Sonja's Baptism Weekend

Cam and Linnea's daughter and our niece, Sonja, was baptized on Sunday, April 19th at Winnetka Covenant Church in Illinois. We were so happy that we could be there to celebrate that special day with them. We got lucky that there was another special family day that weekend too - on Saturday there was a 90th birthday party for Matt's Grandpa, John Hanson. Here are some pictures from our fun weekend.

I can't remember the last time I was at a birthday party with name cards at each seat - fancy!


Isn't this a beautiful cake? I thought so. Gwen asked me if the flowers were real.


The guest of honor, Grandpa John, and Matt's Grandma Harriet. You can't really see it, but Gwen just gave John a birthday card - she is so cute!


Uncle Matt playing bouncy ball with Gwen.


Gwen is very sweet with Mckenna... she loves her cousin!




Mckenna loves her Uncle Cam... "Hey, you kind of look like my daddy!" :)


- BAPTISM DAY -

Ready for the service to start.


Sonja was looking up to the ceiling for a minute or two. I think she was thanking God for all of the blessings in her life. :)


I tried to get a short video of the baptism, but since I was holding the camera and Mckenna at the same time, Mckenna's whines are the loudest part of the video. But you can see the main part of the ceremony. I love when the pastor holds Sonja up in the air after putting the holy water on her head.


After the service we went to Linnea's grandparent's house for a nice meal with friends and family. Get a load of these girls in their car seats as we came in the house from church. I can't get enough of them together, they are just so sweet. And it's extra special that they are just one day apart in age. Here they are 26 weeks old - 6 months! Study this picture for a minute, and then scroll down to the next picture...


...and here are the same girls in the same car seats at 3 weeks old. Oh how they grow and change in such a short period of time - it's amazing! :)


Cam and Matt with their Grandmas, Fran and Harriet.


Grandma Karen and Grandpa Craig with their sweet girls. I'm pretty sure they're in heaven when they have these two sweeties with them in the same room. :)


I love Uncle Cam!


We tried to get some family pictures - the girls of course are wiggle worms, but what little kids aren't, right? I love the girls sweet faces in this picture. Sonja and Gwen's smiles are adorable!


It will be fun to watch these cousins grow up over the years...


Like I said, Gwen is really sweet with her little cousin Mckenna. Here she is giving her a kiss. Notice the red glow on Mckenna's dress - there were a lot of pictures being taken all afternoon of these cuties!


Cousins and sweet, sweet little girls. :)


We love you Sonja - thanks for inviting us to join you on your special day!

-carrots and funny games-

Today I made some carrots for Mckenna to eat. It was so easy! Peel some organic carrots, steam, and puree in a blender. I tried them, and they were actually pretty good. She seemed to really enjoy the new flavor... getting excited when she saw the spoon coming up to her mouth. What a cutie!







This video is so cute. Mckenna has really been into imitating lately... make sure your speakers are turned up!

Kristi's Birthday

Kristi turned 26 while we were in Chicago last weekend, so Matt and I took her out for dinner on Friday since we missed the family party. Happy birthday, Kris - we love you!





Matt is behind the camera, and for some reason he always cracks Kristi and I up every time we're together. I think he likes the easy laughs audience! :)

Mckenna's First Cereal

A few weeks ago we gave Mckenna her first baby rice cereal! It was fun to see her seem to get excited for something new, and she actually did a pretty good job with it for her first time. She ate and swallowed most of it, and not too much came back out of her mouth. She's been doing great with the cereal since this first introduction! Next is carrots and pears. :) Here are some pictures of this fun milestone.

"Give it to me - I'm ready!"




Here it comes...


...hmmmm, not too sure...


...I think I like it!

Easter and Mckenna's 6-month check-up!

Hi again! We've been pretty behind on posting over the past several weeks, so I'm hopefully going to get a few postings on here in the next few days... stay tuned.

Mckenna's first Easter was a lot of fun. We of course went to church in the morning and enjoyed the annual Easter breakfast served by the fabulous youth ministry kids. Matt and I also helped out with music for the morning, and we joined in on the Hallelujah Chorus with the choir at the end of the service, a wonderful Easter tradition at Bloomington Covenant. So the morning was busy! Then we came home and got ready to have the Person family over for an Easter meal. Unfortunately I didn't get many pictures from our gathering, but we had a great time. Here are a few.

My parents hid small "baskets" of candy around our yard for Jacob, Tommy, and Sarah to find, including one for Mckenna. She of course didn't get to eat the candy inside (although I'm sure she would've tried if we let her!), but it was fun to see her holding it. Here she is with someone that I'm convinced is one of her favorite people in the world, her Grandpa Bob. :)


We were all pretty tired after a long and fun Easter Sunday. Kristi was resting on the couch, and Mckenna and Nemo decided to join her. Do you see part of Nemo in the picture? She blends in with the blanket... poor Nemo doesn't get much blog time anymore! But she still is alive and well, I promise. And for those of you wondering if Mckenna smiles all the time, the answer is yep, pretty much!


We had Easter Monday off from school, so we also scheduled Mckenna's 6-month baby checkup for that day. Of course I had to take a lot of pictures at the doctor. :)

Getting ready to be weighed...


She has certainly grown a lot in just 6 months! At birth she was 7'7 lbs. and 20.5 inches long, and now at 6 months she is 17'1 and 26 inches long - it's amazing how fast they grow! She is a very healthy and happy little girl.












Later that day we took all took a walk. It is so nice to get outside after the long, cold winter. Easter Monday was actually pretty chilly, so Mckenna was all bundled up. My aunt Barb knit Mckenna this hat (and matching booties) for her when she was born, so it's fun to have her wear it - and cute too! She has really drooly days, and this was one of them. So we try to keep a bib on her a lot of the time, otherwise she drools through her clothes and her front is soaking wet... not too comfortable. This is Matt's favorite bib - Daddy's little Bears fan!


Friends of ours gave Mckenna a "Baby's First Easter" outfit (see the top picture on this posting) and it included pants with fuzzy bunnies for feet - so cute! I thought it was okay if she wore it still on Easter Monday (Mckenna = ever the fashionista), so here she is sporting the bunny feet on our walk. :)

Mckenna's first job!

A few weeks ago Mckenna had her first job! She was a baby model for Gopher Sport, which has a division that offers early childhood developmental and learning products called Play with a Purpose (pwaponline.com). She was at a catalog shoot and shot photos for some nursery type furniture - a rocking chair and some mirrors that would go on the wall in a baby room or nursery school. I was in Chicago at a business education conference when it happened, but Matt had the day off from school for Good Friday, so he and my dad took her. Here are some picture from the fun day! When the catalog comes out later this summer I will post the link to look at the pictures online.

This shot was selling the rocking chair. The woman is a model that is playing Mckenna's teacher. Matt couldn't take any pictures during the actual shoot, but during the transition time Matt took this picture while Mckenna chewed on her teething ring. By the way, two days before this day Mckenna got her first two teeth - bottom middle, they are so little and cute! :)


Matt and Mckenna inside the front door of the Gopher Sport building - so smiley!


And back at home - still smiling! Matt said that Mckenna was a "model model" - happy and smiley the entire time they were there. That's our girl!

IT'S A GIRL!

Ayla Ray Person was born to Abby and Dan Wednesday morning, April 22nd, at 8:03 am at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis. She weighs 7'1 and is 19 inches long. Everyone is doing well. Here are some first glimpses of sweet little Ayla... enjoy! Congratulations to the new mommy and daddy! :)







The happy new parents with their sweetie!


Must hug my new cousin! :)


It's hard to believe that Mckenna was that small just 6 months ago!


A proud Uncle Matt.


Mckenna is deep in thought and happiness after meeting her new friend. "I love my new cousin!"


A proud Aunt Kristi with another new niece to love!


I love this picture so much - look at Ayla looking at Abby... getting to know her mommy's loving face during her first few hours of life. So sweet and special!


And then there were three!