Christmas 2010

I baaaaackkk...well, I hope so! So very sorry for the long absence. Since I last blogged, we bought a house and moved and lots of other things! We got a new computer since out last one stopped working. We have an iMac and we loooove it! It makes everything like uploading pics and what not so much easier and faster!!

I have uploaded a lot of Christmas pics from my new camera which has a built in usb port that plugs directly into the computer. Cool, right? I have a whole lot more pics, but they are in my big camera and we can't find the cable to connect it to the computer right now. So enjoy these for now and stay tuned for more!

Below is Makk posing in front of our tree in her Christmas p.j. shirt which was so cute that I let her wear it as a real shirt.

Below is our advent calendar. Makk would move the star each day, with my help. I would say, "Makk, let's go do our calendar!" Then she would run over to it and pull out the star!
This is her own little tree that we put her ornaments on. It's a little sparse now, but will be filled eventually with her specialty ornaments such as her Holiday Barbie.
So I was trying to print out some pics from Walgreens since Sam's Club was broken. We had a little time to kill, so we went to Albertsons. Makk saw the buckles in this cart and so we had to ride around in it. She loooved it!!


Here is our annual pic with Santa!!!! Makk actually walked over to him on her own and allowed him to pick her up. She kept pursing her lips and this was the best one, but Santa's eyes were closed. We did practice before this. Several times while we were at the mall, we would walk by and wave. I guess it worked! She was never scared of him.
This is while we were waiting to see Santa.
Here she is rolling around on the floor. She tries to act like Molly, her furry cousin, who rolls around everywhere. I totally made the dress she is wearing by myself, and I'm very proud! I sewed it all by myself , but Grandmom gave me lots of pointers.
She loved putting a straw in Pops' mouth!
This is Christmas morning at our house seeing what Santa brought. I don't have very many pics, mainly video.
She got some bath crayons which she loved and you can see the markings in the background.
Here we are at Granny Nic's Christmas in Loving, Tx. She is Makk's only surviving Great great grandma! Teri wanted to wrap Makk up and take her home! Good thing I never turned my back on them two! ;)


We do a huge Chinese Christmas each year, and all the presents are on stage. Makk decided she needed on stage to be front center of all the attention!
Riding on a saddle.
Makk with Granny Mart and Granny Nic. Believe it or not, this is the best pic I got!
Her trampoline Makk got from GiGi and Pops! One of those awesome Back Friday deals at Sam's. Makk looooves it!!
Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and will have a happy New Year filled with many blessings!!!

The Eyes of Texas are Upon You....

Well, we're a little disappointed, but I'm going to go ahead and put up these pics. Only because I think Makk looks soooo adorable! This top one is my absolute fave pic in a while! We watched the game at my grandparent's house where 5 OU fans, who I happen to be related to, were also there watching. We all kept it nice and loving, but it was a little embarrassing we lost!

Can you see the curls? It's always hard to capture in pics, but I was hoping you could see them!

She is wearing UT Squeaker shoes we found at UT back in March when Brady and I went down there for our anniversary.

Again, this child loves to read! The teacher in me is cheering!!

I love this beautiful little girl!!

What happened to September?

I am not sure where September went. So sorry that I haven't blogged in such a long time! I have several coming up. Here are some play pics of Makenna. I do have lots of updating to do, but I will do that over the next few blogs.
Makenna and her GiGi playing and having lots of fun!

Makk and I go to Sikes Lake a few times a week to walk around. This was one of the first times we went to just feed the ducks and Makk liked running on the bridge.

Feeding the ducks. She loves to say the word duck and to quack. She used to combine duck and quack, but now she has separated them again.

We still had Makk's bday gift cards, so we bought her a Cozy Coup when it went on sale. She looooves to sit in in and read books. Sometimes she wants the floor in, and other times she wants you to take it out so she can push herself backwards in it. She is reading her fave book above, Fish Kisses.

She sure does love her car! She also likes to beep the horn, and she likes to say the word beep using the hand motions. She learned it from The Wheels on the Bus song.

Repulsive Friday

I think I may try to do a new thing now called Repulsive/Impulsive Fridays. I will either share something repulsive from the week or impulsive. From the title, you may guess that something repulsive happened. All week Makk has had yummy issues and very runny diapers. On Monday when it began, we had to change outfits a couple of times. The first exlosion happened on Mommy and Daddy's bed. I didn't see anything on the bed....until 3 days later! Her poo has been yellow, but if she leaked on her clothes, it just looked wet and had no color. Each night when I get in bed, Brady is already There and the lights are off. Yesterday I was digging through the bed to find a book I had thrown up there away from Makk. As I was digging, I saw the yellow spots, several of them including on the pillow case! I had been sleeping on that for 3 nights!!!! Needless to say I yanked those sheets off so fast, sprayed the spots with Dreft, then washed them in my Clorox 2 and Tide. I have never felt so dirty, even when I accidently stuck my finger in her pooey diaper!

Today I had my first sub job. It was in kindergarten. It was fine, but totally different from my almost 3rd graders I just left! One little girl told me she loved me, and I did get several hugs. I felt I made great connections with an awesome staff and will hopefully be busy with more jobs!

Now I'm headed to bed because I am beat! Even after the little nap I had to take when I got home!

16 Months

I'm a day late posting this. I got so busy yesterday ironing, groccery shopping, laundry, etc.

Makenna, you are now 16 months old. You weigh about 21-22 pounds. You wear size 12 mo sill. Some clothing is sized 12-18 mo and you wear it, but it is a little big. There are so many things you have learned to do in the last few weeks. You can say about 30 words and phrases. This includes naming some alphabet letters. You can look at a "E" and say what it is, along with a few others. You can also look at a letter and make that sound. Your two favorite letters to look at and sound out are the M and the F. Yesterday you had your very first visit to McDonald's. You had the chicken nuggets and apple sticks. You ate maybe a 1/4 of your meal. When you looked at the Happy Meal box, you saw the M arches and started going "mmmmmmm" for the sound an M makes. You really loved your toy. It was a litle Madame Alexander doll. You kept petting her and saying "baby." You love sound effects too. Yor newest sound/word is saying "ouch" when you bump yourself on something or fall down. You actually growl the word. You like to growl a lot! You really have had a language explostion this last month.

You actually follow directions very well. When I ask you to look at Mommy, you always look. We've been practicing putting your dirty clothes in your hamper. When Momma asks you to do this, you carry them into your closet and throw them in. Then I ask you to close the door and you shut it until you hear it click. If I say, "Give this to Daddy," you carry the object through the house until you find Daddy. Not only do you listen so well to Mommy and Daddy, you usually obey too, but not all the time! You can be VERY headstrong at times, well, all the time! My favorite is when we are about to eat and I say let's pray, then you put your hands together in prayer form. It makes my heart melt! I hope and pray that you will one day love Jesus and trust in Him.

It has been very cute watching you learn habits from Mommy and Daddy and mimicking them. This last week you have enjoyed getting a hanger and an article of clothing, and trying to hang it on a hanger. You haven't succeeded yet, but when you do, you will be a very big help! But you know the purpose and concept. Yesterday you picked up a piece of paper off the ground and went and threw it in the trash without me telling you to. You just knew it was trash and it belonged in the trash can. And maybe you learned this one from Mommy and Daddy, but you will pick up a book, sit in your chair, and flip through the pages "reading" it for very long periods of time. We are so excited you have a love for books! Right now your favorite books are No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, Elmo books, Jesus Loves Me, and Fish Kisses. There are many more you enjoy reading, but those are the ones we read the most.

You are very active! You have to always be moving! The only time you sit quietly for any length of time is while reading. You love to climb, spin in circles, log roll on the floor, jump, swim, and run run run! You also love to jump on beds like the monkeys do. We sing a lot and many of our songs have actions such as the Monkeys on the bed and If you're happy and you know it.

You're favorite foods are fruit (especially blueberries, strawberries, mandarine oranges, grapes), cheese of any kind, cereal bars, multigrain cheerios, yogurt melts, gerber fruit snacks, goldfish, most crackers, black beans, rice, all pasta, sausage, corn, toast with grape or strawberry jelly, and that is all I can think of right now. You have started eating raw broccoli the last week and enjoyed it too.

You bring us so much happiness and we couldn't possible ask for a sweeter little girl!

I have many cute pics to post, but I have to find my cord that hooks my camera to the computer.

The Last Night

Tonight is officially the last night I am spending in my first home. It is a sad, but exciting time as we embark on this crazy and unpredictable journey. Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers, we still need them. I will miss North Richland Hills and the friends we made here. I will miss my wonderful team I taught with at such a wonderful school. Eagle Ridge will always be like a home to me. I will miss this wonderful street of Irongate Dr. I loved the friends I made here, the street parties and parades, and the support when Makenna was born. This was her first home and it saddens me that she will never remember it, but hopefully the pictures will speak a thousand words and show her how wonderful her first year of her life was here.

Now we move on to the next chapter of our lives. Don't know what it involves and that scares me to death because I like to be in control. For once, I am totally not in control. I am learning to be humble and dependent on God through this season of uncertainty. But through all the uncertainty that lies ahead such as a job for me, where will we live, etc, I can be certain of this: I have a wonderful Heavenly Father who loves me so much, I have a loving and supportive husband, a beautiful healthy daughter, and a LOT of extended family who loves us unconditionally and is very supportive of us and always willing to lend a helping hand. Of all these things I am very thankful.

Fun with Friends!

Well, I didn't get the job I had interviewed for, but it's okay. I think I need to learn some more Spanish! Makenna and I have spent a lot of this week in North Richland Hills, packing up the house since we are closing in 13 days!

We had a play date today with our neighbor Ella. They had so much fun playing babies and dress-up. Makenna was actually feeding a bottle to a baby doll! She was able to easily put the nipple in its mouth easily. It's like she knew exactly what to do when she picked up the baby and bottle! It was so neat watching her play. Ella tried to dress Makk up, but she wasn't as interested in that. Makenna even was saying Ella's name today!

We also visited Moni and Makk didn't want to leave her! It kinda broke my heart to see how much Makk had missed Moni and how much she loved her! Makk would have stayed the night with Moni had I let her! But they are planning to have a play date just them two this Saturday when we are moving stuff, which will be very helpful!

I'm pretty proud of my packing efforts. Almost my entire kitchen is already packed! Everything just about is off the walls, curtains down....It looks pretty empty and sad! I still need a job in WF, and we're not quite sure about where we will live. So we're (mainly me because Brady is always laid back and full of faith) really praying for a peace about the job and home situation that something will happen real soon. I am sad that I only have 13 days or so left that ties me to here in NRH. It has been our home for 3 years, and the only home Makk has ever known. I'll definitely miss her room with the pink and brown walls!

She was loving the Magna Doodles!
"See how good I draw, Mommy?"

"Here Baby! Drink your bottle."

"This is how you feed the baby."
"The baby goes in here."
"Come on Ella. Let's go to your room and play."
"Here we go!"
One last pose before we left. We have been so lucky to have a sweet neighbor friend like Ella. I told her mom, Abby, that if we lived here the next several years, I can see Makk being Ella's little shadow!

4th of July

I never posted a 4th of July blog. Better late than never! It was also a special day because my little sis turned 19!!

I love this festive bathing suit! She wasn't too happy about being held at the moment. All she wanted was down to run around!
I didn't get a 4th of July outfit this year. Couldn't find one I really liked, then they were all sold out in her size! So I paired festive bows with this bluejean outfit!
Always on the go!
Her special shoe bows I couldn't resist!
I love this annoyed look, "Are you kidding me? You can't be serious!"

The bottom two pics are of last year 2009. Makenna's first July 4th ever! She was a little over 2 months old. My how she has changed sooooo much!!

Dr.'s Apt

Both Makenna and I went to the dr today and both of us got shots! Makenna hated her two shots, but I think she is done until she is 4 yrs old. She was 31 in long, 68%; weighed 21 lbs 3 oz, 25%. I was surprised by the weight because I don't think she looks like one of those really skinny babies that you worry about. I guess all that running and swimming slimmed her up. For the first time she was allowed to get a toy from the treasure box after her shot. She got a rubber fish, to which she made her fish face, and a ball.

I went for a Z-pac to clear up allergies. I also updated my T-Dap shot that I haven't had since I was 14. It includes tetnis, whooping cough, and I don't know what else.

We had an amazing breakfast at Dixie House this morning with the Hursts minus Billy. I did take a pic of the amazing cinnamon roll that is topped with ooey gooey butter, icing, and pecans. It really hit the spot!

Tonight after her bath, while I was rubbing lotion on her and putting on her pj's, I asked her what a cow said and she mooed! Then I asked what a puppy dog said and she panted. Then she quacked when I asked what a duck said! She did it right in a row without skipping a beat! She hadn't done that before and it was the highlight of my day. It even beat out the cinnamon roll!

What's New?

Well, lots of things! We have moved, or are in the process of moving to Wichita Falls. Brady was transferred at the bank. Our house in NRH is under contract; our option period ends tomorrow. I had a job interview last Thursday for a 3rd grade position. Apparently a lot of people interviewed for it, so not sure what will happen, but it is God's Will no matter what. I have taught third grade before for 2 years in North Carolina, so it won't be scary in that sense. We want to purchase a home in WF, but can't do so yet until our house sells and I get a teaching job.

Makenna has her 15 month check-up tomorrow morning. It will be our last time to be at the office, and we won't even get to see Dr. Nash because she was so booked up! I am very sad and hope to find a good Ped. in WF that I will love just as much.

Makenna is growing up so fast! She loves to swim, spins in circles, jumps, will follow directions like if you tell her to go get something or give something to someone, she can. The other day I asked her to open the door for me. She put her hand on the doorknob and tried to turn it! Of course she couldn't turn it, but she knew exactly what to do! It is just so amazing to see the wheels turn in her head and see how God created such a wonderful, intelligent, perfect little girl! There are many more stories, but I could go on and on.

Makenna and her Daddy swimming!

Daddy is already teaching his little girl how to shoot some hoops!

She decided to sweep the pool!

This past week we have had so much fun playing with cousins and friends. Somehow, they are all boys! We need some more girls to be born! We had a fun weekend with the Bailey's. They came over and swam with Connor (Makenna's little man she is supposed to marry)-3 yrs old, and Holden and Preston who are almost 5 mo old. Makenna loved playing with them, and their toys! They are such dear friends to us!

Makenna and her cousin Logan. They are a little more than 2 months apart.

Today, Makk and I went to see the Dodson's. For the first time, we got to see Brock eat his cereal. He loved it! It really took me back. It seems it was just yesterday Makenna was eating cereal for the first time. We will see a lot of them this weekend since the men are having their Fantasy Football Draft...Boooo. Us girls and babies will do our own thing! We really miss seeing the Dodson's like we used to and will be very sad when we close on our house because they have been the best of friends to us!

Here is Brock eating his cereal tonight!

Before Makenna's apt tomorrow, we are meeting the Hursts for the most AMAZING cinnamon roll! I will have to take a pic and post it tomorrow! We love the Hursts and will miss them too. God has really given us some great friends, memories, and a special time here in the metroplex. I'm excited to see how God will bless us and provide for us in the coming weeks in the Falls! Stay tuned for pics!

She loooves her water gun!

Don't you love her headband with the flower? Moni went to Seattle and got her this and a pink one. We loove them! It looked so perfect with this dress!
I give up! I'll get dresses!

After I read and write in my notebook!