MaKenna @ 2 Months

Wow, how the time is passing quickly. Our sweet little baby is now 2 months old.

I love to watch her stretch in the morning when she awakens.

I'm so glad I was able to capture it with my camera.

This sweet little lady brings so much joy to our home.

Keedan absolutely adores her.

Sometimes a bit toooooooo much, but at least he adores her, right?

Really??????????????????/

Yes, Really! This word seems to be the word that I've been thinking and saying this past week.

Saturday 11th - Really?
I picked up my cousin from the aiport in Lubbock and we went to grab some yummy burgers from Fudruckers and then were excited to go shopping. We ended up only hitting one store b/c I was soooo exhausted from the kids and it was getting dark. While in the store and waiting in line, Keedan managed to find and open a small but expensive bag of chocolate covered pretzels. Really? Yes Really, so I bought them b/c as the saying goes - "You Break It, You Buy It".

Might I add that on our way home I noticed a truck speeding up behind me. I was in the fast lane and he got into the turning lane to pass me and crashed into a pole. The pole came flying behind him and thankfully I was able to miss getting hit. Wow, we were REally blessed during our trip home. I'm sooooo very very thankful for not getting hit with flying debris.

Sunday 12th - Not Really!
This was a good day.

Monday 13th - Really?
My cousin was sick as a dog all day long with some 24 hour bug. What a bummer to be on vacation and get sick. Thankfully she started to feel better the next day.

Tuesday 14th - Really?
I received a knock on my door around 8:00 in the morning. It was a Public Works worker. He asked me if I was doing concrete work and had it put in the dumpster. I said yes and he told me that the garbage truck couldn't pick up the dumpster b/c it was too heavy with concrete debris. He told me that he didn't want to report me b/c then I'd be fined a hefty fine unless I was to get the concrete out of the dumpster. REALLY? So, I said I'd get it out and dumpster dive, I did.

Wednesday 15th - Really?
I had a contractor start working on the drywall work in my house. I was very happy about this b/c I was inititally told they'd be able to start after the first of the year.

Thursday 16th - Really?
I discovered that the tarp covering our pool was now down at the bottom of the pool. Really??? Deep Breath...sigh! sigh!

Friday 17th - Really?
My cousin's visit seemed so short to me as I drove her to the airport. Wow, how the time flies when your having fun!

Saturday 18th - Really?
I went to buy 18 Ft of concrete wire for my "Naked Room" and was told I had to buy the 130 Ft. roll b/c they don't cut the wire for customers. Really? Deep Breath....just buy it, maybe I can sale the remaining roll.

Sunday 19th - Really?
No names will be mentioned...here's is a question that I have: "Do you think that it's okay to drop off your child at church and not give any contact info and not pick her back up when it was over knowing that I didn't have room in my car nor an extra car seat to take her back to your house?" REALLY?
UGGGHHHHH, some parents Really need to get it together and make there children a priority.

Monday 20th - Really?
I was driving the concrete mixer back to the rental place when as I turned the corner it came off of my hitch. REALLY? Thankfully my contractor was on his way to my house and stopped to help load it back onto my hitch.

Now I'm currently sitting in my recliner and trying to relax before more Really's occur.

Deeep breath, hold....and exhale.

Ketchup - Construction Just Before Baby

We were feeling "the crunch time" right before baby. Here are a few things that we worked on up to the arrival of our new girly bundle of joyness.

1. Living Room Steps...putting the wood flooring on them.

They aren't entirely done, but I can live with them for now.

Keedan and Ryan adhering the wood.

Keedan very excited to be working. If he holds to that throughout his life, he will be quite the achiever.

2. Cutting Baseboards.....this job seems to be never ending.

This is so not a flattering picture. I had to post it b/c Ryan picked up the camera and snapped a photo of me. Thats pretty amazing in itself ;)

3. Raising the kitchen ceiling.

My parents were down over a week and a half before baby was due and they helped us with the demo of the ugly kitchen drop down ceiling.

Check out that lovely mess. Thankfully, the plastic stayed well intact.

Keedan helping Ryan with measurements.

The rasied ceiling. Oh how sweet it is! It makes the kitchen seem so much bigger with the added height.

Once the ceiling is finished, the fabulous pictures will be posted.

Finally...we have a baby to hold!

MaKenna Eve Malnar

Born: Wednesday @ 1:07 a.m.

Wt.: 7lbs, 7oz

Length: 20.5 in.

Me ready to have a baby.

We arrived at the hospital at around 6:30 in the morning on Tuesday.

They broke my water at 8:00 a.m. and we waited patiently, then impatiently, then Halloween impatiently for baby to arrive (my monster voice manifested during the pushing stage, just ask Ryan).

Thankfully, I didn't have to push long at all...but WOW, it makes a difference when you've still got a sprinkler system. Sadly, my sprinkler system had run out of water after 17 plus hours.

An exhausted Ryan chatting with friends and family.

Keedan holding his baby siser for the first time. He has been sooooo sweet to MaKenna. It's mom that he's not so happy with....hopefully that will pass soon.

Cousins and Aliens

This past week, Keedan's cousins stopped by for a quick visit on their way back home to Utah.

Keedan had soooo much fun with them.

None of the kiddo's tired of the play pistol's you see in the pic. They chased each other around the house clikety clicking until we (the adults) took them away.

(Alien Footprints)

On Thursday, Keedan and I made a trip to Roswell and while there took some time to check out the alien habitation.

(Alien Street Lamp along Main St.)

(Music Store with the added Alien Advertisment)

It's comical that this town advertises on almost every business with some sort of Alien picture or statue.

Our last Alien destination was to a souvenir shop that had an alien black light art display.

Poor Keedan was not a fan, at all. I did pay $2 bucks to walk through so I made him suffer through it.

I broke down and bought these silly alien sunglasses....I do have to say that we had a good laugh over them.

On a side note, I also bought a silly blow up baby alien that Keedan has been playing with (quite frequently might I add) and he calls it his baby.

Oh Sweetness!

Keedan is now 2 1/2 years old.....Wow crazy how time flies. He looks so sweet and peaceful at the moment. HOw O how can this sweet little fella cause so much commotion? The answer is...when mom's not around every second, he is a magnet for the no' no's :)

Incident 1 - Mom vs. Brownie Batter BanditI made some brownie batter last week, covered it, walked away from the kitchen for a bit and somebody was able to infultrate the batter.

When I tried to depose Keedan (b/c he was the only suspect) he was uncooperative.

He rolled over and began to laugh....but the proof was on his face and a small bit on his belly....Bahahahhaha.

Trying to prove his side of the situation with a lovely brownie batter mustache.

Incident 2 - Mom vs. Bubble Happy Boy

So, Keedan got ahold of the dish soap and filled the dishwasher with it. I've gotta give him credit b/c he put it in the right place and then some. Well, I was able to clean most of it out (so I thought) and proceeded to turn it on and I left for the store.

I came home to find bubbles covering most of the floor in my kitchen. I was shocked and Keedan was elated.

(I grabbed my camera too late but here is a little remnant of the mess before it was "keaned up")

I got out the sponge mop and began mopping up the floor when Keedan took interest and wanted to help. I handed him the mop and he started saying: "Kean up, Kean up!"

It was so sweet and heart warming to watch him be so vigilant at cleaning up the mess. He even lifted the mop up to the sink for me to rinse off the bubbles and strain it and then he got back to work :)

He wouldn't pose for the camera b/c he was too busy keaning to smile.

Afterwards he pointed to the floor and said with a big smile..."Kean!"

New Title

So, I've finally won and I'm soooo duper super excited about it!

What have you won, you ask?

Around the first of the year, my friend had a baby girl and named her Makenna. I instantly fell in love with the name and told Ryan that if we ever have a girl, I wanted to name her Makenna.

It might have taken several months, but he has finally stated that he likes the name Makenna for our baby girl (that will be here in a month and a half or so'ish).

Now, we need to change our blog title.

Why you ask?

Well for those of you not in the know, RAKA stands for: Ryan, Amanda, Keedan & Astro.

We will need to incorporate an M and sadly lose the last A (b/c Astro is now in heaven).

Or we can just come up with a clever title that will not need to be changed everytime there is a new addition to our family.

Any suggestions?

Sidetrack from Improvements

Yes, I've been slacking on my house duties lately....but really who can blame me? I've gotten sidetracked into sewing and I'm not even feeling bad about it.

I was afraid that Keedan would be a tornado during my various projects but he has been very good and seems intrigued when he watches.

Here's a sidetrack from the point of my post.....here are some super cute pics of Keedan trying on some of Ryan's gear last night.

And other cute pictures of last week when some of his cousins were here.

Heading out to to the pool.

Attacking D'mar with bubbles.

OKay, back to the reason I"m blogging.

I've been working on decor for the baby's room. So much fun!

I think making all this stuff has gotten me even more excited about having a girl.

So here's what I've got so far.

Here are just 3 of the 7 mini dresses I sewed together yesterday. I added little belts to them so far but they still need some embellishing. I'm going to string these little dresses on the outside of the crib like a clothesline (with clothespins too). I haven't decided if I want to paint the clothespin's or leave them natural. We'll see.

Here is the fabric for the curtains I'm making. I'm not quite done, ran out of thread, but next week they'll be done & hung (b/c new window's will be installed then...YAY!)

So now I've gotta decide on how I'm making the bedskirt and bumper pads. I was thinking about using the stripes for the bedskirt and making the bumper pads with the flowery fabric, but I just can't make up my mind.

That's it for now. Hopefully, I will make my decision sooner than later.

Our New Outlook

This past Wednesday our house received an enormous face-lift by the addition of new windows in the living room. I'm so happy with them b/c the old ones had broken latches and were NOT air tight, so our electricity bill was pretty pricey this past winter.

We had sub-contractors from Lowe's install them, so it seemed to go by pretty quickly.

This past Saturday, however, Ryan and our wonderful missionaries here in Clovis did some Do-It-Yourself work in our Kitchen (not so quickly).

10:30/11:00 am
They were removing the bay windows and outside brick wall to make room for french doors.

This was particularly Not a fun part of my day b/c the dog kept getting loose outside the gate and I'd have to chase her down. It wasn't too terrible at first, but it just kept happening, so we finally tied her to a tree. I know animal cruelty but at least there was no more pregnant lady cruelty, right?

1:00 P.M
Missionaries left and Ryan was determined to get those french doors in.

5:00 P.M.
Break time and ooooohhh how refreshing it was.

11:00 P.M.
Thanks to the help of a friend at 9:30 P.M. that came over to help Ryan move the door, we now have a Sweet Back Door with no door knobs yet, but they're coming...hopefully very soon :)

So Where Ya Been?

We've mostly been here in Clovis but have been exhaustingly busy with life and our remodeling endeavor.

I wish I had more time for blogging but alas I've been too lazy for that. Anyway here's a quick update for those of you whov've been wondering what we have been up to.

Had a marathon couple of days to finish up some drywall so that carpet could be installed....and alas we met our deadline thanks to several wonderful friends that helped us out with various tasks.

Went to the midnight premiere of Eclipse. I had a fabulous time!

We started with girls night out get together at AppleBees and then off to the Show.

I stole these pictures off of my friend Jeni's blog b/c I didn't take a camera (gotta love technology sometimes, huh?) Jeni scored a pair of free passes to the movie that she generously shared with me.

My brother Levi and his wonderful wife Brittany and sweet boy Trevor came for a visit and stayed for the 4th of July weekend. We had such a great time with them! (I was a slacker at taking photos but I do have some video I can try to upload)

Our sweet dog Astro died. I won't go into details b/c it will make me cry but I'll just say he was the very best dog I and we have ever had!

I (Amanda)turned the big 31 and Ryan was fabulous about making me feel so pampered and loved! Koodo's to you Ry!

We now have a new dog...her name is Nala and she's still a puppy but big. Yes, it's a bit soon after the passing of our wonderful pooch Astro but we hope to have her used to our family quickly for reasons I cannot talk about except that it's nice to have Ryan do the rough housing with the dog and not I (haven't taken a picture yet but she looks very similar to Astro except that she's blonde instead of a red, oh and she's a girl :)

Lastly, we are having another baby in 3 months.....crazy how fast time flies. We are excited to be having a GIRL and for Keedan to have a sibling to play with!