There is a new thing we added to our blog page... can you find it? :)
P.S. I PROMISE to update this blog soon. I know, I'm so behind!
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Bear of My Heart
As you may remember reading in previous posts, Mckenna LOVES books! She loves "reading" them and being read to, carefully choosing the books to read from her bookcase, sitting in her little Mckenna-sized easy chair with them, turning pages, touching the pictures, etc. Maybe we have a bookworm on our hands, who knows? :)So, a natural gift for Mckenna is a new book - it's something you know she'll love. For Valentine's Day, Matt and I gave her a new book called "Bear of My Heart" - written by Joanne Ryder, illustrated by Margie Moore. It is a simple little childrens book; short and sweet, with beautiful illustrations (a cute baby bear with its mom or dad together in different nature scenes on each page) and an even more special and touching message. Mckenna has only had this book for a few days now, but we have read it several times. It is so awesome to cuddle with her and read it to her and watch her, mesmerized by the sweet story and lovely images. So, if you have a young child that likes books, I recommend Bear of My Heart - it is a loving winner, sure to be a favorite. Here are the sweet and touching words, which I will admit, have choked me up a few times since we've gotten it. (Call me cheesy if you will, but I just love her so much - I can't help it!) Enjoy.
There are so many bears in the world, dear,
but there's no other one that will do.
You are the bear of my heart, dear,
and I am the one who loves you.
I have so many stories to tell you.
I know wonderful places to see.
And because we can see them together,
they'll be nicer for you and for me.
Let's race in the sun and be happy.
Let's splash in the stream and drip dry.
Let's roll down a hill and be silly.
Let's lie and watch clouds drifting by.
Let's sit nose to nose and share secrets.
Let's wish on a star, eyes shut tight.
Let's whisper our dreams in the darkness.
Let's snuggle together at night.
If you need me, I'll be there beside you.
If you're lonely, I'll hug you awhile.
If you're lost, I will be there to guide you.
If you're sad, I won't quit till you smile.
Paw in paw, we will greet every morning.
Paw in paw, we will meet every day.
You are the bear of my heart, dear,
and nothing can take that away.
No matter how big you may grow, dear,
or whether we're near or apart.
I will love you forever and ever,
for YOU are the bear of my heart.
*Isn't that beautiful? I think so... :)
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
100th post! -Christmas break 2009-
I'm finally back to post again - for the 100th time! :) We had a fun 2-week Christmas break from school, as always. It was fun to be home, spend time together as a family, and travel to see the Johnsons in Illinois. There are quite a few pictures posted here, but it was hard to narrow them down - we took a lot!
Every once in awhile I'll put Nemo on a chair near Mckenna while she eats. It keeps them both entertained. So I put Nemo up on this chair, went into the kitchen to get Mckenna some food, and this is what happened when I turned my back...
Mckenna doesn't look too amused, does she? I don't blame her!
Fun in the bathtub!
You may see what looks like a little bruise on Mckenna's shoulder. She was born with a small hemangioma (a buildup of blood vessels in the skin) on her shoulder. When she was born, it was a darker red and raised a bit, but the doctor said it would go down, fade, and eventually disappear as she gets older. It isn't a health concern, and now it just looks like a little bruise - I'm guessing it will be completely gone in the next few years.
MBJ = Mckenna Bethany Johnson!
Out to dinner at Maggiano's as a family. It was pretty funny - so many people kept coming over to our table to say how cute and well behaved Mckenna was being at dinner. We've been lucky so far, she really is pretty easy to take out - it's so nice!
We took Mckenna to Burnsville Center to see Santa... it didn't go over well. Mckenna seemed deathly afraid, shaking, and looking at Santa like he was a scary alien. Poor girl. Here is Matt and Mckenna after we walked out of the Santa area - she's glad that's done!
At home by our Christmas tree. Mckenna was definitely much more interested in it than last year at this time (when she was only 2 months old), so we put all of the soft sided ornaments towards the bottom of the tree, just to be safe.
The next few pictures are from our Person family Christmas Eve gathering at my parents house. Mckenna and her cousins Sarah and Ayla all had the same Christmas dress on - CUTIES! :)
An attempt to get a picture of all of the cousins by the tree...
...good luck with that!
We were planning to leave for our road trip to Illinois on Christmas Day, but because of the big snow storm, we decided to hold off a day. So because we didn't have any plans and it wasn't the best idea to drive somewhere (like to hang out with my family), we were invited over to our neighbor's house for dinner - thank you, Nicole and Tim! Carter is one of Mckenna's favorite friends, so it worked out well to be over there hanging out all together. Here is our attempt to get a picture of Mckenna and Carter by their tree. Again, not gonna happen!
Because we had spaghetti for dinner, we took off the fancy kids clothes and let them play au natural. Carter got this cool tube fort for Christmas that the kids had fun playing in.
This picture makes us laugh... is Carter looking where it looks like he's looking?
Having fun playing with another of Carter's new Christmas toys, his big dump truck! And yes, we were getting ready to go home - red fur hat, black velvet shrug, and all. We wanted to get a good night sleep because the next day we would be on the road to Elgin, IL!
We finally made it to Illinois. The roads were not too good, but with driving slow and some anxious prayer, we made it safely. Here are the cousins - Sonja, Mckenna, and Gwen.
Present time! Gwen did a great job passing out gifts.
Mckenna got a cute purple plate and bowl with her name on it from Linnea, Cam, Gwen, and Sonja. Such a unique gift - thanks guys!
We were happy that we got to spend some time with Matt's Grandma Fran and Uncle Dave.
Matching cuties!
Matt gifted Cam with these funny boxers with a bear on the back taking a dip in a hot spring, with a sign that says "Beware of Natural Gas!" Those funny Johnson brothers - gotta love them! :)
Cam, Linnea and family recently sold their condo in Chicago and moved to a house - congratulations on your home! We gave them some housewarming gifts for Christmas.
Here I'm painting Gwen's finger nails (clear pink polish with sparkles, to be exact) and she is holding so still. I always love spending time with Gwen - I love her so much!
Here are the same-age cousins, Mckenna and Sonja, playing with this old school desk/magnet board toy.
The many faces of Santa Baby... :)
Mckenna with Grandpa Craig and Grandma Karen, Matt's parents.
We enjoyed getting to visit Linnea's sister, Greta, and her husband, Scott. We also got to meet their new twin baby girls, Addison and Caroline. They were just a few weeks old when we saw them in December. So tiny and cute!
Mckenna seemed momentarily interested to see such a tiny baby. She has a few baby dolls at home that are bigger than these two little gals! :)
Gwen really loves her new baby cousins and always wants to hold them and be around them. I don't blame her!
We also got to visit Matt's Grandma Harriet and her husband John. It was fun to see their nice new apartment that they recently moved into, and they both really enjoyed seeing Mckenna walking and moving all around.
Harriet and John gave Mckenna a gift of a fun book, and it was cute to watch her tear off little pieces of the wrapping paper and hand each little piece to Harriet.
Playing the piano with daddy. When Matt and Cam were young, Grandma Harriet gave Cam piano lessons. Matt skipped the piano lessons because he was busy with his violin lessons. A very musical family, indeed!
Mckenna is becoming more and more independent every day, and it is interesting how even the smallest new things are fun to watch her learn. Here she is enjoying walking in, standing in, and walking out of the elevator at John and Harriet's all by herself. Such a big girl!
A tired girl with her daddy, ready to leave Harriet and John's place after a long day of visiting loved ones.
The red jacket family (not planned!) outside of Craig and Karen's house in Elgin. Thank you for the fun visit - we'll be back to see you again over our spring break in March!
The past few years we've started a tradition of staying overnight in Madison as a family on our way home from Illinois. We have this same picture, at the same hotel, when Mckenna was just a few weeks old. (But of course she is laying a lot more still - haha.)
All ready to go to the pool. Is that a little ballerina stance with her tutu swimsuit? :)
Testing the waters...
She loves it!
These last two pictures are random ones from the end of our break. Our good friend and co-worker, Liz, and her son, Sam, gave Mckenna this "snow princess" outfit for Christmas. Isn't it cute? Matching dress, pants, and hat. As you can see, Mckenna likes it. :)
As always, we had a great break, and continue to feel blessed that as teachers we have the time to do fun things like be together with family and travel during our weeks off. Thanks to the Johnsons for being wonderful hosts - we'll be back soon, we promise!
Every once in awhile I'll put Nemo on a chair near Mckenna while she eats. It keeps them both entertained. So I put Nemo up on this chair, went into the kitchen to get Mckenna some food, and this is what happened when I turned my back...
Mckenna doesn't look too amused, does she? I don't blame her!
Fun in the bathtub!
You may see what looks like a little bruise on Mckenna's shoulder. She was born with a small hemangioma (a buildup of blood vessels in the skin) on her shoulder. When she was born, it was a darker red and raised a bit, but the doctor said it would go down, fade, and eventually disappear as she gets older. It isn't a health concern, and now it just looks like a little bruise - I'm guessing it will be completely gone in the next few years.
MBJ = Mckenna Bethany Johnson!
Out to dinner at Maggiano's as a family. It was pretty funny - so many people kept coming over to our table to say how cute and well behaved Mckenna was being at dinner. We've been lucky so far, she really is pretty easy to take out - it's so nice!
We took Mckenna to Burnsville Center to see Santa... it didn't go over well. Mckenna seemed deathly afraid, shaking, and looking at Santa like he was a scary alien. Poor girl. Here is Matt and Mckenna after we walked out of the Santa area - she's glad that's done!
At home by our Christmas tree. Mckenna was definitely much more interested in it than last year at this time (when she was only 2 months old), so we put all of the soft sided ornaments towards the bottom of the tree, just to be safe.
The next few pictures are from our Person family Christmas Eve gathering at my parents house. Mckenna and her cousins Sarah and Ayla all had the same Christmas dress on - CUTIES! :)
An attempt to get a picture of all of the cousins by the tree...
...good luck with that!
We were planning to leave for our road trip to Illinois on Christmas Day, but because of the big snow storm, we decided to hold off a day. So because we didn't have any plans and it wasn't the best idea to drive somewhere (like to hang out with my family), we were invited over to our neighbor's house for dinner - thank you, Nicole and Tim! Carter is one of Mckenna's favorite friends, so it worked out well to be over there hanging out all together. Here is our attempt to get a picture of Mckenna and Carter by their tree. Again, not gonna happen!
Because we had spaghetti for dinner, we took off the fancy kids clothes and let them play au natural. Carter got this cool tube fort for Christmas that the kids had fun playing in.
This picture makes us laugh... is Carter looking where it looks like he's looking?
Having fun playing with another of Carter's new Christmas toys, his big dump truck! And yes, we were getting ready to go home - red fur hat, black velvet shrug, and all. We wanted to get a good night sleep because the next day we would be on the road to Elgin, IL!
We finally made it to Illinois. The roads were not too good, but with driving slow and some anxious prayer, we made it safely. Here are the cousins - Sonja, Mckenna, and Gwen.
Present time! Gwen did a great job passing out gifts.
Mckenna got a cute purple plate and bowl with her name on it from Linnea, Cam, Gwen, and Sonja. Such a unique gift - thanks guys!
We were happy that we got to spend some time with Matt's Grandma Fran and Uncle Dave.
Matching cuties!
Matt gifted Cam with these funny boxers with a bear on the back taking a dip in a hot spring, with a sign that says "Beware of Natural Gas!" Those funny Johnson brothers - gotta love them! :)
Cam, Linnea and family recently sold their condo in Chicago and moved to a house - congratulations on your home! We gave them some housewarming gifts for Christmas.
Here I'm painting Gwen's finger nails (clear pink polish with sparkles, to be exact) and she is holding so still. I always love spending time with Gwen - I love her so much!
Here are the same-age cousins, Mckenna and Sonja, playing with this old school desk/magnet board toy.
The many faces of Santa Baby... :)
Mckenna with Grandpa Craig and Grandma Karen, Matt's parents.
We enjoyed getting to visit Linnea's sister, Greta, and her husband, Scott. We also got to meet their new twin baby girls, Addison and Caroline. They were just a few weeks old when we saw them in December. So tiny and cute!
Mckenna seemed momentarily interested to see such a tiny baby. She has a few baby dolls at home that are bigger than these two little gals! :)
Gwen really loves her new baby cousins and always wants to hold them and be around them. I don't blame her!
We also got to visit Matt's Grandma Harriet and her husband John. It was fun to see their nice new apartment that they recently moved into, and they both really enjoyed seeing Mckenna walking and moving all around.
Harriet and John gave Mckenna a gift of a fun book, and it was cute to watch her tear off little pieces of the wrapping paper and hand each little piece to Harriet.
Playing the piano with daddy. When Matt and Cam were young, Grandma Harriet gave Cam piano lessons. Matt skipped the piano lessons because he was busy with his violin lessons. A very musical family, indeed!
Mckenna is becoming more and more independent every day, and it is interesting how even the smallest new things are fun to watch her learn. Here she is enjoying walking in, standing in, and walking out of the elevator at John and Harriet's all by herself. Such a big girl!
A tired girl with her daddy, ready to leave Harriet and John's place after a long day of visiting loved ones.
The red jacket family (not planned!) outside of Craig and Karen's house in Elgin. Thank you for the fun visit - we'll be back to see you again over our spring break in March!
The past few years we've started a tradition of staying overnight in Madison as a family on our way home from Illinois. We have this same picture, at the same hotel, when Mckenna was just a few weeks old. (But of course she is laying a lot more still - haha.)
All ready to go to the pool. Is that a little ballerina stance with her tutu swimsuit? :)
Testing the waters...
She loves it!
These last two pictures are random ones from the end of our break. Our good friend and co-worker, Liz, and her son, Sam, gave Mckenna this "snow princess" outfit for Christmas. Isn't it cute? Matching dress, pants, and hat. As you can see, Mckenna likes it. :)
As always, we had a great break, and continue to feel blessed that as teachers we have the time to do fun things like be together with family and travel during our weeks off. Thanks to the Johnsons for being wonderful hosts - we'll be back soon, we promise!
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