All bundled up for some SNOW fun!

Daddy took the day off today so after getting lots of errands done this morning, we promised Makenna we would go outside and play in the snow after her nap.  Of course the first words out of her mouth when she woke up were "I make snowballs, mama!" 

I was glad to see she wanted to play out in the snow because so far this year she has declined every chance we've given her.  That may or may not have something to do with the first time I put her in her sled last year and she tipped over and got a face full of snow:) She clearly has a good memory!

Nonetheless, she was very excited to get all dressed to go out!

 

Let's go daddy!

I think she's having flashbacks to last year's "incident"  She didn't let me pull her very far in the sled (I can't say I blame her!)

She was, however, very happy trudging through the snow and attempting to make snow balls

 

 

She did LOVE making snow angels - the snow was a little hard so I had to help her out a little, but she got the hang of it before too long

My little snow angel....

 

Glad she's graduated from the bib since the last time she made a snow angel!

 

 

Putt Putt

It's my lucky day!  The "sucker bank" has putt putt, too!

 

 

Eyeing up the putt

 

Trying to teach her to get lined up with the ball.....not quite what I meant when I told her to put one foot on each side of the ball

 

 

Happy New Year!!!

We had grand plans on New Year's Eve to spend the night with my hubby's lifelong friend Ben and his wife Corie & their kiddos Avery (who is 3 and Makenna ADORES) and baby Maddox.  But unfortunately, Avery came down with a bug and our plans changed at the last minute. 

Luckily, Elizabeth, Butch & Annika were willing to join us for dinner (and celebrate their 10th anniversary with us) and then we joined them for a fun night at the domes with the kiddos.

These 2 had a blast!  Its funny how much they act like sisters.  Annika tries to "teach" Makenna (ok boss her around is more like it:)) and Makenna likes to push Annika's buttons, but in the end they are so sweet to each other and have so much fun together.  What a fun night!

 

 

 

Thanks again for the pretty dress, Auntie Kate!!  We got lots of sweet comments on it at the party!

 

Yuck!!  Fingers in my ears is my worst pet peeve - glad to see Daddy is enjoying it.  We kept telling Makenna to hold on to Daddy's ears, but instead she did this;)

 

Love, love, love how excited she is in this one!

Trying to get a picture of the 2013 balloons in the background, but they are a little droopy.

 

Happy New Year!!!

Happy 94th Birthday Cookie Beek!!

Love this picture of Kenna and her Great Grandma Cookie Beek!!

Sunday birthday brunch with the fam! 

Bestie Christmas!!!

This year I got the BEST surprise EVER the day after Christmas!!!!  A surprise visit from RACHEL!!!!

 

 

I still can't believe she pulled it off but am SO glad she did.  I LOVE to be surprised but am usually too nosy and ask too many questions and ruin most surprises.  Thanfully, my husband is a VAULT and is really good at keeping secrets. 

 

I love that Makenna was SO excited to see her, too.  Her she is 5 minutes after Rachel showed up and she wanted Rachel to hold her and didnt' want to leave her side.  Love Love Love it!!!

 

 

Ha!!  She is so going to kill me for this one!!  She surprised me at Kopp's of all places - we used to go there ALL the time together - when we were sad we couldn't have babies to eat away our troubles, when we found out we were pregnant to feed our cravings and after the triplets came, I would surprise her at her house with Kopp's custard from time to time. 

 

So, I love that she picked here to surprise me.  Brad played it out perfectly and I didn't suspect a thing.  In fact, she called me right before we pulled in and I tried to silence my phone thinking I'd call her back later but I accidentally answered it and then I couldnt' get her off the phone.  I kept telling her I'd call her a little later but she just kept stalling.  Once we got inside, she jumped out in front of me and I just started sobbing and hugging her.  Best. Surprise. Ever!!! 

 

We spent the next few days just hanging out and catching up.  It was wonderful!!!  Makenna loved having her around, too - she couldn't get enough of "Auntie Rachel" and was pretty sad when she had to "leave on the airplane." 

 

Thanks for coming Rachel!!!

Christmas 2012

What a great Christmas week it has been!

 

We spent December 23rd with Brad's family opening presents and spending the day together.  We had a great time and it was nice having a day that was very low key and nowhere to rush off to.  Makenna was THRILLED to open presents and wanted to help everyone open their presents, too. 

 

Is that REALLY big one for me?

 

Thanks for the castle Uncle Derek!

 

Christmas Eve we went to the 11am service at Elmbrook, which was beautiful!!  Part of me REALLY wanted to bring Makenna into service with us so she could experience all of it (well, ok, so I could experience all of it with her on my lap), but she wanted to go to "her church" and so I dropped her off in the nursery and she had a blast.  I, of course, sobbed through much of the service.  I'm such a sap for all the Christmas music and the pomp & circumstance of it all.  Elmbrook does a great job celebrating Jesus' birth and so much of it struck me and all I could do was let the tears stream down my face in awe & thankfulness of God's plan to save the world.  I had just finished drying my tears when we all lit our candles and sang Silent Night.  And, back to the tears.....  Luckily it was dark so noone could see:)  I used to always say that my tears in church are really just "Holy Spirit juice" - it's like I get so filled with the holy spirit that it leaks out of me in tears.  Ha! 

 

Thankfully, we grabbed a sweet family picture before the service!

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Eve night we spent with Brad's side of the family.  Makenna got absolutely spoiled rotten by Auntie Sharon with this backpack stuffed with goodies. 

 

 

Her favorite was defintely the princess bandaids.  She insisted on opening half the box and putting bandaids on everyone at the party.  Cousin Craig even got one on his head! 

 

Christmas morning was wonderful.  We tried very hard this year not to over emphasize the presents on Christmas and to really make sure we celebrated Jesus' birthday above all else. 

 

Here she is telling us"Hapry Birfday Baby Jesus!" when she woke up Christmas morning!

 

Daddy loves to read the Christmas story to us first thing...

 

Makenna telling us that the angel told Mary "Mary, don't be afraid!"

 

Thank you, Lord for the Best Gift Ever!

 

Next, it was downstairs to see what was under the tree!  Makenna was very excited about the princess wrapping paper.  We tried not to go too nuts so she wouldn't get overly focused on the presents so we settled for just a few small gifts.

 

Ariel jammies - love how she grabbed them and hugged them as soon as she opened the box

 

Percy!

Veggie Tales puzzle!

And Noah's Ark, Veggie Tales style

Daddy got her a sweet sweet card and wrote the sweetest little note in it.  I love that he does stuff like that and I know she will really treasure this someday.  

 

What a great morning!!

 

Her favorite part of course, was unrolling the rest of the wrapping paper and playing with it before we left for Oma & Papa's house!

 

 

 

In the afternoon we headed up to Laura's parent's house to have our Christmas celebration with her side of the family. 

 

Crazy cousins!

Ariel!!!  Thanks, Cookie Beek!

Helping Papa

"What's it gonna be?"

 

This child refuses to smile for the camera... or even look at it most times

 

Thanks for the BEAUTIFUL dress Auntie Kate!!

 

Merry Christmas to all and to all a .........

 

wait a minute, this looks familiar, doesn't it??

 

Christmas 2011

 

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!