Ready For the Big Game

I doubt this was what Outkast had in mind when they recorded "Hey Ya"

Senior Choir meet Outkast (short video)

The full medley. (long video) (at least watch the last minute)

There's just something hilarious and disturbing about them.

My new favorite Christmas song

Click here

Bad day?

Workers attempt to remove a 100,000-pound crane that fell onto the Santa Rosa, Calif., home of Michelle and Kevin McCarthy on Nov. 17. The couple had hired a contractor to remove a 150-year-old oak tree in the backyard for fear that it could fall. Instead, the crane fell and sliced through the house the McCarthys moved into just a few months earlier. No one was home at the time and there were no injuries.

And I like how the crane company's name is "reliable."

Lot's of snow

The news calls it: Operation Winter Storm. Blizzard of '09. Blizzard Blast.

I call it winter.

Regardless, we got dumped on the last 24 hours on basically everything except moving snow was cancelled today.

I was itching to go outside all morning after seeing 12-14 inches on the ground with a giant drift around my truck. I finally got enough shoveling done to get the truck out of the driveway and took a drive around. The town was pretty dead. It was kinda fun.

After coming home, I shoveled more, helped my neighbor fix his snowblower, played with Makenna outside and shoveled some more. It's still not done yet, but it's good enough.

Makenna kinda enjoyed the ride in the "sled," but it was tough to tell since it was nap time. A few minutes of playing followed by a face-plant in the snow sent her back inside.

You might notice my neighbor working on his snow blower as we run by.

In other news, the Ag Leader building I have been working on had it' s big opening this week. Two papers covered it. Both write ups were pathetic. Here is a link to one. They even spelled the guy's name wrong in the picture.

Makenna In The Snow

Baby 2 Update

Here is the information we received on Tuesday from our week 16 appointment.

• I have lost two pounds since our last appointment. No worries....I still have plenty of time to pack on the pounds.

• Baby #2 had a strong heartbeat ranging between 144 and 140.

• Our ultra-sound is scheduled for December 23. I can't wait to see the little one and see all his/her body parts. And NO we are not gonna find out the sex. (that day at least. more to come on that later)

Other Baby #2 news

• Over the past couple days I have been able to feel the kiddo move. And boy does this one move a lot. I have a feeling we will have another active kiddo on our hands.

• We have a nickname for Baby #2. But I will let Jared introduce the name to you. And explain how we came up with it.

• I have experienced pregnancy cravings so much more with this pregnancy. The latest cravings include sour cream and cheddar ruffles, soda (I rarely drink soda so this one is strange but I crave it all the time), peanut butter, movie theater popcorn (been very tempted to go to the theater just to get popcorn), milk, cheese, and as always cherry limeades from Sonic.

• When I ask Makenna to give baby "insert nickname" a kiss. She will lift up my shirt and give my belly a kiss. It is so sweet!

• I am showing a lot sooner this pregnancy than with Makenna. AKA. The maternity pants are out and I am either living in them or sweat pants. For those who don't remember, I could still wear my regular jeans almost the entire pregnancy with Makenna.
  

I will leave you with a week 16 pregnancy picture. Enjoy!

Daddy's Helper

These are some pictures of Makenna helping Jared with the fun job of untangling the lights.

Real Christmas Tree - 2009

Saturday we took our annual trip to the tree farm to pick out the our Christmas tree. This was Makenna's first year to participate. I think she enjoyed herself until she did a nose plant into the cool wet grass. She recovered very quickly though.

Here are the pictures from the outing!

Jesse Tree

I typically don't get to into family traditions. It really isn't my thing. It's not that I don't like family traditions. I just never made it a priority to start any new family traditions after Jared and I got married. I guess I think the best traditions are usually the ones you don't plan. More like the ones that you fall into by accident. But for some reason I am extremely excited to start the family tradition of having a Jesse Tree.

For those unfamiliar with a Jesse Tree, it is a way to celebrate the advent season. The idea comes from the scripture Isaiah 11:1

¹ A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

In a nut shell this is a daily devotional that you can do as a family each day of December leading up to Christmas. With each scripture reading, you have an ornament that is a symbol representing one of the main points in the passage. The devotionals start in Genesis and work their way through the Bible and ending with the birth of Jesus.

The reason I like this idea so much is because it pulls your family into scripture during the busy Christmas season. Here is a link to some more detailed information about Jesse Trees. The link also has a the a list of the daily devotions and ideas for the ornaments. Personally, we tweaked some a the devotions by adding a few different scriptures relating to Christ's coming and taken out a few. Let me know if you are interested in what our Jesse Tree looks like or our schedule of devotionals.

Similarity?

Here is a picture of Makenna at 1 year

And a picture of me at 1 year

What Did You Do Today

I went to my friend Mandy's house to make peanut butter balls. Now I am enjoying a plate of them and a latte! It doesn't get much better than that. Especially on a gloomy day.

10 Honest Things About Me

So Jared's cousin's wife, Dorothy, nominated me to complete a list of 10 honest things about me. Be prepared to be thoroughly entertained.....or not.

1. When I was in High School I wanted to be an architect.
2. The only pet that I have ever had was a guppy named Teddy Roosevelt Jr. Which was a science project of my dad's.
3. I would really love to live on an acreage. Preferably one with a pond or creek and a large area for a veggie garden and small orchard.
4. I like to dip fritos and pizza crust in applesauce. Nope this is not a pregnancy craving. This is an all the time thing.
5. My favorite season is summer. Bring on the heat and the sun. I love 'em both.
6. I would like to spend my "golden years" living in the deep south. Where I will hopefully pick up an authentic southern accent.
7. There are many days that I wear sweatpants and t-shirts all day. A benefit of being a stay-at-home mom. Some days I feel like I'm in college again though.
8. I have never learned how to drive a stick shift.
9. I am not a big fan of going out to eat. I prefer a home cooked meal any day.
10. I have watched and participated in the dissection of a human cadaver.

Well there you have it. 10 honest things about me.

Makenna on Facebook

As you might know, Makennna has been on facebook for awhile now. Here is some proof.

Fair weather fan?

Allison and I were discussing going to the football game this weekend. She asked about the weather.

J: It's mostly nice through Friday, don't know about Saturday.

A: If it's raining I don't want to go! I guess I'm more of a fair weather fan.

Pause.

J: You realize "fair weather fan" relates to how well a team is doing, not the temperature.

A: (laughing) Oh.

A Comparison

Pregnant with Makenna at 12 weeks....

Pregnant with Baby 2 at 12 weeks.....

For those keeping track, the above picture was taken last week. I am actually 13 weeks pregnant as of today.

Why the slacking?

If you have wondered why the Willis' have been slacking on blogging lately it is because the mama has been overly tired and out of energy over the last month and a half. Why you ask?

Well....



Yep you guessed it. We are expecting again and with God's grace we will be welcoming baby two into the world sometime around May 18th!

Leaves, Leaves, Leaves

Happy Birthday Nana and Uncle Jason

Today is my mom's birthday. (I won't tell you how old she is, but I will tell you she will be celebrating her sixth birthday ending with a zero next year.)

Today is also my brother-in-law, Jason's birthday too.

We hope you both enjoy your special day to the fullest.

Halloween

Makenna got to dress up as the great pumpkin for Halloween this year. Not that she knew what was going on, but she was cute anyway. The hat didn't make it too long, and we were amazed we even got any pictures with it on due to her extreme objection to it inside the house.

I saw the Ames Library had trick or treating all day so we went. Basically a couple buckets of candy around with no one manning them. Lame. But she enjoyed running up and down all the isles, stopping only to pull a random book off the shelf. People were always pleasantly surprised to look up from their books to see a giggling pumpkin whiz by them.

We also took her to the play place in the mall and let her run from one end of the mall to the other. Yes, the Ames mall is that small. She was the hit of the place. Lots of "Oh how cute!"

We went to church that night so we missed out on most of the trick or treaters, but Makenna and I stopped by a few neighbors houses when when we got home. Again, the baby in a pumpkin outfit killed.

We finished the night off with Makenna going to bed and Allison feeling ill from eating too much candy. Happy Halloween indeed.

One Year Stats : Finally

We finally had Makenna's one year appointment today. Here are her stats:

• Weight - 18 pounds 13 ounces
• Height - 29 inches

So I was looking back on our blog and I have definitely been slacking on updating on Makenna so here are some updates about her over the last few months.

10 Months

• Eats all table food
• Drinks from a cup with meals and snack
• Loves pulling things out of drawers and baskets, also loves pulling things off shelves
  
• Walking well
• Likes playing with blocks...aka knocking over towers
  
• Climbs up the stairs

11 Months

• Gives high fives
• Likes turning pages of her books but only will sit still while you read to her when she is tired
  
• Signs "milk" and "all done"
• Loves to play Peek-a-Boo
• When asked "Where is Makenna's baby?" , she will go find her doll
  

12 Months

• Loves to dance
• Loves to bring books to you to read to her - favorites are touch and feel or flap books
  
• Can stack one block on another
• Puts toys into containers - doesn't just empty stuff anymore
• Signs "please"
• Will rock her doll in her arms and put her in her rocking chair and rock her
  
• Climbs on anything and everything
• Great at problem solving...aka moves somethings she has the ability to climb on next to something she doesn't so that she is able to climb on the reachable thing
• Whenever someone is eating she come running... guess we must not feed her enough
  

Pumpkins!

This post is a bit late, but few weekends ago we went up to Jared's parent's farm to pick some pumpkins. Jared's brother's family came too. Makenna seemed to have a fun time trying to keep up with Ally and Drew. The weather was great that day and the kids got to spend a lot of time outside. While we were there Jared's mom planned a treasure hunt for the kids to find pumpkins with the letters of their name on them. We also enjoyed celebrating Makenna and Drew's birthday with Jared's brother's family. Makenna got a much loved guitar that she carries around quite often and dances with.

Party!

It's unbelievable to think our little Makenna is now one! Time sure flies by and we love her more and more each day.

We celebrated with family on Saturday and Makenna had a blast being the center of attention. She loved the cake and did a pretty good job opening presents.

Thanks Connie for the cake and all the grandparents and great-grandparents for her great toys and sweet winter outfit. Hopefully she will grow a little before the snow flies!

If you like The Office......

We watched the office last night. I like the show most of the time, but last night's was so funny at the end Allison and I were both crying.

Here's a link to the clip in case you missed it, or just want to re-watch it....

House Update

Here is the progress that Jared has accomplished in the kitchen/dining/living room area since we moved in.

• the wall between the kitchen and dining/living room was demoed
• reframed in columns and beam
• new paint in dining/living room
• removed carpet in dining/living room
• layed new wood floors
• hung curtains in dining/living area
• new Willis original custom made coffee table
• started to trim out the columns and beam

view of the demoed wall and reframed beam and columns

view of the progress on the trim work
the old floors (yep there was two)and the new floor in the kitchen