Paradise.

Adam and I just got back from 5 wonderful days in Puerto Rico. It was simply heavenly! We were able to go on this trip because in the short amount of time that Adam sold insurance he qualified for this incentive trip with one of the companies and we couldn't pass it up. We spent lots of time in the sun and have some sunburn to prove it...sad...I know. Sunscreen was applied regularly but apparently it doesn't work as well if it's old or not strong enough for the INTENSE rays of the Puerto Rican sun. Oh well - we'll survive - that's why our fair skinned bodies are meant to be in Wisconsin! Also, don't expect any pictures. Adam and I wanted to enjoy our vacation and he didn't want to be the "pack mule" all the time that had to carry a camera around in his shorts pockets. I know - we're ridiculous. We have 3 pictures total but I don't even think those are blog worthy...we'll have to see.

Makenna had a vacation of her own in EC with my parents and Rachel. They took great care of her and she loved every minute of it! Mean moms like me don't give their kids fruit snacks for breakfast but grandmas sure do - lovely. I recall not even being able to have a Pop-Tart for breakfast if we didn't have cereal or toast first - funny how those rules don't apply anymore. ;-) I wonder how long it's going to take for her to stop calling me grandma??

In baby news, things are progressing nicely. I feel almost exactly the same with this pregnancy as I did with Makenna. No noticeable differences and I even seem to be growing at the same rate (or so Adam and I think) - that's good I guess. I can feel baby moving around quite a bit and will randomly have sharp jabs of pain if I pick up Makenna too quickly or something. Next week is my glucose test. I'm hoping I pass with flying colors again as my taste of heat in the last week or so has proved to need ice cream and NA frozen drinks. At least the heat didn't make me miserable and I'm hoping I'll survive this summer as baby grows bigger and bigger. Also, on a naming note...this one seems to be more difficult. We have our boy name from last time (and some additional we have come across) and still really really like it but I have yet to find ANY girl names that I (or we I guess) like. Ugh!

That's all for now. I'll try to post some pics a little later. Makenna wants me to play and I missed her sweet little voice while we were away so I can't say no!

Here we go again...

Well...I'm a little late in announcing this to the Blogging World but our family is growing again. We are expecting another baby in July. Don't get me wrong it's not that I didn't want to share - we are SUPER excited! :-) I just can't seem to get into a routine with this blogging thing...I love to stalk others but hate to create my own! Ok, back on track, one of the things I'm most excited about is being pregnant again. I had a fabulous pregnancy with Makenna and this one is right on track to be the same. YES! Maybe that means another girl...maybe just a well-mannered and non-wild boy (those DO exist, right???)...you'll all just have to wait until around July 20th to find out! We had our ultrasound last Thursday and didn't find out gender but the little munchkin looks very similar to Makenna in it's profile. My midwife did tell me that the measurements of baby in the ultrasound put him/her to be a little farther along than originally anticipated but Adam and I think we had the same thing with Makenna...maybe we just have large babies. I mean she was 9 days overdue and 8 lbs 3 oz - little porker! I'm hoping for a smaller on-time baby this time - I can hope right?!? This would be especially convenient as my sis, Lauren, is getting married Sept 17th and I'm the matron of honor. If it was just the duty of showing up I'd be fine but fitting into a dress and standing in front of everyone is a different story...not to mention the fact that there are lots of other "duties" of the matron of honor that require energy and planning. :-) Hopefully I can keep it all together and get it done!



Baby Keer #2 - the coolest part about the ultrasound was that they now have 3D!!

 Ok, enough about that...life has been busy here the last few months since I've updated. We had a great time in FL with my family in October. Makenna LOVED the beach and ocean and having lots of family to play with at any time.

Loving ORD's Children's Museum area!

Playing in the sand

The whole group out to dinner and watching the sunset over the ocean





Adam has been VERY busy with work in the last few months, which includes working about 12 hour days and not seeing Makenna sometimes for days on end. It has proven to be challenging and requires lots of patience on my part for sure! But we are getting along and it has become lots easier. Hopefully this won't go on forever and there will be some sort of benefit out of it all - we can only hope!

December seemed to be quickly consumed with Adam's long work hours and TWO trips to Dallas, TX. We did our annual Holiday baking weekend at the beginning of December and then we also decided to celebrate Christmas in Dallas this year as well. The whole family usually comes North for the holiday but this year was South to Dallas to visit La/Jake/Mom/Alex. We had a fabulous time - even though I'm still weirded out by Christmas without snow... There was lots of family time, game playing and Skyping with family back in WI. Gotta love the power of technology! We also took some family pics because it's not THAT often that we're all together.

Lauren, Makenna, Mom and I in our homemade aprons with lots of our goodies!

This is what life with an almost 2 year old is really like - glad she could capture that for us!



The whole family group

  Nothing comes to mind in January as big events. My good friend, Andrea, started back to school after Christmas break. Her hubby, Rob, stays home with Maya during the day most days but Makenna and I have the pleasure of enjoying her company usually a couple days a week in the afternoon. She's such a little sweetie and Makenna absolutely adores having her here! It's so funny to watch her get soooo excited for Rob to come and drop her off when I tell her Maya is coming over. I'm hoping her helpfulness will prove to really be "helpful" and of course it's good practice for being a big sister in just a matter of months!

I can't believe February is almost over... A couple weeks ago Lauren and Jake came to La Crosse to have their engagement pics taken and do some other wedding prep stuff. When the rest of the family heard they were coming to WI of course they had to come too! Sooo...Dad, Mary, Rachel, Brandon and Jake's parents all came down to visit! We had a great weekend with everyone here and were busy busy of course. We realized throughout the weekend how awful we have all become with taking pictures...I just very much dislike to be the one who is always watching everything through a camera lens!

How did Makenna get so old already? In just a little over 2 weeks she will be 2 years old!! I can't believe how quickly things change with her right now. She really is a little person - definitely not a baby anymore! She runs everywhere, loves to talk in full statements and ask meaningful questions. I'm not joking - she just cracks us up with some of the stuff she says! If she is still awake when Adam gets home from work she runs to the back door to greet him and says, "Daddy you were working??" in the cutest voice ever! It gets him everytime! He loves it! :-) She also comments on whether people have glasses on, remembers where we've been and recognizes where we are. As an example, we now cannot go to the grocery store without getting stickers (and sometimes cookies from the deli). We pull into the store parking lot and she knows that "Terri" her favorite lady at the store will give her TWO stickers - how wonderful! She also talks about everything in the store as we pass it but overall is an excellent shopper. Hope that continues! Maybe she'll be like her Mama and love the grocery store. :-) Makenna also loves to name everyone that she knows. She knows EVERY member of our family (even people she rarely sees!!) and Rob, Maya, Andrea (to her it's An-rea) and Annie (Rob and Andrea's pup). We also have lots of friends through MOMS club and she knows her friend's names which is really cute! She asks for her bestie (Tessa) everytime we talk about friends or go to an outing - such sweet little girls they are together - they act like sisters really.

Our little helper loves to play outside and of course be covered in snow!



She was left unattended for a couple minutes with her markers from Aunty La - OOPS! At least they are washable....

 And that pretty much brings us to the present. I'll try to keep this updated more often and fill you in on the crazy happenings in the life of Miss Makenna. As she says "I crazy!" and "I'm nuts!" - both phrases her lovely uncles have taught her...

Craziness.

We've had a busy couple weeks. Working from home is crazy. My 18 month old is a monster. I think if we got all of these kids together that we blog about that we wouldn't have homes left. Honestly. She gets into things that I'd never imagine possible and she's not even into the "moving an object to the counter to climb up really high and get something" phase. I'm constantly kept on my toes and my house is VERY well baby-proofed even TODDLER-proofed. Each day is a new challenge and we love it. :) Below are some pics from the end of the summer. Makenna decided that after a one year hiatus from the water/sand on the beach that she liked it again. Thank goodness! Not sure what happened but I'm not gonna complain.

I hosted a baby shower for Andrea today and many of her friends from the area came (plus her mom who surprised her by coming from EC today). No pictures were taken - we're lame I guess. I took a picture of the cupcakes I made. Angel food cupcakes with Whipped Cream - Cream Cheese frosting. I'm pretty sure they were liked by most. I've never piped frosting before. It was amazing! Much faster than spreading with a spatula/knife and super cute.

We're off to Florida next weekend for a week with my family at my parents' place in Naples. Should be a hoot! Enjoy the pics for now...

5 years already?!?

Adam and I have been married for 5 years! I can't believe that it has been that long. August 20th in 2005 was one of the happiest days of my life. We had a wonderful day with lots of family and friends and absolutely gorgeous weather! In celebration of our 5 amazing years together we went out and bought a new boat. Well not a "new" boat but a "new-to-us" boat. It's a cabin cruiser and Adam insisted that we get it because it would be better for the "family". HA! He just tried to make it pleasing for me. :) It's going to take some getting used to - for all of us - Adam for docking and me for keeping my thighs from being bruised on every item that's different! Makenna loves it. The swim platform off the back is great. She gets to dip her toes in but doesn't have to go in further than that. That's another thing that baffles me...last summer she couldn't get enough of the water but this summer wants nothing to do with it. Certainly hope that changes soon!!

Here are a few pictures. I'll take more once we're out on it again. We plan on spending the weekend out there again. Mid 80s and sunny this weekend - no better weather for boating!!

Anyone have any ideas on names for the boat? We were thinking about maybe including something about 5 years or something like that?

Summer...

I can't believe it's August already...summer goes by so fast every year. We've had a busy busy summer. Lauren and Jake got engaged, we've visited with LOTS of family, and have made some very good family memories.

Here are some of our summer happenings. My new "thing" for this blog: Less words more pictures. Enjoy!

Chocolate pudding!!

Makenna & Cleo - true love!

Saying "hi" from her swing - she runs all the way around the house to find this!

Looking pretty in the green grass.

Playing out on the water up north

Walking Irvine Park with Daddy

Sprinkler fun with Daddy while Mommy was at a work meeting!

Playing with the neighbor girl - Makenna loves to try to keep up with all of them!

Walking in Daddy's sandals. She can cruise around the entire first floor in them now.

Getting into "girl" trouble

In Makenna's words: "So mom opened up the bag of Chips Ahoy cookies and gave me one. Then we went upstairs and I think she thought that I would forget about them. But I didn't - I LOVE 'cackies'! So when she wasn't looking I opened up the bedroom door, climbed all the way down the stairs by myself, and found me some more 'cackies'. Dad found me like this about 3 minutes later. Mom says I'm a true Cookie Monster!"

**Side note from Mom: Makenna doesn't get to eat cookies all the time and is proficient at climbing up and down the staris - I'm NOT a bad parent! ;)

Ya ya ya...I know it's been quite some time...

We've been soooo busy lately! I just can't believe how time flies when you're having fun (or even if you're not having fun!). So what all have we been up to lately...

On March 16th Makenna turned ONE year old! We didn't go all out and have a big birthday party this year but she did get to celebrate many different times with all our family and try MANY different kinds of cake. The first was at the end of Feb. when we went to visit my Mom, Alex, Lauren and Jake in Dallas. Adam had lots of work so he stayed behind this trip. Makenna was showered with some early birthday gifts and had her first Sprinkles birthday cupcake - chocolate with chocolate frosting I believe. She loved it but Lauren and I loved it even more. We kept stealing it from her tray even though we had our own. :-) Then a couple weeks later we celebrated at my Dad and Mary's in EC because some of Makenna's aunts and uncles were there that weekend. Rachel made the strawberry cupcakes (Sprinkles recipe as well!!) that she made the year earlier at Makenna's baby shower. They were again DELICIOUS!! On Makenna's actual birthday, which was a Tuesday, Adam and I took her out to lunch and spent the entire afternoon and evening with her - just us three! It was a good day. We then had a little cake at Grandma and Grandpa Keers the next day and then had a small gathering on Sunday to celebrate her birthday. My parents came for the weekend and Adam's parents came over as well as our good friend, Andrea. Makenna got to open lots of presents and eat her very own birthday cake that I made for her. I made a funfetti cake and cut it out in the shape of a "1" and decorated it with pink homemade "frosting frosting" as it's called in our family. We all love it and now know that Makenna does too! She scarfed the whole thing down and made quite the mess!

Birthday celebration in Dallas!

Birthday at home!

In April we had many many busy weekends. Easter was sooo much fun this year! We did an Easter egg hunt with Makenna and she was just a riot. We (I mean ":the Easter bunny") cleverly placed the colored plastic eggs filled with nummy treats out in the yard and then we went out with her to find them. She did a really good job of finding the egg, picking it up, putting it in the basket and then looking around for more. I do have to admit I carried around her basket but seeing her walk around and pick them up all on her own and put them in the basket was hysterical! Can't wait to see what each new year brings with our bundle of energy. We also went to Madison one weekend to see our friends, Alison and Mike. It was the first time in a very long time that we went there just to hang out without lots of other things going on. The guys golfed on Saturday and then spent the rest of the day "smoking" our dinner. It was delicious! Thanks Mike (and Adam)!!

May has gone by way WAY too fast! The first weekend in May we spent up at the lake with my parents. We went up early on Friday so that we could stop by my Grandma and Grandpa Wolfe's to visit some and go out to dinner. It was great to see them again after not seeing them since October (they winter in AZ) and Makenna was MUCH bigger and more grown up this time. Oh how they grow in the first year! It was windy and cold for most of the time at the lake that weekend. Of course it was...it was opening fishing weekend. Brrr! Mary, Makenna and I didn't step foot on the boat. Too chilly for us ladies. :) On our way home that weekend we stopped by to visit Jen and Kris and their kids. Lizzie and Makenna played some and we all just chatted a bit and caught up - the guys about beer making and us girls about anything and everything. After all, we did have lots to talk about since they were coming to visit us in TWO WEEKS!! The next weekend was our garage sale (it was ok...not sure if I'd do one again) and Mother's Day. Not much was done for that...so we'll just skip over it. :) Sooo...that about brings us to the weekend that they all visited us in Holmen. We had a fun fun weekend. Saturday morning Jen and I did some shopping and then had lunch - without kids or husbands - AMAZING! The guys stayed home with the kids and prepped for beer making (while attempting to watch 3 kids). They did an OK job. Just kidding - they are very talented. Later that day Jen and I took Aiden and Makenna to Toys R Us while Lizzie was napping. Aiden was in awe as soon as he stepped through the door - it was adorable! He wanted to look at E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G! We were there for quite some time. :) Our attempt at finding matching outfits for the girls was unsuccessful - oh well - we'll keep trying. When we got back from the toy store Jen and I walked down to the park nearby with the kids. The girls went on the swings and on some of the slides. Aiden wanted Jen and I to chase him around - we realized we're out of shape and not as fast, not to mention that we don't fit through those tunnel things like a 4 year old! That night we made burgers on the grill and put the kids to bed at a decent time. Then the adults played a mean game of cards...and sadly the guys won - AGAIN. One of these times we're gonna get 'em! Sunday was the wonderful trip to Chuck E Cheese. I was kinda dreading it because we went a couple of years ago when they came to visit but it was a Saturday afternoon. Let me tell you, if you want to go there on a weekend and you don't want it to be insane, go on Sunday late morning. We were one of the only ones there. The kids didn't have to wait in line for the games (or us adults either), there weren't screaming kids jumping on tables and it was actually a pleasant environment. I will definitely remember that for the future! Surprisingly Makenna had a good time. I guess I didn't remember that there were things for kids that young. She liked all the lights and pressing as many buttons as possible.

So...that brings us to this last weekend. It was HOT! Adam brewed beer with our buddy Kheenan on Saturday morning while I did some shopping (swimwear shopping is easier without a 14 month old trying to run away underneath the dressing room door while you have little clothes on). We also got out on the boat for the first time this year on Sunday and Makenna LOVED it again. Obviously last year she was little and didn't quite get it but this year she wondered around on the boat and climbed all over everything. Adam even put her feet in the sand (my idea and she HATED it). Next time.

Today we had our first play time in the little pool. I tried the sprinkler first but that just freaked her out. The pool is a tiny little thing but I wanted to see what she would think of it and it was 93 DEGREES - too hot to not play in the water! She just splashed around in it at first with her hands but then finally got in and sat down in it while splashing everywhere. A blast was had by all!