Pumpkin Carving time.....and a check up....

So today I took Lila to our pediatrician for a check up on her Collarbone, it is still bent pretty well, looks a bit strange and sore to touch, although Lila has not been acting in any pain and she still climbs on EVERYTHING.....Lila is doing well and it will take about 4 more weeks to heal.....so she is still has to wear her sling, but now she likes it, so it must help....We did learn she is a skinny girl who just shot up a few inches in a short amount of time....She is 33 inches tall while weighing in at 20lbs 9oz (3%)....Our doctor is not concerned about her weight because of how active Lila is, I just need to keep giving her instant breakfast in her milk and yadah, yadah, yadah.....She seriously only gained 1 lb in 6 months....but she is getting to the age of growing a bit slower.....

Tonight we finally carved our pumpkins.....we have been busy around here, Shawn went the Spurs game last night, and so today was the only chance we had to do it. I must say I totally have "GIRLY" girls.....I was assuming they would love cleaning out the pumpkins, boy was I wrong....I asked MJ to clean out the inside of her pumpkin and her response was "But Mommy, I will get my hands all dirty".....Holy Cow did she just say that....Get her hands dirty....Wow.....So I did manage to get them both to clean them out, but it took some coercion......Last year we let them draw faces to cut out on the pumpkins and planned on doing the same this year, but I bought a pumpkin carving kit that had patterns on in it and they liked them so much that they picked out what they wanted carved......It was fun....and they love the end results......Some pics for your viewing....Lila is not wearing her sling cause she dipped it in the Homemade Tomato soup at dinner and in some of the pics you can see that we didn't even wipe their faces after dinner.....too funny...Hope everyone has a great Halloween!

Pumpkin Carving Fun...

My Precious Things......

So on Shawn's trip they had an afternoon at Universal Studios (Orlando) and he picked these up for the kids. Dr Seuss is a family favorite at our house.....

Learning about Fire Trucks and Safety....

Today we had a play date with MOPS, we have one every month and they are great....Kim, our Moppets Coordinator does such an amazing job! Today we got to meet some local fire fighters and learn about fire safety with the kids. The girls had a really good time seeing the fire trucks up close, they were a little frightened of the fire fighters when they were all dressed up in their gear, but were able to get over their initial fear and high five the them....All 3 girls enjoyed watching the ladder go up with one of the firefighters on it. I too thought that was pretty cool.....All in all it was a great experience for all.....and of course on our way home from picking up daddy tonight (yes his is home from his trip, YEAH!) we got to pull over so a Fire Truck could go by......The girls of course pointed out to daddy that they got to see one today and that the ladder was really high!.....So funny! Here are some pics from today.....MJ had no desire to stand in front of the truck but Kiara was totally into it.....So funny.....

And yes, those are sweaters on the girls. We have been having some cool nights. I must say it has been nice opening the windows again and not having the A/C turn on all the time. I suppose I will enjoy it while I can!

Her Daredevil ways caught up with her......

So I just got back from spending the morning at Urgent care....our Pediatrician was booked for the day......Lila took a fall from one of the dinning room chairs and landed directly on her shoulder....She actually let out a really loud scream (out of character for Lila).....So I cuddle with her and checked her from broken bones......couldn't find any and off to play she went......off and on she would let out little cries but nothing too crazy, it was close to bed time so to bed she went......So this morning when she couldn't get up from sitting and couldn't climb up onto the couch I realized she was in more pain then she was leading on.....So off to Urgent Care we went.....After paying our $50 dollar co-pay (Love that we have insurance and co-pays are still ridiculous) and some arm exercises and an X-ray we learned that Miss Lila landed hard enough to almost, I say almost fracture her Clavicle (collar bone).....From the x-ray you can see how bent it is.....Ick! It looks totally painful and totally bent the wrong way.....I was hoping to put up her x-ray but my computer is not reading the disc, bummer......Ok after playing with the disc I figured it out....So if you look below at her left side (by the L) you can see how bent her collarbone is.....it certainly does not look like the other one....ICKY and OUCH!..Anyway so she is wearing a sling for the next week and taking Motrin and just waiting for it to heal on its own.....Fun for me.....Especially with Shawn away until Friday on business........Here are some shots of her today....

Crazy Impressed...

So we just got back from a trip around the neighborhood and I must say I am absolutely impressed with all the Halloween decor out and about. It seems they go all out down here.....from giant fake spiders, to orange lights, to full window decor, to spooky yards, to scarecrows to you name it we have it here in the 'hood. I LOVE it, it is so festive! We of course have not done much (yes, we are one of the loser houses) but we will have our pumpkins out and what not before Halloween....and we are planning to go all out at Christmas....So I am already excited for Halloween, we have the perfect size neighborhood for Trick or Treating!.......Ok, just had to share how spirited our neighborhood is.....Spoooky!

Finally finding some time...

So with Nanna and Sindy here the past week or so I really hadn't found time to blog, most of my computer time was spent working...but now all the house guests have gone and I have some free time to sit down and let you all know what we have been up too.....

We had a great visit with Nanna and Sindy, we tried a new Mexican place.....La Hacienda de Los Barrios.......Sindy has seen it on an episode of Bobby Flay's Throwdown so we had to check it out....The atmosphere was so awesome, the weather has been so great lately that we sat outside....They had live music outside (on a Tuesday) the girls loved it.....the food was pretty good too.....

This morning Shawn headed up to Austin with Joel to fly Ol' Crimson for ESPN College Gameday. It was the second week for Joel to fly it and so great that he asked Shawn to go help him since they are both lifelong Cougars....Here are a few pics from that...

Ol' Crimson CGD Austin, TX

So now that the girls have bikes and scooters that is about all we do when we go outside.....our nightly walks have become nightly bike rids....except that mom and dad need to invest in some bikes too and a buggie or something for Lila.....Kiara goes so fast that I need to start wearing my running shoes to keep up with her....it would be a nice jog and good exercise.....We are a bit out numbered in the sense that Lila HAS to WALK.....but MJ bikes at a slow pace so for the most part it works out....Kiara usually finishes with enough time to bike back to MJ.....Today I actually got her to stop and wait.....But she didn't like being slowed down.....Here are some pics of late.....Hope everyone is having a great weekend....

Fun around the 'Hood

4th Birthday Part 1 and 2.....

So we made it home today....and made good time almost 11 hours....We did have one minor problem.....we lost our A/C in our car about an hour from our house....Lets just say I am not looking forward to that car maintenance bill....Ugh!....Oh well....we are happy to be home but man we had a great time with my dad and Ri....When we got home we were greeted with a Princess Decorated house for the girls....I like to call it part 2 of their birthday....Part one was at G-Dad and Ri's actually on the girls birthday...and did they have an awesome part 1....they had pancakes for breakfast...their favorite....they told me and G-Dad how they wanted their cake decorated....they received lots of wonderful gifts from family....and they even got to do a DORA like map to find their present from G-Dad and Ri.....which was hidden out in the shed....lets just say there were super surprised to find brand new bikes....they also got mini video cameras from Uncle Joe & Auntie Victoria & Kieren....along with some super cool outfits....and some games from mom and dad for family game night.......and Part 2 was equally as cool....the girls were surprised to see the house decorated and a Disney Princess cake....they also received some more really nice gifts both got different Razor Scooters from Grandma....and beautiful necklaces and jewelry boxes and an awesome homemade glass hot air balloon picture from Nana and Grandpa...and Barbie Diamond Castle dolls that sing from Uncle Joel......new dress up princess outfit and boots.....all of which they love....they also had a nice treat, Uncle Joel's friend Devin was here and played his violin for the girls....they LOVED IT.......All in all it was a great 4th birthday for both.....So here is some overkill of pics from party 1 and 2 and some New Mexico pics.....

Kiara and Mikiah's 4th Birthday Part 1-2

10,678 feet up.....

Today we headed up to Sandia Crest. It is only about 20 min from my dads house.....It was a super pretty drive up to the top....they had a viewing area up there, snack bar and gift shop as well as trails, picnic areas and what not. It was very cool....you could see all of Albuqueque, NM below, there is also a tram that you can ride on from below on the ABQ side of the mountains......We actually went up there twice today because this morning there was cloud cover.....here are a few pics from today.....

This is from the morning.....

And here is the afternoon pic.....

And here are a few more pics....

Balloon Fiesta Time.....

It was an early morning today.......we were up at 3.30am getting ready to head to the park and ride.....We actually made it out of the house by 4.30am and arrived to a park and ride filled with a sea of people and school buses.....it was totally organized and the line was moving pretty good...we got there at a great time and good thing we didn't get there any later....the girls were thrilled to take their first ride on a school bus.....they LOVED it....and were so excited when we got to the Balloon Fiesta....they were a little confused that it was still dark out but as soon as the sun came up they were greeted by a field of balloons and people.....We got to watch about 600 balloons take off and fly away.....the girls had such a great time.....they especially liked watching the Cow Balloon take off, we were actually right next to it and watched from laying it out to filling it up to it taking off.....It was just a fun filled atmosphere and great experience for all......I am still amazed at how great the girls were....they were wired, excited and good.....Sure are growing up......So I have overloaded the picture album......but there are just so many great shots.....We spent the rest of the day at G-Dad & Ri's relaxing and napping and what not.....looks like we may get some rain tonight and some good winds....

October 08

We finally made it to G-Dads.....

Ahhh, so we rolled into my dads today around 3.00pm.....We left SA last night and stayed in West Texas.....finished the trip today......which beat doing it in one day.....although we will do that on the way home.....We are excited to be able to spend some quality time with G-Dad and Ri.....and also see the hot air balloons at the Balloon Fiesta.........The girls were pretty good in the car.....eyes glued to the DVD player.....we had a few potty break craziness and one of our children may have had to poop on the side of the road....sort of traumatic for MJ....but she did great.....(I totally meant to bring a travel potty and forgot).....Oh well....they are slowly learning that they have to go when we stop.......I must say it is nice for us to be on vacation!!! The girls of course can not wait until Tuesday, their 4th birthday......but are very excited for the balloons tomorrow.....I will hopefully be taking some pics soon to post.....

Don't Vote.......

Get registered so you have a voice.....Texas deadline to register and be eligible to vote in the November 4, 2008 General Election is October 6, 2008.....most states are similar....do not miss your chance for change....