Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone. Here are a few pictures of the kids...

New Easter Dress and Ties

Finding Easter Eggs

Coloring Easter eggs

April Fools

I started April Fools off by taking Kyler to the dentist. Yes, I know, the joke's on him right...

We decided to go to a pediatric dentist because we wanted Kyler to feel relaxed and not get traumatized and hate the dentist for the rest of his life. He had some minor work that needed to be done ( a couple teeth didn't completely seal when they developed, and a little cavity in between his 2 front teeth - thanks to all the apple juice he drinks). We choose to have Kyler sedated so we could do everything at once and he'd be sleepy and relaxed.

He couldn't eat before the appointment, so I made sure it was 1st thing in the morning. We got there at 8 AM and he had drank his "sleepy medicine" by 8:15. Now we just had to wait for it to kick in.

After the medicine he should have been doing this.....
but instead he was doing this....

Kyler had been listening to Jake and MaKenna all morning try to "joke" each other. I think he really caught on to the whole thing.

I kept hoping that the medicine would work, so I wouldn't let him walk around by himself - in case his legs were wobbly. Kyler kept telling him that he was a big boy not a baby and he knew how to walk - "I'll show you mom!". I even buckled him in the car and drove around with him... no luck. We tried nitrous - didn't work. Finally, they just wrapped him up, did what needed to be done. He relax a little except when according to Kyler "they kept getting water in my mouth, and I didn't want water in my mouth". They didn't even have to numb his mouth. I'm not sure it was worth the $$ to have him "sedated".

It took this little stinker 5 hours to go to sleep - and that was only because it was WAY past his normal nap time. He fought it so bad and so hard. Yesterday, we learned that he has a high tolerance for Choral Hydrate and Demerol (something like that). The only thing that medicine did for him was make him grumpy, irritable, and mean!

When it was all done, I thought he would come home, relax and sleep for several hours. Again... April Fools on me. He drank, ate, and watched Caillou. I had all I could take and loaded him up again and went for a drive to sleepy town. On the way home he started yelling like crazy that he wanted me to stop and pull over. I was a little scared and not sure what the problem was. After talking with him and telling him we were almost home he told me "You have to stop driving mom. My eyes are getting tired and I don't want to go to sleep". He did finally go to sleep when we got back home and sleep for a whopping 3 hours! Not exactly what I thought would happen.

On a happier note, I got the kids... I made them grilled cheese sandwiches for a snack after school.

It's really..... pound cake that I grilled then put frosting colored orange in the middle. For dinner we had "Breakfast" with purple french toast and scrambled eggs, blue hash browns, bacon, pink and blue milk, and an orange punch "drink" (jello).

Spring Break photos

Well, Spring Break came and went without major issues. Here are a few pictures.

SNOW! (not exactly the "Spring" I wanted)

Jake got a new Lego Set

MaKenna played dress-up (She loves her "ankle breaker" dress-up shoes)

Kyler has discover puzzles (he loves to do them by himself)

March Updates

Well, March was a pretty busy month. It went by so fast. It started with me going to Oregon. It was a short trip, but very nice. I was able to spend time with mom & dad and visit grandpa. It was awesome that Daniel & Laurie and the kids, and Joleane and her kids came down. We had a great time visiting and hanging out.

Jake and MaKenna had a spring wrestling camp. Every year the high school wrestlers put on a Clinic/Camp for the younger kids. It raises money for scholarships. Jake had an opportunity to brush up on some techniques, and MaKenna got to learn what wrestling was all about. At least those were the goals I had for them. At the end of the two weeks, they had a mini tournament. They each got to wrestle 3 times and show everyone what they knew.

Last Saturday we went to a kids Rodeo. Jake wrestles with a couple boys who ride, and invited us to come check it out. I signed Jake and MaKenna up for Mutton Bustin'. Jake loved it. He was the very first one. He had never seen it before (except a short U Tube video). He stayed on and scored 79 point. MaKenna was next... she got on the sheep, but when she realized what she was about to do, she bailed. She jumped off the sheep so fast and before I knew it, she has scaled up the gate and down the other side. I couldn't convince her to go for it. Kyler loved watching the calves, steers, and bulls. It was a lot of fun and pretty quick.

The kids are now on Spring Break. We've just been taking it easy and running errands. Not much of a spring break for the kids, but a nice time off for me. We've got plans to do something fun the next couple days. The kids have a whole list... laser tag, swimming, hiking, miniature golf, camping, riding, skating, park, movies...

Parent Teacher Conferences

Yes, it is that time again. The end of the 2nd quarter and time to meet with the teachers again.

Jake is doing wonderful. He is always happy and willing to help. He's moved up to the next reading level and is getting challenged. I told her that I would rather Jake get challenged then have things come easy to him. He can learn great things from working hard to achieve what he wants. Jake does his best work when he is sitting in the front of the class and on the end of the row. He seems to get distracted easily and then looses where he is and what he was doing. That of course is normal and he will outgrow it as he gets older. With his birthday being late June, he is younger then other kids in the class. He is a great leader and helps the other kids in his class if they don't understand.

MaKenna. MaKenna. MaKenna. She is, well, MaKenna. She is very bright and has the ability to do really well - IF SHE WANTS TO. All of her work depends on her mood. Sometimes she is more then willing to put the effort in and do well. Other times, she just doesn't want to be bothered with school and would rather visit or play. She was being tested on how far she could count - she counted to 38 or so and figured that was enough to demonstrate she knew what she was doing - so she stopped. When her teacher asked to keep going, she looked at her and said "no, I don't need to". The next time she was told she needed to count to 100. She counted part way, skipped to 90 and finished to 100. Her writing is the same way - sometimes she wants to do it and sounds the letters and writes nicely. Other times, she just randomly writes letters to fill the page. You would be surprised how many words have "kenna" in them.

Kyler is helpful like Jake and stubborn like MaKenna. He recently moved to the "big boys class" at daycare. He loves it and usually can't wait to go to school to see his new teacher Miss Stephanie. We've been working on his letters - other then the usual ones he yells each time he sees them. K! for Kyler, T! for Taylor, M! for Mom and MaKenna, D! for Dad, J! for Jake...

Other Updates

I'm really bad about getting things posted as they happen. So here are some updates and pictures...



MaKenna did a cheer clinic with the high school cheerleading team. He practiced fro 4 hours one Saturday, and then got to cheer during 1/2 time at a high school basketball game.



She thought she was something else. She sure loves cheerleading and seems to have the right attitude for it. (I say that carefully, because I know what mom is thinking. I'll just clarify and say that No, I didn't have that kind of attitude and I don't know where she gets it.)



We skipped the big birthday party this year for Kyler and went on a family outing instead. We went to the Denver Aquarium. Since Kyler's birthday was during the week, we had to wait until the weekend to go. I know Kyler really enjoyed it and Jake and MaKenna are already trying to decide where they want to go for their family birthday party. I enjoyed it - no stress and no cleanup.





Let's see what else is going on. New Years day, we drove to Casper, WY to pick up a pellet stove we bought to help heat down stairs. We finally got that installed. It looks pretty nice and keeps the basement nice and toasty.






Steve is building a shed in the back. He did really good on it this fall and then things slacked off once it started getting cold. We had a couple nice days last month so we took the day off and started the siding. We got the back part completed - even the peak and the west side done. The East side is almost done - we have to cut 1 board for above the door, and then the front needs the peak boards cut.

Kyler is 3!

Where does the time go? I was all set last week to write a blog about Kyler's 3rd birthday, but of course didn't get to it. Better late then never...

Kyler turned 3 on Jan 29th. I took the day off to stay home and hang out with Kyler. 1st we went to the Dr for his 3 year checkup. According to the Dr. he's right on target for his weight, height, and attitude. After the Dr, we went back home to wait until it was cupcake time.

We played farm, watched Caillou, played with trucks, watched Caillou, ate lunch, took a nap and THEN it was time to go. We took cupcakes to his daycare class. He was so excited and could hardly wait. He had fun playing with his friends and he got to see Taylor (a little girl who was born the day after he was - and I work with her mom).

To end the day - we went to dinner. We kept asking Kyler what he wanted for dinner. Since it was his birthday, he got to pick where we ate. He said yes to every idea we had - pizza, ribs, chicken nuggets, steak... the list goes on. Finally, Steve decided we'd go out for Mexican. When we got there Kyler said "I'm so hungry for pizza!" Steve and I just looked at each other. I asked Kyler if he wanted a Quesadilla. He said "I'm so hungry for a Quesadilla!" I would call that a successful dinner.

O Ya - we had cake and ice cream when we got home.