McKenzie's Baby Blessing

On Sunday, my sister Breanne and her husband Danny blessed their first baby, McKenzie. We have been so excited for them to have this baby, since they've had a hard time trying for her to come. She's such a cute little thing, with all that crazy hair! The blessing went really nicely and then we had a luncheon at Bre's house after. Lots of yummy food and even a cake for Lexi's b-day. We hung out there for several hours just chatting and playing. Myra especially loved entertaining her cousin Kenzie. Kenzie just stared at her and smiled at her. Myra just loves babies! It's kind of funny that we have the only boy grandchild on my parent's side and we have the only girl grandkids on Chad's side of the family. I'm sure that'll change in the future. Anyway, we really enjoyed visiting with family and were sad to leave. Congratulations Bre!

Grandpa Keyser's B-day Party

Last Saturday, Chad's Grandpa had a birthday party. March has so many Keyser birthdays! Chad's mom and dad, his sister Natalie, his Grandpa, our new nephew, Jackson and Lexi. Whew! It's quite the month for celebrations! Anyway, we were glad that we were going to be down in Salt Lake for the weekend anyway, so that we were able to go. Chad's dad flew in and we were excited to be able to see him as well. Our kids were the little ones there, so they got a lot of attention from all of Chad's Aunts and Uncles. All of Chad's Grandparent's children were there.

Somebody's 3!

Lexi had her 3rd Birthday on the 25th. Her b-day celebrations encompassed an entire week! The previous weekend we went up to Rexburg to visit family. Aunt Natalie made Lexi an adorable Doll Cake. I wish I had a video of when Lexi first saw it. Her face totally lit up. It was so sweet.

She had a little trouble blowing out the candles and right after that she grabbed the doll and yanked it out. Once again, I wish I had a video of when she realized the doll didn't have any legs. She was slightly panicked. Natalie had to take them off to make the doll fit in the cake, but Lexi was fine once we got them attached again.On her birthday, she was so excited to wake up to balloons and a poster. We let her open 1 present, but I think she had more fun playing with the balloons throughout the day than the toy she got. That afternoon my parents came up to give Lexi her gifts and to take us out to dinner. Lexi was especially excited about the dress Grandma and Grandpa gave her. She insisted on wearing it that night and every day since... Lexi chose to go to Golden Corral and she enjoyed eating pizza and spaghetti. They sang to her there and I thought she was going to cry from the attention. That night, our friends, the Day's came over for cake and ice cream. I got a new cake decorating kit and decided to try it out. I definitely need some practice, but Lexi loved the cake. Especially the doll on top! She also enjoyed the presents that Grammy and Grandad sent, especially the Sleeping Beauty dress.Then, to finish off Lexi's birthday celebration, Aunt Bre and Grandma got her another cake and we sang to her at McKenzie's blessing party. She was pretty excited about the Tianna toy on top, although it upset her a little that she didn't have any legs under her dress.
Anyway, I can't believe Lexi's 3 now! It is so shocking to look back and see that the time has flown by so swiftly. Lexi is such a delight. She is such a sweet girl, who absolutely adores her older sister. She loves dressing up and often wears her nightgown on her head so that she has long hair. We are so happy to have her in our family. We love her so much!

Dolphi

Myra finally got her way. She was able to name something Dolphi. =) (If you remember, that's what she wanted to name the baby.) Anyway, we added a minivan to our family this week. It's a 2003 Honda Odyssey and we feel like we got an awesome deal! It's so nice! We can roll down all the windows, lock all the doors with a touch of a button, and we don't have to slam the door to make sure all the carseats fit inside! It's great to have so much room and to have a car that we feel is more reliable. The kids are especially enjoying the built-in coat hangers. And they keep asking if they can go play in the van.

Noah LOVES his Baby food!

Noah generally likes his baby food, especially squash. But, he really dislikes any of the meats we have given him. Maybe this is mean, but it's such a funny reaction. Needless to say, I'm not going to try feeding them to him again, at least for a while. It's ok for him to be a vegetarian, right?

In other news, I registered Myra for Kindergarten today. What a pain in the butt! I couldn't believe the amount of paperwork they had me fill out and it was so redundant. The same things over and over again! I don't understand why they couldn't have sent out the paperwork ahead of time. Then they also do an assessment. I think if they are wanting to "quiz" your child on all these different things, they should let you know ahead of time so you can work on it with them. Myra did pretty good, although she really struggled with the syllable clapping. Which really frustrated me because I knew they were going to do it and we had been working on it. I think what threw her off was that the practice words and the first 2 non-practice words were all 2 syllable words and after that she tried to make all of the words in 2 syllables. It was so frustrating to sit back and listen to her get so many wrong when I knew that she could have gotten them right. Anyway, I'm proud of her. I think she will love Kindergarten and she will do great with it.

Chad's Thesis Defense

On Friday, the 12th, Chad defended his thesis. This has been a day long in the coming! I am so proud of Chad and all that he has accomplished and we are so excited that he is done with school now! His defense went great! I've read all of Chad's thesis and almost all of it was really over my head. But, his defense presentation really helped me to understand better all that he has been doing. I was very impressed!

After that, he had to talk to his committee members for over 2 hours! Chad said it was more of a discussion than a quiz, so I guess it was really laid back. And he passed with flying colors! Chad came home early and to celebrate we went bowling. It was a lot of fun! For the first time ever, I was beating Chad the entire game. But then he came back in the 10th frame with 3 strikes to beat me by 1 point! Lucky! Anyway, Good job Chad with finishing up you schooling, we are all so proud of you!

Bre's Baby Shower & Myra's sickness

This is a little late coming, but I'm finally getting around to blogging about it. At the end of February, we had a baby shower for Bre's baby, McKenzie. We had to wait until after she was born since Bre was on bed rest for so long. The night before, Noah came down with a high temperature and the next morning Myra wasn't feeling very well either. So, I debated whether I should even go. I had to take Noah with me since we are "attached." But, I didn't want him around everyone, so Chad had to go so he could watch Noah, which meant we had to bring Myra as well. Anyway, they hung out in my Grandma's basement. I felt bad because Myra had been so excited for the shower and was so disappointed when she couldn't go. The shower turned out really well, even though I was so distressed with Noah. He couldn't breathe through his nose, so he would have a really hard time eating. But, he was hungry and I couldn't feed him very well. Ugh! Bre got a lot of fun stuff for her little girl. It was a lot of fun to visit with family members and everyone enjoyed seeing her adorable little girl. I made BBQ beef sandwiches that turned out really yummy!
Oh, I almost forgot. We got to Salt lake really early, so we decided to go over to Temple Square with the kids. We just walked around for a few minutes. We wish we had been able to stay longer. We'll have to go back again soon.
Well, the fun began after that. We headed home and you could tell Myra really wasn't feeling well. She threw up on the way, which I'm still not sure if it's because of her sickness or the fact that she gets carsick. When we got home, her temperature was up to 104.8! Whoa! She had also developed a rash all over her stomach and chest and was complaining about a sore throat. So, I called the doctor. He told me I could probably wait to bring her in the next morning, unless other symptoms popped up. So, I gave her tylenol, put her to bed and we went to the doctor the next morning. By this time, her rash had spread all over her back and up onto her face. As soon as the doctor saw the rash and her throat he said that he thought she had Scarlet Fever. What?!? Isn't that what all those Jane Austen-era characters in different books I've read died from? I guess it was really serious back then, but now it's basically Strep Throat with a rash. Easily cured with an antibiotic. She felt much better the next day and was soon after back to normal. She still has a little bit of a rash on her checks and stomach. You can't really see it, you can just feel it. We were so glad that no one else came down with it since the doctor said it was so contagious. Crazy!

Doctor's Check-Ups

Today I had Lexi's 3-year check-up and Noah's 6-month check-up. We thought we were also getting Myra's Kindergarten shots done, but apparently I had them done last year and didn't remember about it. She was a little disappointed because I told them we would get ice cream after their shots and she was worried she wouldn't get any. I asked her if she wanted to get a shot so she could get ice cream and after a moments hesitation, she shook her head yes! Silly girl. Needless to say, she was pretty excited that she got away with ice cream AND no shots!
Lexi was so nervous about the visit. She was all of a sudden super shy around the doctor and really tensed up when he was examining her. Then when it came time for the shots, she was so nervous. She got her hand away from me while I was holding her and barely missed grabbing the shot. Anyway, she cried for less than a minute and then was totally fine.
I was so shocked with Noah though. They had me lay him down and they gave him one shot in his leg. He just kept looking at me, his expression barely changing. Then they did 2 shots in his other leg. He let out 1 little whimper and that was it! The nurse was even surprised. She kept calling him a tough little guy! And he was! Anyway, here are the kids stats. It's so fun to see the change!

Alexys - 3 years

Weight - 26lbs - 8%
Height - 35 1/2 in. - 14%

Noah - 6 months

Weight - 16.14lbs - 32%
Height - 27in. - 65% !!
Head Circumference - 42 1/2 in. - 14%

Looking back at Lexi's weight/height chart, she only weighed 16 pounds at 1 year! She has sure grown though! She was never even on the charts for weight until 9 months, then it was at 1% until 2 years. Now she's in the 8th percentile! I'm so glad to see that she's growing so well!

Cute Kids

I know you think your kids are the cutest, but really, mine, are the cutest! =)

The World through Myra's Eyes

One of Myra's favorite pastimes lately is getting a hold of our camera and taking pictures. She got a camera of her own last year, but the batteries are always dying and you have to find a screwdriver to open up the panel to replace them. Needless to say, it doesn't get a battery change very often. So, Myra gets a hold of our camera and madness ensues! Every time I go to load the pictures off the camera on to the computer, it's always a surprise what might be on there. Usually there is a plethora of close-up shots of Myra's face, a few of Noah and Lexi, sometimes the dog, but mostly, they are pictures of the computer screen, tv screen and different areas around the house. Many of the pictures have her little fingers visible in the shot and most are blurry or something. But, I always find a few to get a good laugh out of. So, for your viewing enjoyment, here are a few recent pictures a la Myra. I also found a video she had taken. What a silly girl!