Boy, Oh Boy...It's A Boy!!

We went in for our ultrasound at 19 weeks pregnant to get measurements on the baby and to find out if we were having a girl or boy. Well, as you can probably tell by the title, we are having a little boy! We are so excited to be able to experience having a little boy now too. Makenna got to go with us to the appointment and watch the "movie" of the baby in mommy's tummy. She did a great job being patient, which helped that daddy and the Kindle were there to help keep her occupied:-) So our now female dominated household will now be evened out. Now on to choosing a name, decorating a bedroom, and preparing for our sweet little boy to arrive sometime around June 8th. Here are a few pictures of our precious little boy; he was a bit camera shy and comfortable in his positioning so he didn't cooperate enough to get a really good 4-D picture of his face, just side profiles.

Side Profile- Face Picture

(I am sure that he will thank us later for putting this one on the blog :-)

Living Desert

One of the fun places that isn't too far from us is the Living Desert, which is a small zoo and gardens in the Palm Springs area. A perk is that we were able to get in free on that first Saturday of the month (I love going on free outings:-) We had been here one time before when Makenna was younger. Last time she was pretty oblivious to most of the animals, but this time she had great fun seeing the animals, naming the animals, finding the butterflies, and just running around outdoors. We saw the area with the birds first

(I promise, there were birds in there:-)

and were glad that we put her lunch away before entering...

that could have been a whole different experience if we hadn't. Some of these birds were rather large and loud.

We also saw the "big kitties" which was hilarious because one jumped down from resting on a ledge in it's cage and started walking out towards us and Makenna was pretty much oblivious to it until it was right next to her at the glass.

She particularly liked watching the "woofies" (translated in non-two year old terms: wolves). They were fun to watch because they were running laps around their enclosure. We saw giraffes, zebras (which Makenna insisted were horses), and spent a good amount of time in the discovery area

(Sand Dune Slide)

and outdoor kids play area.

One of the funniest parts of our outing though was when, towards the end of the zoo, Makenna was getting a little tired, so she started wanting to ride on these animal statues that they had in front of certain exhibits. She decided that she wanted to ride on the piggy/warthog and would say "let's go piggy" and pretend that she was having a race.

Then she would insist that daddy sit on the big piggy while she sat on the little piggy. Whenever anyone walked by us they just had to laugh and comment on how cute that was. It is so funny the imaginations that 2-year olds have:-)
We ended our day by watching their huge model train go around the tracks and headed home thoroughly tired, but with smiles on our faces. I love spending time with just the three of us:-)

Rose Parade

When my sisters and I were younger we had a family tradition of going to the Rose Parade in Pasadena every year. We have never been crazy dedicated enough to sleep down there over night, but we always got up early in the morning to go down and get a spot to watch the parade. It has been years since I have been down to the parade, but have been wanting to go back for a while. With Makenna being 2 years old now, I was confident enough that she would enjoy it and have fun. My mom, Jim, Rebecca, Makenna, and I drove down to Pasadena in the early morning. This year it was extremely nice weather, we found a decent enough spot to park our folding chairs,

and it made it even better that it was on January 2nd this year instead of the 1st. So, we had a day in between to re-cooperate from the late night on New Years Eve (who are we kidding...Toby and I went to bed at the same time Makenna did 10pm on New Years Eve...Makenna had time to re-cooperate). Makenna had so much fun at the parade!! She really enjoyed watching the flag twirlers, wearing auntie's glasses,

listening to the bands, seeing the horses, eating peanut butter,

and liked most of the floats. Her favorite float was the piggy one

and the circus one.

And the one she hated was the wagon turned into a ship that let off cannons which completely scared her.

I can't wait until we get to go back again!!

Horseback Riding

We had the wonderful opportunity to take Makenna over to a family friend's house to go horseback riding on their very sweet and well trained horse, Freckles. For weeks before we were trying to prepare Makenna for going on the horse, but there is only so much you can do to prepare a two year old for that:-) She was so excited to get to go riding and even was excited to wave hi to the horse from a distance. That is where her excitement took a bit of a turn as we walked closer to the horse you could see her face change from smiling to the look of shock.

I think it was a little bigger than she expected:-) She didn't want to pet Freckles and wasn't going to ride until mean mommy and daddy just decided to put her up there and let the horse start moving. Her initial response was fear and betrayal that we wouldn't listen to her constant "no, no" when asked if she wanted to ride the horse.

But, as soon as the horse started moving she even broke into a bit of a smile (this is her I don't want to smile, smile look).

She enjoyed it! The horse did some laps and then we stopped the horse to take a few pictures and that was a mistake. She decided at that point that she had had enough. So I guess at least we won't have to get a horse...phew:-) After that she enjoyed watching the kitty, watching Freckles eat some hay, and told Freckles good-night. We are so glad that Makenna was given that awesome opportunity.

Christmas Eve & Christmas Day

We had such fun holidays for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!!

On Christmas Eve we got together with Toby's family over at our house. We had a wonderful dinner together and a lot of fun hanging out, watching the kids play, and eating. Then was on to the gift opening.

All of the kids had a great time opening their gifts and then playing with their's, and other's gifts afterwards. I think Makenna was the biggest culprit of "sharing" (a.k.a. stealing) other cousin's gifts.

(Makenna playing with cousin Shayne's lightsaber while scoping out the other gifts)

We all had a great time together and everyone had fun.

On Christmas day Makenna woke us up at her usual 7:00am hour and we all got ready for our day by showering and dressing (I know this will be the last year that we can ever do this BEFORE we open gifts). Even more amazingly Makenna didn't even notice her gifts until grandma and papa Secord arrived at our house around 8:30am. Makenna was so enthralled with her new doll house toy that she received from her Aunt Renee and Uncle Micah the night before that she didn't even notice all of the gifts for her to open in the other room.

When grandma and papa arrived we ate our oh-so delicious breakfast casserole, coffee cake, and orange juice. We read the Christmas story and then it was finally gift time. We all opened our stocking gifts,

Makenna opened her Santa gift (a dolly pack-n-play, bouncer, and high chair set),

and in a flurry of paper she opened all of her other gifts too.

After gift opening, Makenna was able to play and relax for an hour before we all hopped in the car and went to see great grandma and great grandpa and wish them a Merry Christmas. We visited with them for a couple of hours and then headed back home again to relax for another hour before going over to my mom and Jim's house for more fun with family and gift opening. I do have to mention one of Makenna's favorite gifts, besides the doll house, was also a dolly crib that Auntie Becca and Uncle Shawn made for her. They are so talented!!

We had a very full two days but enjoyed every last second with family.

Makenna's 2nd Birthday

My little baby is growing up so fast. I can't believe she is a big two year old now!! We had a birthday party for her on the Saturday after her birthday, since her birthday fell on Thanksgiving this year. At Makenna's first birthday party she didn't really understand that it was a party for her, but just liked everyone being at the house to hang out; this year she knew that the party was for her and she was even singing happy birthday to herself weeks in advance:-) The theme of her party was Nursery Rhymes and so everything went along with that theme as best as we could.

Here is our cutie pie at her party.

Makenna did an awesome job of blowing out her candles this year and eating her cake. She was such a delicate eater and people commented on how clean she stayed...that's my girl...hehe.

It was so hilarious during her gift opening time. All of the kids wanted to open her gifts, and Makenna didn't really mind if they did.

And then once she got a gift everyone wanted to play with, she did somewhat have an issue.

(Daddy got in on the toy play too...for research purposes only)

Some toys had to be immediately removed because there was a mob mentality of pushing and shoving happening. It was so funny.

(This picture taken just as she was about to be shoved off...see the hands in the background...hehe)

Makenna also insisted on putting on some of the pieces of clothing that she got as soon as she opened it. It was commented that she had a Lady Gaga look going on:-)

Just in case you are wondering, I won't bore you with a whole bunch of pictures, but here is some of the food (themed with the appropriate nursery rhymes).

We had I'm a Little Teapot Tea & Drinks, Little Jack Horner's Plum Apple Pie, Rub-A-Dub-Dub Lit'l Smokies in a Tub, Old Mother Hubbard Found Chips & Salsa, Muffin Man Muffins, Three Blind Mice Cheese & Crackers, Pop Goes the Weasel Popcorn, Jack & Jill's Pail of Water (Pail filled with water bottles), Humpty Dumpty Devlied Eggs, and Mary Quite Contrary's Fruit & Veggies. Not to be forgotten, the cupcakes that were The Cow Jumping Over The Moon.

Thanksgiving 2012

Thanksgiving is always a fun and busy time of year for us with all of the festivities and Makenna’s birthday party approaching. Makenna was lucky this year to have her birthday on the day of Thanksgiving. She didn’t really know the difference or really care, but I thought it was neat, like a huge party just for her with all of her family. We get to celebrate Thanksgiving with both families every Thanksgiving, which is such a blessing that we live close enough to be able to do that. We spent the morning/afternoon with Toby’s family up at his brother’s house in the High Desert and the late afternoon/evening with my family at my mom’s house in Yucaipa. We had such good food at both places, but over the years have learned to just take a little of everything and not overstuff ourselves because otherwise we regret it later. I mean most people don’t have to think about eating two full turkey dinners with dessert included, but we are lucky to get to eat a little of everything at both houses. And we certainly had wonderful meals.

At Toby’s brother’s house all of the cousins had fun playing together,

and the adults had fun cooking, talking, and everyone had fun eating.

It was also my first time making pies and although I am known for being able to screw up almost any type of baking/cooking item even with a recipe, these pies turned out surprisingly well.

At my mom’s house we enjoyed our eating, talking, and relaxing while my sisters and mom took care of watching Makenna:-)

So much fun, family, and food!!!