Busy week!

Monday was Girls Scouts. I was in charge of the meeting this week and so we did the Girl Sports Try-It which involved games with balloons. Hitting balloons with badminton rackets, passing balloons around the circle with only elbows or knees, etc. Sean came to the meeting and was an honorary brownie for the meeting leaving Glen and Max at home to work on "the tin roof".

Tuesday was Maxwell's 1 year appointment. He is small for out family, weighing in at only 23 lbs, putting him in the 50-75% in height and weight. Sean and Maggie were in the 98+ percentile at this age. They remain tall but have thinned out to around the 75% in weight. Max has to go back in a month to check on fluid in his ear, a remnant of last month's cold.

Wednesday was Maggie's bi-annual teeth cleaning. She has 2 cavaties. One will be filled on Tuesday and the other is on a loose tooth so if we can wiggle it out in 6 weeks, she won't need that one filled. If its not out, the dentist will want to pull it! Yikes! So far though, the flouride treatment seems to be working in that none of her permanent teeth have troubles. Sean will have his first visit to the dentist next month.

Thursday, today, I had a meeting with Maggie's teacher, principal, and speech pathologist. She is having trouble with the l, th, and r sounds, but nothing too severe. She scored near 100% on reasoning and understanding or something like that, but a standard deviation below normal on processing, expressing and grammar. Or something like that. There were a lot of big words tossed around and not being up on my English, I really need to read through the report again. Basically, it means her processing of language is slow because she cannot attend to the task at hand. She was diagnosed with mild ADHD a few months ago and this consult confirms the same thing. We do not intend to medicate and so the psychologist has recommended starting neurofeedback to help her practice focusing and a program called PACE which meets three times a week outside of school for more practice focusing. We will be starting these this summer.

Tomorrow, Friday, is Maggie's 8th birthday. I am bringing cupcakes to school and then we will have a little family party in the evening.

Saturday morning is graduation so Glen and I will leave the kids with Nancy for the morning. Good luck Nancy! (She has never had all 3 at once) In the afternoon, Maggie is going to her first sleepover.

Maggie is almost 8!

We had Maggie's birthday party today. 8 girls, a slip-n-slide, a treasure hunt, and decorate your own cupcakes. Lots of fun.

Happy Birthday Maxwell!

Hard to believe Max has turned 1. He is such a happy guy. He loves to play and snuggle and eat. He is a speedy crawler and can pull himself up to standing and move around the furniture in this standing position. He likes to clap and wave goodbye, and knows when people notice him and will play shy or give a big smile. Favorite foods include broccoli, potatoes, zuchinni and watermelon. Favorite toys include the ball machine and toys that play music. Favorite pastime is cruising the house and putting EVERYTHING in his mouth. He always has something in his mouth. If you don't see a toy hanging out, then you have to get worried and do a finger sweep to pull out something small that shouldn't be in there like a penny or a lego or a hairball. Bleh! Sean does not consistently appreciate Maxwell's company, however Maggie loves to have playtime with Max. She likes to give him wagon rides.

What's up with the Hestenes's?

Highlights of the day:
Maxwell has become a competent crawler.
Glen did a major floor cleaning now that Max is mobile.
Sean took a 3 hour nap today.
Glen and Maggie biked all the way to Grandma Nancy's house and back.
Adrienne made oatmeal and butterscotch chip cookies.
Adrienne and Sean went to the farmer's market to buy veggies.
Everyone played in the backyard.
Max is sleeping better now that his 4th tooth has broken through the gums.
Max is also giddy with his mobility.
Sean has been singing a lot lately. So cute!
Ended the day with a family movie -- Brother Bear. A good choice, it even kept Sean's attention.

San Diego!

We are back from San Diego! Had a great time at Sea World, Legoland, and Mission Beach. The worst part was the drive there. Everyone was cranky after a day of school and Maggie got a little car sick and we had to stop often because Max kept getting upset. And once we arrived, Sean couldn't settle down enough to sleep and so we didn't really get to bed until about 2 a.m. Bleh! But the rest of the trip went great.

Day One: Sea World. Our hotel was on Hotel Circle Drive which was about 5 minutes or less to Sea World. So it was very easy to get there. We arrived just as they opened the gates (10a.m.) and stayed until about 7pm. Maggie wasn't too interested in riding the roller coasters or any of the rides except for one. Which was good because Sean was to little to ride anything. And of course so was Max. The ride of choice was the river ride where you float and get splashed. I rode it once with Maggie and Glen rode it twice with Maggie. Sean slept in the stroller during that time so he didn't notice. He would have wanted to go too. Favorite highlights of the day included the Shamu show. We were sitting in the soak zone (against my protests as I didn't think Sean and Max would appreciate getting soaked) but we came out unscathed. Can't say the same of the people 5 feet down and 10 ft up from us though. Also enjoyed feeding the dolphins and watching the flamingos. Did not enjoy how everything cost extra, from feeding the dolphins to riding the rides. Sea World gets a "Boo!" from us for not including these in the admission price. However, we did enjoy the large Sesame Street playground area. We also ran out of time and missed the shark exhibit.

A flamingo checking for bugs in Maggie's hair.

Waiting for Shamu.

Naptime!

Feeding dolphins.

Day Two: Legoland. Wasn't sure what to expect with Legoland. I didn't think Sean would be old enough to ride any rides, and wasn't sure Maggie would be too excited about legos in general. But we had a fantastic time. I would describe Legoland as a smaller scale Disneyland, perhaps better planned to include the wee tots, with less people and lines. Not as grand in scale, but certainly fun. There were 4 cut-offs for heights for rides, and Sean made 2 of the cut-offs so there was a lot he could ride. Maggie made the tallest cut off which meant she could ride anything without a parent, so we were able to get everyone riding at the same time. Max and I rode the slow boat rides through scenic lego landscapes with everyone else. Sean was content when Maggie was riding something he was too little for because there were buttons he could push to squirt water at people on the ride or buttons that did other things. So waiting for Maggie was no problem. We watched one show and Maggie and Sean participated as Egyptian Dancers. We also saw Dan Marjale, ex-Suns player and current assistant coach. He is one of Glen's favorites because they are the same age, height, and have the same hair. We thought it was funny he was spending his Valentine's day at Legoland like the rest of us family folk. Hee hee!

Hey! Thats not mommy!!!

It was so funny watching Sean try to drive his little car the first time. He pushed the pedal down and the car started forward, which startled him and he turned around to see who was pushing him. After the third "startle" he put it all together and was able to drive his little car around.

Here is Maggie at the big kids version of the car driving ride. A definate favorite for both kids. Maggie even has an official drivers license with her photo on it.

Here is Glen showing Sean how to get the helicopter to rise up.

Everybody loved the water cannon ride. Don't stand too close or you will get squirted while taking a picture!

Here is Maggie as an Egyptian Dancer. Can you see Sean on the far left? Not dancing, just watching the mummy get her groove on. :)

Although you can't tell, Sean is splashing Maggie while she is on the ride by pushing this button.

Taking a boar cruise through "miniland". Here is the Sydney Opera house made of legos.

Day Three: Mission Beach. We had breakfast and dinner at our hotel each night since kids ate free. Lunch was out and about. On our last day, we headed down to Mission Beach and Belmont Park. We couldn't stay as long as we wanted as we had to hit the rode by 3pm in order to get home by 10pm. Maggie loved the beach, playing in the waves. Sean loved getting chased by the waves, until he ventured too close, couldn't outrun it and fell getting all sandy and wet. After that, he stayed faaaar away from the water. I ended up sitting on the grass by the boardwalk with Sean and Max while Glen and Maggie jumped the waves. We were right next to Belmont Park but didn't go exploring the rides there as we were having too much fun on the sand. Ate a late lunch at the Wave House, which was a restaurant right on the beach. In fact, the floor was sand and we could watch the ocean while we ate our lunch. After that, we had to get the kids de-sanded and pack into the car for the drive home. We had lots of fun, and can't wait to go back. But next time, we will stay longer and and spend more time at the beach. Glen wanted to go to Coronado Island, which we didn't have time for, I wanted to check out the lighthouse and Maggie wanted to look for seashells, all of which we didn't have time for. We had also reserved a spot on a bay cruise to look at sea lions, but we skipped it as we were having too much fun on the beach. We will have to bring out bikes and trikes for the boardwalk as well and visit some of the attractions we missed, like the San Diego Zoo. So much vacationing to do, so little time. :)

Poor Glen!

Glen had to go in for a root canal, or something like that. The procedure on the receipt has a very long and complicated name. He was at the dentist for 6 hours and came home looking like a wreck. Poor baby! Meanwhile, I've got a cold with the worst sinus congestion and soar throat. The kids are healthy so far. However, RSV and pink eye are making the rounds at Max's daycare and Maggie and Sean's school has an outbreak of lice....AGAIN! Grrrrr. Hopefully we will avoid it. Fingers are now crossed.

More Maxwell Updates...he's changing so fast!

Hmmm...where did these 5 gallon water jugs come from? Some rival water company left them at our doorstep. Max thinks they are great because he figured out how to pull himself up to standing. Max is still not crawling yet, but he can get himself from scootching position back to sitting up by doing "down dog" yoga. Max has 3 teeth, and he says "mama"!

Maxwell's NINO day!

Happy NINO (nine in, nine out) day to Maxwell. He is 9 months old today!

Max is scootching.

Sean's Art

Sean now has an account through his school for his artwork too. You can see his art at

http://www.artsonia.com/Sean1859

Become a fan of Sean and Maggie's art and feel free to drop them a comment.

Little Walks

I took this photo of Sean at the Tempe Beach Marina yesterday. He was at the top of a little . grassy hill. Maggie and Sean were rolling down it. Today we walked to Hole in the Rock. It was chilly (60 degrees) and sprinkling. We have had about 2 weeks of weather in the 70's, and while that may sound great to those of you in the cold, it is rather boring to be always HOT! I'm enjoying the "winter" weather of today and hopefully all this week. Here are a few pictures from our hike. We took a picnic lunch.

Max is sprouting teeth!

Max is 8.5 months old now and is getting his first two teeth. Poor baby has had a couple of rough days and nights but he seems to be cheering up now. One tooth has broken the gums and the other is about even, ready to sprout any day. Both are on the bottom. Max is also sitting very well by himself. I don't feel like I need to place a pillow behind him, but he doesn't know how to sit himself up yet. He tends to fall forward onto his hands and knees, and then onto his tummy. He is still a long way from crawling. So big and heavy, like Sean was, I think it will be another few months before we see some action. However, he can scootch himself across the floor slowly on his tummy. Sean has been very gentle with him lately but still gets urges to grab Max's face, so we have to be careful when they are in close proximatey.

Maggie's Art

You can now view Maggie's art at the following website.

http://www.artsonia.com/Maggie1632

Her school is uploading art to the site, and you can become a fan of her art or order paraphenalia with her art on it, proceeds going to her school. Be sure to leave a comment for her.

Girl Scout Cookies Anyone?

Maggie wants to ask if you would like to buy some girl scout cookies from her. Orders are due next Monday (1/18). Send me an email if you'd like me to sign you up.

(Yes, Sean is trying to pose like Maggie. He was being very serious. I almost laughed.) Here is Sean playing with the "Wok and Roll". He likes to sort all the pieces by color.

Here is Glen and Maggie playing chess.

Here is Maxwell helping me make dinner.

Not much going on. Just though I'd post a few pictures.

Lots of walks

The weather has been beautiful. We've been taking lots of walks. Max loves it.

Sean loves any excuse to ride his tricycle. Glen attached a small rake to make getting up those hills around the back of the zoo more do-able.

Maggie has been on her bike too, and she doesn't want to stop for pictures. Can you see the bighorn sheep against the sky?