Gramma Rue's visit

As always Gramma Rue's visit went by way too quickly. She arrived this last Tuesday and stayed through Sunday. Tuesday night was kind of late and we spent it just touring the new basement catching up and then crashing from exhaustion. The next day Josh and I went to work, and Kenna was really surprised to see that Gramma Rue had been sleeping downstairs! The played all day while I worked and we just had fun at night. The same thing happened Thursday, but I did get to sneak home a little early.

Friday we went shopping in the morning picking out baby gifts for our little boy. Gramma got him a baby monitor for Christmas and a few really cute jammies. Then, we went to lunch at Mojos, one of my favorite little cafes. They use only fresh local ingredients, so you always see a new menu, and it is always good! Kenna was definitely ready for nap when we got home. So, mom and I layed around, watched TV and chatted. After lunch we got groceries and there was more playing and goofing around that night.

Saturday we decorated for Christmas while Josh helped Denny build a fence around their new propane tank. Then we went to dinner at a new place called Biaggi's. VERY yummy italian!

Sunday Gramma Rue had to leave in the morning :( We are still trying to get her to buy a little townhouse in Ankeny so she can just live here in the spring and fall...unsuccessful at this point, but we are persistent! Thanks for coming to visit Gramma Rue! We loved seeing you and can't wait till march when you come for two weeks!

--stalling till dinner came with gramma rue--

--kenna looooooves noodles, just like daddy, but cleaner!--

--saying goodbye before we go to the airport--

The basement is DONE!

Josh has been working endless hours over the last few weeks to get the basement completed for Gramma Rue's visit. His body is broken, his hands are bleeding, and I am fairly certain that some of our friends are avoiding our phone calls because of the favors we have asked of them, but the basement is done!

We still need to do some touch up paint and some final woodworking, but it looks incredible!

--bathroom phase 1--

--bathroom phase 3--

--bathroom done!--

--bathroom done again!--

--living room/game room phase 1--

--living room/game room phase 2--

--living room/game room phase 3--

--living room/game room phase 3 again--

--living room/game room done!--

--living room/game room done again!--

--guest room phase 1--

--guest room phase 2--

--guest room phase 3--

--guest room done!--

--kenna's room under the stairs phase 1--

--kenna's room under the stairs done!--

--tornado shelter/storage area done!--

Goodbye summer!!!

We have been enjoying 70-75 degree weather since the end of October! Just today the forecast calls for snow this weekend...and it seems we skipped fall right into winter :(

We have had the best couple of weekends! Halloween was wonderful! Kenna was a butterfly princess and did so well! We didn't even have to wear a coat because it was so warm. I explained to her that she got candy by ringing the doorbell and saying trick or treat. I don't think she believed me until she got to the first house and did what she was told. Her eyes were as big as saucers and she said "mommy, lets go to next house!!" It was all I could do to drag her home after we hit about 20 houses! All the kids in the neighborhood looked so cute! We had 150 glow necklaces and by the end of the night only had about 30 left! LOTS of trick-or-treaters!

Last weekend we celebrated the last nice weekend with the Andersen's. Chloe and Kenna had a blast! We had a picnic on Sunday down at Big Creek Lake. They have this HUGE wooden castle play toy. The girls played their first real game of hide and seek....quite a hoot!

For the next two weeks we are focusing most of our time on the basement. The drywall and texturing is done (pictures soon to come.) I picked out paint and Josh and I decided on carpet and a carpet installer. As soon as we are done painting, we will install the tile floor and wood floor, get plumbers out to finish the bathroom, get the carpet installed, and then it is just small details after that! Like building shelves, baseboard, installing bar, etc.

We are so excited to have the project complete and get all the junk that was downstairs out of our upstairs!!!

Toddler expressions

Josh and kenna practice their expressions on the way home from Heathers. Here are a few of her favorites:

--thoughtful--

--surprised--

--sleepy--

--shhhh, quiet--

--shy--

--mad--

--happy--

--grumpy--

--big bad wolf (she did this one on her own)--

--confused--

--crazy--

Ahhh my little actress....how silly you are!

Feeding the duckies

Last weekend was so gorgeous I was determined to go feed the ducks with kenna. I have been wanting to do this all summer...so we decided that was the day! So we gathered all the icky bread from the freezer and headed out in search of ducks.

We saw some off the DMACC campus lake. So we got out and I told kenna she had to be quiet and stay back from the water. Every time we got close they swam/flew away. So we threw a little bread in the water and then about 1000 seagulls flew in. Kenna thought that was cool, so we fed the seagulls.

--watching seafulls fly by fountain--

--there are some ducks...just ignoring us--

--notice all the bread right by the bank...she can't throw that far yet :) --

--so happy--

--more gulls and fountain--

--ripping bread it small pieces--

--"need sa more mom!"--

--she thought a seagull was chasing her--

McKenna - I so love spending these silly afternoons together....I think I have more fun than you do :)

Emmi's 1/2 marathon!

The Des Moines half marathon was quite the event. This year Emmi decided to enter and was determined to run the whole thing. We did our best to support and got there early. It was chilly so I packed coats, blankeys things to keep kenna busy and fed.

We waited at the starting line to send her off, then hurried to the next meeting point. Then, we got in the car and hurried to another meeting point, and then waited for her at the finish line. Josh had the idea of wearing my cat in the hat hat so she saw us from a mile away..literally! Was fun to watch all the runners..I couldn't believe how many people participated!

--starting point....Go EM!--

--off they go! 45 degrees and most are half naked...brrr!--

--we stopped and waited somewhere between mile 7-8--

Some crazy people were shouting the whole 30 minutes we were there and gave me a splitting headache. I also found it ironic that many people were eating doughnuts while watching people run....

--Em running towards the finish...she finished it almost 2 hours!--

I am glad we got to go support her! We went to breakfast at Perkins where Emmi had some giant waffles and immediately threw them up :( Well, she did just run 13 miles!!!!

Nolan's birthday

Two weeks ago was Nolan's (Nolo's) first birthday. It was unseasonably warm, so Shelly had the party outside. We ate loose meat sandwiches, potatoes, fruit salad and of course cake!

On the way over a tragedy occurred. Kenna was wearing a pretty blue dress and fell down and scraped her knee...pretty badly. It bled, and she had never had a scratch that bad before. After about an hour of babying it with a wet washcloth, I snuck the washcloth away and she was okay, but there were a lot of tears for the first bit!

--singing happy birthday...loudly--

--not sure what to think about that cake...doesn't like his hat much--

--hey this isn't so bad :) --

--kenna making funny faces at the dinosaur--

--patiently waiting for dunner with a cheeto appetizer--

--what a mess!--

--wow, look at the gifts!--

--we think he liked kenna's gift...we know she liked it when she was one!--

What a fun time, even with the injury. I can't believe Nolan is one already!

Happy Birthday Nolan!

Toddlers say the darndest things

I need to be better about writing all the cute things kenna says.

Lately she has a few favorite phrases:

"No, I DO IT!"
"Kenna's turn"
"Not time for (leaving, bath, bedtime) yet!"
"I get the candy!!" (after she goes potty)
"mommy will take it away!" (when she is doing something naughty)
"dese are all my fwends" (talking about people on TV, her animals, things in her book, pretty funny!)
"I no go to Headers (heather's) I stay home wit mommy!"

Everything with S's are pronounced with a yu sound. For example "yurt" (shirt) "yous" (shoes) you get the idea.

Every morning the same thing:
mommy: "Kenna, what do you want for breakfast?"
kenna: "hmmm, oatmeal, and banana, and juice and vinamin (vitamin)"

Funniest thing this morning. I am eating my breakfast and Kenna exclaims "oh no mommy, I have a problem!" She had spilled some oatmeal on her jammies, so I cleaned it up. Then in the cutest most concerned voice "oh no mommy, I have a BIG problem!" She spilled it on her chair and bib...pretty hilarious!

Fun days at daycare

Last week was Braden's last day at day care. McKenna and Braden started going to Heather's at about the same time, so it was sad to say goodbye. His family is moving, so Heather got a picture of all the kids together! How she did it, I have no idea!!

--kenna, cole, heather, nick (kenna calls him nicky), braden, wyatt and jenna--

It sounds like there is a little boy that is starting next week that is kenna's age, so they will probably have a great time together!

A few weeks ago Kenn'a friend Braden moved so they had a couple pictures of all the kids taken. I can't believe that Heather got them all to sit still! She is such a great nanny!