Christmas Vacation

We just returned from our Christmas vacation. It is nice to come home with a few days to spare before Evan has to return to work. We spent just over a week with Evan's whole family. McKenzie loves spending time with her aunts, uncles, cousins, and of course Grandma and Grandpa. We all had a really nice Christmas together. McKenzie enjoyed Christmas morning and made out well with a some nice new toys, etc. Her favorite being the one from Santa: her very own mini guitar. She doesn't stop playing it and loves to serenade us with endless songs. She really is turning out to be quite the singer.

After Christmas, we were lucky enough to spend a few days in Yosemite. McKenzie loved her first experience with snow and enjoyed ice skating, making snow men, and snow angels. Sledding was a bit too much for her, especially since the first ride down the hill was a disaster. Daddy fell off the back and Mommy and Kenzie took off on an uncontrolled crazy ride.

We took a ton of pictures. Here are some of the highlights.

A Happier Note

Another one of these crazy kids? That's right! We are having another one. We find out if it is a boy or a girl on Feb 2.... so stay tuned. July 2nd, 2008 is the due date that the first ultra sound predicted. We'll see. Nausia and fatigue have been in full force this time around. But it is all worth it, I know. We are excited and nervous about adding another one to the family. Most of all we feel incredibly blessed.

Now this?

Just when we thought it wasn't going to get any worse...it did. McKenzie is either allergic to Amoxicillin or caught the stomach flu in the midst of this week long drama. She has been throwing up, or as she says it "spitting" all day long! AHHHH. McKenzie is such a funny, sweet kid. It is hard to see her so down. Ah the joys of parenthood. I am sure she'll be fine by the end of the weekend. Lets hope so!

sick, sick, sick-

Warning: This post is one big pity party. But here goes:
Most people tend to forget how awful a cold is until you have one. McKenzie and I have both been struggling with a really bad cold for quite some time now. It is seriously the worst cold I can remember ever having. It is definitely the worst one McKenzie has ever had! And just when we thought it couldn't get any worse, it did. She was diagnosed with a double ear infection today. Wow. She has never had an ear infection in all her two little years. Well thankfully they gave her antibiotics today, and then I pumped her with Ibuprofen. Before she fell asleep she said, "Mommy I am not sick anymore." Very cute, but all I could think was "just wait until a couple of hours from now when you wake up crying again in agony." Lets hope we get some sleep tonight. Between the two of us coughing and being congested, nobody has been getting any real sleep lately.
Did I mention I have the best husband ever?! He has been a great help and has done a really good job at playing Dr. for the both of us. Luckily he has not become sick. We are grateful for that. We are also grateful for medicine!

The Christmas Spirit

Here is our Christmas tree. I always love how warm and cozy the home feels with Christmas decorations up. I am one of those people that has to get passed Thanksgiving before I can even begin to think about Christmas. Today, being such a fun family filled day with decorating the tree and listening to music, has definitely thrown me into the Christmas spirit!

Thanksgiving and after...

Thanksgiving was fun this year. We drove to my mom's house and stayed with her for a few days. She recently bought a new computer so Evan was able to introduce her into the world of Macs as well as help her transfer old stuff, etc. The morning of Thanksgiving, Evan and I ran a race. We had a lot of fun! There were 20,000 people in this race so we had to walk the first mile because it was so crowded. Nothing beats a Thanksgiving morning run.
We of course later experienced the inevitable food coma and thankfully just relaxed for the rest of the evening. I ate so much however that I felt very sick. Grandma/Mom did a great job at preparing a fantastic meal! I wish I would have helped her more. All we did was contribute a vegetable. :) I miss my mom's cooking.The following day we took Kenzie to the Zoo. She loved it and it turned out to be a free day, much to our surprise.My mom has two cats that McKenzie just can't get enough of. They are her best friends when we are visiting. Evan and I are not big cat fans, but it is cute to see her so happy around animals.
On Saturday we headed home and stopped by San Francisco on our way. Evan's family was there dropping kids off at the airport so we were able to do lunch with the gang. It was fun week/weekend. A very memorable Thanksgiving 2007.

Billy Joel

One of the great things about living in the bay area is the concert scene here. I grew up going to several concerts. I love them. Evan does too. It is the best date for us! I wish we did it more often. We were lucky to have great seats at the Billy Joel concert on Saturday night. We were the youngest ones there, but still enjoyed ourselves. The lady sitting next to me said, (after asking how old we were) "Your parents sure taught you well." She was impressed that Evan and I were singing the songs outloud and that we were just as excited as the rest of the 5o something year old crowd. What a fun time we had! Joel delivered a wonderful 2 and half hour concert that balanced his fan friendly hits with lesser known tracks. He played a lot of the sing along classics like "We didn't start the fire," "An Innocent Man," "Its still rock n roll to me," "My life," "New York State of Mind," "Only the Good Die Young," and many many more. He of course ended the show by encoring with "Piano Man". We loved it and had a great time, even if we were the young kids there.