Time flies by with a toddler.. Update through pictures!

McKenna is 18 months old, 1 1/2 years old, and legally allowed in nursery.. even though she has gone three times now to help with the transition!  I still cant figure out where this time went, but I can tell you, and show you in pictures that everyday presents a new challenge, adventure, experience, and words from this little girl. The pictures are some from Nov. to now.. and I apologize for the lack of updates lately! I will try and do better!

 McKenna loves to have both of her "nee nees" with her, and needed them in her car one night.. and her thumb of course too :)

 Helping mom clean, whenever I sweep... she has to mop!

 What a mess of about four months... My dad and Daniel working hard to get the rock put in for the fireplace!

 Getting there! This little girl loved to get up on the hearthstones and dance her little heart out!

 Taco soup is a favorite around here.. this little girl downs it!  This picture shows just home yummy it is to her, and usually ends up in her hair as "bubbles" too.. but now she is becoming pro at using her spoon to eat it, saying "mmm" with each bite!

 Ever seen a little one love books this much? We read piles and pile.. and we have favorites.  She now loves The Eye Book, and the Spot books, she will call out "pot!" to find her Spot books!

 Getting closer! This was probably around Novemberish time.. I'd have to look at the timestamp.

 Yay! All done with the rock! Now to let it cure and then seal it.. then place the stove! So close!

 McKenna got to sit with Santa.. didn't cry too bad :)

 But still wanted her daddy :)

 Family Picture with Mr. and Mrs. Clause

 Stove placed, just waiting for pipe!

 This little girl got spoiled by Santa and mom and dad for Christmas... as well as Aunts and Uncles, and Grandparents too!  We'd have to say that anything Elmo made this girls day!

 Christmas Day - we lit a fire!  Woohoo! :)

 Mmmm, this little one loves snow!

 Loving to climb in everything!

 Caught her sleeping like this one night, so cute those sweet little feet sticking out!

 Making food with daddy while mom made dinner (this was just water and fruity pebbles, dads concoction with her)

 Look at those curls!... and yes we do have to watch Elmo to get her to sit still enough to not fight clothing her.

 McKenna loves to use the train tracks as her "ha", her hat L)

 Snacks, Elmo, and watching Elmo in the laundry basket, the good life!

 Brushing her teeth and playing in the water :)

 Climbing in the book basket.

 Ready for church in her little jumper, flower, and boots, with her purse, all set to go.

 Her and daddy are twins, her head is finally big enough to wear the hat Daddy bought her when she was two weeks old!

 More silly hat pictures!

 She loves to eat Oreos with dad, she has to be sure to dunk it in the milk just like dad.

 I think she eats them faster than Daniel does too. :) Love these two!

 Daddy was working on work stuff one afternoon, and McKenna had to be right there drawing with him at his feet! She loves to draw!

That face!... Could just give it kiss after kiss - we love every minute, hour, and day with this sweetheart. Time sure is flying, but only because of all the fun times we are having!  Looking forward to some warmer days finally so that we can enjoy the outside as well!

Such a busy little bee!

I realize that while I am writing this, I now have a 13.5 month old! Our sweet little girl turn ONE on October 2nd, and I'm a bit behind on updating the blog.

Family Picture at one of her birthday festivities.

We had a few little get togethers for her birthday, with Daniel's family the Sunday before her birthday, on her actually birthday we just had our little family time (which was very nice), and then the following weekend we celebrated with my family. This little girl didn't need much, so from mom and dad she got some shoes, a baby doll, and a bean bag chair.  From Grandparents Luke she got a little toy wagon and some nice winter clothes, Grandparents Richens a set of the realistic looking animals that IFA carries, (cow, horse, dog, sheep, pig, rooster, goose, and a monkey because a few days prior to her birthday she learned the sound a monkey makes only by seeing a picture of one once, smart girl), stacking cups and PJs from Adam Jessie and kids, and some USU Aggie gear from Jared and Gabby.

My baby the night before she turned one year old! So big, yet still only in 9 month pajamas!

Those front teeth that were bugging her for so long finally popped through, just a week or so after her birthday, and others were quick to follow! She has six teeth now, her two bottom ones, her two top ones, her left incisor just broke through two days ago, and about a week ago I found a molar had popped through on her left side, which might explain the two or three fussy nights we had leading up to me finding it!

Crazy girl was pulling her wagon and didn't know what to do with her blanket, so she was carrying it around in her mouth, problem solver!

Birthday girl enjoying her birthday cupcake!

As of late McKenna has started saying hi to everything. It is pretty cute. And now she has started saying the names of things twice, for example, where she once said ball, she now says ba ba, not sure why that is.. Hopefully she will get back into saying ball again. She will say "hi mama" "hi dada" "hi mah ma(grandma)" "hi papa (grandpa)" "hi da-dee (baby)" "hi teddy" "hi ba-ba (ball)". She loves to get mom's or dad's phone and talk to grandma or papa. She still loves dogs, or ruff ruffs, and cats, and is starting to say more of the kitty kitty sound.

Riding the brrm brrm with Dad

Looking over the fence to say hi to Jake the dog. Hi ruff ruff!

She loves just about any food you put in front of her..except for pizza, odd huh! What kid doesn't like pizza?  Maybe she will acquire a taste for it. This past week I gave her a little bit of my orange to try, and she went nuts!  So we have to limit her to one little orange a day so she doesn't get too much vitamin C :)  This little girl does not like cows milk though.. so weaning should be kind of interesting and hasn't gone well so far.  I've actually resorted to mixing half whole chocolate milk with half regular whole milk, and telling her to drink her chocolate bubbles.. that has helped a little bit, but come nap time she does not want the sippy cup!

Sweet girl playing in the leaves.

Looking through the McKenna sized hole in the fence to say hi to Jake.

She loves the slide, and I love the scrunched nosed smile!

I'm a year old!

Tired of all these pictures mom! See ya later!

She also loves trains! Any time we hear one outside we have to stop what we are doing and listen for it, her eyes get all big and light up and then she echoes with the brrrm brrm noise, which is her choo choo for now :)  Because of this, one way that I am able to get her to hold still love enough to get her dressed and do her hair in the morning is by watching Thomas the Train on the PBS kids app on the iPad, so now anytime she see the iPad sitting out it leads to brrm brrm! and wanting to use it.. so I have to keep it up or hidden so that we don't spend too much time with the tech.

Halloween dressed up as Fred, Wilma, and Pebbles Flintstone.

This little girl is full of such spunky personality, she makes us laugh every day with the funny things she does.  She has come up with some pretty sweet new dance moves, she'll clap her hands more, sway forward and backward sticking her belly out rather than just side to side, and she is a pro at stomping with her left foot.  She is pretty quick on her feet and really steady, but sometimes she forgets to look where she is going, and we do going up the stairs great... but down - this girl just wants to take them like a big big girl, but her legs aren't long enough, so we are trying to work on turning around and going down backwards. 

Celebrating Daddy's birthday, 26 days after McKenna's.

McKenna bought a car with her birthday money, and she wouldn't even let her dad put it together before she climbed in it.  Brrm Brrm! She loves it, and loves to take her babies and teddy for rides in it with her often!

My mom has a picture of me exactly like this, maybe I'm a little older, but she's so darn cute, loves her bath, and look at that hair!

I have a shadow.. who is really good and watching and copying what she sees. She likes to try to put on makeup now, it is pretty cute :) We might have a Diva on our hands!

It is hard to believe she's only been a part of our lives for 13 months, but we wouldn't have it any other way!

All things round!

Built a fort with dad to watch 101 Dalmatians.

Time flies, this little girl has already turned 11 months old - where did the past eleven months go?  In a little less than a month our baby will be one!  She continues to make us laugh and smile every day.  She is becoming more and more vocal and starting to point and gesture for things that she wants or is looking for.  I have a cow in part of my decoration in my kitchen and everyday she points to it and says "moo!" She can now easily identify and remember which of her books have balls and dogs in them, and every time she sees a picture of a flower she now smells it :)  She is so smart and learning so quickly. 

Our newest project - tearing into the old fireplace to see what we need to do to get it ready for a wood burning stove - Daniel is sure excited to have to chop wood and build a fire (he seriously is though! even though this picture says otherwise)

Her favorite treats are the freeze dried yogurt treats - she would eat a whole bag in a day if we let her I'm sure.  She has started a cute inhale sound when she gets excited about something.  She loves anything that is round that seems to be a ball - the first thing we do when we wake up in the morning is go and find the balls and play with them - she loves to have daddy hold her and she will hit them out of his hand to be bounced on the floor back up. 

McKenna helping dad with the demolition

This little diva has started to acquire quite the little dance moves.  At first it was just shaking her head, not it has progressed to waving her arms and her torso - and she now bounces at the knees and does a better body roll then her mama could have ever hoped to accomplish!  I hope she continues to love music and dance - because we would like to start her in it in about two years. 

Sorry about the orientation - the shoes she is wearing are size 1 - starting to get tight finally - just a little girl!

She is still just a little thing - I tried putting a Carters 9 month outfit on her the other day - and the leggings were all bunched up around her knees and ankles... and the 6-12 month onesie outfits that they recently updated in Walmart (which are such cute colors of blues, greys, and pinks) swamp her to the point I have to roll the pant legs up almost an inch - the onesies are a little better.  We sure do start to fade our clothes pretty well before we grow out of them!

It is so hard to get her to hold still and smile for pictures - but she sure had a lot of personality!  I love it!!

Loves her balls!

Lots of kisses for daddy!

She has started getting really good at giving loves (hugs)  but usually only kisses for mom and dad.  She sure doesn't act like she has only been walking barely a month- she is so quick on her feet it is unreal, and you have to keep her in sight at all times, there is no telling where she will go or what she will get into.  Daniel and I comment all the time how much joy she brings - she truly has changed our world so much for the better, she is our little sweetheart that we waited so long for.

Our Uncle Chantz enters the MTC today, and stopped by for a parting hug.

We are sure going to miss him a lot - this was by the far the hardest one to send off, Chantz has always been there!  Poland will be receiving a great missionary - we are excited for the things he will learn, the good he will do and the people with serve.

See you in two years Elder Richens! Loves from McKenna Mae