TK&E's Adventures

I thought I could let it go.... but obviously I can't.

2012-01-29T19:40:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, Tom and I wen car shopping. Not completely spontaneous, we were planning on getting a new car. As part of the plan, Tom was going to trade in his BMW. The dream car that he wanted for so long, and loved driving. The car had huge maintenance costs, and was about to hit 100,000 miles. It was time.

So while we were at the GMC dealer, buying my lovely new Acadia, Tom traded in his BMW. We were completely 100% honest with them when trading it in, including the fact that it was in an accident. We disclosed almost* everything about that car, or at least what we could remember. We got a fair price for it, based on its condition, and what we felt it was worth at trade in.

Fast forward to a few days later. Tom is out looking at the used cars on line at the dealership, and finds his car. He found it.

http://www.gobuickgmcparkmeadows.com/VehicleDetails/used-2004-BMW-325xi-Sedan-Lone_Tree-CO/1665051733

What is important to note: the car fax report reports that it hasn't been in an accident. I was furious. I didn't understand, so I contacted carfax. They stated that I could not add the information to the carfax report, only certified people are allowed to do that including dealerships. So the dealer is able to add the information to the report, but is unwilling because they won't sell the car.

This is just one of those things, that has totally ticked me off to no end. Just goes to show you the stigmatism that car dealers are labeled with, can be true. I am not saying all car dealers are like this, but they sure can be.

Ugh. Buyer beware.

Hummingbird Nest

2011-06-18T14:18:00.000-06:00

About 4 weeks ago, Tom and I noticed that a hummingbird was building a nest on the wind chime on our front patio. This was the coolest process to watch, but we didn't agree with the location. Why would you pick on top of the wind chime?

A couple of weeks later, the mama hummingbird was at the nest full time. She was only leaving to get food and coming right back. We assummed she had eggs in her nest, but didn't really have a chance to see them.

The other night, we had a massive wind storm. The wind chime was blowing all over the place, and I was afraid that the whole thing was going to fall. So I asked Tom to pull the whole wind chime down during the wind storm, and then we would hang it back up later. Once we got it down, mama left the nest, and we were able to see (2) little white eggs about the size of jelly bellys. Mama bird was freaking out, so we hung up the nest again right away, wind and all.

Based on our research, the eggs should hatch within a couple of days. We are excited to see the little hummers, and if I get a chance to get a picture of them, I will.

For now, here are a couple of pictures of the nest with mama bird....

Easter!

2011-05-13T16:10:00.000-06:00

Yes, I fully realize that Easter was like 3 weeks ago. Regardless - here are some awesomely cute pictures of the girls on Easter. Ellie was an AWESOME big sister during the Easter Egg Hunt around the house. She helped Mackenzie find the easy eggs, and let her get the one's that she coudl reach. I was really impressed by her actions that day.

However, can someone please tell me why I can't get both girls to smile AND look at the same camera? For the love of Pete....

PS - I hate blogger. All the pictures are oriented correctly in the folder on my computer, but for whatever reason, some are rotated 90 degrees. Sorry about that.

M finding her egg

OOOOOO!!!!

Ellie cleaning out the window

Look Mackenzie - get that one!

The wind blown look!

Their Golden Eggs (or green)

Mackenzie's first peep

Easter Girls!

More Birds

2011-05-02T09:28:00.000-06:00

Some friends of ours got baby chicks from the Easter bunny this year. As cute of an idea as this seems, I really don't want chickens living in my house, and I am not a big fan of the chicken process. So instead of getting our own chicks, we have just gone over to visit their chicks. Plus, with Mackenzie's allergies to livestock as well as eggs, having chickens probably isn't the smartest idea for our family.

Here are a few pictures of the girls with the chicks. They are cute!

Mackenzie and the chicks

The 3 chicks

Ellie holding one of the chicks

Mackenzie and the chicks

Eagles

2011-04-29T13:39:00.000-06:00

Around the beginning of the year, Parker opened up a new street to take us out to the Highway, and it has been awesome. No stoplights, less traffic, it is a dream come true. Shortly after it opened, we started to notice these big birds sitting in a Cottonwood tree off the side of the road. After seeing them several times, we realized that they were bald eagles, and they have a nest in one of the Cottonwoods.

After we realized what they were, we have been trying to get a picture. After several attempts of having the camera but the birds weren't there, not having the camera and the birds were there, or having the camera the birds being there but not having time to stop we finally got a picture of one of them! Yea!

The picture is a bit blurry, but this is the best of the bunch, because of the telephoto lens we had on the camera, and because of the wind.

Who is this big girl - and what did you do with my BABY!!!

2011-04-23T08:00:00.001-06:00

Mackenzie's Firt Ponies

In the past month, Mackenzie has started chatting up a storm! She now has quite the vocabulary of

Mommy                  Momma                    Daddy                Dadda                Ellie                 Doggie
Apple                     Nana                        Nonnie                Papa                   Up                  Down
More                      Milk                         Please                 All                      Done               Tree
Shoes                     Baby                        Bottle                  Ball                    Book               Bubble
Stinky                     Hi                            Hello                   Yellow               Mine                Off
ni-ni (going to bed)                                 bye-bye

and of course our favorite...

NO!

Unfortunately, we are starting to hear NO a lot more these days! I am sure that there are probably other words that she says that I am forgetting now.

She turns 18 months old tomorrow (but she doesn't look a day older than 15 months). She chases after her sister, loves to "pet" the dog, pull the dogs tail, and basically show us exactly how fearless she is by balancing on top of one of her cars to reach the counter.

She knows she can get a good laugh out of us by making her angry face (which I have yet to get a picture of) and my saying "No" in the sweetest voice possible.

Ellie Skiing - Part Deux

2011-04-21T14:36:00.000-06:00

Tom took Ellie skiing again this year. They headed up to Winter Park on a weekday (about the only time you can have a good trip up I-70 during the winter) for a fun filled day of skiing.
This year went much better than last, as Ellie was able to support herself a lot more, and was even skiing on "her own" after a while. Tom was always within arms distance to grab her as she started to get out of control.
Ellie said that she had a great time skiing, and wants to go again. Which is always a good sign.
The night before they went up we were gathering her things, and realized that he size 3T snowpants might be a bit too small, since most of her clothing is a size 5 these days. Fortunately they fit (just a bit short) and we didn't have to rush out and find some snowpants for her.

Ellie having a hot chocolate break

Skiing!

Taking a break

UPCOMING ADVENTURES.....

2011-03-24T11:19:00.001-06:00

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....

2011-03-22T11:11:00.000-06:00

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!

2011-03-21T10:58:00.002-06:00

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...

2011-03-20T10:34:00.002-06:00

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

2011-03-19T09:54:00.004-06:00

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....

2011-03-18T09:53:00.000-06:00

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.

Mackenzie's First Haircut

2010-11-12T08:00:00.003-07:00

We finally took Mackenzie in for her first haircut! I think Ellie was 3 when this happened for her.

She did really good, and sat in the chair like a big girl. Here are a few photos to document the event.

Before

Getting ready

First Clips

Final product!

Halloween Costumes

2010-11-10T08:00:00.002-07:00

Here are a few pictures of the girls in their Halloween Costumes. Ellie was a butterfly princess, and Mackenzie was a MONSTER!!! A mean scary MONSTER!!!

Pumpkin Patch Party #2

2010-11-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

Because one Pumpkin Patch just isn't enough during Halloween, we took the girls to 2 of them. Here are a few pictures of the pumpkin patch at Tagawa. By far much better then the first one!

Petting Zoo

E Decorating pumpkins

Final pumpkins

Who doesn't love to stick their face through a board??

And another

The mermaid tatoo

And Another

Bouncy House

And Another

Butterfly wings

Mask

Mackenzie Katheryn - From the Beginning

2010-11-06T08:00:00.004-06:00

As promised, here is Mackenzie's 1 year video...

Mackenzie's First Birthday Party!

2010-11-04T08:00:00.000-06:00

Here are a few pictures from Mackenzie's First Birthday Party! Thank you to everyone that came, we all had a lovely day. Even though the Bronco's played terribly, and shouldn't be allowed in the NFL anymore.

Mackenzie's Cake

Mackenzie and Poppa

Trying on her new sweater from Nonnie

Trying the Cake

Loved the frosting... didn't eat the cake.

Mackenzie, The First Year...

2010-11-02T08:00:00.003-06:00

When Ellie was born, I purchased a picture frame that held pictures for each of her "month" birthdays from 1-12. I loved seeing how she changed so much over 1 year, so I decided to get one for Mackenzie as well. Here are Mackenzie's "month" birthday photos....

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

9 months

10 months

11 months

12 months

P.S.... I am working on M's 1 year slideshow, similar to what we did for Ellie. Between the craziness of October for us, and a dead desktop (I know, I know, who still uses a desktop these days) I have been having issues. Should be posted within the next week.

Jack O' Lanterns

2010-11-01T08:00:00.000-06:00

Here are a few pictures from our jack o'lanterns this year. Tom did a great job carving the pumpkins.

Vampire Pumpkin

Thorpe Pumpkin

Given our recent run-in with different spiders this year, we felt this was only fitting.

Annual Photo Shoot

2010-10-31T08:00:00.000-06:00

Here are a few of the photos from M's 1 year, and E's 4 year annual photo shoot. Hope you enjoy.

Pumpkin Patch Party #1

2010-10-28T08:00:00.000-06:00

We took the girls to a Pumpkin Patch over by Chatfield Resevoir this year. The girls had fun, and Tom and I were exhausted after dragging the girls in the wagon through a field for a few hours. There were rides, games, food, a pumpkin patch, and of course a corn maze. The weather was a bit chilly that day, but we had a good time, and got us out of the house for a few hours!

The girls in the wagon

Ellie in the corn maze

Wildfire burning near Pumpkin Patch

Ellie's Birthday Party

2010-10-25T08:00:00.000-06:00

This year, for Ellie's 4th Birthday, she wanted to go back to Pump it Up. We had been to several birthday parties there already this year, and the kids just seem to have such a great time! Plus, it makes it super easy on Mom and Dad, since all we do is basically show up, and they take care of everything else.

In an effort to teach Ellie the important lesson (that seems so applicable in the current times) that we are friends with EVERYONE, we invited all of the kids from her pre-K class. That is 22 kids in all, including Ellie. Plus, we invited some of Ellie's friends from outside of school. There were a ton of kids there, and I think that EVERYONE had a blast.

Ellie ready for her party in her Halloween outfit

Group shot of all the kids (I think)

The Hello Kitty Birthday Cake

Happy Birthday Mackenzie!

2010-10-22T21:48:00.000-06:00

Mackenzie turned 1 today. It was fun to reminisce where we were 1 year ago today, and what we were doing. The past year has gone by in a quick minute, and I don't see it slowing down anytime soon.

In 1 year Mackenzie went from the (affectionately referred to) bag of skin phase, to a little walker and talker.

M started to walk about 3 weeks ago, and is really starting to get the hang of it. Don't let the little black eye fool you! Of course, its important for me to mention that this didn't happen on our watch - it happened one day at school.

M knows about 4 words that she uses consistently. Up, Dada, All-done, and Hi. She sometimes uses baba - but only if prompted.

I bravely stuck my finger in her mouth tonight to see if the 4th tooth on the bottom had cut through yet, and instead found 3 molars. We are up to 10 teeth now. 4 in front on top, 3 in front on the bottom, and 3 one year molars. So, no wonder why she has been such a crab apple. All 10 teeth have come in since her 6 month check up. I don't think I will be sticking my finger in there anytime soon again!

We are slowly taking away her bottles, and she has been off of baby food for over a month now. She loves table food, especially, meats, cheeses, and fruits.

Happy Birthday Mackenzie! We can't wait to find out what the next year will bring us!

I was finally able to capture her scrunchy face on camera -

Houston - We have a walker!

2010-10-10T08:00:00.000-06:00

Mackenzie has started to walk! I think she realized that if she ever wants to keep up with her sister, she is going to have to get vertical and learn to walk. We are still in that very archaic frankenstein stiff legged walk, but it is a walk none the less. She has ventured out on her own a couple of times! Typically, she takes a few steps, falls down, and the crawls after her sister at mock speed. Tom and I anticipate in the very near future we will have to up our level of baby proofing around the house. I would imagine within the next week or so, we will have a full blown walker on our hands, and the crawling stage will be a thing of the past. Ellie started to walk about the same time in her life as well.

I was finally able to get some video of her tonight. Please excuse the part at the end where she face plants in to the couch because her Mom was too busy holding the video camera to catch her as she fell.

Ellie - Year 4 - The Highlights

2010-10-09T07:57:00.000-06:00

Who let that Sassy 4 year old move in?

2010-10-08T22:13:00.000-06:00

Ellie turned 4 this week. I can hardly believe it. How can she be 4 already? I have barily aged a single year since she was born. It is very apparent that she is no longer a baby, or even a toddler. She is a little girl. Her appearance, her attitude, her general presence comes off as a little girl. Ellie has started to show us what we may be in for during the teenage years, with a little sass here and there. She is becoming such a strong independant person, that I am truly amazed with her on almost a daily basis. The bribes of fruit snacks and candy hardly work anymore, as she has a mind of her own, with her own decisions!

Year 4 brought us many things. After sorting through a year of pictures, probably the most notable thing was making Ellie a big Sister. Ellie adores her baby sister so much, and can not wait for her to be able to play with her more. She likes to have Mackenzie chase her around the room. Everytime that Ellie laughs (which is quite infectious) Mackenzie laughs as well. Ellie probably gives Mackenzie 100's of hugs and kisses everyday. I am surprised that we don't pass germs back and forth more frequently then we do.

Another big event for us this year was her broken arm. I personally have never broken a bone, so I can only imagine what she went through. Through the entire experience she was such a trooper, and didn't complain about the cast at all. She barily cried when she broke her arm. She is becoming such a big girl.

This was also the first year that Tom and I planned a vacation soley for the kids (mainly Ellie). We spent a week in Disney with the girls and had a great time. The trip was really about them, and making sure that they had a great time, but Tom and I did as well. Ellie barily scraped by on height for most of the "big kid" rides, whereas earlier this summer, I know she would have been too short.

Ellie started soccer this year, and is in her second level of swimming lessons. She seems to really enjoy soccer, and has even been playing soccer at school with a group of kids in her class.

We are amazed everyday with the information she comes home from school with. She has learned all of her states and their capitals, and has started reading. She can write all of her letters, and can even write basic words such as her name, Mom, Dog, and Cat. She will write anything down, as long as we spell it for her. I think that our method of spelling things out that we don't want her to hear may be quickly coming to an end.

Some of her favorite foods are salami, noodles, apples, cheese, and cereal. Her favorite candy is Skittles. Any flavor will do, but she especially likes the crazy colors Skittles.

Happy 4th Birthday Ellie! We love you to bits and pieces. You bring incredible joy to our lives everyday. You are an excellent big sister, and a terrific friend. We hope that this next year brings us many more adventures that will help you expand your mind!

Ellie- 4th Birthday Morning

Camping

2010-10-05T08:00:00.000-06:00

Tom really wanted to take Ellie camping again this summer. As you may recall, last summer's camping trip was actually sleeping in a tent in our backyard. So Tom, Ellie, and some friends of ours decided to take the kids camping up in the mountains.

Mom did not go, as I am not much of a camper, and Mackenzie wouldn't really tolerate it.

From what I heard, they all had an awesome time, and even tried their hands at fishing! Ellie was very helpful while fishing, by calling the fish to come eat the bait! She was doing this by throwing rocks into the water. Thank God! I didn't want a dead fish in my freezer for 10 years like my parents had when I caught my first fish.

Ellie and Gavin - getting ready for bed

The campers at the lake

Ellie and Gavin

The campers - relaxing and eating beef jerky

The campsite

Ellie and Gavin in the tent

The campsite

Ellie and Gavin

Soccer

2010-10-03T08:00:00.000-06:00

Tom and I wanted to get Ellie involved in soccer this fall. We had tried to get her into the rec league, but found out that the rec league fills up in July (for fall soccer) and they shove about 20 kids on a team! Ridiculous!

So I was looking around the internet one night, and found a club league of sorts in South-ish Denver, and it wasn't that much more expensive then the rec league - so we signed her up! It was also more appealing that it was Saturday mornings only, whereas the rec league is Friday night practice and Saturday morning game.

So a couple of weeks ago, we took Ellie to her first practice / game. Probably the funniest thing that I have ever seen in my life. Her team is the Hot Pink Flamingos, and she is sooo excited that she gets to wear a pink shirt to soccer every Saturday. We strapped on her mini shinguards (a requirement) and her brand new soccer cleats. The team age ranges from 2-1/2 to almost 4. So Ellie is one of the oldest on her team, and you can really tell the difference in age between the girls.

I think that there are 10 girls on her team total. She could have been placed on a co-ed team, but just luck of the draw she is on an all girl team. We think that it is probably better that she is on an all girl team just due to the physical-ness of boys her age, and that may intimidate her.

Today was team photo day. That was probably the most exciting part so far. Getting all the girls together for the team picture was like hearding cats. Of the 6 girls that actually made it in the picture, 2 of them were crying and wouldn't look at the camera. The pictures are hillarious!

She is doing really really well. As well as you can as a 4 year old playing your first soccer league. She is probably one of the fastest runners on her team, and today she scored 2 goals (in the right goal) at her game! Needless to say, Tom and I are proud parents of our little soccer star! We are all having a fun time going to the games.

Soccer Drill

Ellie

Ellie and Tom practicing

Spider.... or Monster??? You decide...

2010-09-30T08:01:00.000-06:00

I came home from work the other day to find this little gem in the garage.

After yelling at Ellie to get up on the stairs by the door and not to move, I decided that this creature MUST die. So I went over to the cabinet where we keep all of the poisonous chemicals with Mackenzie in tow, and looked for some sort of radioactive nuclear bug killing spray. None to be found. I grabbed the next best thing, wasp and hornet spray of course. I walked back over to where our new pet was sitting, and from about 20 feet away shot it with the spray. This did nothing, and I swear he stood up on his hind legs, pointed, and laughed at me, if not to say, "You crazy woman! That will not work on me!". He then turned and scurried out ouf site.

Out of site, out of mind (not really) I ran in the house as fast as I could with Mackenzie and Ellie. Tom arrived home a couple of minutes later, and asked me why I was freaking out. I explained that there was a spider in the garage, and he had to go find it. He looked at me like I was insane, and responded with, "It's only a spider! Was it a black widow?" My response was No, but this thing was huge! It had girth! GO GET IT NOW!!!!

So, Tom put on his gardening gloves, and proceeded to the garage. Where he successfully removed every item from the corner of the garage, and found NOTHING! He was beginning to think I was crazy, until he heard it move. Yes, you read that right, he heard it moving. As he looked over, he saw it, and thought it was a plastic play spider toy, until it moved.

After much a do, a trash can, a baby food jar, and a pair of kitchen tongs, the monster had been captured!!! Yea! Now to determine exactly WHAT this thing was. This picture really doesn't do the size of this spider justice. When he was alive and standing up, he stood about 2-3 inches off the ground, and the circumference around his legs was equal to a pop can. Not exactly a small spider, and not one that we have seen around these parts before.

So Tom, being the engineer that he is, examined our specimen quite closely, using a flashlight and shaking the jar around. With the help of google, wikipedia, and a couple of web sites about Spiders in our area, this is a Wolf Spider. Wolf Spiders have very unique eye configurations that matched this guy. Mystery solved! Actually, this would be considered a large Wolf Spider due to its size.

This thing gave us the heebeegeebee's for most of the night. But we couldn't stop looking at it. Not surprisingly, the wasp spray did not kill him. It did start to eat little holes in his exo-skeleton though (that we can see). After being enclosed in the baby food jar for about 90 minutes, he finally stopped moving. Gross.

Apparently, Wolf Spiders are quite common in our area, and mostly harmless. They will bite if provoked, but these things are NASTY looking.

Disneyland!

2010-09-27T08:00:00.003-06:00

This year, Tom and I decided to take the girls to Disneyland for our "big" vacation of the year. I had won a trip for 2 to Paris last fall at a seminar that I went to, and the downfall to the winning (I know how can there be a down fall right?) was that it had to be used by the end of last year. Well, going to Paris would be awesome, I don't think I could manage leaving my little newbie at home with the Grandparents while I traveled to Europe. Panic attack aside, I don't think I was physically ready for that trip. So in lieu of the Paris trip, they offered a cash type settlement. So Tom and I decided to use the money for a family trip to Disneyland.

We spent 5 days in Anaheim this fall, and had an awesome time. We had a Park hopper pass, and spent 4 continuous days in the Parks. The girls (and us!) had a great time. Disneyland is quite possibly the nicest theme park I have ever been to. It was soooo clean, so convienent, and EVERYONE was so willing to help, answer questions, and were overly polite. It was just an overall great experience. I highly recommend it.

Before we left, Tom and I got a book on Disneyland to get an idea of what to expect and the like. It is the best travel book that I have purchased. They gave us TONS of advice on traveling with kids, what to expect, and even if you are a die hard visitor, how to ride all the rides in either a 2 day or 1 day trip to the Park. We didn't follow these plans, but they did give us a great idea of when to hit what rides, and which ones would seem to be available whenever we wanted to ride them.

Ellie's favorite ride (as of today) was the Peter Pan ride. She LOVED that ride. I would say that Mackenzie's favorite was either the Disney Playhouse theater at California Adventure, or Its a Small World. She was completely infatuated with both experiences, and interacted with both. There were a lot of rides that we could take her on with us, so that was really nice.

Disney also offers a couple of options for those parents that have a little one that can't ride all of the rides. They have the "switch off" which involves (for us) all 4 of us getting in line for a ride. Then when it gets to be our turn, we tell them we want to do the Switchoff, and Tom and Ellie will get on the ride, while Mackenzie and I hang out at the loading station. When Tom and Ellie get back, Tom gets off and takes Mackenzie, and I jump on with Ellie. So both adults get to ride it, we don't have to wait in line twice, and Ellie got to ride the ride twice! We did this several times with the rides that E really enjoyed so she would get ample opportunity to ride them.

The other nice feature was the "single's line". This came in super handy on the rides that neither kid wanted or could ride. For example, Splash Mountain. Ellie is elligable to ride the ride, but didn't want to. So I went and rode it by myself. I went into the exit, waited in the singles line, and got right on the ride. No waiting. When I was done, I took over for Tom, and he did the same thing. We both rode Splash Mountain in less than 20 minutes, where the standard wait time when we did this was 30 minutes! Well worth it.

The trip also gave us a chance to visit some friends that live in So Cal. They came up to Anaheim for 3 days, stayed with us, and went to the parks with us. We had a great time!

Without further ado, here are a few pictures of our trip!

Ellie and her favorite - Sleeping Beauty at the Princess Lunch

M at the Disney Playhouse theater

E and Ariel at the Princess Lunch

E trying to remove the sword in the stone

Ellie and Cinderella

Ellie and Snow White

They were decorating for Halloween when we were there. This went up through the week.

Ellie and Chip

The Girls, Tom and Donald

Mackenzie on one of the rides

Ellie in Mickey's Chair in toon town

Rem, Ellie and Sully at California Adventure

Ellie and Handy Manny

Ellie and Pluto

Both girls with their "ears". This is the only picture we have with both girls together with their ears on.

E, Rem and Mickey

The Girls and Woody

Ellie and Minnie

E and Mickey

The fam and Mickey (Mackenzie was sleeping in the stroller :( )

The fam at the Disney entrance

Ellie and Tinkerbell

Mackenzie 11 month Update

2010-09-25T21:45:00.000-06:00

Mackenzie has been growing by leaps and bounds lately. Both physically and developmentally. I can not believe how fast she is growing up. I certainly have those days where I want her to stay a baby forever, and then other days where I can't wait until she is big enough to talk back, walk, and eat normal food. It is a hard balance for sure!

In the past month, Mackenzie got 2 new teeth! We are up to 8 now! She has also started cruising around the furniture, and becoming ever daring by standing straight up in the middle of the room. She then proceeds to balance like a drunken sailor for about 20 seconds before she topples. I remember this age all too well with Ellie, as it was when she got her very first black eye! Hopefully we will avoid the black eye with Mackenzie. However, she is still getting her fair share of bruises from her dare devil personality.

She has really started to show a liking for "people" food. It is tough to try and get baby food in her anymore, but there are a few items that she really enjoys still. Some of her favorite people foods are beef, ham, cheese, noodles, fruit (especially peeled grapes), peas, cheerios, and bread.

Her hair is getting lighter and lighter as the days go by. I really see the difference every month when I go to put her month birthday photo in the frame. It is a great comparision. It is also getting quite long. We will probably be in for her first hair cut soon!

She is starting to lose the baby chub. Her thighs and cheeks have slimmed down a bit, but she is still a big girl. I would venture to guess that she will still be in the 95% for height and weight when we go in for her annual visit next month.

Mackenzie - 11 months

10 Months!!! Already?

2010-09-03T10:22:00.000-06:00

Serously, where does the time go. Mackenzie turned 10 months at the end of August. I think that the worst part is, I thought I already wrote this post, and sent out the 10 month pictures. She is a serious mover and shaker. She is crawling all over the place, and even has managed her first flight of stairs. (No worries Mom - we were right there, and it was just a set of 3 stairs). She gets around well, and is even starting to cruise around the furniture. I think that she realizes that if she wants to keep up with Ellie, she is going to have to get up and start walking soon! Her personality is still so relaxed and easy going.

Mackenzie adores her older sister. She watches her, follows her, and loves to "play" with her. Unfortunately, her idea of playing typically involves grabbing your skin, or slapping you. We will have to work on her with that.

Her hair color is a far cry from what it was when she was born. I was sorting through the old pictures of her last night for her birthday party invitation (I know, I need to get a life) and realized at about 4 months she really lost a bunch of her hair, and when it started to come in, it is a lot lighter. When she is out in the sun, it actually looks pretty light. Not as super blond as Ellie, but I think it will end up on the dark blond / light brown side before it is all said and done.

She is still growing like a weed. We are starting to wear 12m clothing already. We will find out her weight and height in a couple of months at the 1 year check up.

The Zoo

2010-08-26T08:00:00.000-06:00

Elephants

Cheetah

Sheep

Big Horn Sheep

Dad and E on the train

E and the long jump

Bear sleeping in tree

Once again, our weekend adventures brought us to the zoo. The girls both love the zoo, and I really think E just enjoys riding the train and the carousel at times. We spent most of the morning at the zoo this past weekend, and while I was there, I decided that I would take photos of the animals and actually PRINT them and put them in an album for the girls. Crazy right? Who actually prints photos these days? These are a few of the pictures we took that day. Hopefully it will help M start to learn her animals.

Pool Day!

2010-08-23T08:00:00.000-06:00

Another action packed weekend brought us to the pool! The girls are having such a great time in the water, and we really enjoy the Parker pool. It is perfect for all ages. I am sure we will end up there again this weekend, as our summer weekends are becoming fewer and fewer now. Plus, in a couple of weeks, they open up the outdoor pool to the pooches for their anual summer swim!

Mackenzie enjoying her snack

E with her ladybug towel

Mermaid E

Mackenzie

E cooling off

E playing

Dad and E enjoying a snack

Dad and the Girls in the pool

M hanging out with Mom

E playing

Week of Waterparks

2010-08-18T08:00:00.000-06:00

After Ellie had her cast removed, we have been trying to hit up the pool as much as we can. It turned out that we ended up at 2 different waterparks in the area in the same week. The first trip was to Pirate's Cove for a fellow school friend's birthday party. Later that week, Tom and I took the day off of work to take Ellie to Water World. We decided to go during the week so that we could take Mackenzie to school for the day, and to hopefully avoid the crowds.

Unfortunately, during our visit to Pirate's Cove, we had (2) 60 minute breaks from the pools. Apparently when someone has a BM in the pool, they have to clear it out for 60 minutes. This happened twice during our visit to the park. It made for a very hot day.

Mackenzie was not very impressed by Pirate's Cove

Ellie and her friend Eva exploring their "loot" bags at the birthday party.

Ellie and Mackenzie at Pirate's Cove during one of the "breaks"

Ellie and Eva

The Birthday Party

Ellie gearing up for Water World.

Ellie and the Great Potato Harvest

2010-08-15T08:00:00.002-06:00

As an experiment this year, we planted potatoes in the garden. This was our first year with potatoes, so we didn't really know what to expect. Once the plants on top died, we figured it was time to get the potatoes out of the ground, so we suited up, and dug out the potatoes. Ellie was a great help.

Post harvest - including tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, and mint

Frogs

2010-08-12T08:00:00.001-06:00

Over the past couple of summers, we have noticed that we have frogs living in our window well by the patio. The first time we saw them, Tom tried to "rescue" them and let them run free in the yard. Well, most of them made it safely back to the window well, one was not quite so lucky, and may have met Mr. Green the lawn mower. Oops. Needless to say, we found out that they like it down there, and they keep coming back year after year. This year we have 3 frogs. One big fat one, one tiny one, and one in between one. I was able to get pics of the big fat one and the medium one this year.

9 Months and counting...

2010-08-09T20:52:00.000-06:00

I have been waiting for Mackenzie's 9 month Dr appointment to update the blog with her "stats". Tom and I both took her to the 9 month appointment yesterday. Tom assured me that he could handle it, get all of the forms we needed, and ask all of my questions. I have no doubt that he could do it on his own, but I just had to go. How can I miss her appointment?

Yesterday, Mackenzie weighed in at 20.25 pounds and measured 28 inches. She is in the 75th percentile for height and weight - so slowing down a bit, which is totally fine by me. Even her head is slowing down, and allowing her body to catch up with it. Her head measured in the 70th percentile this go around.

The Doctor reassurred me on all my "momisms". I come up with these things that really bother me and that I worry about. Mainly from comparing one girl to the other (I know, tisk tisk!) but I can't help it. So Mackenzie's Dr re-assured me that everything was fine, and her development was right on track. Yea Mackenzie!

Within the past couple of weeks, we have really started to see Mackenzie's personality come out. What she likes, doesn't like, etc. She started to really crawl a couple of weeks ago, and this has showed us where she wants to go, what she wants to play with, all that fun stuff. Mackenzie has been able to "move" for about 2 months, but it was more scooting backwards / rolling in the direction of what she wanted, that kind of movement. The forward crawling movement just started within the past couple of weeks, and now, we can't keep her out of things. She always seems to go for the things that we don't want her to. Cords, Outlets, Ellie's freshly painted toenails, you know, things like that.

Here are a few pictures from Mackenzie's Ninth month of life! Happy 9th month Birthday baby girl!

Pool Girls

2010-07-26T08:00:00.002-06:00

A couple of weekends ago, we took Ellie to the pool for a playdate with some of her friends from school, and her friend Eva, that we had over a couple of weeks before. The kids had a great time, and I think may have spent more time eating snacks then actually swimming, but that is ok.

The Wedding

2010-07-23T08:00:00.001-06:00

After months of planning, bridal showers, bachelor parties, and everything in between, Nick and Amanda tied the knot over the weekend. It was a beautiful ceremony on Sunday, and a good time was had all weekend long. It was great to see all of the family and friends that traveled from near and far to join Nick and Amanda in their special day.

Bruce, Dad & Tom getting ready for the ceremony. They had to go take photos for 3 hours before the ceremony. It was nice to get the photos out of the way before hand, and we are super anxious to see the photos. Amanda's cousin took the photos, and based on everything we have heard, and looking at his website the photos are going to be phenomenal! I can't wait!

The out of town famiy members, waiting for the ceremony to start.

Dad and Mom - post wedding

Me, Mackenzie & Tom at the rehersal dinner at Maggiano's. The food was excellent.

The happy couple at the rehersal dinner.

Mackenzie and Nonni at the rehersal dinner

Tom and I at the wedding

Uncle Mike and Ellie

Mom and Aunt Trixie doing lemon drops after the wedding and reception

Mom - I am ready to go! Mackenzie in her dress and waiting for us to leave for the wedding.

Uncle Nick and Ellie (flower girl) before the ceremony.

Ellie standing ever so patiently with Miss Kari. We gave Kari a whole pocketful of Skittle's to bribe Ellie with during the ceremony to keep her on her best behavior. I think that Ellie chomped her way through the entire ceremony on the Skittle's.

I couldn't be more proud of the girls this weekend. We kept them out late 3 nights in a row, missed several naps, ate on the go all weekend, and they were perfect. They never once complained, broke down, melted down, nothing. I honestly could not ask for anything more, the girls were perfect this weekend.

The wedding was beautiful, and we are really looking forward to the pictures from the photographer.

Just for Fun...

2010-07-21T08:00:00.000-06:00

Here are a few pictures of the girls, just for fun.

Mackenzie's First Trip to the zoo

2010-07-18T08:00:00.000-06:00

We recently took Mackenzie to her first trip to the zoo (for animal viewing). She had been once before, for the zoo lights, but I think she slept or cried through most of the visit. So here we are at the zoo, for the first time this summer.

Just for fun, I decided to dress Mackenzie in the same outfit that Ellie wore for her first trip to the zoo. Kind of fun, and I was very surprised that it actually fit Mackenzie, as she is already out pacing her sister on the growth charts pretty significantly.

New Baby giraffe.

This peacock taunted me for about 15 minutes. He walked around fully opened, while I was trying to get a picture. Everytime he would turn towards me, he would abruptly stop, and go the other way. I have about 10 butt shots to prove it. I kept re-adjusting my location, no matter what I tried, he would not give me the "full frontal" view. Finally, I had given up, and he turned towards me as if to say, "Go ahead, you earned it". I finally got the full frontal. Well worth it, except for the damn trash can in the picture.

Of course we had a good time! Why do you ask?

Mackenzie - 8 months

2010-07-15T08:00:00.000-06:00

Perfect girly push up form :)

8 months. It's hard to believe. In the past month, she has really grown and developed, it seems almost over night. We are on the verge of crawling. She can scoot backwards, but doesn't realize that she can do it yet.

She is a total water baby. She loves the bath, and screams like we ripped her arm off when we take her out. She recently had her first trip to the pool and had a great time!

Shopping together

2010-07-12T08:00:00.000-06:00

Cammie and Mackenzie

2010-07-09T08:00:00.000-06:00

Cammie has found the source of the never ending attention - the 8 month old. We just have to make sure that Mackenzie doesn't pull her ears or tail off.

E's Cast #2

2010-07-07T08:00:00.002-06:00

Ellie went in for an xray after 3 weeks. The day before the appointment, Ellie's teacher told me that she thought a ladybug *may* have crawled up Ellie's cast. Ellie was playing with them at school, and her teacher saw it at one moment, and it was gone the next. Ellie said it was up there, so that offered a bit of concern. So during her xray, I mentioned to the Dr that there was a chance that there was a ladybug in her cast. After viewing the xray, the radiologist and the Dr both agreed that there could be a ladybug in the cast. Since we would have to wear the cast for 3 more weeks, we all agreed to change it. After removing the very dirty pink cast, no ladybug was found, instead, what we all saw on the xray, was a large rock. A very large rock. In addition, there was about 1/2 a sandbox inside the cast. The Dr agreed to give her arm a break (ha-ha) for the weekend, to let the skin heal a bit, as long as we would come in the following Monday for a new cast.

So here it is - the blue cast. Cast #2. Scheduled for removal on July 2.

Mackenzie and Ellie - Bathtime

2010-07-05T08:00:00.002-06:00

Doesn't every parent need bribary photos of their kids in the bath together?

E and E

2010-07-03T21:15:00.000-06:00

After seeing Ellie's new playhouse, her friend Eva wanted to come over and play! Ellie hadn't seen Eva in almost a year, as they no longer go to school together, but when they got together, it was like no time had passed. The girls had a great time playing!

The Playhouse

2010-06-05T08:00:00.001-06:00

Ellie's new playhouse for the backyard

The Girls

2010-06-03T08:00:00.001-06:00

Just a few pictures of the girls

Ellie's Broken Arm

2010-05-31T08:00:00.003-06:00

Over the weekend, Ellie was playing at the playground and took a dive through the rungs of a ladder. She kept complaining that her arm hurt, so Pappa brought her back home, where we gave her some ice packs and let her watch cartoons. After about 4 hours of this treatment, and she still didn't feel like getting off the couch or eating anything (even candy), I knew it was time to go to the Dr. This was the most she has sat down EVER. I was dreading taking her to the ED, as I thought we would be there all day.

We arrived, and we were second in line behind another little girl with a hurt arm. We were brought back to the room, and E was checked out. She had her xray, and low and behold - ended up breaking both bones in her arm right above her wrist. I couldn't believe it, because she didn't even cry or anything. Such a super trooper I swear.

The wrapped E's arm up in the gigantic purple "band-aid" (as she refers to it) and we were on our way. 50 minutes and $150 later, we were done and on our way back home. She goes in on Tuesday to the orthopedist to get it cast.

She is suppossed to be taking it easy. Yea right. Last night she was jumping around the living room, and fell. Breaking her fall with her face directly into the tile. So we got to add first bloody nose to the weekend of experiences. Not one of our best!

The Butterfly Pavilion

2010-05-27T08:00:00.001-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, I took the girls to the Butterfly Pavilion. What was M's reaction that we were going on an adventure???

Here are a few pictures from the day.

Mackenzie turns 7 months!

2010-05-25T08:00:00.001-06:00

What can I say? I can't believe that she is already 7 months old! She is getting so big, and her personality is really apparent now. She stays relatively quiet when her sister is around, but as soon as E leaves the room, she is screeching and babbling all the time. She is sitting on her own most of the time, and has cut her third tooth! Unbelievable. I don't think that E had teeth this early.

She loves her food, and seems to enjoy the meats and veggies more than the fruits. She is attempting to crawl, but isn't making much progress unless she is on a slick floor.

Most days, I would say that she still favors me over Tom, but I guess that is to be expected, I am the MOM. (He He He).

I think she is about 18.5 lbs now, and I am not sure how long. I guess I will need to get out the tape measure!

Our typical M.O....

2010-05-23T22:06:00.001-06:00

As per our usual, Tom and I just couldn't wait any longer, and we went ahead and planted the garden, all of the flower beds (except one), and filled the pots on the patio with flowers a week too early. Shortly after everything was planted and looking stellar, we realized it was suppossed to SNOW the following week. SNOW! So, we decided to build some greenhouses to help support our newly planted veggies and flowers.

After setting the greenhouses up, and installing the lights, we measured a 4 degree temperature differential between outdoors and in the greenhouse. This may just be enough to carry us through the night of snow. (Yes, we really are that big of dorks that we have 2 outdoor thermometers).

We decided that the only thing that could make this better was a few Christmas floodlights. So in they went...our backyard looked awesome. A little like we were growing something illegal, but awesome none the less.

This totally helped. As the outside temp dropped, we maintained a constant 39 degrees in the greenhouse. Overnight, the outdoor temp hit 29 degrees (yes, we are that big of dorks that our outdoor thermometers will register the low and high) and the greenhouses stayed around 35-37 degrees! Well worth it!

The Pursuit of Happiness

2010-05-20T10:12:00.000-06:00

"Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" is probably the most famous phrase of the Declaration of Indpendence. I truly believe that if you really think about it, this little phrase means something different to everyone. I am quite partial to this phrase, maybe its because I had to write at least 3 papers on it during my schooling, or maybe its because I feel that this is a great way for a person to live their life. To me, life is about choice.

You make choices, and these choices, affect your life. I am not a big fan of people that feel that the world has wronged them, and they are stuck in this pattern of always being a victim. I don't believe in that. I think that (for the most part) you make the choices that shape your life. Now, don't get me wrong, there are some situations, where you can't help what just happened to you. Those are the times when I would say, "Man, I am so sorry - that totally bites!" Even though you weren't able to control the situation or event that just happened, you can control your reaction. Which in turn would control the outcome of the situation. If you mope around acting depressed and that the world has wronged you, the outcome will feel like the world has actually wronged you in some way. My advice? Suck it up, turn it around, and move on.

There is another side to all of this. I guess it can be classified as too many choices, and that is where the Declaration comes in. Another pet peeve of mine is the person who feels like the choices they make in their life is the only "right" choice, and they think everyone should live their lives the same way. I follow several different blogs during the week. They range from friend's blogs, food blogs, craft blogs, and blogs of people that I have never met, but somehow I managed to get hooked on what they had to say. Recently on one particular blog I read, the writer (I am not sure if this is intentional or not) comes across as a victim in several of her postings. In addition, her posting for today involved fast food, how terrible it is for you, and how NO ONE should eat it. That's great. Don't eat it. Now, for those of us who are partial to a little fast food, why should I stop eating it just because you don't like it? If my Pursuit to Happiness is eating a Taco Bell bean burrito at 3 in the morning then I should be able to. Me eating the bean burrito does not affect your life. It does not cause your cholesterol to go up, it does not clean out your colon from the 2 cups of fiber I just ate. No, it is mine and mine alone (ok maybe Tom should have a say in it :) ) and if it makes me happy and does not affect you - stay out of it.

I am a real believer in the Pursuit of Happiness. I really think that every person that lives on this earth should have the ability to do what makes them happpy EXCEPT if in your journey to the ultimate Pursuit of Happiness, you affect anyone else's journey. I know, that is a big EXCEPT. I think it's important to be there, because if what makes you happy is blowing up buildings or airplanes or whatever, you have just affected the journey of all of the people inside of that building or airplane. Which, in my opinion, is not ok.

I know, I have the choice to read this person's blog or not, and I am working on that decision as we speak. I guess I just don't get why people feel that we all have to live our lives the same, think the same, and be the same.

3.5 year E and 6 mon M photo shoot

2010-05-03T11:17:00.000-06:00

Pictures from the girls photo shoot over the weekend. M was not to happy about it, and was teething. Ellie was in good spirits, but only because she knew I had a bag of treats for her if she was good. Taking pictures of the 2 girls together is like herding cats.

Mackenzie - 6 month update

2010-04-30T08:57:00.000-06:00

Mackenzie is 6 months old already! It really is hard to believe how fast time flies, and how quickly they grow. Mackenzie is doing terrific - and she is off the charts developmentally. The Dr was a little irritated that I had already started feeding her solids, but once I explained that she was eating about 40 oz of fluids a day, he seemed ok with it. She is on (2) solids feedings a day, and 5 bottles. Tom and I are really enjoying the reduced bottle washing - as it seems that is the worst part of this stage. She is *almost* sitting on her own. She tends to get so excited that she tips over, or sometimes she is just to lazy, and would rather sit half slumped over :)

Mackenzie is still growing like a weed. I decided to compare the girls at their 6 month appointments, and not surprisingly, Mackenzie outweighed Ellie by a full pound, however, she is 1/2" shorter then Ellie. So she has a stockier build then Ellie did at that age. The head circumfrence is also a bit smaller, but not by much.

Ellie and Mackenzie LOVE each other. We couldn't have asked for a better relationship. Ellie loves to give her kisses and hugs and plays with her with some toys. M just loves to sit and watch her sister. I hope it lasts!

Playing in the Snow

2010-04-09T08:00:00.001-06:00

Ellie's first snowman!

The next Lindsay Vohn???

2010-04-07T08:00:00.002-06:00

Tom was really anxious to get Ellie up to the slopes this year and introduce her to skiing. We both agreed that the timing needed to be right. The weather needed to be perfect, not too crowded, and she had to be excited to go. So after a week of prep, Tom took the day off of work last week and took Ellie skiing.

She had a BLAST! She loved it! It took a little while to get warmed up to it. In fact, after a couple of runs, she wanted to go home, but Tom convinced her to take a break, and have a couple of snacks, and then they would try it again. In the end, it was Tom who decided to pack it in for the day, because of his sore back from hunching over all day.

Mackenzie misc photos

2010-04-05T08:00:00.000-06:00

Here are a few random pictures of Mackenzie over the past month

I got this Mom....

2010-04-02T08:00:00.000-06:00

As I mentioned earlier, Mackenzie has been on nebulizer treatments for a cold she has had since her 4 month birthday. Apparently she is getting used to it, and helps hold the mask in place.

The other 90% of the time, she is screaming her head off ripping the mask off her face.

Sister's

2010-03-30T08:00:00.000-06:00

The girls LOVE each other. As much as Mackenzie loves Ellie, Ellie loves Mackenzie. She loves to entertain her, hold her, watch cartoons with her....

Ellie keeps telling Mackenzie that they are going to be BEST FRIENDS forever. I really hope that is true...maybe I should get it on video so I can show it to them later as they are pulling each other's hair out in girly sister fights....

Food makes me SOOOO sleepy.....

2010-03-27T08:00:00.000-06:00

Mackenzie - 5 month update

2010-03-24T15:32:00.000-06:00

I can not believe that it is already time for the 5 month update! It seems like I just wrote the 4 month update last week. Time sure is flying by.

Mackenzie has been sick her entire 5th month of life. Unbelievable. We are finally doing nebulizer treatments to hopefully help her kick the cough. Unfortunately she wakes herself up most nights coughing. So she isn't getting the best rest, but she still sleeps really well.

Mackenzie started on food this month. We started with the lovely cardboard cereal they recommend, and have progressed to Sweet Potatoes, Squash, Apples, and Pears. Mackenzie LOVES pears. Although the other night, she did pass out while eating them. I haven't seen her eat something so enthusiastically before. I think we will probably move onto the greens next, as in peas and beans.

At her last Dr apt, Mackenzie was 16.5 pounds. So even being sick for an entire month has not prevented her from gaining weight.

She is doing awesome, and smiles all of the time. She recently started giggling. She is completely infatuated with her sister, and loves to watch her. Last night, I was giving Ellie a bath, and had Mackenzie with me. Mackenzie LOVED standing at the side of the tub and watching Ellie take a bath. Later this week we will put both of them in the bath together.

Check back next month for more updates!

St. Patty's Day

2010-03-22T13:43:00.000-06:00

The girls were ready for St. Patrick's Day! Both sported green hair ribbons for the day, and Ellie had on her metallic shamrock shirt.

Cereal vs Wall Paper Paste

2010-03-18T08:00:00.000-06:00

Its been almost 3 years since I had to deal with baby "cereal", and I use that term loosely. This stuff, when mixed, rivals the best wallpaper paste out there. I think that if you wanted to, you could use this as an eco-friendly version of wallpaper paste, and when you are done, eat the box, because I think that there is more nutritional value in the box.

Regardless, as recommended, this is the first semi-solid food we have given Mackenzie. The first go around was interesting, as she gave us a look like, "What the hell are you shoving in my mouth, and what do you expect me to do with this?" Poor girl.

And out it came....

Practicing

2010-03-15T08:00:00.000-06:00

Ellie practicing her snow angels in the house before she went outside to do them in the yard.

Towel Head!

2010-03-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

Because I have a picture of Ellie like this, I had to take one of M too...

Mackenzie - 4 months

2010-03-08T08:00:00.005-07:00

Mackenzie is now 4 months old, and growing like a weed. At her 4 month check up she was 15 lbs 5 oz, and 25 inches long. 75 percentile for weight and 75 percentile for height. She still far exceeds the growth of Ellie at the same age.

It seems that the reflux is all but gone, and she is doing well. She still spits up ALL the time, it doesn't matter if she just ate or not. It could be 2 hours since her last feeding, and out comes most of the previous one.

We recently started putting her in the exersaucer, which she seems to really enjoy. Gives her a different perspective on things. The only downfall is that Ellie wants to join her in the exersaucer. Unfortunately, I think she would still fit too.

Mackenzie's thick head of hair is quickly falling out as she sheds the cradle cap. I would much rather have the cradle cap go away, and have a bald headed baby, but it still makes me sad that she is losing all of her hair.

It appears as if her eyes are going to remain blue, to match her sister and her Mom. I am very excited about that. Ellie refers to Hazel colored eyes as "crazy" eyes, so I would prefer if Mackenzie didn't have those "crazy" eyes.

Welcome to the Dollhouse

2010-03-04T08:00:00.001-07:00

When I was a kid and would go to Michigan to visit my Grandparents they had this dollhouse for me to play with. I believe that it is something that my Great Grandpa made for my Mom. Its nothing special, just a box divided into rooms, with really tacky carpet. Oh the carpet? Actual scraps of carpet from my Grandparents house. Totally dates it.

Last summer my parents brought the dollhouse home from Michigan for me to give to Ellie. It has been sitting in the basement. Recently, Ellie has become very interested in roll playing, and pretend, so we pulled out the dollhouse.

She LOVES it! All of her little characters come to visit the house, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, The Little Einsteins, Kai-lan and her friends, etc. We have managed to piece together some furniture for the house from other toys and furniture from Tom's Mom.

The house reminds me of a college dorm / apartment a little bit. The carpet and decor is terrible, nothing matches, the furniture is hand me downs from other places, and there is always a ton of people there. I still haven't quite figured out who actually lives in the dollhouse!

Mackenzie's Baptism

2010-03-01T08:09:00.000-07:00

Mackenzie's baptism was a couple of weekends ago. It was a very nice, private ceremony on a Saturday with just the immediate family. Here are a few pictures from that day.

Mackenzie and Mom in her very pretty dress from Maureen. Maureen's Great Grandmother made her these beautiful linen dresses when she was a baby. She kept them around, and gave them to me at my baby shower. We selected one of the dresses for Mackenzie's baptism.

Pastor Vera allowed Ellie to help baptize her sister. Ellie LOVED helping, and was happy to be part of the ceremony.

Group shot. Pastor Vera, Tom, Mackenzie, me, Aunt Amanda & Uncle Nick (the godparents).

Why I love my job - Reason #6

2010-02-09T12:55:00.001-07:00

This section of my blog has been on hiatus for the past several months, mainly because my job had turned into a stay at home Mom while on maternity leave. I returned to work at the end of January, and realized, this time, that I was ready to return to work, and really looking forward to it - or parts of it anyway.

Upon returning to work, I realized how much I missed ADULT interactions and conversations. Don't get me wrong, I love my two girls more than anything, but I love being able to have a conversation that doesn't involve Dora the Explorer or explaining why we don't pee on people, the couch, the floor, etc. Plus, Mackenzie isn't much of a talker yet, so the conversations were really one sided.

Don't get me wrong, we still have conversations at work that would be classified as potty humor, however, the difference being, we all know why we shouldn't pee on the couch, or the floor, or the dog, or other people. So the explaination isn't necessary (for most of my co-workers).

The mental challenges that I go through on a daily basis at work far exceeds those of my days when I was staying at home. My brain needs this level of stimulation, in fact, I think it craves this level of stimulation. Poor Tom, probably got more phone calls from me at work while on maternity leave then he has in the entire 9+ years we have been married. The phone calls weren't even for important things, but maybe just re-capping what I learned on FOODTV that day, or TLC.

So to sum it up, Why I love my Job Reason #6 - Adult Interaction and a brain that has been saved from watching rotten TV.

Chuck E Cheese

2010-02-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

Tom and I wanted to get Ellie out of the house one weekend, and decided to venture over to Chuck E Cheese. Neither one of us had been there since we were kids, but had heard that Ellie would enjoy it, and she did. I think that she was more excited to see Chuck (or the creepy guy in a mouse costume) then she was to play the games or ride on the rides. Regardless, she had a good time.

What did Mackenzie think of Chuck E Cheese?

Mackenzie at Three Months

2010-02-03T08:00:00.001-07:00

It's hard to believe that Mackenzie is already 3 months old. Time really is flying by! She is growing so fast! We didn't have a Dr check up, so I can only estimate, but I bet she is about 14-1/2 pounds now, and from my rough measurements, she is over 24" long. She is significantly bigger than Ellie was in both height and weight (Ellie was always in the 30-50% range, whereas M is in the 80-90% range).

I believe that she has outgrown her acid reflux! We stopped giving her medication about a month ago, and she seems to be doing really well without it. I think that she has a REALLY sensitive stomach, and what I eat greatly affects her. So a couple of days this week we decided to have 100% formula days to see if her gassiness got any better, and it helped significantly. She doesn't seem to get nearly as uncomfortable - so I think we are going to move on to 100% formula all the time now.

Mackenzie started sleeping through the night for us at about 11 weeks. She crashes at night about 830pm, and we wake her up about 630am for school. I LOVE it! It really doesn't mean that I am getting that much sleep, as I usually don't go to bed until 11, and wake up about 53oam - but at least she is sleeping well!

She still has all of her dark hair - and it appears as if her eyes will be blue. Her hair is growing signficantly, and we may need a haircut before too long. I love it!

Next month we will have real statistics from the Dr's office - so until then!

The National Western Stock Show

2010-02-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

My Dad really wanted to take Ellie to the Stock Show this year thinking that she would really like to see the animals. So during my last week of maternity leave Poppa, Ellie, Mackenzie and myself all ventured down to the Stock Show. Ellie really enjoyed seeing the animals, I on the other hand could go another 25 years of my life without returning to the stock show.

The trip was really great timing, because Ellie was learning about farms and the animals on farms at school that week. They had just learned that milk comes from dairy cows, and that pigs roll in mud because they don't sweat. So when we arrived at the stock show, and we saw 100's of cows (literally 100's) Ellie wanted to know if those were dairy cows. I explained that No, those were not dairy cows. She asked if we don't get milk from those cows, what do we get? As delicately as I could put it I said, "Mickey Burgers". (Ellie eats hamburgers in the shape of Mickey Mouse). That explaination was enough, and she seemed ok with that. After awhile I got to thinking about our conversation and what she was learning at school. She had learned that the milk from dairy cows comes out of the udders on a cow. It kind of made me wonder what conclusion she had drawn as to where the Mickey Burgers were going to come from.

One of Ellie's favorite parts to the stock show was the sheep sheering. She could have stood there all day watching those sheep get "hair cuts" "because they are real dirty".

All in all, the stock show was a success, and Ellie had a great time. She even took a nap in the car on the way home.

What the hell are THESE things?

2010-01-29T08:45:00.001-07:00

This is what I imagine Mackenzie is saying once she discovered her hands a couple of weeks ago.

Mackenzie Smiles!

2010-01-14T08:00:00.001-07:00

First Smiles

Christmas Family Photo Part Deux

2010-01-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

The Thorpe Family Photo

All I want for Christmas....

2010-01-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

When Nick and I were little, we had this wooden horse hanging in the basement that we used to ride on. Well, my parents recently found it in their garage, and gave it to us to hang in our basement for Ellie.

Ellie saw it, and immediately told Santa all she wanted for Christmas was a rocking horse. So a week before Christmas, Tom and my Dad got the horse hung in the basement.

The immediate thoughts of a concerned Papa? She needs some mats or something underneatch it in case she falls, plus she should wear a helmet. Where were these thoughts when my brother and I were kids? We were left to our own devices to swing as high as we wanted, and hit whatever we wanted. Things are different for the grandkids I guess :)

Thanks Uncle Nick for letting us borrow the horse for the time being. It is a huge hit!

Christmas Photos

2010-01-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

Can I come down yet???

Santa came!

Looking at the stocking loot from SANTA!

Cammie got presents too!

Can you leave me alone? I am trying to sleep.

Sisters.

Will we ever get a good picture of the two of them together? One is always horsing around, and the other is sleeping...

The shirt says it all

2010-01-06T08:00:00.001-07:00

Mackenzie - 2 month update

2010-01-04T11:30:00.003-07:00

Mackenzie went in for her 2 month apt last month and is developing quite well. She weighed in at 12lbs 5 oz (80th percentile) and was 23" long (75th percentile). So already she is larger than what Ellie was at this age. She is starting to smile, and seems to interact more with us then just crying and sleeping.

She seems to be outgrowing her reflux, which we are extremely happy about, but she is still VERY gassy. Somedays I call her the dirty old man with the way she eliminates gas from her body.

She is doing well, and seems to even be coming out of the colic stage (with a little help from Mom and the elimination of coffee from their diets).

Christmas Family Photo

2009-12-28T21:47:00.002-07:00

We decided to take a family photo on Christmas, the first one in a long time, and the first one including my brother's fiance, Amanda. Surprisingly, after several takes, we finally got one. Parts of the photo shoot reminded me of the Target commercial where the Dad is trying to hook up the video camera, and the kids are telling him that it still isn't working.... Anyhow, here is the pic... enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T08:00:00.001-07:00

Where are the train tracks Poppa?

2009-12-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

A couple of weekends ago, we took the kids to the Hammond Candies Christmas thing. They have a bunch of activities for the kids, and free tours of the candy factory. Not to mention a huge selection of candy canes to purchase afterwards. Ellie had a great time, and it was quite the decision on what type of candy cane to get after the tour. She ended up with a cherry candy cane and a grape sucker.

One of the activities is a train ride around the parking lot. Ellie was a bit reluctant, and couldn't quite figure out how the train was going to work, with no train tracks. She decided to give it a go, and took a spin around the parking lot on the train with her Poppa.

All Dressed Up....

2009-12-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

We attended a Christmas Party in early December. Here are a few pictures of the girls dressed up. It is seriously painful to try and take pictures of the two of them together sometimes.

I love this picture. It looks like Mackenzie is saying WTH are you doing to me???

Faces

2009-12-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

Just Like Momma

2009-12-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

You don't honestly expect any child of mine to sleep with all of their limbs covered up do you?

This is one trait I know they inherited from me.

Big Sister!

2009-12-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures of Ellie being an awesome loving big sister!

Guitar Hero

2009-12-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

Ellie and Dad Rocking it out to Guitar Hero....

Their skill sets are about the same :)

Photoshoot photos of the girls

2009-12-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

1 month and Counting

2009-12-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

Mackenzie is now over 1 month old! I think by the time this posts, she will be 6 weeks! Amazing how fast time goes. As with tradition, I am going to take photos of Mackenzie on her monthly birthdays (just like I did with Ellie).

Here is the photo from her 1 month birthday:

Just for you Robin!

2009-12-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

What does 50+ Drs appointments get you?

2009-12-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

A free personalized swaddle me from the OB Dr!

Can they get any cuter?

2009-12-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

This picture was worth the pain of the family photo shoot a couple of weekends ago. Seriously, can they get any cuter?

Mackenzie Announcement

2009-12-06T12:01:00.001-07:00

Now that the official announcement has gone out in the mail....

Delayed Halloween Post...

2009-12-06T11:46:00.003-07:00

This year for Halloween, Ellie was a Monarch butterfly. I am just now realizing that I didn't get around to posting the pictures from trick or treating.

Once again this year, we will be using her leftover Halloween candy for the upcoming Gingerbread House.

First Bath at home

2009-11-17T08:00:00.000-07:00

We finally broke down and gave Kenzie her first bath at home. I was a little apprehensive, as I didn't want her black hair to fall out (it didn't). In all actuality, we are just a little more relaxed this time around, and getting the first bath in wasn't a huge priority until her hair looked like it had been greased back.

Tom realized while we were in the hospital, that he should take special notice of how they wash her hair, as we hadn't washed baby hair ever. E just got hair around her 2nd birthday - so this was going to be a new experience for us.

Here are a few pictures of her first bathing experience at home....

Mackenzie getting her tan on...

2009-11-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

We felt that Mackenzie just didn't have enough color when she came home from the hospital, so we decided that she should start tanning.

Just kidding.

When we left the hospital, Kenzie had an elevated bilirubin, and it continued to increase over the next few days. As a method of treatment, we were exposing her to as much sun as we could, as sun breaks down bilirubin.

We spent everyday of our first week at home at the pediatrician's office getting Mackenzie's bilirubin checked. Unfortunately, this all happened during the big snow storm last week, and we were without sun for a couple of days, and her Bilirubin continued to increase. So the pediatrician ordered a bilibed for us to use at home for a couple of days until her levels started to come down.

Doesn't it look futuristic?