Happy Birthday Makenna!

I can't believe you are FOUR already! Wow, how time flies!! I wish I could stop time and keep you this sweet and innocent forever. I love you so much Makenna!!

This video is kinda funny because Alexa didn't like that we were singing Happy Birthday to Makenna.

Happy 4th Birthday Makenna

I can't believe Makenna is FOUR! We had a small party with my family over Thanksgiving weekend, and we will have a little party tonight. Pictures to come!

A Lilly Baby is on the way!!

The girl's are looking for Mommy's baby in her belly.
We are having another baby!!!!
Baby's due date is June 11th.

So glad to be waving the first trimester goodbye. This pregnancy hasn't been as easy as my last one(Alexa).
Pregnancy #1 (Makenna): vomitting and nausea ALL DAY
Pregnancy #2 (Alexa): only tired, no nausea
Pregnancy #3 (?): nausea, tired, migranes

Each pregnancy has been totally different.
It will be interesting if God blesses us with another GIRL. A GIRL is what we are expecting to have, so a BOY would be a surprise.

Makenna 18 month update!

Alexa Update: Oh Boy, do we have our hands full with her. She GETS into everything!! For example: she put her baby doll in the toilet the other day, and then another day she shut herself in the bathroom and took all the toilet paper off the roll. She got into her bedroom the other day and pulled all her wipes out of the container. I'm in trouble when I don't know where she is. She loves water: bath tub or swimming pool. She's just fearless! Total opposite of Makenna in everyway. I often say that the only thing my daughter's have in common is their eye color. Seriously, they are so different. Not sure how that will all play out as they get older. But I am hoping they will be best friends.

At her 18 month appointment she was in the 40% for weight(picky eater), 75% height(shocking), 75% Head(poor girl-big head, small face).

Words: Not NEAR what Makenna was saying at her age. So it has been difficult to communicate with her. She mostly points and hums at things.

Words: mommy, daddy, hi, bye, this, doggy, ishy(fishy), eez(please), says the animals sounds-but not the animal names, ine(mine), whoa, ow, no, yeah, yay, na na(Makenna)

If we ask her to say something, she will try to say it, it just doesn't always sound right. She has said, Hi Mommy, which is the first two words she put together. We love her outgoing personality. She is so much fun to watch and be around.

Makenna update

What's new with Makenna: Well, she is doing preschool at home with me 3 days a week. She is also doing Awana, and enrolled in a gymnastics class. She loves learning and is always asking me to do school with her even on the days off. She is really into Dr. Seuss books right now. Her favorites being Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, and Are you My Mother? She loves making cards, playing with play-doh, and finger painting. She's really into playing "mom and dad", thanks to her older cousin Mae. She wants to play it all day long. And of course she wants to be the mom and wants me to play the husband. She role plays which is quite hilarious, but both Brett and I have a hard time playing this with her. Brett just finds it WEIRD! She will ask anyone to play this with her. She even asked her grandma when she visited last week. And part of this role play, she stuffs baby dolls in her shirt and goes to the "hospital" to have them, she probably has about 5 babies a day. It's quite hilarious! So she's really into being motherly and taking care of her baby dolls. She's also getting into Barbies as well. Says she wants a Barbie birthday when she turns 4, which is only 3 months away. Wow, time flies!!

Our new Piano

We recently were given a piano. What a blessing!!!! Brett's aunt's sister was downsizing her house and needed to get rid of the piano, but wanted to pass it onto a young family that would take good care of it and put it to good use. And his aunt thought of us. How sweet and thoughtful! I never imagined I would ever have a piano in my home, knowing how expensive they are. What a blessing this will be as we WILL USE IT, and now I know I will have to get my girl's piano lessons. Too bad I don't know how to play it.

Metzger Reunion

The first ever Metzger Reunion was held at Honey Creek Resort on Rathbun Lake in Iowa. My grandparents are living and going strong. They are celebrating 60 years of marriage next year. The awesome thing is EVERYONE: CHILD, GRANDCHILD, and GREAT GRANDCHILD were there minus just two grandchildren. That's a lot of people!! My family stayed in a tiny 4 bedroom cabin. Imagine 9 adults and 9 grandkids in this cabin. It was tight! Between nap schedules, early birds, swimming and meals. We were all pretty busy and worn out. Honey Creek was very beautiful! Great golf course(so my husband says), indoor waterpark was perfect for the young ones, they even had a really nice playground and sand area. Plus, there's fishing, boating, etc. The thing that I cherished most was the time I got to spend with family I haven't seen in YEARS, cousins, aunts and uncles. It's crazy to see all our own families that have grown over the years. Hopefully we can keep these reunions going, and my grandpa and grandma can continue to go strong. And over the years we can continue to see the generations grow. I wish I had more time to take more pictures. There are so many moments that I missed on camera.

This is the only picture of Drake that I think he looks like my Dad and not his father Nate.


My mom and Alexa

Drew, Rose, Makenna, and Mae

Drake and Alexa

What Esslinger's do for fun: we play Sequence, for money. ;o)

The kids spent a lot of time playing in the room and jumping on the beds. Remember, the cabin, was tiny.

The Esslinger Women!

A mix of grandchildren and great grandchildren

Alexa going down the waterslide with Makenna.

So Alexa is our crazy, fearless girl that LOVES the water. She is not afraid of it at all. She goes crazy in the bathtub and hates being restrained in a flotation device in the pool. The girl thinks she can swim on her own. So when I heard there was going to be a indoor waterpark with a baby-kid area, I knew it wouldn't be deep enough to put her in a flotation device, but if I let her go in there on her own she would probably drown herself. SO I put some arm floaties on her and she just went wild. SHe LOVED IT!!! She didn't want to walk in that water, she wanted to swim, and SO SHE DID. I know, kind of crazy, my 18 month old with arm floaties on, but given the situation and circumstances, she DID GREAT!!