Overloaded on the Uploads!

So it's been awhile since I've posted... but I'm out of web space.  Apparently, I've maxed out my photo usage on this blog, and I'm too cheap to pay for more storage space annually.  So, I think I'm going to create a new blog.  Needless to say, we've been a little busy since my last post!  Rob & I have run 2 1/2 marathons, Mya turned 4 and Kylie turned 1.  We did the Run for Children's Hospital, and were able to raise $675 for the uncompesated care program at Seattle Children's Hospital.  Another great thing we've been able to do is to invest in a bike trailer & a bike for me.  We've totally enjoyed getting out and riding as a family, it's been great!  We've really enjoyed our summer and are a bit disappointed its winding down, but we still have a little time off ahead of us, so it'll be nice to get away! Thanks for checking in on us.

So here's to a: no photo post, and a future blog!

A Heartwarming Play Date
One of Mya's first best friends, Kayla, moved to California a little over a year ago.   We were all bummed to see their family leave the area, but new jobs had created another opportunity for them in the sunny state.  About 3 months after they'd moved away, Kayla was diagnosed with ALL leukemia.  We were so shocked to hear of the news and just felt horrible for the difficult journey they're whole family was about to embark upon.  We've continued to stay in touch with their family, though Skype, and Mya prays for her regularly before bed.  She's had a long year of nasty treatment, losing her hair, and the ups and downs of chemotherapy.  She's finally coming out on the other end, and she's now on maintenance chemo.  Since her diagnosis, she's not had much interaction with kids, at all.  Mya continues to be one of her few friends, since she didn't have much time to meet new kids in California before having to be secluded from kid germs. We had the wonderful opportunity to re-connect with them today.  They did a road trip to visit relatives, and they stopped for lunch and a play-date with us, on their way home.  This is the first time Kayla has been away from her zip code in over a year.  It was wonderful to catch up with her parents, and Kayla just beamed the whole time, playing on the playground and running like a normal kid.  She was very excited to share that she'd recently be given the green light to go swimming for a 1/2 hour at a time, and to start gymnastics soon.  It's a wonderful time for their entire family to start becoming "normal" again.  They still have to go back for treatments, but it's not as hard core.  Please pray for continued healing for her little body.  She's a pretty special friend, and we were reminded today, that we sure miss their family!

 I took this photo last night of Miss Kylie enjoying her strawberry.  I started thinking that I had a similar photo of Mya eating one as well.  I didn't remember that she still had the tube in her nose at the time.  What a blessing it is to have two healthy little girls!

Kylie- 9 Months

Mya- 14 Months

 Mya suggested that we play dress up after dinner last night.  I told her that I had a dress up for me that she hadn't seen yet.  So I made her wait in the living room, and I put on my wedding dress.  Luckily it was a corset back and will pretty much fit me for life, but she was pretty excited to see it for the first time.  She wanted to dance, and she knew just how to hold my train.  "I'll help carry it Mom!"  I let her try on my vail... she was very excited.  She had to put on a white dress too.  I love the excitement of this age!!!

 Many thanks to Grandma Sawyer for making a beautiful quilt for Kylie.  We love it, thanks Mom!  Such a treat to have personalized quilts for each of our girls.

Prayer Please!
We just returned from our Memorial Day weekend, visiting my family.  We decided to make the trip (although something we swore we'd never do on a 3 day weekend again due to the awful traffic), mostly to visit with my Dad, who was just diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma Cancer.  That is cancer of the bone marrow.  It's been quite a shock for our family.  He is just finishing his 2nd week of chemotherapy, but is having a tough time with the dosage, as it's keeping him from eating and has wiped him out physically.  We would love your prayers, my Mom is keeping a blog of his current situation if you'd like to stay abreast of his recent status.  supportsawyer.wordpress.com
During our stay, we got to see all of our neices and nephews, never a dull moment when all 8 of the grand kids are around.  The girls LOVE their cousins, they are always so wiped out from a big weekend of playing and fun, it's time that we all cherish.  We are so amazingly blessed with our family!

9 Months

Our little Kylie has just turned 9 months old, and is a busy little baby.  She is very close to crawling, she rocks on her hands and knees, and rolls to get where she wants to go.  She's eating more foods, loving toys, but her very favorite thing is watching her big sister.  It is so much fun to watch them together!  Kylie's little giggle is darling, we all try to get her to do her little belly laugh, since it's so addictive.  She's so sweet.  Last night we went in for her well check, and she weighed in at a whopping 24 lbs (99%) and 29.5" (97%).  We grow them pretty big here!  She's a very healthy girl, and we couldn't be more thrilled with her sweet progression. 

We recently got a Strawberry Shortcake book that tells the story of Strawberry finding a nest with an egg in it.  She takes care of it by keeping it warm under a light, and then decides to take it to school for show and tell.  Once she gets to school, she opens the box to share with her class what she brought for her item, and the egg had hatched, and there was a baby bird to share.  She was "berry" excited!  However, she decided that the baby bird needed a Mommy, so she released it to the wild, where a Mommy found the bird right away.  Okay, I realize that I should read every book that I purchase (even from the thrift store)... as this one wasn't exactly sending the most nature friendly storyline.

Recently we found an empty bird nest outside our house on the ground.  Immediately Mya said, "We need to put the egg under a light!"  Thanks to Stawberry's teaching, it reminded me quickly of my own childhood memory of the same situation.  I remember very clearly finding a nest with a blue robins egg when I was young.  I of course put it under my desk light with a thermometer to make sure it was warm enough.  For some reason I didn't need Strawberry's poor example to execute the same situation myself.  Needless to say, the light was not exactly a "warming" light.  I cooked the crap out of that little egg... and broke the thermometer due to the high heat.  Luckily I didn't burn our house down & get mercury poisoning in the mean time! 

I just went back outside tonight to look at the nest and found an egg there.  I'm a little afraid for my daughter to find it, thanks to the poor teaching by Strawberry!!!  We might as well scramble the thing tomorrow for breakfast!  We don't need our place to be burned down!  Amazing how we tend to all do the same things.  I love seeing what our little girls do, as it reminds me often of my own childhood memories.  What a blessing to be a parent!

Vacation to Paradise! 

We just returned from a wonderful 10 day vacation to Playa del Carmen, Mexico.  We had such a fun time, just hanging out with our girls.  Vacation agendas have changed pretty dramatically for us adding another little one to our brood, but we had a great time hanging out at an all-inclusive resort right on the Caribbean.  That turquoise water is addictive!  We swam, played on the beach and ate... pretty simple, but just what we all needed as a break away.  Kylie got to experience the beach for the first time, and loved it!  Mya likes both pina coladas and strawberry daiquiris- she's not picky.  Rob got a little time to lay in the sun, and I didn't get burned!

This is 1/4 monkeys we saw in some trees

Playa del Carmen

Easter Traditions

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Wonderful Times With 2 Little Squirts

We had an at home/running errands weekend. Somme favorite times are Living room dance party, making cookies with Mya (with stickers on our faces), and open mouth kisses from a drool face baby. Anything better? I think not.  I sure wish I could freeze time... on a Saturday!

Changes
Last week Kylie turned 6 months old, amazing how quickly the time has passed. My maternity leave is now a distant memory- we're back in full swing of full time work and care.  Kylie is sitting on her own- mastering it all last week, sleeping thru the night (since Christmas) and growing like a weed.  Mya is teaching us to refine our parental negotiating skills, but is a busy girl who loves playing with her pricess dolls, coloring, and playing when she can.

We've been doing some projects around the house, and are looking forward to some new furniture to arrive within the next 3 months.  In the mean time, we're re-doing our very awkward loft space into a useable family room.  Painting walls, making pillows and valances, an amazing new cabinet made by my Dad (who brought it over 2 weeks ago), a new TV and shifting furniture has renewed this space for our family.  More photos to come, when it's complete!

Tomorrow I start in a different position at work, in bicycle accessories.  Soon I'll be able to help you choose the best bells/helmets/panniers & bicycle backpacks!  In the mean time I'll have a lot to learn about a new area away from apparel and footwear!

Mya helping prime the walls

Check out the fat lines on her left arm!!!  So cute!

Grandpa hanging out with the girls in the play tent

New Year Changes
We're finally settling into life, with me back to work and the girls in full time daycare.  It's been a tough transition, after a wonderful 4 months at home together.  I'm so thankful that we were able to have such a long time together!  Thank you for your prayers.  Although it's not an ideal situation, we're finally finding some normalcy in our schedule.  Mya is starting to write her letters, has new friends and has finally begun to feel more comfortable at her "new school." Kylie needed only a couple of days to adjust, she's such an easy-going baby, she's doing great- eating and sleeping like a champ!  She's been sleeping thru the night since 2 days prior to Christmas, a Mommy's dream!

Two days after Kylie's 5 month birthday, we decided to start her on solid foods.  We were both dragging our feet a bit, we don't want this one to grow up as quickly, as if we have the choice!  Needless to say, there was no hesitation to eating, she loves food!   Squash rocked!  Mya jumped at the chance to help feed her, it's all so fun.  Crazy how fast it's all going- contrary to my wish to keep our last baby a baby.

We also finally invested in our first flat screen TV this week.  Just in time for the superbowl, Rob is pretty stoaked to have the addition to our home.  This has been something he's dreamed of purchasing for a long time!  My dreams will be answered in a few months, as we've just ordered new furniture for our living room- I can't wait!  Since we've had our existing couches for 12 years, it's time for an update.  Needless to say, it's been harder to wait than I expected!  We're getting ready for the changes, and will be doing some painting and a few other adjustments to make our "loft" space a useable space, since it's been pretty dysfunctional. Othewise, our time seems to be spent attending baby showers and kids birthday parties. Mya was recently invited to a dance class birthday party.  She had a great time- see the picture below.

Snow Fun
What a week we had! You wouldn't know it from looking outside today, but we had about 10" of snow last week.  Luckily I was able to work from home for most of the week, and Rob was able to get back and fourth from his job.  The best part was that we got a lot of play time in!  These pictures were from before the big dump, we sure had fun sledding down our hillside.  That's likely the only time we've enjoyed the big slope!  We did a few baking and craft projects inside during the other times, we really enjoyed time at home together.  Bring on the snow days!  Luckily we didn't lose power, I have a lot of friends/co-workers on the south end not as lucky.

Baking Snowman cupcakes together!

Chunky little thighs!!!

Having 2 girls is pretty fun, and the best is when they giggle with one another.  Here is a little example of some of the fun times we get with these sweet little ones.  We are truly blessed!

A very tough week...

This week was a very big week for our family.  After an amazing 4 month maternity leave, I had to go back to work, and the girls went to a new daycare.  I love my job, but nothing sucks more than putting your kids into full-time care.  The place we've chosen has actually been great, but it's going to take awhile to get adjusted.  Kylie had a rough first couple of days, but she's adjusting and eating/sleeping fine again at school.  Mya has really struggled, and I have a feeling it's going to be a long road ahead of us, before she's comfortable.  She hasn't been eating her lunch, has had several potty accidents, and today topped it off for Rob, she threw a HUGE tantrum when he was dropping her off.  Last night she screamed uncontrollably for about an hour prior to bed, due to major exhaustion and not wanting to brush teeth/put jammies on/go to bed.  Needless to say, this is major motivation to get our mortgage paid off early so we can be more flexible on being home with our kids.  I can't say it's been easy on me either... I've been getting up at 5:00-5:30 every day to get bottles and my 38 mile commute out of the way early.  We get home, make dinner, play for an hour, then it's time to get the girls to bed.  After that, it's time to do laundry (after 4 accidents on Tuesday, we've had to do it a lot more frequently), and clean/re-do bottles.  In the midst I'm trying to continue to breast feed... pumping and jockying all of the milk is a whole lot of work!   The good news in all is that I really love my job, and I've gone back to a temporary coverage for another co-worker on maternity leave.  It's back in the footwear area, so I'm pretty comfortable with everything, and I'm totally busy out of the gate... so I'm certainly not watching the clock.

Tonight we had a wonderful little 3 year old dancing around the living room again, and didn't cry before bed, knowing that we have two days at home together.  Please pray for us on Monday morning!  We'll all get thru it, but man it's tough to live through.  That's for sure.

Happy New Year!

We had a great time ringing in the new year with some wonderful friends, fondue, and some loud blowers!  Our family had a great year in 2011, and we're looking forward to enjoying time as a family of four in 2012. 

The girls cooking the fondue