Happy Birthday!

Greetings!
Happy Birthday Jonas and Elsa!  We had a wonderful time this weekend celebrating Jonas and Elsa's third birthday!  Friends and family came over and helped us eat cupcakes and celebrate!  It was a special day and Jonas and Elsa had a blast.  They could hardly sleep after the party and they were so excited at all the amazing gifts and all the fun that we had at the party. It is amazing to think that it has already been three years! 

We are resting up the rest of the weekend and dutifully eating cupcakes each chance we get. 

God Bless,
Mari & Dan & Elsa & Jonas

The most wonderful time of the year!

Greetings!  I feel like this has been the "Lysne Cold Season Update Blog 2011".  We have been either getting better or catching something new!  This week has been no different.  Elsa had a high fever at the start of the weekend and is now battled back to health.  Jonas just returned home from the doctor and has a double ear infection.  He is now on medication and will hopefully feel better soon!

We met with Jonas and Elsa's GI doctor to check on weight gain.  He was a little concerned that Elsa has dropped from the 10th percentile to the 4th percentile.  We share his concern but given that she has transitioned so well to day care and tons of changes in the past three months we are cautiously optimistic that this is a minor blip on the radar and we can get her plumped right back up.  Jonas fell asleep during the appointment and the doctor was concerned that his breathing sounded really congested.  He prescribed some nasal spray to help the situation and will continue to monitor it  Overall, it was a good appointment and we are happy with how strong Elsa and Jonas are!

We also received the detailed report back on their assessment from the school district.  As reported earlier, they did not qualify for special services at this time because they were right where they needed to be.  Great job guys!  This is a wonderful time of the year!  Good news and strong kids that can deal with colds and ear aches are such a blessing!

We had a wonderful time celebrating Jonas and Elsa's friend Joshua's 3rd birthday party.  He shares their birthday and it was a joy to be with such good friends to celebrate!  It was a Thomas the Train themed party and Jonas was in hog heaven!

God Bless,
Mari & Dan & Elsa & Jonas

Happy Thanksgiving!

Greetings!
We have so much to be thankful for!  It has been a great year and Jonas and Elsa continue to thrive!

We have third birthdays coming up for Elsa and Jonas!  Time flies and it is amazing to think back that it was just three years ago we were driving through the blustery snow to get to the hospital!

Grandpa Harold visited with Elsa and Jonas this week.  They were really excited to see him and so thankful for the wonderful birthday gifts!

We have so much to give thanks for we had to have two thanksgivings this year!  What a great problem to have! It was wonderful to spend time with family and eat turkey.  Gobble Gobble.

As per our custom, we went Christmas tree hunting on Friday.  Jonas helped cut the tree down.  We are hopeful that Elsa does not manage to pull the tree down over the next four weeks.

Great days ahead and we can't wait!
God Bless,

Mari & Dan & Elsa & Jonas

Let it snow (just a little bit)

Greetings!
It snowed a little bit yesterday and Jonas and Elsa were quite impressed with it.  They made hand-prints in the snow and were loving catching the snow in their hands.  We love the snow too because it always reminds us of when Elsa and Jonas were born! 

This week, everyone (except Dan with a relapse of pink-eye) was healthy and full of energy.  Jonas and Elsa's school had several great art projects for them this week but the one the teacher was most impressed with was their no bake pumpkin pie.  Elsa apparently loved eating her creation!

Jonas has been announcing a lot recently that Elsa's birthday is almost here.  We think he is starting to catch on that if it is her birthday it is also his birthday! 

It was a great week and we had a great time going to the Yule Boutique at Pacific Lutheran.  It was wonderful to run into so many people that we know that care a lot about how Jonas and Elsa are doing!

God Bless,

Mari & Dan & Elsa & Jonas

Three out of four sick is not a good ratio

Greetings! 
There is a reason that there are no pictures this week. 

Monday morning Mari noticed some redness in Jonas's eyes.  She took him in to the doctor and he was the first to fall.  Pink eye for the Jonas!  Lots of ointment this week for Jonas.  He was not a big fan of this.  He would squirm and fight and reluctantly allow us to give him his treatment.  We are proud to report that he appears to be pink eye free!  Overall, he had a lot of fun this week playing with Grandma Jeanne!

Monday afternoon Dan decided that he should get the redness in his eye checked out.  "Congratulations, you have pink eye."  Not the best words to hear from a doctor but eye drops were quickly prescribed.  Later that evening, a fever struck Dan and took him out for the next three days.  Dan is now fully recovered and the white has returned to his eyes.

Tuesday Elsa had a temperature that refused to go down.  She was the third winner of the positive diagnosis party this week.  She had a chest x-ray that confirmed she had a small case of pneumonia percolating in her lungs.  Antibiotics quickly cleared it up and she is back at it.

Somehow Mari avoided all the bugs, flus, and pinkies in the house this week.  According to Mari, "I don't have time to get sick."  She wisely avoided scheduling a cold this week. 

We are all well rested now and ready for a great week ahead!  Jonas and Elsa have started to notice that their birthdays are coming up and have begun making requests..."I want this for my birthday!".

Too cute! 

God Bless,
Mari & Dan "Big Pinky" & Jonas "Lil Pinky" and Elsa "I'll Cough it Out"

Let's celebrate!

Greetings!
Jonas and Elsa had a great week of celebrations!  Grandma Jeanne and Cousin Kaelen celebrated birthdays this week.  It was a great week and great to share in good times with family!

Jonas and Elsa also had a big assessment this past week.  We haven't received the results but we were very proud of them.  The assessment is to determine their ability in gross motor skills, language, and cognition and is done for any babies born early that might need extra help to get caught up.  From the sounds of it, Jonas and Elsa rocked on many of the tests and overall tried their best.  Way to go!

Everyone in the house is a little under the weather this weekend and we are hoping that the change of the clocks will help us all get back on track.

God Bless!
Mari & Dan & Elsa & Jonas

Trick or Treat!

Greetings! 
A week doesn't go by without lots of fun and something brand new for Elsa and Jonas.  This year, we attended the Proctor (an area of Tacoma) Treats Festival.  Local businesses hand out candy and the shut the streets down to keep it safe for everyone.  We attended this last year but this was the first time that Jonas and Elsa were able to go up to folks and say the magic words, "Trick or Treat".  It was a blast!  Elsa was a bumble bee and Jonas was a Firefighter.

Elsa also got her first haircut!  She was a trooper and watched with awe as the stylist put a pink ribbon in her hair.  Jonas also got another haircut and he must have lost five pounds of hair!  Both look stylish.

We braved another trip to the pumpkin patch with our friends.  This time we visited the animals and saw the giant pumpkins!  Jonas and Elsa kept saying, "BIG pumpkins...BIG pumpkins!". 

This is our favorite time of the year and it is great to share every moment with Jonas and Elsa.  This week they have a big evaluation to determine if they qualify for a special preschool service.  We are very interested to see how they do!

God Bless,

Dan & Mari & Elsa & Jonas