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!!

School Days

 Kaylee finally started preschool in September.  We loved her preschool last year so she is going back to the same place, but one extra day a week.

 I am so sad to see her go every day but love to hear about her adventures and how she is growing without me.  She is already looking forward to kindergarten next year and every time we drive past her future elementary school she makes sure to tell me that's HER school. Ai- why do kids have to keep growing up?? 

Showing off her favorite robot backpack :)

McKenna has been having a hard time with it and asks me all morning, "Is it time to get Kaylee yet?"  Unfortunately it also coincided with the hardest pregnancy I've gone through and so Mom hasn't been much fun for her to play with.  Luckily Kaylee is only gone for a few hours and then these two are back to being the best of friends.  Hopefully that keeps up!

Kirtland Trip

We have been very lucky to have my Mom come visit a few times every year but this year we were extra lucky because my Dad came with her! We decided to make the trip up to Kirtland since none of us have been there before. I was sad we didn't take great pictures of Kirtland but it was great to be there. We drove up Friday and did the tour of the Kirtland temple first. 

Then we went to the other sites that are owned by the Church (like the Newel K Whitney store).  It was amazing to see the difference in those two tours.  Such amazing and sacred things happened in the temple and yet the tour guides stated it very factual with no testimony or emotion and breezed through all of the amazing things that happened.  At the Church sites it was the complete opposite and it was so easy to feel the Spirit in those sacred buildings.  

We did as much as we could with the kids going crazy and then went back to the hotel to let them swim in the tiny freezing outdoor pool.  They didn't seem to mind :)

The next day we figured we'd let the kids play for a little bit at this farm we found online and then go to one more Church site, about 45 mins away.  But when we got to Lake Metroparks Farmpark they had so many things to do and we all had so much fun we were there for 4 hours!!  The girls got to milk a cow, play on a huge farm-themed playground,

pet all the farm animals,

ride a pony,

brush down a horse,

play in another garden-themed place,

go through a corn maze,

and go on a tractor ride.  It was a blast and I highly recommend it to anyone going to that area. We were all worn out and decided not to go to the last Church site and just headed home.

Sunday Mom and Dad got to go to church with us and then we showed them around the beautiful Park of Roses.

 Monday we finally were able to fulfill Kaylee's wish of going golfing with Grandpa.  I thought my kids would lose interest pretty fast but they played the whole time and were actually pretty good for only being 4 and 2! 

That was definitely the girl's favorite part and they still talk about it all the time.  We were so happy to have Grandpa and Grandma here for one last trip before they leave on their mission next year. 

New Beginnings

We had a few fun additions in August. Our hybrid Honda Civic has been struggling for a long time and we kept going back and forth on how long we should keep it.  We took it in for yet another fix at the car shop and they basically told us they would be surprised if the hybrid battery would last another year, which is way more expensive than the car is worth. So we started looking for a minivan, since we knew that would need to be our next car.  It was perfect timing because we also found out that we are expecting again! Baby #3 is actually due March 20th but we took this picture before finding that out... so embarrassing ;)

 That doubled our efforts looking for a good van and we feel like we got an amazing deal on this 2010 Toyota Sienna.  So happy to have a lot of trunk space, automatic doors, etc, etc. We love it!  

So happy to have two fun new additions to our family :)

Family Pictures

It was definitely time for an updated family photo.  The last one we took was when Kenna was 7 months old!  Since I am cheap (and poor) and my amazing sister-in-law is too far away to take our pictures all the time, I begged my friend Linzi to take them for us.  She has a nice camera but told me over and over again that she doesn't know how to do family pictures and to not expect much.  Little did I know I would love every single one of them!!!  She seriously did so amazing and now the hardest part is choosing which one to print because I think they are all great.  This was also the most low-key, stress-free day for everything- doing hair, choosing outfits, the kids sleeping great, the morning went smooth, etc.  I only wish family pictures went that smooth and turned out this great every time!

Chop Chop!

Well I finally did it!  I have been debating whether or not I should chop my hair for months and I finally got up the courage to do it.  They were only supposed to cut 10 inches off but I think by the end of it, it was closer to 13.... which I was not happy about!  It has been a HUGE adjustment trying to get used to this short hair.  I wish I could say I am loving it but unfortunately I still regret it every day. Luckily my hair grows pretty fast so hopefully it will grow to a length I love soon!  And if nothing else at least I was brave and got a big change :)