Silly Girl

McKenna likes to make us laugh, so today when she put her water bottle cap in her mouth and we started cracking up she put on a show! Enjoy the pictures of our funny little girl.

The One Percent

I have become acutely aware of the fact that 99% effective is not 100% effective. When you hear 99%, you think it is fool-proof or that you will never be the 1% - no one ever hears about the 1%. Well, my friends, I am a 1% statistic. While taking birth control and nursing McKenna I became pregnant with our second child. I am 4 months pregnant, due in July. It is a little weird to have this baby in me. We tried for what seemed like forever to get McKenna and this one is a little surprise that snuck up on us. The ultrasound we had done only measures to 14 weeks and I am past that, but other than being big, the baby has all of the essential parts including a strong heart beat. We are nervous and maybe a little overwhelmed by this new part of our lives, but obviously this little being was supposed to come to us atthis time and we will welcome her or him with loving arms - at least we hope McKenna will. I will know next month what the gender is - I will post as soon as I know.
On a little side note: If you want to be pregnant come drink the water at my school, there are currently 13 teachers pregnant with 4 more trying! My principal is having a nervous break down!

Inauguration

A few of my thoughts on the new presidency...
Yesterday I talked to my students about inauguration day; we learned that George Washington gave the shortest speech and William Harrison gave the longest speech which ultimately led to his death shortly after (he fell ill from being in the cold too long). It was fun to teach them something that was going on in history and to explain the significance of yesterday. These students have no idea really how historic this election is...to them it isn't any different having Barack Obama for president than any other president. It is really neat to think that maybe one day everyone will be able to look at other people and see a person instead of the traits of that person. I know that society will change them as they get older; they will start to see beauty differences in others, they will start to see handicaps, they will start to see intelligent differences, and they will care about those differences and make judgements on them. For now though, they get to enjoy one another for who the person is.
I did not vote for Obama - I agreed with more of the views of McCain (although Obama's plan for educators looks fantastic - if it really happens). But I do think it is historic that we as a nation have the first African American president. It will be something that I will look back on and say that it was neat to be a part of. One day I hope to just have an American president, but I do not think I will be alive to actually hear people call themselves Americans alone without a more specific identification.
I did not get to watch the inauguration because I was at work but I did catch a lot of it when they highlighted parts in the evening. I think that Obama did a great job - he truly is an amazing speaker. He really has a lot of things on his plate coming into his presidency. I have no envy towards him as the president - I wish him luck and am glad I am not doing his job. As I watched the other parts of the inauguration, I was a little surprised by the benediction. I would hope that all of America will embrace what is right - we need more honest, compassionate, and accountable people in this country regardless of race.

Bows

Now that McKenna has enough hair to actually put in a pony tail, I have started to put bows in her hair - not on a headband. I think she looks adorable with them, but for the past few weeks McKenna has consistently pulled them out as fast as we could put them in. Something changed in her mind this past weekend and she has now decided that bows are fun to have in her hair. Yesterday she kept bringing me her bows to put in her hair - she ended up with about thirteen before I ran out of space on her head, not to mention hair! She also thought it was funny to put the bows in my hair and Jade's hair (sorry, no picture). I am just glad that they are staying in her hair!

Bruises

McKennna does not stop moving now. She can walk, so why do anything else? The other night she was really tired and I kept telling her to come sit down with me. Did my adorable child listen to me? No, of course not. She was so tired that she kept falling over as she walked. Finally, she got too close to the entertianment center and fell right into the edge of the hard wood. Luckily she did not break the skin, but this is what her forehead looks like now. She decided to stop walking around after that. I wonder how many more bumps and bruises she will get before she decides to listen to her mom - I might actually know what I am talking about.

New Year's Eve

This year we actually did something for New Year's. Last year I woke up at twelve to tell Jade "Happy New Year's" and then went back to sleep! My family decided to go to the First Night in Dowtown Tacoma and we had a blast! The festivities started at noon in the Museum District. We went to the History Museum, Art Museum, and Glass Museum - McKenna was actually intrigued with the History Museum. At 6:00pm everyone moved over to the Theater District where they had tons of shows to choose from. We were able to see performing pigs, a comic magician, jugglers, Hawaiian dancers, and a hip hop group that was not very good - McKenna danced still! I expected McKenna to go to sleep but the child stayed awake until the clock struck midnight! She could not take her eyes off of all the fun stuff she was seeing. It was definitely one of the best New Year's I have ever had!