UPCOMING ADVENTURES.....

So at the very least, I can try and give you an idea of what is to come this year for the Thorpe Family.  We have planned out several great adventures, that I am really looking forward to.

• Tom will be taking Ellie skiing again in a couple of weeks.  (Both parties are excited).

• Sometime in late spring or early summer I am hoping that Tom and I can get out of town for a few days just the two of us.  This offers a MAJOR challenge, as I have never left Mackenzie overnight before.  Hopefully I won't have a nervous breakdown over it. 

• We will be spending a week in Steamboat Springs, CO this summer with some friends and family.  This is really our version of the "stay-cation" as we got a killer deal on a condo, and it gets us out of town, but not too far away.

• We will be heading up to Yellowstone National Park this fall (once school starts up again) to visit the park with the girls.  I have never been, and I have always wanted to go, so we are heading up to Wyoming for a few days to enjoy the park.  We are actually staying in the park for a few days so  that will be nice.

• IKEA opens in Denver this fall, and I am looking forward to a couple of my Vegas friends coming out for a trip to the store.  I have actually never been inside an IKEA - but can't wait for the Vegas friends to arrive for the trip!

• Sometime this coming winter the family will be going on a cruise.  We don't care where to, just as long as it is warm, and not snowing.  All are welcome, the more the merry.  We are trying to get a group of people together to get a group discount, so if you are interested let me know.  It will probably be in the Carribean somewhere.

• We may end up with smaller long weekend trips around the area, but nothing set in stone yet.  I am sure we will keep you posted as we head out exploring the world, or at least the mid-west.

Without much further ado....

So me.  What has been going on with me the last 4 months.  Work. Work. Work. and probably some more work.  The company I work for has been expanding and growing like gang busters lately, which in this economy and in our industry is awesome and really unheard of.  While most engineering firms are laying people off still, we are hiring.  The problem?  The people that are getting laid off aren't the one's we want to hire, so we are are actively pursuing people that are currently employed at other firms.  Makes it hard.  We are working on it though.

My position with my firm is expanding, and I am taking on new challenges and tasks that are more on the business development side of things instead of actual project work.  Problem is, we are limited by our current staff on the projects they are able to complete, so that leaves me to fill both roles.  So I have been busy.  Very busy.

There is a lot more going on at my company, that at this time, I really can't talk about yet.  However, it consumes a lot of my day.  Thinking about it, processing it, figuring out different strategies, etc.  The next year is going to be a bumpy ride.  I just hope I make it through!

In addition to all of this, our company is moving!  Our current office space isn't large enough to accomodate all of the staff we currently have or the staff we currently need!  So within the next 6 weeks - we need to move.  So we are busy trying to get that figured out.  I will try and remember to send a picture of my current view from my office and what my new view will be like.  Quite a difference if I do say so myself.

I know, not too exciting.  But this is what my 4 months have been.  Working, and keeping up with the girls.  I did get to go on probably the coolest site visit ever a month ago (I know work again), but it really was that cool.  It is the traffic operations center that is located in the MIDDLE of the Hanging Lakes Tunnels just outside Glenwood Springs.  For those of you that are familiar with the area, the Hanging Lakes Tunnels are located just East of Glenwood Springs.  Between the (2) tunnels is a control room.  Access to the control room is COMPLETELY AWESOME and freaky at the same time.  It was the most fun day trip I have had for work in awhile.

Tom's Turn!

It's hard to look back at the last 4 months and try and decide what did you do?  What was relavent, what was just "life"?  So I will try and hit the high notes for Tom.

A new position opened up at Raytheon, which Tom considered his "dream job".  So we talked about it, and said go for it.  With any large company like Raytheon, they have to interview a minimum number of people before making a decision.  So Tom went through the application process and the interview process and then we waited.  Waited for what seemed like a long time, but really was only a couple of weeks.  They finally announced that he would be hired for the new position.  From what I understand, the new position is not related to any specific project or team (as he has been in the past) but will be working with Raytheon to pursue future work opportunities.  Tom will provide the Systems Engineering background (technical mumbo jumbo) to support proposal developments.  An interesting position, from what I have heard about it so far. 

Tom still continues to homebrew.  He recently decided to brew a lager at home, his first.  I won't bore those of you with the differences between lagers and ales, but just realize that there are differences, and that is why he hasn't done one before.  It's not ready yet, I think he still has a couple more weeks before he can test it out.  He is super excited about it, and has even been brainstorming ways to make the process of brewing a lager easier at home since we don't have all of the proper equipment.

So his next task is to build some sort of cooling box with computer fans, and other parts that he saw in a magazine.  Since I have an AWESOME IT guy at work, he is providing a lot of the parts for Tom's box to me for free.  Ever wonder what happens to your old computers from work?  Where they go?  What happens to them?  They go to your IT guy's garage.  Where he parts them out to his friends. 

Last fall, we had a bit of excitement in the yard, when we noticed that there were massive piles of dirt everywhere and deep holes.  After a lot of research, we found out that we had some sort of vermin in the yard that for whatever reason I can't remember what it is now...but in true Caddyshack style, Tom took care of it.  He tried lost of methods (none were very humane) including smoke bombs, crackle balls, flooding, poison, shooting it, and finally a TRAP and caught it.  This little creature was removing about 5 gallons of dirt from under the grass a week, until it was caught.  I can't wait for spring to come so I can find all of the sink holes in the yard.

For Tom, that is about all that has been going on with him the past 4 months, which is ok.  I know you guys only read to find out about the girls anyway.

Ellie Update - 4 months in the making...

Yesterday was Mackenzie's turn, today, is Ellie's.

Over the past 4 months, I swear Ellie has grown like 5 feet.  Ok, not really, but she is visibly taller, and more of a "big girl" then my baby girl.  I am still getting used to that.  Developmentally, she is exceeding and thriving, which I attribute to the wonderful school that both girls go to.  She is reading (easy reader books) and is interested in learning to write and spell.  She is a wonderful little girl, that just makes my day everyday.  She is super helpful around the house, helps out her sister, and often times, surprises me with her extreme generosity towards her sister.  I couldn't be more proud of her in any way.

Every couple of weeks, the teachers in her class pick a different student to be the "Super Star" for the week.  They get to bring in pictures from home, and share them with the class.  It was really fun to go into school the other day and watch her showing all of her friends her pictures. 

Ellie's best friend at school is her buddy Aidan.  They are "boyfriend and girlfriend".  Whatever that means when you are 4.  They have been going to school together since they were babies, and have always had some sort of connection to each other.  It is fun to see the 2 of them interact and grow up together.  They seem to always do better in class when they are together. 

We recently started staggering the bedtimes for the girls.  M goes down about 7pm, and E is 30 minutes later.  This gives me 30 minutes of just time with Ellie.  It has been something that I am really enjoying, as I get to see her and play with her.  We play games, princesses, Wii, and Littlest Pet Shop mostly - whatever she chooses for the evening. 

Since Ellie's birthday is after October 1st (the cut off date in our district), she will not begin Kindergarten until the fall of 2012.  Part of me really thought she should go this fall, but then realized that is really my own issue, and she should go with the rest of the kids her age.  From what I have heard, the elementary school that she will attend is really good at placing the kids where they need to be to really thrive.  So I am putting my trust in the school system to do what is best for her.  The main benefit to waiting until the fall of 2012 to start school, is that her little buddy Logan will be in the same class.  I am super excited that she will already have a friend in school, and that they will go to all day Kindergarten together.  This is a new option they are offering at this particular school.  Based on the fact that Ellie already goes to an all day preschool, we thought why not give her all day kindergarten.  She thrives when she is in this environment.  If we find out that it isn't working for her, we can always change back to a more standard Kindergarten arrangement.

Ellie begins her second season of soccer in a couple of weeks, and is really looking forward to playing with kids that want to play.  Last fall was a bit discouraging for her, as the other kids were younger, and didn't really grasp the concept of playing the game.  So this spring, we moved her up to the next league, and hope that she will have a better time.

We have enrolled Ellie in different swimming lessons through a private company here in Parker.  The rec center was great, but it was always a crap shoot on whether or not you would get in the class, how many kids were in the class, and in a 4 week lesson, whether or not they would really learn anything.  So Ellie is taking swimming lessons through Swim Labs.  She goes every week, and typically there is only one other girl in the class with her.  She is becoming much more comfortable in the water, putting her face in, and trying new things. 

Here are a few pictures of Ellie to tide you over....

Mackenzie's Update - 4 months in the making

The last you saw, Mackenzie was getting her hair cut.  I would like to let you know, that she in fact has had her haircut a couple of times, and no, we didn't leave her in the chair for the past 4 months. 

Mackenzie will turn 17 months old next week.  I can not believe that she is already 17 months.  To me that just blows me away.  She is developing into the funniest little person I know.  The looks she gives me sometimes just cracks me up.  She is one of the most affectionate little babies ever, and loves to come lay on you, hug you, hang on you, and she is always wanting to be picked up. 

She has started talking and has a few words in her vocabulary.  Mostly "B" words.  She is starting to push back when her sister is demanding of her and stand her own ground.  She loves to play with anything that Ellie is playing with, and is already inssisting on using silverware at home because Ellie does.  Somedays, I wish she would go back to eating with her fingers, as I think more would make it in her mouth and less would make it in the dog's mouth.

Around Christmas time, we were all up visiting my parents in Conifer to celebrate Christmas with the family.  My Mom prepared breakfast that morning, and it was really the first time that Mackenzie was interested in eating eggs.  She ate an entire scrambled egg, first one ever, and almost immediately started to develop this nasty red raised rash all over her body, she had snot pouring out of her nose, and had adverse stomach issues to it as well.  This was really our first experience with a reaction to food for either girl.  We gave her some benedryl, and she was fine. 

Shortly after this, Mackenzie wanted a snack after school, so I gave her some Ritz Bitz (peanut butter).  Almost instantly, she started wheezing, and couldn't breath very well.  Again, gave her Benedryl, and she was fine. 

We had mentioned this to our pediatrician on a couple of occassions, and they said that allergy testing really wasn't accurate for small children, and it wasn't worth the pain that it put them through.  After a second bout with peanuts (I messed up and gave her something) we saw a different pediatrician (for an ear infection) and mentioned the potential allergies again.  She agreed to send us in for testing (but I still think she thinks I am a nut case).

So a few weeks ago, I made the allergy testing appointment for Mackenzie, and off we went.  They tested her for the top 10 most common allergenic foods, peanut oil, dogs, cats, and apples. They can test for over 600 things, but based on Mackenzie's back size, we limited it to these items.  I wish we would have included tree nuts as well as some of the seasonal allergens, but that will have to wait for another day.  Within 2 minutes of starting the scratch test - her back looked like this:

Showing that she is already reacting to some of the tests.  After 10 minutes, the nurse comes back and reads the results.  The measure the diameter of the raised portion of the reaction, as well as one other thing to determine the severity of the reaction.

Mackenzie had a mild reaction to milk and soy products.  This helps explain why everytime her system is already compromised (with a cold, ear infection, etc.) milk doesn't sit well in her stomach.

She had severe reactions to dogs, cats, eggs, and peanuts.  The Dr explained that she would probably outgrow the egg allergy by the time she was 4, but the others she would probably have her entire life.  So now, we are armed with epi-pens and benedryl everywhere we go.  She has her stash at school too, just in case.  We will be back at the allergist office in a couple months to get an update, and maybe schedule more tests.  We will see.

As of right now, Mackenzie weighs about 24 lbs, and was 32" tall at her last check up (15 months). I will depart you with a couple of pictures from the last 4 months. I promise I won't wait another 4 months to update the blog with information on the girls.

First Piggies / Playing LPS with Ellie

Back from my 4 month vacation....

I would like to be able to offer some excuse as to why I haven't updated the blog in 4 months that would be really exciting and glamourous like we all whisked away on an all expenses paid 4 month tour around the world and didn't bring any of our technology devices with us using it as an opportunity to spend quality time with each other.  Or that somehow I lost the password to the blog and Blogger wouldn't send me the password, and it was a whole arguement that ended in litigation with me finally prevailing after 4 months.  But, no, sorry, that isn't the case.  Life has just gotten in the way.  I apologize.

The past four months have been exciting, busy, fun, stressful, tiresome, and most of all FULL.  It seems that everyday is a new adventure, be it small, in some way or another, so I will try and get things caught up for all of my faithful 3 followers. 

I just realized, I also haven't downloaded any pictures off any of my cameras for the past 4 months.  Apparently, I am slacking :)  I wanted to post a couple of pictures that would in some way make me feel better about not updating the blog, but I don't have any right now, so this one will have to do.  Please pardon the poor quality - it is off of my phone.