Family Update (and pics from OC Great Park)

Derek and I have been pretty tired these days.  I only feed Kyle once in the middle of the night, but he wakes up a few times before that.  I pat him or give him a pacifier to hold him off until 4 am.  After that, he doesn't sleep very soundly and neither do I.

Karis and Makena have been waking up in the middle of the night as well.  Derek tends to them so he isn't getting good sleep either.  He's also been going on long bicycle rides over the weekends to train for a ride he's doing at the end of September.  He and a few friends are going to ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles.  I know, CRAZY!  

We didn't do much yesterday on our family day. We had plans to go to the beach, but we both woke up too tired.  Today, late in the morning, we decided to take the kids to the OC Great Park.  We rode the carousel, played in their small playground, and rode up in the big orange balloon.  It was a nice low key activity for the day.  

 

  

 

 

A Week In Review

Last Friday, we made some pancakes.  It's something we typically do on the weekends.  Karis loves to help make them. 

 

Makena happily eats my portion of the chocolate chip pancakes since they're not on my diabetic diet.

On Monday, I went to a check-up for the baby and everything continues to look good.  I found a tricycle on Craigslist and Daddy and Karis went to pick it up Monday night.  Karis is enjoying cruising around in it.

On Tuesday, we went up to my sister's house to hang out.  We haven't seen her in a little while.

On Wednesday, I dropped the girls off at friend's house so that I could work on a wedding cake.  Here is a picture of them all dressed up.

Aunt Nysha sent some Dr. Seuss books to the girls.  Karis has been trying to read them herself.   She's also been practicing writing her letters and has shown some great improvements.  

 

And to end the week, I finished making a wedding cake.  It wasn't as tough as I thought it would be.  I took a day off of work, had a friend watch the girls one morning, and had almost all day on Friday and Saturday to work on it while Derek took the girls hiking and to a friend's house out in Hemit.  It was a lot of work but I enjoyed making it.  

Crazy Busy

What a crazy couple weeks it has been for us.  Our lives are not usually jammed pack, not even close, but for some reason, everything hit the last week of July.

I do consulting work for a couple of marketing research firms.  They haven't called upon me in about a year.  Out of the blue, they both contacted me in the same week and a half and needed way more hours than I could give them.  I had to turn work down, which was hard because the extra money is always nice -- and needed!  I ended up working about 10-12 hours each weekend and a little during the week.  If they had called me any other time, I probably could have done more, but that was all I could handle with my regular two days a week in the office and everything else that was going on.

Every night that week we had an event, whether it was a work-related thing that we all, or just Derek had to go to, or a dinner guest at our home.  On top of busy evenings and late nights doing consulting work, I was also making a cake for my niece's 4-year old birthday.  And if that wasn't enough, I hurt my foot (probably had a hairline fracture) the week before so getting around was exhausting and painful.

After a busy week, we packed up and made a trip out to Arizona to visit Nana and see Aunt Stephanie (Karis and I hadn't seen her for two years and she had never met Makena).  The car ride was probably the best it has been so far. Karis was so excited to see Nana and Aunt Steph that she just patiently enjoyed the car ride.  We also introduced her to lollipops!  Makena did pretty well too.  I think there was a span of 30 minutes where she just sat quietly while Karis napped.  That's huge for her!

 Here are some pictures from our visit at Nana's.

Makena eating yogurt ... all by herself (could you tell?)

It was about 110 degrees every day we were there.  We had fun cooling off in the pool.

The girls loved playing with Aunt Stephanie!

Steph, Jim and Derek went hiking at high noon.  Crazy!!  Too bad I had a hurt foot and couldn't go with them... not!

Aunt Stephanie introduced a frozen banana on a stick to Makena.

Aunt Stephanie trying to get a bite of Karis' ice cream.  Not a chance!

Aunt Stephanie reading a bedtime book to Karis.

Playing games on Steph's phone.

Sharing a good laugh. So sweet!

You Can Find Us On The Playground

It's been quiet on the blog for a little bit. My camera broke and you know I don't blog without photos! In addition, when we got back from Phoenix, three out of the four of us got sick. I was the "lucky" one who didn't get sick and got to take care of everyone else.

Everyone is finally back to normal except for Makena. Unfortunately, she's still fighting her cold.

I got a new camera the other day so let the blogging resume...

Here are some pictures of Karis at the park across the street. We've been spending more time there since Karis hasn't been playing much with her toys. By the end of the day, she's bored and has reached her TV time limit, so we head to the playground before dinner. I think she's outgrown most of her toys and we need to get some age-appropriate toys. But too me, that means bigger and louder toys... and we definitely don't need more toys around the house!

Here are a few pictures of a trip to the park with her cousins. Here she is watching them run ahead of her to the park.


Karis loves riding the rocking truck with Jessi.

Deciding whether they want chocolate or vanilla "ice cream."

Dad supervising ...

Showing off her strength!

Karis watched a little boy on this spinning disk. He got hurt and whimpered off. Karis took the opportunity to get on it herself and take a spin.

Our little monkey.

She loves to climb and she can actually climb this ladder. It's quite impressive to watch as she figures out where to put her hands and feet to make her way up. It also makes me nervous and I keep a hand on her at all times!