Doctor visit

Last week before school started we went to visit the doctor. We went for Cora's 2 year appointment and Maya's 5 year appointment. I thought I would be brave and take them both together and just get it all over with in one morning.

Here they are waiting for the Doctor to come in. They had both been weighed and checked out by the nurse. Don't be fooled they didn't sit still like this for too long.

Cora did great! She weighs 26 pounds (40%) and is 34.25 inches tall. (70%). We've never made it past the 10% mark for height with Maya so I was shocked. She may be taller than her big sister one day. It will be interesting to see.  Cora did not get any shots at the visit which was a nice surprise. Cora is a normal two year old that is into everything. She's a chatter box and loves to pretend to play babies and store and loves to "read" books. Cora plays pretty well with Maya although she definitely has a mind of her own and knows what she wants. If she does not get what she wants watch out. She is really good at throwing herself on the floor and having a tantrum. She recovers pretty quickly though so that is good. She still loves her paci & blankie and is a good sleeper. Although she's been waking up way too early the past few days and then taking a 3 hour nap in the afternoon.

Maya needed to get two shots and she did a great job and did not even cry. She's one tough cookie (I'm also thinking how can you get two shots and act like it's no big deal but you fall down and stub your toe and the world is ending?) Maya weighs 41 pounds (55%) and is 40.5 inches tall. (10%) Such a petite little thing but we keep telling her that is how God made her and she is perfect just the way she is. And what she lacks in height she makes up for with her big personality.  Maya also had to have an eye exam and have her hearing tested. She passed her eye exam just fine. However, she did not pass her hearing test. When the doctor checked her out she said there was some fluid on both of her ears so she wouldn't be surprised if there were issues with the hearing test. So we are hoping it was just that and not something else. The prior week we had noticed that she was listening to the tv so loud and couldn't hear anything we were saying to her. But it's always hard to know if she is just ignoring us or if she is really hearing us. She's been on antibiotics the past 10 days and we'll go back next Tuesday to get her ears re-checked. We'll hope it goes ok. She's had so many ear infections I'm hoping there isn't anything permanent going on.

Getting her ears checked

Getting her eyes checked. And of course Cora wanted to get in on the action and pretend to check her eyes too. Maya would say the shape that she saw and then Cora would copy her. It was quite funny.

Maya has been sleeping so much better since we went to the pediatric sleep doctor in April and we are grateful for that. Overall we have two healthy girls and we are thankful and try not to take it for granted.

First Day of Kindergarten!

I can't believe we've made it to this point. I have a 5 year old that started Kindergarten today! What? How is that even possible? So exciting! Does she look ready or what?

She was ready to go back to school and is excited to go 4 full days this year! I think it helped that this is our third year at BCS and she is so familiar with the school and staff. However, there were lots of new kids this morning and her classroom was a lot busier than the previous years. It will be fun to see all that she learns this year and we're so thankful she's at such a wonderful school!

When I picked her up she was all smiles and said she had a good day! Her little crown says "hip, hip, hooray! I had a fun first day of Kindergarten." 

Swimming Lessons

Maya's summer swimming lessons came to an end last week Thursday. She's been going once a week all summer long. She loves swimming and has enjoyed going each week. She has improved in her strokes but needs to work on her endurance and breathing. Her favorite thing to do is jump in and "dive" although it's more like a belly flop at this point but I'm hopeful she'll learn to dive in the years to come.

Maya's last day of class she was the only one there. It was like her very own private lesson so we certainly got our money's worth last week. Here she is with the teacher working on the side stroke. This is a substitute teacher which Maya wasn't quite sure of but she did ok with him.

Taking a rest after swimming the length of the pool

Swimming lessons flew by this summer! We are going to continue with a new session this Fall that starts in a few weeks. We'll hope she keeps working hard to improve on her strokes.

Tree

We had an exciting night last week Friday. There were storms that came through in the early evening around here. There wasn't that much rain but it was super windy. Windy enough that a big tree limb from our neighbors yard landed right on top of an SUV parked in front of our house for the State Fair and it blocked our drive way too. The tree also knocked down the street light that is at the end of our drive way.

We just kept thinking can you imagine walking back to your car after being at the Fair and seeing a huge tree on top of your car? What are the chances? We felt so bad for the guy. He arrived back to his car about an hour after it all happened. The Police came and the forestry department of West Allis came to assess the situation. They decided they would cut down the tree and remove it from the car but that it was going to take awhile. So the damaged car was going to have to sit for the night.

Anyway here are a few pics of the tree and the car. The guy came and got it Saturday morning and the forestry department came back on Monday morning to clean up the area. (The tree was actually a city tree so we were lucky they took care of the whole thing.) Then on Wednesday they came back again to take the whole tree down. We were so sad! We thought they'd be able to salvage the tree since it was just one of the branches that had fallen. Needless to say it looks so different around here and is going to be WAY more sunny in our front yard! Even thought it was the neighbor's it provided nice shade for us too.

Friday night right after the tree had fallen

This picture is from Saturday morning before the car was picked up.  And this is a small sampling of the debris. The car was still driveable but there was significant damage done even though it doesn't look like it from the picture. The tree probably weighed a few thousand pounds. Anyway like I said it provided quite the excitement and entertainment. I think the girls watched out the window for at least an hour on Monday morning as they cleaned and cleared everything up.

Dutch Village

Last week after the birthday festivities we drove back to Holland on Sunday with G & G. Well Grandma rode back with us, bless her heart. I'm not sure she'll ever do that again and we followed Grandpa. On Tuesday we went to Dutch Village which is a cute little amusement park and fun little village set up like an olden day Dutch village. We had never been before and the girls had so much fun!

We started out with the swings. Maya and Cora both loved them so we went multiple times!

Emma and her friend Hannah sat by Maya.

 Juliana sat by Cora and I

Then they went on the carousel which is Maya's absolute favorite.

Once again Cora did not want to sit on a horse so Juliana sat with her. 

Maya also got to sit on a pony named Princess.

 Maya got to drive a little train car on a train track.

Emma & Maya...well mostly Emma walked a goat around the petting zoo area.

And they ended the day with the ferris wheel. It was a long wait but worth it!

Such a fun day at Dutch Village! We will definitely be back! 

Zoo Visit for Bday

We went to the zoo to celebrate for Cora's birthday while Grandpa and Grandma were here. But first we made a stop at Cranky Al's a tasty little donut & coffee shop. Grandpa couldn't believe we hadn't ever taken him there before. I suspect we will be making a repeat visit with them in the near future.

The weather was perfect the day we went. It was warm but cloudy so we didn't have to worry about lathering up in sunscreen and wearing hats. Which is a treat for this mama.

Of course we had to take a train ride. Which we only do for special occasions. 

Thank goodness it was Cora's bday!

Thanks to G & G another treat was the carousel. I put Cora on a horse but she wasn't too excited about it so she sat with Grandma. 

Cora's Birthday

Last week (well almost two weeks ago now) Cora Jane turned two! Grandpa and Grandma Sikkema came to celebrate with us and we had a great time.

Maya got Cora a balloon and for days leading up to her birthday Maya kept asking Cora if she wanted a balloon for her birthday. Cora would walk around saying "balloon? balloon?" Maya also taught her to say "Two in August" so she would walk around saying that as well. It's a fun age because she is starting to talk so much. 

If you ask Cora what her favorite color is she will say "green." Well every color is green. We've made some progress this past week and I think she knows what red is now but she needs to really think about it. Anyway I put her cake on a green plate and sprinkled it with green sprinkles because she likes green so much.

She had fun opening presents but I think her big sister had even more fun!

Can't believe my baby girl is two years old! 

Gymnastics

We are a bit behind here with posting so it may be a bit of a blog blast here over the next few days. We've been busy and out of town. And there has been some technical difficulties with the computer so downloading and posting pictures has been a bit of a challenge.

Maya had her last gymnastics class a few weeks ago. It was an open house so Cora and I went to watch her. She's been going twice a week since the beginning of June and has been having a great time.

 They started out each class with stretching.

 Then onto back bends!

Balance Beam

Her absolute favorite was the trampoline! She keeps asking for one in our backyard.

This little lady wanted in on the gymnastics action too!

Maya's 5K class and their two teachers.

Swimsuit Twinsies

Complete goofballs these two...

And speaking of two...I think someone actually turns two tomorrow. How can that be?

Summertime Fun

It has finally felt like summer around here the last few weeks and we've been having all sorts of random fun. Cora discovered the sprayer on the end of the hose and was having fun spraying Maya one afternoon.

Playing with the water table

 And climbing into the water table

Not sure who was influencing who...not sure what the weight limit is

but I think we're pushing it here.

 

There are tons of free wading pools around Milwaukee and we have a couple that are our favorites. We haven't gone as much this summer because of Cora napping in the afternoons. (And Maya is getting kind of big for them which is so crazy to me.) But if Cora wakes up early we try and go even if it's only for a little bit. And usually we are there so late in the afternoon that it's not busy at all.