11 months old and a visit with Magne!

As of a few days ago, Mckenna is officially 11 months old! It's hard to believe that we will be celebrating her 1st birthday in a few short weeks - where has the past year gone? Here is a quick update on what Mckenna's been up to recently:

*Mckenna is standing up a lot - pulling herself up, walking along furniture, and occasionally standing without holding on to anything and balancing herself. No steps taken on her own yet, but it doesn't seem too far away.

*She has seven teeth so far, and the eighth is coming any day now. It seems as if she's been teething straight since her first tooth came in early April. We brush her teeth every day, and she will brush them too on her own sometimes, she is definitely getting an independent streak... such a big girl! :)

*Mckenna started daycare a few weeks ago when Matt and I went back to school. It is a home daycare near our house, and she seems to be doing well there. She smiles in the morning when she sees the other kids and her daycare provider, and she is in a good mood and happy when I pick her up in the afternoon. We feel blessed to know that if we need to be away from her during the day, that she is well cared for, safe, loved, and having fun. It has been a smooth transition from our summer with Mckenna 24/7 to having her in daycare three days a week, and for that we are thankful.

*My mom and dad's house is going to be ready to move back into within a few days to a few weeks, and we know that Mckenna has really enjoyed having them around for the past few months. I'm convinced that my parents are two of Mckenna's very favorite people in her world, and she will definitely miss seeing them everyday when they move back into their home. They have been such a huge help with Mckenna, and we are so grateful for their love and care for us.

*Mckenna has been busy modeling for several national ad campaigns, doing an average of one photo shoot per month since the spring. Her cute pictures are featured in catalogs, ads, company videos, and online, including on target.com - really fun!

Also, last weekend we got to see our cousin Magne from Norway! Here are a few pictures from our fun time seeing him.

My dad, Dan, Abby, Ayla, Mckenna and I went to the Minneapolis airport to try and see Magne and his girlfriend Kitty on their layover. They were on their way to spend time with family of Magne's (and my moms third cousin) in South Dakota. We didn't end up seeing Magne and Kitty because they didn't have enough time between catching their next flight, but we had fun hanging out together. Here are the two cute cousins - check out their same outfits! :)


That week Magne and Kitty spent time in the Black Hills with their hosts. The next weekend we drove to South Dakota to have dinner with the whole group, and then the following day we went to the Clay County Fair in Spencer, Iowa together. Matt unfortunately couldn't come with us because he had an MA tennis tournament (he's a coach) to be at that day, but we all had a good time hanging out with one of our favorite Norwegian relatives. We enjoyed taking Mckenna into the barns to see the animals - she was down at their level in her stroller, and she seemed curious to figure out what she was looking at, it was cute!






My mom cuddling with a sleepy Ayla. A few minutes after this picture was taken, Mckenna shrieked loudly at something and woke Ayla up, really startled her... sorry sweetie!


The whole Clay County Fair group: Mary, Bob, Dan, Ayla, Magne, Kitty, Abby, Mckenna, and Julie. After we took this picture, we got back in the car for the drive home to Minnesota, and Magne and Kitty went to a Bill Engvall comedy show at the grandstand - fun!


Here is Mckenna this past Friday, in the car ready to go to an audition downtown for a Target 2010 ad campaign. Cute and smiley, as always!


Trying on her new ladybug costume for Halloween. It's fun in our neighborhood, because all of the kids, even the young ones, get dressed up and walk around the block. We will take Mckenna out for a little bit early in the evening to say hi to our neighbors - should be fun! We love living in a neighborhood where everyone knows each other and is so friendly, plus there are a lot of kids Mckenna's age to grow up and be friends with - it's so great!


I think she likes her fancy new outfit - she makes one CUTE ladybug! :)

Matt is 33!

On Saturday, August 15th, Matt turned 33 years old! We had a fun weekend celebrating his birthday.

On Saturday, at the birthday boy's request, we went to Al's Breakfast in Dinkytown, and then to the Mall of America to pick up a few things for the new school year and to go on some rides in the amusement park. I was impressed with the rides at MOA - since the park has changed over from "Camp Snoopy" to "Nickelodeon Universe" in the past year, they have added a few more really good rides. Kristi came with us, and the three of us had a great time being kids for a few hours and enjoying the fun afternoon. My parents were kind enough to watch Mckenna while we were at the mall, and I love when she gets to spend time with them too - thanks, mom and dad!

After an afternoon of walking around the mall and going on some rides, the three of us went to eat dinner at Ruby Tuesday, and surprise, there were some family and friends there waiting to celebrate Matt's birthday! My mom and dad brought Mckenna, Brad and Jessica and their kids came, our good friend Liz from school was there, and our neighbors Tim, Nicole, and their son Carter were there as well. With Kristi, Matt, and I, there were 16 of us, so we had a few different tables in a back room, but it worked out okay. Thanks everyone for coming, Matt had a great time! Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the dinner, but I did get a few during our breakfast and rides at MOA...

A Minnesota icon - Al's Breakfast in Dinkytown!


Waiting our turn in line...


This is kind of a random picture, but Matt and I always get a kick out of looking for a certain "tab" at Al's. Matt's uncle, Del Anderson, is a frequent customer at Al's, and actually has a tab there. Isn't this the most organized filing system you've ever seen? :) It's hard to see, but we spotted Del's tab - upper left hand corner of the picture.


We love this place! And Dinkytown is the neighborhood in Minneapolis right around the University of Minnesota campus, so it's always fun for us to go to Al's and to Dinkytown as UMN alumni - go Golden Gophers!


Onto our next fun birthday stop... the Mall of America!


The amusement park at MOA - Nickelodeon Universe.








Dora saying happy birthday to a blushing birthday boy. :)


Shooting hoops!


On Sunday of the big birthday weekend, we surprised Matt and took him to a Twins vs. Cleveland baseball game at the Metrodome. Kristi actually won tickets on the radio a few days before, so we asked our friend and Twins fan, Jason, to go with us, and we all had a good time. Matt didn't know where we were going until we got downtown, so it was a fun surprise for him. Unfortunately the Twins lost (4-7), but we still had fun hanging out together. Matt is a big Chicago Cubbies fan through and through, but I say he also likes the Twins by Minnesotan default. :)
This is the last year that the Twins will play in the HHH (Hubert H. Humphrey) Metrodome. They started playing there in 1982, and next year they will have a new outdoor stadium called Target Field, which is in downtown Minneapolis, right next door to Target Center where the MN Timberwolves basketball team plays. So at every home Twins game for the past year or so, there has been a "Countdown to Outdoor Baseball" board. A few of the fans are picked from the audience to take down the old number to reveal the new lower number, and then everyone cheers. I guess you could say Twins fans are pretty excited about the new field. :)


A sketch of the new Target Field.






We had pretty good seats, right off of third base.


Matt had a really fun birthday weekend - thanks again to everyone who joined us to celebrate!

Yep...

...it's August, and Mckenna is wearing a hooded sweater! It's been cooler here the past few days, and this weekend when we took this walk it was in the low 50s. Time to get out the sweaters - fall is just around the corner!







Also this weekend, after we got Mckenna ready for bed, we let her play for a few minutes, and this is what happened over by the bookshelf. There are two canvas boxes underneath the shelfs, and she pulled both of them out, and...


...of course, Nemo had to come over and check out the fun being had without her. :)

*Miss Model - Play With a Purpose photos*

You may remember earlier posts about Mckenna modeling for Gopher Sports, with their childrens product division called Play with a Purpose. Well, the PWAP Fall 2009 catalog is out, and Mckenna is in it! The pictures are cute, and it's fun to see them now because she is almost a year old (in mid-October!) and these photos were taken at 6 months and 8 months, so she definitely looks younger. Below are the photos (all selling products that would be used in a daycare or nursery school type setting - cribs, nursery mirrors, and a rocking chair.) You can also see the pictures online at: www.pwaponline.com, click on Infant and Toddler.

This one was taken in June, just a few days before we went to Mexico. Mckenna is 8 months old. A funny story with this one - they originally wanted to have her laying on her back with her head facing the top of the crib, but realized in about 10 seconds that that was just not going to happen... she would just flip over on her tummy immediately when she was placed on her back. So they changed plans, turned her around in the crib, put her on her back, and again she immediately rolled over... but also popped right up and smiled like that, like "Ha! See what I just did?" The photographer captured the moment, and it's now in the catalog. Matt and I were standing right there, and we all had a laugh about that, including the photographer and the model you see in the picture (who is supposed to be a daycare worker.) Hamming it up for the audience, as always! :)


The rest of these were taken in April - Mckenna is 6 months old. Many photo shoots will have specific clothing there for you to wear, but these are Mckenna's own clothes and toys - the ball and green teether. Another funny quirky thing - Mckenna has never been "made up" for any of these shoots before, but yesterday she did a shoot for Super Valu (who owns Cub Foods, Jewel-Osco, Albertsons, and more), for their Baby Basics brand diapers, and they actually put a little bit of makeup on her - crazy! They put on just a little bit of foundation, some blush, and a little bit of pink lip gloss... I was sitting in the chair holding her as the makeup person put it on, thinking "this is so strange, yet funny!" I honestly couldn't really tell any difference - this wasn't major makeup at all - but I promptly cleaned her face after the shoot was over. What a good sport... :)

Coldplay - Viva La Vida Tour 2009

Ode to one of Matt and my favorite bands, the great Coldplay. We love these guys and their music, and were lucky enough to see an awesome concert of theirs in July in East Troy, Wisconsin.

Some of you may remember seeing the following iTunes commercial on TV in 2008...

Matt and I remember it well - everytime it would come on, we would rush to turn up the volume and want to know when this new Coldplay song and CD would be coming out... we couldn't wait!

Now listen to the same song (the full length version), sung on Coldplay's new live CD called 'Left Right Left Right Left' that they gave away free at their concert. Try to imagine the concert we went to at the Alpine Valley outdoor amphitheatre and the 45,000 energetic fans (including us!) that were loving every minute of every song - jumping up and down to the beat and singing along... it was so cool! (While you're listening to the song, feel free to scroll through the post - the song is 5+ minutes!)




This was our first time seeing a concert at Alpine Valley, and we were excited because we had heard it was a great venue... awesome band + awesome outdoor amphitheater = double awesome show. :) If you ever have a chance to see a concert there, we highly recommend it!


We of course had to get the cool concert t-shirts... Matt's is the concert shirt with the show locations and dates on the back, and mine says "Life in Technicolor" - the name of the first song on the Viva La Vida CD.


This is a view from the top of the lawn seating, down to the stage. This is way before the concert started, and it wasn't even close to as full as it was going to get for the night.


Our seats were SO CLOSE to the stage, it was crazy! We got lucky... when I was purchasing the tickets online, I selected "best available" for seats, and this is what we got! When we saw where we were sitting, we got even more excited.




Happy and excited for the show to start!




The lead singer and seemingly very cool guy, Chris Martin. He was so energetic and upbeat, so into the music and fans... it was really fun to watch.








One of Coldplay's very first big hits from way back is called Yellow, and tons of these HUGE yellow balloons were dropped over the crowd during the song. Everyone was playing with them, hitting them up in the air, it was so cool. Matt and I even got to hit a balloon once or twice - we were excited about that. :)










Here is Chris Martin telling everyone that the Alpine Valley concert and fans have been the best so far. I thought that he probably says this at most concerts they play, but I read on a roadie blog on Coldplay's website that, "No folks, he does not say that at every concert at all!" See video of the fun annoucement below.


I thought that he seemed like such a genuinely nice guy, very friendly with the crowd, and he obviously loves what he does.




LOVED THAT CONCERT!!! We will definitely be going back to see them next time they play in the midwest, no question about it. If you ever have a chance to see Coldplay live, GO! And get two extra tickets for us, while you're at it. :)


One last song, and one that was new to us and may be to you too. It's a great song, maybe one of Coldplay's best yet. It's called Glass of Water, and asks the question: how full or empty is your glass? Something to think about... enjoy!