Kiddos..

This summer is going by way to fast and I need to write down what we're up to and the stages the kids are in before I just plain forget!!

Makenna:

Makenna has had a BUSY summer - from camp zoom to Ms. Jamie's house to tball and playing with the neighbor kids we haven't had many quiet moments.  She never complains though and absolutely loves life.

She LOVES to draw and color and most spare moments around the house you will find her either drawing a picture of a princess or a bride-girl or trying to write out words.  I think I have at least 100 pictures of me and her with the words Mom and Love with a heart.

She still loves to sing and dance.  Just tonight we were sitting at dinner and daddy put on the Big Hero 6 theme song and she got up and started waving her hands in the air and lip syncing the words. We couldn't help but bust out laughing at her.

She hates animals.  We were at State Fair this weekend and she CRIED every time we got near the animal exhibits.  The only way I can convince her the zoo will be fun is if I tell her we'll go on the train and the carousel.  Goofball.  Her teacher this year is Mr. Dargatz & he used to work at the zoo with Grandpa so his theme for his classroom is the zoo - might be an interesting year:)

She loves her Bubbers - lately she tries wrestling him, dancing with him and her favorite - bonking his nose.  For the most part they get along really well together - other than the occasional - HE'S IN MY TOYS!  And the best sound in the world is the sound of them both giggling together.

Somehow she's gotten even prettier.  The girl is BEAUTIFUL.  Seriously beautiful.  We're gonna be in big trouble when she's a teenager.  Gotta start praying about that now.

This girl has the biggest heart.  Tonight we were talking about school starting this week & how she can be a good friend and she starting naming off all the ways she could be kind & then told me that she want to work really hard at "bemembering" the fruits of the spirit so she can show each of these to the people around her, even when they aren't being kind & then she rattled them all off.  She SO excited for school to start & while I'm sad to see her start full days, I know she is going to love it & learn so much.  

She continues to be such a polite little girl - she is very quick with her please and thank you's and the other day when she was at Ms. Jamie's she told her how thankful she was that she did such a great job taking care of her.  I just love her to pieces.  

Alex:

He officially calls himself "Bubbies" - tonight Daddy's showed him a picture of himself and asked him who it was - "Bubbies!"

He is talking like crazy, though some of it is still hard to understand.  He tries to repeat just about anything we say.  He started calling Makenna "Kenna" instead of "sissy" and he has the cutest little voice when he says it. Today he was calling her "my kenna", too.

He loves to sing.  He sings the alphabet song,  Let it Go and makes up words that noone can understand to other things he sings too.

He has a "man laugh" - it used to only come out when he would see the neighbor boy, Ben but he went through a phase where he would do it all the time.  It's a really deep laugh that almost sounds a little fake.  It's hilarious.

He is pretty good at holding mommy's hand when I tell him to and it's the best feeling ever.  He holds my little pointer finger so nicely and when he loses it he says "hand, hand, hand".

His favorite bedtime story is Hickory Dickory Dock, read by Daddy and Daddy only.  Mommy just doesn't do it as well.

He loves to "nuggle".  I've been snuggling with him on the porch when he wakes up too early and lately he's been saying - "porch.  nuggle.  porch. nuggle"  every night before bed.                                                                                                                                                                                                     He's all boy - obsessed with cars, diggers, dump trucks, you name it.

He is also a very polite little boy - lots of please and "thank you/welcome" which is all one word. Lately when I tell him to say please, he says "please ha ha" with a high pitched laugh after because he is so excited that he is about to get whatever it is he is saying please for.  Just like Makenna used to, he says "thank you" over and over again when he tries to give me something - most often his nuk and blankie.  Goof.

This kid LOVES his smoothies.  It's how I get veggies in him and every morning when we go downstairs the first thing he says is "moothie?"  "waffle"?

He's in a bit of an anti-daddy streak which I think is almost over.  He talks about daddy non-stop, but when he's tired or cranky he refuses to go by him and just yells instead.  Stinker. 

He's getting a little more of the 2 year sass in him..... his favorite words are "no like", "mine", "want it" and "stop it".  

Overall, these 2 kiddos are an absolute blast to be around - they are just so easy to care for.  They play nice together most days and love to entertain themselves either with coloring, playing with cars or being silly together.  It is so fun watching them grow into little people.  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

9 years ago....

I was reminiscing the other day about the journey God has me on and how much I learned about Him in our infertility journey and how cool it is to be on the "other side" of those struggles.  It's amazing how much you can learn from God in the hard times and how looking back you can see that even when we struggle, He is always faithful and never leaves our side.  It gives me hope as new struggles come into my life that God can and will use this for His glory, if only I let Him.  There are days when that is SO hard, but then there are days when you can really feel the Holy Spirit living and moving in you.  That's another blog post for another day.....

Anyway, I came across some pictures and the speech I gave that sunny day in August on the shores of Lake Michigan 9 years ago and thought they were worth posting so I'd always have them on here......

True story - I was SOOOO nervous to get up in front of our church and my friends & family and share this.  A friend had made me a bead bracelet the night before and told me it was to give me courage to get up there and speak.  That morning I got up & put on my "courage" bracelet and it broke into a million pieces!!  

Turns out the Holy Spirit was just trying to teach me that He was willing to give me all the courage I needed....

And after getting up in front of our church this day, I was asked to do the same 3 more times to share parts of our infertility struggles and how God was working in and through them and then again when I was pregnant with Makenna to share His faithfulness.  What a blessing to be able to share these things with our church family!

It was SUCH a beautiful day

This was the perfect place for me to get baptized.  Lake Michigan was always the place I would run to to find God - I loved walking along the beach, people watching and sitting by the shore watching the waves crash in.  I remember going there in college, in my single days after college and with Brad once we started dating.  When I found out my church was going to do baptisms there, I knew I needed to do it!

Here's my "story" I read to the church that day.....

While I have known about Jesus my entire life, it is within the past few years that I have really come to know who He is and what role he plays in my life here on earth and the life eternal in heaven. From childhood on, I was fortunate enough to have exposure to the life and ministry of Jesus. I was raised in a religious family – attended church every Sunday and was brought up with strong morals & values. This provided an important background that I tried to build on my entire life. Yet I always felt there was some piece of the puzzle missing – like there was something I wasn’t getting. You see – in my mind, I had believed my good works would get me into heaven.

I saw my relationship with God as a “drive” down the highway on the road to heaven. One in which there were certainly bumps along the way, but for the most part, I paid the required tolls by doing good deeds, asked for directions by praying to God and, as far as I was concerned, I was headed in the right direction.

Growing up, I prayed often, but it was always the same childish prayer, rarely ever a real discussion with God. After high school, I came to Milwaukee to go to school at Marquette. I still remember my senior year of high school, while going through the confirmation process, becoming aware of the fact that my faith was missing something, but didn’t know what. I assumed this bump in the road would pass, thinking that once I went away to college, I’d figure out this whole faith thing. I would have plenty of opportunities there to develop some sort of relationship with God.

But college came and went, and my relationship with God stayed the same. I went to church fairly regularly, prayed when I needed something and even went on a religious retreat, hoping my relationship with God would develop. It may have for awhile, but soon after, things returned to normal. Sure I continued to ask for directions and pay my tolls, but our relationship wasn’t getting very far. I was set on “cruise control.”

After college, I moved back home for a summer and went through some difficult times in my life. It was during these times I felt I needed God the most; that I really started to open my eyes to God. I remember telling myself that God had a plan and that I needed to trust in Him and everything would be ok. As Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do and He shall direct your path.” During that time, I remembered these words, and my relationship with God started to open up. My foot was on the accelerator and on my journey with God had sped up, or so I thought.

Once I returned to Milwaukee to start work in the fall, my relationship with God continued to grow. I was talking with God more than ever before. I was going to church and listening, really listening for any hidden message the scriptures might hold for me each Sunday but there still seemed to be something missing. Soon after, things picked up in life. I made several new friends at work, through whom I soon met Brad. Ironically, as a result of all these blessings he had bestowed upon me, I started to forget about him. I made less of an effort to continue talking with God.

Soon after meeting Brad, we were driving downtown one Sunday night and were just seconds away from being hit by a speeding car that ran a red light. For me, the incident came and went & I didn’t think much of it – a close call and nothing else. But that incident struck a cord with Brad that night.

That next day, Brad asked me if we had died that night if I thought I would be in heaven. I said yes – that I was a good person – didn’t sin much and obeyed God. After all, good works got you into heaven, right? Well, so I thought.

Little did I know that that event in our lives would lead me to finally understanding what it was that was missing in my own relationship with God. Soon after the near-accident, Brad began doing bible study with a colleague at work that reintroduced him to the idea of grace. He would bring up what he learned to me every once in awhile and my reaction was similar every time, how is this different from what I believe?? I believe in God. I have faith. I do good deeds. I pray. What am I missing? I lived a good life. I was a nice person, for the most part. Over time, this incident forced me to challenge the idea of good works as a means to salvation.

After several late night talks with Brad, I began to discover what grace really was. My good works in themselves are not enough to get me into heaven. It was starting to make sense. For if I could earn my way into heaven, why did Jesus have to die on the cross?

After reading Galatians 2:21, everything sort of clicked. “For if we could be saved by keeping the law, then there was no need for Christ to die.” I now realize that in my drive with Christ up to this point, I had been reading the wrong map. My map told me my journey would be filled with opportunities to do good works and in doing each good work along the way, I would get closer and closer to heaven, when in fact the map he had laid out for me took me in quite a different direction.

In my map, I thought I needed to pay tolls along the way if I wanted to continue. On his map, however, I noticed there were no tolls required. You see on his map, He had paid all the tolls for me. This was grace. He had died for me, so that my journey to heaven was possible. And all I needed to do was believe this and live my life for Him – to follow Him.

I now see that while my relationship with God had matured over the years, I was still far short of truly understanding God’s grace and presence in my life and of pursuing any type of meaningful relationship with Him. I believed in Jesus, but never really knew Jesus and the price he paid for my salvation in dying on the cross. In my mind, doing good deeds was going to save me.

I now realize my good works are not a means to salvation, but rather an act of appreciation and gratefulness for the salvation he has already given me. My good works are an opportunity for me to profess my faith in him – to show through my actions that I have chosen to follow him & to encourage others to follow him as well.

How ironic that it took a near car accident for Brad and in time, me, to discover I that I had the wrong map. Not only that, but in my “drive” with God up to this point, I had neglected to use the “compass” he had given me in the bible.

Today, I know how important that “compass” is in pointing me in the right direction. My focus now is on following God – and what better tool than His word to help direct my path. Since I have made the decision to accept God’s grace in my life instead of rely on my own good works, I have a new desire to read the bible – to study it and find out what purpose God has for me. I have a new desire to do good works – to thank him for the gift of salvation and to be an example to those around me just as Jesus’ disciples were.

Today, I want to be baptized before Metrobrook church as a symbol of my new life in Christ. Over the past year, Metrobrook has been the “gas station” I so desperately needed to keep me filled up in my drive. It has been the answer to so many of my prayers for friendship, fellowship and guidance. Today, I choose to follow Him.

I now realize that while I may not be very far down that highway I call my relationship with God, my tolls have been paid, my tank is full thanks to many of you, I am utilizing the compass He has provided and God is by my side.

Happy 4th of July.... a month late:)

Oh boy, Mom - July is already over!!

Well, better late than never, right?!

We spent the 3rd of July with the neighbors out for dinner and then headed to Sijan Park to watch the Summerfest Fireworks.  

The kids had so much fun playing and getting ready for them...

But by the time the fireworks actually started, they were SO tired.  Next year we might just have to watch them on TV.  

The 4th of July we continued with our 5th annual Alcott Neighborhood parade!!

This one decided to hang with mama and Elizabeth one more year....

And this one was SO excited to enter her scooter in the decorations competition and even more excited when she won 1st prize!!!

Seriously - I love the excitement on her face!

My proud, proud Kenna girl

Way to go Makenna!

Hitting the pool with Annikana - Alex LOVED spending time with her and she was the best little baby sitter all day!

Makenna's sign on her scooter - we literally whipped this together the morning of the parade in about 5 minutes - she really wanted to win so we added America Land that I Love which was the theme of this year's parade.  Then she screwed up what she was writing so we cut that out and taped it together with a flag she made at Ms. Jamie's house earlier in the week and a picture she made for me the week before.  Voila! 

Man, these kiddos are cute!

More Annikana fun

This was was in her element playing with all of Annikana's toys

Her first sparkler

The fireworks didn't disappoint!

And this one slept through most of it;)

What a great 4th of July!!  

Summer, summer, summer time!

Apparently we have been BUSY this summer, because I just realized that I haven't posted since June 10th.  Woah...  How did that happen??  Well, I guess this is how.....

We've been....

Running through the sprinkler

Helping mommy water

And getting REALLY mad when she takes away that hose

Hanging out

Being cool

Checking out the Oconomowoc Children's Museum

Getting our paint on

Having a LOT of fun with Annikana

Saying goodbye to dear friends..

Taking new risks

and loving it

Nuggling Daddy

Praying for Cookie Beek

And spending some time with her

Being cute.

REALLY cute.

Hanging out with Daddy

Having LOADS of fun at Camp Zoom

And enjoying snow cones with Daddy on Fridays at camp

Going on dates (ok, only one all summer..... I think we're due!)

Enjoying breakfast at Good Harvest

Playing in the shade, well sort of.

Having fun with the neighbor kids

Freeze pops!

Playing with Bella and Blake

Daddy's coaching Tball again

And we've been having lots of fun watching her play

Cheering for the Brewers

Getting SUPER brave jumping into the water

Being cute

Dressing cute

Getting a new haircut

Being SUPER brave

Getting a *little* grumpy

Bringing Cookie Beek some home made cookies

And keeping one for ourselves

Enjoying an ice cream cone (or 2 or 20)

And getting REALLY mad when mommy takes a lick

Playing in the mud

And hanging out with the neighbors

Checking out Gigi's Playhouse

And making sure to find time for each other

Watching for trains on the choo choo bridge

Showing off those baby blues

And kisses, lots and lots of kisses.....

And that only gets us to the end of June!!

It's been a great summer!!