Squeeky Shoes

Here is a quick video of Mary-Brenna walking in her squeaky shoes that she received from Mikki.  Thanks so much Mikki, these shoes are awesome!  She loves making them squeak when she walks.

Mary-Brenna is WALKING!!!

 

Here is the promised video of my little girl walking!  She is not so little anymore.

Side note, the pants are purposely pulled up as high as they can go. (1) Super funny looking! and (2) She trips on the legs otherwise.

Belated Picture Update Part 2

So, I have been a total slacker.  I feel like I have been so busy as of late.  My brother and Oma came up to Alaska for a visit, which was awesome!  And Mary-Brenna has been growing like crazy.  She is now walking (video to come soon).  I am so glad she waited till Michael and Oma were here to see her walk for the first time by herself.  My little girl is getting so big so fast!  I cannot believe that she is almost one!  As for me, apart from having the pleasure of watching my daughter grow, I have been working a lot.  Such is the life of a substitute teacher (well teachers in general).  I have truly been blessed with consistent work, and am hoping that being so busy might lead to a full time job in the future (maybe next school year).  So enough chatter, here are the pictures I promised!

 Mary-Brenna enjoyed checking out the bear rug at Russ and Carmen's house!

 At Auntie Jay's new house Mary-Brenna practiced her drumming skills on Jay's bowls!  

So much fun!

 Here is the look right after a bath trying to get lotion out of the hair.  The troll!

 Living life with a lot of boy cousins means playing with light sabers!

 So happy to have Papa home!

 Playing a silly game with her toes and Papa!

 Playing outside with her Oma.

 Walking around the yard with Grandma.

 Oooh, trucks!

 Fun in Talkeetna, AK with Uncle Michael!

Laughing after a fun filled day!

Picture Update Part 1

I have a ton of pictures that I have uploaded to my computer, but sadly not all of them are edited.  Here is a very belated update, but a cute one none the less. 

Summer Adventures

Wow, what a summer.  We have had a great one that is for sure.  A little rainy all around, but it was spent with wonderful people.  Uncle Michael was home for the summer, and sadly he is back a school.  We aren't going to see him again till October, but that is going to be here before we know it.  We have missed Papa so much this summer.  He has been off in Afghanistan all this while and has missed his little granddaughter becoming mobile.  He is heading back to Alaska the first few days of September.  He is scheduled to leave Afghanistan on September 1st, but we will see how long it takes him to get home.  Those planes have been working hard all summer so there is bound to be some repairs needed on the way home.

We have been to some weddings this summer, and have one more coming up on Friday.  I am so excited for all my friends who have gotten married this summer.  I know that God has some great plans for them together.   Jaleen only has a few more days left as a unmarried lady and she has been doing a wonderful job maintaining her cool.  I am so honored to be a part of her wedding.

Mary-Brenna has had a lot of fun seeing people this summer and learning how to play with others.  Here are some of my favorite pictures from the summer!  

Mary-Brenna has discovered the joys of looking in a mirror.  She had a ton of fun at this one in particular.  She talked to and kissed this mirror for a good ten minutes!

Mary-Brenna had a great summer with Uncle Michael.  Here is a cute picture of them with Mary-Brenna in a beautiful sweater made by Ms. Janeen!

Mary-Brenna had a great time playing with her cousin Max the other day.  Here is a sweet moment between the two of them.

The Brown family came over the other day.  Miss Charlotte helped give Mary-Brenna a bottle before her nap.

After dinner with the Hunners and the Olsens, Mary-Brenna decided she had a lot of energy and climbed up the roof of the car.  Silly girl!  Thanks Mr. Ryan for keeping me safe up there!

Here is Mary-Brenna enjoying a bath.  Splashing is so much fun!

I am looking forward to some more adventures before snow comes!  Till next time!

And she is crawling!!!

Mary-Brenna has started crawling this week!  It was so cute to see her leading up to it.  She would get on her hands and knees and rock back and forth.  Then she would push herself backwards with her hands.  On Monday (June 27th), Uncle Michael put her pacifier on the floor and she crawled to it.  It was adorable!  I was so excited, I know my smile was a mile wide.  It was really sweet that my mom's dear friend Maren, who was here with her husband Chris for their high school reunion, also got to see her crawl!  Maren and Mary-Brenna became good buddies while they were here.  Now nothing in the house is safe!  Soon she will be chasing our cat all around the house!  Look out world here comes a mobile Mary-Brenna.

Today Mary-Brenna also pulled herself up on the couch!  I tried to get it on video but she only did it once :(  Hopefully I will catch it on film here soon.

7 Months

I cannot believe that Mary-Brenna is already 7 months old!  She is doing so much and has gotten so big.  She is now 17 pounds and just over 26 inches long!  She has her first tooth (bottom right), and is now getting up on her hands and knees all by herself.  This past Saturday (June 4th) she did a push-up!  I was so amazed, I cannot believe I didn't get a picture.  

Mary-Brenna is eating rice cereal, peas and she tried sweet potatoes today.  I am making my own baby food which is going really well.  I love that I can get 20 days worth of baby food for $4.00.  Mom has a great big food processor that does wonders for pureeing her food.  I simply cook the peas (or sweet potatoes), let them cool and puree them in the food processor with water to the consistency that I like.  I store them in freezer bags in 1-2 servings.  

Mary-Brenna has now had 2 bike rides on my bike.  I got a child seat for my bike that goes in front of me.  Mom also got Mary-Brenna a sweet bike helmet!  Mary-Brenna does wonderfully on the bike, she sits really well and doesn't bobble around.  

 

  

Uncle Michael is also home for the summer!  It is wonderful to have him here.  We have missed him so much!  The house dynamic has changed with him being here, but in a totally awesome way.  There is a new kind of silliness that happens.  It is fun!  It will be fun to hang out this summer.  

 

 

Here is a sweet picture of Mary-Brenna and her friend Britta!  Britta is just a little bit younger than Mary-Brenna and I know they are going to become great friends.

Mary-Brenna is getting to know her cousin Max!  Max is almost 11 months old, and the sweetest little boy!  It is a lot of fun seeing Max grow and do things I know will be coming up for Mary-Brenna.

Dad has made it to Afghanistan now, he got a little delayed on his way there due to a broken airplane.  But they got everything fixed, and headed back off to Afghanistan.  We miss Dad so much.  I know Mary-Brenna is wondering where her Papa is.