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!!!

Children's Discovery Museum Adventure

I had been wanting to go check out the Children's Discovery Museum of the Desert in Rancho Mirage for a while and finally the opportunity arose to go with our friends. It was an incentive that it didn't cost anything for kids that are under 2 years old so it was important that we went before Makenna hit her birthday:-) So two weeks before we loaded up and headed out for the 45-minute drive to the Palm Springs area.

We went on a weekday and got there just a few minutes after opening so we were the only ones in the museum for a little while; which was wonderful. They have all kinds of hands-on exhibits to play in. We saw the laser harp, the rope maze climbing area (one of Makenna's favorites),

paper plate pictures, block tower building,

archaeology digs, dress up (another favorite; I mean who wouldn't like shoes and purses),

pizza parlor, grocery shopping (always her favorite),

outdoor play, and joy rides.

We had a marvelous time. We hope to go back again sometime.

Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Halloween

Our first pumpkin stop was to the pumpkin patch with our nieces, nephews, and Toby's sisters. We had a lot of fun perusing through the pumpkins,

examining the pumpkins and gourds,

petting the horses,

and climbing the hay structure.

We went on a weekday which was so nice and not crowded like it is on the weekends.

After the kids were thoroughly worn out we headed back to our house for dinner, talking, and playing. It was so fun to get together.

Next up was pumpkin carving. Since we weren't too fond of spending a fortune on a pumpkin patch pumpkin, call us cheap, we decided to wait until really last second, the day before Halloween, to go out and get our grocery store pumpkin for carving. We managed to find a decent one even though it was slim pickings. The problem was finding the gourds. So we decided to head back to the pumpkin patch again to get the perfect gourds for our pumpkin decorating. We got a great selection and got to take Makenna out to the actual pumpkin patch area for some photos.

Last year Makenna was gung-ho about scooping out the guts of the pumpkin but had reservations about it this year. She would reach in her hand and then pull it back out again.

She really didn't want the slimy stuff on her hands. Although she didn't want to scoop, she was a HUGE helper when it came to separating the seeds from the orange stringiness.

She was very meticulous about making sure that all of the orange was off of the seeds before placing them in the bowl of water.

After all of the scooping and carving here is our finished pumpkin jack-o-lantern.

It was supposed to be a Viking but looks like a muscle man too:-) Either way, it turned out awesome! Toby did a great job!

Finally, Halloween! We dressed Makenna up in her little flower costume and headed over to downtown Redlands where the businesses give out candy.

It was the perfect first Trick-or-Treating experience for Makenna because it wasn't a crazy amount of walking, there was little downtime in between for her to get restless, it started at 3:00pm, and she got to go with her best friend.

And what I mean by Makenna didn't have to walk very much I mean that she walked up to get the candy, because we made her, and then she walked back to daddy or grandma to be held until the next candy opportunity:-)

The two girls had a great time and we are looking forward to doing it again next year!!

Proud New Skills

Makenna had gotten a rag doll the other day from the store and it has yarn, pigtail hair. So Toby decided that he was going to learn how to braid hair using the doll. He said that he knew that by watching me it was split into three different sections and then it was just a matter of him figuring out the pattern. I didn't know that he even knew how to do this. I was thoroughly impressed! He now can, in the future when Makenna gets enough hair, braid Makenna's hair if I can't:-) Here is a picture to commemorate that awesome skill:

Fall Time in Oak Glen & BBQ

Oak Glen is just 10-minutes away from our house, yet we don't take advantage enough of it being so close. Now that it is apple picking season we wanted to go up and experience the crowds fun:-) We were so excited that my grandparents, my mom, Jim, and my mom's cousin Bob (from Alaska) were also able to go with us up there.

We walked through shopping and tasting all of the yummy bread, apples, and apple cider. When we had gone to the L.A. County Fair Makenna had fallen in love with the baskets that she used to harvest her crops and she found one in the store. She knew what it was for but, luckily she was a good listener and didn't try to put anything that she wasn't supposed to in the basket. My mom and Jim did however end up purchasing the basket for her and she absolutely loved it. Next we took Makenna and her basket down to the picnic area where she collected acorns and their "hats" along the way.

Luckily she "spilled" them before they had to come home with us:-) We then drove down to another area where we enjoyed eating apple danishes and picking up pies for the celebration of Toby and Scott's birthdays.

After Oak Glen we headed back down the hill and had a bbq at my mom and Jim's house. We have been craving shish kabobs for a while now and since we don't currently have a working barbeque at our house it was truly a treat. It was so nice to get to spend time with the family.

Happy Birthday Daddy Day

Toby has really wanted to go to the indoor K-1 go-cart race track, so he decided that the perfect time to go was on his birthday. It definitely helped make it even more appealing when we found out that you get a free race on your birthday:-) We went with our friends Daniel, Brian, Beth (Toby's sister), Wyatt (Our nephew), and of course Makenna and I. The guys had to get all suited up...

They got into their cars...

And they were off, racing around the track!!

Makenna and Wyatt cheered on their daddy/uncle and also had fun eating and running around the building. The guys competed in two races (17-laps each), the second one they got to race with just the three of them, which was so awesome. They were exhausted after no power steering, fierce competition, and a relatively warm day in an un-air conditioned warehouse building. But, they had fun...

Even if they all couldn't finish in first place:-)

Not everyone can be number one!! But don't tell the babies that:-)

After racing the guys went to fill up their "growlers" (aka. huge beer bottle receptacles) at the local brewery, Hanger 24. Then it was time for board games. I think everyone had a great time on Toby's birthday!!