Finally!

I am going to attempt to update this blog with fun things we've done over the past few months - finally! After having both our camera and our computer die on us, it was a process to get a new camera and computer, make sure none of our old documents (including pictures of Mckenna's entire life thus far) were lost, load months of new pictures that we have taken onto our new computer, etc. Luckily we were able to take our old computer in to a repair place and get all of the info and docs on there transferred to the new computer. (Phew! That was a major relief for me, who momentarily freaked out thinking we had lost everything.) So... all that to say that we're back, and I'm now ready to resume trying to keep this blog updated. And since this is basically a journal and picture album for us, and I really enjoy doing it, I'm glad to be back up and running. I've missed it!

As teachers at the same school, both Matt and I are required to chaperone at least one dance a year. For the past several years we have done the prom in May, but this year decided to switch it up and chaperone the Sadie Hawkins dance in mid-November instead. Basically, Sadies is a girls ask guys dance, and although it is technically casual attire (versus dresses and suits/tuxes), there is usually a theme. This year the theme was "Meet Your Match" - dates dressed up alike, really in anything you wanted. As always, there were some really cute and creative costumes and outfits. Here are some of my favorites... and by the way, I wouldn't normally be taking a bunch of pictures at a school dance, but the chaperone in charge of taking pictures for the night had a dead battery, so he borrowed our camera (usually in my purse - handy!) and that's how we have all of these. The week after the dance, all of these pictures (and more) are shown in a slideshow with fun music during an assembly, which the students always enjoy watching and remembering their fun night.

This was an easy costume for us... I think we have enough Chicago Bears gear in our house to outfit a whole team! The kids in my business class and my advisory group (homeroom) actually gave me this idea - funny, everyone in the school knows that Mr. Johnson is a big Bears fan - I wonder why? :)


Our co-worker Nathan and his wife Kristi - patient and doctor!


From the great Dr. Suess book, The Cat In The Hat - Things 1 and 2... and 3, 4, 5, and 6! This is a group of freshman, and Matt has many of them in his P.E. and health classes. It's crazy, because Matt taught many of these kids in elementary school, and now they are in high school - time flies!


Mario and his Princess Peach, from nintendo's super mario brothers video game.




These two girls and best friends went with us to Japan in 2008, so we know them well.




I thought this one was really cute and creative - a 6-pack of Coke!








Their shirts say "Meet My Match" - the theme for the night.


Next up, pictures from our fun and relaxing 2009 Christmas break... stay tuned!

Christmas favorites...

These are two of our favorite cartoon-themed Christmas songs. The first is from a 1979 holiday muppets special with John Denver. My favorite is Miss Piggy - be sure to watch to the end! The second is a classic from the chipmunks - really cute. Oldies but goodies... enjoy! :)

Thanksgiving weekend 2009

Here are some pictures from our Thanksgiving weekend. It was fun to see all of the cousins together having fun with each other!

We had two tables, and Tommy beautifully set both of them. He was very proud, as he should be - he did such a great job!


Grandma with two of her girls, Sarah and Ayla.


Cuties... Kristi, Ayla, Mckenna, Mary, and Joel.


Cousins! Mckenna, Jacob, Joel, Thomas, Sarah, and Ayla. It's hard to believe that they were all sitting somewhat still! :)


Mckenna got a belated birthday gift in the mail from Cam, Linnea, Gwen, and Sonja, and it was fun to watch her having fun opening the package. You can tell that she is certainly getting older when she actually opens a present and enjoys it... no more little baby, that's for sure!




Such a cute outfit, thank you guys! Linnea told me that Sonja got the same outfit for her birthday, so we will for sure bring this with to Chicago when we go after Christmas to get some twin outfit pictures of the same age cousins! :)


We have these big, colorful lego blocks, and I think Matt has had just as much fun as Mckenna has with them. Matt made this little round fort and sat Mckenna in the middle. She had a blast taking it apart, block by block...


...and seemed pretty proud of herself as she did it!

In other news, Mckenna has been walking a lot lately! I wouldn't say she's walking exclusively just yet, but she's definitely on her way. She's walked "the loop" - in a circle through our kitchen, past the table, into the living room, toward the front door, down the hallway, and back into the kitchen. Often when she walks around, she looks a bit like frankenstein... wobbling along, arms out for balance - it's pretty cute. And usually she has a big grin on her face and sometimes is laughing as she walks, like she knows that she's doing something new and fun. It's also been a riot to watch Nemo walking around with her, standing in front of Mckenna as she walks, hopping out of her way, thinking she's playing a game with her, etc. I love it!

I'm bummed because we got a new camera a few months ago, and have taken several short videos of her walking around, but we unfortunately still can't figure out how to load the videos onto our computer from the camera. When we upload our pics and videos, the pictures are there, but the videos don't show up. So we'll have to work on that and hopefully get a few videos up of our little lady on the move. Stay tuned!

Thanksgiving = Giving Thanks

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever.
-Psalm 136:1

We have so much to be thankful for! For a God who gives us unconditional love and new life in Him, for loving family and friends, for a roof over our head and food on our table, for health and an amazing, sweet daughter, and an awesome little dog. For teaching jobs that we enjoy at a school that we believe in, for wonderful students and families, for freedom... and the list goes on. We hope that today and always you can give thanks for the many blessings in your life like we can.

Happy Thanksgiving! Love, Matt, Julie, and Mckenna

Halloween 2009

Since it is officially the week of Thanksgiving, I think we should finally get our pictures from Halloween up on the blog, don't you think?

Mckenna's daycare had a fun Halloween party where all the kids wore their costumes. Here is Mckenna the morning of the party before we left the house - all ready to go in her ladybug dress. I don't know if you can tell, but she really likes her costume! :)


Here are the cuties at daycare! There is a spiderman, a lion, two ladybugs, a little mermaid, and a little red riding hood. ADORABLE!


The Person cousins came over on Halloween afternoon to hang out, and we also got to celebrate Jacob and Sarah's birthdays. I saw a fun Halloween craft idea while shopping at Target, so I wanted to try it out with the kids. We had mini pumpkins, paint, stickers, and feathery hair to make our little pumpkin people. I think the kids had fun with it!






Angel Ayla! This cute costume is actually made for an older child, but Dan tailored it to fit little Ayla - isn't that cute? She just looked too sweet for words!


That night we took Mckenna out to do some trick or treating on our block. Here she is with her friend Carter (a bat!), all ready to go out. It was pretty cold that night, so we were hoping they would stay warm - I think they were just fine, and we all had a really fun time!


We pulled Mckenna around in this wagon we got at our church garage sale in the spring. It was the first time she had been in it, and as you can see, she really liked it! (We LOVE that smile!) The wagon worked great on Halloween. Since then we've used it to pull Mckenna and Carter to the park, and they seemed to love it.






All done trick or treating and taking a rest on our front step. Matt and I have fun memories from growing up and enjoying getting dressed up and walking around the neighborhood on Halloween. We look forward to carrying on the fun with our kids for years to come!

Fall fun...

Here are a bunch of pictures from our fall - September and October 2009. I guess this is what happens when you get behind on posting... a bunch of random events in one big post!

In September I went out to Los Angeles to visit my good friend Laura. We've been friends for close to 20 years, starting back in junior high at Minnehaha. She is one of the best friends I could ever ask for, and I'm blessed to have her in my life. Not only do I love to see Laura any chance I get, but I also LOVE to visit her in her home state... sunshine, palm trees, mountains, ocean, more sunshine... California is great! We were too busy hanging out and having fun for me to snap very many pictures, but below are just a few.







Venice Beach - isn't it beautiful? The weather was awesome that day - really warm and sunny, perfect beach weather! I loved sitting and laying on the beach, listening to the waves, soaking in the sun, reading a book, even getting in a short nap... it was definitely one of the highlights of my visit.


Already time to go home, the days just flew by! Here we are ready to head back to LAX to catch my flight. Thanks for the fantastic visit, Laura. I had an awesome time with you, as always!


If I had to leave Laura and beautiful Cali, at least I was coming home to this smiley girl. Mckenna and Matt were waiting for me in the airport, and Mckenna was holding a pink rose for me - too cute! We had a really fun little reunion right there in the MSP airport.


These two pictures were taken on October 4th, on my Dad's birthday. That morning we went to church, and Mckenna wore this cute knit dress, handmade for her by my aunt (Mckenna's great-aunt) Barb. It is really, really cute on her. There is also a cute little hat that matches the dress that Mckenna has worn a lot too. Thank you, Barb!


A cute, thoughtful pose... :)


Ok, there is definitely a story to go along with these next two pictures...
By now you've probably heard us talk about Mckenna's good friend that lives across the street, Carter. One day earlier this fall on one of my days off, I watched Carter all day while his mom (Nicole) and dad (Tim) were at work. Usually Nicole is home with Carter everyday, but this particular day she had to be at work at a training day. After several hours of playing with toys and reading books inside, I made the decision that we could all probably use some fresh air and a change of scenery. I wanted to go out for a walk, but it was really very cold that day, and I realized that I didn't have a jacket or coat for Carter at our house. So, I had to be creative... Mckenna has some extra outdoor things that would fit Carter, right? :)


I felt a little bit bad for making Carter wear this ultra girly coat and hat, but didn't really have time to feel too bad because it was too funny and cute! I jokingly told Nicole (who is due with baby #2 in February) that her little girl could look a lot like this! :)


The first bigger snow of the season... early October! Not really that big by Minnesota standards, but enough to actually accumulate and stay on the ground for some time.






Four of the six Bethel roomies: Ang, Julie, Janna, and Abby. We met for dinner one night in Stillwater, and had a great time catching up. Ang recently moved to New Richmond, WI and is a family doctor at a clinic there, so we decided to meet about halfway between the Twin Cities and New Richmond. We always have a good time when we get together - love these girls!


The day after Mckenna's birthday, we went to Emma Krumbees Apple Orchard in Belle Plaine, MN, which is about a 40 minute drive south from our house. Matt and I had been to Emma Krumbees several times before Mckenna was born, so we knew that we wanted to take our kids here to experience the fun too. We usually eat lunch at the country-style restaurant, and always pick apples and find some pumpkins to bring home... it's a fun fall tradition! It was pretty cold that day, but we managed to stay warm and have a really memorable time together.

















I think we were all pretty tired after our fun day outside. Mckenna gladly snoozed on our drive home - she was out cold! :)


A few more random pictures. Here Mckenna is all smiles after a nice shower.


New PJs - so cute!


Why does it feel as if Mckenna has been teething straight since April? (Probably because she pretty much has been!) We're not certain, but we're pretty sure she is currently getting in some of her back molars - ouch. I guess Mckenna was in the sharing mood enough to share her coveted, often used teething ring with her favorite person in the world, her daddy. Nice sharing, Mckenna! :)


Two days after Mckenna's birthday (and the day after going to Emma Krumbees), we went to Sever's Corn Maze in Shakopee, MN. It is just a few minutes from our house, which is great, and we'd never been there before, so it was extra fun to explore there for the first time! Nicole, Tim, and Carter invited us, so we all went together and had a blast. Unfortunately we didn't get any good pictures of the two little ones together... we'll have to get some next year when we all go again.

Here is an ariel photo of the corn maze - isn't it cool? Every year there is a different theme, and this year (obviously) was a pirate theme. They have a game within the maze (called the "maze challenge") where you walk around (with the help of a map, if you want to use it) and find different signs with pirates on them. With each sign, you can read a fun fact about pirates and mark that sign off your list that you found it. We weren't there, but Nicole told us that last year the theme was "Vote '08" and at each sign in the maze there were facts about the election, presidential history, Washington D.C., etc. Pretty cool!

Also at Sever's is a straw bale maze for kids, a corn pit (think ball pit without the balls and loose corn instead), live music, food and drinks (corn dogs, cheese curds, etc. - yum!), magic and wildlife shows, a barnyard petting zoo, an exotic animals petting zoo (camel, lemur, kangaroo, etc.), a giant slide, pony rides, hay rides, and more. If you live in the Twin Cities or are visiting in the early fall, I highly suggest you check it out - it really is fun for the whole family!











And one last piece of random information, for those that are interested. Mckenna had her 12-month wellness appointment at the end of October, and here are her current stats - weight: 23 lbs, 12 oz. (85th percentile), height: 30 inches (74%), and head circumference (Matt always thinks this one is funny... most of the Person family members have big heads): 18.5 inches (92%).

As you can see, we've had a very fun fall so far. Next I will post pictures from our Halloween weekend... someday I hope to get caught up with this blog! :) Stay tuned...