Blast Off!

I didn't really think McKenna paid much attention to the TV when Austin would watch it. We really don't watch a ton. Just an cartoon or two in the morning while Mommy gets her bearings and maybe another before naptime. But Austin has been on a Little Einsteins kick for a few weeks, so there has been no variety in our house. I guess McKenna was paying much more attention that I though - I was floored when one day she just suddenly started doing the "blast off" sequence from the show!

And now she's addicted! She wakes up in the morning and starts "Pat, pat patting" and as soon as she gets up from her nap she does the same! It's really hard to say no to that sweet face, cuz she's asking so earnestly and innocently and she makes the cutest noises! And it kills me when she says "Blast off!" Does that qualify as her first sentence??

Here's them watching the opening song. You can see how excited she gets as soon as she hears the music!



And here's the "Blast Off" part. I've been meaning to get video of Austin doing it for a while. He gets very into it, especially the "We need more power!" part. Cracks me up! Whenever this part of the show comes on, he calls me or Brian or both into the room - apparently patting alone isn't acceptable! So now that McKenna is into this too, it's become a full family affair!



My one year old is obsessed with the TV and my two year old can spot McDonald's arches (French fries, momma! French fries!!) from 2 miles away. I'm sure to be up for Mother of the Year award!

Evolution of Walking, Part 2

I thought McKenna was going to walk earlier than Austin. She's a little more fearless while he was a little more cautious at her age. And she was standing up without holding onto anything for a long time, it seems. But as it turned out, they walked at the same age, almost to the day I think! 13.5 months.

When he started walking I made a bunch of videos to show his progression. You can see it here. (Wasn't he so cute?! Especially the 3rd video with his first haircut!) I wanted to do the same with McKenna. I didn't take nearly as many videos of her - second kid syndrome I guess!

McKenna took her first steps at 12 months and 1 week. (April 6th) I don't think these are first steps, but they are fairly early ones.


She graduated from taking steps to being able to walk just before 13 months. (April 24th) On Easter morning she stood up and walked to me! Prior to that she would only walk if I set her up for it, a small distance from a table. But she'd never done it on her own volition! I still wouldn't call her a "walker" though, cuz she crawled 90% of the time. I would just say "she was able to walk."


Whenever I'd bribe her with something to walk to, when she'd get there she proudly would grab the item and hold it up in the air like a trophy! Made me giggle every time.


And then I officially started calling her a walker at 13.5 months (May 9th) That morning she was walking 10% and crawling 90% and when she woke up from her nap she was crawling 10% and walking 90%! Just like that! Must have been a great synapse-creating nap! She still wasn't very good - only able to take a few steps in a row before falling down, but she'd get right back up and try again. It's amazing how quickly that changed. By the end of the week she was walking across the room in one try. The human brain and body is amazing!


So proud of my little girl! In no time, she'll be running!

Happy Mother's Day!

As I express every year (here and here) I really really love Mother's Day! I feel like it was made just for me! Okay, that sounds slightly egocentric. But you know what? That's how I feel! I love that the whole world gets to celebrate a job that I love!

We had a wonderful brunch with the grandmas on Saturday again. This time we went to The Kettle. They have the best muffins! And best of all, the kids behaved themselves (always iffy in a restaurant!) and had lots of fun.



McKenna had lots of fun playing with Papa! She even said "Papa" for the first time. I thought that was a little funny considering it was Mother's not Father's day. =P "Nani" or "Grandma" would have been more appropriate. But Papa was very pleased! I think they're going to be good buddies!




I heart my little family!


and I heart how much Austin loves his Daddy!


All the mommas

Bonus Trip

When my mom came with us and my brother and family to Disneyland a couple months ago, she bought a two day park hopper ticket, since it was only a few dollars more. We figured we could probably get a second trip in before it expired. She ended up having neck surgery and couldn't go until the time was almost up though, so we went during the week and it ended up just being her and I and the kids. We did a short day so the kids could nap but we still had fun! It was wonderful to have a special field trip with just the kids and Nani!

There's a Toy Story 3 ride in California Adventure that we've been wanting to go on forever, but the line is always ridiculous by the time we get there. This day we actually got an early start and were there before that park opened. We piddled around Disneyland for a few minutes and then after CA opened we beelined it to the Toy Story ride. I was so impressed with it! I really didn't have any idea what the ride was, just that it was something we hadn't done yet. It was so fun! The line was already long by the time we were done, otherwise we would have gone on again! It's a Virtual 3D shooting game. You use a pullstring canon to shoot pies, or discs, or darts at targets. At some points when you break stuff, it comes "flying" back at you - they shoot air or water back at you. It was very very cute! Austin didn't really get how to shoot and he had a hard time keeping the 3D glasses on cuz they were a little big. But he sure looked cute in them!



Austin loves riding the carousel, so we went on the one in California Adventure. McKenna thoroughly enjoyed it too!




I was pleasantly surprised to see they had Lightning McQueen & Mater out for photo ops! We cannot wait for the new Cars land to open next year!



After that, we went to Disneyland and went on the Matterhorn again and I was very pleased the Austin was excited about it! I was still a little unsure if he really did like it or if it freaked him out. He loved the giant white monkeys just as much as last time. Phew!

We ended the day with a yummy treat of ice cream. I made the mistake of only getting one for the kids and I to share. I hardly got any! McKenna discovered she really likes ice cream!



Thanks, Nani, for a great day!

Say What?

McKenna has been talking for months now, but it was simple, babble words like momma, dada, baby, etc. So imagine my surprise when, while shooting pics of her climbing her chair, I said something about Austin and she mimicked after me "Austin!" I'm so glad she cooperated long enough to let me get it on video, because for at least a week she wouldn't say it if anyone else was around. And I'm pretty sure Brian didn't believe me until he saw the video!

A Determined Climber

Before she could walk, McKenna was determined to climb! Austin never climbed! I didn't have to worry about him getting up on the tables or chairs or anything. But McKenna is a different story! She wants to be up on everything! A couple times she'd be up on the couch and we'd have no idea how she actually got there, since we were fairly sure she wasn't tall enough to get up it directly. We finally caught her in the act - up onto a little chair, onto the end table, over the arm of one couch, across the coffee table (I have it pushed up to the couches to make more floor space for playing) and onto the other couch!

The biggest problem with this is that she still doesn't know how to get down, so I'm having to watch her carefully. Before I know it, she's up on the couch and trying to fling herself over the back! So fearless for such a small lil' thing!

I got some cute video of her very first climbing attempts. This first night she probably spent almost 30 minutes trying to figure out how to get up on the chair. So determined to figure it out!



And about 2 weeks later, I caught this pic of my little dare devil! Mountain conquered! And oh so proud of herself!

Wordless Wednesday

American Idol Fan

While I'm glad she likes dancing to American Idol with me, I wish she had better taste than to root for Jacob Lusk. I'm a Scotty McCreery Fan myself!

Happy Easter!

I heart Easter! I love everything about it! Celebrating our Savior's resurrection with our church and our family, hunting for eggs, eating good food and eating far far too much candy!

Our Easter service was at our usual spot up in Palos Verdes overlooking the ocean. It got rained out about halfway through the service but it was still a beautiful service! Great way to start the day!

After church, we came back to the house and Austin got to hunt for his Easter basket. I snagged a great idea from a friend of setting up a scavenger hunt for him. He was FAR more interested in the jelly beans I put in each egg rather than the actual hunting part, but he did finally get into it and had fun!



After a quick lunch, we headed over to my parents house for nap time, then an egg hunt with the cousins and a yummy dinner. And Austin was very proud to know to answer "Risen indeed!" whenever Papa said "He is risen!"

I have to start out the pics of our visit with this one of McKenna! Isn't my daughter beautiful!? And I just love her Easter dress! Thanks Grandma Helen!


The egg hunt was so fun! Wiggles, Monkey & Austin knew just what to do!







McKenna, however, had not a clue! She had just started being able to walk the week before and normally she walks more on grass than crawling cuz she doesn't like to touch it with her hands, so I thought she'd walk good that day and be interested in picking up the eggs. Instead, she just insisted on standing in one spot, frozen by the thought of being on the grass!


So then my mom went and got her the little stroller-walker, thinking she'd push it along the grass. Nope! She was perfectly content to hold onto it, but still had no intention of moving! However, it did allow her to lend her attention to the eggs! She had a wonderful time putting the eggs from the basket in the stroller and then from the stroller to the ground and then from the ground into the basket. Over and over and over. She only had 5 eggs, but she probably picked up three times as many as the older kids!






At one point, Monkey came over to help her. I love this picture!


Before dinner, we squeezed in a cousin Bunny ear pic! This was as close as we could get to everyone looking at the camera while keeping their ears on. Not great, but not too shabby either!


And I just love this pic of my Monkey!


Katelyn was missing from the cousin pic because Ryan, Suz & she had gone out of town for the weekend to visit some friends. But they ended up making it a little later for dinner, so I got a pic of Katelyn with bunny ears too!



And then a couple of us adults got in on the ear action.



I love my family! Great day!

He is risen! He is risen indeed!