Kensley's World at 3.5 years old

What is going on with Miss Kensley at 3.5? Well, to say the least, she is a precious, kind hearted, tender loving little girl that, on a daily basis, makes me fall in love with her more and more. I feel like I can't love her any more and then I wake up the next morning and watch her throughout the day. Gah- she rocks my world! I did mention her being so kind hearted- and she really is- but she can also be a little turd. haha. She knows how to push Kallie's buttons- and knows to do it only when Mommy isn't looking! Little stinker. But even with the little battles her and Kallie get in, they still love eachother so much- and that makes my heart swell up. Seriously. She loves to eat: Turkey Sandwiches Yogurt Popsicles Strawberries Bananas Carrots Veggie Fries (something her friend Lexi would take to school in her lunch- so we had to get some!) Pancakes Waffles Oreos ANYthing sweet (or chocolate)----> (she's got my sweet tooth) My favorite time of day to be with her is before bedtime. Kent and I usually take turns putting each girl to bed (I am usually with Kallie). When I have my nights with Kensley, I savor every moment. She likes to just sit and talk. We've been talking about God being upset when she's mean to people. She has a friend at school who has older sisters- older as in 16 year old sister. Can you imagine what hormonal outbreaks this little 3 year old has witnessed?!? lol - I'm not being judgmental- I'm being REAL! Seriously- pre-teen and teen girls are crazy! Anyways, she would say things (not terribly bad--- just all the stuff like "you're not my friend". "I don't like her". "I don't want to play with you".) that Kensley picked up on and Kensley started treating friends in her class like that. Does this make sense? Anyways- to make a long story short- I've been trying to drill it into Kensley that she needs to be nice to EVERYONE. All of the bullying that is going on these days is so scary- I do NOT want my girls to be a part of those actions. I just pray that everything we talk about will help her develop compassion to others. I *pray* it does. So she's been asking a lot: "Is God upset because I ________?" This opens up opportunities for me to talk about God to her- I hope it's all sinking in and she's wrapping her head around it.
Let's see---- what else is going on with KK that I'd like to document.....
*Every morning, she wakes up and tells me if she has a dry or wet pullup (unfortunately, it's still pretty wet each morning). She'll tell me it's wet and then immediately, in the same breath, asks if Kallie's is wet too. She's so competitive. both of them are. Already.
*Wakes up around 6:45-7:15 in the mornings. For a while it was 7:30-8. Not sure why she's starting to wake up earlier now :(
*Goes to bed between 8-8:30
*Loves school and wants to go back. She doesn't realize it's summer though! haha *Asks to go to Cora & Clayton's quite a bit. She loves our neighbors!

Kallie's 2 birthday

What?! I totally forgot to blog this! Ooops! ;)

We had a great time at Kallie's birthday- it was small and simple. I am so comfortable with how the girls' parties have been up until now..... I think I'll be in shock once they start inviting friends. It will no longer be the quiet, small parties like usual. HA! But that's ok :)

I had fun decorating for this one- the biggest decoration was the lemonade stand. Kent did a great job building it and Kensley got to "help"... which she was really proud of. It turned out to be really big! But it'll grow with the girls and they'll have an awesome lemonade stand to set out when they're older! ;)




Now, to update on miss Kallie's milestones/developments. I am posting this a few weeks AFTER her 2nd birthday.
STATS: 28.8lbs | 34.5"

FOODS:
{loves}
- yogurt - if she could, she'd eat this all day, I think! She loves the gogurts and the drinkable yogurts.
- oreos - yea, she loves these. As do I. These are a hot item in this house.
- oatmeal - she says "moat-meal". She eats this for breakfast a lot.
- waffles - I get the blueberry kind. She'll tell you "waf-wah".
- PB&J - I can't remember what she says here. It's a little much for her to say it all- I think she just tries to say "peanut"... she loves eating this-- or better yet, she loves helping make hers. She goes and gets her chair to stand in at the island and she spreads away.
- Schlotsky's - she loves the cheese pizza there and their turkey sandwiches. I usually can always get her to eat good there! And it just so happens I love that place, too. So it's a win/win!
- milk - She loves her milk! There's days where she may drink 30oz. :/ We went to the dr for her two year checkup and she said we needed to cut that back to 24oz, max. So she was cut off at 2 cups this morning (a total of 20oz).


THINGS SHE LOVES TO DO
- Play outside - She loves playing outside. She and Kensley have a little house on the back patio and they spend a LOT of time out there. All of their toys end up out there.
- Watch TV - she doesn't watch a ton of it, but she does enjoy it. (what kid doesn't, right?!) Right now, she and Kensley are into Princess & the Frog. Disney played it the other day and I DVR'd it. They had never seen it before- now we watch it every.morning. Poor Strawberry has been replaced. ;)
- Play pretend - she loves to make you food at her kitchen and bring stuff to you to eat. After Kent finished the lemonade stand, that was the popular kitchen area ;)
- run around naked - I don't know why my children prefer to be naked or just wear panties/diapers?! But she's following in Kensley's footsteps, that's for sure. She's working on potty training, too- so it's actually nice to have her naked or just run around in panties.
- dancing with Kensley - she and Kensley love holding eachother's hands and spinning around dancing. One of those moments that melt my heart :)
- bath time!- she loves bathtime! They take all their little toys in with them and play with those--- along with pouring water over eachother's heads. The giggles that come from the bathroom are priceless.

WORDS (the Dr. told me to write down the words she was saying because I am worried about her speech. She has been having ear infections a lot and I'm worried that's why she isn't talking well at all yet. She's on her 3rd antibiotic for one ear infection we can't seem to kick. Praying this one will knock it out so she can be a happy little girl again!)

-milk "mil"
-Mommy
-Daddy
-Nonnie "Non-no"
-Poppy
-Nana
-Kensley "Keh-key"
-Ging "gee"
-No
-Paci "ba-ba"
-Blanket - I can't even write how it sounds. She says it through her nose. The weirdest thing ever! I need to get it on video.
-Mine
-"that's mine"
-Toy Story "tuh-stuh"
-Tangled "Gangled"
-walk
-up
-down
-hide - she always tells you "I hide!"
-bye
- night-night!
-Dora
-Strawberry [shortcake] - "Yayaskdjgsg" It's a little odd- you'd have to know what she was saying to figure that one out
-hot
-cold
-ouch!
-light
-oh!
-puppy
-balloon "boon"
-swing "wing"
-eat
-help
-inside "ih-side"
-out


*I'll be adding, hopefully. I may use this as my list to show the dr on her followup.

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!

Popping in

Well, things around here have been SO busy. In fact, I'm surprised I have these few minutes to pop in and check in on the blog. I have been so busy that I haven't had time to read ANY blogs! I catch up here and there, but nothing near where I'd like to be. My computer was out of service for a few days last weekend because it was loaded with tons of pictures and downloads. I'm such a dork- I just thought it was about to crash on me! Anyways, I got all that cleaned off (after our party for Kensley and all of our visitors returning home) and was able to get back on the internet for a few minutes at a time.

I'm working on a blog for her party. I'm hoping to get that posted before the end of the year ;) My friend Karissa took the pictures so I just need to get them together and ready to post.

The day our friends went home, wildfires started to flare up rather close to us. It was a bit of a scare; but everything was ok. The smoke was scary. We had a friend that was directly effected (or affected? I never really learned that in school- hah) He's stayed at our house all of last week and this past weekend. I was so glad we were here for him. Luckily his belongings in the house weren't destroyed- but the outside of the house had damage. He should be able to go back within a week or so, I'm guessing.

Kensley started school. I'll post a blog about that by itself. She LOVES it. I love it. It's twice a week and 4 hours a day. I can't wait for Kallie to attend next year! I will be in heaven ;) And hopefully booked with photo sessions!

Speaking of photography- I'm working on getting my name out. Slowly, but surely. We are just getting settled in- I don't want to rush it. I've got a few sessions in the works. And that is perfectly fine with me right now. When the time is right, my business will pick up. I'm planning a trip up to VA soon. I'll have quite a few sessions scheduled there!

Kensley started gymnastics today. She loves it! You can most certainly tell that she is a young 3 year old and it was her first class. She had a tough time following instruction- she was so overstimulated with everything around! haha- we're hoping after about a month of going, she'll get the hang of it. We have to find her a leotard before next week. They like the kiddos to be dressed in those. I'm so excited :) I really hope she loves gymnastics.

I am now following Kent's lead to eating better. I've done it for almost a week now and I can tell you- I am really enjoying it! It really wasn't about losing weight for me; it was more about making healthier choices for my body. We are planning on running in the Warrior Dash in November. Can I say how excited I am?! We have a few friends that are probably going to run it with us. It's going to be a BLAST!

I think I'm out of updates- or at least I can't think of much more right now. I'll be posting more specific blogs soon.

Oh, and one more thing- please keep my friend Whitney in your prayers. She is 30 weeks pregnant and has been admitted to the hospital for low fluid levels. Pray for God to wrap his arms around her and be with her these last few weeks of her pregnancy. She would really like miss Harper to bake a little longer before she makes her appearance! So make sure you add her to your prayer list.


Here are some random pictures....

Is it May already?!

Where has this year gone to?! We're almost half way through. Geez.

We've been staying busy around the house and going to play dates. And going to the gym. I've been so proud of myself- I go regularly every week and LOVE it. The classes are GREAT. I usually get burnt out fast..... but I haven't yet.




Kensley came home from school today with this.


Sweet, huh? One reason I love preschool! haha


Today was the fire station tour. Kensley LOVED it! Kallie--- well, she clung to me for a while and would only get down for a minute or two.

Updates on the girls

KENSLEY

Wow, this girl is SO funny. I need to get a pen and pad to keep with me at all times to write down things she says. It cracks me up.
-She is currently singing "Happy Birthday to me" while Kallie bear hugs her from behind and laughs.
-She is starting to tattle. Kallie will hit her and she'll say "momma! Kallie hit me!" Ugh. and it begins.
-She loves to sing "Jesus Loves Me" and "Wheel on the Bus"
-She loves to ride in Kallie's car seat. We have numerous meltdowns over it.
-She (still) loves to run around the house with no clothes on. Panties only.
-She loves her pacifier more than anything right now.... which stinks.... because I really need to break her of it! If hers isn't out, she steals Kallie's
-She loves "surprises"
-She's not my little breakfast eater anymore :( She use to always eat a big breakfast.... she hasn't been here lately.
-She's in a toddler bed
-I have to lay with her until she goes to sleep
-She can run. fast.
-Her and Kent have a game where he chases her around while she holds a ball. She bugs him all weekend to play ball. It's funny.
-She loves to talk on the phone. Whoever I am talking to- she'll ask "who is that?". I'll tell her who it is and her next question is "Can I talk to ______?"
-She likes to help herself to letting McCoy out in the back yard. She'll go MIA and the next thing I here is her outside yelling "ACOY!" (yes, she calls him "Acoy" (uh-coy) when she yells for him) :love:
-She has her days where she likes to "take pitchers" (pictures) Mommy's dream ;)
-She talks about going to the beach when I pull out a couple outfits. haha I mentioned she was going to wear them to the beach when she first got them- now that's all she associates those outfits with


KALLIE

-STILL a momma's girl!
-Loves her pacifier & purple blanket
-Says "dada" all.the.time. If she sees a man- she yells "dada!"
-Loves to beat up on Kensley. She plays rough. In fact, the other little girls her age that we know- they don't like to play with Kallie. :/
-Loves to play with chalk. She is so funny- she'll draw a picture in a heart beat :)
-Did I mention she is still a mommy's girl? ;) I'm telling you- I think she thinks I supply her oxygen
-she runs around like a wild woman; rarely just walks around the house
-She likes to just sit on the bottom stair. And just look around.
-She will NOT look at a camera if it's in my hands. She won't. Refuses. So all her pictures from this point in her life will be of the top/back/side of her head. Or looking at me like I'm crazy.
-She is the world's messiest eater. No matter what time of day. It's ridiculous. I can NOT keep that child clean. If her hair was clean before she sat down, it won't be when she gets done. Ridiculous.
-She has one girl that works in the nursery at the gym that she goes straight to every time we go. It's so sweet. <3
-She loves bananas and grapes. Graham crackers.
-She sleeps like a champ. I put her down around 7:30 and she'll sleep until 7-7:30 the next morning.