1st Communion for our Niece

My sister-in-law just e-mailed these pics and I had to share.  In the beginning of May our niece, Rochelle, had her 1st Communion.  Me, not growing up Catholic, really had no idea what this entailed.  I really didn't know about the beautiful little dresses these little girls get to wear.  Rochelle and her parents live in the cities, so we went the night before and stayed at there house.  When Rochelle's mom, Denise, showed us Rochelle's dress... I was like: WOW! This is prettier than my wedding dress!!!

 Rochelle generally doesn't like her hair to be played with... but for some reason she always lets her Aunt Terri put in a pony-tail or a braid or something when they come to visit us.  This makes me feel pretty special!  So I was in charge of doing Rochelle's hair for the big event.  We put in a bunch of curls, tied it back a little, and then attached the veil. She looked so pretty!  I am thinking Marty and I might have to change our religious affiliation to Catholic (we are Lutheran)... just so my Gracie could wear such a pretty dress! (just kidding)

 After the service Denise took a couple pictures of the Rochelle with Gracie and Zach. 

It was such a wonderful service.  It really was a treasure to be able to see Rochelle receiving the wonderful sacrament of Holy Communion.  I almost cried!  We are so proud of her and cherish the love we have from Jesus for all of us.

Zach: Chicken Dance

I never knew my boy had such talent. I heard some commotion going on so I come to check it out and here Zachy is sitting on the table doing his thing. He did this all unprompted on his own. Usually I am not able to capture these adorable moments on camera, but he must have been in a good mood and having fun because he willingly repeated his performance for me!

Easter 2011 Part 2

The Easter Celebrations brought home the Mekkelsen Family from Pittsburgh. Auntie Lisa, Uncle Mick, Cousin Miller, and Miller's friend Jeremy made the trip. And then the Aunts/Uncles/Cousins from the cities came for the long weekend too.  The entire house was full, with no beds to spare. We even had to do a blow up mattress.  Our big two family house was so full we had to put out the 'No Vacancy' sign. Ha ha!

 Gracie and Zach got lots and lots and lots of play time with the cousins.

We have below Rochelle holding Gracie, Miller holding baby Kailani, Sebastien and Zach

 

 

Lots of Fuse Ball was played by Jim, Marty, Miller, and Jeremy.

I think they played so hard they broke one of the little plastic players.

Then as I am downloading my camera I came across these photos below... which I was not aware had happened (Usually no takes the pictures except me, so my camera I guess was hijacked).  In case you don't remember it was not swimming weather at Easter time. I think there might have been a dare involved.

And then we have dear sweet baby Kailani who has learned to suck her thumb like her older brother.

(I think she is a little over 2 months old already)

Easter 2011 Part 1

 Well, here finally come my Easter Event pictures. 

We got all dressed up and made it to the 8:00am church service. 

 Gracie was again a little Princess.  She just loves wearing pretty dresses and the dress up shoes, and now she even has earrings!  Zachy he was my little handsome boy too.

  I thought him and his Daddy were so cute!

A few days before Easter, of course we had to color some eggs. I tell you these things only get a little easier when the kids are a year older.  They thought it was so much fun changing the colors of the eggs.

 On the Saturday just before Easter the community center in Redwood Falls had the annual Easter Egg Hunt.  This was Gracie's second year, and Zach got to participate this year too for his first time.

They all did really well and got lots of candy. Rochelle came with too and all of them piled up by the Easter Bunny for the picture. Last year Gracie was so scared and this year she had no fears... Zach on the other had was terrified and if Rochelle hadn't been holding him, he would have not gotten near that Bunny.

Ear Piercing

My dear Princess at 4 years old got the privilege of having her ears pierced.

I was expecting the worst such as lots of tears and crabbiness cause it would hurt so bad. But my tough little princess shocked the heck out of me. No tears, no whining, so awwweee's. She barely flinched! 

 She really is a tough girl. 

 I think I was in first grade when I got mine pierced and I remember it being so traumatic!

Gracie did so good.

Now we have some twinkle stars in her ears.

Baby #3 updates

For those of you I don't see very often and are wondering what Baby #3 is looking like...

 A baby bump is definitely here.

This is a 22 week photo.

 23 week ultrasound photos.

Everything is looking fantastic.

Baby measured perfectly and all the organs were visualized and looked good.

This is 24 1/2 week photo. 

I think this tummy grows every day and is certainly getting heavier and in the way.

Gracie took the picture... I think she did pretty good.

And since she was taking pictures of Mommy... she requested I take a picture of her. 

 And then of course if you take a picture of Gracie someone else is requesting a picture too.

 (They both think they have a baby in their tummy's too you know!)

Washington DC 2011

The beginning of May we took the whole family on an adventure to Washington DC to visit my brother.

We left on a Thursday and came back on a Monday.  The kids have been on an airplane before, but I don't think either of them really remember, so from the get-go it was a adventure for them.  Expecting the airport to be a terrible experience for us, we were sure to get there plenty ahead of time, like 3 hours before our flight.  To Marty and I's both surprise everything went so smoothly. I think it took us like only 20 minutes from the time the Park-n-Go guy dropped us off at the airport doors to being all the way through security!  Amazing!  With the kids they kept putting us in family lines, which had no waiting... so having the kids with us turned to get us special advantages!

 Since everything went so smooth with check-in and security we had plenty of time to eat lunch and then even play at the airport playground. The kids were so mad when we had to leave the playground to go wait at our gate!

Then came the airplane ride. Marty got to be the lucky one to sit between the two kids and manage them. I was across the isle.  We were hoping they would take some good naps since our flight was at 3pm, but they didn't. Zach got a little antsy and crabby... but nothing to terrible.

 We were able to stay at Darrin's apartment. The kids slept on the floor, Marty and I got Darrin's bed, and Darrin got the couch (for 4 nights).

I thought it worked out really well and we had fun staying there.

Gracie was amazed at all the tall buildings and called them all 'little towns'.  Darrin's apartment is on the 20th floor, so the kids had fun riding the elevator and of course pushing the buttons.

Our first full day, Friday, we spent at the "mall" area, which is Downtown DC by the monuments. The kids got to experience the 'Choo-Choo Train" aka the underground DC Metro.  They loved the escalators we needed to take to get down to the metro and thought it was great getting on board.

 First stop in the Mall area was the carousel.  I let Marty and Darrin get the thrill of riding with the kids.

 Next stop was the Air and Space Museum.  Lots of airplanes, spaceships, and rockets. We got to watch a Big Bird and Elmo show in their planetarium too. (Marty and Darrin I think fell asleep!)

 Then on to check out some of the sites. We have the Washington Monument in the background of the first picture and the Nation's Capital in the second photo.

 Stopping for a rest at some fountian. We threw some pennies in and made a few wishes.

The second day (Saturday) we headed to Baltimore to go to the National Aquarium.  This was mostly indoors.  It was great!  They have this huge shark tank that I think is like 4 floors and the stairs go right in the middle of it.  Zach was a little scared of the sharks, but Gracie loved it.

After we got through the aquarium we went and ate at a restaurant and then this picture below is outside the restaurant in the harbor.

 Day number 4 (Sunday) was the Smithsonian DC Zoo. The weather was a little overcast and I think we had a few sprinkles, but I think it kept the crowd down, so not really a big deal. The animals did a good job of putting on a show for us. Below the Gorillas were quite active and playing like crazy.  I think we sat and watched them for like a 1/ 2 hour.

 The lions also put on a good show for us. 

There were 2 Mommas and several younger ones and then a big Papa.

 Gracie and Uncle Darrin having fun!

Gracie was in love with the Panda's and Zach too.  Zach cried so hard when we left the Pandas.

The Panda was eating a good lunch of Bambo.

 And then a couple snap shots of our host (Uncle D) and his girlfriend Mandy. 

Gracie and Zach really took to Mandy and I think the day we were at the Zoo she held Mandy's hand the whole time and didn't want Mommy's or Daddy's.

Monday came way to fast and then we had to say Good-bye! We had such a wonderful and fun time. I am sooo glad we made the trip. I don't know if Zach will remember any of the trip when he is older, but hopefully Gracie will remember a little bit of it. 

 Back on the airplane. Marty managing the snacks and then dear Gracie taking a snooze with her new best friend, Baby Panda.


Thanks for the Good Time Darrin and Mandy.
Can't wait to hang out again.

I joked that the last I visited Darrin in DC I was about 20 some weeks pregnant with Zach and this time I was 20 some weeks pregnant again... If we would have a baby #4... I guess we will have to make a trip to DC at the 20 some week mark! Ha ha!