Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Funny Games

--Here she is sitting all by herself--

Lately McKenna is learning all sorts of fun games. She laughs anytime you zerbert her tummy; she thinks peek a boo is hilarious; can play in her sit n spin for hours; and she invents games of her own. One of her favorites (since she can sit on her own now) fall back and look at you. She will sit in front of someone, then fall onto your lap and giggle. Very cute.

--McKenna in her sit n spin--

She is also very much enjoying her cousin Kade's jumper. We hook it to the doorframe in the kitchen and she jumps while watching Rylee run around. I will try and upload a movie of it soon. Very fun!

--Here she is playing her favorite fall down and look up game--

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful thanksgiving. I was lucky enough to have Wednesday off. So, I made rolls and apple crisp. Then on Thursday I went to kickboxing, came home and made a new recipe: butter squash risotto. I loved it. You saute the squash, onions, butter, garlic and rice. Then you simmer it in white wine, and slowly add chicken broth and water. It was yum.

We went to Gona's around 11. Grandma and Grandpa Great, Emmi, Mark, and Kade all came as well. Damon and Shelly came for dinner because Shelly had to work at 3 on Thanksgiving. She is a pharmacist at Walgreens, and they are open on Thanksgiving, so they couldn't get home to Rockwell City and back in time to eat.

There was a pool tournament and Josh and Kade were the champions. Then we ate a wonderful dinner. Everything was quite yummy. And after a farkel tournament (of which I was the winner) we ate dessert and played with McKenna. A very fun day. I went home and went to bed at 8pm, and Josh and McKenna stayed over at Gona and Baca's so I could get a good night's sleep - since I had to get up at 1:30am the next morning.

The day after Thanksgiving (aka black Friday, aka the busiest retail day of the year) was nuts. People started lining up at 5pm on Thanksgiving night. They slept overnight. I got there at 3am to set up for opening at 5am. The line wrapped around our building, along the side, all along the back and around the other side again. There had to be at least 300 people there....what is wrong with people??!!?!?!?

Needless to say, by the time we opened the line was very long. It took half an hour just to get all those people in the store. Mad rush, craziness. We did about 6-7 times the revenue we do on a typical weekend day....it was nuts! But it was a lot of fun - my favorite day of the year to work.

Here are some pictures from Turkey Day:

--Damon and Shelly--

--Josh, Brandi and McKenna--

--Gona, Baca, Kade and McKenna--

--Grandpa and Grandma Great--

--Mark, Emmi and Kade--

What a wonderful family!!


Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Token bum picture

I have to put this on here to publicly humiliate my little girl. As everyone knows you have to take the token 6 month bum picture. I am sure that many boyfriends in years to come will very much enjoy this picture. It is too cute not to share with everyone :) It was difficult to take because McKenna hates being on her tummy. Enjoy!


And in this second shot you will see that Rylee felt the need to show off her bum as well in the background. I think she's jealous.

Monday, November 20, 2006

PS3 - crazy people

I had to dedicate a blog to the infamous PS3. Let me tell you the extent of the crazy people. We launched the PS3 (playstation 3) on Friday this week. On Wednesday....WEDNESDAY, people were asking if they could line up, and sleep in 20 degree weather overnight for two days. We told them that the earliest we would allow a lineup would be at midnight. Here is a video showing the initial lineup that had to be facilitated by a cop to avoid riots, stabbings, death...etc.



We had 26 units, and people slept for many hours in order to get them. Some posted on ebay in an attempt to make $1000. Some are just crazy.

Then, we launched the Nintendo Wii on Sunday. Again, a line formed 24 hours in advance for the 45 units that we received. People, I have determined, are crazy.

On the homefront - everyone is sick. Josh has been coughing for a week, and now McKenna is as well. We have been pumping them full of drugs, and I think the little one is feeling better, but Josh is going to the doctor today if things don't improve. I have somehow avoided it?

Finally - I just finished my first 10 weeks of kickboxing. I am happy to report that I lost weight, and 12 inches (woohoo!) I signed up for another year, so hopefully cute little summery outfits are in my future :)

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

First solid Food

McKenna had her first non bottle meal on Saturday. I guess you can't really call rice cereal "solid" food, but it is a start. After she had her appointment with her peditrician, Dr. Bilgi, we decided it was okay to start her on solids. He recommends waiting until 6 months for cereal, then next month we get to start on veggies.

McKenna was not too excited about the whole idea. She tried to grab the spoon, and then proceeded to talk with her mouth full and get food everywhere.


I am fairly certain that more got all over me, and her face than actually went in her tummy. But we are successfully on day three and she is starting to get the hang of it!

--not too thrilled with cereal--

Saturday, November 11, 2006

6 month checkup

McKenna had her 6 month checkup yesterday, and another round of shots :( I know that they bother me more than her, but I still hate to see my little girl cry. She weighed in at 17 lbs and 25 inches long. That is between the 50th and 75th percentile for both. So - healthy girl! You are supposed to double your birth weight by 6 months and triple by 12. She is a little over double (probably because she inherited my chubby cheeks!) The doctor gave us lots of fun tips about how to introduce solids, so we are going to try some rice cereal tonight (be on the lookout for cereal covered baby pictures!)

The weather in the midwest is nuts. Three days ago I had to dig some shorts out for McKenna. I had put all her summer clothes away; but it hit almost 80 degrees here! So she wore that, the next day was kind of blah, then yesterday it snowed. What the heck? So, I packed all her summer stuff away again, and dug out the baby eskimo clothes....crazy.

--as you can see, Rylee is enjoying the fireplace with the new freezing weather--

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Halloween Part Duex

So - as promised - here are some more pictures of the halloween party we went to. My friend Scott and his brother threw a HUGE party. They own about 20 acres outside of Boone and had a bonfire. They cleared out their giant garage and had a smoke machine, blacklights, spiderwebs, bloody body parts and a bates motel sign. It was a hoot.


Here is Scott dressed as a sexy lady of the night. His pimp wife is quite embarassed. She should be used to him by now.


And after a few drinks Scott lost all sense of modisty and started flashing all the cameras. He was quite proud of his giant boobs, high heel boots, wig, and full makeup. I do believe he deserved to win. Congrats scott!