Fun in the Dells!

Time for our 2nd annual post-Thanksgiving trip to Wisconsin Dells!!

The entire ride up on Sunday all we heard in the car was "I wanna go to the waterpark!"  Needless to say, the first thing we did when we got there was change into our swim suits

Man, how did this little girl get so big?

 

Her new thing she likes to do all the time is stick out her tongue to the side like this.  I, personally, find it quite adorable:)

Who is ready to go to the waterpark?  I am!!

"Let's go Mama"

Deciding what she wants to go on first...

"That one, daddy!  I want that one!"

Not so sure about the water...

After a little getting used to it, she finally went down a slide!! 

She LOVED the tunnel

 

And the swing!

Happy happy girl:)

Well, until it was time to leave the waterpark...

Enjoying a lemon with her dinner

That is sour!

 

Monday Makenna had a BLAST with Grandma and Grandpa at the resort while Mommy and Daddy attended "school" (aka tax seminar).  The played at the arcade and walked around the resort and Makenna made Grandma and Grandpa laugh all day long. 

 

Monday night we went to Buffalo Phil's for dinner.  Makenna was SO excited to see all the trains and got a kick out of the train bringing us our dinner.  Afterwards, she and Daddy spent some time in the arcade while mommy hit the outlet mall for a bit.

 

 

Then it was back to the hotel for a little Princess Sophia and of course, a bedtime dance with my daddy!

Dancing with my daddy 

 

It is 10pm as I type this and you would think she would be beat after such a long day, but nope, she is chatting away in her pack n' play in the other room asking for Oma.  Looks like she is already looking forward to spending tomorrow with Oma & Papa while Mommy and Daddy are at school.

 

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great Thanksgiving this year!  We have so very much to be thankful for:)  We did some travelling once again this year - first to Green Bay to vist Great Grandma and Great Grandpa.  We had a special treat this year in that we were able to celebrate Thanksgiving with the entire side of that family - Great Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Pat & Aunt Christine and their kids, Britta and Maya, Grandpa & Grandma, Uncle Derek, Mommy, Daddy and me!!  It was the first time we were all together since Makenna has been born!  We had a great time and Makenna LOVED all the special attention:)

Of course, her favorite thing to do was to check out Great Grandma's organ

Great Grandma teaching Makenna how to play Happy Birthday on the organ.

Love this one of Great Grandma loving on Makenna:)

Makenna really loved hanging out with Great Aunt Christine!  And she got such a kick out of listening to Makenna - she cracked everyone up the whole day with the things she says.  She talks in complete thoughts and sentences and has such an imagination on her that she just makes us laugh all day long.  Her big thing at Thanksgiving was that she found a CD in one of Great Grandma's piano books and was trying to get Christine to find a CD player, which of course noone had.  "You find a CD player?" was what we heard about every 5 minutes.

Then of course when Britta and Maya showed up, Makenna was convinced they had brought a CD player.  No such luck.  Oh well, Christine promised next time we see her she would find a CD player just for Makenna. 

 

Next, it was off to Thanksgiving #2 (and yes, we ate 2 meals within 1 hour of each other.  Yikes!)

 

We headed over to Auntie Amy & Uncle Eric's and got to spend some great time with Mommy's side of the family.  Here I am loving on my uncle Jeffy.

It was a BEAUTIFUL day out we Mommy taught me her mad basketball skills.

I got pretty good at catching and throwing the ball

 

We are stuffed! 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

 

Owen's Little Warriors

Today, Makenna and Daddy came to the 2nd Annual Owen's Little Warrior's Ornament Service Project while Mama volunteered at it. 

 

This is an organization (http://owenslittlewarriors.com)  that my friend Mel (www.bissingfamily.com) set up when one of her triplet boy's passed away suddenly a little over a year ago.  Each year, they prepare 5 ornaments for kids to make as well as some cards that get donated to Waukesha Interfaith Organization and distributed to seniors in our communities that don't have loved ones around. 

Little Warriors Organization strives to involve children and families in service opportunities so that they will grow to understand the importance of helping one another.  It is a great way to honor Owen's memory.

I love to try to get Makenna involved in things like this, especially so close to the Christmas season. 

 

She and Daddy had a great time making ornaments today!

 

A little "Maddie bug" - one of the ornaments we made this year was to honor a little girl named Maddie that died from SIDS last year.  I have been following her mommy's blog (http://kandjstaats.blogspot.com) and my heart just aches for her.  I just emailed her a copy of some of the pictures from today and let her know that we thought of Maddie today - I hope it brings a smile to her face to know that we made almost 100 "maddiebugs" in her daughter's honor! 

Makenna got a little excited making her "maddiebug" 

 

 

That's never good...

Happy GOTCHA Day!!

 

Makenna, 2 years ago we "officially" welcomed you into our family through your legal adoption.  Though we knew in our hearts that you were the baby God was saving for us from the moment you were conceived, we will always celebrate the special day that you legally became our baby girl.  You have such a special and unique story and I love that we get to celebrate not only your birthday with you every year, but this special day to remember your very special story and God's very special plan for you!

You looked so very pretty in your dress that day!

 

 

Thank you, Judge Foley!

 

You were all smiles after the adoption hearing was over!

 

 

This is still one of my very favorite pictures of you and your daddy

 

Pretty pretty girl!

 

 

To celebrate this year, we headed to Starbucks for breakfast before work & school so we could spend a little special time together to start the day.

 

 

After school we went out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory - the same place we went on your Gotcha day:)

 

 

And afterwards, we walked around Mayfair Mall - you love going in all the shops and most of all - riding the escalators up and down.  You picked out a buble gum candy stick and kept calling it your "special treat". 

 

What a great day! We love you Kenna Girl!!  We are so glad we GOTCHA!!!

 

Muah!

 

 

Operation Christmas Child

This year we decided to participate in Operation Christmas Child.  I wanted to get Makenna in the spirit of Christmas by learning to GIVE:)  She had a great time at Kohl's last weekend picking out a few fun things for the "girl".  She did very good helping me pack all these things up and didn't even try to open any of them or keep them for herself.

 

Hmmm, where do we think our package will end up? 

Praying for the little girl that will get the present we prepared:) 

 

Delivering our present to the drop off site!! 

 

Little girl, wherever you are, we pray that this little gift would bring you much joy.  We pray that you would come to know Jesus as your savior someday and that you would find much hope in Him and His love for you.  We pray that your eyes would light up as big as Makenna's did as she picked out the Rapunzel puzzle and the little Tiana and Rapunzel dolls.  We pray that you would be safe and that you would have a wonderful Christmas.  Amen!

 

 

 

Choo choo bridge

We had some unseasonably nice weather this weekend and took advantage by heading to the nearby walking trail which leads to a choo choo bridge.  Oma and Makenna went there a few weeks ago and got to see a train going under the bridge while they were there.  We have been meaning to go back for awhile now, so with the nice weather it was the perfect day for it. 

So very excited

Not sure what sort of face this is.... a little sassy, a little cute

Collecting all my treasures

Look, mom - a leaf!

Love it!

"choo choo where are you?"

 

We never did see the choo choo go by, but we had a very nice walk

Loving the first snowflakes of the year

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Love you Uncle Derek!

Veggie Tales Concert

Makenna has been on a HUGE Veggie Tales kick for the past few months - anytime we go to the library, it is the first section of DVD's she flocks to.  We got a flyer from her school that Veggie Tales was coming to concert to a local church so we figured we'd give it a shot.  She had a blast!  Here are some shots from the afternoon:

Getting ready for the show to start with daddy.  Love her chubby little hands clapping:)

She was mezmerized the entire first half of the show. She just sat on daddy's lap and stared at the stage

I was a litte disappointed SweetPea Beauty wasn't at the show so at intermission, I snuck off and found a Sweet Pea Beauty dolly for Makenna.  She was THRILLED! 

She kept saying "Is she mine mama?" and "can I take her home with me, mama?'   

 

Dancing with Sweet Pea Beauty

 

We had sooo much fun!!

 

Dancing with Sweet Pea Beauty

It was a great venue for a kid's concert - we sat in the back of the church in chairs right by the aisle and towards the end, a bunch of kids got up and started dancing in the aisles.  Makenna had so much fun!

 

 

Halloween with my friends

Halloween we hosted a playdate at our house.  It was supposed to have twice as many kids, but we had a few mama's that couldn't make it at the last minute.  We had fun anway! 

Here are all the sweeties in their halloween costumes - a poodle, Cinderella and Peanut Butter & Jelly:)

Ok, not so great for the smiles but at least everyone is looking!

Hugs for Bella

And Blake

And you, too Leggy!

Ah, and of course I made Cinderelli clean up the mess after everyone left:)