quilt project

Since Ethan bought me a sewing machine two years ago for Christmas I have turned into a sewing fiend. I mostly sew baby blankets and quilts, but it has come in handing with window coverings and pillows for decorating as well. I've recently become more ambitious and started making larger throws and bed size quilts. I really enjoy it but I've been terrible at documenting it. So I'm going to try and be better at taking pictures. This is a picture of my most recent quilting project. When I finished it Ashton said " wow mommy those are really beautiful colors", what a sweetheart! Any ways, here it is, let me know what you think.

Cornia Family Reunion

More shots at the Redwood Grove.

We had our reunion in Duncan Mills at Casini Ranch Campground. It was so much fun and all the kids played so well together. We went to the beach, played in the sand and dirt and trees. Played soccer around the campfire and just enjoyed one another's company. It really makes you appreciate family. I wish we all lived closer and could get together more frequently, but I'll take what I can get.

Cornia Family Reunion

Kyra, Madi, Josh, Bailey, Hannah, Ashley, Ashton and Noah

Kyra and Ashton

We took a little trip to nearby Armstrong Redwoods and the kids had a lot of fun exploring, climbing and posing for the camera.

Noah turns One

Happy Birthday Noah! It was so fun to celebrate with friends and family. Noah had lots of friends helping him open his presents, and thoroughly enjoyed the cake.

Oakland Zoo with Grandma Cornia

We all went to the Oakland Zoo while my mom was visiting. It was so much fun. Our favorite part was watching the elephants eat, so cool!

We Love Camping

Happy, filthy kids, playing in the dirt with sticks and rocks, what could be better? This was a recent camping trip we made with some friends. It was really fun. We went fishing, hiking, ate lots of smores and didn't shower for a couple of days-a true adventure:)

Halloween and the Great Pumpkin

Cruising the neighborhood halloween night. Ashton had so much fun, and Noah loved the action in his superman car that matched his costume.

What a silly pumpkin Ethan carved.

Hanging out with our friends Phillip and Nicole and their cute little chicken Hannah!

Scary Jack-o-lantern!
Halloween was so much fun this year. On Friday we went to a celebration at the Charles Schultz museum (creator of Peanuts, native of Santa Rosa) and saw "The Great Pumpkin" and "Charlie Brown's All Stars" on a big screen outside in a grass field. It was so much fun-and free! Then we went trick or treating around our neighborhood on Saturday. This was the first year Ashton was really into it. And he had so much fun ringing the doorbells and saying "trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat" (I taught him that-so proud). It really was fun. We're slowly weaning him from the sugar, levels of craziness in our house should be a little lower soon.

Pumpkin Patch Adventure

Welcome Nemo!

This is the newest addition to our family: Nemo. He's a chocolate lab from the Bergin University here in Santa Rosa. We will be his foster family for a year. He's a part of an assistance dog program and will eventually be a service dog for someone with special needs. Our role is to socialize him and teach basic training. It's been a huge learning experience for me. He's a really sweet dog, almost 6 months old now. The boys adore him. He is Noah's personal horse, Ashton's wrestling partner and sometimes he drives me absolutely crazy! Ireally feel like I have 3 toddlers now (4 if you count Ethan:)). But I'm learning and at the end of all of this I will definitely know if I'm ready to get a dog of our own. "Leave it" is now my mantra, and I have learned that what works well for a puppy often works for a one year old as well. I'm still contimplating getting a crate for Noah as well, ha ha! I'm not sure who gets into more trouble Nemo or Noah, I often find myself saying "Nemoah! leave it!!!!!!". If this doesn't teach me patience, I don't know what will. I guess I'm a glutton for punishment.

Family pics July 2009

Our good friend Cazra took the family pictures for us. The kids were great sports and Ashton was a great big brother.

A day at Doran Beach

Sandy bums, and sandy hands, what more could you ask for on a beautiful trip to the beach?

Ashton and friends building sand castles.

Sand, what sand?

Saltwater taffy + sand = Yum!

Our trip to Washington and Utah

My little sister Kelli and my Mom at the Cheescake Factory

Sarah and Noah
Zack, Josie and Ashton at my sister Allyson's house

Noah sitting with Great Grandpa Cornia in Malad, Idaho

This was an amazing trip! I went to Washington to attend Time out for women with my sisters and Sarah was able to come too, which was so much fun! On a sad note My Grandpa Reeves in Utah passed away the next weekend and so my sister Emily, her son Hunter, My Dad, Ashton, Noah and I piled in the car and drove to the funeral. The kids were amazing on the trip and we made it without too many casualties:) Although I of course miss my grandfather, it was wonderful to see all of my siblings and cousins, and celebrate the legacy that he has left behind.

Family Time

A typical evening in the Lee household. Ethan was about to go running (he doesn't usually lounge around in short shorts), so sorry if you are blinded by the white light:) This clip is a wonderful portrayal of the amazing father that Ethan is, the crazy kid that Ashton is and the happy mobile baby that is Noah. I love all my boys!

Noah Crawling

Crawl Noah Crawl

Noah is fully mobile, well he has been for a while. I can't believe he's eight months old already! Time goes by so fast. I know I've been terrible at keeping thing up to date on my blog, forgive me. Noah started crawling at 6 months just like Ashton, except it was completely different than Ashton too. Ashton did the army crawl until he walked, and Noah does the more traditional version of crawling. It seems so weird to me. I guess you kind of get used to the way things were the first time around and as much as I know he's a completely different person it's hard not to expect him to act the same.

Take me out to the ball game

Ashton wanted me to sing this song to him over and over again. He would always finish out the song on the floor. I guess it was his version of choreography, gotta love kids.

Peanut butter

Yumm!!
Who doesn't love peanut butter on a spoon, it has protein right?

Valentines Day

Valentine art project



it started out as Ashton making valentines for Noah and Daddy but it quickly turned from paper art to body art. Thank heaven for crayola and it's washable products.

Ava's pirate birthday party

Pirate Party

Birthday girl, Ava
Ashton's friend Ava had an awesome Pirate themed birthday party. There was a goody bag with pirate costumes and accessories which Ashton enthusiastically wore almost the entire time. He loved the eyepatch. So cute! It was really fun. Props to nine month pregnant mom Cazra who played out the whole theme beautifully. There was even storytime with pirate books, so great.

A day at the exploratorium

San Fransisco Exploratorium


Noah was content to hang out in the stroller while Ashton checked out different musical instruments, giant magnets, huge bubbles and so much more. It was a really fun day, Ashton had a blast. And I always feel like some kind of superhero when I'm able to travel a great distance with two kids and everyone survives without too many tears.

More Family Moments

Family pics

Ashton's new pet

Anyone that knows Ethan shouldn't be surprised that Ashton's first pet would be a snake, specifically a Rosie Boa. Ashton loves them (we have two Rosie Boas and two Sand Boas). It's been a good experience for him. Mom is warming up to them as well and sometimes will even get them out for Ashton when Ethan isn't home.

Candid moments

Noah did not want to be held by Ashton, and Ashton didn't really want to hold Noah, so... we didn't get any good pictures of the boys together. But you can't say we didn't try.

Snap shots of Noah

Take a look at those muscles. Noah is so much fun these days. He rolls all over the place and sometimes pretends to crawl/scoot. All I know is that I can't leave him anywhere for very long before he's across the room and trying to get into trouble. I've been loving the cloth diapers (if any of you were wondering). And in general Noah's a pretty happy guy, we sure love him, it's so fun watching him grow.

Ashton gets a haircut

Ashton loved getting his haircut, he was so patient for mommy. Okay, he really loved the sucker he got afterwards, but the ends justify the means, right?

Before and After, Need I say more?

Down stairs makeover

I actually made this roman shade! This was a big step for me, I don't usually take on sewing projects past baby blankets and pillows, so I was pretty excited that when all was said and done it actually works.


We've also painted almost the entire interior of the home. It was much harder picking paint colors than I anticipated, but we're happy with the way they turned out, you'll have to let us know what you think.
So, we completely redid all the flooring downstairs. We took out the existing tile in the entry way and half bath. Scraped off the linoleum in the kitchen and tore out the carpet in the dining room and living room. Ethan (with the help of some great friends, and his beautiful wife:) laid the tile and we left the carpet to the professionals. It's been fun to see the transformation. The pictures don't do it justice. I guess you'll all just have to come and visit to get the full effect.

Demolition

We tore out all the flooring downstairs. It was kind of fun at first and then completely exhausting! We spent alot of time on our hands and knees with four inch scrapers trying to rid our floor of laminate glue and tile mortar. Once we started we definitely had some "Oh my gosh what have we gotten ourselves into" moments. It was a crazy couple of weeks. We did the majority of the work at night after the boys went to sleep. So from 8pm -2am we performed a labor of love. I t was totally worth it in the end, but there was some time when we began to wonder if it would ever feel like home.

Before and After

It's been nice to have our room all to ourselves now that Noah is sleeping with Ashton I think we're all sleeping better these days!

Before and After

Yeah, we finally have a guest room! This used to be Ashton's bed in our old apartment, I think he's had a hard time adjusting to less wiggle room, but that's okay. We started out with Noah in this room but have recently moved him in with Ashton and that seems to be working pretty well. So these pictures were taken before that change.

Before and After

We said goodbye to the Whinnie the Pooh wallpaper and hello to a very blue room. I had so much fun decorating this room, and now we have an appropriate place to store our surfboards:) Ashton finally has his own space and a place for his toys and books.

Ashton takes on the gallon challenge

All I can say is that his father has taught him well:)

Our First Home

These are just a couple pictures of the house, it's a foreclosure so there is alot of work to do. We'll post some before and after pictures in a couple weeks. I'm completely stressed and totally excited at the same time.

Noah and Ashton Hangin out

Look at those baby blues!

It all in the cheeks:)
Ashton sharing his trains with his brother, what a good sharer he is!

Ashton playing with his trains.

Ashton is Potty Trained!

Ashton's Green Dino Underoos
So we started potty training about a month ago after a random day when Ashton asked us to sit on the big potty. I thought, well maybe he's ready for this. So I bought some Elmo and dinosaur underwear and a potty training we did go. The first week was really tough we had a lot of accidents but then as he started to recognize his bodies cues he figured it out. I still have to be pretty proactive, but we hardly ever have accidents any more, and the last few nights he's been waking up dry! Hurray for Ashton, what a big boy. And yeah for us no more diaper purchases. I'm switching to cloth diapers for Noah so I really am done buying disposable diapers. I know you probably think I'm crazy, but they have some of the most amazing cloth diapers out there. The ones I'm using are called Bum Genius, and whoever created them truly was a genius! Of course it's a little more laundry but other than that they are just as easy to use as disposables. They have velcro tabs and everything. So we're helping the environment and saving alot of money in the long run. I know it's not for everyone, but if you are interested I'd be happy to answer any questions!

Ashton says hello to Noah

Ashton has a new morning ritual when Noah wakes up. He likes to crawl into Noah's bed and lay down next to him. It's pretty cute and his brother loves it. Noah is really starting to notice his brother and enjoys his company. Ashton is so sweet to him, I feel really blessed to have these two in my life! I love that Ashton really wants Noah to be happy. He tries to entertain his little brother by shaking toys for him, making silly faces or just talking to him. He also loves to give him kisses and is really gentle. Some times when Noah is crying he will even give me suggestions like, "mommy Noah wants Mommy milk". Sometimes life is still pretty crazy but I try and treasure all the good moments.

My beautiful Sister and her handsome little guy

I love this picture!

More Lion pics

Ashton is a lion

A friend gave us this Lion costume for Ashton to wear this Halloween, but Ashton couldn't wait to try it on-he's a pretty fierce lion.

Smiles from Noah in his blessing suit

Look at those chins

More Blessing Pictures

Noah's Blessing Day

Family pics (Noah was asleep and hiding from the camera)

Ethan and Ashton before the blessing
My Sister Emily (in the middle), my sister-in-law Merrillee (on the left) and I all blessed our babies at my brother Ryan's house. We had a great little program and it was really a beautiful day.

Fishing in Washington

Ashton's first fish

Ethan Sturgeon Fishing (Thanks Justin!)

Snapshots of Noah

Story time with Dad.

Naptime with Noah.

Fourth of July

San Fransisco Giants

These seats were third row from the field next to the bullpen. Ashton kept wanting to get down on the field. We had a blast.

Ashton's Second birthday

Ashton's birthday present!

Making the Cake with Mommy


What a good helper he is!

grandma time with noah

baby noah has arrived

Easter Sunday 2008

Ashton on Easter Sunday, oh so happy to be wearing a suit and tie!

Ashton is a pretty cool kid

Ashton and Ethan at the San Fransisco Zoo sharing cotton candy and having a blast looking at all the animals.