Paquette Family

Our little road trip

2012-02-03T13:35:00.000-08:00

We went down to see Grandma Karen on Anna Maria Island! It was a long but fun trip. We made a lot of memories and after we got home I was so glad we went!!
Mckinley packed her own bag - princess shoes, dresses and crown
I threw in a few more things after she went to bed!

The girls in the car - ready to go!

Mckinley had to go potty

We finally made it! We went out to eat, did a lot of swimming and had so much fun!

Thanks Grandma for the great time!

The 12 days of Christmas

2011-12-14T08:17:00.000-08:00

We are having fun getting ready for Christmas around here. Even with no snow and warm temperatures we are getting ready for a white Christmas in Minnesota! It has been a very fun season because of the girls. They love learning about why we celebrate Christmas, baby Jesus birth, Santa Claus coming and Emily our elf on the shelf! We have things we do everyday to countdown the days - our advent calendar - we get to open a door a day, their chocolate advent calendars, and adding cotton balls to our snowmen. Kyndle has fun pointing out Santas everywhere and finding Emily our Elf every morning. Mckinley loves all the Christmas carols and always wants to know who sings the songs on the radio! Such a fun season around here! Here are a few pictures from the last few days!

December

2011-12-01T15:15:00.000-08:00

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-30T12:19:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! Mommy started the weekend off with running the Turkey trot 5k. Next, the Henderson's arrived and we could officially celebrate Thanksgiving! We had a wonderful relaxing day filled with all the yummy foods of Thanksgiving. The girls had so much fun playing together and even had fun in the bathtub!
We have so much to be thankful for!

Happy Halloween

2011-11-01T08:31:00.001-07:00

What a fun Halloween weekend we had! We started out the weekend doing the Halloween 5k! We had so much fun and dressed up as Cat in the Hat and Thing one and Thing two!
I ran the whole thing in 32 minutes and and feel like I might have the running 5k bug. We are excited to do the turkey trot in November!
On Sunday, we went to Boo at the Zoo and had fun seeing all of the animals and going down the treat trail! The girls dressed up as Rapunzel and a cupcake. It was a very fun day.
On Monday, Kyndle and I joined Mckinley at school for her Halloween party! It was fun to do a craft with her, enjoy a Halloween snack, and go to the Halloween carnival. After an afternoon of naps, we dressed the girls up and went trick or treating around the neighborhood! Kyndle was excited and wanted to walk the whole way, Mckinley didn't know what to think and was trying to take it all in. The people around here don't mess around - they had some of the scariest costumes and decorations I have ever seen. What a fun time! It was fun to wear costumes without having to wear snowsuits! We are ready for November in Florida now!

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-25T19:08:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun going to the pumpkin patch! It was fun to pick out pumpkins outside this year! Mckinley was very excited about turning the pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns! Daddy was very excited to cook a pumpkin and see if we could make pumpkin bread from a pumpkin!! We did it all! Mckinley told us the shapes that she wanted us to use for the faces of the jack-o-lanterns. It was so fun to have her be such a big part of it! She was all about it until we had to take the guts out of the pumpkins - no one helped me! Maybe next year! We had fun lighting them up and we hope they last until Halloween!

Floridians

2011-10-18T14:20:00.000-07:00

Wow - it has been about a half of a year since I updated our blog and so much has changed~
We moved from Alaska to Florida with a quick stop in Minnesota. We lived in Florida for awhile, tlf, friends house, hotel, and then house. We went to Boston for Paul Paquette's wedding, Minnesota for Alyssa's wedding and finally back to Florida to stay for awhile!
We are all moved into our house now. We still have a few boxes of pictures, dvd cases and books to go through. We finally bought a desk and bedroom set in the last few days! Yeah! Pictures to come when the house is complete! We are loving it here! The fall is a little crazy because it is still so warm! I want to do a better job of updating our blog on our crazy wonderful life!
Denis - is doing great! Loves learning at his new job and has met so many wonderful people! He is still taking Master's classes online and has started an investing company "Soaring Investment Management!
Jessie - I am donig great too! I love being a stay at home mom and wife! It is crazy busy and hectic sometime but when I fall asleep at night I truly thank God and my lucky stars that this is my life! I am still trying to loose my baby weight from Kyndle and have signed up for a Halloween 5K coming up on the 29th! Updates to come!
Mckinley - She is our little 3 year old, who will be 4 and then she will be 5 as she says it! She is going to preschool 3 mornings a week! It has been quite the process convincing her that I will come back and get her everyday! She loves school and has a blast while she is there but she never wants me to leave!! :) She is also loving her birthday gift of a strider bike! We have been enjoying our little bike rides to the playground! She is getting so good at balancing and will be riding a real bike in no time!!
Kyndle - is talking so much! She repeats everything we say and walks around the house telling us the name of everything! We plan to videotape her this weekend because she is so cute with her words right now!
I really want to do a better job of this so plan on posting a couple of times a week! I read so many of my friends blogs and they are so poinent and I love reading about their lives! I know this blog is mostly for my family and any friends who also share the love of blogging! Love you all and miss you too!

Update

2011-10-18T10:04:00.001-07:00

Our blog - well at first we were out of commition with moving to Florida and then our blog was out of commition so I hope to get back on track now!

Hoping for an eventful week

2011-08-08T12:43:00.001-07:00

A picture of the Paquettes from our Boston trip! So fun!

This is a picture of our new house from the inside!

We are hoping to move into it this week! It has been a crazy ride and we look forward to moving in. Right now we are currently "housesitting" for some friends. God truly provides in a time of need and we needed a place to live for a few weeks and God provided. We ran into some friends at church and they offered up their house to us because they were going to be gone most of the time we needed a place to stay! Very sweet and generous! We are lucky to be staying at their beautiful home in this time of transition!

Moving

2011-06-09T15:02:00.000-07:00

I apologize for not updating our little blog here sooner but we have been a little busy with moving. We are in MN right now on our way to Florida! We left Alaska on the 1st of June and will leave MN on the 22nd of June! It was hard to leave such a wonderful places with so many wonderful people and memories but we are excited for Florida and new adventures! I will add some pictures of the girls soon! Hang with us as we are now in vacation mode and soon will be living in the sunshine state!

Dance Party

2011-02-13T14:05:00.000-08:00

We do a lot of dancing in this house! We bounce around to all our favorite songs! Kyndle has some great dance moves! Enjoy!

Kyndle on the stairs

2011-02-10T16:38:00.000-08:00

Kyndle has been learning so much lately! She is getting to be such a big girl! She has started crawling up the stairs now! Here she is with a cute little heart on her bottom!

Mckinley and Mommy time

2011-02-08T16:38:00.000-08:00

While Daddy and Kyndle were at home - Mckinley and Mommy went out on the town. We had a few errands to run and it was very fun to have time one on one with her again. We went to target and got some hot chocolates and we also got some new sunglasses for her! We have so much fun together!

Kyndle is 10 months old

2011-01-24T23:46:00.000-08:00

Our little Kyndle has become quite the triple threat! She learned to pull herself up, crawl and walk - all within a matter of a few days! Most of this she picked up while we were in Minnesota! All of her aunts and uncles and grandparents were more than willing to "help" her learn all of those skills!! It has been interesting being back in Alaska with all these new skills! Two kids moving around constantly means I don't have to schedule a workout anymore! :)

Singing with Grandma Karen

2011-01-03T10:51:00.000-08:00

One of Mckinley's favorite Christmas gifts is her tape player. She has a lot of tapes that match books so she can sing and read with them. Grandma Karen even sent a tape for Christmas! Very special and fun!

Happy New Year

2011-01-02T22:21:00.000-08:00

We want to wish everyone a happy 2011! We are so blessed and lucky to have you all in our lives! One of my new year's resolutions is to do a better job on our blog! Even though we are not close physically I want to keep you all close through the technology we share! Love you all!

Halloween gift

2010-10-31T11:02:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the spooky bowl Grandmas! We love it! Can't wait to hand out some candy tonight!

Boomerang

2010-10-31T00:10:00.000-07:00

Denis brought back some boomerangs from Australia. Mckinley and Daddy had fun yesterday playing with one! They tried to lose one in the tree and you can watch and find out if they got it out! Mckinley has been talking about it since! So fun!

2010-09-17T16:11:00.000-07:00

Thanks for your patience! We have been busy little girls while Grandma Karen has been here! Yesterday we got to play at the park! Mckinley loves the swings and the slide! Kyndle loved swinging too!

Kyndle - 5 months

2010-08-18T13:03:00.000-07:00

Our little Kyndle is now a rolling machine - she doesn't stay on her back for long! She hasn't figured out how to flip over once she gets on her tummy yet! She is 5 months old today and we are just so blessed to have her in our lives! She is an amazing baby and we are so grateful for that! Enjoy her sweetness in the video! Love you all!

Baby, oh!

2010-07-26T00:09:00.000-07:00

The Airman's Medal

2010-06-18T23:44:00.000-07:00

Denis was honored with The Airman's medal today. In November 2007, he saved a women's life and possible more when we were in Omaha. Denis and I were driving back to Altus, OK and Denis noticed an out of control truck. The driver had a stroke or a seizure - became unconscious - and Denis ran to her truck opened the door through the window and drove the car across on coming traffic to the opposite side of the road before it went over a cliff. A pretty crazy story! It was pretty awesome today to watch him be honored and hear the story again! Way to go babe! We love you and are so proud of you!

Mckinley and her Wee Sing books

2010-06-16T10:46:00.000-07:00

Mckinley has been LOVING her Wee Sing books! She has 2 copies from Gr. Grandma Martin and so we can sing upstairs or downstairs! The other day we heard her singing and reading to herself in the chair downstairs! So cute!

Mckinley and "baby Kiwi"

Mckinley turns 2

2010-06-02T23:20:00.001-07:00

On Mckinley's birthday, we started the day with her favorite breakfast: waffles, strawberries, whipped cream and SYRUP! Next, we went to the park with one of her favorite people, Emmett Parkison and his mom and dad! We also had a fabulous lunch with them! After Mckinley's nap we opened presents and had some birthday cake! A wonderful day for a wonderful girl! We love you so much Mckinley! You amaze us more and more everyday! There is no way we could tell you how much we love you or how proud of you were are! Love you so much!

Happy Birthday to Mckinley

2010-06-02T22:51:00.000-07:00

Our sweet Mckinley turned 2 on Saturday, May 29th! She had a wonderful weekend celebrating! The theme of the weekend was butterflies!

We had a birthday party for her at a park on Friday with many of her little friends! She had fun playing and eating cupcakes!

A beautiful May day

2010-05-25T21:37:00.000-07:00

We had fun playing outside today! The last few days have been nice and warm! It is only like 60 degrees but that is WARM here! When the sun is out, it is hot and nice! Mckinley loves to be outside and never wants to come in! She gets so dirty and loves to play in the dirt and rocks. She has really been having fun "going walking" in the woods with Daddy! She gets to see alot of moose too! She usually comes home with lots of mementos from her travels - rocks, dandelions, spruce tree leaves etc. She is so excited to show me what she found when she gets home. Usually after a couple days and I am finding rocks all around the house, we "set them free" to be outside! :) Enjoy the pictures and videos!

She loves bubbles too!

Tuesday

2010-05-18T15:21:00.000-07:00

We had doctor appointments for both the girls today! They are both healthy and strong and doing wonderful!
Kyndle is 2 months today - she weighs 13.5 lbs and is 23.5 in. long. She is such a good baby and doing everything she is supposed to! Thank God for healthy children! Here are some pictures of Kyndle from today! There is also a video of Mckinley playing with her car outside tonight!

These are the days of our lives!

2010-05-17T16:06:00.000-07:00

Monday -
We went to Bouncing Bears today! Yah - so much fun! Mckinley loves to bounce on all the inflatable toys! She had fun with Daddy, Mommy and Auntie Leah!

2010-05-09T22:19:00.000-07:00

Playing outside

2010-05-03T20:48:00.000-07:00

We got to play outside yesterday! It was fun to play with side walk chalk and bubbles! Mckinley has been saying the cutest things. She pretty much "tries" to repeat anything we say! Lately she has been saying "puppy dog" and it is really cute how she says it. I was trying to capture it here!

Kyndle is one month old!

2010-04-19T21:49:00.000-07:00

It is hard to believe that our little Kyndle is one month already! She is such an amazing baby! I don't even think we know how lucky we are! She is so peaceful and laid back! Thank goodness - because her sister is ALOT of work! Mckinley is getting into everything and quite the "scientist" trying to figure out how everything works and what is inside the salt shaker and things like that! I am a very busy mommy and I am sure Denis feels like he never gets a break either! So are the days of our lives...blessed beyond measure!

Mckinley on Monday

2010-04-19T21:31:00.000-07:00

Just updating our blog with a little Mckinley movie! It is short and sweet because the battery died on the camera. But it is better than nothing!

Random

2010-04-15T15:28:00.000-07:00

Kyndle and Mckinley are doing great! We have been staying busy and starting to figure out a routine around here! I try to take alot of pictures to document our life for all our friends and family away from us but also for the girls when they are older. Here are some pictures from this week. This video is short and sweet but Aunt Alyssa likes to see the girls "in action"! Love you all!

Tuesday - Mommy went to the bow shop!

Wednesday - Nap with Daddy - after his check ride

Cute thanks to Mom and Dad and my new hair bow

Hi!!

Hoppy Easter!

2010-04-05T10:46:00.000-07:00

He has risen indeed! We had a great Easter this year! Happy 1st Easter to our little Kyndle! We had a relaxing day and it was fun to give Mckinley her Easter basket and to see her look for some eggs! We had a yummy Easter dinner of ham, Grandma Martin's mustard sauce, corn casserole, and peas! We had some peanut butter eggs for dessert! We hope everyone had a fabulous Easter!
We are now onto real life as Grandma Karen is back in MN, Denis is back at work, and I am here with two kiddos! Please say prayers for our family as we all transition to this new life! Love you all!

Kyndle Anne is here!!

2010-03-25T15:12:00.000-07:00

Our precious baby girl is here! Kyndle Anne Paquette was born on Thursday, March 18, 2010! She was 8 lbs 3 oz and 21 in long. We are so excited she is here! I will write more later! We have a lot less time now with two girls! :)

Some "family" photos!

2010-03-07T21:04:00.001-08:00

My friend Kimberly offered to take some pictures of our growing family! She did a great job and here are a few of them!

Mckinley and the belly

2010-02-28T23:04:00.000-08:00

With March here, we decided we should probably get this house ready for a baby. Mckinley liked all the "new" things that we got out last night and wanted to play and lay in all of them. We also did a little video of her and the baby belly. She is very sweet when we talk about the baby, she loves to rub my belly and give it kisses! Although, I am pretty sure she doesn't understand what all this means! She will soon! I am trying not to be emotional about how her life will change and I am just trying to soak up the last few days and weeks with her alone! I am feeling good and almost 37 weeks along. It won't be long now! Love you all!

Warning: A very pregnant bare belly is seen in this video! :)

Mckinley cheering and playing

2010-02-21T11:49:00.000-08:00

Mckinley has had a runny nose this week so we have been playing inside! We have played a lot of knee hockey and danced all around the house. Auntie Alyssa also sent some pom poms for Valentine's and we watched her cheering/dancing/gymnast video and we taped some of her playing yesterday!

Baby Game

2010-02-17T16:40:00.000-08:00

We are having a little fun guessing when this little one will come! You can play our game by clicking on the link below! Let us know what you think!

Mckinley @ 34 weeks

Baby #2 @ 34 weeks

Ice hockey with Dad

2010-02-14T18:32:00.000-08:00

Mckinley and Dad got some quality time this weekend when we went to Westchester Lagoon. They played ice hockey and skated around on the ice! She loved it and it was a beautiful day! We were glad we took advantage of the day!

Valentine's Day photo shoot

2010-02-09T17:00:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day is one of my favorite days of the year! I love celebrating love and everything romantical. Also, I love the color pink so this holiday is just great! Mckinley and I have been working on our valentines to send out and we did a little valentines photo shoot. I tried to get her all dressed up cute - but she was not going to wear the cute skirt! So cute shirt and diaper it was! Also, she was playing with her valentine bears that when you make them kiss, the girl bears cheeks turn red! Lots of fun! We hope you have a great Valentine's day! Love you all!

Belly Week #33

2010-02-09T16:54:00.001-08:00

Mckinley @ 33 weeks

Baby #2 @ 33 weeks
Munchkin #2 is doing well! The baby is moving a lot but I think it must be getting pretty cramped in there! My bladder is getting smaller and smaller! Mckinley is really interested in the belly and knows that there is a baby in there!

Mckinley on the potty

2010-02-04T15:28:00.000-08:00

Mckinley has been working on going on the potty lately. She is has been doing ok. We spent alot of time this weekend just sitting on the potty to see if she would go. She has went a couple of times and we celebrate big - with jelly beans and all! She even looked at me in church when she was going in her diaper and put her hands up in celebration and did the potty sign! So I am guessing she is getting the feeling of what it feels like to go! But we aren't pushing her, just seeing if she is ready! Here are some fun pictures Daddy and I took during the weekend!

Baby #2

2010-02-02T11:00:00.001-08:00

Mckinley's Pregnancy @ 31 weeks

Baby #2 @ 31 weeks

I thought I would start showing some belly pictures and some belly comparisons! I am starting to feel huge and can't believe this baby will be here in around 2 months!

Stroll'n on Saturday

2010-02-02T10:02:00.000-08:00

Mckinley was having a fun weekend playing and we got some of her "playtime" on camera!

Sledding

2010-01-26T15:03:00.000-08:00

Mckinley got two new sleds for Christmas! One stayed in MN and one got sent to Alaska. She learned she loved to sled after Grandma and Grandpa Radisewitz gave her one on Christmas eve. It was wonderful to pull her between houses (when she didn't want to do the pulling :) and she learned the sign for "sledding" right away. Then Grandma and Grandpa Paquette sent a sled to Alaska. Daddy took Mckinley out the other night and got some cute pictures! She must have "Alaska blood" because she does not mind the cold temperatures! We tried to go out last night and there was a big moose at the end of our street so we didn't end up going very far! Oh the joys of living in Alaska!
By the way, I am feeling good and munchkin #2 is growing and moving alot! Only a couple months left! Wow - time flies!

Merry Christmas Eve, eve, eve!

2009-12-22T12:29:00.000-08:00

Since the Paquette's will be flying to MN tonight, we had Santa come to our house a little early! Mckinley did a good job opening her gifts and had even more fun playing with them! After she opened one present she wanted to play with it right away so that is a good sign! It was fun to watch her face light up! She really loved the airplane and daddy showed her how to fly it in the sky! Here is a short video:

Finally a video

2009-12-20T21:56:00.000-08:00

Hello family and friends -
We are excited to be coming home to MN soon for the holidays! We spent the day playing and relaxing while Daddy did some homework. Alyssa has been waiting so patiently for a video of Mckinley! I am sorry I have not been doing a good job of video documenting her! Here are a couple of videos from today!

Babymoon

2009-12-14T14:36:00.000-08:00

Denis and I were lucky enough to go on a little "babymoon" to Las Vegas last week! He had to go there for an airshow convention and we decided to make a little trip out of it! Grandma Rosie came up to Alaska to stay with Mckinley and off we were! It was a very relaxing trip for me! Denis did have to work most of the days but we took advantage of his time out of the convention! We went to a magic show, a Dave Matthews concert, out to eat at some fun places and most importantly snuck in some naps! It was wonderful! I think Mckinley and Grandma Rosie were more busy in Alaska! It was a much needed vacation before we welcome baby #2! We are so grateful for our "babymoon"!

Happy Thanksgiving 2009

2009-11-26T22:33:00.000-08:00

We had a great Thanksgiving today! We collaborated with our friends the Drewrys and had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal and day! Mckinley had fun playing with Austin and Chloe and Denis and I enjoyed chatting with Ruth and Nate. We even snuck in a game of Taboo while all the kiddos were sleeping! On the way home, Denis and I talked about what we are thankful for and we both are just in awe of our countless blessings! We are so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends, a healthy family, and just an absolute amazing life! We are especially thankful for all of you who enjoy reading our blog and seeing pictures of our family. We love you all!

Mckinley's skates

2009-11-22T21:50:00.000-08:00

Daddy got Mckinley some new skates this weekend that will work a little better then the ones we had before. They are soft tecs and they feel a more like her winter boots so she is more willing to try them out! Here is the latest video of our girl - she has her new "chooes" on and also says some of her favorite words, "ball" and "dog" and shows the "baby" sign. That is all for now! Love you all!

Weekly Video

2009-11-19T16:21:00.000-08:00

Some of Mckinley's biggest fans would like to see more videos of her in action so I will try to post a new video every few days. The problem is when she is doing something funny or cute I usually don't have the camera on her. So besides having a camera on 24/7 we will just try to capture a few of the things she is doing lately.

This was about 7:45 pm at night. She just got done coloring, she wants to play with Reganne, and does not want to go to bed! We also showcased one of her latest signs - your welcome! Enjoy!

A Snowy Veteran's Day

2009-11-11T21:58:00.000-08:00

It was Veteran's day today and so Denis had the day off! It was an awesome day to celebrate our veteran! We had a fun day playing and walking in the snow and then having hot chocolate to warm up afterwards! We have so much to be grateful for!

A night in the life of Mckinley

2009-11-05T20:37:00.000-08:00

There have been some requests for some updated videos of Mckinley! So here is our Mckinley just playing around the living room tonight! You can enjoy her "chooes" on the wrong feet, her lovely cough, her mommy's wonderful singing, and a few of the signs she knows! I decided not to cut it down to a few seconds since her Auntie wants to see what she is up to! Enjoy!

20 Weeks

2009-11-05T15:11:00.000-08:00

We had our 20 week ultrasound today. It is always amazing for me to see our little one! I am feeling he/she move a lot more but it is unreal to see this little person on the screen! We thought we might even want to sneak a peek and find out who little Paquette is, but this baby had a different story in mind! He/She kept his/her legs closed for the entire ultrasound! The technician was sweet but ultimately he said he would have been guessing! So we will find out in 20 weeks with the rest of the world! More importantly, I could see the little heart beating, the brain and spine. We have a doctor's appointment in 2 weeks to go over the results! Ultimately we are praying for a healthy baby! Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers too!

Grandma Rosie's Dress

2009-11-01T17:43:00.000-08:00

Mckinley got to wear Grandma Rosie's dress from when she was a little girl! It was pretty cute and fit her perfectly! Daddy got Mckinley dressed for church in it this morning!

Halloween

2009-11-01T17:25:00.000-08:00

This Halloween was pretty uneventful for the Paquette's! Mckinley and Mommy have been on the mend after being sick this week so we decided to stay inside and feed the trick or treaters! We still dressed up and had fun though! The Paquette's became the Flinestone's!

Happy Halloween Week

2009-10-28T12:33:00.000-07:00

We have been having such a blast with Grandma Karen! It was fun to have her here a couple days before Denis left and of course wonderful to have her here while he is gone. She is cooking all our favorite meals and treats and it is so nice to have so much help. It is fun to watch her and Mckinley interact. They just make each other giggle!

Mckinley has been saying some new words - chooes (shoes), mo (more), nana (not sure), gamma or gammy (grandma)!

We also carved some pumpkins to get in the holiday spirit! Mckinley wasn't sure what to think of the pumpkin guts - it was funny to watch her face when she touched it for the first time!

Mckinley sees an airplane!

2009-10-12T20:55:00.001-07:00

Mckinley loves airplanes! Big surprise! It must be in her genes! Whenever we drive on the Air Force base she always loves looking for them in the sky. Even at our house there is usually a float plane or two in the sky at any one time. She can even pick out the sound of an airplane from inside our house. While we were at Flat Top today there was an airplane in the sky and we were trying to show her where it was. She could hear it and she was looking for it and then she finally spotted it! Denis did a great job of capturing her excitement!

Awesome Autumn

2009-10-12T20:21:00.000-07:00

We had an extraordinary day in Anchorage today. It was sunny and bright and even got up to 60 degrees. We wanted to take advantage of the day so we went to Flat Top Mountain to see an amazing view of Anchorage. We were excited to see that there was also an awesome view of Mt. McKinley. We had fun getting lots of shots of Mt. McKinley, our Mckinley and Reganne!

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-11T13:47:00.000-07:00

The fall weather has been pretty good to us in Alaska considering that our family and friends in Minnesota have had snow already! We decided to go pick out some pumpkins while it still seems to be fall here. The closest thing we have to a pumpkin "patch" here is "Bell's Nursery" which had a lot of pumpkins to choose from. We brought our camera and tried to capture Mckinley's first time picking out a pumpkin! We all had fun and even ended our day with some apple cider!

Fall Fun

2009-09-30T11:27:00.000-07:00

We have been having fun in Alaska watching the leaves turn colors and start to fall! It is getting cooler every day here and we are starting to have to get bundled up to go outside! That is no fun! We have been enjoying our new camera and find ourselves playing around and taking lots of pictures of Mckinley (big shock)!

I am 15 weeks along and I am feeling great! We have another doctor's appointment in a week and that will be fun to hear the baby's heartbeat again!

Mckinley is doing awesome! She is learning more sign language and words everyday! It is amazing to watch her learn and grow! Her latest word is "no"! We have a video of her in the tub I will add later! It is pretty hard not to laugh at her when she says it because it is so cute but we don't want her to say that word. We are working on it!

Love you all! Take care!

Higher

2009-09-07T22:23:00.000-07:00

These shots where taken during a local Air Drop sortie out of Elmendorf AFB by a professional photographer. I thought I would put some music to it and let you see them. Enjoy!

Our All American Girl

2009-09-04T09:54:00.000-07:00

Mckinley is growing up fast! Life is so short, we must move very slowly.

2009-09-01T19:05:00.000-07:00

Mckinley has been saying a lot of new words lately! She is saying Mama, Dada, dog, eye, down, hot, book, and the word she probably says most often right now is ball! Grandma Rosie sent her a basketball hoop and ball from SDSU. She loves playing with it and when Daddy gets the ball in the hoop she raises both her hands and yells "SCORE"!! It is all very cute! Another thing she does is finds the ball when it rolls under the bed. She gets on her tummy and reaches underneath to get her ball. It is cute and this video is Mckinley in action!!

Lots of time and lots of news!!!

2009-08-16T14:56:00.000-07:00

Well it seems that is has been a pretty busy summer! We haven't posted anything for awhile and is seems there is a lot to share! We had a great summer! In June, we went home for Phil's graduation and got to watch him play in the State Baseball tournament. That was awesome! In July, we had some visitors from Texas come up and we got to go on a Glacier Cruise. It was fun to have them here and get to see some more of beautiful Alaska. In the middle of July, Denis left Alaska for Malaysia. He was the only Air Force officer to attend. What an honor! He learned a lot and met a lot of nice people. Mckinley and I went home to Minnesota while he was in Malaysia and got to do a lot. We went camping, went to a family reunion, watched Grandma Karen sing and got to attend John and Erin's wedding! It was all so fun and exciting. While we were home we also found out that Mckinley is going to be a big sister around March 23, 2010! That was pretty SURPRISING and exciting news. So now we are back to Alaska with a lot of pictures and memories! I am feeling good and just trying to soak up this time with Mckinley. She is growing and changing everyday. She is so fun and silly! We will post some pictures and videos of our time in Minnesota soon! Love you all!

Lions & Tigers & Bears Oh My!

2009-06-03T23:36:00.000-07:00

Small black bear hanging out on Grumman St. Wed, 3 Jun.

Mckinley's New Car

2009-06-03T18:09:00.000-07:00

Mckinley got a new car for her birthday from her Auntie Alyssa! She loves it! Mommy and Daddy had alot of fun putting it together! :) We will see if Auntie Alyssa will buy her a real new car on her 16th birthday too!

Mckinley's birthday weekend!

2009-06-01T17:57:00.000-07:00

Mckinley had a great time turning one! She had a fun day on her birthday with lots of calls and cards from family and friends. We took her to the zoo and had cake for dessert...and she got her carseat switched around!
It was a wonderful day! On Saturday, we had lots of her friends over to celebrate her! Wow - did they! She got so many great gifts that she loves! She got to do the cake thing again and loved it both times! We are so lucky to have so many wonderful family and friends who love our little Mckinley as much as we do!!

Video update!

2009-05-13T23:34:00.000-07:00

Denis and I have been trying to videotape Mckinley more. It seems she is changing and growing every day! Here are some of the latest! She is walking more and crawling less. She really likes to push things and gets frusterated if they don't move! She is very deteremined and doesn't like alot of help. If I put my finger out for her to have some help she will shake it away! She is still a very happy girl despite getting all four of her one year molars! She is a delight and lights up our every day~

2009-04-12T21:39:00.000-07:00

Here is something to brighten your day! Daddy had the hiccups and Mckinley thought they were pretty funny!

Happy Easter

2009-04-12T20:59:00.000-07:00

We had an amazing day celebrating Easter! There were many moments throughout the day that we knew Grandma was there, especially in the kitchen! Church was wonderful, the Easter Bunny brought a basket to Mckinley, and we had a wonderful meal tonight! Here is a little clip of Mckinley with her Easter basket!

Mckinley and her tongue!

2009-04-11T07:38:00.000-07:00

Mckinley has found her tongue! It has been pretty funny the last couple of days because she has been sticking her tongue out alot! We think it is because she can feel her tooth coming in! It looks funny but so cute too!

Mckinley mastering the stairs

2009-04-10T17:43:00.001-07:00

We have been having so much fun with Mckinley! She is talking alot - we don't understand most of it, but she is also starting to walk more and going up and down the stairs! She is so cute how she does it with her little foot stuck out and her little toes dangling to touch the steps! So sweet! We are hoping to have a nice Easter weekend! Hopefully she will like the Easter Bunny!

Mckinley is walking!!

2009-03-30T22:42:00.000-07:00

Mckinley had a big weekend! She officially turned 10 months on the 29th and she also took her first steps! She took a couple steps on Saturday and Sunday and then on Monday she was taking two or three steps at a time! We tried to get a couple on the camera - here is what we got! She continues to talk alot without saying any words we understand. We think she is saying puppy and the sound dadadada comes out at times. She stands for a couple seconds at a time, plays pat -a-cake and SOOOOOOOO BIG!!!!!!!!! She is such a good baby and we stay busy all weekend just playing! Besides Mckinley we had a lot of excitement with Mt. Redoubt erupting! It has erupted about 16 times and we actually saw a lot of ash this weekend! Coming home from church on Saturday night we thought it was snowing until we realized it was snowing ash flakes! We plugged all the doors and stayed inside for the rest of the day! Lots of excitement for one weekend! We are thinking of our family in Fargo and hoping they are all doing well! We love you all!

Lazy Weekend

2009-03-22T20:16:00.001-07:00

With Denis being gone Mckinley and I had a pretty lazy weekend! I tried to do some spring cleaning and got as much done as I could with Mckinley in her hi chair! We spent alot of time in the kitchen, I made banana bread, creme brule and some more baby food for her! We played, read books, giggled, worked on our sign language and took some baths! I took some fun bath tub pictures! We hope you enjoy them! We are excited for Daddy to come home soon!

2009-03-17T16:49:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day! It has been fun celebrating Mckinley's first St. Patrick's day! We celebrated a little early last night and took some pictures of Mckinley and went to a little Irish shop Celtic Treasures and had some Irish tea and biscuits with Denis. Denis left this morning for a trip and Mckinley and I had lunch at an Irish pub with some friends! We are having fun wearing our green and I even got some mint chocolate chip ice cream for tonight! We talked with Gr and Gr Radisewitz on the webcam today and that was fun! We are thinking of Great Grandma Martin today as she is in the hospital! We love you!

Our First Blog

2009-03-16T09:59:00.000-07:00

Mckinley has been so fun lately that I thought there were too many stories to just have a facebook page. This will be a fun place to document and talk about everything Mckinley is learning and doing where are family and friends can look without everyone on facebook having to know!
We had a fun weekend but Mckinley has a little cold! I think she got it from me. After subbing last week I had a cold and now shared it with Mckinley and now she shared it with her daddy!
However, some new things she is doing are... giving kisses, showing the I love you sign, hi-5s, and lots of talking! We think she thinks her name is Bob because she is always saying bob, bob, bob! Also she says pu - pup - pup......e so we think she is trying to say puppy, also she said dadda in church yesterday but we are not sure she is actually saying it for Denis yet! We will keep you updated!
She is crawling faster everyday and she walks with the furniture, pulls herself up on everything! She is not so excited about standing though - and her legs just crumble underneath her when we try to stand her up! She likes to walk with Daddy though and does a great job walking with him - even with one hand!
She loves to play the game of empty drawers, kitchen cubbards, and her toy basket! It keeps mommy and daddy busy picking up after her!
Well - this is fun and I will do my best to keep everyone up to date on our little life here in Alaska!!