Pigtails & Ponytails

Another first! Maryn wore her first ponytail and pigtails yesterday! Oh the fun of having little girls!!! Her hair is just barely long enough to work (in spots), but we still managed to get them in! The ponytail looked kind of crazy, but the pigtails were adorable! It actually made her look like a toddler! Of course I had to take oodles of pictures :)

Best picture I have of the ponytail... it was kind of hard to see


Rear view of the pigtails


I'm a big girl! And yes the little fuzzy things sticking out the side of her head are the pigtails :)


Playing with her piano


More of the piano and pigtails...


The adorable big sister :)

First Snow

If you live in eastern Iowa, most likely you were lucky enough to receive your first snow of the season the day before Thanksgiving! Our girls were SO excited! Of course Maryn didn't really understand what was going on, but Makenna did. She couldn't stop talking about snowmen, sledding and hot chocolate :)

Here are the girls staring out the sliding glass doors in eager anticipation of the snow. They stayed in this position for quite awhile :) Notice that there's not much on the deck yet, but we did end up getting approximately 3 inches.


Sweet, sweet baby #1!


Sweet, sweet baby #2!

Thanksgiving & Baby Shower

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! It was our year to spend Thanksgiving with my family so we spent a few days up in Cedar Falls hanging out with them. On top of stuffing ourselves full of food, we kept busy preparing for Jeanne's baby shower on Saturday! It was so much fun! Not only to see my darling pregnant sister, but also to celebrate this perfect little life that will be here soon! I am so excited that she is about to experience the biggest blessing God has to offer - the gift of a child!

Here are some pictures from our time back home...

The girls discovered the fun game of Connect 4 at my parent's house this past week. Even Maryn really got into it. Obviously they didn't understand the full concept of how to play, but they sure did like sliding the chips into the board!


More Connect 4...


And here is the belly picture that everyone was requesting! The pretty mama! She is 31 weeks in this picture.


And yet another favorite from this weekend... playing with the turkey sucker holder that my sister made in junior high. Maryn was very intrigued.


Maryn and Aunt Nene (and more of the turkey sucker holder!)


Makenna putting together the princess puzzle that Peepie and Poppy gave her


Since my sister will not be able to travel at Christmas time, we celebrated Christmas with her and JT while they were there. Jeanne and JT hit the jackpot with their gifts to Makenna! This Cinderella doll has claimed a very close second to duckie and I'm thinking may have even topped duckie!!! Can you imagine?! She could hardly contain herself when she opened it!


Jeanne at her baby shower


The three Boutott women :)


The girls love playing under the nook in Poppy and Peepie's kitchen


Maryn all dressed up for the baby shower!


Makenna helping Aunt Nene open her gifts!


The diaper cake at Jeanne's shower! Isn't it adorable?! Yet so practical!

Happy Thanksgiving

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you get to spend the holiday with those you love! Makenna is starting to understand the concept of Thanksgiving, but is more excited at the idea that there is a possibility of snow in the forecast. BRRRRR! We have so much to thank God for this Thanksgiving... two healthy beautiful little girls, a warm home to live in, food on our table, a strong marriage, a job that provides for us, and lots of loved ones. We couldn't ask for more. I hope you are counting your blessings as well!


The girls enjoying some extra snuggle time on the couch on a cold November morning :)

More Ouchies

I am happy to report that most of Maryn's ouchies from last week have cleared up... just in time for her to get another one! Ahhhh! She was walking around holding her sippy cup two nights ago tripped and fell and hit her eye right at the edge of the sippy cup. She has a nice black and blue half-circle under her eye. Poor baby. Josh says she looks tough - like a 14 month old little girl needs to be tough ;) And of course she did this just in time for Budke family pictures this weekend.

Some pictures of the most recent ouchie...



Maryn's favorite words right now are "yeah" and "okay" (of course taking a backseat to Daddy). She says them at all the right times and says them a lot :) It's really quite endearing. The funny aspect of it is that she doesn't say no. Actually I don't think I've ever heard her say no. She will nod her head up and down and say "yeah" to questions but I have yet to see her shake her head no or say "no". Don't most kids master the word "no" first? I know Makenna did. But then of course we were telling Makenna "no" way more than we have to tell Maryn "no". That's probably our explanation right there :)

On the way home from preschool this morning, Makenna and I were talking all about the Friendship Feast they had with their friends this morning. The point of the Friendship Feast is to encourage kids to share in the spirit of Thanksgiving. Anyway, I was asking her which friends she shared her part of the feast with and she was listing them off. She came to her little friend Braeden and kind of paused. "Mommy, Braeden doesn't talk very much." Knowing Braeden and knowing that he's very quiet I said "Yeah Braden doesn't talk very much honey because he's shy. And that's okay to be shy, right?" Makenna replies "Yeah Mommy, but I'm not shy!" Understatement of the year!

It's getting to be that time of year again so we have the buzz of wrestling around our house :) Josh isn't coaching this year (only volunteering minimally) so he's been talking to Makenna about taking her to some dual meets and tournaments. She is SO excited! This child LOVES wrestling. And she just so happens to be good at it. One of her favorite activities is to wrestle with Josh in the evening after dinner (and keep in mind this is all Makenna initiated). She even understands actual wrestling technique and is quite good if I do say so myself :) One day while Josh was at work she wanted to wrestle with me. I know quite a bit of technique myself from having lived around the sport for so long so I decided to teach her a single leg while we were wrestling. Then that night when Josh and Makenna were wrestling around she says "Daddy I'm gonna single leg you!" She goes in, grabs the leg, pushes him over, lands on top and screams "2 points Makenna!" Josh was like, "Where'd she learn that?!" I'm probably not the best option for teaching wrestling technique in our house, but I think she's got a pretty good single leg if I do say so myself :)

Last weekend Josh was talking about something to do with the high school wrestling season coming up and Makenna got confused and thought they got to go to a meet that day. She was crushed and started crying when she found out she didn't get to go yet. So I was like "How about we watch Daddy wrestle on TV?" Of course I got the look of death from Josh - he would prefer that his children don't even know he wrestled. But we got out a few tapes of Josh wrestling in high school and showed Makenna her Daddy wrestling. She was mesmerized. She was getting into it and yelling "Win! Daddy Win!" Then in one of the videos you could see me on the side of the mat and Josh said "Look Makenna, there's Mommy too!" And in all seriousness she asks "Where am I?" It's so hard for her to imagine us without her around (actually it is for us too sometimes!).

I Need To Brag :)

Just a warning - if you hate bragging moms that boast about how smart their children are, then you might want to pass by this blog entry :) Makenna has amazed us lately. Last week she participated in a screening that was set up for all the kids in the school district that will be entering kindergarten the same year she will be. They were going to check vision, hearing and developmental milestones to make sure all the kids were on track and doing well. So we went and I am so proud of Makenna for how she did. In short, she passed with flying colors. They said that she is above average for her age. When they do the vision screening she was the only child all week that was able to actually read all the letters on the vision test! She was the youngest child they tested all week and she was the only one that could do that! When the lady asked her her name she said "Makenna, M-A-K-E-N-N-A". The lady said that she was extremely polite (always saying thank you and your welcome without being prompted), talks in very VERY long sentences (she stressed this part ;) and is very clear in her speaking. They only expected her to know the number 1, and she can count to 29, identify all the numbers, and actually count (not just repeat the numbers). The lady said that she stayed on task the entire time, followed directions perfectly and was appropriately social. They said that they are glad we went ahead and sent her to preschool despite the fact that she is a summer birthday because she is obviously ready for school. And to just add to my already braggish post ;) this morning Makenna added to my amazement. We are currently doing a rewards chart (see description below) with Makenna and she needs to get 10 stickers on her chart to receive a sticker. Well this morning she got another sticker and counted up the seven stickers she has on her chart currently. She looks at me and says "I have seven stickers mommy." Then on her fingers she counts "Eight, nine, ten. I need three more to get to ten!" Okay correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think it's typical for a three year old to be able to grasp the concept of addition at this age!

Back to the rewards chart, Makenna has been potty trained for a long time now but she is getting kind of lazy about it. It seemed like every time she'd go to the bathroom she'd forget a step (ie. flush the potty, shut the door, wash her hands, etc). So I made a cute little checklist with pictures that I hung by all the potties in the house to remind her to do everything on the checklist. Every time she completes the checklist without being reminded she gets a sticker on her rewards chart. When she gets to 10 stickers she gets a reward (right now it's an ice cream cone :). It is working unbelievably well. Of course with as smart as she is, the first few days we put this into place I would find her sitting on the potty straining and she would tell me "But mommy I don't have any pee left in me, how am I going to get another sticker?" Luckily that stage has worn off and she just seems to be doing better at remembering all of the potty steps. Most of this was prompted due to the fact that I found MarBear in the bathroom playing in the toilet one day a few weeks ago after the bathroom door had been left open. That was enough to gross any mother out and make her take action :)

Ring Around The Rosie

We have been busy playing games lately. Makenna and I taught Maryn Ring Around The Rosie and Duck Duck Goose the other day and she loves it! Ring Around the Rosie is definitely her favorite though... she just squeals with delight and claps her hands every time! She'll stand back up before Makenna and I even get the chance and stands there with her arms outstretched ready to go again :) Makenna has recently been enjoying Hide And Go Seek and Red Light, Green Light. Hide and Go Seek is quite amusing though... if I happen to find a really good hiding place I can almost guarantee you that Makenna will be hiding in the exact same spot on her next turn :) Or like the other night when she came up with a clever hiding spot (covered up with a pile of towels next to the hamper) so she hid there for at least four turns in a row ;)

Maryn has entered a new level of mobility. She doesn't just have the ability to walk, walking is now her preferred mode of transportation :) But with that said, we have also come upon the stage where her face looks like she's gone a few rounds in a boxing ring. I remember this stage with Makenna too. Since Maryn is now confident in her walking skills, but still not 100% steady on her feet, she has ended up with a lot of bumps and bruises. Currently she has a bruised/fat lip, a mark across her eyebrow and a scab on her nose. Rough times! I just have to continuously remind myself that it comes with the territory... she has to learn how to be independent sooner or later and I can't constantly be holding on to her. That's not healthy for either of us.

We have been teaching Makenna to pray lately. Since she could talk she has always said repetitious prayers before meals and bedtime prayers, but we wanted to teach her how to be thankful to God and have conversations with God. She has really grasped the concept quite well. She always wants either Josh or I to pray first but then she will follow up with a very long, drawn out prayer that has some very important, tear-jerking subjects as well as some off-the-wall make you chuckle subjects (that apparently must be important to a 3 year old). Some of her sweeter, more insightful prayers have been "Lord, thank you for making this world" "Lord please keep my Daddy safe on his trip to exercise tonight" "God, please make MarBear feel better" "Dear God, thank you that Mommy stays here with me." We knew the concept was really sinking in when she got an ouchie on her foot the other night and she very confidently stated "It will be okay Mommy. I'll just pray to God that He will make it better." And to go with the prayer theme, little MarBear has even come to know the importance of prayer in our house. She has caught on to folding her hands when we say our prayers at the dinner table. As a Christian Mom that has no deeper desire in this world than for my children to know Christ, this is an amazing moment in my life and an answer to prayer.

Here Comes Winter

I have had a heck of a time finding a winter coat for Maryn this year. We lucked out with Makenna and somehow her size 3T coat from last winter still fits her (despite the fact that she typically wears a size 5 top now - go figure). So I have been on a mission to find a coat for Maryn. We found a cute one a little over a week ago but she HATES it. Just imagine the little boy in the movie A Christmas Story who can't move his arms after his mom gets him all bundled up. That was Maryn in this coat. She was so mad because she couldn't move her arms! I had another coat at home that was a little on the smaller side but tried that anyway... same effect and she basically just ended up eating the collar on her coat every time I put her in her carseat because the coat was too stiff. I was feeling like a horrible mom every time we'd drop Makenna off at preschool - here are all the other kids dressed like there's a blizzard outside and my 14 month old is wearing her spring jacket. I've tried every store - they're either out of her size, have only the big puffy coats that she hates, or only have the baby bundle things for her size (I guess most 14 month olds aren't still wearing size 12 months???) Last night I gave it one last shot in the dark and tried one more store and I finally found one! Yeah! Not too bulky but still warm enough. I tried it on her this morning and we wore it to playgroup so I think it's a go!

Maryn trying on her new coat


Maryn's new coat, Makenna's new "Ballet Star" warm-up outfit



Okay so maybe she just hates coats in general???



Even though Makenna didn't get a new coat, she did get some new mittens. Of course she had to show those off :) This isn't a very smiley picture of Makenna, but I had to post it because it struck me that she resembles my sister as a child in this picture (only with blond hair). Any other Boutotts see it?

Crazy Hair Day

Maryn has been blessed with the same fine hair that her sister has. When they were little babies this translated into cute little fuzzheads. Now as Maryn gets older, she just has crazy hair days! Some days are made worse by Daddy not combing her hair out at night after her bath ;) I was able to capture one of her crazy hair days on camera. And the great thing about it is, if she wakes up this way her hair will be like this again until you wash it. No amount of combing or spritzing will help.




One night at dinner I noticed that Makenna was eating all of her main course and not touching her carrots. I prompted her to start eating them by telling her that carrots keep her eyes healthy and help her to see better. She was very intrigued by this. I went on to help Maryn with her dinner and look over at Makenna chowing on her carrots and looking around the room all bug-eyed "Look Mommy! My eyes are healthy now!" Glad she got the point!

Makenna had a Thanksgiving homework assignment for preschool that we had to complete over this past weekend. We cut and pasted some feathers to a turkey and she had to come up with 5 things that she was thankful for this Thanksgiving. She came up with some of the ones that I would expect... Mommy, Daddy, MarBear, and Duckie. But the ones that cracked me up are the first thing that popped out of her mouth was "Me!" And she was struggling coming up with a last item that she was thankful for so I was rattling off some options (ie. a warm home, food, preschool, ballet class, etc). When all of a sudden her eyes light up and she says "Pup Pup, I want to thank God for Pup Pup!" What a sweet sister! Thanking God for her sister's favorite stuffed animal.

Oftentimes when I am paying bills Makenna likes to sit with me and do her own "mail." Well just last week she told me that she wanted to sign her name to one of the bills I was sending so I gave her a piece of paper and told her to sign her name on that (thinking that she was just trying to mimic me because she's never actually written her name before). And low and behold, right before my very eyes she printed her name! I couldn't believe it! She's been able to identify all the letters of the alphabet for quite awhile now, but we were just starting to work on printing letters (we've mostly been focusing on straight lines, circles, tracing, etc). Apparently she's picking up stuff faster at preschool than I thought!

Date Weekend

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder"

Or at least it does in the case of my two sweet little girls. Josh and I were blessed with the opportunity to have a date weekend while my parents took care of Makenna and Maryn. On a normal day I am with the girls nonstop. The only time I typically leave the house without them is after they go to bed. To not have them around was weird and I constantly felt like something was missing. Today when we got back to my parents house, I couldn't help myself from running (seriously) into the house and grabbing those girls :) It was such a great feeling to have them back in my arms again today and to tuck them in bed tonight.

With all that said, it was wonderful to get back to being just a couple again. It was nice to remember and celebrate the relationship that got this sweet little family started. Josh and I had a great time together. We went to the gym together, got some stuff at Home Depot, ran some errands, and of course worked on some house projects (do we ever have a weekend go by without a house project?). Josh drywalled part of the garage and I did some painting in Makenna's room (which by the way she doesn't like... she asked God tonight in her prayers if the loops mommy painted could go away). Then we got ready for a fun night out on the town and found out that the restaurant we have so desperately been wanting to go to (Lincoln Cafe) had a 2 1/2 hour wait! Just about every other restaurant in town that we checked was booked as well. We were about on our way to fast food until Josh finally remembered this little off the beaten path Italian restaurant. We ended up having a marvelous time. The food was unbelievable and the atmosphere was romantic. If anyone is ever looking for a great place to have a date night, try Vino's in Cedar Rapids. I would highly recommend the Seafood Stuffed Mushrooms and Chicken Napoli :)

Thank you to my mom and dad for making this weekend possible. We appreciate it more than words can say.

Halloween 2007

We had such a great Halloween! So much happened, so I have a lot to write about and even more pictures to share. Our Halloween officially kicked off on Tuesday when Makenna got to wear her costume to preschool. They had a parade through the school so all the parents could take pictures. Then they had a short little program for us and sang cute Halloween songs. Makenna's favorite song was the one about "scary eyes"!

Halloween afternoon we went to Josh's office for their annual Halloween party. It's events like this that make us so thankful to work for a family-friendly company like TrueNorth. They pretty much shut down the entire office at 3:30 and the kids parade through the entire office trick-or-treating, playing games and then get punch and cookies at the end. Makenna had a blast and Maryn was as good as gold (she even left her bunny ears on!). Then we rushed home, grabbed a quick bite to eat and then it was out the door for trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. Josh took the girls to the houses right around us and that was enough for Maryn. He brought her back home to hang out with me while I passed out candy and she just sat there digging through the candy bowl checking everything out. Josh and Makenna came back for a break and to warm up, and then I took Makenna out to hit the rest of the nieghborhood. She had such a good time and she really understood the whole concept of trick-or-treating this year. I was so proud of how she would walk up to the doors all by herself, say "trick or treat" and "thank you" all without being prompted. She was a good little cowgirl :)

Somedays I love living in suburbia, other days not so much. Yesterday was one of th days that I loved it! Everyone walking around our neighborhood and for the most part you know everyone and everyone is friendly. But one of our neighbors knows how to do Halloween up right... their house is situated right in the middle of the "trick-or-treating loop" in our neighborhood so they had a big firepit with a campfire going on their driveway. They also had hot chocolate for everyone and chili dogs. Everyone kind of congregated at their house and it was a lot of fun :)

I was kind of the ba-humbug house this year... the Health Educator in me kicked in and I decided that kids eat way to much candy on Halloween so we passed out Teddy Grahams, peanut butter Ritz crackers and mini granola bars. Josh even said he had one little kid disappointingly say "Oh man" when he looked in our bowl :) Oh well. I felt like I did my healthy deed for the day! Someone else in our neighborhood must have been having the same thought process that I was because Makenna ended up with a tub of Play doh in her pumpkin! I thought that was a great idea! Makenna ended up with more candy than we know what to do with so I'm sure all the other kids did as well.

Funny story for the day... Josh and Makenna were walking down the street and passed a neighbor that we know walking with another guy that we don't know. The guy that Josh had never seen before all of a sudden says "Dude! When did Matt Damon move onto our street!" Josh started laughing. The guy asked him if he had ever heard that before and he just had to laugh and say yes. It's hard for some of us to see it because we've known Josh for so long, but he has pretty regularly been mistaken for and/or compared to Matt Damon. The first time being on our honeymoon in the Dominican Republic and the people actually thought he was Matt Damon! That was hilarious! I married a movie star :) I do think they have a similar head shape, profile and hair, but looking straight on their eyes and nose are definitely different. Anyway, just had to share our laughs with you all.

Makenna on parade at preschool


Makenna's preschool class all dressed up!


Maryn enjoying herself at Daddy's office


Makenna loving her big spider cookie at Daddy's office


Glad to be rid of her bunny ears :)


And the main attraction at TrueNorth... in case you didn't know it, the actual Nemo and Dory from Finding Nemo live in the fish tank at Josh's office ;) We had to make our regular trip by the fish tank in the waiting room to say hi to Nemo and Dory!


The girls needed to relax for a few minutes before trick-or-treating (everyone was a little too hyper yesterday) so I put in a 10 minute video while I went upstairs to get ready. This is how I found them when I came back downstairs :)


Our little cowgirl


Our little bunny not wanting to be a bunny


Digging through the treat bowl


Maryn found something she likes!


Outside with our pumpkins


Posing like a cowgirl!


More of digging through the Halloween treats... like I said, this is pretty much all she did all night :)


Sometimes it's just easier to pick up the entire bowl!


Can you believe that someone gave me two full-size bags of M&Ms?!


You can't be a bunny without getting a picture of the tail!