Makenna's Christmas Concert

Makenna had her Christmas concert last week.  As with any Pre-School "organized" activity, it was chaotic and hilarious.  It was the perfect amount of time.  The four classes of 3-year-olds sang an opening song, each class sang their own song, and closed with another group song. 

November

Getting ready to go to the last home volleyball game.

Ken's last home match vs. Tulsa.  Tulsa was in first place, and UTEP beat them in 5 games.  So exciting!  Here's some Ken-action shots!

Still sunny and warm in the afternoons.

The kids have been finding little hiding/hang out spots.  Sometimes it's a blanket-fort.  This day it was behind the rocking chair in Kellan's room.  They brought snacks, juice, and toys, and hung out there for an hour.  Too funny.

Thanksgiving!  The kiddos enjoyed plates of mini-Thanksgiving foods.  Kellan had several helpings of green beans.

Makenna's favorite was turkey dipped in gravy.  Still not a fan of carbs, ie, mashed potatoes or stuffing.

The kids were out of school the entire week of Thanksgiving.  And Ken's season had just ended.  He had a little office work to do, but otherwise, we enjoyed the "week of sloth" - mostly in our pajamas and sweats, doing little house chores, cleaning, and then decorating for Christmas.  It's our favorite time of year with holidays and family time with Ken around a lot more.

Kellan updates

Before I forget....

Kellan's 18 month checkup (at nearly 19 months): 28lbs, 34".

Words he can say:
mama
papa (PAAAA!)
thank you ("tay-oo")
tweet tweet
bird/birdie
book
bear
toe
nose
NO (I know I'll regret it, but he says it so cute, we always laugh.  It's like he's thinking about it.  "NnnnnnnnnnnnO!" 
Ollie ("lee")
please ("peeeeee")
water ("wa")
juice ("jooo")
HOT!
drink ("dink")
bye ("buh")
night ("nigh")
pat "pah" (There is a Miss Pat in his class at school, but he'll also pat your arm/leg when you say Pat.)

I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting.

October videos

"Kenna Moofy".  Makenna likes to call herself "Kenna", and she used to say her last name was "Moofy" - although, she has insisted she's JUST Kenna now.  :)


Kellan working on his animal sounds.

Kellan was dancing here, but it sort of turned in to jumping. I think he got some actual air!

October pics

Yes, it's still popsicle weather in October.....and November!

Kellan is my popsicle dude!  He can't get enough!

Isn't this the funniest CHEESE face?!

Post ice cream sundae cheese face.

I got to go with Makenna's class to the Pumpkin Patch for a field trip.  The kiddos had SO much fun, and it was really fun to see her interact with her friends.

Picking out the PERFECT pumpkin!

Makenna and her friend on the tractor ride back.

I think they dared her to touch the donkey.

Makenna said, "THE GOAT SMILED AT ME!!!!"  He did.  And it was a little creepy.

The kids could play and play outside, and we decided we needed some more outdoorsy toys for them.  We got a hockey stick set and a silver soccer ball!  (Oh, and the helmet for Kellan, he's getting a little too daring on the mobile toys.)

 

This is Kellan's nap mat that he uses at school.  He was showing us how he snuggles up with his blankey.

The popsicle dude gives his copyrighted cheesey smile.

Not loving the camera these days :(

Kellan loves to swing!

He looks so big!

SUPERBABY!  Happy Halloween!

The beautiful princess.  We only made it to one house for Trick or Treat, but she and Kellan LOVED handing out candy.

The kiddos handing out candy.  Kellan was surprisingly into it!  For as shy and sensitive as he is, he loved running to the door and waving hi and bye.  Makenna made sure to say how cute each costume was before putting candy in each bag.

End of September

The rest of September was more volleyball and school.  The weather finally got a little cool in the morning, it feels a little like fall, even though it was still 90+ degrees in the afternoon.

Doesn't he look so big in his jacket and tennis shoes?

Looking like a big boy!

This might be boring to some, but this was the historic winning game point for UTEP over New Mexico State.  It was Ken's first win over NMSU since he arrived here in 2006, UTEP's first since 2002, and UTEP's first at home since 2001.  Ken and I agreed that win was 7 hard years of work in the making.  How fun to watch that one!


This is a video of Kellan belly-laughing at Makenna.  She's off screen doing something funny and falling on the ground, and he just laughed over and over and over.

Forgotten photo

I forgot to include this photo in my Washington post from July - it's my new fave!  It's from my dad's house in Wenatchee - isn't the view gorgeous with the mountains and trees?!?!?!  I miss the PNW!

September and school

September has been filled with school and volleyball!  Makenna is learning letters, her name, her teachers' names, her friends' names, and painting!  Kellan is still adjusting to school, but the ladies in the nursery just LOVE him.  They tell me what a sweet personality he has, and that he loves to give hugs.  When both kids go to school, I head up to the gym to try to get back into shape.  When Kellan is home with me, we hang out, play, and nap.

We've been a tiny bit housebound due to the West Nile down here - I'm a little paranoid.  The late summer thunderstorms create standing water which are mosquito breeding grounds.  It's normally buggy here at this time of year - I got 3 bites in less than 2 minutes the other day.  You can have West Nile and not really have symptoms, but it can affect the little ones way more than adults with healthy immune systems.  I tried bug spray for a few days, but it wasn't helping much.  I'd rather keep these kiddos safe!  Of the 2600 reported cases in the US this year, 1200 have been in Texas.  They even did big air sprays from planes in Dallas.

The Miners started off slow, but have made huge improvements the last week and a half.  They are sitting at 4-5 overall, and conference play starts tomorrow (Thursday).  I am hoping for a great season for Ken and for the kids who have put in so much work.

Makenna went through a phase of hiding from the camera...now she wants her photos taken and wants to see the digital image right away.

Mak and I started the after-school Popsicle tradition last year, and now Kellan has joined us!

These two kiddos just love each other.  He follows her around, copying whatever she does.

MUSCLES!  The kids have learned the fine art of FLEXING.  Tooooo funny.

Muscles AND hugs!

The kiddos playing together.



Live action shot of "muscles"!

August

August came and went too!  We had been home just over a week from our California adventure when volleyball season started.  Since we were all just hanging around the house, we decided to jump in the car (Makenna, Kellan, and me) and drive to Phoenix.  We visited with Aunt Leslie and swam and swam and swam.  My friend Barb also happened to be in town on a work trip (with NOT a lot of work to do) and got to hang at the pool with us a few times.  Makenna made huge improvements in her swimming.  This summer, she got brave enough to use a blow up floatie with her life jacket.  She did the same the first day or two in Phoenix, then moved to life jacket plus styrofoam noodle, then just let go one day!  After that her confidence grew every day - she just toodled around the pool in her life jacket. Here are some videos.


Our days consisted of eating, cooking, a few errands, watching Olympics, swimming, and napping.  Since Ken was gone early to late, it was a nice change of pace for us, and I know it is one of Makenna's favorite places.....she STILL talks about "Aunt Es-ee's sweem poow"!

August was hot hot hot!  (In fact, just got our electric bill - OUCH!)  We cooled off in the sprinklers.

Spaghetti night!

Look what we found!  This little guy was just crossing the street at the end of our block on a walk one night.  I thought he must be someone's pet - a TURTLE in El Paso?!?!  So we put him in the wagon and brought him home, but Ken said he was probably just a desert tortoise.  He was pretty cute (uh, minus the devil-ish RED eyes).  Makenna was soooo sad when we let him go behind our house.  He was about the size of a baseball cap, just a little bigger.

Cute palm tree fountain toy!

(That never quite stood up straight.)

Full sweats in AUGUST?  I've been choosing my battles on the fashion front lately....As long as she has clothes on I'm usually happy.

Dressing up to run errands.  Dress from the summer wedding + new tennis shoes for school.

First day of school for BOTH kids!  Makenna goes to school 5 days a week, and Kellan goes 3 days a week.  Makenna has loved school since last year, so there was no hesitation to go, and no first day tears.  In fact - Ken dropped her off and she ran in and started playing.  However, she threw an absolute TANTRUM when I picked her up - she wanted to stay at school!!  She is loving her teachers already this year, they are so great with these kiddos.  Kellan still isn't sure, there are usually tears when I drop him off, but his teacher said it only lasts a few minutes and then he jumps into playing.  It gets better each time, and he is already a good napper at school. 

School!  Plus new backpack!