Disneyland! 5 days- so super fun, so very tiring. We all had a blast.

The Birthday Princess

Keilani Mei had a magical princess birthday yesterday. She turned 3! Her big gift was a big girl bike- princess themed of course. She got piles of gifts from family and friends- I've never seen so much fru fru princess stuff in my life! I didn't like dresses, pink, or barbies when I was little, but as Kei Kei gathers more of these things, I've decided it's all pretty FUN! Keilani is such a bright and cheery girl - she's beautiful inside and out. Happy Birthday Princess!

There Will Be A Day - Jeremy Camp

Praise God- there will be a day. Romans 21:4

A great visit

A couple of weeks ago we had our good friends here for a visit. Their 2 oldest kiddos had a sleepover while Mommy Backlund took a little break. It was a busy day for sure, but I found out that I can hang with 5 kids- for a few days anyways! I took the kids to Bounceopolis in Folsom to get some of the energy out and later we had a movie night and then it was sleepover time. I sat in the room until they fell asleep and it worked! Check out all the cute pics. Can you tell who has a crush on who?

Easter

Hope you had a lovely Easter. We sure enjoyed the great weather! The kids woke up to a note from "E. Bunny." They found their baskets and then even more goodies from grandpa and grandpa. It was hard to hold them off from running out the door at 7am to hunt for eggs! We made it until about 8 and I finally gave in. We made it to church and celebrated Jesus' resurrection. Granny P. and Aunt Judy joined us for dinner (and brought the kids more goodies!) You have to know I brushed their teeth extra long tonight!!! Check out the cute pics!

Happy Easter!!

We just watched this wonderful video that we've had sitting around for a month or so. We had no idea it was going to be about Easter!! It is awesome- you just have to watch it: "Fruitcake and Ice Cream" (http://www.northpointministries.org/player/player.jsp?occurrenceID=3109)
God bless your Easter!

Meigan's a Toddler

No more babies around here- Meigan is now walking almost entirely now. She hardly crawls at all any more. Here's a video update. She really exhausts me- she is so curious and independent. I'll find her at the other end of the house opening things and finding new troubles. :) But boy is she cute. So she gets away with everything.!

Another Surgery

On Thursday Jeff finally had sinus surgery. This was after 3 years of chronic sinus infections and daily pain. He was seeing an ENT doctor for the last year who was reluctant to do surgery and who made him see a neuroligist, allergy doctor, and more. Finally, Jeff sought a second opinion and was sent to an ENT at Kaiser Roseville who was optimistic that surgery would help. Dr. Kirnon spoke with me after Jeff's surgery on Thursday and said his deviated septum was one of the worst she'd seen and his right sinus was very diseased. She was quite sure he will feel a lot of improvement after surgery. Thank you Dr. Kirnon!
Jeff's surgery went well. It took all day Thursday and has been a rough recovery so far. Because he was bleeding so much, the doctor had to put packing in his nose which added pressure and pain to an already painful procedure. This morning she removed that which helped a bit. He's had some trouble with the medications too- not being strong enouch and also some allergic reaction. He's slowly eating a bit more and watching some TV, but mostly he's sleeping (in a recliner chair because he has to stay at a 45 degree angle). He could definitely use your continued prayers and encouragement. Thanks for all the well wishes, I have been passing them on!

Mei Mei's cupcake

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

Meigan turned from baby to toddler today! I can't believe it's been a year already! We had a fun garden themed party at which Mei Mei's friends planted flowers in "Meigan's Garden" in the back yard. She enjoyed her first cupcake and left the party early for an overdue nap. We had a nice barbecue in the evening with Granny and Grandpa and Grandma.
We are so greatful for every day with our beautiful girl. She is so happy and fun and independent. Her curiosity leads her on new adventures every day. She is a blessing and a joy. Thank you God for Meigan Elaine!

We love to read!

The kids love their books. Jacob is moving toward chapter books- he's reading a Magic Tree House book in this clip. Keilani knows about 6 letters and some of their sounds, but she likes to "read" books too- she has three or four books memorized. She's reading Eric Carl's "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" in her video.

Big steps for Mei Mei

Meigan has been working on walking more and more every day. Her record is 15 steps.

In and Out and then a pop. . .

Keilani's surgery went well this morning. We woke up at 4:50 so we could get ready and have a sip of juice before the 5am cut-off. Keilani snuggled with Grandma until we left at 5:30. We went into admitting where Keilani and her Snuggly Pup got wristbands.
We were whizzed right in to pre-op where Keilani got dressed in her surgery pajamas and was given a small cup of Versed to help her relax. She DID NOT want to drink it. She spit some out and then I had to give her the choice to drink it or be held down and forced to drink it. She finally chose to drink it (big sigh of relief for mommy). The medicine made her really loopy and happy. She waved a princess wave to mommy and said "Bye Mom!"
We were sent back to the waiting room and tried not worry. After not too long the surgeon came to us and said, "She's done. Come on back." Everything had gone prefectly. Keilani was sleeping peacefully. She woke up after a while without tears. The nurse was amazed that she didn't try to pull anything off. She whispered to me a bit. And after a bit she was eating a popsicle and chugging juice.
She recovered so well the sent us right home!
All was well at home and Kei Kei was pepping up and even playing outside a bit, though she was bearing a bit of an attitude about everything. But, hey she has some reason to be a bit cranky!
Then came the call for naptime. She was not having it at all. I picked her up and she started to flail around when we heard a sudden "pop." The sound was kind of like a shirt button popping loose, but louder. My stomach sank a bit. I looked at Keilani and asked her, "What was that?" She started crying "It didn't pop, it didn't pop." I asked her if it was her stomach and she wouldn't answer. I told her it was very important and to tell me. She nodded. At this point my stomach sank all the way to the floor. She could tell. She was crying and I started calling for Jeff. So, we hurried to the car and headed toward the ER. By halfway there, she was calm. At that point I started second guessing. Was it just her back cracking or her sternum popping? We knew we had to play it safe and go in. The surgeon met us in the ER room. He said he'd be suprised if the inner stitch broke, but even if it did, there wasn't anything to do about it now. (It wouldn't really cause much internal bleeding). He said worst case scenario would be that the stitch did break and the tissue could come back out the hole, but most likely scar tissue will build up blocking the 1mm opening and preventing that.
So, there's a small possibility that we just went through surgery and then undid it. But prayerfully, her tummy bump is fixed.
And regardless, our sweetie is Okay!

Just can't be mad at that face!

Check out Keilani's latest trouble- playfoam in the hair! This was after a week of coloring on the walls and lipsticking the carpet. Today's infraction had it's own natural consequence of getting the foam out of the hair. She was crying just talking about it.

Happy Birthday Jakey!

It's hard to believe, but on Friday Jacob turned 5 years old!! He's officially a big kid now! What a wonderful blessing and joy he is. He brings us smiles every day. We love his sweet spirit and incredible mind. His energy amazes us (and exhausts us too!) Jacob enjoyed his birthday very much. Thanks to everyone who helped make it so special for him!
Here are some pictures of yesterday and his party today.My, how you've grown!

Busy Baby

Here's a little clip of Meigan- she is going nonstop like this all day long!

Ski School

We had a great time celebrating Faye's birthday up at Boreal last Friday. We took Jacob and put him in Ski School for the morning with his buddy, Eben. Jacob did really well and had a lot of fun. He learned to go up the chair lift and stop himself by "making a pizza slice." The boys had fun after their class throwing snowballs, making a snowman, and "sledding" on a snowboard.

Mei Mei on the Move and Growing Up!

Baby Meigan's little personality is really starting to come out now. She is very curious and she really loves music. She went from no crawling to speed crawling and she can even get up the stairs.



She pulls up on everything. She can say Ma Ma and she tries to say "all done." She never took to pureed food, but she loves all the food we eat chopped up (and oatmeal too).

Meigan graduated to big kid bath time with her sissy. Here's a cute picture of the girls in the tub together.

Sick of Being Sick!!

Our house has been plagued with illness. Before Christmas all 5 of us had a cold- the girls had fevers on Christmas Day. New years brought a stomach bug. Then, just when everyone was starting to feel better another cold hit. This round ended up causing Jeff a sinus infection and Jacob an ear infection. We haven't been able to do our normal activities, play with our buddies, or even run around much. The kids have a coughing fit just walking down the street. * * * sigh * * * I hope that we can have a nice long streak of health after all this ends!!