The waiting game

Off and on for a few days Mack had been complaining of a pain that she described as " It feels like I'm having a baby!" At about the same time, I had scheduled an appointment with Karen regarding Mack's allergies. During the routine exam of that visit, Karen felt a large blockage in Mackenzie's large intestine. . Before I was diagnosed with celiac disease, I had similar issues. We left the office that day armed with a plan to flush her system with the foods proven to produce " results" and a jar of Miralax. After a week or so , the problem persisted and back we went. The blockage was smaller but still there so this time we left the office with a lab slip , on it an order for a full celiac panel as well as a full blood work up ( Thank goodness Karen knows the trauma that is a pediatric blood draw and ordered more tests "just in case" to maximize the blood draw) . A blood draw for a four year old is just pure torture but Mack finally calmed down enough and, with the help of two phlebotomists , the three vials of blood were obtained. We are anxiously awaiting the results and will keep you posted!

Picture Perfect Fall

Let the fall festivities begin! The weather here seems to finally be settling into Autumn trends after a record breaking summer of heat. Before our calendar got too full with fall festivities, I penciled in a day to grab some snap shots of my  little pumpkins. Here are just a few of my favorites!

Mason has mastered the art of sitting up unassisted but sometimes, he
just gets tired and lets himself go

Silly Mack sporting the scarf Mike made for her

It is so very hard to get a decent picture of an almost
six month old and a 4.5 year old together but I am forever trying!

Smart Cookie!

Last week, Mrs. Vasquez pulled me aside before class and told me that she has noticed how far advanced Mackenzie is and that she had spoken with one of the kindergarten teachers about her .They decided to send some kindergarten work home with Mackenzie to  keep her challenged. I was bursting with pride as I left school that day, so excited that someone had noticed Mack's abilities. I could hardly wait to raid her back pack when she got home to see the advanced work that was sent home with her. Inside her back pack were some reading work sheets, a few math pages and some sight reading books, all things the current kindergartners are working on. Just looking at them, I knew that Mack was already beyond that. She breezed through each thing and the next day we took it all back to school. Mrs. Vasquez wasn't surprised to hear that Mack already knew all the things she'd sent home and vowed to keep working with Mackenzie during class on sharpening her skills. For now, I am going to keep working through our work books, art projects and "field trips" at home as Mackenzie requests and we'll just follow her flow! I am so proud of Mackenzie and , even better, she is proud of herself! I am also so thankful for teachers who take the time to notice Mackenzie's natural intelligence and the hard work Mike and I have put into nourishing Mack's hungry mind.

86 years young!

We celebrated my grandpa Rose's 86th birthday over the weekend! We ate BBQ'd food, played on the play ground and my dad brought the horse out for ride! The weather was perfect and GG was even here to enjoy the day with us.

GG won't be left out of any adventure. This is actually pretty tame for her.

Mark noticed a little something on Mike's face. These two have a very
odd relationship..

GG!

GG is currently here visiting Colorado! We haven't seen her since January of 2011, before we moved from Michigan. To be sure to get in max amounts of time with her, we've barely been home all week and are so happy to be able to spend quality time with her. There will certainly be more stories of adventure and pictures to come as we spend the week with our GG!

Foggy day

We woke up to fog! Mack thought our morning walk in the clouds was so
much fun and kept trying to blow the clouds away!

10 years

 Mike and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary this past weekend. I can't believe how quickly time goes. It seems like we should still be living in our shag carpeted apartment in Miami or crashing in somebody's basement while we find our way in life. Ten years ago, we were so young and I have a feeling there would be quite a few people who'd be surprised back then to know we'd make it to ten years. Our digital meeting, now common place, was so unconventional and you didn't meet the most wholesome of people on-line. I still feel like it was more than chance that we met that way and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't look over at my partner, my husband, my balance and realize how blessed I am. To the man who can make me laugh, infuriate me during " marital discussions" and then, hours later laugh on uncontrollably with me over said discussions- I am a better person today because of you .  Though ten years is a mere drop in the bucket of what I hope our marriage will be, it's ten years that I wouldn't trade for anything. Ten years, three cross country moves, 4.5 college degrees, two kids and countless cherished memories, I am still just as proud and honored to be your wife as I was on our wedding day.