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!

Videos from wedding

Like I mentioned in the last post, Makenna danced the ENTIRE time at the wedding!  Here are a few videos.

July: California

We returned from Washington on Wednesday, July 25.  The flight was TORTURE.  Kellan was due for a nap, but didn't want to sleep, and he scream-cried for an hour and a half of the 2 1/2 hour flight.  I walked around the back with him: he was throwing his head back, pushing off me, squirming, and just fighting sleep as hard as he could.  At one point, my arms were shaking so bad I had to trade with Ken.  We were definitely the people you did not want to be sitting next to.

The trip to California was for Ken's brother, Kelly's, wedding to Daniella!!!  We could not IMAGINE stepping foot in another airport or on another plane after the Wednesday catastrophe.  So, we decided to make the drive out to California, cancelled our Friday flights, scrambled to do laundry, and re-pack, and hit the road on Thursday!  We are so lucky to have Aunt Leslie and Uncle Dave's house in Phoenix at our disposal.  We left in the afternoon, and got to Phoenix in time to go to bed.  Got up the next day and hit the road first thing.  The nice part about driving is that the kids are strapped into their car seats - cry all you want - you can't go anywhere!  haha.  Makenna is pretty content watching movies, and Kellan is a great car napper.

Friday we got to the hotel in time to unpack, rest, clean up, and then head to the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.

Daniella and Kelly at Rehearsal.

Ken was the best man - Makenna filled in for Grandma Carol walking down the aisle for tonight.

Kellan finding more things to climb on.

Kellan and Grandma Carol.

The kiddos with Papa; Makenna with the practice bouquet.

The wedding and reception were in Daniella's folks' backyard - it was gorgeous and perfect and laid back.  AND, the reception food was an In-N-Out burger truck!!!

Handsome Kellan in his wedding get-up.

Beautiful Makenna in her dress and headband, refusing to look at the camera.

Camera shy again!

YAY!  Finally, a lovely family photo!  This will be framed and on our wall soon!

The kiddos breaking in the dance floor.  Makenna danced ALL NIGHT.  We had to bribe her with gummy worms to get her to leave. 

The lovely bride and groom!!!  Mr. and Mrs. Murphy!!!

July: Washington

Trip number 2 in July involved the whole family!  All 4 of us flew up to Washington for a big family reunion vacation at Lake Chelan.  This trip was July 14-25.  This is a huge trip for us - 2 flights and a 3 hour drive to my hometown of Wenatchee.  We stayed in Wenatchee overnight and then drove the rest of the way to Chelan the next morning.  There were something like 20 adults and 9 kids.  The location of the house was amazing - it had a HUGE fenced grass area, it's own private beach, and a dock that we used with a rented boat. 

I'll spare you the details, but something like 18 or 19 of the 29 people spread a virus around the house in the matter of days.  Several of the little ones caught it - that is so scary to see a little one throwing up.  Makenna got the barfs and Kellan may or may not have gotten the full bug - we're not really sure.  Ken and I managed to escape it - but then Ken remembered that we were both a little sick in May - so maybe we had it before we got to WA.

After Chelan, we spent a few days in Wenatchee visiting with family and swimming, swimming, swimming!

Cousin James loves puzzles and coloring. 

Uncle Kyle (my cousin) teaching the boys about making "cement".

Makenna was in heaven: the grass, the sand, the water, floaties, and the BOAT!

My Grandma Barb with the nine great-grandkids.

Christine teaching the kids duck-duck-goose; and later, Red Light Green Light.

Makenna loved loved loved the boat.

Makenna and cousin Maddie - besties!

Wenatchee: beautiful!  This is down the driveway at my Dad and Liz's house, morning stroll.

Electric jeep!

Makenna had to help with the daily chore of taking the bird seed from the garage (in the Jeep of course) to fill up the feeder.

Look out, crazy driver!

Makenna was a great batter!

"YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!"

Kellan takes a turn.

Captain Rusty came and left clues to find his treasure!!!!

We found the treasures!

More fun toys - the 4 wheeler!

Naked baby!

At a park in Wenatchee, down by the Columbia River.

Fish ladder at Rocky Reach Dam.

Outside view of the fish ladder.

We met Grandma Barb for a Dusty burger and playing at Washington Park, just down the street from her house.