Big girl bed

We finally took down the crib and set up the big girl bed.  Just rearranging the furniture brought a new level of excitement to this little girl.  She was so proud of the fact that she gets to sleep in a big girl's bed.  And she has been doing great with staying in her bed/room when it's bed time. 

 The only thing we need to work on now, is getting her to keep the bedroom light off. We've never had a two year old that can reach the light switch!

Goodnight kisses for Daddy!

Growing up

Every Monday night we have Family Night.  We look forward to this night together to sing, pray, learn something and have treats together.

 

Last week, even though our sweet little one was sick again with the stomach flu, she was SUPER excited for family night.  When mom announced it was time, our littlest ran over in front of the fireplace and said, "Welcome to Family Home Evening!" with the biggest grin and energy she could muster.

 

McKinley loves her Nursery class, cheers every Sunday morning for church with a "YAY, CHURCH!", and has even begun saying prayers (repeating after whoever is saying the prayer) on her own.

 

Her enthusiasm for church puts a huge smile on our faces.  We hope she always remembers that she is a very important child of God.

Christmas Break 2012

This year, we began Christmas break with a trip to the cabin.  The kids were begging to play in the snow and we thought it would be a good way to spend some uninterupted time together.  We did all sorts of crazy things. 

We decorated gingerbread cookies at 6:30am and ate them for breakfast.  (We needed something good to do while Dad tried to catch some sleep after stoking the wood stove all night long.)

 We played in the snow A LOT!

 Getting ready for a trip down the sledding hill.  She LOVES the snow.

  Baby Girl and Big Brother

 And our littlest loved to drag her gloves through the snow on the sled rides until her hands were freezing.  Dad would give her his gloves and take her little wet pink ones!  It became a fun game.

It was a great trip.

Best sisters

These two girls have become the best of friends recently.  Often little sis "helps" big sis during homework time, and big sis can be found playing dolls or barbies with little sis.  This morning they were playing peek a boo and giggling like crazy!

Play date

Our two year old was invited to go to the Children's Museum with a family friend last week.  Our littlest is a huge fan of the hostess, so we new she would be thrilled.  I was a bit nervous about sending her off mostly because it was the first time she has done something like that, but she had a great time being a big girl.

 We packed her very own backpack for the diapers and wipes, and then a lunch bag with snacks.  For the next few days she could be found toting both of her new accessories around.

Pumpkins and Princesses 2012

We began our Halloween festivities with a visit to a family friend's pumpkin patch about a week before the holiday.  Everyone picked their own pumpkin and we ended up with some big lunkers!

After a tractor ride around the farm, we weighed our pumpkins on the Richter scale and packed up for home.

When it came time for the costume part of Halloween, our littlest chose a princess dress!  We got some good mileage out of it immediately.  Then she wore it at the church Halloween party that we got to spend with Kayla and family, and finally on the real Halloween day itself.

She still can be found wearing her princess dress at least once a week.  Typically we slip it on over her clothes and once it is in place, she immediately starts "pinning" (or spinning).

 

This last photo is from this week.  We like to think of our princess as a very well-rounded girl.  Not every princess plays with cars.

Birthday #2

To celebrate turning two we met Kayla and her family at the local ice cream shop.  We made our BIG ELMO fan a cake that she couldn't resist (and was actually quite concerned about when it came time to eat)!

Blowing out the candles all by herself!

Kayla brought M a baby doll with a stroller and for the next few days, M was connected to it!

We also watched the birthday girl open presents and took some time to visit together and hold the baby boys.

 

 Kayla, Kalen, Kinley, and Dad

 So excited to hold Kalen!

Funny faces

Happy Birthday Love Bug. 

 It was really nice to celebrate Kinley's birthday with Kayla.  We always like to say, "You can never have too many people loving a child" and we think our little ones feel the same way.