They got shot 8 times!

Karina and Makenzie had their regular doctor checkups today - Karina (turning 4 next month) and Makenzie's 2-month old checkup.

Karina is looking great! She weighed in at 37 pounds, measured 40-3/4 inches tall, and most amazine of all... she got 3 shots and didn't even cry! We were so proud of her braveness and toughness.

We do have one little concern for Karina - her knees have been swelling some the last few weeks - especially her left one. We noticed it first after one of her soccer games, and she's been hinting at some discomfort when she kneels and crouches. The doctor agreed, and we'll be taking her in for x-rays this week to see if something more is going on there. More to follow as we find it out...

Makenzie was amazing as well. She weighed in at 10 lbs, 11 ozs and measured 23 inches long/tall. She's gained 2 lbs, 3-1/2 ozs in the last month. Her heart, lungs, and belly all sounded great. She got 5 shots, which wasn't fun for her (or us), but calmed down quickly afterwards with the love of her two older sisters, Mom, and Dad.

Our only concern for her has been a worry of allergies. We've noticed that if she sleeps on her back for a few hours or more, she wakes up very congested, sometimes even wheezy. The doctor noticed some inflamation and redness in her nose, which seems to support that possibility. But it's pretty rare for kids to have allergy issues like this before two years of age, so our doctor was a little perplesed. She going to consult with an ENT (ear, nose, throat) doctor, and we'll probably end up taking Makenzie in for some further examinations.

But all in all, the kids are healthy, happy, and on-track for where they're at. The highlight for the older sisters was helping Doctor Marty listen to Makenzie's heart. How fun!

Teddy Bear Pictures

Here's Makenzie's most recent "Barnabas" picture (name of the teddy bear) compared to her first. A little change in posture and two different camers, so the color is a little varied. But she's definitely growing. This was 7 weeks-old.

More Soccer Photos

Spring Soccer 2009

Click on the picture for a link to a few more photos

And the answer is...

Amazing how much they are looking alike these days. Still different, but lots of similarities~

Soccer Season Again

Both girls have started soccer and had their first games today. The weather was great - cool, overcast, and no rain or snow. Last spring we had snow/hail/rain for every game, so this was a great way to kick off the season. Started today with team pictures, then got into the games.

Jadyn and Karina both had a great time - Jadyn's team lost a close one, but Karina's team won by a landslide. I'm co-coaching Karina's team, so it's been both fun and extremely busy. We arrived at the fields around 11:30 and didn't make it home until after 4:00.

Warming up before the big game

Guarding the goal (in the background)

Breaking out on the kick-off (anyone else paying attention?)

Taking a big kick

Catch me if you can (notice her whole team is clumped together)

Going for the goal

Dentist Visit

Jadyn and Karina had their dental checkups today. Both did great - no cavities, great brushing report from the dentist. And best of all - they got their pictures taken and get to be the first kids up on the "No Cavities" wall that the dentist is going to make!

They also got a toy and flower - both picked bubbles. Great job, girls!

Cat for rent...cheap!

Our beloved Molly Twinkles is almost on her last life at our house this week. I came home from dropping Jadyn off at school to find the almost new, big bag of Costco rice we had in our pantry shredded and all over the floor.
When you add that to the other very "Molly" things we have come across recently:

-3 stolen Makenzie socks found stashed in a hiding spot
-2 plants that have been used as her personal snack supply
-One stuffed monkey whose tail will never be the same
-One cube of butter which is now only about 1/4" high
-Several blankets and clothing items of Makenzie's that have to be rewashed because they are covered with cat fur
-The J shaped tattoo that she carved into Jadyn's arm with her teeth

You can see why we are ready to rent her out...
Any takers???? She comes with an attitude and lot of very soft fur to cuddle with! (We would just need a few visitation rights for Jadyn.) :o)

Can you name this child??

Can you tell which one of our girls this is? I will give you a hint...it is not Makenzie!

More Pictures

Yeah! We finally got our new camera.

Costco waited two weeks to tell us they were out of stock and would not be able to fill our order, so we ended up having to purchase elsewhere. But we're very happy to be able to take good quality pictures again!



Here are a few quick samples. We haven't had much time to play with the camera yet, but we're beginning to experiment and excited to learn how to use it.

Steak & Sillies

We found a great recipe for carne asada the other night. We've been longing for Mexico recently, fondly remembering our 10th Anniversary trip to La Paz. This recipe was pretty close to the streetside carne asada we fell in love with down there.

Our kids loved it, too, which was a nice bonus. While we were eating dinner, the kids and I had fun making silly faces at each other. We captured a few on film, though that's a whole diferent subject in itself...




Our camera petered out a few weeks ago. Not a good thing when you have a new little baby that you want to capture in lots of pictures. We ordered a new one through Costco, but they've been very disappointing so far - it's been almost two weeks and they haven't even shipped our order yet. Hopefully it will actually ship soon, and we can begin taking great pictures of our little ones again. Until then, we're using Jadyn's little camera.

Cupcakes

On Sunday Jadyn went to a birthday party for her friend Sammy. Karina was feeling a little left out, so she and Daddy decided to make some cupcakes while they were staying home with Makenzie.

While we were waiting for them to bake, she started playing with Jadyn's camera. I asked her to take a picture of me holding Makezine. It only took four tries to get one with my face in the shot. She did great! And the cupcakes were delicious, too!

Then we did a few self-portraits. It was a great afternoon!

First tooth in, first tooth out... finally!

Jadyn lost her first tooth tonight! It was a big big-girl moment. It has been loose for a very long time, and last week finally got to the point where it was hanging on by only one corner.

I've been encouraging her to twist, pull, etc and try to pry it out, and she's been pretty adventureous about it. But tonight she wanted to let me try to pull it out, so I gave it a little push and it came right out.


She's very excited, and now she has it upstairs next to her bed in a special tooth-fairy tooth holder that her Aunt Marcella got for her. We'll see what happens tonight... hopefully the tooth fairy doesn't fall asleep with baby Makenzie and forget to swap out the tooth!

Look! It's Christmas!

Karina woke up this morning and looked outside to find snow on the ground. "Look! It's Christmas!" she excitedly announced to the world.

Jadyn played around with her camera and took some neat pictures. I've been trying to work with her on taking pictures with purpose, not just pictures of "nothing", but trying to view things with perspective and working on forming a shot. I gave her the challenge of taking some close-ups of the snow on branches. She did a pretty good job:

We made the most of the rare March snow - we had our snowball fights, built a snowman, took lots of fun pictures, and loved every minute of it.

Reach down deep and pull one out of your memory bank...

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... like a year ago, I used the Top Gun expression, "Negative Ghostwriter, the pattern is full," with my kids to say no to things. I probably did this for a few weeks or months, but literally haven't said it in a very, very long time. (You know... passing fads, etc.)

Tuesday this week, Julie and the girls are sitting at the dinner table (I'm at work) and Julie asks Karina if she had finished her dinner, to which Karina replies, "Negative." Now Karina has never really used this expression, so it caught Julie off-guard. "What was that?" she asked in curiosity. "I said 'negative'; that means I'm not done yet."

Since then she's continued using 'negative' as her way of saying no. Way to reach back and pull one out of your memory bank, Karina!

Daddy: "Would you like a banana for snack?" - Karina: "Negative."

Mommy: "Is it raining outside right now?" - Karina: "Negative."

Jadyn: "It's my turn to play with the race cars, Karina." - Karina: "Negative."

1 Month Old

Makenzie's a month old now. Five weeks actually. She's growing well, weighed in at 8 lbs, 7-1/2 ozs at her 1 month appointment, and was 21-1/4 inches long. She's marathon napping today, but most days spends more and more time awake. And she's even beginning to smile on purpose - and what a precious thing it is to see that smile! She's almost over her second cold in her first five weeks of life, which is no fun, but she's been a good trooper.

More to come when we can. Jadyn and Karina have some friends from school over right now and are having a blast upstairs, so I had a few seconds to jot a quick note.