Random Updates

It's been busy around here! The holidays are always so much fun- but have been super busy this year. I've had quite a few shoots and then we've been traveling and now that we're home I've been decorating! I'm having a blast-- but I hate having to BUY new stuff. I wish money grew on trees so I didn't feel bad buying stuff. We need it to decorate but it just stinks having to spend it. Luckily next year we won't need anything. Whew! We've never had a house this big to decorate- so that's why I've had to buy a lot. Here's the link to pictures of what I've been up to. Thanks to Pinterest and YouTube, I figured out how to do the mesh stuff. Oh.my.goodness. I'm in love! It's relatively cheap too! The rolls are $5 at Hobby Lobby and it only takes one roll to do a wreath (I didn't actually make a wreath--- just what I've read) and it only took one roll to do my swag. My fingers are still hurting from dealing with the garland :/

Anyways, I need to update on these precious girls! Kallie has changed so much but I haven't documented it ANYWHERE. Shame on me!

Kallie- 20 months


1. She has her 1 year molars now. 12 teeth total.
2. She's FINALLY starting to talk. Not really well, but it's a start. Like, within the past week. Her words include:
Mama
Dada
Kensley (deh-dee)
No
Uh-huh (is that a "word"?) haha
Paci- "Bah-bah"
McCoy- buh-buh or cuh-cuh (I think she's trying to say "Coy Boy"
What's that? - "whu-da"
Strawberry (for Strawberry shortcake)- "awww- eh-eh" -see, it's not really well, but we're communicating a little here!
Tangled (her latest obsession)- "gah-guh"
Uh oh (she's mastered this one)
Go
Hi
Mine
Where's Mine?- "whuh-mine"
Ow!

That's all I can think of now. I'll keep listening to her and adding.

She loves:
-Tangled
-Tinkerbell
-Her sister & whatever she is doing. Doesn't matter what. It's Monkey-see, Monkey-do around here lately
-Dancing to music
-coloring
-singing
-taking her diaper off and running around naked (she'd do this all day if she could)
-being barefoot (I can't keep shoes on her to save my life. It's really annoying)
-her paci - no we haven't taken it away. And I'm not sure when we will. She is just now starting to talk. Once we can communicate better with eachother, I'll probably start the process. But until then, go ahead and judge me :)
-being outside
-cereal
-strawberry oatmeal
-her morning milk
-Danimals yogurt
-ice cream
-broccoli
-oreo
....junk food seems to be a trend. :/
-chocolate milk
-still a momma's girl!
-she loves getting Kensley things. For instance, right now Kensley is asking her to go get her Tangled from upstairs. Kallie is running up the stairs yelling "mine!" So I think Kallie is a tad confused. She's obviously going to get HER Tangled, not Kensley's. But she is willingly going to get it. It's cute :)
Dislikes-
-diapers
-shoes
-getting dressed
-getting OUT of the car. She throws fits quite often because she wants me to leave her in there and let her get out of her seat and play.
-socks

Kensley- 3 years


-She is such a sweet girl. She has her moments, but overall, so sweet.
-She loves to cuddle in bed. There's mornings I wake up and she's cuddle next to me in bed. I'll roll over and she puts her head by mine and giggles.
-She loves to aggravate her sister. She'll chase her around the house trying to get some toy. She's belly laughing the whole time.
-Gymnastics- she LOVES it. So much that I always catch her using our couch as her gym floor. Last night she had a big blanket wadded up at the end and was running and jumping into her "muddy puddle" (this is something she got off Dora)
-She loves to watch Strawberry Shortcake, Tangled, Tinkerbell, My Little Pony (she doesn't really get to watch it because I don't like their attitudes- but she'll tell you she likes to watch it)
-She loves little trinkets. She always has. Every movie phase she goes through, she usually ends up with all the characters. From me, her Nonnie or her Nana.

Here's her latest LOVE. She & Kallie both got one. They're a hit!

-She's only wanted her hair in a "tight ponytail" the past week (at least). We got her hair trimmed.... but it's yet to stay down so we can see how cute it is.
-She has about 3 outfits that she likes at a time. And she rotates through those outfits throughout the week. And they usually are two random pieces of clothing that you'd wear in the heat of the summer.
-She loves her friends. She talks about them a lot.
-She's not interested in doing school stuff at home. This is probably my fault by not starting this early on. :/
-She talks about going to her "old house" all the time. She thinks her toys are still there. haha
-Every toy she sees that she likes she'll say "I'll get that for my birthday" or "I want to get that for my birthday". Every.single.toy. It's like a broken record :)

I tried making cheese & bean quesadillas but they were a bust.

It was pb&j to the rescue! Then we had brownies for dessert. (This is probably contributing to my weight gain) :/


RANDOM- but have you ever seen one of these? I LOOOOVE them! I found it at Ikea for.... $1.99, I believe. Best $1.99 ever!

Hello beautiful weather!

What a great way to start off the week AT HOME! :) The weather has been gorgeous. I've had the blinds opened all day, soaking in the sun. We are back on a routine and it's SOOO nice. I don't think I'll ever travel again. HA ;)

We went from having these hanging off the roof

(excuse the horrid edit... I got lazy and didn't feel like fixing it)

...to a few mounds of snow scattered around that are left over from the snowfall weeks ago.

This was from the morning after we got home. Kensley woke up early and wanted some milk so I walked downstairs to get her some and saw this. It was so beautiful!



Now that we're home, Kensley has been able to play with all of her toys. She has asked to play with her Dora playdoh every day. We also got her crayons out so she could color. (we do her arts and crafts while Kallie is napping.... much easier!)



Here's the girls having lunch on Valentine's day. (Kensley had a blast on her first day back to school!)



Today, we got to go outside! The sun has shined all week but the wind was pretty strong. Today it was PERFECT! As you can see, Kensley was ok to go out with no jacket. (eh, she probably could have worn one... but she was ok- she kept pulling it off)

We had a lot of fun being outside.... however, we missed our neighbors :( Just to let it be known- God is so great. When we moved up here last year, I was nervous. This is so far from "home". I'd never lived in any other state. Luckily we moved up here with some close friends.... but I was still worried about our neighbors. We were blessed beyond words. I had one of THE most caring, friendly neighbors. Our lives were so much alike, yet still so different. What we were going through gave us a common link. I shared so many laughs and it was so nice to have someone I could vent to/have dinner nights/help me out with the girls/work out with/the list goes on and on. ;) Anyways, enough of the sappy stuff- can you tell I miss her and her girls?! They moved over the holidays and it's just not the same around here anymore. Kensley kept asking for the girls today. Geez- I'm already having a hard time with it! Now I have a constant reminder when I have to tell her "they're not home. they moved away". So now she'll say " the girls moved." Anyways, this picture is for them! She wanted to ride her bike and she thought something was in the little bag on the front. I opened it for her and she found these two little stones. She actually high jacked them from our neighbor's flowerbed last spring. There was some little artwork the girls made for their yard that had stones in them. Anyways, Kensley carried them around and played with them the whole time we were outside. In the picture, she was trying to jump over them.



And lastly---- I had a date night tonight with a good friend! We had a blast :) It sure is nice to get out without the kiddos sometimes

Check out my photography blog to see some pictures from our play date on Tuesday!

Goodnight!

Randoms around the apartment

They love it when the dishwasher opens. Kallie can be on the other side of the room and hear it. She drops what she's doing and crawls 90-to-nothing to get there.
(the white balance is HORRIBLE in these...and the focus is off.... but I loved the moment) :)



Kallie got her first taste of spaghetti! She enjoyed playing in it more than anything. Bath time followed this meal :)




Digging in!



After bath, the girls love to roll around on the air mattress and play. Here are a couple of Kallie- she just throws herself on the mattress and laughs. She also likes to crawl on and off.







And here are some pictures from earlier in the day. Kensley helped me make tutus for her and Kallie for Valentine's Day.




Kallie "helped" me make her birthday tutu.



And some extras.....



Apple time







**Disclaimer-- I am obviously having a hard time nailing focus!! haha these pictures are not very good at all** :/