Gale Munchkins

Here's our Kiera, all ready for her first day of school!! (Mikenna had just woken up.) We're hoping Kaylee will be able to join her at Lincoln soon, but until then we'll homeschool.

Grandma Chan & the girls & I got to hang out at the Benton Franklin County Fair for a few hours Wed. It wasn't as exciting as I'd remembered in years past, but the girls enjoyed looking at the animals, gathering free items and then eating elephant ears. I think they liked riding the city bus down to the fair most of all. Grandma took a bunch of pics, I'll have to post later since they're on her camera. Mikenna absolutely LOVED seeing the animals...but that was it...touching or standing near them for a picture was not acceptable...maybe because...we were watching the pig judging~where kids herd their pigs of various sizes around a semi-large corral~Mikenna is in her stroller, about 3 feet away from the corral...I notice Kassi is becoming alarmed as a few of the pigs are squealing and charging towards us, I turn to her to calm her down but then I hear a frantic scream/cry from Mikenna who sees the same pigs, but by now they have reached the corral fence and are tr...

Yes...a BIG UGH !! from us! Kaylee woke up from a nap Wed. afternoon with a bit of a tummy ache(5:30pm). So, gave her some Tylenol, had her eat, gave her some IBP ...she started throwing up abouts...6:30 pm, couldn't get anything to stay in her...not even her pain med or prednisone , etc....we kept trying... meds , throw-up, meds , throw-up...thought we had it a bit under control by midnight, but she threw up again...20 min after we'd gotten some meds in her...she was in so much pain...so back to the ER... Well, most everyone in the ER had never heard of her condition...they looked it up...the doc came in...wanted to give her some anti- nausea stuff...I asked why? (because...her throwing up isn't because she's nauseated , its because her stomach is cramping and cramping until it finally gives a big squeeze and everything comes out). I just wanted to know if he had a different view as to how to treat the whole thing...so, he decided to consult Kaylee's previous v...

So, I suppose it's time for another update on our Kaylee... We have now finished with week 6 of this illness...thus the "average length of illness lasting 4-6 weeks" have now past and we still have spots... Yes, spots , spots , SPOTS !! ( Vasculitis ) Every day we have new ones...you can tell they're new because they are bright red ! Then you have the very dark purple ones , the not so dark purple , the fuzzy edge purple ones , the cloudy purple ones and then the light light purple ones . Will the spots every go away? The newest thing with the spots are that the last batch of them were very painful for Kaylee. When they first show up, bright red ones , they are also a bit puffy...and for some reason-over the past week, when they're puffy they are also extremely sensitive. Kaylee has been such a trooper, hardly complaining... We've only had 2-3 days where she hasn't been able to walk because of achy joints or muscles...and it's been about 1 1/2 weeks ...

You would never know that these were pics of Elmo...

Kiera had many birthday celebrations this year...Emma (her most favorite cousin) was going camping with her family over Kiera's b-day weekend, and so, we had her spend the night and celebrate Kiera's b-day wed/thurs. Emma was very anxious to have Kiera open her present and sing Happy B-day to her. Then we had her "friend" party...which to keep it simple and because I decided so late to have it, we just swam and played games in the pool...btw a perfect way to have a party! Luckily, not all of her friends were vactioning and we were able to have a nice little group. Later, we celebrated again when more family gathered at our home. (I know the girls enjoy the special attention and love singing happy birthday over and over again.) Kiera requested the same Barbie cake as last year...being that she'd had her accident and didn't get to "taste her cake" and we had enough cupcakes to create the swan...although we thought it looked a bit dinosaurish... FYI: Y...

turned TWO a few weeks ago!! I can't believe how much she has grown. Some FYIs about her... *she loves Elmo & her kitty that G-ma Gale gave her for Christmas~thus the b-day cakes *she is speaking in multi-word phrases~most ending with "me": help me; po-po me; hand me (hold my hand); dirty yuck EW!; shoo bee; me book; swimming me peese; *she loves to be helpful: the other day Kaylee was asking for lotion and Mikenna took off into the kitchen. Next thing Mikenna yelling, "Mom!! Help ME!!" I go running, and she's hanging off the end of the counter holding the lotion, unable to reach the stool she'd used..."Me! Je-Je Kaylee, soap!" *she loves to have her nails painted~has gotten into a small bottle herself and used the entire bottle on her hands "EEEWW Mommy, dirty!" *her absolute fav is BUBBLES!! *she chews her food slowly...many times if she won't take a bite, you can get her to take a bite by saying, "oh! where's the d...

My sister called this morning to tell me the news of Pres. Faust passing. You think I would have noticed when I was on the Church website this morning, preparing my primary lesson...hmmm... Just a funny memory...while on my mission, a companion and I were talking about how, when you look into a person's eyes, sometimes it seems like there is "dihn" or electricity flowing out of them~later on we came across a picture of Pres. Faust and immediately we looked at each other, "He's got the 'dihn'!!"

Harry Potter... I just finished the seventh Harry Potter book last night, didn't stay up too late :) I started about 2 weeks ago, re-reading book 1...and so on...Haven't been too obsessive...just reading when I had the chance, in between regular life happenings... and now...I feel a bit of..."what do I do with so much free time!!" Which to say, no worries there, I've got PLENTY to do...

I can't believe it's already a week into August already!! Let's see...this past weekend we were in Seattle for a few baby blessings, an anniversary celebration and just hanging out with family. Kiera attended a gymnastics camp and learned to do a bridge kick-over ( precursor to back walk over). I just started Harry Potter Book 7 today... Kaylee's pain is being "managed." She still has stomach cramps off and on, the spots keep coming and going, and there are a few days here and there where she can't walk. She is drawing and coloring, reading gobs, and trying to stay positive. My parents are off visiting Tanya & Andy for a few weeks, Melanie left last week to do the same. Guess that's all for now...