Happy 2nd Birthday Tyler!

We headed to PA for Tyler's 2nd Birthday and the kids were so excited to get to spend time with Madison, Tyler, Jackson, Uncle Ryan, and the whole Harrison/Weakland Families.  Tyler had a great time at his party especially opening presents. It was a great weekend spent with family!

At the Beach

My parents brought Tyler out to our house for Makenna's Birthday Party the first weekend in June.  We kept him for the week and brought him back the next weekend for his 2nd Birthday Party.  While Mark was in school, my parents and I took Makenna and Tyler to the Beach.  They had a blast! Tyler loves sand and diggers so he was pretty much in Heaven when we saw the digger on the beach.  It was one big sandbox for him to play in so he had a great time.  It was a really fun day!

Mother's Day

We had a Great Mother's Day as always! We went up to New Buffalo and had dinner at The Stray Dog and then dessert at Oinks.  We went to Craig and Judy's afterwards for Presents and to relax.  Matt got me everything off of my list including the movie Footloose, New Running Shoes (For when I can run again), a new Pampered Chef Easy Accent Decorator, and a Gift Certificate for a Spa Day including a manicure and pedicure.  I think he was making up for last year when he didn't get me anything...what do you think? :)

Kindergarten Night

 Landon, Mark, and Jaden

Mark and his Popsicle

Mark had a Kindergarten night at his school at the end of the year.  They sang a couple songs and got to meet the 1st grade teachers.  Afterwards, they all went outside to enjoy some popsicles and play.  Mark of course hung out with his Best Friends, Landon and Jaden, the twins that live down the street from us.  It was a fun night!

Makenna Preschool Graduation

 Our Little Graduate

 Makenna and her BFF Ava

 Grandma J and Makenna

 Aunt MiMi, Makenna & Uncle Jeff

 Makenna and Uncle Mike

Me and My Baby Girl

I can hardly believe that Makenna is done with Preschool and headed to Kindergarten in the Fall.  She is growing up so fast.  I always say she is 5 going on 25.  She has always wanted to do everything Mark is doing, so she walked early, talked early, and now heading off to Kindergarten at an earlier age than he did.  She did great in Preschool (except for occasionally getting in trouble for talking too much during Circle Time), and her teachers said she is more than ready for Kindergarten.  She did miss one question during the year and that was, "When is Your Birthday?" She looked at them, rolled her eyes and said, "I don't know." They said they tried to give her hints and asked her, "Well, is it in March...April...MAY??? She again replied (with attitude of course) "I don't know." So when she got home, I said, "Makenna, when is your birthday?" She said, "May 26th." I said, "Then why didn't you tell your teacher that when she asked you?" And her response was, "I didn't want to." Nice.  She is my stubborn girl.  So then I had to have a long talk with her about school and listening to teachers and so on.  We sent Mark's teacher a gift card in the mail after school let out b/c we were just so busy the last week of school that I didn't get a chance to get one, so when we got her Thank You note in the mail, she said Mark was such a great student and she loved having him in class and that (WAIT FOR IT...) she couldn't wait to get to know our daughter next year.  HA! She's in for a Rude Awakening.  They are absolute Polar Opposites.  Mark is sweet, kind, caring, a people pleaser, and just an all around great kid.  Makenna can be sweet and kind and caring, but most of the time she is fiesty, stubborn, Independent, Bossy, has Attitude, and the phrase she says most often is, "I don't care" with her Boston Accent (when you tell her that doing something will make another person happy)...she just simply does not care.  But she keeps life interesting...and we never have a dull day, that's for sure!

Rapunzel Party!

 Rapunzel Tower that Judy made!

 The dessert table with flower cupcakes, jello boats, and lanterns hanging from above

 Jill turning Makenna into a butterfly

 My Beautiful Birthday Butterfly!

 A Ninja...of course!

 About to sing Happy Birthday

Lighting and sending off lanterns just like Rapunzel got on her Birthday!

Tyler watching the lantern fly away



Makenna has been planning her Rapunzel party since last year when she turned 4.  This past year, she hasn't let me take her to get her hair cut, she has been telling Judy all about what cake and cupcakes she wants, etc... Well, it finally came and went and everything went great.  Two of our friends, Jill and Haylee were painting faces, our other friends lent us their bounce house while they were out of town, my parents were here and brought Tyler with them to join in the festivities, and Judy made a tremendous spread of desserts.  Makenna had such a great time playing with all of her friends and family.  We are so thankful for all who could make it and spend time with our birthday girl!

Makenna's Birthday Pictures



As you can see by Makenna's Birthday Pictures, she shows every side of herself.  She shows her attitude, her sometimes sweet side, and her personality.  I couldn't have asked for more the day we got these taken. She was a perfect angel and did everything the photographer wanted. She smiled the whole time and Matthew and I just sat back, relaxed and let her and the photographer have fun.  It was by far the best photo session since either one of the kids was born.  I hope there are more to come like this! She did great! Enjoy my beautiful girl!

Makenna is 5!

 Makenna and Aunt CiCi

 Birthday Girl!

 It's the McKenna Doll!

Mark, Makenna and her McKenna doll

Makenna turned 5 on May 26th. I can't believe my baby is growing up so fast.  We went to her favorite Restaurant, Red Robin, and then came back to our house for some cake and presents.  She was Very Excited to have family with her and also was Thrilled to have received the American Girl Doll of the Year, McKenna.  Even though their names are spelled differently, she wanted that doll more than anything.  She had a Great Day!

Makenna Soccer

Makenna scoring one of her many goals!

Did you see how far she kicked it! Her coach had her take most of the goal kicks, corner kicks, etc... She was so agressive as always and was fast when she wanted to be.  We all should remember, Makenna has to play on her terms or not at all. She is still a fiesty, stubborn little girl with a BIG Attitude...and to answer all of the people out there...No, I don't know where she gets it from.  :)

 Makenna loved having Bree from Church on her team!

 So happy with her medal

Her being silly of course. :)

Happy Anniversary

Matthew and I

This is a picture of Matthew and I taken at his MBA Honors dinner.  We celebrated our 9 year wedding anniversary today.  Matthew stuck with tradition and got me a ceramic wine holder/vase that he made at Ceramix 101 a couple weeks ago.(In colors that match the kitchen!)  Yes! He planned ahead!  He surprised me with dinner at Pesto's and then had some Champagne chilling on the front porch in my ceramic wine holder with two wine glasses for when we got home. It was very sweet! We sat on my 5th Anniversary present (The wooden glider) and just relaxed. It was wonderful. Craig and Judy even kept the kids over night so I could sleep in the next day. It was a great day!

Mark Soccer Video

Here is a video of Mark playing soccer this past season.  He is doing so much better!

Mark Soccer

 Going to "cut" the ball around the defender

 Great Throw-In!

 Good Defense! Clearing the Ball!

 Proud Mama after the game!

Mark with his Medal

Mark had his 2nd season in 7U Parks Department Soccer.  He has improved Leaps and Bounds from last season.  His kick got better, his foot skills got better, and most importantly his agressiveness got better.  He always ran through the ball, dribbled around opponents, and if we could get him to shoot more, he would have had more goals! I am so happy with my little soccer star!

This is Indiana...

Matt's sister, Marci introduced our family to the IU song/video on You Tube titled, "This is Indiana." It became one of our favorite songs.  I decided to get some of the shirts and IU gear for the kids and take their picture so I could blow them up for Matt for his MBA Graduation and Marci and their Mom and Dad.  My friend Jill helped me get into a gym to take the pics and then my sister helped me tremendously with the Photoshop to get the IU Banners on.  Enjoy our IU Fans!