November 2014

As we have with our other two kids, Richard and I made a bet on what gender the new baby was going to be.  This time, we got Kaylee and McKenna in on the action and Kaylee sided with me and said it would be a boy, while McKenna and Daddy decided it would be a girl. Unfortunately, Richard was right and we are having another girl!  I couldn't believe it and it has taken a LONG time to truly process the news :)  But we are thrilled.  If only we could come up with a third girl name that we really like!  Anyone have any suggestions??  

We also bought new bunk beds for the girls to try and consolidate their room, since we will soon have three girls sharing one tiny bedroom.  But that didn't last too long because I am paranoid and because it made it impossible for me to change the sheets with my big belly, etc.  So for now they are back to normal beds and we are trying to figure out how to fit everything we want into that room.  They definitely loved the bunk beds though and were sad to have them gone. 

The other big news for November was that McKenna turned THREE!!!  Wow that seems to have gone by fast. She had her birthday on Thanksgiving this year and so we were lucky enough to be able to celebrate her big day at Holly's house. We let her open her presents from us on her actual birthday and then had a party for her the next day.  We have been talking about her birthday for weeks and at first she was excited about it but for the last little bit she had gotten really quiet whenever we mentioned it.  I didn't think it was a big deal until the actual day.  She had NO interest in her presents or her party at all.  In fact, she kept telling her cousins they could open her presents and didn't play with them AT ALL while we were at Holly's.  I was so confused!  She must have felt too much pressure with all of the attention being on her? Plus she really hates the idea of growing up and would much rather pretend to be the baby all day so maybe she thought if she didn't celebrate it she wouldn't have to turn 3 :) 

We had a Minnie Mouse themed party and all of the kids (except McKenna of course) seemed to really like it. I made all the kids mouse ears and we had a scavenger hunt, colored bows and then played pin the bow on Minnie, played Minnie says, and made our own edible necklaces.  We also had a tea party with our Minnie decorated cupcakes.  All in all it was a success, especially since we coerced Kenna into doing most of the games with us.  It was a really good way to spend the Thanksgiving break and we loved being at Holly's house for all of it!

 

 

October 2014

Ok I think I'm just going to have to be good with doing month-long posts if I have any hope of catching up (and maybe one day staying on top again!) October was a fabulous month for the Henricksen family.  Richard passed his qualifying exam after many many months of hard work and contemplation about whether or not this is all worth it :)  We were so proud of him!!!!

The Andreasons were also able to come for a short visit and we even got Holly all to ourselves for two days because Chase took the kids to his brother's house. Mostly I made her go maternity shopping for me and she entertained my kids but we had a ton of fun sister moments as well.  I only wish we could do things like that more!  When Chase got back we took them all to see German Village and spent forever in the awesome bookstore and then ate at the famous Schmidt's Sausage Haus. 

We also got a visit from Uncle Robert who was in Ohio for business and stayed with us for a couple days. Kaylee is normally great with names but for some reason couldn't stop calling him Uncle Bryant (who we hadn't seen for months) and I thought it was hilarious.  I'm sure Rob didn't appreciate it as much as I did though!  Richard went to Kirtland with Rob and then when they got back we had a lot of fun with him and took him to the zoo, a short tour of campus, and to many of our favorite places to eat. 

Fall is always gorgeous here in Ohio but it did feel like it got cut a little short this year.  Most of October was still good weather and luckily trick-or-treating got moved to the day before Halloween when it was great weather because Oct 31st was freezing cold and kinda snowy. 

We had so many fun Halloween activities to go to, it felt like Halloween all month long.  We did pumpkin painting on campus, trick-or-treating at the zoo, Kaylee had her preschool party, trick-or-treating in our neighborhood and then a ward Halloween party too!  We had so much candy I didn't think we would ever get rid of it, but this pregnancy has given me many opportunities to take care of that problem :)

Because we had so many different events to go to, Kaylee decided to pick a different costume for every one.  Luckily we have a generous dress up box to choose from and it was fun to see all her different outfits.  I didn't take a picture of all of them but I think she ended up being an angel, a devil, a princess, and a wizard. 

McKenna wanted to be Cinderella for all of them except one.  And they were both gorgeous little princesses!  Holidays are so fun with little kids!!