The JDRF Walk/Weekend

We had a wonderful weekend with family and friends raising money and walking to help find a cure for diabetes. Sorry for the picture overload. . . I couldn't narrow them down! :-)

We got to the cities around 8 o'clock Friday night. We had just enough time to get a quick swim in before heading to bed to get ready for our big day!

The kids were out within minutes.

Here we are bright and early at the Mega Mall!

The three Type 1 Diabetics in our group!

Miss E getting ready to walk.

And the WALK begins! :-)

The was a marching band!

Can you tell we love this little man?!?! :-)

We were not very good walkers. We kept stopping to take it all in. There were SO many people who's lives have been affected by diabetes. It was very moving to see everyone there for the same reason. . . wanting and needing a CURE!

This last picture of the walk says it all! "THANK YOU" to everyone who helped our team raise $3,276.00. It is simply amazing the love and support we got from our friends and families. To know you care and want a cure as much as we do means the world to us! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!! We didn't ask for this life and never dreamed this life would find us, but we feel comfort in knowing we are doing everything we can to help Little E and the other children/people that are affected by diabetes!!!

After the walk we headed to the Aquarium at the mall.

Then went on a couple rides.

And Miss E got her Birthday Dollie. It was hard to tell who was more excited, Miss E or Grandma?!?!? :-)

Finally back to the hotel. Little Brother didn't even make it out of the parking ramp at the mall and he was out!

No naps for Miss E. She only wanted to play with her doll.

After a little rest we headed to Stillwater to visit Great Auntie Millie, Great Uncle Gerald, and the rest of the family. It was a quick trip, but it was nice to see everyone!

We made it back to ND just in time on Sunday before the roads got too bad. It was a great weekend! Just what the Dr. ordered! ;-)

Thanks again everyone for your love and support!

6 Months

Our little sweetheart is offically 6 months old today!
Here are some updates:
* She is moving all over; she can army crawl, do a little hands and knees crawling, sit up (with some assistance), and she can roll over so fast it is a wonder she doesn't get dizzy!!!
* She got her first tooth last night; the bottom left. The other bottom one is ready to pop too!
* She LOVES her daddy and smiles anytime he enters the room. This is new for him since Miss E and Little E only liked their mommy at this age. Yes you can say it is going to Daddy's head. . . He rubs it in any chance he can that she likes Daddy more then Mommy! ;-)
* She is also starting to eat some cereal. Not her favorite but each day is getting better . . . or should I say a little less messy?!?!
* Her hair is getting more and more wild with each passing day. It usually sticks straight up and then curls. Not quite sure what we are going to do with that mop?!?! It is often in her eyes, so she could probably use a trim, . . . just can't bring myself to doing it just yet. Plus, I don't think she would sit still long enough to get it to look any better!
* Tomorrow is her 6 month check up. . . can't wait to see how much she has grown!
She is such a blessing and we love her to peices!

The Walk!!!

Our dear friend and team leader, Anita wrote the following letter! I just wanted to let everyone know where we are with our walk and the fundraising! Thank you SO much to everyone who has already donated to help find a cure for our little man! I have told Anita so many times how awful of a friend I am! I never truly never knew what she was going through with Kenley! I felt bad when Kenley was diagnosed and asked if there was anything I could do, but then I went about living my carefree life not giving it much thought when I wasn't around her. When your child is sick and when you have to change your lifestyle forever to keep them safe and healthy, it is something! It never goes away! That has been the hardest thing to come to terms with. Kids get sick but they get better, at least that is how I thought it worked. Not anymore. . . I should have been there more for her and her family!. . . I just never really realized how awful of a disease diabetes is or that it could happen to us!!! SO again. . . THANK YOU for those of you who are helping us find a cure! It means more then you will EVER know!!! :-)

Here is Anita's letter:

Hello members of “Kenley’s Krew & Easton Too”! One week to go until walk weekend. We are so excited at our house! For various reasons, of course….the walk itself and seeing all those people fighting for the same cure, a weekend away, time with family and friends, a pool, shopping, cheese balls, a full cooler…and the list goes on and on! Of course the cure is our main goal! And speaking of goal…we are well on our way. Our team is doing awesome! So far we’ve raised $1,825.00. Yeah us!

Last year I wrote on our web page that my goal was for Kenley to walk down the aisle one day without having to worry about where her insulin pump would be hidden in her wedding dress. Well, after careful consideration, I’ve decided that’s too far out there. New goal…..state championship basketball game (senior year) without having to check her numbers or worry about insulin in the middle of the game. I know….seems a little cocky on more than one level – but I’m going with it! Which would also mean that Easton wouldn’t know life in high school with diabetes. By that time – we’d have our cure. I mean seriously….baboon hearts, reattached limbs (that work!), surgery in utero….pretty sure someone out there is smart enough to find a cure for diabetes. I’ll be patient; but there are only so many times you can insert a set piece before the skin becomes rough with scar tissue and only so many times you can poke your fingers before the prick marks become a permanent part of your finger print. So….new goal!

We have another member that has joined our team that has Type 1 diabetes as well. Brooke’s roommate, Tristan, will be joining us and is in need of a cure as much as Easton and Kenley. So our fight this year is for her, too!

I also wanted to let you know that I got a message the other day that as part of a “jeans day” fundraiser at Eide Baily a donation of $250 was made to the American Diabetes Association in the name of Kenley’s Krew and Easton Too. So again…go team! ADA is another amazing group. They provide major funding and sponsor the diabetes camp that Kenley went to last year.

I’m so pumped. Thanks so much to all of you for joining us. We are truly blessed to have such an amazing support system! You guys are the best! Go Team!

Here is a picture of the shirts Kenley helped design! She want it to go with the "Got Milk?" slogan, but instead "Got Blood?" Love it!

Again, here is the link to our JDRF webpage where you can see our team totals! :-)

http://www2.jdrf.org/site/TR/Walk-MN/Chapter-MinnDakotas4316?team_id=41715&pg=team&fr_id=1665

Happy Valentine's Day

Here we are sport'n the cute shirts Auntie A made us for Valentine's day! Aren't they adorable!

I saw these rag skirts on the internet and had to try them!

Daycare Gifts

Two weeks ago we got all the daycare kids together after school and "attempted" to get them to sit still long enough to get a picture taken. We all quickly were asking ourselves, "How does Kim do this?" Finally after some bribes (and maybe a few threats) we got the pictures we needed! :-)

Here is the end result! Each block is about a 4x6.


Here are the daycare gift Miss E and Little E got their friends. All treasures from the dollar store!

Valentine's Day Student Gifts

This year I decided to try to stay away from candy for my Valentine gifts. While searching Walmart I found these cute notebooks for 94 cents a piece. I had to do some digging to find all the red, black, and white ones that I could, since they came in all sorts of colors. Stuck on a label, added a pen on a string, and called it good! Can't wait to pass them out tomorrow!!! Hope my kiddos like them!

The Kid's Bathroom

OK, slow blogging around here but I wanted to show off a project 1 1/2 years in the making! :-) When we first bought our house my mom and I painted the kid's bathroom this bright teal. It turned out a little brighter then I was hoping but now finally after getting everything finished it looks just as I had hoped!

Here is a close up of the curtains. Found this idea on Pinterest! Love them! They make me so happy every time I walk by! Almost all of this ribbon I had on hand with my scrapbooking supplies. Needless to say my scrapbooking ribbon is looking a little depleted! My sister painted me two cute pictures to go in the bathroom that match the soap dispenser/toothbrush holder. LOVE THEM!!!

Here is a close up of the new light fixture that I installed myself! Thanks to my sister walking me through how to do it! Saved some money not having to hire an electrician!

To match the curtains I hung ribbon down the cupboard to hang Miss E's hair clips. I saw this idea on Pinterest too but they all used frames. Miss E has way too many hair clips to fit in a frame so this worked out well. No more digging through drawers to find matching barrettes!

Yeah, most people would wash the mirror and sink before taking a picture, not me! ;-)

Here is the second picture, Heidi painted! Isn't it adorable?!?! I still need to find a frame for it to go in, but it looks pretty cute as it is too! Thanks Heidi!

Green Day

Today in preschool they are learning about the color green! Miss E wanted to bring brownies with green frosting. We decided to make some monsters! They turned out pretty cute! Thank you Mrs. Parker for the cute tins!

Here she is wearing the shirt she got from her Auntie A. The girls all got them for Christmas in honor of their Auntie C. :-) The shirt says, "Keep our Earth Green!" Auntie C has really been rubbing off on Miss E. She is constantly taking things out of the garbage and telling us not to throw it because she can recycle it! (which means make art projects out of it!!!) She also searches the house for items that have the recycle symbol on them so she can let everyone know when it comes "time" to throwing it out, to recycle it instead (again, which means she WANTS to make an art project out of it!) Auntie C has done a good job with that one, that's for sure! ;-)

Crawling

Baby A has been so active for so long it is no surprise that she has started to crawl at 5 months 3 weeks.  Tonight (of course before I had my camera ready) she army crawled almost the whole length of our living room.  Check out the quick video I did get of her tonight.  Nothing is safe now!  :-)

I had to go back in Miss E and Little E's baby books to see when they started to crawl and Miss E was 7 months 1 week and Little E started at 7 months even.  Guess we have an over achiever on our hands here!  LOL!  Nope just think she knows she needs to start moving to keep up (or get out of the way) with the other two rugrats!