Looking back... June 2010

June was actually a bit slower month for us than the rest of the summer, mostly because we were finishing up the school year and staying around home the rest of the month because we went to Mexico at the beginning of July. Below are some pictures from our June - enjoy!

Several times this summer Mckenna and I drove to Bloomington for a summer program they had going called the "Monday Morning Kids Series." Every Monday morning during the summer the various parks in city of Bloomington hosted a different show especially geared towards young children. The shows were about one hour long or so and included music, magic, juggling and outdoor activities. It was fun for Mckenna and I to get out of the house, and Mckenna is always about hearing music, dancing, and being active, so it was perfect. A few times we met Abby and Ayla, and a few times my mom came with us - fun! Below are some pictures from our summer Monday mornings.

Mckenna LOVES her cousins! She talks about all seven of them quite a bit (Gwen, Sonja, Ayla, Jacob, Thomas, Sarah, and Joel.) Here is Mckenna enjoying some time with her Aunt Abby and Cousin "A-ya." This show was a one-woman kids music act, and the girls were standing up dancing, eating snacks and drinking from their sippy cups most of the time. I was able to take a few pictures of them taking a break and sitting down... cuties!




This Monday morning my mom came with us and it was a juggling man that also brought lots of other fun activity toys for the kids to play with. I liked that he kept his "show" short and then had about 45 minutes that all of the kids could just run around and play - Mckenna loved it!








Matt, Mckenna and I went to the Mall of America to look for a few things for our trip to Mexico and stayed for dinner. Mckenna was a good girl, as always. Gotta love that face, those cheeks, and those sweet eyes! :)




And another picture of her cleaning obsession... she's so funny about wiping things!


Grandma Karen and Grandpa Craig came for a short visit in June. Mckenna always has fun playing with them whenever they are together.


At the end of June we went to Dan Patch Days, the popular annual summer festival in Savage. In our five years of living in Savage, this was the first time we've been in town to go, so we were really looking forward to it. It is held in the park that is connected to our neighborhood, so it's perfect just to walk a few blocks there and not have to pack up the car or deal with parking.


Mckenna had fun riding on a pony. At first she seemed a bit overwhelmed, but Matt was walking with her, and she relaxed quickly. It was so fun to watch them doing this!


She also loved riding on this little train, and was pretty upset when the ride was over and she had to get out. We'll have to remember this ride for next time!


Matt got to be with her while she rode the pony, so I got to ride the train. :)


These last two pics are random ones of Mckenna. These storage crates were in our basement, and we decided to bring them up to our room to use them. As Matt was putting them up, Mckenna wanted to climb right in... little monkey!


Our neighbors, Tim and Nicole, had a water leak in their house and they had to shut their water off for a day or so while it was being repaired. So Carter came over one night and the two friends took a bath and played in their PJs together for a bit. Mckenna loves playing with Carter, as you can very sweetly see here.


We have a lot of fun pictures from July of our trip to Mexico... stay tuned! And also, I'm a week and a half from my due date with baby girl #2, so we'll of course post an announcement on here when she arrives... we're so excited! :)

Little Miss M - 21.5 month pictures & 23 month update

Here are some pictures that were taken at the beginning of August, when Mckenna was 21.5 months old. A huge thanks to Jessica Person (our wonderful sister-in-law) of Lifestyle Kids Photography for taking time out of her busy schedule and capturing these precious shots and more. As all parents know, it's priceless to have pictures of your little ones as they grow up, and Jessica has helped us capture many milestones over Mckenna's life so far. Check out Lifestyle Kids online at: www.lifestylekidsphotography.com

I am planning on going back and posting more pictures from our summer, but I also wanted to post these more current photos of Mckenna while they are still somewhat recent. Here is a run down of fun facts about Mckenna right now at 23 months old. Since this blog is much like a journal for me, I'll probably be wordy and detailed, so you'll have to bear with me.

*She LOVES her children's Bible story book. We read a few stories from it every night before she goes down to bed, she wants to have it first thing when she wakes up, and she likes to walk around the house with it and "read" from it on her own. The other day she was reading it out loud (which consists of much babbling and then a coherent word thrown in here and there) while Matt was changing her diaper. She said, "Blah, blah, blah, Jacob. Blah, blah, blah, blah, Jacob. (And so on.)" Matt and I laughed... we hadn't talked about her cousin Jacob that day, had we? No, we hadn't. So then I actually looked at the story she had turned to (this is a very big book with about three names per short story) and it was "Jacob's Dream." Coincidence? Who knows, but nonetheless, Matt and I got a good laugh from that. I wouldn't be surprised if she is memorizing the pictures and faces in the book... she's obsessed with it! :)

*Right now she also likes the Shel Silverstein book, "The Giving Tree." She calls it "Boy." When we go outside in our yard, she points to a certain tree and says, "Tree, boy climb." (In the book, the boy climbs the tree to play, swing in the branches, and collect apples.) And another on-going favorite is any book by Sandra Boynton.

*She is talking a lot, all the time. Like most kids her age, she likes to point out names of just about everything from toys to animals to foods to airplanes in the sky and things outside. She is stringing together multiple words, and we love when she says sweet phrases like "Love you, Daddy!" and "Thank you, Mommy!" There is a field by our house with horses, and when we drive by it she calls out, "Horses, where are you?" Last weekend Matt, Mckenna and I went out for brunch, and both Matt and I had a cup of coffee. Matt finished his and mentioned that he wanted more. Mckenna looked and pointed at both of us and said (as if one sentance) "Mommy, Daddy, all done, coffee, tummy!" Also, today she was sitting at her little Ikea table coloring a picture of a "phant" (an elephant - she loves them), and got up, walked over to me and said, "Kenna, Daddy, ride a phant." I said, "Oh, you want to ride on an elephant with Daddy?" And she smiled and nodded and walked back over and sat down to keep coloring. It is so fun to see her language skills grow like this - she is such a joy!

*Mckenna loves daycare and is always talking about her friends there. She is happy to be there in the mornings when I drop her off, and we feel so blessed to have her in a safe, loving, nurturing environment when we are at work. She also likes talking about her cousins, neighbors Carter and Reagan, doggy Nemo, and friends at church. She is a social little gal!

*She is a great eater, and I am happy to say that most of the time she seems to enjoy veggies and fruits. She also likes cereal in the morning (her current fav is Crispix), yogurt (Yo Baby/Yo Kids) and for a snack she enjoys dried yogurt and fruit snacks (Happy Baby.) We've noticed she is a consistency girl, much like her mom. For example, she loves smooth yogurt, but for whatever reason shies away from yogurt with fruit chunks in it. She loves her sippy cups, and especially likes to drink milk. I'd say her absolute favorite though, hands down, is anything chicken, especially chicken nuggets - she could eat those all day if we let her. We can't complain - she is a healthy and growing girl! She is also a great sleeper and goes right down for naps and bedtime at night with no problems - it's so nice!

*She loves her dollies. She has two smaller dolls that she got when she turned one, and she likes to wrap them up in a "blankie" and give them hugs, carry them around, rock them, and make them dance to music. It is so sweet to watch! Since she doesn't read this, I'll tell you that I got her a doll for when the baby is born/her 2nd birthday that drinks a bottle, makes baby noises, and falls asleep. I know she'll love it.

*She is really good at puzzles and seems to like them a lot. We do some at home, but I think she also does them a lot at daycare. She dumps out the puzzle pieces, picks each one up and names what it is, and puts it right into it's correct spot with little to no help. It is very impressive!

*She loves to color with crayons in her coloring books, and she will actually sit still for quite a while and do this diligently at times. She also still loves to sit with her books and page through and read on her own. Like many kids her age, we often here the phrase "Kenna do it" from her... such a big girl, she wants to do so much on her own already. Miss Independent! :)

*She likes to play outside, and again likes to be the big girl, trying the "big" swing (the regular swing is becoming more attractive than the toddler bucket seat swing), and she is adventurous in trying to climb ladders and climbing walls on her own without much thought to a parent or adult nearby to help... (yikes, watch out world!)

*She is great at running errands with mom and dad, and her favorites places to go out shopping right now are Target and "Depot" (Home Depot.) As you'll read below, we had a new room put in to our house this summer, so we were at Home Depot quite a bit getting new paint, doors, fixtures, etc. She is fun to go out with because she is easy going, well behaved, and makes a game out of waving and smiling at people... pretty cute.

*I think she is slowly but surely getting the idea that a new baby sister is coming to our house, and that she is going to be a big helper to mommy and daddy with the new baby. It's of course hard to tell exactly how much of it all she comprehends, but we've been talking about it constantly now for months, and I think she is somewhat understanding the idea of it all. This summer we got an open area walled off in our upstairs for a new room that the baby will be in, and she has liked helping to get the room ready and cleaned up - wipe things down, help vacuum, etc. That's another thing, she LOVES to clean things, loves it! I think Kristi got her a small broom and dustpan for her upcoming birthday - that will be a big hit.

Well, I could of course go on and on, but I'll stop there for now. Enjoy the sweet pictures. We could not love this girl any more than we do - she is such a sweetheart, such a gem!

Looking back... May 2010

Well, looking back through the last several months, we haven't posted much at all since May. So here are some pictures from our May, and we're hoping to catch up through the months over the next few weeks before the new baby comes.

We started off the month celebrating my sister Kristi! Her birthday is in April, and she graduated from her masters program at the University of Minnesota in May. Matt, Mckenna and I brought her out to dinner one night to celebrate these fun milestones. As always, we had a good time. Here she is with her birthday/graduation gift - a girl always needs a nice purse!


Having a belly laugh with Aunt Kristi... look at that face - love it! :)


Onto Northrup Auditorium at the U of M for Kristi's graduation ceremony. Here she is with some friends from her program, ready to walk across the stage and accept her hard-earned masters degree in Business and Marketing Education.


If you went to the U of M, are a fan of the U of M, or just ever have been on the campus, you know that it's really beautiful. Matt and I love this school and had a great experience here, and something about Northrup Auditorium at the helm of the mall on campus is so classic.


Proud big sister. :) Kris spent all summer diligently applying and interviewing for teaching jobs. Finally at the end of the summer, just one week before the school week started, she was offered and accepted a media specialist teaching job at Legacy Christian Academy in Andover, a northern suburb of the Twin Cities. So far she is really enjoying her new position.


Congratulations, Kristi! Love that maroon and gold... go Golden Gophers!


Also in May, Matt and I went to an awesome 40th birthday party for our neighbor Jodi. Her husband Carl and sister threw this fun party, and I really didn't know what to expect because both Jodi and Carl are casual, laid back people, and we've been to casual neighborhood gatherings with them before. When we arrived at the party, we headed to the backyard and what we saw was so beautiful!


Live music... a nice touch to a fun outdoor party.


Isn't this gorgeous?


Happy Birthday, Jodi! We unfortunately didn't get any good pictures of the birthday girl.


A nice night out for Matt and I. It may sound silly, but when you're in the daily grind of parenthood, working, etc., sometimes it's easy to forget the feeling of being an adult and getting out and being with friends. So it's nice when it happens. Thanks for babysitting, Kristi!


We have great neighbors and feel very blessed to live where we do. Jodi's husband Carl is next to Matt - thanks for the invite to the fabulous party, Carl!


One of our sweet nephews turned one in May. Happy birthday, Joel!


Mckenna LOVES her cousins! The pictures of these two cuties are so sweet, don't you think? :)


Mckenna with another cute cousin, Ayla. It cracks me up how often the most fun "toys" aren't really toys at all - a plastic bag and a book - go figure!


In an earlier post I mentioned that we got a new playset for our backyard. Matt looked on Craiglist for weeks, we went to an indoor playset showroom to see what we liked and what we didn't, and we looked at other backyards when passing by to see what we liked. Matt found a good deal online on a nice set in Bloomington, and we were excited to finally get it put up in our backyard and have Mckenna start playing on it. A big thanks to our neighbor Tim for coming over several times to help with the set-up, we really appreciated the help!


Our little lady conquering the climbing wall...


...look at that determined face and her proud daddy standing by!


The next few pictures were taken at the Best Prep annual luncheon on Nicollet Island in Minneapolis. Kristi was there with her cooperating teacher that she student taught with at Burnsville High School. It's fun for us to now be in the same world in our teaching careers!


I was presented with a "Teacher of Excellence" award for my work in furthering business education. It was such an honor for me to accept such a special award that recognizes my hard work in a field that I really love.


The main speaker for the event was Martha Rossini Olson from Sweet Martha's Cookie Jar. Anyone who has ever been to the Minnesota State Fair knows about Sweet Martha's cookies, whether you've actually eaten them or not. I thought her entrepreneurial story was very interesting, and I wrote down a lot of what she said and brought it back to share with my business students at Minnehaha. They were also really interested, and it started a good class conversation about the various business stories that we know about from the iconic MN State Fair.


My good friend, fellow teacher, and department chair was able to be at the luncheon with me. Liz is such a positive and phenomenal teacher, and she is so supportive of what I teach and the importance of the subject to our students. I know she was happy to be there, and it meant a lot that she took time out of her busy teaching day to support me in that way. Thank you, Liz!


These next pictures are so fun to me. My neighbor Nicole and I decided that our toddlers and cutie-pie friends, Carter and Mckenna, should take a little tots swim class with their daddies. So Tim and Matt were good sports and took the kids twice a week for six weeks to practice being comfortable in the water. It was so fun to watch them in the pool!


Aren't they cute? Mckenna had a few rough moments (crying and a bit scared) over the six weeks, but overall, I think she did pretty well. Matt is so calm and patient with his sweet daughter - definitely a good team and the right person to help teach her some of these skills. And the fact that Matt has been a certified lifeguard in the past puts my mind at ease too... we always have a water lifesaver around if we need it!


Her determined face is so priceless - love it! It's funny because over the summer she really seemed to enjoy being in pools, splashing around and "swimming." But we still have a bit of work to do for her to get comfortable in a lake. Maybe because the water is much darker and cooler than a pool... I don't know. I'm sure she'll enjoy the lakes just as much as the pools as she gets older.


Tim and Carter, Matt and Mckenna, with their swim class participation certificates. I love Mckenna's laid back stance here... it is so true to her personality! And she loves her good friend Carter - so cute!


The last few pictures are from our Memorial Day weekend at the Johnson cabin in northwestern Wisconsin. Nemo got groomed right before we left, and I was glad that we did it then because she got a lot of ticks crawling on her at the cabin, so it would've been difficult to see them all through the thick fluff! This is a before picture, and you'll see an after picture below.


She is so darn cute! I love everything about this picture - her stance, cute eyes, smile, sitting on the tree stump, the pretty forest background... LOVE HER! :)


Taking a walk on the road that leads to the cabin. I love how Mckenna's pants are falling down and her tummy is sticking out - pretty funny. And here is Nemo's after haircut picture - she looks so little compared to her long, furry self!


Here Mckenna is sticking her tiny finger into the big, sharp toothed mouth of the wooden musky on the wall of Jim's Bait Shop, near the cabin. I think one of Matt's dreams is to be with Mckenna when she catches her first musky - how sweet! :)


Fun with Grandma Karen on the boat at Matt's cousins cabin on Little Sissabagama Lake (a.k.a. Little Siss.) Mckenna was keeping Grandma on her toes as she ran around the boat with her fast little feet! You can tell by her stance and the look in her eyes that she is ready to go.


A boat ride with Grandpa! I think it's pretty cute how little kids can look so stuffed into their life jackets.


May was a month full of fun times, and we hope to get more pictures up soon of our fun summer! Stay tuned... :)

Please don't give up on this blog!

I got this "Please don't give up on this blog" post idea from my friend and fellow blogger, Rachel. (Thanks, Rachel!) I believe she, like me, is being somewhat zapped of energy by the baby growing in her belly. Matt and I are trying (really, we are!) to get our pics somewhat organized from our fun summer, and we will do our best to update sooner than later. We promise! In the meantime, hang in there and check back again soon... :)