The Mac Kinnon Family

The kids had their bi-annual check up today. Emily started off keeping her mouth closed by then surprisingly opened it and let the dental tech clean her teeth. She didn't like the thing that sucks the water or let the dentist look in her mouth but she did great. I wish I got a picture but she was sitting on my lap, clinging onto my shirt so it was impossible. Mac also did great, he was a champ and got x-rays and a cleaning. He's got another small cavity, guess we'll have to take all the sugar out of his diet now :)! His also got 3 of the 4, 6 year molars coming in. All in all it was a great visit - except for Mac's cavity which we go back in October for!

John and I went to one of our favorite cites for the weekend, NEW YORK! There was an Alport's conference there which linked families with other family and researchers in conjunction with a pediatric kidney conference. Pappy and Karen came to watch the kids for us for the weekend and we headed off to NY. We had a great time on Friday, walking around central park, swimming and eating good food. Saturday we spent the day at the conference and learned valuable information on Alports. It's amazing the work being done on this disease in numerous countries. We learned great info. to help us and Mac in the future. Of course while were in NY what else do you do than hit the biggest Toys R US! They had the biggest transformer I've ever seen and Iron Man and Spiderman together, Mac would have been beside himself! Dinner at Rockefeller Center topped off our trip. We arrived home this morning and were glad to be home with the kids. Pappy and Karen survived, although probably a b...

Emily sometimes just can't help falling asleep at the dinner table. When Pappy arrived on Thursday she was full of energy, but by dinner time as we were waiting to go pick John up she crashed......

The director of the music program that Emily does contacted me earlier this month asking if they may use a picture they had taken of Emily during one of the classes last semester for the newspaper. Of course I said yes and today it appeared in the paper! Mac has had lots of little snippets in the paper, now it's Emily's turn!

On Wednesdays at Mac's school it's Chapel day where all the kids go to chapel for a half hour. They all have to wear their "chapel uniform", Mac looked nice all dressed up this morning!

Mac was super excited about starting school today. He woke me up at 6:30 this morning dressed and ready to go! He ate breakfast like a champ and couldn't wait to get out the door. Once we arrived he settled in quickly, I gave him a big hug and shed a few tears on my way out the door. He had a great day and is as excited to do it again tomorrow!

I completed my second triathlon today, it was called "Pink Power" an all female triathlon with male volunteers. 400 meter swim, 11 mile bike ride and 5K run. It was alot of fun and I was a minute faster on this one then the last even with a blown hamstring! I feel great overall and am really loving doing these races....I'm becoming addicted!

Today was "meet your teacher" day at Mac's school. Due to some concerns we had with our public school, we opted to put him into a classical christian school. He starts on Monday and is super excited. Yesterday he received a postcard from his teacher and was very tickled to get it. Today was fun for him. His teacher is very warm and welcoming, showed him his desk and cubby. She made each of the kids a gift and the kids got to explore the room and meet some of the other kids. There are 13 kids in his class and the teacher's aid is a very lovely lady as well. We got the daily schedule and Mac was excited when he heard science and social studies. His week will consist of lots of math, memory, circle time, reading, writing, phonics, science, social studies, music, art, bible and chapel. They get two recesses to get the wiggles out. Mac and I also talked about the schools rules, expectations and discipline policy, things like raise your hand to talk, sit up straight and tal...

Emily has a great love for ice cream. I treated the kids to ice cream at busch gardens today and Emily ate (and drank) every bite, she would have licked the bowl if I let her!

It was a cloudy day today with periods of showers, I thought it may be a good day to head to busch gardens, since the weather was a little gloomy I hoped it wouldn't be too busy. We went with our friends, Mac and Dixon are fellow adrenaline junkies and loved to ride the rides together. It was busy, but we got on rides fairly quickly. We all had a wonderful time, Emily warmed up to some of the rides but still freaked out at the various characters. We all are exhausted tonight!

I handle alot when John's traveling and I can handle most things but sometimes it would be so much easier to have him home with us! Tonight in the shower was one of those times, Mac who understands his general anatomy, as he's washing himself in his private area asks me "Mom what are these ball things inside here", which caught me off guard. I explained what the correct terminology was for them (he understood the sac but didn't realize there was a "ball" in there") and I hoped that was it, but of course not, then he wanted to know what they did. Oh boy.....at this point I'm thinking....I wish John was here right now!

Tuesday Mac had a friend over for the day, his mom called to let me know he broke out with a fever that evening and the next day the doctor said he had hand, foot and mouth virus. We dealt with this last year, so I hoped the kids had some kind of immunity to it....we weren't so lucky! Of course John left for a deployment and Friday night Emily wakes up with a raging fever...yesterday both kids were miserable and I spent the day with one or both kids attached to me, after a rough night both of the kids fevers were gone today but they still felt crappy and complaining of a sore throat. Their appetites returned this evening and we taste tested about 20 things that kept hurting their throats. Of course popsicles and milkshakes make everything better.....

It was a bearable day outside today so we took a trip to blue gap farm. It's a great place with a small amount of farm type animals and a playground. It's also free which is a bonus! The kids haven't been in a year and neither remembered their visit last year. Emily loved the turkeys and hung by Mac when it came to feeding the animals. She was interested but when it came to putting food in her hand, she freaked out, no surprise there. She also loved trying to catch the roaming turkey and peacock with babies! Mac of course loved feeding the animals, even got into feeding two different ones at the same time! The playground was of course a hit with both kids. It was fun!

When we were feeding the fish tonight in Mac's tank I saw a little baby fish. We thought we had all boys, and a few times one of the fish looked fat, I though she was constipated....guess she's been preggo a few times and the fish ate the babies before we saw them. So I fished the baby out of the tank and put into Emily's tank who only has 3 little fish left that I don't think will eat it....we'll see if it's alive in the morning. Mac was totally excited!

Mac drew John a picture today to take with him on his trip. Mac did a wonderful job, all by himself. He found a motorcycle stencil and went to town! Very creative and lots of great colors!

The kids hear John when he leaves in the morning shortly after 6. This morning Mac wanted to watch the sun rise, so did Emily. They went out while I fixed my coffee, I found them like this watching the sun rise. They sure do love each other...I hope it stays that way!

Mac had his buddy Aiden over today to spend the day with us. They found swords and were having lots of fun with them. It was a busy day with them but Mac loved having a buddy over!

While we were visiting Jan and Jim in Northern Cali. the boys went fishing. While there a local newspaper guy was asking folks about Folsom Lake. Mac and Brian were happy to talk to him...too cute. They got the kids names wrong but that ok! Check it out! http://www.villagelife.com/digital_media.php?month=7&day=28&year=2010&submit=t&alpha=A&page=04

Emily likes to play with my stethoscope and I frequently find her checking her babies hearts. She'll ask me to listen to my heart too...maybe it's a sign......a doctor in the making?

We spent most of our afternoon today running errands and taking advantage of the "tax free" weekend on school supplies and getting Mac everything he needs to start school. I can't believe my little boy will be starting kindergarten in two weeks......he's growing up way to fast!

After Mac's tooth fell out on Tuesday the tooth fairy came and left a dollar bill and a Susan B. Anthony under his pillow. We told Mac that the coin was for him to save but he could spend the dollar. He also got a card and a $2 bill from Grandma Jan today which tickled him too! The tooth fairy won't always be so generous but for the first tooth it's a big deal!

Of course our first week back we are crazy busy, on top of safety town Mac has tennis camp. He loved it alot. There were 6 kids, it was pretty low key and alot of fun for them.

The county puts on an excellent program for rising kindergartners. It's called Safety Town and every day there is a different emphasis of safety and within the day there are usually 4 or 5 different areas they hit. One day was household safety, personal safety, fire safety and so on. It was a really neat program. Today they received certificates, backpacks and a bike helmet. They also got to explore the fire trucks, ambulances and have a sno-cone. What a great program for the kids.