The Little Everyday Things

Lena helped pick out and prepare dinner.  She wants to be a chef one day!

These days go by quickly.  It's a whirlwind of daily happenings...breakfast, chores, crafts, outings, quiet time, play time, story time, bath time, bed time, and everything in between.  I am in that phase when life is a blur.  And I don't want to forget the everyday things...the little things.

 Like when I tell Kinley to pick up the Light Bright pieces and she picks them up with her toes because she is just plain silly like that.  Or when Lena exclaims for the thousandth time in the middle of January " Mom don't you just LOVE Christmas time?!"  Or how they make little voices together when they play dolls or sing the "nigh-night " song with me or beg to be read Ma and Pa before bed.  Or how Lena prays for "everyone" and thanks God "for everything he has done" in the most grandios and general fashion every night.

 Or how excited Kinley gets about eating hotdogs with red dip. Or best of all those kisses and hugs right before lights out.  All these little moments are precious and I am afraid to lose them to time.

 I saw an eleven month old baby the other day and I realized that I've already forgotten so much. I am glad though to live in the moment and enjoy who my girls are now, in this stage, at this time.  And tomorrow I will enjoy who they are then at that stage, at that time.  And I just wish time would slow down just a little.

Lena Joyce: Five Years Old

 Miss Lena turned 5!!!  Likes:  Elena of Avalor, coloring, making friends, going to preschool, playing with Dad, swimming, Hawaii, animals, eating "cheese burger robots", and visiting Grandma and Grandpa.

Lena is blooming.  She continues to love people and has made several close friendships.  God has blessed her with the gift to make people feel included and loved.  She continues to stand out and make us so proud. 

The Thaw

Five years ago today I got one of the most important phone calls of my life and I missed it while I was at my friend Sarah's baby shower.  I remember after the shower was over standing on the sidewalk outside the house nervously listening to this voicemail message....the message that brought news that would change my life.  March 5, 2011 was the day that Lena and McKinley were thawed as embryos after being frozen together by their genetic family in 2006.  We received this precious picture of these embryos four days after this phone call on transfer day.  Lena and her twin (on the left) were transferred to my womb and McKinley (on the right) was refrozen and kept in frozen storage for almost three more years before she was thawed again and transferred to my womb.  I kept this voicemail on my phone for four years...I couldn't ever bring myself to delete it and so I recently recorded it instead.  The Lord has done things in my life that I would never have imagined.  Miraculous things!  He is so very good to me. http://youtu.be/zHw6DwcRvjM

In Times of Sickness...

2016 Started out pretty rough for the Shackletons

First Kinley took a pretty bad fall hitting her head on the edge of our wooden bed frame.  It looked pretty awful for quite awhile - poor girl!

 We took a little trip up to Big Bear to experience the record snow fall up there while we stayed in Dan's Aunt's cabin.  It started out fun building snowmen and enjoying the view but Dan quickly became very sick.  I ended up taking care of everyone and soon Dan's head was hurting so bad we decided to go back home.  Once there we became increasingly concerned about Dan's condition.  It was the worst pain he had every experienced.  The girls were asleep and he was debating if he should go to the ER.  He decided to drive himself which ended up being a big mistake.  He passed out in the ER and was promptly admitted after many painful tests for Viral Meningitis.  He is looking fairly perky in this picture after spending nearly a week in the hospital. 

A few weeks later just as Dan was getting back on his feet, Lena's fever shot up to 106 degrees and she couldn't breathe and was throwing up everything.  We dashed her to the CHOC ER where she was admitted for complications from asthma.  She stayed in the hospital for two days getting care from the pulmonology department.  We had the hardest time getting her to eat...ANYTHING!  We tried everything from hamburgers to M&Ms.  Finally she began to eat and drink little by little and she was released.  Since she has been on her new medicine regimen her asthma as been much better.

Getting the IV in was a pretty horrible experience!

The Child Life Specialists were great about giving Lena fun activities to do.

Lena called her stay at CHOC the "Doctor's Palace".  Despite the fun activities she would rather not go back.

When she returned home a kind neighbor who bakes brought her double chocolate princess cupcakes to continue to tempt Lena to eat.  It worked. 

Lena Goes to Preschool

Miss Lena began the Tiny Tots preschool program at the City of Chino in January.  She loves all the crafts they make and is really enjoying the drama and social aspects of being in classroom of kids. 

So super silly is she

Beware the LENA eyes!

Learning to write and always doing art.

The last day of her first session of preschool. 

Lena the Messy!

She painted and then she painted her chair blue.

A little crayon artwork by Miss Lena on my wrapping paper bin.

 I can't keep up folks! We are going through a CRAZY mess-making stage with #1. In the last 48 hours she has colored all over our couch with a blue highlighter, grabbed the liquid dish soap from the kitchen and poured it all over her head, the baby's head, the living room carpet and several toys, taken raw eggs off the counter and broke and smashed them all over the living room carpet, emptied an entire tube of blue toothpaste in the bathroom, and painted her booster seat blue! Seriously?? This phase needs to end. I used to pride myself as a classroom teacher with astute awareness, having eyes in the back of my head. How is it that I knew everything that happened in my classroom with 40 teenagers but I am being outsmarted by one FOUR year old?? I need a new game plan and more Norwex.

Orlando 2015 - The Girls' First Disney Trip

In November 2015 we took the girls to their first ever Disney trip to Walt Disney World.  We bought 10 day park hopper passes and spent 17 days at the the Harbor Lake MVCI property there.  It was exhausting but awesome! 

So much fun on Dumbo!

The highlight of her trip was getting to hold a baby alligator!

Lena had fun learning about pin trading and making crafts in the kids club.

Sisters watching the Florida sunset.

Looking for alligators and turtles.

Winnie the Pooh is one of their favorites!

A short romantic moment in front of the lit up castle.

Sundown over the water

She is game for the rides!

Always these two together.

Lena Joyce: 4 Years Old

Favorites

Paw Patrol

Disney Princesses (Ariel and Rapunzel are her favorites)

Playing outside

Building forts with pillows and blankets

Pretending

Riding rollercoasters

Playing with friends

Eating hotdogs

Mothering her babies (a slew of dolls we keep in my childhood cradle)

Stats

Almost 40" Tall

36 pounds

Size 4T Clothes (She is too short for 4T pants)

Size 9/10 shoes

Lena loves to play with other kids.  She is very uninhibited and approaches strangers with ease and warmth.  She also is tender-hearted.  She is aware when she is left out and gets her feelings hurt.  She cannot stand it if someone is upset with her especially Mom and Dad.  She asks immediately for hugs  and to be forgiven and if she doesn't get those two things immediately she falls completely apart.  She often asks if Dan and I still love her.

Part of Lena's bedtime routine is to pray to Jesus.  She always makes Daddy or I pray first and then she goes last.  Mostly she prays "Jesus always be with us" and often thanks Jesus for various friends and family members.  Sometimes she prays for God to help her not be afraid.

Lena HATES getting her hair brushed.  She hasn't had a haircut yet and her hair is super long (past her behind) and often gets pretty tangled.  She still loves to be with people.  She will sit on whomever is nearest to her.  When I am home with the girls and I sit in the same room as them they both end up lying on me.  She will often ask to "sit with you?"  At bedtime Lena will always ask if we will stay with her 5 minutes and if we say no she will downgrade to asking us to check on her in 5 minutes.  She likes having sleepovers and often plans little evenings that usually involve watching a show and drinking hot chocolate (which is funny because she never actually drinks it - she just likes the idea of it.) 

Lena is a good big sister.  She loves waking Kinley up in the morning and will often climb into Kinley's crib to jump and play with her until I get there.  She is just starting to figure out that Kinley will do what she says so she likes to have her participate in her pretend scenarios.  

Lena's 4th Birthday Party

For Lena's "four" birthday we decided to have an intimate princess birthday tea party!  Lena has learned to love Ariel, Rapunzel, and other princesses over the last year so we invited some of her close friends to come over, dress up, do some creative crafts, and have treats and tea. 

The first hour of the party was spent doing creative centers.  We had the "princess potion" station where they made their own candy pixie sticks.  Then there was a button jewelry station where they could make button decorated hair clips and a beading station where they made bracelets and necklaces.  Lastly there was the nail salon station where I did their nails with Jamberry wraps and matching lacquer.  Such fun!

The second hour we moved into the dining room where the tables were set with real China, silverware, and antique tea cups.  We hung festive lanterns from the ceiling just like the movie Tangled.  Dan was our server and served everyone savory and sweet princess treats and the girls and their moms drank hot chocolate, juice, and tea.  Then it was time for cake and presents.  Grandma made a beautiful Little Mermaid cake!   Everyone took home a cute little zipper pouch with their initial on the outside to put all their creations and goodies inside.  It was such a fun party!

 

Grandma and Lena and one of Grandma's awesome cakes!