Mckenna's First Birthday

I had to start my post with these two pictures. Heather got her this outfit for her birthday and when I put it on her she looked so big! I can't believe she is ONE!



So here are some pictures of Mckenna eating her cake and opening gifts. She was so funny with her cake I tried to do a ladybug and Keith gave me the idea to put Oreo cookies as the spots. It turned out really cute but when she saw the cookies that was all she wanted to eat. So after she ate all the cookies she didn't eat much of the cake but did eat a lot of frosting. When it came time to open gifts she of course made out like a bandit and now has some really cute summer clothes.

Eli was happy it was Mckenna's birthday because he got to help open presents and eat cake too. Just look at that smile! When it was Mckenna's bed time she was very wired from all the sugar and this is the only picture I got where she was holding still. All in all it was a really great day and we had so much fun and are very bless to have her as part of our family!

Sisters to the rescue

After I had my surgery I was lucky enough to have Keith for a week so that he could take care of me and the kids. Then my luck got even better when my sister Joanna came for a long weekend to feed us good food and be there for me when I needed a sister fix. She also brought her three kids with her and after they left and Eli woke up from his nap he said, "I need my cousins to come back." I told him that I wanted them to come back too but that maybe it was our turn to make the long trek to see them. Thanks Jo for taking time out to be there for me and get me and my kids out of the house to play.

I put sisters to the rescue because Joanna also brought me an ice machine that my sister Andrea gave me for my knee. She knows my troubles because she has had two torn ACLs in her knees. Not fun! So thanks Andrea and my knee thanks you too!

I of course couldn't forget my last but defiantly not least rescuer. Heather braved my house over Memorial Day weekend. She come out with us to Meadow Acres Greenhouse to get our seeds for our garden and also flowers for my flower bed. She also spent a few hours with me and Mckenna at the mall shopping for Mckenna's birthday gifts. We had way to much fun and she helped me pick out some really cute stuff.

She also came camping with us and our friends Noah and Hollie Wilmes. Sadly it was a rainy weekend and we spent most of the time in the cabin where she and I had a good time talking. We had fun playing board games and the kids ran around playing with toys and having fun. When it was time to leave that is when things got interesting. Now Noah has been up to this cabin for years and knows his way around. There was at one point a break in the rain and we were able to get out and shot and Noah had set up a target about 25o yards away from the cabin. Well when he went out with Keith to go pick it up in his truck they got stuck. So Keith got his truck to pull him out and HE got STUCK! About an hour and a half went by and they got themselves out and we were on our way. Noah took us out a different way then when we came in because he though it would be much better since it had been raining and the dirt road would be muddy. It was probably a better way to go but defiantly not without it's muddy mess for us to travel through. We had to go extra slow because of the muddy roads and it took us about 2 hours extra to get home. So thanks Heather for coming and not killing me for taking you out camping and making your trip home a very late one.

Dirt Fun

We have been getting our garden ready for this year and I got some great pictures of Mckenna playing in it with Keith. At the same time Eli was playing with his cars out in the dirt that we call our back yard. One of these days we will have more grass in our back yard but for now don't the kids look like they are having more fun with it the way it is?

My Poor Knee

So it has been quite a few weeks since I last blogged and I swear I have a good excuse! On April 27th I had knee surgery to repair my ACL and some meniscus tearing. For people who don't know what your ACL is it is your Anterior Cruciate Ligament and is the main support structure of the knee that prevents rotation of the femur bone to the tibia bone. Meniscus is cartilage around your knee that keeps your bones from grinding against each other and when I tore my ACL I also tore up the meniscus and had to have that fixed too.

The story begins when I was about 5 weeks pregnant with Mckenna and I was playing volleyball. I was coming down from a hit and my foot turned wrong and out went my knee with a pop. I knew what I had done since this was the second time it has happened to this knee. I got an appointment to see my doctor and he looked me over and said that there wasn't much he could do since I was pregnant and we would have to wait until after she was born to have an MRI. That way he could see all the damage that was done. So now it was just the waiting game. Lucky for me I could walk just fine and the only trouble I had was that my knee would lock up on me if I bent it wrong. Not a fun moment trying to unlock it but some how I made it through the nine months and then some until I had my MRI. Once the decision was made to have surgery I then wanted to wait a little longer until Mckenna was old enough to do some things on her own.

So to make a long story short I had surgery and came home with Keith who took a week off from work to take care of me and the kids. Surgery went really well and the only problem I had is the same problem I have every time after surgery, that I get really sick from being under anesthesia and from all the medication. The best part was I was able to walk out the door with my new best friend (my brace) on and no crutches. I haven't had to use the crutches at all and I am very happy about that. I am now coming up on week 4 since surgery and with going to physical therapy and doing exercises at home I have been able to get my knee bent to 133 degrees. Only about 17 more degrees to go!

I have to give Eli props because he took the picture of me with my brace on and I think he did a very good job. I call it my best friend because I can't walk without it. I also have to have it locked at straight and so I also call myself a pirate because I walk around with a peg leg. (= This other picture shows the swelling of my left leg and the atrophy that I am getting. Even with all the exercises I am doing when you don't walk on it and use it regularly it just happens.

These other pictures were taken the first week after surgery. The machine Mckenna is on is called a CPM machine and all I had to do was lay my leg in it and it would move up and down and bend my knee for me. Mckenna loved to climb into it when I wasn't using it. The next picture is of me getting my knee iced. I was told I would cry when they took that away from me and I almost did. It was so nice all you had to do was fill one part of it up with ice and water and then wrap the other half around my knee and it would keep it really cold and put just enough pressure on my knee to keep the swelling down. I wish I would have had this stuff the first time around.

Easter

I am so behind on my blogging and I almost didn't post these pictures but my kids look so cute that I just had to do it! We had such a good time this Easter. We colored eggs with Eli and he thought it was the greatest thing ever. We let them sit over night and the next day I think we hunted eggs most of the day. Every once in awhile he would hide the eggs and have Keith or I find them but the funny part was he would walk around with us and show us were they were hidden. He had some really good hiding spots too and there were a few times he and I couldn't find them. I was so worried that we would be smelling rotten eggs a few weeks later. Luckily we did find them and after had at least Keith or I walk with him so there was a back up to remember where all the eggs were.

We bought the kids some Easter Sunday clothes. Eli got a good pair of church pants from Judy and a shirt from Claudine so we only had to get him a tie. So that was really easy but there is some thing significant about Eli's red sweater. It was once worn by his Grandpa Allen when he was little and Keith also wore it and so now it has been handed down to Eli. So he also got to wear it thanks to Judy. I thought it was really cool that she saved it for later generations. We bought Mckenna a dress and it worked out really good because she is in need of some dresses since she is starting to grow like a weed. I had way to much fun shopping for both my kids and I think they look so cute!

Let it snow and snow...

Eli climbing the mountain of snow and then having to take a break! He told me at that point that, "Climbing is hard work!"

Mckenna grabbing the snow.

Mckenna eating the snow.

Now she is crying because I closed the door.

These pictures are from a few weeks ago when we got dumped on. It was good snow too we were able to make snowmen and play and play until we were so cold that we needed to come in for some hot chocolate. It has been warm the last few days and that makes me hopeful that spring will be coming soon!

3 Years Old

Helping Mom with the cake.

Digging (literally) into his T-Rex cake.

Holding his new bow!

My little boy isn't so little any more! He really likes to tell me that as often as he can too by telling me as he puts it, "I'm BIGGER now!" He had his third birthday and this time around he really had a good understanding about what was going to happen. He was so excited about getting a cake and of course presents but the best thing ever for him was the balloons! I blew up quite a few balloons and had them and a sign in the living room that said HAPPY BIRTHDAY on it. When he saw the sign he would read each letter and then say, "It says HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ELI!" It was really cute. The balloons though had to be the best part. Eli and Mckenna had so much fun playing with them and I got some great pictures because of it. I couldn't get Eli to hold still to take a picture so all of his are action shots. Mckenna would crawl over to a balloon and then try to lay on it. Since she is so little though it would just roll her right over and she would just laugh and laugh and then do it all over again. I think we spent about an hour just playing with balloon we were having so much fun.

We had dinner and a cake for him on his actual birthday and he also opened presents from us. Then on Saturday we had another party so that friends and family could come and eat and play. It was really great because Heather came from Utah and Eli was so excited to see her. Then Grandpa Allen and Grandma Cindy came as well as Grandma Judy and Grandpa Bob. Eli was in heaven with all the attention. On top of that his friend Savana and her Mom Jenn came and also his friend Saxton and our friends Jenn and Flint Smith. It was a lot of fun and Eli made out like a bandit! Thanks to everyone for all you did for the party and for spoiling Eli. I know he had so much fun because he keeps asking me when his birthday is coming again.