Daycare Christmas

I am so behind on blogging - tis the season. I will do my best to catch up without leaving anything out! On December 15th we attended the daycare christmas. We got to meet Braden and Abby's parents, along with their brothers and sisters. Braden is 6 weeks younger than McKenna, and Abby is 6 weeks older. We had snacks, drinks and watched the kids open their presents! McKenna got a zebra bouncer sit and spin. She is still a little young for it, but it is really cute! She opened the present almost all by herself!

--Here is what Nanny Heather got McKenna for Christmas--

--Everyone opening their presents at once!--

--Braden is 6 weeks younger than McKenna, he is just watching--

--Abby is the other baby Heather watches, 6 weeks older than McKenna--

--Here is McKenna opening her first present ever!--

Promised Pictures

Here are the pictures from the Mowrer reunion as promised:

--Family portrait, sans crazy glasses--

--Oh boy.....what a picture--

Reunion

On Sunday we went to a family reunion at Gona and Baca's house. There we got to meet lots of family from Edna's side (Mowrers.) Her brothers children and their children were in attendance. We snacked on finger foods and mingled. McKenna took just an hour nap for the entire day (she was a tired girl that night.) There were fabulous door prizes; I took home a Christmas ornament and fan from China. Gona also bought what seemed like hundreds of those goofy glasses with plastic noses and mustaches. Everyone wore one (including McKenna) for pictures. As soon as I receive the photo I will post it. Poor Kade scalded his tongue on hot cocoa. After layering on a mound of marshmallows and whipped cream, there was no way to tell how hot it was. He actually got blisters in his mouth from it! I've had that happen from soup before - no fun!

Work is becoming more crazy as the days go by. It seems that many people have lost the sense of what Christmas is supposed to be. Everyone hustling, spending money, arguing over prices, or items in stock. I wish I could put it in perspective for them.......sigh.

We are counting down the days until we get to see gramma and grampa rue. Less than two weeks left and we can hardly wait! I shipped a few packages of presents home. I ordered one for my mom and had it shipped UPS. Because I was hurrying to submit the order, I transposed two numbers in our address. I shipped it in my name. When the UPS guy couldn't find the address I wrote, he accessed his database (who knows what is in there) and it told them that the resident had moved to Pullman! Somehow they (a) thought Brandi = Brandon and (b) thought it would be better to ship the package, hoping that it was me, rather than call me to verify the address. Silly UPS. Long story short - the package made it to Brandon in Pullman - guess he will bring it home when he comes home for Christmas!

McKenna and Santa

Two days ago we ran errands ALL day. McKenna was quite the trooper. After the post office, grocery store, Target, the mall, and Kohls, we stopped to visit Santa. While most kids sat on his lap, watched mom walk away, and then freak out, McKenna just sat there and looked bored. She watched me walk away, pulled at his beard, then looked on like she had better things to do.

--McKenna expressionless...next year will be a little more scary I think--

If you want to see some other funny Christmas pictures with santa, check out this link:

Funny Santa Pics

Smallville

In case you have never met me - I am a HUGE superman fan. This season of Smallville is just starting to get exciting, right before they take 4 weeks off for Christmas break. Here is a teaser that I can't help but get really excited about!

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--

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!!

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.

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 :)

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--

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--

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!

Trick or Treat

So I don't have a lot of time to write about the party we went to right now, but I will update with details and more pix later. All I can say is man did we have fun! McKenna was sporting her bumble bee outfit on the trip over to gona and baca's. They were kind enough to babysit while we went to my friend Scott's Halloween party.


We dressed up as white trash. Josh has been growing his beard out for weeks (he is SOOO glad to have shaved it off! He is sporting a mullet, fake teeth, very short shorts, dirty fingernails and a tshirt that says "free mustache rides." I am dressed in a tshirt that says "mess with me, and you mess with the whole trailer park, giant hoop earrings, full arm tattoos, ripped collar to expose my aerosmith tattoo, a black eye, cigarette, beer, and I am supposed to look 9 months pregnant.


Here is a close up, aren't we a cute couple?


More on the party later - HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!

Kitchen Project

Josh has been interested in woodworking for quite a long time. It has taken all my energy over the past year just to stop him from buying a new tool each week. He has really done some amazing projects lately, and I had to put them up here to brag about.

When we moved into our house last year we LOVED the view, layout, and location. But I was not so happy about the kitchen. In fact, I hated it. Flesh colored walls, small cabinets, a BLUE countertop? The house was custom built with beautiful floors, fixtures, woodworking, etc. It looks like they ran out of money and threw a kitchen together.


So, we kept looking but came back to this house for a second look. We decided we love the house, lets gut the kitchen and start over! Before I moved to Iowa Josh ripped out all the cabinets and applainces. He repainted the entire room and ripped out the flooring in the kitchen. He converted the laundry room, that is off to the left in the above picture, to a pantry. He moved the laundry room into our walk in closet upstairs in our bedroom. We also coordinated over the phone and chose cabinets and countertops. Here is the end result:


I loved the new kitchen. We did all the tile ourselves. And, along with the help of a good friend, Josh hung all the cabinets and installed the counters. I purchased all the appliances with my lovely discount at Best Buy. The only part Josh didn't like about our kitchen was the wall he had to build for the bar. He said it didn't flow between rooms, and he didn't like the drywall. So he created a design on the computer, bought wood and stain, and made the bar flow better:


I love the result. He is so talented! And the best part is, he loves working in his shop. I will post some other pictures of what he has done later. Here is the kitchen from another angle:

St. Louis

SO in my neverending attempt to be away from home as much as possible - I went on ANOTHER trip for work. We went to the territory meeting in St. Louis and had a lot of fun! Flew down Tuesday night with my jobshare partner Lindsay. We stayed in a very nice hotel, newly remodeled doubletree and ate dinner at a japanese steakhouse (the kind where they fling your food around.) Had shrimp and steak with my entire District 4 team (probably about 30 people.) That night we stayed out way too late. The Cardinals were in the running for a spot in the world series, so every place we went all eyes were glued to the television.

The next day we went to the meeting at the Sheriton. Food was fabulous, speakers were impactful. We speant most of the meeting talking about how to improve the employee experience and retention. I like where we are going with this. I had to stand up and talk to the 300+ people about jobshare and how it was going. Lots of people are very excited about the idea. We could possibly be changing the company!


Josh and McKenna went to Aunti Ems. Josh is a little behind at work so he worked late while McKenna played with her cousins. This is a picture I took the other day of Rylee and McKenna. She LOVES watching Rylee and Sam!

While Mom's away...

This last week I went to General Manager's University in Minneapolis. It was very cool to see the corporate campus for a week. Over 5000 employees work there. There is a dry cleaner, car detailer, movie theater, and day care all inside the main building. There is also a mini-store in the basement, where new ideas are tested. I learned a lot about running my own store, and some interesting points on the financial impact of various factors of the business. I had a great time with Scott, another manager from my store. We checked out the flagship store - Best Buy's biggest and first store. We also had many interesting dining experiences including magianos, a family style italian restaurant - YUM. But, I could not wait to get home.

Apparently Josh and McKenna had a great time while I was gone. While I was in Minneapolis the temperature decided to drop 30 degrees. I didn't even bring a coat and I had to scrape the windshield there! I guess fall is over, and winter is here. So, with winter comes the bundling of the baby. Josh did a great job of keeping McKenna warm in her travels.


Here is a picture he took of her eating her high chair.


She also speant a lot of time playing with her jungle toy


I can't believe how much I missed my family. Normally work trips are a blast! We get to go out, play cards, pretty much have a great time at the expence of work. By about the 2nd day both Scott and I were ready to come home. We both really missed our families. Guess we are growing up!

McKenna is really getting quite the personality. She is so vocal now squeaking and screaming. She gets so excited and surprises herself by the noises she makes. She is getting very good at using her hands; much more coordinated. She is growing so fast, already 5 months old!

Dancing Machine

I am in Minneapolis and bored. I saw this online and had to post it.

Rollin Rollin Rollin

YAY! She did it. After weeks of practicing, McKenna finally rolled over on her own. It is mostly my fault; because, ever since she was born she's hated tummy time. So, I never put her on her tummy much. Over the last few weeks we have been trying more and more and she finally rolled tummy to back a few days ago. Although this is very exciting, it also means that she is now mobile and so it begins. The days of me setting her in one spot and her staying there are over. The next milestone will be sitting. She already loves to sit/stand whenever possible, with assistance. After a long day of rolling over she passed out on the sofa - must be nice!

Aunti Ems

McKenna has been spending a lot of time at Auntie Ems. When Josh picks her up from daycare he likes to go visit family. Nobody can make McKenna laugh like her cousin Kade. He does an amazing bunny hop that makes her giggle. Its fun to see them get older together. In this picture Kade loaned McKenna his socks, because she forgot to bring hers.

Tailgating

This weekend we had Gona, Baca, Emmi, Mark, Kade, Damon and Shelly over for a tailgating party. We wanted to celebrate our recent upgrade to high-def cable by watching the iowa vs ohio state game. We finally got to use our plasma tv in wonderful high definition. You could see the nosehairs on the players...you haven't watched football until you've seen player's nosehairs.

Needless to say iowa lost (sigh.) But it gave me a great excuse to make shish ka bobs, burgers, dogs, and try a new veggie dip.

Kickboxing is still going well. Dragging myself out of bed at 4:45 everyday has been difficult, but I am sure that it will be well worth it. I already feel a lot better!

Gramma Rue

Last Thursday Gramma Rue came for a weeklong visit. We picked her up on Thursday night and she got to stay for a whole week. We had so much fun. We went to the Des Moines farmers market, went to Gona and Baca's house for dinner, shopped at Jordan Creek Mall and Valley Junction, went to Hickory Park for her birthday and went to Perry to visit Grandma and Grandpa great and to ride in the combine.

Over the weekend McKenna got really fussy. We were certain she was teeting. She was drooling, cranky, and seemed overly sensitive to having her gums touched. But here it is a week later, and no teeth, so who knows!

On Monday Gramma Rue got to babysit while I had to go to work. Lots of time reading, playing, napping and eating. I think the best part of the visit was that McKenna really got coordinated with her hands while Gramma Rue was here. I'm pretty sure all the attention she got really helped! Although she lives so far away it is so nice that a quick 6 hours and she can come visit! We sure had a great time!

Block party

This weekend was really busy! Saturday morning I had a fitness evaluation to ensure I was okay to participate in my kickboxing class. Passed with flying colors! So for the next ten weeks I am getting up at 5:30 every day to go to kickboxing! I know I'm nuts!

Later that evening we went to our annual block party. They rent a bouncy gym for the little kids and everyone on our street brings a potluck dish. We met a lot of nice people. Now that we have McKenna, gives us a shared interest to talk to other parents about. We met a couple people with kids her age, so that was fun!

Sunday we lounged around in the morning and did chores, and that evening went to cheesecake factory (one of my favorite restraunts) with Damon and Shelly.

McKenna had her four month appointment yesterday. I can't believe she is already 4 months old!! Time is flying! She is 14 lbs and 24.5 inches. Both totally normal for her age. I believe both in the 50th percentile. She received her second set of shots, which is VERY hard for me to handle. I hate to see her cry like that, with nothing I can do. She was feverish and cranky all day. She does seem to be fairing a little better today!


My cousin, Megan, had her baby Isabella. She was born september 9th at 5:36am. She weighed 7 pounds and 9 ounces. It is AMAZING how similar to Megan she looks!!! CONGRATS MEGAN!

Rock on

On Tuesday this week I went back to work. Although it was really hard for me to leave my baby all day, it is nice to be back. I am only working three days a week, and I didn't realize how much fun my job was until I got back! I am also very happy with McKenna's nanny, so that puts my mind at ease.

On Thursday we got to go to a concert that I have been looking forward to for years! Journey and Def Leppard! It was awesome. I tried to buy tickets the minute they went on sale, and I was disappointed because only the balcony seats were left. But, I was just happy to go, and bought six tickets for Scott, Melissa, John and his friend as well as Josh and I.

The day of the concert I was working and in stumbled a very drunk stage hand from Def Leppard. He bought a laptop and starting chatting with Scott. In true Scott style he got the guy to arrange back stage passes for us! So, after work, we all met at a restraunt and then headed over to the venue. At will call we learn that the person arranging for our passes was drunk and passed out backstage. So - no back stage passes....bummer. But, to make it up to us, they gave us seats in the second row, center stage! Personally, even being a HUGE Def Leppard fan, I would rather have the seats then meet the group. It was one of the most amazing concerts I have ever been to. It ranks up there with Dave Matthews at the Gorge and Aerosmith. Journey was surprisingly great as well! I will post pictures as soon as we get them!

I had never seen Journey before, but their lead singer was very hot (sure he is not the original singer.) We were also impressed at the keyboardist. At one time he was playing a grand piano, a keyboard and a guitar. You can tell these guys have been doing this for a long time. Their base guitar player was amazing, but definately had seen better days. He was the only one out of the group that really showed his age. Def Leppard had some great talent too. They had a skinny guy that changed guitars at every song, a one-armed drummer that played with his feet as well, and a base guitar player that we were pretty sure was a girl until about the third song. But aside from their looks....really amazing!!! The highlight of the evening was the encore of "pour some sugar on me." I am sure it must be the highlight of a musicians career when a sold out coliseum of fans knows the words and sings along to your song.

Labor Day weekend

What an adventure: The Skinner's headed to Seattle for Brian and Rika's wedding. We left on Thursday night to drive to Kansas City. We speant the night with Chad, Tara and Chloe and had a great time. The girls weren't really aware of eachother's existance yet, but McKenna had a blast playing with the new toys. Chad and Josh played Halo until the wee hours of the morning. We caught a plane to Denver at 11am and arrived in Seattle at 3pm. McKenna was an angel. She only got a little fussy during the first takeoff. After that she slept, ate, or played the entire time.

In Seattle we stayed with Chuck and Sam in thier new townhouse. It is very nice and very them :) It was nice to catch up and play card and board games with them again. We had a welcome back BBQ on Friday and almost all of our old Seattle friends made it. Then Saturday morning Gramma and Grampa Rue, and aunti chelsey drove up. We played and went to UW so Chelsey could look around and to get a backdrop for her senior pictures.

That evening we went to Brian and Rika's wedding in Bellevue. It was a beautiful wedding. It was held in an old house overlooking blueberry gardens. The food, drinks and company were all fantastic! Sam speant days preparing 50 little cakes for the event. We speant the previous evening frosting and decorating them. I am sure she had no idea what she was getting into, but they turned out perfectly!Sunday we hug out with gramma and grampa some more. We went to breakfast at thier hotel while Josh slept in from a long night of playing cards. We visited the UW bookstore to buy McKenna her first UW outfit. We also drove by our old Shoreline house to see if they had changed anything. Then Jason came over and we played games all night again.We had to get up really early on Monday to fly home, but even after two plane flights and a three hour drive, McKenna was still in good spirits! What a little travelor!!!

First road trip

This weekend was so much fun! We went to Wisconsin to visit Josh's Aunt Janice and Uncle Tim. I had a meeting in Minneapolis on Friday regarding jobshare. So, I got up early and drove to Minneapolis with Char (district HR manager.) That was 4 hours one way, had a 3 hour meeting and drove back. Then I met Josh and McKenna and we drove another 5 hours to Wisconsin. In the fog and the dark we got lost and somehow ended up 10 miles off course in Madison. I am SO glad we did! Madison is basically like the Seattle of the midwest. Beautiful buildings, trees, water, rolling hills (sorta like mountains :) and of all places we ended up in the U district. The University of Wisconsin (UW) is gorgeous. Realizing that we had a tierd, fussy baby and that we had at least an hour to get there, we opted to stay in a hotel that night. We slept really well and made it to Lodi the next morning. We had the BEST time! I got to meet Jennie (cousin) and Josh's other aunt and uncle on his dad's side (Billy and Ellen.) Emmi, Mark, Kade and Tali came later that morning as well. We got to see their beautifully decorated condo that is right on the water of Lake Wisconsin. Then we all went boating after having lunch at the local fish place called Fitz's. Emmi and Tali waterskiied, and Kade, Mark and Josh went tubing. We took turns watching McKenna back at home while she took a nap. That night we had brats and burgers and somehow managed to fit everyone around the dinner table! After dinner we talked and plotted to set up Logan (Tim and Janice's son) with our friend Cyndi (who was recently on the reality show the ultimate coyote ugly.) The next morning we had fritatta, biscuits, and a great time talking about Janice's nursing experiences in Vietnam. We left midmorning to get back at a decent hour. Next time I think we need to stay a week! What fun!!!

Growing up

McKenna was feeling a little under the weather yesteday, but seems to be doing a little better today. My pysical therapy is over. I got discharged today with a clean bill of health. He says I need to continue stretching, and if my tendon bothers me again, to come see him.

We are packing for our weekend trip to Wisconsin to visit Tim and Janice. I was going through McKenna's closet and putting away all her 0-3M stuff when I came across some of my old dresses. The first one is a ducky dress that she was very happy with. As far as the pink one is concerned, it doesn't look like she is quite as pleased. I thought we better try them on before they are too small! I can't believe she is growing so fast! We are almost in size 2 diapers and can only wear a few of her 0-3 outfits...time flies!