BIRTHDAY WISH - GRANTED!

One birthday wish McKenna had was to get her ears pierced. So, last Saturday, we went to good 'ol Claire's Boutique (where I got my ears pierced A LONG time ago) and had her ears pierced. The worst part about it was definitely the wait and anticipation. She had two other girls in front of her, both older than her, and one cried right after....which in turn, made McKenna start to cry! She cried and worried the whole time the employees were preparing the earrings and then after they were done, she DIDN'T cry...

She loves having her ears pierced and can't wait for the 6 week period to be over so she can changer her earrings - grandma/grandpa Bean got her some really cute pairs for her birthday! Notice the black stuffed animal that had to accompany her to the jewelery store...

BEFORE -

AFTER -

FAMILY PICTURE

We had a family picture taken back in November and finally received the final print - looks great right?!? Well, I have to give a HUGE Thank You to one of my neighbors, Matt, who spent hours working on this picture!! Now, are you wondering, "what is she talking about?" Well, we had a photographer come and take the pictures, but they just didn't turn out quite right...

It seemed in EVERY picture someone was blinking, laughing, moving or something! And we had originally planned on taking the picture outside, not in the family room (but it was windy and cold) so, with the magic of digital pics, Matt not only got us all to look at the camera, but found a background that complimented our clothes! Matt did a great thing, because this is the one and only extended family picture we had taken before Josh's passing - and I could not be happier with the final picture!

Here are a few of the pics we had taken and that Matt had to work with. He had a different "layer" per change or edit to get the final picture - in the end the picture contains about 25 different layers!

DANCE RECITAL 2009

McKenna took dance again this year - her third year in a row. And the dress rehearsal just happened to fall on her birthday this year. So, after cake and ice cream with the cousins, we headed over to dress rehearsal. She is a great dancer and really enjoys "being in the spotlight"! Here is McKenna and her little friend, Ella - they 've taken dance together since the beginning. Ella moved to a new neighborhood a couple years ago, so it's fun for these two to have dance together still!

Just for kicks, here's a picture of her at dance recital last year - 2008 -

And here's a picture of McKenna and Ella from her first year in dance (age 3) they are so cute and just TINY!! - 2007-

MY PLAYLIST

I'm not sure why I'm so sentimental lately, but, here we go again...I remember hearing this song a few years back on an Oprah show (for mother's- to- be) and started to cry. It's a great song and I have put the words to it in McKenna's baby book...

And, in celebration of McKenna, here are a couple of her favorite songs...she loves to dance, sing and groove along whenever she can...be warned, they are tweenie...

MCKENNA TURNS 6!!

McKenna turned 6 today!! I cannot believe how quickly my little girl is growing up - I could just cry!! This morning, she came running into our room, hopped up on the bed and said, "Mom, look how big my hands are now that I'm six!!"


She opted out of a friend party this year, and we decided to go on a family vacation instead. All she asked for her birthday this year was "glue nails", a hula hoop and getting her ears pierced - wow!! I think we can handle that!

One of my favorite pics of her when she was 6 months old

Since it was a family party, I decided to bake the cake this year..this is the first cake I have made for a birthday since her 1st birthday - not too shabby huh?!? And notice the fake nails! We had cake and ice cream twice - once with cousins (Collin, Cosette and Christopher) and then with grandma/grandpa Bean that night!

McKenna has been such a GREAT daughter and we love having her in our family! She is energetic and always willing to go on an adventure with her dad (she is a daddy's girl). She loves riding bikes, just learned to roller blade and hula hoop, and really likes swimming! She is a great help with Tyler and is a great wrestling partner for Harrison...although I don't know how much longer that will last...we just love her and hope she knows how special she is to us!!