Party TIme

Kinsey turned 2 about 3 weeks ago........yep Im that behind. Oh well....whats new. Her recent obsession is Dora! For some reason I could not bring myself to have a Dora birthday party. For a long time now she has loved the book The Hungry Caterpillar, so we went with it. Found some cute decor ideas on pinterest and bam!, you have a 2 year olds party. Because of my growing belly I didnt have the energy to do an all out, elaborate party and I had the help of some fab friends and fam in decorating and food department. Got a bouncer from an awesome friend and set it up downstairs for the kiddies to play in. Had some cupcakes and snacks. Opened some presents. Watched a tearjerker picture DVD made by my bro. All in all a good day.

Kinsey was an AWESOME partier and I just loved that the day was ALL about her! She is such a special girl and I love this stage of life! She makes my heart full of love and she is just more than I could have ever imagined. Dont get me wrong, she has crazy girl meltdowns but hey thats life!!
Mommy and daddy love you SOOOO stinkin much and cant wait to see what an awesome big sister you will be!

Christmas Time!

This Christmas was a little crazy. The way my work schedule landed this year, I was working Fri, Sat and Sun :( So I missed Christmas Eve and Christmas day with my fam! I was super bummed but really excited since that will be my last year doing that as I will go to part time before the next holidays.

Anyways....After work on Christmas Eve I came home and our little family opened our stockings and gave Kinsey our gifts. It was very short, but very special. We let her stay up late and lay in bed with us. She was in heaven and it was so special just to spend some time with just the three of us.

On Christmas day Josh woke up and took Kinsey over to celebrate with his parents. The opened gifts and had breakfast and spent the morning just relaxing. From what I hear, Kinsey had a super time

On Monday, we celebrated with my family. I was able to have the day off so I could cook and actually get to sit and enjoy time with everyone. Kinsey got even more gifts. Although we set a limit on the gifts we were getting her, it seems like she still ended up with a house full. Its such a balance to try to teach them at this age what Christmas is all about and what the ultimate gift is. I think next year she will be at an age where she will be able to understand the true meaning of this season and what we are actually celebrating. This year we tried to spend some time just in the moment with our families rather than getting caught up in all the hustle and bustle of what was going on.

Yep, Kinsey really did talk great grandma into coming in the tent with her. Priceless.

Holiday cheer

So I kinda skipped right past Thanksgiving. Mostly because I didnt take any pictures and I had to work a lot around the holiday. I know....LAME!
Anyway Josh and I wanted to do something with Kinsey that was service oriented but she is too young for most volunteer things.
My fab Gma lives in an assisted living facility on the east side and just loves to have visitors. So my plan was to have Kinsey help me back cookies, package them all prettily and deliver them to the residents while visiting my gma! Total kill 2 birds with one stone project! Gma loves visitors and Kinsey was getting to give to others!
Much to my suprise this was a total success. She loved helping me bake and was an excellent assistant packager. Granny walked us throught the facility and we knocked on doors, handing the resident cookies and wishing them happy holidays! They all adored Kinsey and she just ate up all of the attention. I hope we brought some holiday cheer to some who may not have anyone who visits them.
This will definitely be repeated next year.
Next years goal: Take more than one picture :(

Sleep over

Nothing beats movie night!!! Kinsey, Josh and I rented the Cat in the Hat (I bet you can tell who had the most say in that rental), moved all of the furniture out of the living room and brought out the sleeping bags and pillows. Popcorn was popped and everyone had a great time! Then the movie ended, it was 10pm and Kinsey was running around the house like a mad woman!
At that point an executive decision was made to abort operation sleep over and put that girl to bed!
In the end we got to spend some super awesome family time together and mommy and daddy didnt have to wake up in the morning with sore backs from sleeping on the floor! Score!

Whoa Baby Im behind

These past couple of months have been complete insanity. First of all, Im nearly nine months prego and a complete slug. Second of all, our computer died and I have been without one until a few weeks ago. And third of all, I still am having a hard time acclimating myself to these new computer. Nonetheless, here we go. I am going to start where I left off. Next up......Halloween!!! I know! Dont laugh but if I dont post about it how am I going to remember this stuff people???
Kinsey was an absolutely perfect bumble bee! We went to the zoo and there was entirely too much stimulation there. The next night we went trick or treating in the neighborhood. She was a pro! We finished off the night at grandma and grandpas. Enjoy the pics!

                                        Now thats a mouthful of candy!!!!

Peters Family Pumpkin Trip

Last week we made it out for the annual pumpkin patch trip. Now I know its only the second year, but its kinda something you gotta do. It was a super windy day and we made it early in the morning before the rain hit! We went with our dear friends and the kids had a blast. We did the hayrack ride, searched for the most perfect pumpkins, pet the animals and rode on the cow train.
Kinsey was a real trooper and at 24 weeks prego I felt pretty darn good.
Overall the day was a success and will be repeated next year. Happy hunting ya'll!

Sleeping Big Girl Style

So I knew this time was coming......All along we had planned for Kinsey to transition into a toddler/twin bed so that we could free up the crib for the new baby. We got a toddler bed from a fab friend and started to piece together her new room.
            All this big girl stuff is a little too much for mammas heart to take.
I was way apprehensive about this transition as I selfishly thought she was going to sleep worse and in turn make me lose sleep.
            Well turns out shes a pro and absolutely loves her new room. Other than a few thuds in the middle of the night where I had to go put her back into bed she has done great!
             Although I may shed a tear or two, big girl bed = happy mamma and happy baby!