First on Ice Skates=Success

Last night was seriously one of the best nights I've had in the last 2 years.  Kinsleigh tried something brand new and LOVED it from the get go.  Wasn't nervous, didn't whine or panic about what was about to happen...nothing!  She told me she wanted to go ice skate and I of course said "Sure! Let's do it!" while in the back of my mind preparing myself for 1) All the hype to diffuse once she actually saw the skates 2) Wasting my money on yet another activity (although this last one I believe is what parenting is all about right?) ;) 

Boy was I mistaken.  We got all prepped and ready to go!

Yeah Mom, I love these things!

Clinging to the wall for the first round...all while breaking Mommies back...

 
"Look at me Daddy!"

 Kinsleigh takes after both her grandmas in the closing her eyes in pictures department. ;) But she's cute nonetheless.

By the end of the night she was walking all over the place in her skates.  Her Daddy can't even do that.

Getting better.

Yup, that's the face of determination right there.

And...NO MORE WALLS!  Remember this all occurred within the course of an hour!  So proud of my big girl! She has definitely found herself a new favorite activity!

365 Reasons

This past year (beginning Thanksgiving Day 2011)  I put together a journal of reasons I am thankful.  At the end of every single day, for an entire year, I wrote something down.  The main reason I wanted to do this was to make it a guarantee that at the end of all my days, no matter if they were good, bad, unbelievable, or stressful I would pull out something positive that I was thankful/grateful for.  It truly did give me a much more positive outlook on life and I would highly recommend trying it out or doing something similar.  I think this next year, I'm going to give it another round starting on New Years Day.  Some days I don't even remember specifically why I wrote what I did which makes it even more enjoyable to look back on.

Thought I would share a few of my thanks...



Day 6- I'm thankful for days that Sean and I work great together as a team


Day 11- Thankful for a loving church family who genuinely prays for my hurting family

Day 18- Thankful Kinsleigh will at least play in her room with her eyes open.  (I will never forget those hard days but glad I can look back now and see where I was positive).

Day 19- Thankful for the means to give to others

Day 28- Thankful for little kids BIG smiles

Day  52- Thankful for a husband who takes his daughter on "Daddy daughter dates".

Day 57- Grateful for generous people in the church who give us gift cards to places to eat we ourselves could never afford. =)

Day 68- Grateful for the endurance Christ gives me when all I want to do is give up.

Day 79- Thankful for irresistible, unhealthy breakfasts!

Day 96- Thankful for Oreos

Day 114- Thankful for endurance

Day 137- Days like today make this hard, but yet still thankful to the Lord for friends who do care and will lend a listening ear.

Day 152- Thankful for a great night with my cell group girls!

Day 179- So thankful for forgiveness from my heavenly Father when I am definitely NOT the best Mommy in the world!

Day 189- So blessed to have raised a polite child

Day 196- So blessed to have the opportunity to throw a baby shower for my best friend who's baby was dearly prayed for often and is finally growing healthy inside her beautiful body!

Day 211- Grateful for good moods despite bad naps

Day 220- Thankful Kinsleigh got brave enough to do sparklers! =)

Day 228- Grateful for yummy snow cones on hot summer days

Day 249- Thankful that I don't have to worry about standing firm in what I believe in!

Day 263- Thankful for BLAST games of hide and seek!

Day 279- Thankful for hospitality of friends

Day 286- Thankful for blowing bubbles with kiddos. It's so peaceful and fun!

Day 306- Thankful for a rockstar babysitter while we are at New Life Ranch! Huge blessing!

Day 308- Thankful for awesome Old Navy sales. (haha)

Day 318- Kinsleigh peed in the potty twice today! Hallelujah!

Day 322- Beautiful weather, beautiful babies! I'm blessed!

Day 337- Grateful some days we just get to stay in and do NOTHING

Day 356- Grateful to sometimes let loose and not care that I'm putting my girl to bed with a severe case of the giggles!

Some serious, some silly, but all so very true!  Now, when I read this I have to ask myself, why would I ever complain? ;) My life has been blessed beyond words!

4 Year Checkup!

Welp, it's bragging time!  Yeah, I like to do that a lot...brag on my kids.  But I just can't help it after mornings like today!  This 4 year old girl made me so proud at her 4 year checkup this morning. Drumroll please....for the first time EVER this girl

1)  Let the nurse check her height, weight AND blood pressure (getting an arm hug) without putting up a fuss!  In the past her anxiety has prevented her from being able to do this without me having to pin her down to some type of surface.
2) She did her little eye examine, with one eye covered, telling us all her letters without a complaint
3) She talked to all the Dr's/nurses like they were her best friend. Social butterfly! Of course anyone who knows this girl well knows that she will talk and talk and talk if you give her the chance!
4)  She jumped up and down saying "I want my checkup! I want my checkup!" when the Dr. came in and was talking because she was so ready to get up on the table and get it done. We had to actually tell her to be patient for her checkup so that we could discuss her other milestones first!
5) She helped the Dr. listen to her heart with the stethoscope and even breathed in and out perfectly on command. I know I know, this one seems lame but you had to be there. It was impressive!
6) She took the flu nasal spray up the nose like it was the coolest thing ever invented!  (This did make her very happy to know that no shots would be happening today.)

Some of these things may seem like no big deal, but to me they mean everything. And it reminds me that I truly am blessed with a great girlie and all uncertain endeavors don't have to be hard and exhausting.

She couldn't give me any more attention than this to show her excitement about the Dr. because there was something far much more interesting on T.V. ;)

Pumpkin Patch Time

So the plan this year was to attend our favorite pumpkin patch again in Porter, OK but a few hours before leaving, I decided to check the website and discovered they were only open on the weekends...therefore, we missed it again this year!!! I was really bummed but we didn't let the girlies down and just had ourselves ANOTHER trip to Pumpkin Town right here in Tulsa.  

The girls LOVE riding this tractor.  It is like the slowest thing ever and definitely not that thrilling but to them it's the greatest in the world! Love it! Just look at their little happy faces!!! We had to ride it a couple times.

And this was the original plan...for Kinsleigh to take a pony ride (because she said she wanted to)

and this is what actually ended up happening...=) 

Happy Halloween!!! Looking forward to our Trick or Treating tonight!!!

Kinsleigh turns 4!

Kinsleigh had a whole weekend full of birthday festivities and loved every bit of it!  Friday, she got to celebrate with her class at school (which I unfortunately have no photos of), Saturday morning was her party and Sunday we partied on with her "actual" birthday!  

Her party was "You are my Sunshine" theme. We did her party in the youth area of our church so I had a lot to work around but it was still very cute!

Yummy treats and sunshine cupcakes.

We made some Halloween crafts...

Did a lot of crazy jumping...

She adores her best friend from school, Bennett so much! I hear about this girl that's being tackled every day!

Sweet Annika...

Got creative with balloons in the ball pit...

Don't you love the look she's giving me?! She's not really one for pictures. =)

Girlie table...

She got some super exciting gifts! It's quite ridiculous really...

Then her birthday morning, she got to wake up to this exciting gift from Mommy and Daddy.  She's been asking for this Repunzel tower for over a year and was very excited. The scooter was her other gift but it kind of got forgotten for awhile because of the tower distraction so sister played with it instead since she was thrilled. At least somebody was!

Then she eventually started showing me her awesome riding skills...

Sang one last time with our leftover party cupcakes. (I've eaten entirely too many of these!)

Get it girl! Birthday time from Oma and Opa...

Her dream come true! All the fairies!

She wanted them out so bad she had to lay on the floor and stare at them while Daddy had to cut them from the box which always takes forever.  And Oma snuck in some pretty snazzy Tinkerbell jammies as well.  Nothing this girl loves better than her fairy/princess jammies.  Keeps Mommy busy with the laundry!

Thanks to everyone who made her birthday super special.  She's so happy that she doesn't have to say "I'm three" anymore and reminds me that she's 4 several times a day!