Avon Lake

April 10, 2015

The kids and I had another fun trip to Avon Lake to spend the day with my grandparents. We had fun playing at their library, having lunch with them, visiting the Bay Science Center, and eating some of the most delicious ice cream I've ever tasted. 

Jake and McKenna really enjoyed all the impressive activities at the library. I played there as a kid too!

The Bay Science Center was also a big hit! They had lots of interesting animals both inside and outside. The kids really liked the fish, and it was fun to pretend they were astronauts. 

And our final stop with my grandparents was Mitchell's Ice Cream. And it was divine. Seriously some of the best ice cream I've ever had. It was nice to sit and chat with my grandparents. And the kids loved that there was an electric train running around the top of the store. It was such a fun day!

After our ice cream, we headed to Wadsworth to spend the night and next day with my parents. They are such awesome grandparents. The kids have such a good time playing with them. They certainly don't lack for attention with Grandma and Grandpa Jensen around! What lucky kids! And I feel like a lucky mommy! (Poor Andrew was home working on his dissertation-boo!)

Easter

A few days after we got home from our California trip was Easter! I love Easter. It's a great reminder of how blessed we are to have a loving Savior, and that because of Him, we can live again. I also love that it's the beginning of Spring and warm weather. I love the excuse to get together with family and I love peeps and chocolate :)

We went to my parents house and got to spend the afternoon with my aunt, uncle, cousins, grandparents, and my sister and brother-in-law. They all spoiled Jake and McKenna and we had so much fun just hanging out with my family. 

18 months

My sweet, darling, fun, sassy-pants little McKenna Rose is now 18 months old. A year and a half aleady?! It has flown by, but has been such a fun ride. 

McKenna is small, but she packs a lot of personality in that tiny body of hers! 

She lets you know what she wants, whether or not she's in the same room as you. She has the most pronounced pouty lip and the most darling smile. 

She's only 21 lbs and 31 inches, but she loves to eat...as long as it's a fruit, vegetable, pretzels, or chocolate. 

McKenna is such a great talker. Her doctor asked if she is saying at least 2-3 things and I swelled up with pride. She seriously has at least 100 words and is gaining more by the day. I'm sure that's because if she's not picking on Jake or eating her select foods, she's almost certainly reading a book. She'll stand under the bookshelf and point to the ones out of her reach and yell book over and over (with crescendo) until you pull out the right one out and read it to her. She loves books that have flaps to lift and different textures to feel. And she'd much rather have me just talk about the pictures and point different things out than read the words. She's a girl who knows what she wants and goes after it. It's hard sometimes, but it's one of my favorite things about my sweet little girl. 

Another favorite thing is how sweet and tender she can be. Sometimes she picks on her big brother, but often she's handing him her toys and giving Jake kisses, whether he wants them or not. And she is a great hugger. She melts my heart with her big hugs and slobbery kisses. 

I can tell McKenna is going to give us a run for our money, but she is so fun and is insanely easy to love. I'm so lucky to be her mom!!

Housing visit to CA

Last night Andrew and I returned home to Columbus after a fun-filled trip to the Bay Area in search of housing. Somehow being there and looking at apartments made it seem so much more real. We've known for 7 months now that we'll be heading there, and for the first time it doesn't seem ages away. I'm nervous, anxious, and really excited. 

It was such a strange feeling to step off the plane, and especially to walk out of the airport. My stomach was doing something between jumping jacks and tying itself in knots. Andrew looked at me and laughed because I apparently looked as overwhelmed as I felt. But I'm happy to say that I feel really good about things. I know that this is where we're supposed to be, and that makes me really happy and very grateful. 

We found several apartment complexes that we thought we could be very happy at, but one stood out as feeling like home when we walked in the door. It was actually the very first place we looked (and almost the last because we visited again shortly before flying home), and it's barely over a mile away from where Andrew will be working. Take that, San Jose traffic :) I'm sure we'll experience plenty of it, no matter how close to Andrew's work we live. But the weather there! It was lower 70's and upper 60's the 4 days we were there- perfection! And everyone noticed that we were in shorts and short sleeves. It was funny to see the Californians bundled up in their sweaters after coming from such a miserable winter in Columbus. They clearly don't understand what cold really is :)

Andrew and I spent most of our time looking at different housing options, but we also took plenty of time to eat! Eating on the company's dime was crazy nice. I enjoyed the incredibly delicious food even more, and we definitely visited places we normally wouldn't have. It was a serious treat!

We also spent an evening at the San Francisco Bay, walking along the piers between the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge. We saw Alcatraz from the shore, the sea lions, Pier 39, fishermans wharf, and had quite the fun time waking hand-in-hand, chatting, and people watching. I hit an all-time high on my fitbit, walking more than 9 miles and over 20,00 steps. It was such a perfect night with Andrew. I'm excited to embark on this adventure with him and our sweet little kids!

Speaking of our sweet little kids, I'm pretty sure they had the time of their lives with my parents. Grandma and Grandpa spoiled them rotten. We got picture after picture of happy smiles and fun activities. Jake and McKenna are so lucky to have such stellar grandparents, who are already in the process of booking tickets to visit just a month and a half after we get to Sunnyvale. Thanks for taking such good care of our kids, mom and dad! We love you!

GREAT-Grandparents

While poor Andrew worked and worked this past weekend, the kids and I had lots of fun spending time with my parents and grandparents. 

Friday we dropped Andrew off at at school and headed to my grandparents house in Avon Lake. We ate a yummy lunch with them and then headed to the Cleveland Aquarium. What a treat that was for us! 

Both kids thought the displays were impressive, but McKenna especially was in her happy place. She was running around, pointing and excitedly yelling "fish!" essentially the entire time we were there. I don't know if I've ever seen her more excited to be somewhere in her life. She was a happy little girl!

Jake was also really impressed. He liked the turtles, which he thought looked like dinosaurs, the shark tank and tunnel (which was my favorite), and especially the sting rays. He was able to put his hands in the water to "touch" them as they went by, but I'm pretty sure he was splashing a little too much for any of the sting rays to actually touch his hands. But boy was he happy there. We went through the aquarium twice, and both times we had to pry him away from the tank after letting him spend way longer there than anyone else was interested in spending. It's always fun to see your kids so happy and experiencing new things with people you love. 

After a fun afternoon with my grandparents, we headed to my parents house for the rest of the weekend. They spoil the kids (and me) rotten just like their great-grandparents. Jake and McKenna loved having grandma and grandpa dote over them. They especially like when grandpa and grandma let them walk the dog around the block.  Both kids are always happy to hear were going to grandma and grandpa's house, and it never seems to disappoint! Grandparents and great-grandparents are the best!

End of winter (I hope!!)

Aside from a random snow shower yesterday, I feel like it has been starting to finally feel like spring! I'm glad I get to spend all my time with my kids no matter what the weather is, but I'm especially happy to be with them all day every day when we aren't stuck inside!

We tried to make the most of it, but here's to hoping we won't see snow again for a long time!

We survived the indoor boredom (barely), and we did have some good fun mixed in there too :)

I am so happy to be spending more and more afternoons at the park with squealing kids and huge smiles on all our faces. I don't even mind the dirt that has made its way everywhere. Hallelujah it's spring!!!

Family

In the past month, we've been lucky enough to see a lot of my family. My mom came one weekend and stayed, then my parents both came the following weekend, and Kim came and stayed with us the weekend after that. Needless to say, it's been great!

The weekend in the middle, my parents took us to dinner to celebrate all our birthdays (minus Kory, who is still working hard at BYU). Kim, Darrell, Andrew and I all have birthdays between Feb 14th and March 19th. We went to Chili's, ate well, had fun, and REALLY enjoyed the kids both behaving like little angels at the restaurant.

Whenever my family comes, I think our kids just forget that Andrew and I are even around because they love playing with their grandparents and aunt and uncle so much. Jake and McKenna sure are lucky! And so are we!!