Memorial Day Weekend

Olivia got her helmet this weekend. Although we are glad to get this therapy started, we are already ready for it to be over. We requested a very cute pink cheetah print helmet for her but it came as regular cheetah print which was disappointing. Oh well. We are amazed at how common the helmet therapy is. We are stopped everywhere we go by someone who wants to tell us how cute she is and tell their story of someone they know going through helmet therapy. We have found that these "designer" helmets offered now are very new. Everyone has thought we drew the design on Olivia's helmet. The summer months are going to be tough with Olivia. Her helmet is basically made of styrofoam on the inside and holds in the heat that would escape through her head. The biggest concern is making sure Olivia doesn't overheat. During the next few months, Olivia will have to stay indoors in the A/C or have other accommodations that keep her cool. She already has a pretty good heat rash across her forehead from the weekend that we have to watch.

This weekend, the girls and I were able to relax most of the weekend. On Saturday, we hung out at my mom's house by the pool. I got Olivia a little baby pool with a canopy to keep her shaded from the sun. She had so much fun splashing around in her little pool. Her cousin Alexa found the baby pool to be just as fun as the big pool!

After spending time at the pool at my mom's house again on Sunday, we drove out to Bob and Jane's house on the lake for a BBQ. McKenzie had fun playing in the lake. I honestly don't know how though. That water was freezing. I stuck my foot in and was done with that!

We got to spend some time with our niece, Finley. I was so excited to have some time with her. Usually when we see her it is with other family as well so I don't usually get to spend a lot of time with her. We took a boat ride together and she came up and sat on my lap and fell asleep. It was adorable. She also shared with me her favorite collection of rocks.

Luckily, there was a nice breeze out at the lake and I was able to keep Olivia outside with us. She enjoys the scenery at the lake and watching the water. Here she spent a little time with Grandpa Don.

On Memorial day, we headed out to the lake in Fremont with my dad and is new boat. McKenzie and Alexa were excited to play with one another again. McKenzie is going through a weird stage right now where she's scared to go fast in the boat. Last year there were no problems. The only thing I can think of is that it stems back from when we went to Okaboji last year and Bobby took her on an upside down ride. Ever since then, shes been scared of everything!

Alexa had fun burying herself in the sand.

What a Weekend!

We had a very fun, but very exhausting weekend this weekend. After ice skating on Saturday morning, we drove out to Bob and Jane's to let my dad test his new boat out on the lake. I think he was in heaven with this new boat! It's much faster and nicer than his last one and I can tell he can't wait for it to get nice out again.

Olivia on the boat.

My dad helping McKenzie drive the boat.

After the boat ride, we had to get McKenzie ready for her gymnastics open house. Here's a picture of her all ready to go.

About halfway through the gymnastics recital, I could tell something was wrong with McKenzie. She had hit her head on a bar and then later gotten a stomach ache. I could tell by her facial expressions that she wasn't feeling good. This photo was at the end when they were all given their metals. McKenzie wanted out of there but she kept going until the end.

At this point she was ready to go. She was crying about her stomach hurting and refused to take a picture.

After gymnastics, we let McKenzie cool off a bit before heading off to her dance rehearsal. After some ice tea she was feeling fine and was able to dance. She had a blast this year. She made friends with the girls in her class and no tears (except for when I got glitter eye shadow in her eye). Here's a photo of her after her recital on Sunday with her flowers and trophy. She was so excited to get a trophy. She came home and I found her in her room, standing on her dresser taking other things off her shelves to make room for that trophy.

She was very excited yet as you can see by this picture, she was also very exhausted.

Olivia had a cute dress that matched the color of McKenzie's and I wanted a photo of them together, but Olivia fell asleep right before the end of the show.

Friday, when I picked up the girls from daycare, Olivia's teacher said that Olivia refused to take a nap. I got her home and had her sitting at the table while I made dinner. I gave her a graham cracker and when I turned around, she was falling asleep while she was eating.

This is a video of the little dance at the beginning of the gymnastics recital. It was very cute. Hard to video over other people's heads though. McKenzie is in the back, behind the girl in the leotard. She's wearing a gymnastics t-shirt and black shorts.

This is a video of McKenzie's dance rehearsal. McKenzie is the second from the left. For the first 30 seconds they forgot the dance and just fluffed their hair.

Spring

Finally, we are getting some nice spring days. I love the spring mornings when you wake up and the sun is shining and you can't wait to get outside. McKenzie is usually the first one out in the mornings in her pajamas. That kid would live in her pajamas if I would let her. Friday is pajama day at school and she's been talking about it for over a week now.

Olivia is growing up faster than we can believe. She's started eating "big girl foods" now and can't seem to get enough. She loves graham crackers and cheerios. She also loves bananas and applesauce. She's getting very close to crawling. She hates to be on her tummy but her physical therapist gave me a lecture that she needs more time on her tummy to strengthen her neck (so her head isn't tilted as below) so we'll be doing more of that and hopefully she'll get so mad she'll just get up and crawl. Her friends that she plays with while McKenzie does gymnastics both crawl and leave her behind so I'm thinking she'll catch on quick. She hates being left behind.

Our insurance company has FINALLY approved helmet therapy for Olivia. We've had her initial appointment and the scanning of her head. We've picked out the awesome pattern for the outside of the helmet (we didn't have much to pick from) and should be getting the helmet soon. As soon as we get it, she'll have to wear it almost 24/7 for 3 months. It won't hurt her, it might just be annoying from time to time but we wanted to give her the chance to get a perfectly round head like it was supposed to be. Unfortunately the torticollis she was diagnosed with caused "flat head" on one side. You can't really tell by looking at her straight on but if you saw the back of her head, you'd know what I was talking about. We have been battling with the insurance company for quite a while over this though. They don't want to pay for anything cosmetic but we won since this was caused by the torticollis. Otherwise we were going to have to decide if we wanted to pay for it out of pocket. It's not cheap!

The girls are becoming more and more "daddy's girls". I guess with him working so much, I've had to discipline more and so they seem to like him again. LOL One thing he's always been able to do is get these kids to sleep. Why won't they sleep when I hold them???

McKenzie was part of an ice skating/dance recital last weekend. It was very cute. Her group was Monsters Inc and she was very excited to get the chance to dress up as Sully or "Silly" when she pronounces it. She had a great time. As soon as they got out there, she was knocked over by another girl but she got up and finished it out. It was very cute!

After the recital we all got dressed up and headed off to my cousin Sara's wedding. It was a beautiful reception (unfortunately we missed the wedding due to the recital). The kids really enjoyed the candy table. I think my niece Alexa enjoyed it the most. At one point she had stuffed so much candy in her mouth that she couldn't even swallow.

Sara had a beautiful gown.

My sister Nicki had fun dancing with Olivia.

The next morning was mothers day. It was a very nice, relaxing day. We had stopped to get some mothers day cards and McKenzie had decided she wanted to get a card for both of her grandmas. She spent some time picking out just the right Hoops and Yoyo cards. Bobby about killed her dream when he told her that she couldn't get the ones she wanted because they weren't Mothers Day cards. Well after one look on her face he changed his mind. She was so proud to give her Grandma Jane a birthday card that sang at breakfast. She wrote Happy Mothers day inside and gave it to her the second she saw her that morning.

Next we went to my mom's house. McKenzie of course gave my mom her card as well but then soon took off with the card to show everyone else. Somehow that card came home with us because she liked it so much. She didn't want to let it go. We need to work on giving I think.