well, hello!

Finally got around to looking at the blog this morning and noticed that my blog template had been deleted.  Oops--sorry to anyone who ever checks this thing (I'm sure there aren't too many since I never seem to get around to updating it).  I've tried to fix everything and hope it's better now.

We've had a few milestones over the last five or six months.  Besides all of the holidays that have passed, we've celebrated Anden's 8th birthday (our first baptism!), and he started Cub Scouts (which he loves and I'm still unsure about); Mckay lost all of his teeth (at least that's what it looks like) and played another season of soccer (still one of the tallest kids on the field); Finley is gearing up for kindergarten in the fall (finally showing an interest in spelling, writing, and reading) and finished her last dance recital for a while (she has decided to play soccer and basketball next year instead of taking dance); Graysen is entering his terrible threes (which seems to be much harder than the age of 2 in our house) and becoming quite articulate; and, Kyler suddenly became a super fast crawler (complete with 7 teeth) and loves to eat, give kisses and cuddle; Plus, everyone is still enjoying going to gymnastics.  Raegan is busy with work and playing with the kids whenever he can, and I have been on a quest to bake and cook (and bake some more) until I find the best recipes I can for all of our favorite foods.  Our tummies are kept quite happy!

In December, our long time pediatrician left her practice for another practice way too far away from us to keep seeing her.  Ugh...took us a while (and a bit of trial and error) to find another doctor's office.  We love our new pediatricians (a husband and wife team--Anden is so very happy about this since he has been getting more and more self conscious about being seen by a female doctor).  At his 8 year old checkup, Anden's stats were:  51 inches tall (50-75%) and weighs 57 lbs (50%).  Our new doctor also realized Anden had an inguinal hernia and he ended up having surgery within a couple of weeks.  Everything went great, but Raegan and I were pretty nervous for a while there (hate having our kids go under).   Kyler's latest stats from the doctor (9 month checkup a couple of weeks ago):  29.5 inches tall (97%), weighs 20 lbs (75%), and her head size is 17 inches (75%).  She's already wearing 18-24 month size clothes...where did our tiny baby go?!

It's a busy house at this end.  Our kids get more adorable and clever every day and I am constantly reminding myself to get the camera out and take more pictures.  Unfortunately, I don't always listen.  Here are a couple of pictures we have managed to take: