BP picnic August 2011

Every year on the first saturday of August BP(where my dad works) has a really family friendly fun picnic at their rec area.  First of all, they have a really great Rec area....nice playgrounds, covered kitchen, fireplace, campgrounds, beach,tennis courts, horseshoes, baseball fields...etc.... so we love to go there any ol'time.  But, it gets even better when it is picnic time. 

Kenzie and Summer enjoying the train rides  over and over and over

They have just about everything imaginable for the kids.....the train rides, horseback rides...horsedrawn covered wagon rides...face painting....balloon man....unlimited ice cream...popcorn..

Avery and Mickie rode the horses again and again and again....they just couldn't get enough of walking in circles on horseback.  Kenzie and Jaeger, not interested at all.

Tattoos for everybody(except Presley) 

The girls also played in the bouncy houses and inflatable slides and obstacle courses, but I was busy wrestling with Presley, so no pictures of that =)

Lots of fun things for the adults too:  car show, yummy food, chili cook off contest, live band, etc.... well, we were all too exhausted to enjoy the adult festivities after keeping up with these girls all day!!

Nana and Papa and most of their girls.... such good sports, chasing these girls around all day.
Can't wait til' next year!! Next year Presley will be running around wanting to  join in all the fun, this year she was perfectly content to hang in the stroller with her sippy cups and snacks for most of the day.

What can we sell next??

Kenzie, Sydney and Avery  very proud of their sign

Presley...really just interested in eating all the big girls's shoes

Presley and Sydney
neighbors Sydney and Lucy helped with the lemonade stand..  Sydney really brought in the majority of customers ( her big brothers showed up a couple times)

This summer the girls are very interested in making money.  Avery is just starting to grasp the whole idea of money and needing money to buy things and where money comes from.  So, several days Avery would ask...can we have a lemonade stand?  can we sell juice?  can we sell cookies?  One warm day, we set up a table in the front yard and mixed up some lemonade and sat out in the yard with the neighbor girls.  The day was quite successful for the girls...I think the four of them each ended up with six dollars....not too bad for 2 hours worth of work.   They even chased down the neighbor as he pulled in his driveway...handed him a glass and said it cost 5 dollars and surprise, he gave them 5 dollars....Thank you nice neighbor =)

That next weekend we had a garage sale at Deans' moms house with Deans brother and his family.  The girls were oh so very excited about this....they got to hang out with cousins all day/ eat cookies/ sell stuff/ make money to save up for Disneyland and buy new things from cousins.  Garage sale was very successful.  The kids made like 20ish dollars each and Avery and Kenzie spent most of theirs buying new PJs and toys from their cousins....oh well, all part of the fun, right?  =)

the girls and cousin Holly

Dean and I were able to clear quite a bit of stuff out of the basement and make a few bucks, it was a good day.

Cool chicks and hot summer days

Kenzie with a "push pop" mustache

This summer got off to a bit of a slow start, warm weather wise.  So when the sun decided to shine we didn't let any "summertime fun" opportunity pass us by.

Mickie and her "pushpop"

Super cool chick--Jaeger, in the swing at nana and papas

Presley is a natural "water baby" just like big sisters, although this particular day she enjoyed eating the ducks more than swimming.

 Kenzie and Avery and I enjoyed a day @ Birch Bay waterslides...just us "big girls"

Presley had just gotten her first taste of a popsicle and now she is chasing Avery all over the yard trying to get that popsicle!! 

Road to Recovery July 25, 2011

Little Lou-lou, hates to take medicine!!  Dr. gave us a bottle of tylenol with codeine for pain and said to give it around the clock for the first 36 to 48 hours so that she can drink well.  So, once we arrived home I started trying to give the medicine and she ran from me and she cried and she hid and she whined and she pushed me away etc..... I held her down and forced the medicine in and she cried and cried.  4 hours later I tried again and she fought so hard that she threw up....well that was that...one dose of medicine was all I got in this child post surgery.  She assured me that she wasn't taking the medicine because she wasn't having any pain...hmmm??  Well, she refused to eat anything and drank very very little for 9 days.  She lost quite a bit of weight and hadn't peed for almost 36 hours on day 9/10 post surgery.  Dr said this was last day, she would have to be put in the hospital if I didn't get her hydrated.  So, we had one very long day of me forcing her to drink 1 to 3 teaspoons every 20 minutes for 12 hours!!  Exhausting, but it worked.  Her and I seriously battled it out every 20 minutes, she did not want to swallow anything still.  Well, once she got hydrated she was up and running.  That evening by 7pm, she was hydrated and full of energy! I, on the other hand was totally wiped.   Oh well, the things we do for our little loves.  The next day, she woke up full of all the goofiness that we love as Kenzie and appetite took off. 
Since then, she is all healed up and doing fantastic!  Sleeping better, eating better, no more bags under eyes....its all good.     I am however pretty sad that it seems her growly raspy beautiful voice is gone!! Replaced by a higher pitched more "little girl" voice.... I loved the growl  =)
Best part of the recovery was all the snuggle time that I got....seriously spent hours every day with this girl (and usually both of her sisters) just snuggled up on my lap wanting hugs and love.  We all know that I am a big fan of lovin on my kids, so can't complain about that!!

No more tonsils for Kenzie July 25

July 25, Kenzies surgery day.  Tonsils and adenoids came out....Kenzie did great, Dean did great, me on the other hand....epic fail.  I was up super early, giving myself pep talks to be strong for Kenzie....soon as we got in the car to drive to Bellingham...lost it!!  ARGH...I am so emotional sometimes, it is just ridiculous.  Anyway, Kenzie was brave----very very nervous but brave none-the-less.

Kenzies great aunt Yvonne and her family brought Kenzie presents the night before to give her something to do.  At dinner time, I left Avery and Presley with my parents. So Kenzie was at home with just mommy and daddy for a whole evening and night!!  Aunt Yvonne gave her a fancy new princess cup and a collection of Fancy Nancy books. 

Presley on the loose.....that bag and card didn't survive more than 10seconds after this picture =)

Kenzie got a good scrub down in the bath from mom and dad (drs orders) and then we watched Bee movie and ate popcorn and snuggled together.  

Bright and early in the morning we packed up and made it to the surgery center by 7:30 am.  Soon as the nurse called Kenzies name, she closed her eyes super tight and refused to answer questions or open her eyes...I am with her, sometimes better not to know what is going on ;)
Dean was so calm and comforting for her.  Iam so so so grateful that he was there, because I was pretty worthless.  Just bawling my eyes out....seriously.

Kenzie had to drink some 'happy juice' prior to being taken back to the operating room.....ended up having to hold her down and choke it down her.  OH, this child and medicine!!

Anyway, 'happy juice' settled in very quickly and WHOA..I so did not like what it did to Kenzie.   Loopy-drunken-stumbling-drooling toddler.   At one point she fell onto deans chest sort of half asleep, sort of just staring at her hand.  I started sobbing and she looked up at me with huge-wide eyes and said very sternly and with great concern. 

"MOMMY!!  Your face is mmmeeelllting!   look...your eyes are melted down your face and right onto your boobies!! OH NO.. mommy!!  

meanwhile, she is bobbing her head up and down and trying to point at me but really pointing at the wall.  Well, I have to admit, it did make me laugh for a moment.

And then they took her off to the OR ...oh that was really hard.  Kenzie yelled out for us, "don't leave me here"  yikes...break my heart.

Dean pulled me away to the waiting room and then went and bought me a latte.  Withing 15 minutes doctor walked out with a big smile and said "Kenzie did fantastic and we are all done, she should be waking in a few minutes"  Phew, that was fast. Thank goodness.

 We arrived in the recovery room right as Kenzie was waking up.  We brought her a present and her build a bear --Daisy ( present was a new outfit for Daisy and and ipod and cell phone for Daisy)

On our way home to rest and recover!

New Camera July 21

Cutie Pie!!!  Presley ...9mths old and getting cuter and sweeter by the moment.

 cute and sweet indeed...but...oooohhh so busy!!  In to everything!!  None of big sisters things are safe anymore  =)

Me and my big girl.....first pictures on the new camera.  The old one had run its course.  Totally stopped working the beginning of July...so not really any pictures of 4th of july for me (major bummer__my fav holiday)  So, we bit the bullet and bought a new camera.  Nikon something-or-other- point and shoot, nothing too fancy.  I love it so far.

Rock 'n' Roll June 25 2011

Sooo....I have really wanted to catch up this thing but I have been stuck.  For some reason I can not get the pictures that I wanted to post from the CD to my computer....so I have given up on that..moving on!  And Shara took some great pictures, of course.  With or without pictures I wanted to remember that I did complete my first half marathon on June 25 2011..Yay, cross that off the bucket list!!  (something, I always wanted to do before my 30th birthday...phew, just made it!)  
Anyway, the marathon was in Seattle.  The traveling and trip was much more exciting and memorable than the race...thank you Shara.   It was a big-big weekend....1st time to leave Presley overnight (lots of mommy anxiety)  1st time really driving in Seattle....1st time running a half marathon....no sleep....yucky food.....running, running and more running!!  I had such a great time with my dear friend Shara.  Soooo appreciate her coming with, I definitely would not have even found my way to the hotel without her ;)    Felt 16 again for a moment while changing drivers...Chinese fire drill in downtown Seattle....getting lost driving in circles again and again and again!!   I am such a country girl. 

The actual race....had to wake up at 3 am!! yikes, as if paying to run 13.1 miles isn't crazy enough....lets wake up at 3 am and hang out in a parking lot for 4 hours before having to run.   Finally, started the race with tons of other people.  Felt great for the first 5k...several minutes ahead of my expected pace....skipped all water and fuel stations because I felt amazing.....10k  felt good..still ahead of my expected pace...no fuel or water yet because I didn't need it..I felt good!! and then you guessed it...hit the wall at mile 9....ugghh...up a steep hill at mile 9.5...technically my legs were doing a running motion but honestly I am not sure that I was moving forward at some points....I felt terrible, then tried to get some fuel in...too late_ my body was already mad at me.   So the last 3.5 miles were slo-mo-jo!!  ended up finishing 7 minutes behind my expected time----argh!!  oh well...learned my lessons for next time =)    Total time was 2hours 37 minutes

I could still breathe and stand at the end, so I will chalk it up a success!!

The more amazing thing is-----as a Bellingham Team, we raised over $90,000 to donate to Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  Let's find the cure people!!   When I think about how painful cancer is both emotionally and physically.....that hilly long 13.1 miles is like a stroll through the park. 
GO Team!!    

(I would totally recommend joining Team in Training for endurance events, if you ever get the chance)