Parmelee Family

Puddle jumping!

2010-02-04T21:35:00.000-08:00

We had to get out of the house this afternoon to run, jump and play. It was raining so we put on our raincoats and boots and headed out on a "nature" walk. Altough McKenna was more interested in poining out what the nieghbor's dog and deer had done in our yard! I should have known that as it started raining harder and the puddles starting forming it would turn in to a puddle jumping walk!

Busy boy and big sister!

2010-01-31T20:19:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures from this week. We have really been taking advantage of the weather and getting outside to play almost everyday. I laughed this weekend and said "oh no I sound too Oregonian" because it was partly cloudy and 55 and I had commented on what a nice day it was!We've gone to the park and also played outside at our house a lot. McKenna said this week "Let's go play at our park." She then paused and looked up at me and said "Is this a park?" the property right next to us got Donkey's and sheep so they have been the new interest for this week and man are donkey's loud and there is only two of them!

Today I was outside with McKenna and she was "Kooting on her Kooter" and singing "kip, kip, kip to my woo." She is precious! She is so talkative and asks SO many questions. Earlier this week we were talking about how God and she was asking where he lives and asked if he could take a plan to our house. When I said well no, she said "well he could drive a car." I asked "oh, what kind of car would he drive?" And she said "A purple one."

Carter is getting so big and SO close to walking. He takes steps here and there and inbetween two things, but hasn't taken off yet. I am not sure I am ready. He is such a busy boy! He never wants to stay still, even to drink his bottle. And I think I need to learn some WWF moves to change his diaper and get him dressed. It is definetely a challenge. He loves to dance to music moving his head back and forth and has started giving kisses. He is so cute!

Back to the blogging world!

2009-10-11T10:22:00.000-07:00

It has been FOREVER since I have blogged. I think the longer I've gone the more I have been dragging my feet about starting to post again. So much has gone on since I posted last time in June and when I look back at the pictures I realize how much the kids have changed in seven months!

McKenna is talking like crazy and loves to learn and try to say big words and tongue twisters. She NEVER stops talking! Poor thing is destined to get talks too much on her report card in school :) She just has so much to say all the time. She also constantly asks questions about everything and everyone! She is super frinedly and talks to everyone and asks everyone their name. She also loves to figure out how things works. She is loving her dance class and absolutely loves to listen to music and dance. We went to a wedding in September and she danced all night with "the princesses" which were the bride and bridesmaids. She also caught the boquet! She loves for us to tell stories about "princess nenna" and she likes to make them up too. I can't believe that she is almost three.

Carter is growing like a weed! I can't believe in a little over a month he will be 1. Oh how time flies! He is finally sleeping through the night, most nights (knock on wood)! He is crawling everywhere and boy is he fast. He has taken his first steps and I'm sure he will be walking and running in no time. I don't think I'm ready! He amazes me everyday with how much he eats. If he keeps it up he'll eat us out of house and home in no time! He is starting to sign and will sign more and all done. McKenna loves to teach him the signs and he absolutley adores his big sister. He follows her everywhere and wants to do everything she is doing and play with eveyrthing she plays with.

We had a wonderful Christmas and New Years. We were able to spend Christmas eve and day with Brandon's family and then fly out to Texas on December 28th and spend time with my family. Hopfeully I will be better at blogging in 2010!

We had a wonderful end of the summer, fall and holiday season and made some wonderful memories. Here are a few pictures of the highlights up until our trip to Texas.

Getting ready for bed at Mimi and Papa's after a long Christmas day!

Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa Parmelee's

Christmas morning at our house. McKenna is helping Carter open his gift that she made him.

Christmas Eve and Grandma Uschi's

She danced in her hula outfit and played her ukalale all night!

Christmas Picutres!

Dance Showcase

Visit to Santa claus, Carter wasn't too sure!

Her friend Mooch!

Story time with Mrs. Claus

Sledding in Bend

Watching the parade in Bend

I pick this tree!

We finally found the "perfect" tree!

Jumping over tress with Papa

Trick or Treat

Our little lady bug and Zebra

Carving Pumpkins

Carter's 6 month pictures and family pictures

Watching sissy in the bouncy house and wishing he could join in!

Yummy!

Weeeeeee!

Our little pumpkin!

It is so hard to get their pictures together! With both kids looking and smiling :)

I found my pumpkin!

She loved pumpkin bowling!

Oregon gardens with Grammy and Poppy when they visited in September

Rockaway with grammy, Poppy and Aunt Kevin!

Katie's wedding

Dancing the night away

Oregon State fair

Muttin' Bustin'

Camping with Mimi, papa, Ee-ee and John

She LOVES "artwork"

The Aquarium in Newport

Camping at the dunes, pretending to ride daddy's bike

At grammy's all ready to go get her nails painted at the salon

Uncle Aaron

Cousins hanging out at Momo's

Swimming in Momo's pool. She LOVED it! She jumped off the diving board and swam like crazy the whole time we were there.

Carter at 3 months

2009-06-30T17:50:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures of Carter at 3 months. We had a hard time getting him to smile the day we went to take pictures with him. And an even harder time getting him and McKenna together! He is getting so big, so fast. He is rolling over form tummy to back and rolled over for the first time from back to tummy on Sunday. He weighed 14 pound 13 ounces at his 4 month appt. Just 50% for weight, but 90% for height. He already has many nicknames c bud, c buddy, brother john, brother, and buddy. What a joy he is! So much fun watching him grow, change and seeing his personality begin to show more and more.

Memorial Park in Wilsonville

2009-06-30T17:26:00.000-07:00

Fun at Memorial Park water fountain with Joey, Andrew and Stephanie. We love this park that has swings, sand and a huge water feature for the kids to play in. Of course she had to have her goggles on and it was a struggle to get her to keep her hat on once it got wet. This time we remembered to bring a bucket, watering can, and shovels, but even still she tried to trade a broken plastic cup she found for a pink flower watering can that a little girl had. She is in to this trading thing and thinks that anytime she wants to "trade" something that the other person should automatically want to trade. She had a blast and my arms got sunburned!

Our Garden

2009-06-30T17:09:00.001-07:00

Here are some recent pictures of our garden. Our first thing to get out of it has been radishes, which niether Brandon or I like. Not too sure why we planted them, but they are super easy and fast to grow! We have corn, squash, zuchinni, cucumbers, carrots, bannana peppers, bell peppers, peas, pole beans, canteloupe, artichoke, jalepeno, and four kinds of tomatoes. It was supposed to start out as a small garden, but anyone who knows Brandon knows he doesn't do anything "little" so we ended up with a 20 x 40 garden. It was quite the project to till, fence to keep the deer out, fertilize and plant. We grew most everything from seed in little pots inside or directly planted into the ground. We are hoping to have lots of vegetables and fruits soon! We also have some great blueberry bushes that should be ready next week.

Everything is doing great so far, excpet we have powdery mildew on our squash which we are trying to get to go away, but they are still growing great. Niether one of us have ever had a garden before so guess we will learn by trial and error. Brandon's name for our garden is little parm farm. He said he was going to put a sign up over the gate that says this and I said no way! :)

Art, Art and more Art

2009-06-30T15:23:00.000-07:00

McKenna absolutely loves to do what she calls "art work" To her this is anything to do with paint, glue, glitter, scissors, markers or anything related. The supplies I ordered from discount school supply came last week and McKenna has been having lots of fun. From glue collages, glitter, puffy paint, spray paint, water colors McKenna has been busy "creating." Here are some pictures from our puffy paint we made yesterday and the water color spray painting we did today. She also loves to use the fuzzy pom pom balls to "cook" with in her kitchen. I have eaten my share of them lately! The water color activity turned in to a mixing colors activity, which got all over, good thing they are washable!

Her big cheese face. She always wants to say "cheese" and then see her picture in the camera, but when I say "say cheese" this isn't exactly what I have in mind :)

Figuring out the spray bottles.

Puffy paints

Equal parts water, flour, salt and water with water color added for color. Adjust for thickness if needed and put in squeeze bottles. Squeeze out on a thick surgace such as cardboard. She LOVES squeezing out the paint.

She would rather be without clothes than wear her smock!

Nenna helping mix the paints.

She chose the colors: green, pink and purple

Playing in the box that the supplies came in. She loves her "cutters" as she calls them. I had to order some no cut hair scissors that are just plastic, but will cut paper. She loves to cut everything and I am a little afraid of what she might do with scissors!

She asked me over and over what the packing peanuts were called and why, why and more whys for every answer I gave. Which is pretty typical of EVERY day! Sometimes I want to stick my fingers in my ears like she does when we are in a bathroom and she doesn't want to hear the toilet flush or when Carter's crying.

Fun, Fun, and more Fun!

2009-06-04T20:15:00.000-07:00

We have had lots of fun this week going to the park, OMSI, more parks, and playing in the water! We are loving the dry, warm weather. McKenna has also loved helping with our garden which is finally in and growing! One of the books that we checked out at the library was Growing Vegetable Soup and she loves reading it and says we are going to make vegetable soup with our vegetables we are growing. Every week she gets favorite books and you have to read the same ones over and over and over! Mom and Dad are glad by the time she moves on to new favorites! She has started doing the hokie pokie and lots of other songs that we sing at the library and in the car, she is too cute! She has also started saying grace at dinner and it is too funny. Sometimes she starts with saying thank you for the food and then goes on and on about everything she is thankful for. She makes us make Carter put his hands together and say Amen at the end. She is too funny!

One of her favorite new sayings this week is "No Way" It was cute at first, but when she started saying it with attitue when you ask her to do something we had to have a talk :) Everyday is something new and so much fun with both of them. Carter has started chewing on his hands and loves to suck on his first two or three fingers. He won't take a pacifier, but just his fingers! I'm hoping for the pacifier rather than fingers as they are easier to take away, but we'll see. He's staying awake for longer periods of time and cooing and talking a lot, which McKenna thinks is funny and laughs when he talks. She is such a great big sister, getting things I need when I'm nursing and talking and playing with him when he gets upset. She also likes to tell me "pew-wee brother's stinky, change him."

I could go on and on! It is so awesome to be home with them and see and experience all of their new firsts and excitement in everyday life. Here are a few pictures from this week.

Water Park

2009-05-28T15:21:00.000-07:00

We went to the Wilsonville town Center park today for the first time this year. McKenna had a blast at this park last year when she was 17 months old. She would look down the holes and then put her hands up like where'd the water go? Then she would peer down the hole and when the water would start to come up again she would squeal and laugh so hard. It was so fun to watch her experience such sheer joy over seeing something for the first time.

McKenna last August at the same park. It's amazing how much she has changed in less than a year!!

This year she was running around like a crazy girl! She had so much fun! She has got to learn to look where she is going though (the other day she ran in to a glass door at the library!) Her and another little boy collided once while they were runing through the water.

She was sad that we didn't bring our buckets, but we had some friends that were nice enough to share their buckets. She would fill them up over and over. In the beginning she tried to pour them out on other little children, so I had to let her know that wasn't okay. Even though she likes it, most kids don't like water poured on their head. Then she folled this one poor older boy around who had this huge water gun thingy that you could suck water up with and then squirt it out. She LOVED it and wanted it so bad. She would just follow him around and wanted him to squirt water in her bucket. It was too funny. That ended when she chased him up a grassy hill and then as the older boys came running down and she followed she went a little too fast and tumbled down the hill. So we took a little break and had lunch and then she was right back in the water. It was soo hard to get her to leave, but finally did it without a major fit! Carter was decked out in his swimsuit and flip flops even though the water was too cold, but he was content in the front pack sleeping and then sitting in the stroller watching the kids. He loved watching the water and the kids run around.

McKenna's first haircut

2009-05-28T15:05:00.000-07:00

McKenna got what little hair she has cut for the first time yesterday. She was so excited about going. When we were in Texas and Grammy and Mommy got their hair cut she had to sit up in the chair and get her hair "cut" (we pretended) and then fixed. So when I told her we were going to get her hair cut she couldn't wait.

She had so much fun. While we were waiting they brought her out some apple juice and she got to sit on this pink stool like a "big girl" that she loved. She just had a little cut off he back and sides to even it out. It looks better, but is still so whispy. I'm ready for her to get some hair! She got to get her hair washed, drive a little pink car and watch elmo while they cut, dried, and braided it. She even got sparkles on it when they were done! She also got a lollipop and a ride on the horse. Fun, fun!

Carter - 3 months

2009-05-28T14:45:00.000-07:00

Carter is getting so big. He smiles at everyone and is such a happy baby now most of the time. He coos and almost giggles and still absolutely loves to watch his big sister. He wants to be upright all of the time. If you lay him down he tries to pick his head up and do a sit up so he's not laying flat. I can't wait to see how much he weighs and how long he has gotten. We don't go to the doctor for another month though. I think he's big just because he's so much bigger than when he was born, but next to a couple of his friends that are about the same age he doesn't look very big because they are big babies with chubby cheeks and rolls! He still loves motion and the front pack. He would rather sleep in the car or in the front pack with me walking around than his bed, but he has learned to fall asleep in his room in his "big bed" as McKenna calls it. He is sleeping from 8pm to about 3am and then up for the day at 6:30am. Now if I would just go to bed at a decent time I would get some good sleep :) As soon as things are going smooth something always changes so no telling what tomorrow will bring! I'm sure teething is coming in the next few months - oh boy!

Bumbo Seat

2009-05-18T13:09:00.000-07:00

My friend Stephanie is letting me borrow her bumbo seat that her boys used for Carter. I sat him up in it this morning and it is so funny to see him sitting up. He really likes it, but does get tired pretty quick. I like it because I have this thing about his head getting flat. Because they sleep on their back, are in the carseat, and are on their backs so much I am afriad his head is going to get a flat spot. I have seen some kids with pretty flat heads and don't want his to get that way! I try and put him on his tummy which he does not like too much and I also carry him around in the front pack, but the seat will be nice because he can sit up and look at everything.

He is getting so big. He found his hands a few weeks ago and it is so cute he will just look and look at his hands like they are really fascinating. He also grabs for toys and really likes his play gym on the floor and the toys hanging from his carseat. McKenna loves to play with him and make him smile, laugh, and coo. She also likes to take his hands and wave for him as well as do the hook 'em horns sign! And he aboslutely loves to watch McKenna.

Here he is this morning in his new seat smiling at daddy!

His head looks huge in this one! His head really isn't that big :)

Shaving Cream

2009-05-18T12:56:00.001-07:00

We started out with some shaving cream and drops of food coloring on a tray in the house and ended up outside covered from head to toe. McKenna had the best time and I just hosed her off when we were done. I am loving the sunny warm weather and so ready for summer so every day is like this. It is much better than being cooped up inside! What fun $1 bottle of shaving cream can provide :)

Donkey Birthday Party

2009-05-15T22:06:00.000-07:00

So the kids and I joined the Sherwood MOMS group and they have all different types of activities each week. We went to a spring party at the park last Friday and then today we went to Tollen Farms (a working farm with horses, sheep, miniature donkeys, plants, and a gift shop. they are open in the spring and summer to the public) to a Donkey Birthday Party. Yes, it was a birthday party for donkeys! Complete with birthday cake and we even sang happy birthday dear donkeys :) Sounds crazy, but the farm puts it on and several of the moms and kids from the group met there this morning.

It was lots of fun. We got to see horses and miniature donkeys and a precious baby miniature donkey. The mom was named chockolate delight and the baby was chocolate surprise because she was a surprise baby. The donkey's were really friendly and the kids got to pet them and even lead one around with a rope. McKenna wasn't too sure about petting them because she had to get so close and they kept making a sneezing type noise, so this afternoon she kept talking about the donkeys sneezing. Her Hee-Haw noise is too cute! She really liked leading him around on the rope, but I think her favorite part was the birthday cake - carrot cake of course! Right after we saw the donkeys she started asking birthday cake, birthday cake? I think Carter enjoyed it too, ha ha. He pretty much nursed the whole time and then had a nice poopy diaper that leaked out everywhere! It always seems to happen at the most opportune time :) I think it wore McKenna out because she slept 3 hours this afternoon!

Here are some pictures.
Our precious daughter :)

Birthday cake, "nummy" as McKenna would say.

Feeding the donkey.

Leading the donkey. She thought this was great because she didn't have to get too close!

Trying to get the girls to get together for a picture. Pretty near impossible!

Trying to get everyone to look at once!

Baby Chocolate Surprise

Mother's Day

2009-05-15T21:48:00.000-07:00

The weather was gorgeous Mother's Day weekend so Brandon surprised me and took us to the beach. We told McKenna the night before which was a mistake because she was up at 5:30 asking when we were going to the beach. And then every 5 minutes in the car "Where's the beach?" She was so excited to take her trike from Mimi and Papa's house that she wore her bike helmet for like 2 hours before we left and wore it all the way over to get the trike!

We went down Saturday morning and the weather was gorgeous. We of course hit the outlet mall, played at the park and walked on the prom. Then Brandon's mom and dad and Danielle and John (sister and brother in law) came down Saturday afternoon. I was waited on all weekend! A steak dinner Saturday night and then slept late Sunday and was served a blueberry pancake breakfast - yummy! McKenna took her first carousel ride Sunday and loved it, me on the other hand felt a little dizzy afterwards. It went pretty fast! I won't be the one riding all of the rides with the kids when they get older :)

We ended the day with playing in the sand and walking on the beach. It was a great weekend. I got an gift certificate for an hour and a half massage and really cool ceramic plaques of McKenna's handprint and Carter's footprint.

Here are a couple pictures of McKenna in the sand.

McKenna's new "camp" chairs. She would move them around and around and sit in them and then move them around again.

More Tx Pics

2009-05-15T15:56:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pictures from Texas.

McKenna, Carter and Baw Paw at the airport right before we left :(

Yummy strawberry popsicle at the strawberry farm.

I think she ate more strawberries than she picked. She would pick them out of the box almost as fast as we would put them in!

It had stormed the night before and so everythign was sooo muddy. I just took my flip flops off and walked in the mud. I tried to convince McKenna to walk in the mud, but she did not want to get dirty! So she insisted on walking on the strawberry mounds.

McKenna pulling Carter. He liked the ride and fell right asleep!

Strawberry patch here we come!

So, we went on the last mornign we were there, a Friday, and thought it wouldn't be too crowded. We got close and traffic slowed way down. We went a little further and realized the parking lot was overflowing and there were a ton of school buses! It was really crowded, but most of the school kids were not in the patch when we went to pick, so it wasn't too bad.

McKenna throwing a temper tantrum!

Texas

2009-05-15T13:27:00.001-07:00

I have been a slacker and have not posted in a long time. We got back from Texas at the end of April and I am just now posting pictures. We had a great time. It was actually pretty relaxing for me because my parents did so much. McKenna had so much fun going to the park (Grammy's park according to her), playing in her pool, going to Austin to Aaron and Kristinas, playing at the house, watching Barney while sitting in Grammy's lap in her big brown chair, going to Austin to the fountain and a park with Aunt Kris and Uncle Aaron, having her first snowcone having her first ice cream cone and play experience at a mcdonalds, picking strawberries, playing miniature golf and loved being able to play outside all of the time!

McKenna amazes us all of the time with everything she is learning and doing. She keeps us on our toes, makes us laugh, and is always doing and saying something new. I know everyone enjoyed seeing her and she can be quite a ham at times, too.

When we went to play miniature golf she would put the ball like 6 inches from the whole, push it in and then say yea and get so excited that she got it in. She loved to feed the kitties each day and remembered each one by their name. She took BawPaw in to the McDonald's play scape and was having so much fun she didn't want to come out! He finally convinced her to come down. She loves clothes and when Aunt CiCi brought her some clothes she wanted to try them all on. It was too funny. She especially loves anything sparkly and anything with buttons, snaps or pockets. I could go on and on about all of the cute and funny things she did and does, so I better stop!

Grammy and BawPaw pretty much gave her anything she wanted (mostly lots of love and attention), so needless to say she was pretty spoiled by the end of our trip. She kicked mom to the curb and wanted Grammy to do everything for her :)

My grandma, aunt and cousin (momo, lisa and cade) plus aaron and kristina came the first weekend we were there. We all had so much fun just spending time together and celebrating kristina's birthday on Saturday night.

Pictures in the bluebonnets in my parent's backyard

Carter's first flip flops!

My first snowcone!
She got two in one day because after the park we stopped at the best snowcone place in Austin for mommy to get a snow cone, yum yum! She then proceeded to "share" mine and wanted some of Grammy and Baw Paw's.

Playing in the fountain in Austin

She absolutely loved her pool! It was pretty cold and you should have seen her face when she would pour the water over her head, but she would just keep doing it and then laugh. Then she wanted to pour it on Grammy and on mommy. Grammy was brave and let her, but mommy said no thanks!

McKenna's "picnic" outside. She thought it was so great to sit outside and eat. I think she was so excited she didn't eat much!

Is it a bug? She had to make sure all of the "bees" were out of her pool, which were any kind of bug or leaf or anythign that she thought was a bug.

Look at my goggles!

Filling her pool that her and Baw Paw went to Wal-mart together to get.

Hook 'em Horns!

Carter and McKenna at Aunt Kris and Uncle Aaron's house. She thought it was great that she got to lay in the dog bed (it was brand new and hadn't been used!) We went over to their house one day and she had a great time playing at their house and a park nearby. She loved swinging in the swing outside,which she remembered from last time we were there in December, and looking at the puppies outside. She also really liked the cat parchie aka Cheesy, but he wasn't too fond of her because she wanted to pick him up all of the time and he is a BIG cat!

Cousin Cade and McKenna. She absolutely adores Cade and would call for him when he wasn't in the room and when she woke up in the morning.

Great Grandma, Momo, with Carter and McKenna.

Momo and Carter

Don't drop your "night night" Carter!

Blowing "bub bubs" at Grammy and BawPaw's house. They bought her a huge thing of bubbles. Id ont't think they will run out for years! But that way they let her hold the small bottle and blow all the bubbles she wanted. There were quite a few spills and lots of fun.

McKenna and her little brother

2009-04-08T21:20:00.000-07:00

As I've posted before, McKenna absolutely adores Carter. It is so cute to see her with him. She is always "mothering" him by putting a blanket on him or wanting to help put a bib or hat on and even by helping change his diaper! She wants him to lay in her crib all of the time, hold him, sing to him and give him hugs and kisses. I have to be careful though because she is such a bruiser that she will hurt or crush him while trying to love on him. She also asks for him to watch her do stuff all of the time. When he cries she runs over to him and often says "feed me, feed me" for what he is wanting. She is such a good helper and will get me new bibs or burp cloths and help me with him.

It is fun watching her with her baby, too. She immitates everything including nursing her baby. She loves to put her baby in the swing or bouncy chair and dress her in Carter's clothes although most of the time her baby doll is naked with a bib on! Those are the easiest to get on and off :)

Texas here we come!

2009-04-08T21:12:00.000-07:00

So McKenna, Carter and I are flying alone to Texas next week. I am super excited and so is McKenna. She talked about flying on the plane to see Gram Gram and Baw-Paw and how she is going to play in the water and splash Baw-Paw. I am ready for the sun and warm weather and so excited to see everyone, but really nervous about flying alone with both kids. One of my friends told me I was brave and I said well that or crazy and she said well, maybe a little of both!

Here are some pictures of the kids and Grammy! We were so thankful that she was here when Carter was born and afterwards. I don't know what I would have done without her!

McKenna

2009-04-08T20:26:00.000-07:00

McKenna is now potty trained! She is in big girl panties and is doing so good. She is growing more and more independent every day and says "me do it." Which is really great, but also requries lots of patience at times :) She can put her own clothes and shoes on, although they may be backwards and shoes on the wrong feet.

She will repeat anything that you say or ask her to say and says new and funny things every day. Her new thing this week is when you ask her a question she will say um, yea or um, no or um, probablly like she is really thinking about it. She also says "buy some" whenever we reun out of anything. Then today I didn't have any change for her to put in her piggy bank (which she loves to do and will do over and over with the same money) so she told me "buy some." I tried to explain you can't buy money, but I don't think she quite understood! She already wants the "big ones" meaning quarters and dollar coins. She LOVES puppets and wants you to make her dolls, stuffed animals and Carter talk to her all of the time (Thanks Grammy aka Gram Gram and Meem.) As all two year olds do, she loves repetition so we read the same books and sing the same songs over and over. She is starting to know the words in the books (and knows almost all of The Lady with the Alligator Purse book.) She can sing so many songs and count and loves to do Hook 'em Horns and make Carter do it. She still loves Barney and knows several of the songs with the movements by heart. I could go on and on. She loves to dress up and wear her "tap shoes" as she calls them. When my mom was here there was one night when she was running up and down the hall with only a diaper, dress up shoes and beads on. She is so in to pretend play. She loves to play "sonic" where she gets on her car, drives up to sonic, pushes the button and orders. Then you have to bring her the money and have her pay you and then she says "have a great day!" just like they do at sonic. It is so much fun watching her grow and change. She is no longer "the baby" although she will always be our little baby! HEre are some pictures of her over the last several weeks. Oh yea, she now loves her picture taken. She will say take my picture and then wants to look at it right away. She also is really enjoying her camera and takes pictures of everything!

Daddy's little helper

2009-04-08T20:12:00.001-07:00

Here is McKenna helping Brandon put together a tool washer that he got for his birthday. She knows what screws, nuts and washers are and would hand them to Brandon when he asked her for one. She loves tools and her new tool bench she got for her birthday. I love the shot of her suspenders and a pair of white and purple flashing shoes handed down from presley that are way too big! She is so cute playing with her tool bench. One of her new phrased is "I ready to work!" she puts on her "safety equipment" and then says "I Ready to work!" Then she makes me put them on and says "Mama ready to work!"

6 weeks already!

2009-04-08T19:30:00.000-07:00

I can't belive that Carter is already 6 weeks old. The time goes by so fast! Here are some pictures of the last few weeks. He is starting to smile, but I have yet to catch it on camera. There is one where he is wrapped up in a blue blankie where he is half smiling, but I didn't catch the full smile. He is starting to be so much more alert and awake more now. You forget how much they sleep in the beginning. I am trying to enjoy every moment, knowing it will be over in the blink of an eye. Although this is sometimes hard to do in moments when you are sleepless and have both of them crying! The pictures are in reverse order - oldest to youngest. I downloaded them that way and don't have time to switch them.

McKenna vs Carter

2009-03-25T10:01:00.000-07:00

Lots of people ask us if we think that Carter looks like McKenna. So here are a few pictures of McKenna from when she was born to two weeks old. What do you think? I should scan in pictures of Brandon when he was a baby because Carter REALLY looks like Brandon's baby pictures. Momo (my grandma) says that my grandpa would say he looks like himself!

McKenna's 2nd Birthday

2009-03-24T10:12:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe that it has been two years since McKenna was teeny tiny like Carter is now. She is so big! The moment we had Carter I think she grew overnight, she just seems so much bigger. A lot of people told me this would happen and it did. She is so cute telling us now that she is two. She loves to sing happy birthday and now wants to blow out the candles at every birthday we go to.

We decided this year to just have a small immediate family birthday party at our house. It worked out great and McKenna had so much fun. She wanted to stop and play with or try on each present she opened. Here are some pictures of her at her party.

First Week Home

2009-03-22T22:46:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of Carter's first week home!

Pictures

2009-03-22T22:40:00.000-07:00

We had some newborn pictures of Carter taken as well as McKenna's 2 year pictures. Here is a link to the page to sign in to look at them. The password is carterp Once I get the cd I will post some of our favorites on the blog.

http://www.alyssajul.com/?page=login

First Bath

2009-03-22T22:26:00.000-07:00

McKenna is crazy about her new baby brother. Although she would just prefer that he be able to run, jump and play already. She has already had him "slide" down her slide, she has taught him how to sing the wheels on the bus with the motions, how to sign hook 'em horns, played tea party and catch with him and loves for him to "talk" to her (with me as his voice). It is so much fun to watch them together. She was so excited when he got to take a bath with her.

Our New Arrival

2009-03-01T15:27:00.001-08:00

He's finally here! Baby Carter Scott Parmelee was born on February 25, 2009 at 12:45 pm. He was 8 pounds 1 ounce and 21 inches long. He is precious!

We came home on Friday and are slowly adjusting to our new family of four! McKenna absolutely loves Carter, but would squeeze him to death and carry him around like her dolls if she could. She is adjusting to all of the change and at times you can see her 2 year old personality come out and at others her mothering, sweet side. The other night she came in to bed with us in the middle of the night and layed there patting Carter while I was nursing him. It is so much fun watching her with him. She doesn't quite get that he can't play yet. The first day we were home she brought some of her cars over and tried to give them to him. She gets a hat to put on him if he doesn't have one and gets blankies to cover him. She has even tried to share her pacifier with him! Here are some pictures. I'm sure there will be lots more to come :)

Jurgen's Park

2009-03-01T15:10:00.000-08:00

Ring around the rosy....

We all fall down!

We have been really luck the last month and had some really nice weather (well it could be warmer) but 55 and sunny is warm enough for us to head to the park! McKenna had lots of fun at the park that day, swinging, sliding, looking at the animals they have next to the park, feeding the ducks and running around playing in the grass with her friends. She still talks about how when she slid down the slide (it was a double one where another child could slide beside) that she shocked the girl next to her. She tells the whole story saying "I shock girl slide. girl cry, Nenna cry. I sorry." It is almost two weeks later and when she goes down a slide or gets shocked again she starts talking about it. It was the first time since she has been older and can remember that she has been shocked. Trying to explain "shocking" to a two year old is hard! I'm sure there will be much more complicated things to explain :) Here are some pictures!

Maternity pics

2009-02-15T20:19:00.000-08:00

Brandon, McKenna and I went yesterday (Saturday) to kiddie kandids at babies r us to get some maternity pictures taken. I had really wanted to get some taken earlier in my pregnancy when I wasn't so big. We had planned to go several weeks and then McKenna got the chicken pox! So we had to wait for those to heal and find a time to go. I wasn't super impressed with the pictures, but glad to get a few taken to have memories of this time together. Here are a few of the pictures. They are small since I just copies them from my account on the online website.

Mt. Hood

2009-02-15T19:53:00.000-08:00

Making a snow ball to throw at daddy!

Trying to catch a snowball

Oh man, I got hit by a snowball! It's in my hair and down my ski bibs!

She kept backing up to the snow drifts saying "Nenna sit," then when she would slip off the snow she would say "nenna too big sit"

Yummy snow! We had to watch out which snow she was trying to eat :)

Me and Daddy!

Mommy, Daddy and McKenna

Brandon, McKenna and I went up to Mt. Hood today for the day to play in the snow and visit Brandon's Uncle Mark and cousin Christopher and our friends the Brandley's were there, too. McKenna had lots of fun joining in on a snowball fight, eating the snow and getting pulled around on a sled. Woody, Mark's dog, would chase her on the sled and try to take her hat and gloves off. She didn't like that much and learned to say no woody really quick! She was super shy around everyone at first, but as always warmed up and was a little ham. I was a little resistent about driving up for just the day, but was so glad that we did. We had lots of fun. Too bad the weekend is over!!

Valentine's

2009-02-13T20:21:00.000-08:00

Here is McKenna before her first Valentine's party. She had lots of fun decorating her valentine's for her friends and her little box to put her valentine's in, I think mainly because she got to use the gluestick so much! She had lots of fun at her party with her friends. Here are a couple of pictures on her way out the door. She was so excited to carry her box that she made to the party.

After her nap today we made daddy some valentine cookies. She got to help me roll them out and ice them. She had lots of fun and snuck a lot of cookie dough! I think her favorite party was icing and using the "shake shake" to decorate them.

She had so much fun looking at her Valentine's that were in her box. Her favorite one was "mick mouse." She would look at them and then put them back in her box and then take them out again. Then she called grammy and bapa on skype and showed them.

Grammy's Visit

2009-02-11T15:39:00.000-08:00

Baby Boy's nursery (I know, I know... he really needs a name!)

McKenna with her big sister cake at the shower

McKenna in her new outfit from Grammy - so cute!!

McKenna helping grammy pick chicken for freezer dinners we were making.

I think she did more eating than picking :) She really liked the leg!

She really likes to be "nake nake" and loves glue sticks! Here she is naked and glueing something on to her paper.

Chicken Pox!!

My mom (Grammy) came to visit last week to help us get ready for the new baby and keep us company while Brandon was training in Seattle. We had lots of fun, put lots of food in the freezer and got the baby boy's nursery ready. She was also able to be here for both of my baby showers which was a lot of fun, too. McKenna loved having her Grammy here and had so much fun. She was so sad when she had to leave, but would tell me "Grammy bye-bye, airplane, see Bapa, Texas." then it would follow with "Nenna, Texas?" I keep telling her Grammy will be back in just a few weeks when baby brother gets here.

It is amazing how much she is talking. Even just in the last week she has changed so much. She is climbing on everything! I found her up on the barstool at our desk this morning. She is holding whole conversations back and forth and using three word sentences almost all of the time. She is starting to sing along with songs more and more and even request which ones she wants to hear on a CD or wants you to sing.

She is getting ready for her baby brother and now has a big sister sweatshirt that she got from one of the baby showers. We have been reading books from the library about being a big sister and bringing new babies home. We also made a big sister book with pictures that she drew of our family, pictures of her when she was in my tummy and when she was little. When you ask her what her baby brother is going to do when he is out of mommy's tummy she says "poop, pee-pee and whaa whaa." She likes to point to my tummy and say brother and knows when we go to the doctor that she gets to hear brother's heartbeat. She is such a big helper. She wants to help wtih everything from cleaning and laundry to helping daddy use his tools (of which she loves the "hammet" and has used to hammer the closet door in the hallway while we weren't watching!) So I'm sure she will want to be a big helper when he gets here. I'm sure she still has no idea what it will be like when baby brother is here, but I can't wait to see her reaction

Coloring

2009-01-23T16:06:00.001-08:00

One of McKenna's favorite things to do now is color. I'm amazed at how long she stays interested in one activity. Her favorite thing to draw is what she calls babies, which are smiley faces or stick figures. Sometimes she will have someone draw them for her and then will name who they are. Or she will draw and announce that she drew a baby and who it is. In the last few days she has taken to "drawing" Barney, her favorite character. She absolutely loves these big markers that her Aunt Ci Ci got her for Christmas. She always ends up with it all over her hands and sometimes even her face, but it washes right off. She likes to announce the color that she is using and surprisingly is right most of the time. She has also recently learned about glue sticks and LOVES them. I haven't gotten any for our house yet, but she loves to glue anything and everything on to paper and also LOVES to use the scissors (with very close supervision of course!) If you try to help her she says "I do, I do" until you let her do it by herself. Miss independent!

Chicken Pox

2009-01-23T15:49:00.000-08:00

McKenna officially has chicken pox. I saw a few spots on Wednesday evening that looked like bug bites and then a few blister like places on her head. I was suspicious and called the advice nurse and then when she woke up Thursday morning she had spots all over! Poor thing hasn't felt too bad, but has started itching today. She gets so upset when I tell her not to scratch. She hasn't run a fever, but didn't sleep too well last night and finally just fell asleep for a nap today.

Here are a couple of pictures from when she was getting ready to go to a birthday play date on Wednesday. I felt horrible because I had to let all of the moms know that they had been exposed to chicken pox. She didn't have any symptoms that morning and I had no idea she had been exposed. Guess I don't have to worry about the chicken pox vaccine at her two year appointment! She is so cute pointing to her spots and saying "pox, owie, itch." Hopefully it will be over soon and won't get much worse.

Decorating a Gingerbread house with Daddy.

2009-01-14T15:05:00.000-08:00

Although it's a little late to be decorating a gingerbread house, Brandon and Mckenna had so much fun. I wouldn't recommend eating any of the candy off of it because about half way through we realized she was licking the candy before she was putting it on the house! She was just so tempted.

Our final masterpiece!

Getting so big!!

2009-01-14T14:43:00.000-08:00

Here's her lovely "cheese" whenever I take a picture.

I can't get over how big McKenna is getting. She is learning new things everyday and talking so much! She will talk your ear off and repeats anything you say. The other day she gave daddy a fruit snack (which is a big thing for her to share) and he said thank you honey. And she repeated back with the same inflection in her voice, "thank you honey." She is putting pretty much any two words together and now starting to put three together. Her favorite two things to say are "I do" and "mine." She knows her colors now and is starting to sing along with songs which is so precious.

She absolutely loves music. She makes me sing to her all of the time, we have to always listen to her music in the car and she calls and makes her grammy since to her. She says "song, song." We usually go to story/music time twice a week. She is so cute doing all of the motions and dancing around. Her favorite part is the shakers. When I tell her we're going she says "shake, shake" and starts dancing around. She loves to jump and dance. Lately she loves to skype grandpa and make him dance with her on the computer. She gets her baby doll and then tells him to go get a baby doll and dance. It is so funny and cute!

I think she is now over 30 pounds and is still a little chunky monkey and loves to eat although she is starting to get taller and thin out and I'm sure will lose that baby look as she gets bigger. A girl after her mama's heart she loves pasta and pizza and most of all "treats," which includes anything sweet.

It is so fun watching her grow and change and such a privilege to be able to stay home with her every day to experience it. Here are a couple of pictures of her with her backpack that uncle aaron and aunt kristina gave her. She is so cute packing it before we go places like the doctor's office. It is funny once we get there to see what she put in it. Last time it was a measuring tape, ball, finger puppet, cell phone and a note pad and crayons. She tried to stuff her baby doll in there, but after all the other stuff it wouldn't fit!

Christmas!

2009-01-14T13:13:00.000-08:00

Santa came to visit!! We made and decorated cookies on christmas eve and put those out with carrots for his reindeer!

Trying on mommy's new hat, gloves and scarf. She wanted to go outside as soon as she put it on even though it was like 70 that day!

Opening presents with Grammy!

She loved her new umbrella from Aunt Kristina and uncle Aaron and carried it around outside even though there was not a cloud in the sky.

Trying to find a picture for our Christmas card!

No more pictures, please!

I haven't posted in forever! We are just now getting back in to the swing of things after being gone for two weeks to Texas and then coming back here for new year's and Christmas with Brandon's family. Below are some pictures from Christmas.

We had lots of fun in Texas and really enjoyed the sun and warm weather. I was gald we escaped most of the snow so we weren't stuck for two weeks! We got to see my grandma, aunts and uncles and some of my cousins. McKenna took quite the liking to my cousin Cade who is 13. She would scream his name over and over when he would leave the room.

My family spoiled McKenna to death! When we got back to Oregon and it was just us at home she was like hey where's all of the attention. She loves being the center of attention, surprise, surprise. She would escape to grammy or bapa if I would try to get her to do something she wasn't wanting to do like take a nap or change her diaper. She had so much fun and we were all sad to leave, but it was nice to come back to our bed!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

2008-12-15T10:41:00.000-08:00

It snowed almost 4 inches at our house yesterday! It is going to stick around all week with high temperatures in the mid 20's. Since McKenna and I are stuck at the house we thought we would have some fun playing outside.

Sunday morning when we woke up.

Winter wonderland!

It was cold, but gorgeous! Snow everywhere.

Then the sun came out today and even though it was sunny it was freezing! McKenna and I bundled up and went out to play anyway.

Making a snow angel!

Once she discovered she could eat the snow she didn't want to stop! Her poor little face and nose got so cold, but she just kept eating :)

Our attempt at building a snowman, but the snow was too dry!

Her first time in the snow this year. So much fun!! She didn't want to come in, but I promised we would go out after her nap.

Once we got back in, she was really quiet and so I went to find her and see what she was doing and she was trying to eat the snow off the gloves and entry way floor! So I got her a big bowl of snow and brought it in. She had so much fun eating and playing with the snow.

OMSI

2008-12-10T13:33:00.000-08:00

McKenna and I met Stacy, Simon and Gabby today at OMSI. This was my first time to go with McKenna and she hadn't been since before she was one. She had so much fun. If I would have let her she would have stayed and played all day long. We will definitely have to think about getting a member's pass. They have a whole room full of fun stuff for kids under six. She did try to eat the sand and play dough, but after one taste of each she didn't try again! Here are some pictures.

Gabby

Simon, Gabby, and McKenna in the block area

Making a wreath. She tried tasting the glue stick, too. I think she kind of liked it because she kept doing it!

Stacy, Simon and Gabby making wreaths.

First time to play with Playdough! She liked it a lot. Guess it's time to get her some playdough toys and make some playdough.

The sand "room." She wasn't too sure at first. They take their shoes and socks off and she kind of curled up her toes, but boy once she got in to it she didn't want to leave that area. The sand is really nice sand that is super fine, soft and not dusty at all.

More Sand!

Simon's Puppet Show!

McKenna's puppet show. She loves puppets and so she had lots of fun with all of the different puppets.

A big hug and kiss! I think she started to scare poor Gabby. She kept trying to hug her and sometimes her hugs can be overwhelming, especially for younger kids!

Balls...

Balls ...

And more balls!

So much fun we can't wait to go back!!

Zoo Lights

2008-12-08T13:28:00.000-08:00

The weather cleared up last night so we decided to go to Zoo lights. We got online while McKenna was in the high chair finishing up dinner to check the hours. She saw a picture of the choo choo train all lit up and was so excited. She wanted me to go back to the page so she could see it again. I told her that we were going to go ride the choo choo and we didn't hear the end of it until we rode! All the way to the zoo, "Choo choo, Nenna, Choo Choo, Zoo, Choo Choo!." She was so excited. When she got out of the car she ran as fast as she could to the entrance. Of course we brought the stroller, but she was either on daddy's shoulders or walking.

She was fascinated by all of the lights.

We finally made it to the train! We walked around the rest of the zoo first looking at lights and a few of the animals that were out. Of course the baby elephant was her favorite. When we got to the train (around 7:45), the line was sooooo long. But McKenna wasn't going to let us leave without riding on the train she had been talking about all night. They only had one train running because they thought it was going to rain, but it ended up being nice and there was a big crowd. McKenna was so patient in line, she kept saying, "wait, wait." A little girl in front of her said "I want to ride the train" and her mom said "We can't just go up to the front of the line." And McKenna said, "Wait, Wait." Telling the little girl she had to wait in line. Everytime the choo choo would come to pick up more people she would shout "Choo, Choo, Nenna, Choo choo, Nenna." When we finally go our chance to ride she had a great time.

On the train with Daddy!

On the train with Mommy and tired of taking pictures and saying "Cheese!"

We didn't get off of the train and out of the park until a little after 9, and of course she was too excited in the car and she talked the whole way home and didn't fall asleep!

Pretending

2008-12-04T20:38:00.001-08:00

With every age and stage comes so many new changes, most of them fun and exciting, and some challenging. I have had so much fun lately watching and playing with McKenna while she pretends. She has been a big pretender since she was really young, but has really started pretend more and more the last month or so.

Her latest "game" is playing bye-bye. She gets her purse (which she usually puts her whole tea set in and her ring), then she has to get her jacket (which is usually a pair of pants or shirt that she puts her arm through), sometiems she decides she needs a bib on and she goes and gets a bib and velcros it on, and then she yells bye-bye with the cutest inflection in her voice. I ask her where she is going and usually it's to go see dada. Then I tell her "okay I'll see you later" and she runs over with her arms open wide and says "Hug, Hug." After hugging and giving me a kiss she goes to the door and acts like she is leaving, the whole time yelling "bye, bye." Then she runs back in the room where I am and says "back" meaning she is back. I tell her hi and that I missed her so much and then it starts all over again.

Since we are going to be gone for Christmas McKenna was able to open her presents from Grandma Uschi (Brandon's grandma) and Great Uncle Aaron (Brandon's uncle.) She loved all of her presents, but has latched on to her tea set from Uschi and her teddy bear from Aaron. Since she got the gifts last week she has played "tea time" every day. Often with Grammy over Skype (videoconferencing on the computer) giving her bites to eat and tea to drink. The bear often has to go where she is and the other morning she decided he needed to eat breakfast with her so daddy put him in her highchair with her. Here are a couple of pictures of her fedding her bear eggs.

The Perfect Tree

2008-11-29T17:26:00.000-08:00

McKenna watching daddy cut down the tree. She really wanted the saw, but we told her she has to be a lot older to help cut down the tree!

Here she is laying down on the mat to try and cut down the tree. She hasn't napped yet and was pretty tired. She looked like she might fall asleep right there! Then she tripped and fell like this and she just stayed there. She was trying to do a somersault, but couldn't get all of the way over. It was too funny.

McKenna and Daddy!

McKenna and Grandma Uschi

Aunt Danielle (aka "E E") and Uncle John

Mckenna giving a tree a hug. I think she really wanted to take this tree home, but we couldn't cut anything under 5ft or daddy probally would have cut it for her!

McKenna and Mimi

That one right there!

McKenna and Aunt Danielle

So we went to the Christmas Tree Farm on Friday. We of course had to stop first at Helvetia Tavern and have the best burger and homemade fries and then on to find the perfect tree. We had lots of fun looking for just the right one and finally decided on one that I thought was too big. I've learned from past years that they always look bigger once you get them inside, but Brandon and Mckenna insisted that this was the perfect tree. We had hiked so far back and in to find our tree that once we cut it we drug it to the dirt roadway and they came by with a tractor and "choo choo train" to pick us up and take us back to the front. McKenna thought it was just great to ride on a choo choo train and didn't want to get off, but once we were off and went inside to pay she got to look at a big display of model trains that she loved.

When Mckenna woke up from her nap and saw it up for the first time she kept saying "wow, tree." It does look just perfect with all of the light and ornaments on.

More Pictures

2008-11-26T14:14:00.000-08:00

I'm ready for a party!!

2008-11-22T18:59:00.001-08:00

Sunset Park

2008-11-21T13:10:00.000-08:00

McKenna absolutely loves to be outside! Too bad we aren't in Texas right now :) We have actually had several days of sun and no rain in the last ten days which has been really nice. It is getting colder though, but I am determined to get outside and hopefully not go too stir crazy!

Brandon says that "true" Oregononians don't care about the rain and cold and that you just have to go outside and play anyway. It's not really that cold, just like 50, but to a Texan I guess that is cold, ha ha. So McKenna and I have been putting on her hat and coat going to the park quite a bit in the last week (towel in hand to dry off the equipment) almost everyday that it hasn't been raining and then walking afterwards. I am really surprised though by the lack of kids at the park. There must not be a lot of "true" Oregonians out there, ha ha. I think McKenna doesn't mind too much because she has the whole park to herself and doesn't have to share. Last week a little boy came to the park and McKenna held her arms out and said "no, no" like it was her playscape and no one else could play on it.

She is getting so big and it seems like she is growing up so fast! Sometimes I look at her and think where did the time go, pretty soon she's not going to be my "baby" anymore. Although one of her favorite things to do right now is to act like she is the baby. Boy is she going to have an awakening when the new baby gets here!

Decorating Gingerbread Houses

2008-11-20T21:42:00.000-08:00

McKenna's friend Joey (JoJo according to Mckenna) and his mom Stephanie came over today and we built gingerbread houses. It was a lot of fun and McKenna was much more into it than I thought she would be. Of course she wanted to eat the cookies and lick the icing, but she really liked decorating the house too and had lots of fun. It's never too early for some holiday fun. We've been listening to christmas music since halloween :) And she started wearing her Christmas pajamas last night! I am waiting until after Thanksgiving for christmas clothes though.

The Zoo

2008-11-18T13:39:00.000-08:00

McKenna, Brandon and I went to the zoo on Saturday afternoon. It was lots of fun and Brandon's first time to go with McKenna. The weather was great and of course McKenna loved the monkeys and elephants.

Having fun outside rain or shine!

2008-11-08T15:21:00.000-08:00

Here is McKenna going for a walk with dad this morning. She was dying to go outside and it was pretty yucky. So we put on a hat, her rain coat and of course she had to have an umbrella, which she has decided she really likes carrying even though it is way too big for her. She didn't get to stay out long since she just got over bein sick, but she had fun.

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-03T13:36:00.000-08:00

McKenna had a busy and fun halloween. We went to visit Grandma Uschi and Uncle Aaron Halloween morning. She had lots of fun and got the cutest pumpkin bag that Uschi crocheted for her with treats inside! We then headed over to meet up with some friends to trick or treat at the mall. The kids were all so cute and had lots of fun running around the mall getting stickers and candy. And of course the moms had to have some candy so the kids wouldn't eat it all!

Then after a long nap, Friday evening we went over to Aunt Danielle and Uncle John's house, with Mimi and Grandpa, too, to have dinner and trick or treat. She loved going to the houses and saying tricktreat for candy. She would have eaten all of the candy after each house if we would have let her. Second to the candy was ringing the doorbell which she wanted to do multiple times at each house.

Carving pumpkins with mommy and daddy!!

2008-10-30T22:51:00.000-07:00

We all three had lots of fun carving pumpkins. So different from last year! It's amazing how much they change in the first two years. Last year she sat and played with the inside of the pumpkin and had it all over her from head to toe. She wasn't quite as tentative tonigt as she was in Texas. She actually wanted to step in to the bowl where we were putting the seeds in and even tried to eat it! She is getting so big.

Brandon was washing his pumpkin off with a rag and said I need another rag. Mckenna walked to the kitchen opened up the drawer and got out a towel and brought it to daddy! What a smarty. Then when he was done with them she decided to put them back in the drawer dirt and all.

We then went outside and lit the jack o lanterns. She kept saying "wot" "wot" which is her form of hot. Then she decided she wanted to kiss each jack o lantern and then wanted mom and dad to kiss them too. It was too cute!

Halloween Play Date Party

2008-10-30T22:42:00.000-07:00

McKenna had a blast at her first halloween party! She actually wanted to put on her bee costume. She is so cute when people ask her what she is dressing up as for halloween and she says with enthusiasm bee!

Here are some pictures from the party. I think the cheetoes were her favorite part! She also really liked the glow in the dark bracelet and most of all the dum-dum suckers that were in the treat bag!

It was lots of fun to see all of the kids dressed up. I was surprised that Mckenna was one of the only ones with her costume on by the end. Hopefully that will last for Hallowen tomorrow!

Texas Pumpkin Patch and Carving

2008-10-30T22:31:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of McKenna at the pumpkin patch in Texas and also of carving her first pumpkins this year.

She was too funny while Grandpa and I carved pumpkins (she calls them "pumppumps") and tried to get her to help. She was not too sure at first about touching the insides. She finally got in to it when she was able to rinse her hands and the spoon in a bowl full of water that she had just poured for the cats to drink. Once we got all of the seeds out she then kept looking in saying "sees," sees?"

Pictures to come!

My little red Wagon

2008-10-30T22:23:00.000-07:00

Last time we were at my parent's house McKenna discovered a little red wagon that they have. This time she at first wanted to be pulled around and then discovered that she really liked pulling her baby dolls (she had to have hers and mine from when I was little.) Then she discovered a little garden cart she liked to push around. She didn't want to leave her wagon behind so she would make bapa pull the wagon and follow her pushing the cart. She is too funny. I think we are going to be in trouble. She already likes to tell people not only what to do, but how to do it!

Pictures to come later!

San Antonio Zoo Trip

2008-10-30T21:32:00.000-07:00

On Monday Mckenna and I went to the zoo in San Antonio with my mom and dad. We met Aaron and Krisina and had so much fun. McKenna walked, ran and galloped (this half skip, half jump move she has started the last few weeks.) through most of the zoo. No wonder she fell asleep in just a few minutes once we were in the car.

Mckenna had to have all of us in her sight at all times and would hollar out Aaron or Kristina if they got out of her sight. She was more in to the animals this time than she ever has been before which was really fun. Although at times she was more interested in Kristina's purse or the railing she liked to climb on and of course the ice cream that grammy bought her. She was not a huge fan of the lorakeet's that you could feed and would land all over you. She lreally oved the monkies, fish and elephant. She also loved brushing the goats until one bumped her over and scared her! And she started her collection of wax animals which she liked watching the machine make.

We had so much fun and ran out of time to ride the train. We'll have to come back when we visit again in December!

Our Trip to Texas

2008-10-30T21:00:00.000-07:00

McKenna had so much fun visiting grammy, bapa, uncle aaron and aunt kristina in Texas. She is now officially spoiled rotton. She has learned really quickly when grammy and bapa are around that if she doesn't get something from mom or wants to get out of something she would call "mammy" or bapa. She got to watch barney, eat cupcakes, play outside a lot, go to the zoo and always had someone to play with.

She loved the kitties and her favorite morning and evening activity became feeding them, which was much more fun than feeding at our house because there are three spots she feeds them in.

She also got the chance to visit Aunt Pat and Sherry, Bill and Kinsey. A little shy at first, but warmed up really quickly!

We were so sad to leave, but have lots of memories, pictures and videos of our fun time together!

Here are a few pictues of her while we were there.

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-19T21:52:00.000-07:00

We went to the pumpkin patch today. It was a perfect day to go, sunny and 65. We had so much fun and came home with pumpkins to carve this week! The goats and hay maze with slide were McKenna's favorite. We went through the kids hay maze and down the slide with her 5 or 6 times and had to distract her to get her away from it. She kept trying to pick up and climb on the pumpkins and also really liked the hay ride.

Here are a few pictures. Some are blurry because I didn't have my lense on automatic focus. We can't wait to go back to the pumpkim patch in Texas this week!

Keys, Keys, Keys

2008-10-17T17:15:00.000-07:00

McKenna loves keys. She has lost a few sets of ours (including my work keys when I was working and Brandon's branch keys!) so we have now tried giving her "play" keys. She loves to try and unlock things with her keys. We were at Brandon's branch the other day and she spotted a locked filing cabinet. She went up to Brandon's manager and asked for keys and then when Brandon gave her his keys to play with she went immediately to the filing cabinet and tried to unlock it. And of course she gets frustrated when the keys don't fit in the lock!

Here are a few of pictures of her today. A couple of her trying to "unlcok" our front door. It's not the key to our front door, but she can actually get it in the lock. There's also a pictures of her eating her really messy taco soup for lunch. Today she learned how to open the cabinet in the kitchen and climb on the edge of it so that she can reach further up on the cabinet. Boy are we in trouble!!

Little Miss Packrat

2008-10-17T16:58:00.000-07:00

Since McKenna could walk she has loved carrying things around. It is too funny. She will try and fit as many things as she can in her hands and arms and just carry them around. This morning for some reason she was carrying around one of her shirts and a clamp of Brandon's. Then when we were outside she wanted me to hold the clamp and shirt and she decided to carry some wood around and wouldn't put it down. Sometimes it's her baby doll or other toy and other times it's totally random things. If we happen to be leaving she has to take it with her in the car (ocassionally I can distract her enough to get the items away from her.) Here are some pictures of our walk this mornings. It really wasn't that cold, but she insisted on having her hat and gloves on.

Let's Go Swimming!

2008-10-16T20:06:00.000-07:00

Every Thursday morning McKenna and I go to a mommy and me swim class. She absolutely loves the water and all of the silly songs we sing! Her new favorite thing is the noodle. Whenever I mention going to swim class on Thursday morning she starts saying kick, kick, reach and then "noonle," which she means the water noodle that she gets to "ride" while we sing a silly song.

We have been going to swim class since she was 5 months old and it has been so much fun seeing how far she has come in just a year. She now loves to jump off the side, go under the water, blow bubbles, wear her goggles and she actually kicks and reaches and pulls the water to try and swim. She still doesn't like floating on her back much because she's too busy wanting to see what is going on around her.

So now to the pictures. Every morning before we go to swim lessons I tell her we get to go swimming today and she gets all excited and starts talking about kicking and her noonle. She found her goggles this week (which we had temporarily lost) and she put them on this morning like 30 minutes before we ever left. It was so cute. She was at the door ready to go with her goggles on and then wouldn't even take them off in the car! Too cute and funny :)

Ready for Halloween!

2008-10-15T08:42:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of McKenna in one of her halloween outfits. She is so cute trying to say trick or treat. It just comes out as a really fast tickteat.

We were playing outside when I took these pictures and man is it hard to get pictures of her. She moves around so quick and loves the camera so as soon as she sees it she runs up to try and get it from me. She loves to go down her slide announcing "Nenna" everytime she is at the top of the slide about to come down!

Yummy Juice

2008-10-15T08:32:00.000-07:00

Brandon made a smoothy last night and McKenna thought it was super yummy. Here are some pictures of her enjoying it!

McKenna at the Beach

2008-10-10T09:47:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of McKenna at the beach in Rockaway, OR in September while my parents were here. This was her first trip to the beach since the weather has been nice and she has able to walk. It was so much fun to watch her. She wasn't too sure at first, but then was running around in the puddles with Presley and Grandpa aka BaPa and having a blast. She also loved feeding the seagulls, although she mostly wanted to just chase after them.

Sonic

2008-10-09T21:48:00.000-07:00

So today we drive up to Sonic (which is new to our area so we have been going a lot lately) to hit happy hour for a drink and as we pull in McKenna starts yelling I, I, I, which is her version of ice, ice, ice. I starting laughing because how could she know at 19 months that we were pulling in to sonic and she wanted to order a glass of ice, which is her usual. What a smartie!!

Here are some pictures of her playing outside at our house. She has so much fun playing on her slide, rocking on her horse, picking flowers, riding her four wheeler and of course chasing mooch!

McKenna and Mooch

2008-10-09T14:56:00.000-07:00

When we moved in to our new house we inherited a kitty cat. Brandon has endearingly, ha ha, named him Mooch. McKenna loves Mooch and he is incredibly patient with her. We are trying to teach her to be easy and nice to him, but it doesn't always work. A few weeks ago she had him in a headlock trying to pick him up and he didn't claw or even really try to get away. Once I ran over and she let him go though he took off like a bullet.

She wants poor Mooch to do everything, ride her quad with her, slide down the slide and I'm sure one of these days she will try to dress him up! Her favorite thing to do though is feed him. She reminds us every morning and evening and can't wait to take his food to him. Here are a couple of pictures of her feeding her favorite kitty Mooch.

McKenna's 18 month pictures

2008-10-09T14:52:00.001-07:00

Here is the link to McKenna's 18 month pictures. I know I emailed them to most of you, but thought I would post them, too. Just go to login and use the password mckenna all lower case. We had lots of fun getting her pictures taken and as you will be able to tell from the pictures a few tears, too. They turned out soooo cute, although I am a little partial :)

http://www.alyssajul.com/

It's a boy!!

2008-10-09T14:22:00.000-07:00

We found out Tuesday at our 19 week ultrasound that we are having a baby boy! I set this blog up about a month ago and have not made time to start posting so, I thought this would be a good time to start (plus McKenn is taking an extra long nap today!)

We are so excited to be having a boy and the ultrasound really makes the pregnancy seem so much more real, plus the fact that my belly is growing daily! It was so amazing to see his 10 fingers and 10 toes and his little profile. I will have to scan and post the pictures. And there was definetely no mistaking that it is a boy!

I already can't wait to see how how McKenna interacts with her new baby brother. Although a little nervous, too with how active she is. She is kind of getting the idea that there is a baby in mommy's tummy. She lifts up my shirt and kisses my tummy. Yesterday she got her pacifer aka night night and held it up to my stomach and started making sucking noises like she was giving the baby her night night. Little does she know how he will change her world! 20 1/2 weeks to go and counting!