November

November was another eventful month!  Here are a few highlights:

 

We cheered for the Panthers and Iowa Hawkeyes!

 

We celebrated Danielle’s 26th birthday with a tailgate party before the UNI game, supper at Mulligans, and a night on the town!

Kami took some pictures of Kenna in the leaves one Sunday afternoon.  Alaina was her assistant- giving Kenna pep talks, providing candy to make her smile, changing her diaper, and helping her destroy her room in 2.5 minutes!

 

The girls kept running back and forth from leaf pile to leaf pile!

Harlan made it to the Dome again this year and we couldn’t have been more excited!  Harlan had not had a great season and did not expect to make it to the Dome this year.  My cousin Michael, a freshman, got moved up at the end of the season to be the long snapper.  We all were very nervous every time he touched the ball! : )  I can’t imagine how nervous my aunt and uncle were!!  Michael did an amazing job despite their loss to Decorah.  We left the Dome excited knowing we’ll have three more years to hopefully have the chance of cheering him onto a state championship!

Our amazing neighbor and sitter made Danielle a birthday cake along with the help from the daycare kids.  It was delicious! 

To treat Danielle for her birthday I invited her to join my cooking club to a cookie decorating class.  The class was held at Kitchen Essentials downtown.  It took us almost 2 hours to decorate 6 cookies!  I now know why people charge $2 a cookie!!  Afterwards we went to SoHo for dinner and drinks!  Happy 26th D!

Matt, Lily, Kenna, and I joined my parents to the UNI Women’s basketball game against Iowa.  As we were watching the game TC and TK started knocking on the glass behind us.  I thought for sure Kenna was going to freak out since she has always been very scared of them!  I quickly grabbed my camera and got a picture of the girls looking up at them.  Then we rushed up to try to catch them for a picture before they were on their way!  Matt and I joked it should be our family Christmas card since we do a lot together without our spouses!  Lily was into touching TK while Kenna had fun telling them her cheer, “Go Panthers!”

It was close most of the game but the Hawkeyes came away with the win.  My parents got 4 season tickets with a package deal so I’m sure we’ll be attending more games this season!

 

What’s new with McKenna?

She has become very independent and is able to play by herself for long periods of time.

She continues to LOVE Gem Gels!  Anytime I see them on clearance I buy them for her.  She takes them on and off the window one hundred times, getting Lexi hairs all over them!

She still has to have all of her “friends” in her bed with her.  She will even call us back into her room if she realizes she is missing someone!  After McKenna got sick in bed in October we vowed we were not going to let her do this anymore.  After many fits thrown, we decided to let her keep them!  We do pull out her Bitty Baby after she falls asleep, in the fear she might get ruined!!

Playing with her babies is still one of her favorite things to do.  She’s into “shushing” me when her babies are sleeping!  If her baby hits her head, or drops to the ground Kenna will say in the sweetest voice, “Are you okay?!”

She also likes playing with all of her stuffed animal friends.  Making them all sit up (and stay sitting) always becomes a challenge for her.  She gets easily frustrated and upset when they don’t sit up!

McKenna has always loved to be read to, but now she has started to read to us.  It’s amazing what she remembers!

A new favorite is her beloved hair dryer!  It’s actually Ella’s but Auntie let her take it home one night.  :)  McKenna LOVES to blow dry her daddy’s hair. 

I recently bought a new brush that came with an identical mini sized brush.  I gave it to McKenna thinking it might help her like brushing her hair better!  She still doesn’t like us to brush her hair, but she does like to brush everyone else’s! 

Even Uncle Obby got a turn!

One night after work I getting supper ready and I heard McKenna in the bathroom.  I came in to find she had opened my bronzer and was putting it all over her face (and tongue)!  When I’m getting ready in the morning I let her play with the brush but NOT with the bronzer.  She thought it was fun looking at herself in the mirror to see how pretty she looked!

McKenna continues to amaze us with the things she does and says.  Her stool has become her assistant for many things.  We have her use the stool when brushing her teeth or washing her hands in the bathroom.  This little girl has figured out that she can use her stool to:  get Halloween candy from the candy bowl on the counter, turn on the light in her bedroom, turn on the music in her bedroom, as well as turn the thermostat up/down!  One day I even caught her standing on her chair for the piano to try to reach the DVD player in our room so she could watch a movie! 

Here she was trying to get a piece of candy but then decided she would clean the counter instead.  Thanks for the help Kenna!

A recent saying: “I have an idea!” (While holding up her pointer finger.)  So funny!

Kenna loves listening to music on our cd player.  Her favorite right now is The Wheels On The Bus.

She randomly talks a lot about “my friends”.  She will ask about Alaina, Jani, and Violet even if we haven’t seen them in awhile.  She also refers to all the kids at daycare as “my friends”.

We still have her in her Heyno (what she calls her highchair).  When she’s finished eating she stands up in it thinking she’s so funny.  Either we are going to have to start buckling her in again or we are going to have to retire it! 

Kenna has become quite the little stinker when it comes to brushing teeth and wiping off her face.  She will cover her mouth with both hands so that we can’t do it!

Bedtime is still a challenge for us.  We can’t get her down before 8:30 or 9:00 and then she calls us back in multiple times.  We try hard to wait her out but after she got sick in her bed we’ve been quicker to go in! :)  Once she finally falls asleep (sometimes close to 10) she sleeps through the night, getting up between 7-7:30.

One night we were trying to ignore McKenna when she was calling for us.  I was working on some school stuff when I heard, “KRISTA… KRISTA… KRISSSTA… come here!”  Calling for mom wasn’t working so she thought she’d try something else!!  When I went in to see what she needed she told me she wanted Abby (her Bitty Baby) in her backpack and then on her back!  Are you serious?!

Kenna still has her blankie and paci although we are getting close to only having it at nap and bedtime.

Before bed we always say prayers before I lay her in her crib.  She’s now started saying parts of “Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep”.

McKenna can be easily scared of things.  Right now she’s scared of “The Big Boy”.  We aren’t sure where this started but she has to have the closet doors open (at home and daycare), as well as the lights dimmed in order for her to go to sleep. 

Before naps and bedtime Kenna is now the one in charge of turning the monitor on as well as the music.  She also dims the light to the perfect spot.  If we do any of these routines, she will demand that she gets out of bed to do them herself!

 

Oh Kennie what a girl you are!  Thanks for all the laughs and memories this month!