Dora the Explorer Live!

It was sooooooooooooooooo much fun going to see Dora Live. The girls absolutely loved it! I enjoyed it too, I even sang along to all the songs. It was just like one of her TV episodes, where the audience responds to questions, they solve problems along the way, and try and avoid Swiper.

Yesterday the girls and I drove up to the Cliff Dwellings. It was a good trip, we packed a lunch and ate before we hit the trail. Hiking with two little ones...now that's an adventure. Luckily the trail is an easy trail. Kylee walked the whole way and Krysten walked a good portion of it. She wanted to be carried on the way back down. Tracey was our official photographer of the trip. If you want to see more photos, I uploaded a bunch more on Facebook.

Off we go!My beautiful girls- Tracey, Krysten, and Kylee!!!

A view of some of the Cliff Dwellings. I could type up a windy description about who was here and when, but frankly, I don't feel like it. Sorry.


Look at us! We're gonna climb through this doorway, it's just our size.

Taking a break! We've walked a long ways and we deserve it. Round trip is about a mile, but it's climbing up a canyon, and then back down again. Pretty easy for bigger kids and adults, but hard work for us.

After our hike we drove down to the river and played in the water for awhile to cool off.

"Don't touch me!"

Happy 4th of July!!!!

Park Hoppers

Every day after I pick up the girls from the Montessori School, we go to the park for the free lunches. There are several parks to choose from: last week we went to the bike park (Tracey's nickname for it), and this week we have been going to Penny Park. The girls and I have really enjoyed spending the time at the park. Plus, it gets them really tired and they take nice long naps.

This evening we went to the park by Fort Bayard. The girls call it the helicopter park because of the helicopter on a stick nearby. We enjoy going to this park because it's much closer than the others and they've fixed it up really nice.

My very own X-Man, errr...X-Girl

So many of you know that Tracey has an issue with her left arm.

Originally it was diagnosed as a hemangioma. BUT, now that has changed. Her medical records were sent to Boston for review at the Vascular Anomalies Center. They re-diagnosed her as having a venous malformation. What is that, you ask? Well, in short, it's a genetic mutation (hence the X-Men) of her veins. Meaning they didn't form right. The vein walls are weak and expand and form blod clots and such.

So now what?

I recently had a conversation with one of the leading pediatric vascular surgeons in the country and she recommends a procedure called sclerotherapy. They will have to inject her veins with something to drain the bad veins and hopefully block them so they won't fill up again. Evidently there are backup veins to use. I should have paid more attention during Anatomy class in college. There will be a series of 3 surgeries to fix the problem. In. Houston. Texas.

As you know, my lovely X-Girl loves sports and is planning on playing volleyball this year. Remember, the malformation is in her FOREARM. The doctor said that was the worst sport she could play *laughs* but doesn't like to restrict patients. So she's got the go-ahead to play, but she has to wear a compression sleeve on her arm.

So there you have it...an update on our X-Girl.

Day at the Lake

We made a spontaneous decision and went to Bill Evans lake today, and had a great afternoon. Kylee and Tracey enjoyed playing in the lake and Tracey and the bigger kids even swam out to the island and back. Krysten was at Grama's so she missed out. Next time.

" I wanna go with you Tracey"

My new best friend: she has chips and she's willing to share!

"Catch me, Brandon"

My baby is 2.

Happy Birthday Krysten!!!

We love you so much and you are such a sweet, wonderful little girl.