Cool Cornwells

July 21, 2008

Riley's First Pony Ride

We made a family trip to the zoo this past weekend. Riley definitely seemed like she was the most excited to see all the animals. The highlight of the day was the Pony Ride though. Everyone got to ride. Paul & I thought for sure Riley would NOT end up doing it, especially since she had just said how scared she was of the carousel. But she surprised us and did great! She loved it and said she wanted to keep doing it.

Riley rides Ginger.....

Here we go!

All done.....YEAH!

Reagan rode Scarlett....the only horse! She made a point to tell me that her horse WAS NOT a pony!

Ryan gets to ride Scarlett too!

The kids at the walrus exhibit. Reagan didn't like them, but Riley and Ryan went right up to the glass to see the humongous beasts! It was a fun, but HOT day!

July 20, 2008

Saying Goodbye to Tabitha

We had an interesting thing happen to us while we were gone to Texas. While we were gone, our cat, Tabitha, went over to our neighbor's house. She was living in our garage due to kidney issues and urinating on the carpet. So she had a nice little setup in our garage and she could go in and out through the kitty door. Apparently she got lonely, so she visited their house where they petted her and gave her water. Well, she meowed outside their back door for over 12 hours, keeping them awake most of the night. Thinking they were doing the best thing, they called Animal Control and had her sent to the Humane Shelter to be taken care of. That was July 1st. We got back from Texas on July 7th. I didn't find out about all of this until July 10th. We just thought she had run away, which was strange for her b/c she loved staying around the house. So, I went to the Humane Shelter and had to "adopt" her back out for $65 on Friday July 11th. She had been there for over 10 days. Since nobody knew of her kidney failure issues, she was fed regular food, not the prescription food she had been eating for 3 years. This special food had little protein in it so her kidneys wouldn't have to work as hard. We believe that being fed the regular food basically made her kidneys have to work extra hard and that made her sick. We always knew the kidney failure would take her from us, but not this soon. She went downhill from there and by Thursday, things were looking pretty bad. Ryan took it pretty hard and wanted a picture with her. I also took it pretty hard. I had never had a pet for this long....11 years. It was a hard decision to make, but as liquid started coming out of her mouth and she was sometimes coughing, we knew we had to put her down. Even though we had issues with her, she still brought much joy to our family. Bye Bye dear friend!

Trip To Texas With The Wiebes and 4th of July

We made a trip to Texas over the 4th of July week and boy, did we have fun and stay busy! Our best friends from Seattle, who now live in Texas stopped by our house on June 26th from their vacation in Syracuse and Detroit. They stayed the night with us and then we all took off for Texas the next day, deciding to carpool together and stay at a hotel in Arkansas. We had lots of fun and James didn't get too "mad" at Paul for driving the speed limit! During our stay in Texas, we also spent two days with Amy and her sweet daughters, Ellie & Emma, going to the pool and cruising on Lake Dallas. Amy's dad has a cabin cruiser and he kindly took all of us out on the lake. Reagan at first said there was no way she was swimming in that brown water, but she quickly changed her mind, especially when she found out she could ride the tube behind the boat! The kids loved it! We also spent lots of time with Grammer shopping, swimming at Aunt Michelle's pool, going to a waterpark, and setting off lots of fireworks! Time went by way too fast. The kids loved being at Grammer's house and playing on the land and seeing all the cows. Riley still talks about wanting to go back! Here are some good highlights....

Riley and Ellie in the tub at our house

The girls at McDonalds on one of our stops during our trip

The kids walking on Grammer's land

The kids throwing sticks for Jessie to chase into the pond. I also kindly told my kids that this was my "swimming pool" growing up.

Playing in the hay barrels

Reagan loved holding Baby Emma (Little James) on the boat

Riley and Ellie decide to drive the boat

Daddy and the kids in Lake Lewisville

Riley decides to hold tightly to Daddy

Reagan and Ryan get ready for the big pull of the boat....

And away they go......

Ellie & Riley playing at the pool

Time for fireworks!!

Happy Birthday America!!!

Reagan & Ryan playing in Aunt Michelle's nice pool. The kids loved it and did not come out of the water for 4 hours!

My niece Nikki and her husband Charles

Grammer and Riley throwing Poppits....Riley's favorite!

Mr. Sparkler Dude!

Super Cutie!!
Happy 4th of July!

June 25, 2008

June 26th -- Happy 5th B-day Ryan!!

I made a 7 minute video montage for Ryan for his birthday. Paul picked out the music and said that this was fitting for Ryan and his rambunctious life! Enjoy!

Ryan's Star Wars LEGO Birthday Party

WOW! Have we had a busy week! As my mom says, we tend to have "birthday weeks" around here. We just try to make each child feel very special and very loved! Ryan celebrated his 5th birthday with a Star Wars LEGO birthday party. He had 5 boys over...oh, and 2 girls for Reagan and Riley. Always thinking of his sisters! This was Ryan's first REAL birthday party with friends and he was SO excited. We had a great time eating pizza and hot dogs, playing in the jump house and on the slip-n-side. We had planned on water balloons, but when Paul & I kept throwing them really hard on the ground and we couldn't bust them, we decided that little 4 & 5 year old boys didn't need to get all bruised up for just a little water fun! I had gotten a Darth Vader pinata with the hopes of every boy hitting him "hard". I didn't want that silly "pull-string" one.....those are so anti-climatic. Well, the lady at the party store told me we could still hit those. Well, she was right, but on the first hit by Ryan, Darth's helmet came loose from his head. Three kids later......DONE! Kind of a disappointment, but guess the kids soon forgot as they gathered up all the candy. Isn't that what they really want anyways?? We finished off the party with some yummy cake and ice cream. What a joyful time! I feel so blessed to be able to provide my children with a party and fun in our home. I cannot believe this little man of mine is 5 years old! Enjoy the pictures....

Family Birthday Party

We celebrated Reagan's and Ryan's birthdays this past weekend with grandparents and great-grandparents. We feel very blessed for our kids to have some great-grandparents around to spoil and love them. Both sets of Paul's grandparents are alive. Everyone made the trip up to our house for some BBQ Flank Steak and all the fixin's. We also had some homemade ice cream cake again.....Reagan's new favorite food!