Our News

Well, I am not doing so bad - only 2 weeks since my last post!! :) Gary finally got our deck completed so I will post those pictures. It is so much nicer than what we had. I should have taken a before picture, but I didn't, although I'm sure we have one somewhere.

We started Malaya in swimming lessons on the 12th - she is really enjoying them and doing so well. I couldn't believe how much she had improved by week 2. We are doing them at the swim center. We had never been in there before and it is really nice. She goes for 6 weeks so she'll be halfway tomorrow.

I started not feeling well last Sunday, but by Tues night was fine. Then Wed. morning I woke up and had all the flu symptoms so Gary stayed home with me and the girls and drove me to the dr. They tested me for the flu and thankfully the results were negative. But, I did have a bacterial & virual infection. They gave me an antibiotic, but I've been running a fever. Everytime I break my fever, it comes back. I finally called the dr. back yesterday afternoon and they told me to alternate motrin & tylenol and after 48-72 hrs on the antibiotic my fever should go away. It's been 48 hours this morning and I think I am finally feeling a little better. I've been home from work the past 3 days...thank goodness for PTO. My parents came and got the girls on Wed and took them out to Hart Ranch with them so I know they are having fun. Malaya said she wanted to go camping with grandma & papa on Wed and I told her they'd come get her later today and she said - no - NOW!!! She sure knows what she wants!!!

The guy who owned the house before had put plywood down and then covered it was carpet - it was awful!!

Then it had that cheap white plastic everywhere

It was so gross under it - Gary even found a black widow under it closer towards our house - he said it was the biggest black widow he's ever seen. Thank goodness he found it and now Malaya!!

Daddy's little helper

See it was all like the white plastic you can see here

How long daddy?

Finished - we didn't take down that white part b/c there's a flower planter on the other side - maybe someday we will...

It is so much nicer - Gary did a great job!

These are from the other night - Malaya wanted to play doll house and Miranda had lots of fun too!

Mommy & Miranda

Malaya's New Friend

This weekend Gary worked on re-doing our deck. He took off all the plywood / carpet and got it down to just the frame. Then he started re-building it. I will post pictures of this project soon... Well, Malaya was his big helper this weekend and while working - she found a new friend. I was in the house changing Miranda and here comes Malaya - "Mommy - look". I turned around and here she is with a grasshopper in her hand. I told her to take it outside - I could just see a grasshopper getting lost in our house. I followed her outside and asked Gary if he put her up to that and he said no - she wanted to show me and he told Malaya that I wasn't going to be happy. He said she was so proud of that grasshopper because she caught it all by herself.

A little while later she came in and asked for a towel. She was trying to get it one handed - I asked her why she couldn't use her other hand and then it donned on me - the other hand was holding her shirt and in her shirt was the grasshopper. Out of the house we went again. The next thing I know is Gary got her a water bottle and put the grasshopper in the bottle and polked a hold on the top for it to have air. By the end of the day, there were 3 grasshoppers in the bottle. As of now, I don't know where the bottle is - I'm hoping outside somewhere and not lost in the house. Anyway, I asked Malaya if I could take pictures of her and her new friend and here they are....

Sprout

When I was pregnant with Malaya, we started calling her Bean intead of saying it/he/she. She got that name b/c when we told our family I was pregnant, the baby was the size of the Bean. When I got pregnant with Miranda, we wanted to carry on the name, so we started calling Miranda Sprout. So, we had Bean & Sprout. Well, we really thought that Miranda was going to be a boy and were really shocked when she was a girl!! Anyway, Sheila found this blue outfit that said Sprout on it, and when we had a girl, she wanted to return the outfit. I told her no - I wanted it anyway, so here are pictures of her in the Sprout outfit. She is also laying on the blanket that Great-Grandma Lorraine made for her.

I love this facial expression!!

Here are also some pictures from the other night. I was feeding her cereal and she was attempting to hold her own bottle...I thought they were cute - notice the cereal everywhere

5 Months Old

Yep, it's true - Miranda is already 5 months old. I just don't know where the time goes - I just wish it would slow down. Miranda is rolling all over the place. She can go from tummy to back and back to tummy. If it put her down on one side of the room she'll make it to the other side by rolling. She has also tried to crawl too. She tries to get up on her legs, but usually just ends up scooting. I think she sees her big sister moving around and wants to be like her. Here are her pictures

The Rest of August

I'm trying to remember what else we did in August....I know we went camping 2 weekends so I'll post pictures from our camping trip. One of the weekends, Bobbi & BJ Dart were right next to us. They have a daughter who is 8 months older than Malaya and they play together really well.

Then last Saturday (29th) Gary's parents, brother, Brandy & Nick and us all went on a motorcycle ride. We started in Spearfish and went over to Deadwood, then down Boulder canyon to Sturgis, then up through Vanoucker Canyon and ate lunch at Boondocks and then back through the Canyon to Spearfish. I guess it was a 100 mile ride, although it didn't feel like it. My parents watched the girls and the Brakke kids. Then that night my sister & Mike kept the girls while Gary & I went to deadwood. I had won a free night stay at the Frist Gold off the radio for my birthday and it expired Sept 1. I don't have any pictures from this day because they are on Twila's camera.

I have been working extra hours at work because of our tax return deadline. With Gary working in Spearfish, I go pick up the girls, run home, eat & head back to work until 8. It's been really tiring. I don't think it's going to slow down until after Oct. 15....

Here are August's Pictures....

Malaya & Papa playing Bean Bag

Malaya & Papa laying on the blanket

Miranda helping Grandma in the camper

Malaya & Taylee coloring

Mommy & Miranda

Papa & Malaya swimming

Papa, Taylee & Malaya swimming

We got the jump a roo out of the storage unit - Miranda loved it until Malaya came up and bounced her hard and now I think she's scared of it because everytime I put her in it she screams

I laid Miranda om our bed and when I turned around she had her sock in her mouth

Daddy put pigtails in Malaya's hair for the first time and this was the only way I could get a picture

For these next pictures - who is who??

1 - Miranda, 2 - Malaya, 3 - Miranda, 4 - Malaya, 5 - Miranda

Malaya was 7 months and Miranda 5 months, but I thought it was neat how much they do look alike

First cereal - Miranda eats the cereal really well, but after a half hour or so it all comes back up. They say if their system does that they're not ready for it so to stop the cereal for a couple weeks and then try again. So, we did that and tried it again at 5 months - still didn't work. I called the nurse and she said to try oatmeal. We've done that and it's going much better so maybe she won't have to be a starvin marvin and will start getting her belly full