I didn't take any pictures this week...boring.... but I wanted to write a quick note anyway, by way of journaling for posterity's sake.... I never have time to write in my personal journal, so this has to count.
We have officially finished our front yard. On Friday we laid the sod. It was 105 degrees. Kaeleb was in charge of hosing us off when we got too hot. It looks great and we are so happy. It only took us 4 months to do the yard, which means we are definitely hiring someone for the back yard next year.
A few things we want to remember from this weekend are: a fun dinner at Nathan and Mary Lynne's (McKay is getting rounder and is a sweet little baby), finally getting the garage swept out on Saturday (Howie shed ginormous furballs all over it), going to the temple with Tam and Dave while the girls babysat (We thought Bren was outgrowing his intense separation anxiety.... nope. There were tears beyond tears and I had to hold him for an hour after we got home.), and we had a nice visit tonight with our friends, the Frisbey's. They have a little miracle baby (Wow- our friends and their sweet miracle babies- it has been a good year for that.) Karmindy was born with a pinched aorta and two holes in her heart. She had surgery at just a few days old and they spent 3 weeks at Primary Children's. She is home now, healthy and oh, so beautiful!
Kaeleb is growing up so fast. He is learning to communicate at a more sophisticated level about his feelings. He is trying really hard to show us how he feels and the love in our family has grown over just the past 2 days. We love that little guy so much. I watched him walk away into another room today and he looked so grown up. I felt a sense of awe and gratitude for the person he is. I envisioned myself watching him walk into his teenage years and beyond and wondered how I will feel. (Besides old.)
Brennan is standing for longer periods of time and attempted a step yesterday while the girls were babysitting. He is still fixated on the word "Wow". He also said "Uh-oh" yesterday. He is a unique, spirited little guy. During our Primary class today we were trying to get the kids to settle down and after shushing them for awhile we realized it wasn't them making all the noise, it was Brennan.
This week we will be getting ready for a McDaniel Family Reunion in Midway. We are looking forward to seeing my Mom, Gerritt, Melissa and the cousins on that side of the family and it sounds like there are some fun things on the agenda.... and of course it is always a "treat" to hang out with 80 people we have never met and listen to them reminisce about the days of yesteryear. We will grin and bear it.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Happy Father's Day
To our hiking, biking, jumping, spinning, kicking, flipping, flopping, swinging, blading, skating, loving, funny, smart Dad..... We love you.
Brennan took the liberty of "rearranging" the pantry for me. It is his favorite place to play.
Here is Kaeleb in his fancy new spaceship extraordinaire. He named it "Rocket".
Next, we have Kaeleb at Lagoon. We spent the weekend up North. While Kwint went to LARP we went with Grandma and Grandpa, Jaiden, Maddy and Roma to Lagoon. My batteries went dead after this and I forgot extras, so I have only two pictures. It is ok, because there were only two rides he would go on. All the other kiddie rides were "too fast". He says he will go on them when he is bigger.
We had a great day at Lagoon. Normally it is not my favorite place (Kaeleb gets his love of fast and scary rides from me), but we had a good time. The weather was so nice (only 80) and I didn't have to ride any rides!! The girls all had a blast and Kaeleb enjoyed a 4 dollar snow cone. Who the heck sells a cup of shaved ice for 4 dollars? Who buys one? (It was Grandpa, not me. Tee Hee. :))
That night we went to hang out with "Aunt" Dee Dee, Tracen, Tyler, and Tate. It was so very nice to be with our friends. There were relatively few mishaps, including Tyler road-rashing his nose and the kids had a blast. Tracen told me all about Harry Potter and quizzed me on the proper way to expell the dementors and other such facts. Very smart kid.
Saturday morning Kaeleb helped Grandma in the yard. He hauled weeds and branches off to the dumpster for 2 hours and earned himself some new shoes. It was Grandpa's birthday so we celebrated with marble cake.
We hope all the Dad's out there had a fabulous Father's Day. I can't speak for Kwint, but I think he enjoyed it. 6 weeks ago or so Kaeleb decided he wanted to get Kwint a purple light saber and Grandpa a green light saber. He earns quarters here and there doing extra chores and yard work, so he used a couple jars full of money to pay for half of the light sabers. Grandpa was thrilled. He thought it was so sweet that Kaeleb put so much thought into getting him something he thought he would love. Now they can play Star Wars together. Grandpa is Yoda, of course. Kwint will put his to good use, I can promise that.
Brennan is standing on his own for a few seconds at a time. It's fun. He is really fast at crawling, so we'll see how soon he decides to abandon it for slow and shaky walking. He goes all over the house. If hears Kwint in the farthest recess of the house (our closet) he will cruise back to find him. He chases Kaeleb around giggling as he goes.
Brennan's ever expanding vocabulary now includes the words "Wow" and "Oh" and the sentence, "Ohhhhh, Wooow!" He has been saying it constantly for 3 days. Anything that is remotely fascinating to him gets the honor of "Ohhh, woooow!!"
Well, that's the latest here. We hope all is well for all of you. We love you!!
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Ailments and Treasured Moments
So much for normal. This week I only left the house twice, once to teach yoga and once to take Bren to the doctor.
Kaeleb ended up having his fever last through Monday, we are assuming it was a funky fever-only virus, because he didn't have any other symptoms. Of course, he milked it for all it was worth and we spent the day snuggling on the couch. He watched lots of Little Einsteins, Sesame Street and Charlie and Lola.
Tuesday we had a picnic. It was our anniversary, but things have been so busy around here that we hadn't had time to plan anything. That is an obvious signal that we need to slow down. We woke up frustrated because here it was, the celebration of 8 years of our love.... and we didn't have anything to do. Kwint worked all day and I did bills and laundry. I planned a picnic in the park, so that at least dinner would be different. However, it was blistering hot and that doesn't make for a fun picnic and Brennan was asleep in his crib at dinner time. Everyone knows you never wake a sleeping baby!
So, Kaeleb and I laid out blankets on the living room floor and packed our cooler full of PBJ and fruit. He was so excited about it. He helped me set out paper plates and filled the paper cups with water. He was dancing around gleefully waiting to surprise Dad. Dad loved it. We ate our picnic and watched National Treasure 2. We both agreed that it was a fabulous way to celebrate our marriage- by doing something out of the ordinary and having fun with each other and our little boys. We ended up being glad we hadn't planned something else. But next year we're thinking bigger....
During the movie Brennan came down with a fever. We assumed it was the same thing Kaeleb had and didn't worry too much. But then he stopped eating eating and drinking and we got a bit worried. By Wednesday night we were ready to take him in, he was dehydrated and his skin was ashen. We said a prayer and he drank a bottle, and then his fever broke and he played his heart out for 4 hours, crawling all over the house. We thought, "Phew!! Glad that's over!"
Until midnight when he woke up screaming, with the fever back and refused to eat again. Thursday morning we took him to the Instacare and found that he has good old fashioned Herpes Simplex. Yes, the cold sore virus, a gift from his brother, which he got from me, which I got from my dear old Dad. Apparently, the first time it hits it can cause what sweet little Bren got- a mouth FULL of canker sores. The doc let me look at his tonsils and they looked like honeycombs. I felt so sad for him and don't blame him for not eating. The doctor gave us Tylenol with Codeine so he could eat and sleep. He lost weight- down to a meager 19 pds 15 oz.
Usually herpes lasts a week or two, but thanks to a Priesthood blessing he was better two days later. We are so glad to have our wild and crazy kid back, as exhausting as he can be. One of our favorite things Brennan does is carry toys around in his mouth. It's pretty smart, that way he has his hands free to crawl. It looks hilarious, especially when he carries his toy keys around. He reminds us of the dog on the 1st Pirates movie.
Kaeleb felt a bit lost while Bren was sick. I had to hold the baby 24/7 because he couldn't even sleep on his own. So, every time he asked for something he heard "Not right now, I have to take care of the baby." In defense, Kaeleb developed a few phantom pains and ailments. Every time Brennan cried, Kaeleb would cry. He couldn't bend his knee because it hurt (except when he forgot that it hurt), and had a "hard spot" in his side. On Thursday Kaeleb mysteriously contracted 2 canker sores which I couldn't see, but they were most certainly there. I was so thankful for the Codeine because once Bren was sleeping so much Kaeleb had me back and all his ailments disappeared. Phew! He is so funny and full of life.
Kaeleb is learning a lot these days. He loves Sesame Street and remembers things he sees on it. He told Kwint that 2 plus 2 is four, and I didn't tell him that. He is also asking a lot of questions about words and what things start with. Yesterday he said "Mom, extra starts with X!" I hated to tell him it starts with E because I was so happy he'd put that together. He memorizes his books and pretends to read them, running his fingers across the words saying them slowly as if he were reading them. He can read "the" and we are working on "it, in, is" etc. This is a fun age because we have great conversations about real things and he's still small enough to be sweet. If I leave him and Bren playing together to fold laundry or something he will yell across the house "MOM! YOU FORGOT YOUR GUYS!" and I come running back "Oh no! My guys!" He also still loves our morning snuggle. If he wakes up while I am still working out he will come sit by me, give me pointers like "No, Mom, your hand is supposed to be like this." or tell me that the girls on my yoga show are not modest, then when I'm done he will say "Mom! You forgot your morning snuggle!" So I sit down and hold him and he doesn't even care that I'm all sweaty. He says "Let's stay like this forever!" Love that kid.
Friday night Kwint and I went on a real date! We decided to celebrate our anniversary again by doing something we never do- dinner and a movie. We ate at a yummy asian food place and then went to Great Harvest Bread and got a big pink sugar cookie. We saw Indiana Jones and laughed until we fell off our chairs. We loved it, it was a perfect night. It is always nice to go on dates. We always look at each other after dropping the kids off and say "Wow! Hi! How are you? Long time no see!" I think we do a pretty good job at staying close even with our hectic schedule and rambunctious children, but it is different when we are alone and not distracted. Very nice.
So, even though it wasn't normal, there were enough bright spots in the week to treasure it.
Kaeleb ended up having his fever last through Monday, we are assuming it was a funky fever-only virus, because he didn't have any other symptoms. Of course, he milked it for all it was worth and we spent the day snuggling on the couch. He watched lots of Little Einsteins, Sesame Street and Charlie and Lola.
Tuesday we had a picnic. It was our anniversary, but things have been so busy around here that we hadn't had time to plan anything. That is an obvious signal that we need to slow down. We woke up frustrated because here it was, the celebration of 8 years of our love.... and we didn't have anything to do. Kwint worked all day and I did bills and laundry. I planned a picnic in the park, so that at least dinner would be different. However, it was blistering hot and that doesn't make for a fun picnic and Brennan was asleep in his crib at dinner time. Everyone knows you never wake a sleeping baby!
So, Kaeleb and I laid out blankets on the living room floor and packed our cooler full of PBJ and fruit. He was so excited about it. He helped me set out paper plates and filled the paper cups with water. He was dancing around gleefully waiting to surprise Dad. Dad loved it. We ate our picnic and watched National Treasure 2. We both agreed that it was a fabulous way to celebrate our marriage- by doing something out of the ordinary and having fun with each other and our little boys. We ended up being glad we hadn't planned something else. But next year we're thinking bigger....
During the movie Brennan came down with a fever. We assumed it was the same thing Kaeleb had and didn't worry too much. But then he stopped eating eating and drinking and we got a bit worried. By Wednesday night we were ready to take him in, he was dehydrated and his skin was ashen. We said a prayer and he drank a bottle, and then his fever broke and he played his heart out for 4 hours, crawling all over the house. We thought, "Phew!! Glad that's over!"
Until midnight when he woke up screaming, with the fever back and refused to eat again. Thursday morning we took him to the Instacare and found that he has good old fashioned Herpes Simplex. Yes, the cold sore virus, a gift from his brother, which he got from me, which I got from my dear old Dad. Apparently, the first time it hits it can cause what sweet little Bren got- a mouth FULL of canker sores. The doc let me look at his tonsils and they looked like honeycombs. I felt so sad for him and don't blame him for not eating. The doctor gave us Tylenol with Codeine so he could eat and sleep. He lost weight- down to a meager 19 pds 15 oz.
Usually herpes lasts a week or two, but thanks to a Priesthood blessing he was better two days later. We are so glad to have our wild and crazy kid back, as exhausting as he can be. One of our favorite things Brennan does is carry toys around in his mouth. It's pretty smart, that way he has his hands free to crawl. It looks hilarious, especially when he carries his toy keys around. He reminds us of the dog on the 1st Pirates movie.
Kaeleb felt a bit lost while Bren was sick. I had to hold the baby 24/7 because he couldn't even sleep on his own. So, every time he asked for something he heard "Not right now, I have to take care of the baby." In defense, Kaeleb developed a few phantom pains and ailments. Every time Brennan cried, Kaeleb would cry. He couldn't bend his knee because it hurt (except when he forgot that it hurt), and had a "hard spot" in his side. On Thursday Kaeleb mysteriously contracted 2 canker sores which I couldn't see, but they were most certainly there. I was so thankful for the Codeine because once Bren was sleeping so much Kaeleb had me back and all his ailments disappeared. Phew! He is so funny and full of life.
Kaeleb is learning a lot these days. He loves Sesame Street and remembers things he sees on it. He told Kwint that 2 plus 2 is four, and I didn't tell him that. He is also asking a lot of questions about words and what things start with. Yesterday he said "Mom, extra starts with X!" I hated to tell him it starts with E because I was so happy he'd put that together. He memorizes his books and pretends to read them, running his fingers across the words saying them slowly as if he were reading them. He can read "the" and we are working on "it, in, is" etc. This is a fun age because we have great conversations about real things and he's still small enough to be sweet. If I leave him and Bren playing together to fold laundry or something he will yell across the house "MOM! YOU FORGOT YOUR GUYS!" and I come running back "Oh no! My guys!" He also still loves our morning snuggle. If he wakes up while I am still working out he will come sit by me, give me pointers like "No, Mom, your hand is supposed to be like this." or tell me that the girls on my yoga show are not modest, then when I'm done he will say "Mom! You forgot your morning snuggle!" So I sit down and hold him and he doesn't even care that I'm all sweaty. He says "Let's stay like this forever!" Love that kid.
Friday night Kwint and I went on a real date! We decided to celebrate our anniversary again by doing something we never do- dinner and a movie. We ate at a yummy asian food place and then went to Great Harvest Bread and got a big pink sugar cookie. We saw Indiana Jones and laughed until we fell off our chairs. We loved it, it was a perfect night. It is always nice to go on dates. We always look at each other after dropping the kids off and say "Wow! Hi! How are you? Long time no see!" I think we do a pretty good job at staying close even with our hectic schedule and rambunctious children, but it is different when we are alone and not distracted. Very nice.
So, even though it wasn't normal, there were enough bright spots in the week to treasure it.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Fun in the Sun
What a week!!
We blogged about Monday already.... we went from an exciting, action-packed weekend to an exciting, fun-filled week followed by another exciting, jam-packed weekend. Then we crashed.
Tuesday night Kris, Barbi, and kids came to town. We also got our river rock delivered and finished the dry washes with the help of our neighbor Steve and Kris and Barbi. (All we have left is sod!!)
Wednesday we had a spaghetti bonanza. Thursday we went to the new city water park where they have a splash pad and a St. George style lazy river. Kwint and Tam met us for lunch, since they were working while the rest of us played all week. I will definitely be taking the boys there at least once a week this summer.
Friday we went swimming in the day and "camping" in the evening. Most of you know how much I despise camping. However, I have fond memories of it as a child and do not want to deprive Kwint (loves camping) or the kids of it, so I made the foolish mistake of telling Kwint "I'd like to try to ease my way back into camping once in awhile." He thought he would blab to our friends "Gina wants to go camping!!" We decided on a slow, easy, work-back-in plan. The first installment was Friday night. Kris, Talan, and Saige accompanied us on a "trip" to Cedar Pocket with our friends, the Schencks and the Jenkins.
We made foil dinners on a fire pit, played in a nearby river, and roasted marshmallows for S'mores. We had so much fun. We love our friends and it was great to laugh and play together. The kids all had a blast. They chased ants and got soaking wet in the river. We planned on "wading" which quickly became swimming. Then, the best part... we came home, took baths, and went to sleep in our beds. My kind of camping!!
Saturday we spent the day at the lake. We took turns going out on the boat and playing on the beach. (Below is not a picture of Dave's boat, it is the guy's next to us on the beach. Dave's boat is way cooler, it is orange and black.) Kwint wakeboarded and took a turn on the wake skate. The kids knee boarded- Kaeleb went out for the first time, with Aunt Tammy behind him. We were so proud of him. I think his favorite part was the "speeder boat" Saige pushed him around in.
We got very sandy, sun-burned and tired, but all in the name of a good time.
Saturday night we attended Sadie's dance performance with Premier Dance Company. We were so proud of her, both Kwint and I welled up with tears watching her dance. Someday we'll have our own daughter and keep Kleenex in business.
Sunday morning we got up early to go to McKay's baby blessing, which was very sweet and tender, and by then we could see that our little Kaeleb was maxed out in the action department. By the early evening he had a fever. He was dehydrated from being in the heat so much all weekend and he was so busy playing that he didn't stop to drink much. After much coaxing from Tam and I (and bribes of fruit snacks) he drank a cup of Kool-Aid and began to perk up. At home we sat him down to watch Little Einsteins with 4 sippy cups full of juice, milk, and two kinds of water (as per his request-one with ice and one without). He was much better by bedtime. We love our Kaeleb.
Bren is adding new words to his baby-vocab. He says "Na-Nah." Which means "Night-night.", when he is tired. It took me two weeks to figure out what he was saying. I thought he wanted a banana. He also says "done." when eating, which is nice. It cuts back on the crying when they start talking, although he isn't any less loud. He loves to hear himself scream just to scream. Happy, high-pitched screams, but screams nonetheless.
Brennan's favorite game is to "get" Mama, Dada, or Bub-bub. If we are sitting or laying on the floor he crawls up behind us, climbs up to standing (using us for support he loses the element of surprise, but he doesn't know that we know he is there.) then he screams and launches himself onto us and puts whatever body part of ours he can find into his mouth.
We are looking forward to a nice, slow paced normal week. Whatever normal is.
We blogged about Monday already.... we went from an exciting, action-packed weekend to an exciting, fun-filled week followed by another exciting, jam-packed weekend. Then we crashed.
Tuesday night Kris, Barbi, and kids came to town. We also got our river rock delivered and finished the dry washes with the help of our neighbor Steve and Kris and Barbi. (All we have left is sod!!)
Wednesday we had a spaghetti bonanza. Thursday we went to the new city water park where they have a splash pad and a St. George style lazy river. Kwint and Tam met us for lunch, since they were working while the rest of us played all week. I will definitely be taking the boys there at least once a week this summer.
Friday we went swimming in the day and "camping" in the evening. Most of you know how much I despise camping. However, I have fond memories of it as a child and do not want to deprive Kwint (loves camping) or the kids of it, so I made the foolish mistake of telling Kwint "I'd like to try to ease my way back into camping once in awhile." He thought he would blab to our friends "Gina wants to go camping!!" We decided on a slow, easy, work-back-in plan. The first installment was Friday night. Kris, Talan, and Saige accompanied us on a "trip" to Cedar Pocket with our friends, the Schencks and the Jenkins.
We made foil dinners on a fire pit, played in a nearby river, and roasted marshmallows for S'mores. We had so much fun. We love our friends and it was great to laugh and play together. The kids all had a blast. They chased ants and got soaking wet in the river. We planned on "wading" which quickly became swimming. Then, the best part... we came home, took baths, and went to sleep in our beds. My kind of camping!!
Saturday we spent the day at the lake. We took turns going out on the boat and playing on the beach. (Below is not a picture of Dave's boat, it is the guy's next to us on the beach. Dave's boat is way cooler, it is orange and black.) Kwint wakeboarded and took a turn on the wake skate. The kids knee boarded- Kaeleb went out for the first time, with Aunt Tammy behind him. We were so proud of him. I think his favorite part was the "speeder boat" Saige pushed him around in.
We got very sandy, sun-burned and tired, but all in the name of a good time. Saturday night we attended Sadie's dance performance with Premier Dance Company. We were so proud of her, both Kwint and I welled up with tears watching her dance. Someday we'll have our own daughter and keep Kleenex in business.
Sunday morning we got up early to go to McKay's baby blessing, which was very sweet and tender, and by then we could see that our little Kaeleb was maxed out in the action department. By the early evening he had a fever. He was dehydrated from being in the heat so much all weekend and he was so busy playing that he didn't stop to drink much. After much coaxing from Tam and I (and bribes of fruit snacks) he drank a cup of Kool-Aid and began to perk up. At home we sat him down to watch Little Einsteins with 4 sippy cups full of juice, milk, and two kinds of water (as per his request-one with ice and one without). He was much better by bedtime. We love our Kaeleb.
Bren is adding new words to his baby-vocab. He says "Na-Nah." Which means "Night-night.", when he is tired. It took me two weeks to figure out what he was saying. I thought he wanted a banana. He also says "done." when eating, which is nice. It cuts back on the crying when they start talking, although he isn't any less loud. He loves to hear himself scream just to scream. Happy, high-pitched screams, but screams nonetheless.
Brennan's favorite game is to "get" Mama, Dada, or Bub-bub. If we are sitting or laying on the floor he crawls up behind us, climbs up to standing (using us for support he loses the element of surprise, but he doesn't know that we know he is there.) then he screams and launches himself onto us and puts whatever body part of ours he can find into his mouth.
We are looking forward to a nice, slow paced normal week. Whatever normal is.
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