Sunday, November 28, 2010

Thanksgiving

This year, as usual, we went to Gona and Baca's for Thanksgiving :) This year was fun, because we told Kenna and Zachary about the new baby the night before Thanksgiving. So, we told Kenna that she could tell everyone at dinner. Well, that didn't last long, and as soon as she saw Auntie Em, she had to tell her that "My mommy is having a baby!" Auntie Em said..."I'm not sure I'm supposed to know that!" She had fun telling everyone else as well and we were just glad not to have that secret looming over us anymore :)

The turnout was great this year! Gona, Baca, our family, Aunti Em, Mark, Kade, Nikki and Tali (girls had to leave before dinner), Bridgot, Mike, AJ, Colton, Heather and her sister Sydney and Grandma Great. Great dinner and after the kids went down for nap we had the farkle tournament. This year Colton was the winner! 


--lounging before dinner, kenna never holding still-- 

--getting ready for big family picture-- 

--Em's family-- 

--Heather at one of the farkle tables-- 

--winners table--

The rest of this weekend we are going to spend decorating for Christmas, shopping, and getting our Christmas tree. Nice low key weekend before heading back to work! I am welcoming the break after the crazy black friday workday!!!

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Big Announcement

As you may have seen by the ticker above...we are expecting our third little one this June! We have moved past the shock phase and are in full blown excitement mode! We hope to find out what it is in a few weeks and will keep you all informed! I now know why I have been so tired lately! We are going through analyzing who will get what bedroom...how will we fit three car seats in my Murano...and how can I envision my little Zachey as a big brother??

Fun and excitement coming our way soon!!!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Little House?

On the way home from Eski's we drive through an older part of town. The houses are very simple and Kenna just noticed them.

Kenna: Mommy, why are those houses so small?
Mommy: Well lots of people have different sized houses. Maybe only a mommy and daddy live there with no kids.
Kenna: No kids! Well they better have some kids!
Mommy: Well maybe they aren't able to have kids, or their kids are all grown up?
Kenna: But kids help parents decorate
Mommy: (laughing) well that is true, but not everyone has kids honey.
Kenna: Well, they should so they can keep the parents company.

What a sweet girl!!

Sunday, November 21, 2010

So Busy

Its not that we don't have anything going on - which may explain the absence of blogger-ness...but actually quite the opposite! Last week I had a 19 hour day for work, and this has been the norm for both Josh and I the last few weeks. We have a constant dance of who can get the kids tonight, get them to activities, take them to school...it has been crazy. Accompany that with me not feeling so great the last few days, and trying to cram in my last few clients before the end of the semester, its been busy! At least I finished my xmas shopping with a power shopping spree last weekend :)

The kids have been getting really fun. They are constantly picking on each other, but are able to go play quietly by themselves or together for an extended period of time. Zachey is getting quite chatty and can say probably 40-50 words with his own dialect. I promise that I will be better about updating..but in the meantime we have just been extremely busy living the life!

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Tarzan Song

As we were driving back from the library today, something by Genesis was playing on the radio. Kenna says "hey mom...is this the tarzan song?" I had to laugh because Phil Collins sings the theme song of Tarzan (the disney version.) I laughed and had to explain that some singers sing a lot of songs. Nice job little one :)

On a heavier note, Zachey thinks that picking on his sister is hilarious. Hitting, taking her toys, whatever. We officially started time outs and they have been rather effective! Sorry little man!!!

Sunday, November 07, 2010

Fall Photos

Every year we try to get the kids Halloween pictures taken and do a fall family session as well. This year turned out great! We got an 18 month 20x20 canvas of Kenna and we narrowed down a few cute shots for Zachey as well :)

Hope you enjoy!

--he looks so tough in this photo!--


--was so hard to get him to pose/hold still!--




--love my handsome boys!--














 --poor kenna sat so still! She held this pose for about 10 minutes while Candice took about 50 photos where Zachey was goofy in almost every one!--


--one of the canvas contenders...look at those eyes!--

--another one I liked. I was throwing him in the air and he loved it!--

Sure you will see one or a combination of these on our Christmas card! I think my kids are the cutest things in the world..but I am slightly biased :)

Saturday, November 06, 2010

Fun Dinner Night and Kosama stats

Last night we were invited to Andersen's for dinner. It was a simple gathering, but we had so much fun! Stones came as well! It was fun to have all 6 kids playing and we were able to have adult conversation. We were attempting to eat healthy because both Tara and I had our Kosama measurements this morning.

It was so fun holding little Katie. She just hit 6 months old and is so very cute and well behaved! She literally jumped in the bouncer for like an hour! How fun!!!

This morning we were awakened by our smoke alarms. They just beeped a few times (probably a bad battery somewhere) but Kenna ran screaming into my room! I have never heard her run so fast or scream so loud (poor thing!) After a few reassuring cuddles, she snuggled in bed with us and never went back to sleep.

So after we got up and had breakfast I headed to Kosama to see how the last 10 weeks had worked out. I was really happy! I lost 12 lbs and 3% body fat. I think that the measurements were skewed when it came to the inch measurements....they said I lost 6 inches on my waist, 2 on my hips, 2 on my thigh and 1 on my arm....I think they were squeezing the tape measure a little tighter this time than last, because my clothes don't fit THAT much differently :) I am very proud of the work I have done over the last 10 weeks. We signed up for another 6 months and am very excited about it!

Parent Teacher Conference

On Thursday we got to go to our first parent teacher conferences! We met with Mrs. Betsy at 8:30 on Thursday morning. She could not say enough good things about McKenna. She told us that in 3 months she had already advanced to the second year curriculum in some modules.

There are 6 curricula that Kenna can choose from daily: practical life/art, sensorial, math, language (reading/writing), cultural (general, botany, zoology, geography, time/history) and peace. Kenna spends a lot of time in practical life and art. But she is pretty balanced across all of the topics. Montessori philosophy allows students to choose what they work on and the instructoress will encourage them to move onto more advanced topics if they are ready. What I LOVE about this school is that they log everything that each child does and they are measured against their own progress.

We are SOOO proud of Kenna. Mrs. Betsy just loves her and was very impressed at her desire to learn, ability to get along with others and leadership ability. We sat there and were the typical glowing parents.

Kenna - we are SO proud of you and the hard work you are doing. I hope you continue to have this hunger for learning throughout your life! Good job little one!

Trick or Treat!!


Oh what a beautiful night for Trick or Treating!!! Our cul-de-sac started a food tradition last year. We block the cul-de-sac and set up a few giant tents. Then we all bring food (this year was chili) and our candy to the "booth." Then we socialize, eat, take the kids trick or treating, and let all the kids come to the tent rather than all of us hanging out in our houses by ourselves :) 

This year Josh was scrambling the day before because he heard that people at work were dressing up. He went to the costume store at like 9pm and picked up a fancy vampire outift. That morning I got out some eyeshadow and put it above and under his eyes. He really looked good! Much to his dismay, like 3 people in his whole company dressed up.....oops! And to make matters worse, he played raquetball that afternoon and didn't take off the makeup. Between the sweat and eyeshadow his eyes were KILLING him by the end of the game...double oops!

On "Beggar's Night" (saturday) we brought our chili and candy to the tent, and got the kids ready to get some candy!
--daddy and kenna--
 --Zachey and Kenna--

--our neighbor Megan, and Doug in the background dressed as a pirate too!--

--Megan, Gannon and Kalen--

--Kenna and Chloe--

Anderson's came over to go trick or treating. Their neighborhood is a little smaller with less kids. We went around two full blocks which took about an hour! The little ones, Lucy and Zachey, really got it by the end! They walked up and picked a piece of candy and put it in their bag! I don't think that Zachey knew what the candy was, but he sure knew what the suckers were!! What fun :)

Soccer Party

Last Saturday was Kenna's last soccer game. So, her coach threw a fun pizza party on Friday night. The team got together, ate pizza and cupcakes and pretty much destroyed coach Kristy's house. Josh had to work late, so I took Zachey and Kenna. The girls basically ran all over, screamed, made an incredible mess, and had a fun time. She had such a great and understanding coach!
--starting their sugar high--

--yay for pizza!--

School Party


Last Friday Kenna had a fun Fall Party at school. Ms. Betsy asked all of the children to dress up like their favorite book character (not something from movies or TV.) We looked through all of Kenna's books and thought that we could put something together for Princess Polly and the Pea (one of her favs :)
--princess Polly--

 --to make sure that everyone knew Kenna was not just any princess, we painted a pea on one of her cheeks--

--and a pea pod on the other--

It sounds like she had a great time! The decorated a book bag and had snacks. I don't know how they handled 60+ kids, but sure it was a blast!