Christmas

Again, not sure about the faces!  I had to act fast and take what I could get.  It is funny to see the changes in the boy's Christmas lists as they get older.  McKay would like thousands of pandas, a green silky tee-tee (blanket) and a light saber that really works.  It doesn't matter the color or the type, just ask long as it can really protect us from bad guys.  

Logan doesn't really want anything.  Finally he said a Lego Ninjago set.  We are adding some engineering toys to that, but he is just kind of happy to be here.  

We went to a little Christmas party where they had cookies and hot chocolate, met Santa, and got balloon swords.  I think this may be our last "magical" Christmas, and it has been so fun seeing the holiday through their eyes.  We are having a quiet Christmas at home this year, it is no fun traveling nine months pregnant, and I am excited to have the kids home from school.  Merry Christmas!

My Superhero Turns Seven!

How is it even possible that my little boy is already seven?  For his birthday this year he picked Golden Corral (because it has a chocolate fountain!) and bowling.  We have had some sickness in the family so we haven't been able to go bowling yet, but he loves it.  

I haven't been able to load Logan's video, but I will keep trying.  Since he is in school all day I don't have as much time to play with him as McKay, but I sure do love this sweet boy.  In honor of his seventh birthday, seven reasons why I love my Logan:

1.  He is such a great big brother.  Without asking, he always brings home half of everything he gets for McKay.  It is just an automatic response for him.

2. He is such a smart little cookie.  At our parent/teacher conference his teacher said he hasn't missed a science or history question on homework or tests for the entire year!  She also said he leads the discussion when talking about math.  He does not get that from me.

3.  He still wants to hang out with me.  I told him he could have a playdate with anyone, and he chose me!  We are going to go paint something, since he missed out on all the ceramic classes.

4.  I think he is a really cute stage right now.  I just love looking at his cute little elfin face, especially when he spikes his hair.

5. He already loves his baby sister.  He has said that he is grateful for her on his primary worksheets and has told me that he will share his beloved kitty lion with her.

6.  He has been working so diligently on his kata, taking it so seriously as he tries to succeed.

7. He loves his Daddy!

Ceramics Class

McKay has been taking some classes through MudPie Studios and the Deer Family Resource Center.  We have painted mugs, plates, piggy banks and pumpkin candle holders.  But I think this is my favorite one.  He was supposed to make a Thanksgiving plate with his cute little handprint.  Instead he made a panda.  Of course.  The green around is bamboo and cactus. Because, you know, pandas like cactus.

I think the best part is the little floppy ear hanging down.

They did it!

Um. I'm not really sure about McKay's crazy face here.  But it was late and time to go to bed, so I let it slide.  The boys took their kata tests in karate, and both passed!  I wish I had taken a video, they did so well!  Their sensei said they both did 'excellent.'  Loren started taking karate in August, and has been helping them prepare.  It really made a big difference.  This was McKay's very first kata test, so he was very proud.  They might have practiced with light sabers, I don't remember. 

Soccer!

Another fall, another soccer season!  I love that Loren continues to coach the boys. He is doing a great job with the kids, they are learning new skills while getting some energy out. This year the boys were much more aggressive, even McKay got into the mix, throwing himself in there with the huge 6-year-olds.  (Also, props to our friend Marielle for the photo bomb!)

Logan told me that his biggest talent was "blocking the ball."  He does well on defense.  McKay likes to play 'keeper.'  He has had some pretty good saves in that position. As a team I think they have more wins than losses, but I am not sure.  It is still for fun, so they don't remember their overall record. Mostly I think they just like the snacks.

This soccer thing is serious business!  They decided they wanted to play for the school this winter, so we will keep this party going.  

Decisions

This is our little sunshine, and we so love him.  Besides school, we have had to make a few other decisions regarding McKay.  We always knew he was small, often between the 1-3% for height and weight.  I never really worried about it, besides the fact that he couldn't get into a booster yet.

But this year at our well-child exam the doctor mentioned that McKay had not grown in the last year.  At all.  Not even a quarter of an inch.  In the 4-5 year children are supposed to grow 2-2 1/2 inches.  And so we started a process of trying to find out why McKay wasn't growing.  He had to have x-rays of his arm, various blood tests completed, and meet with a pediatric endocrinologist.  This all ended with his hospitalization for a day, where tests were run for Celiacs, Crohns, liver and kidney function, and human growth hormone.  It was a rough go.  We were told we would be in the hospital for three hours, seven hours later we were still there.  It was hard because McKay had to fast, and so went 18 hours without eating and was starving, and a little sad.  He didn't cry, though, even when they couldn't find a vein and had to do the IV several times.  McKay finally fell asleep at the end.  He did manage to talk the nurses out of three toys, so all was not lost.  Later, he got a Star Wars Build-a-Bear from our dear friend Brit, so now he thinks it was awesome.

Out of all those tests we found that McKay does have a lack of HGH.  He passed the test, but barely.  Because of his low levels we had the option of starting him on human growth hormones, which would have to be injected daily until he started puberty.  The good news is that his bone scan showed that he has 3-year-old bones, rather than 5-year-old bones, which means he still has growth potential.  His body hasn't had that growth spurt yet, and so it still has the ability to catch up on its own.  After much discussion, Loren and I decided to wait on any treatment.  We will see the endocrinologist again in February, and we will continue to monitor.  He is little so we are going to give his body some time to work on its own.   He was such a trooper through all the tests, we sure do love our little guy!

Thanksgiving!

I love Thanksgiving.  A holiday to eat food and watch football.  It is amazing!  This year was extra special because we had Julie, my Mom, and my niece Amanda come to visit.  Amanda, Julie and I got to go on some campus visits and enjoy the awesomeness that is Arizona in November. Obviously, my boys were super shy.

Logan got a nerf archery set for his birthday the week before Thanksgiving, and much time was spent running from the nerf arrows. 

This was a fun game had by all.

Until my Mom emerged victorious! The boys got a lot of grandma time.  They made cut-out cookies and cinnamon rolls (twice!) and got to take my Mom to school for Grandparent's Day and lunch.

The boys got to play with their cousins, while the adults got to go watch the Hunger Games. Loren put the hurt on people during the Turkey Bowl, and then regretted it for the next three days. The girls went to Last Chance to find some deals, and did some Black Friday shopping.  

I'm now 30 weeks!  We had our 3D ultrasound... Mom says she looks like McKay.  I think she looks like a potato.  (How do you see anything in those pictures?)  Right now her name is Optimus Prime Batman.  Thanks, Loren.

Must. Resist. Temptation!

Schrodinger sleeps in the sink.  Everyday.  I so want to turn on the water!

But this photo has nothing to do with anything, I just thought it was funny.  I wanted to update my family and friends with a few things that have been going on this fall.  Fall is always my busiest time of year, I have Juniors preparing for their PSATs, Seniors getting reading for tests, and then Senior applications to read and edit.  I kind of want to take a picture of my calendar for October so you can see what a mess I was.  Poor McKay was so used to going somewhere else at lunch, since I always had a client, that he got in the car when I picked him and always asked "Where to today?"

I also did something stupid and agreed to three classes this semester.  Besides my normal Introduction to Communications class for Rio Salado I also picked up a Public Speaking course.  It is much more time and energy intensive.  It is kind of fun, though. Finally, I agreed to teach a Pathways course for BYU-Idaho.  I love, love, love my cute students through BYU-I, but it takes a lot of time.  So if I have been a little non-responsive that is why!  Oh, also, pregnant.

Video Update McKay

First Day of School

I find school decisions to be hard.  Really, really hard.  For the past two and a half years we have been debating back and forth on whether we should put McKay in Kindergarten this year.  His birthday isn't until the first week of school, so he would be the youngest in his class.  He would also be the smallest (I'll talk about that in another post).  And he's a boy.  We debated.  And debated.  Finally, Loren said we were putting him in.  I was relieved someone else made the decision.  It is only half day so it should be a smooth transition.

Then we had to decide where to put them!  I was not impressed with our local elementary school.  I have loved their preschool, but not their grade school.  We also really loved Ridgeline Academy for Logan, but our amazing teacher left to get her nursing degree.  With a baby coming on Valentine's Day I didn't want to keep making the drive up to Carefree.  I was worried about Logan, as he is one smart little cookie.  He scores in the top 99% for math and reading, and I wanted him to be challenged.

However, during the winter a few things clicked into place.  Anthem Prep, which has the top scores in our area, decided to open up grades K-2 (previously you had to wait until 3rd grade). Then, they moved to a building right down the street from us!  Sold! We signed up for the lottery and luckily Logan got in!  Once McKay had sibling status he got in a week later. 

This year Logan has Ms. Murdaugh for 1st Grade and McKay has Ms. Garretson for K.  I signed up to be McKay's room moom.  Being at a charter school requires a LOT more of everything.  More school supplies.  More parent involvement.  More homework.  More Latin! But I hope it turns out to be a good decision.

McKay's Birthday!

How is it possible that my baby is five?  It just cannot be!  Since this is a big birthday we let McKay have his very first birthday party.  I let him choose everything so it was kind of a Panda/Star Wars/lame party.  One day the boys are going to be big enough to realize how lame their parties are.  Then we are in trouble. 

I made a panda cake.  But it is August so the frosting was trying to slide off.  We also played panda themed games.  There are a lot more than you would think if you are willing to have no shame.

He loves Star Wars!  And cheesy smiles.  There were some light saber battles as well.  Not related in any way to pandas.

He also loves weapons!  And his friends.  We sure do love our big (little) guy.

Evidence

Just in case you needed a visual

Summer karate

Another way to get through the summer is to do indoor activities.  So we let McKay join Logan in karate.  Best. Move. Ever.  It was inside and they got worn out.  Win. Win.

McKay started in the white belt group but after a few weeks was integrated into the yellow belt class.  On his first test he skipped the yellow belt and went straight to green.  He is very loud.  It is hilarious to see this little tiny body... and then hear his ferocious "Kai!!!"

At the end of the summer Logan moved to a green belt with a blue stripe.  He is happy because those are his favorite colors.  Logan wants to keep going in karate until he is a ninja.

We take karate very seriously around here.

The staycation where I got fresh with a giraffe

Another of our summer staycations was a visit to the Out of Africa Park in Camp Verde, about an hour north of us.  We got to drive around in busses and look at some animals close up.  I loved it.  It was pretty hot and dusty so we did the tours and shows and then were ready for some yummy food and shade.  As a side note, if you go the month of your birthday it is free.  Which means we will always go when it is blasted hot because August is birthday month for me and McKay.

Perhaps too close up.  It got a little weird after this.

The boys enjoyed seeing the animal shows, especially one where a tiger jumped in the water and did tricks.  Logan, McKay and I all took some time to feed the bengal his yummy steak treats. 

I promise the tiger was interested in the treat.  He was just a little fastidious.  I appreciate a clean tiger.  Maybe the grooming habits will give me time to get away when he decides I am a bigger piece of meat.  

I want to take him home and cuddle him.  Loren promises that is not how it would shake down.

Fun fact: Here is the first shot of our baby number three!  I am three months pregnant in this photo, we are expecting HER on Valentine's Day!

Summer Fun!

It gets insanely hot in the summer in Arizona.  The only way to make it through is to stay as wet as possible.  We did this in a few ways.  First, the boys each took two sessions of swimming lessons.  Logan can now do the four strokes, and is getting pretty proficient.  I tried to talk him into swim team, but he wasn't interested. McKay can now take a breath while swimming--which has opened whole new worlds of swimming self sufficiency!  Hallelujah! 

The boys loved to go to the water park with Dad after work.  McKay loves to jump off the high dive.  I did it once.  I'm done.  Logan will jump off the high dive if forced, but much prefers doing tricks on the low dive.  Frankly, their preference is to climb all over Dad.  We also spent some time at the splashpad and crashing friend's pools.

Finally, we took a few staycations.  One weekend we went to the Point, and made it our mission to go to all six pools.  We also got to have dinner, visit a cheese shop, and go crazy at a candy store.  Good times, people, good times. 

Another weekend we went to Slide Rock, which is about an hour and a half north at a state park by Sedona.  Loren had fond childhood memories so we thought we'd check it out.  It was freezing!  Way too cold for our Arizona boys. We each went down the natural rock slide a few times, but then were done and just kind of hung out in the warmer shallow water.  

See those cliffs in the background?  Yeah, McKay jumped off them.  About twenty people clapped.  He didn't hear it, but it was still impressive.  The boys spent some quality time climbing rocks, just like little boys should. I don't think Loren found the slides as much fun as an adult as he did as a child.

Whoops! Missed a holiday.

Our Easters are pretty low-key occasions. This year I took the kiddos to a little party thrown by the Girl Scouts.  They didn't find any eggs, but they met this handsome fellow.

Later, I took them to a Easter activity thrown by a local church.  They had lunch, bouncy houses and an Easter Egg hunt.  On Easter Sunday we enjoyed church, had a small-scale hunt at our house, and had a ham.  I also had to finally cave and let the boys dye Easter Eggs.  I managed to go six years without it, that's pretty good, right?  My phone ate my pictures, so you'll just have to imagine them at the table in their underwear. Needless to say, no one likes to eat eggs. 

Magic Kingdom

We only spent a day at the Magic Kingdom, but we made sure to hit all the highlights.  We got there early in the morning before there were any lines, so we managed to hit the Big Thunder Railroad, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Flying Carpets, the Track, Space Mountain, and the Toy Story ride before lunch!

And what a lunch it was.  Fantasyland has been revamped, so we got to eat at the brand new Belle's castle.  It was amazing.  Logan found a lion gargoyle.

And McKay found some armor.  The food was amazing, and was the same price as a hamburger.  The boys surprised me and both ordered ahi tuna.  Delicious.  And super cool.  We also tried the new Little Mermaid ride, but it was too princessy for the boys.  They liked the carousel, the Flying Dumbo, and Splash Mountain. 

I enjoyed Mickey's Philharmonic, the President's hall and the train because I got to sit down!  McKay took a little nap in the hall of president's, which was a good little break for him.  The kiddos loved getting snacks and watching all the characters walk by.  But not too closely.

We were so, so sad to leave Florida, but excited to go to Colorado for Loren's graduation.

Epcot Part 2

Julie loves Epcot, see how saucy she is? We did some girly stuff while the boys went on the fast spinny rides.  Then we joined up and went to Captain E.O. I know. Loren insisted.

McKay thought he would grab some shade with me in China.

The boys grabbed some soda from around the world and traveled in style.

In France I got to meet Belle, my favorite Princess.  We also managed to stop and eat some eclairs and pastry.  I love, love, love the meal plan.  

McKay had a very intense conversation with Belle, but is still unconvinced on the awesomeness of Princesses.

Then we ran to the Magic Kingdom for a little dinner.

And managed to run into this guy!  The boys warmed up to Mickey faster than Chip and Dale.  Good looking group!

Animal Kingdom

My Mom's favorite park is the Animal Kingdom.  It is the smallest park, but we still managed to find some fun.  We went to the Lion King show, which has amazing costumes and puppetry.

Logan loves lions and was excited to be chosen to go up and make music and parade around.  McKay was surprisingly too shy to go up with him.

We went on a safari and saw quite a few new animals. The boys were interested in the big cats.  The giraffes got really close to the jeep, you could have touched them if you wanted to.

We also went to DinoLand and played a few games.  The boys won a saber tooth tiger and a shark so they were happy.

This was technically in Epcot, but it goes with the animal theme.  The boys are not real sure about Chip and Dale.  They had a great time swapping pins from their lanyards, and Animal Kingdom was relaxed enough that they could leisurely pursue the pins and collect their favorites. 

Epcot Part 1

After a brief stop at the hotel to enjoy light sabers we headed to Epcot for dinner and fireworks.

The boys enjoyed proving their manliness in Japan.

While Loren and I enjoyed the romantic fountains in Italy.

And McKay enjoyed dancing in Africa...

... and discovering the multitude of baby bears in China.  We were pretty beat after waiting until 10 to see all the fireworks, but had plans to spend a whole day at Epcot later.