby today. Ethan was so cute with his stuffed mobkey he decided
to take with us. He was good most of the time, buy he couldn't resist
trying to climb out of the stroller. The seatbelt is broken, so we
can't strap him in. I just need to call the company and they will
send us new ones. We found some super cute shoes while we were
there. Ethan was playing peek a boo with his blanket on the way
home. We are having fun so far with our long weekend!

Snoozer

2009-05-16T17:52:00.000-07:00

We are on our way to grandpa's and ethan decided to take an afternoon
nap. I haven't seen him put his bottom lip out like that in a long
time.

Ethan's teacher told us a funny story this week. He has a new buddy
at daycare, Cameron. The two of them got together and were biting any
kids that were coming through the middle tree cave on the playground.
They now call the area "the man cave" and all the other kids know not
to go in there when they are in there. I guess we need to step up
reading "teeth are not for biting"...not sure cameron is a good
influence.

Balloon

2009-05-14T21:55:00.000-07:00

Ethan has been growing up so much! He is at such a fun age. He is the cutest when he runs around and wants you to chase him around. He is all over the place and tries to keep up with his cousins.

He is doing a great job with his letters. Josh plays a game with him every night in the tub to pick out the foam letters. He can also make the sounds of the letters thanks to The Letter Factory by leapfrog. It is one of his favorite shows.

Grandma and Grandpa Great bought Ethan a balloon before they left for the summer. Ethan loved it! He ran all over with it and played with it for a long time. It is amazing how long these balloons last. I am tempted to get a helium tank just so I can blow it up again.

IMG_0082

Bathtime!

2009-05-05T19:40:00.001-07:00

Every night at this time!

Mythbusters - Compact Compact Rocket Sled

2009-04-14T20:27:00.001-07:00

This is such a crazy video! I love Mythbusters!