A Picture Walk

Just two weeks ago we lost my grandmother after her battle with pancreatic cancer. Almost one year ago this month, we lost my grandfather just six months after his 90th birthday. My cousin Alicia took on the task of putting together an amazing tribute of their marriage and our family through a slideshow of the images my grandmother treasured. As you educators know, when teaching young children to read, you often have them take a picture walk of the book to help them gain meaning about the story through the pictures. In some ways the pictures in that slideshow were like taking a picture walk of our lives. They brought back so many memories I had buried somewhere deep inside or forgotten. I remember dreading summer because it meant being stuck at grandma and grandpa's all day with nothing to do. What I wouldn't give now to spend the afternoon engrossed in a book laying in their backyard hammock, or to have my grandpa take us on a ride, which might end in Yosemite or Sequoia. What I wouldn't give to spend the day on Millerton Lake eating cold KFC and swimming the day away. Those were the "good ole days" as they say. I realize now what fun we had back then and how easy it is to let the stress of life make you forget how simple and fun the little things are. I hope that Nathan and Kira grow up with many similar memories. I hope they always know the importance of family.

Mothers Day Treasures

Mothers Day Treasures, a photo by Davies Fam on Flickr.

My mother's day was such a great day this year. I enjoyed a yummy homemade breakfast with my family, a walk on the pier, a massage and a wonderful family dinner. However, the best part of my day was the gifts from my babies. Nathan was so excited to give me the homemade note pad he made at school. Every day leading to Mother's Day he talked all about the gift he was making. I also treasure the little poem and handprint Kira made at daycare. These are the gifts that mean more than any store bought item because they are made with love by my babies!

15-month update

Kira’s 15 month update (ok she will be 16 months in a week, but we had to reschedule her well baby check-up). Her current stats are 17.6 lbs weight and 28.5 inches height which puts her between the 2-5% and 2-5%. Her head is between the 50 and 75%. Kira continues to grow and develop at her own rate. They are going to refer us to a nutritionist to help get her on a more balanced high calorie diet. Current words she says are: mommy, daddy, doggie, bubbles, eyes, fish, duck, hi, uh-huh, uh-uh, please, up, open, mine, no-no and most importantly; ipod and TV. Yes, we appear to be raising yet another technology junkie. There are more words, but they are escaping right now. Kira continues to adore her big brother and wants to do everything that he does. She has no use for baby toys and “girlie” things. She loves trains, cars, marble runs and the Backyardigans. Kira is currently working on several teeth and as a result has had somewhat of a food strike these last few weeks. Prior to that there wasn’t a food this girl didn’t inhale, though you wouldn’t know it by her tiny stature. She hasn’t made the transition to one nap yet, but man I can’t wait for that day, especially since Nathan is currently hit and miss on naps. Would make weekend outings so much easier!!!! We really have to cherish these moments that seem to be flying by at lightning speed because she is our last. At any rate, she is doing awesome and we love her to pieces!

Easter

We spent Easter at our place in Mexico on the river. Thankfully there were no large earthquakes this year. We had a nice weekend which started out with a yummy birthday dinner for our friends daughter. Nathan enjoyed playing with all the kids and banging on the homemade pinata made my Blake for his sister. Saturday, we played in the river, Nathan and Kory went tubing behind grandpa's "new" boat and then our friends had everyone down for some egg dying. Even Kira seemed to get the hang of dipping the eggs and only once smashed one. We ended the day with a yummy dinner at Jesse's. The kids woke up early on Easter to hunt for all the eggs that the Easter bunny left behind. They then went on the annual scavenger hunt to find the baskets that the Easter bunny left. We headed up to another camp to have brunch and play in the water. It was a nice reminder of why we love it down there so much. Nathan is really at an age where he loves it down there and there are so many kids his age to play with.

Nathan Coloring Eggs


Kira Coloring Eggs


Nathan Hunting Eggs


Kira Hunting Eggs

Pictures Worth 1000 Words

Driving The Camper


Carlsbad State Beach

Little Lefty

T-ball session 1 complete!, a photo by Davies Fam on Flickr.

Yesterday Nathan completed his first session of T-Ball at our local YMCA. It has been a fun six weeks. He has learned the fundamentals of teamwork, hand-eye cooridination and gotten him out of the house into the great out doors (a rant for another post). Although we will take the next session off due to Spring Break and being out of town, we will sign up again in May! Since he is a lefty, if all else fails, we can hope for early retirement if he signs with the MLB (just kidding Brian!!!)

Updates

This has been quite a week. On Wednesday Kira broke out in hives and was diagnosed with an allergic reaction to the Amoxicillin that she had been taking for an ear infection. That night she spiked a fever and then on Friday her fever climbed to 104.7. We weren't able to get an appointment at after hours pediatrics so off she and I went to children's ER. She was pretty miserable on Saturday after being up until 11 and feverish off and on the night before. Today the hives seem to have faded a bit and she woke up a lot cooler than she has. She is playing around this morning, which she hadn't been doing much of lately.

Yesterday we had Nathan's fourth birthday party. It was a nice mix of new friends from school and old friends. The kids enjoyed bouncing and sliding on the bounce house and we had yet another fabulous Jennywenny cake. Nathan really enjoyed himself and has been playing with all of his new toys non-stop (not even stopping for nap and bed as he took some with him to bed last night). Here are a few pics of the big day: