a day at the park

today we scheduled a play date with the lovely nelson ladies - it had been WAY too long! since the weather has been so nice, we decided on a park & picnic play date at the brush creek pavilion park. the day was sunny, though a bit windy & chilly, but fun was had none the less. 

it was great to see the girls - they are both getting so big! i had hailee in my class when she was in kinder (she's now 8) & amy and i were pregnant at the same time with charlee & kennedie. 

the girls seemed to enjoy each others company - kennedie & charlee got re-acquainted in the little park - swinging, climbing through the tunnel, bouncing on the horses, driving & sliding.

once everyone meandered over to the big park, the tire swing was the main attraction. we were surprised & excited to see that the marsh's had the same idea and were also at the park. christopher joined in the tire swing fun - hailee was such a great help - she pushed the kids, not too fast, and helped the little ones on & off the swing. that is one responsible 8 year old!

 as the other kids lost interest in the tire swing, kennedie found herself swinging alone - she could swing all day long, she LOVES to swing! hailee hung out though and pushed & spun her around. then she decided to join kennedie on the swing & they had such a good time :) kennedie was cracking up at hailee & hailee couldn't figure out why! they had lots of fun laughing together! i think kennedie would like a big sister - she seems drawn to older kids - she may find herself in that role someday ;)

thanks to the nelson family & the marsh family for a great day at the park!

2 year check-up

tuesday was kennedie's 2 year check up - since her birthday was the day before break, 

we postponed the appointment until after our vacation since she usually is a bit fussier and has a little fever after getting her immunizations...and glad we did. since then she has been a bit more needy than usual - probably a combination of side effects of the shots & a little cold she & mommy seem to have gotten from a fellow traveler on our plane ride home.

kennedie likes going to the doctor - she's always been a very good patient.

on the way, she started talking about how we were going to the 'docers'  & kept asking 'my turn?' once we got there when the nurses came out for other patients. she just happened to be on mommy's lap while she was getting blood drawn (2 birds with one stone!) when the nurses came from her. 

the thing is beeping on my thumb

the cuff is giving my arm a big hug

she had her oxygen level & blood pressure checked like a big girl! 

she loved it!

next, she was measured & weighed. here are her stats:

23 lbs - 25% for her age

 35 3/4 inches tall - 75%

head circumference - 18 1/4 inches

she loves getting to stand on the stickers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

while we waited for dr. engle, kennedie did some doctor playing of her own. she had fun measuring mommy's & daddy's heads & saying 'ah' with the popsicle sticks

daddy's turn

mommy's turn

 

 

say aaahhhh

kennedie is doing great, according to dr. engle - mommy & daddy thing so too :) 

she's continuing on her same growth curves-

 (we were concerned about her weight because she has only gained 1 lb in the last 6 months - but are feeling much better about it now) & her language acquisition, fine & gross motor & social skills are developing well (especially now that she has stopped biting) we couldn't be happier :)

spring break continued..

before we left florida, we took in a ray's baseball game - vs the minnesota twins i think :)

after the traumatic experience of daddy trying to catch a ball during warm up while holding her - missing & another man almost falling on the two of them - then him feeling bad b/c he got the ball & she was crying so he gave it to kennedie (what a gentleman) - she was pretty content & happy to watch the game - or play peek-a-boo with the people around & behind her at any rate ;)

 

that's her - yeah, so what! face

ready to catch a homerun

doing like poppy does

family pict at the ball park

- i'm working on the photo arrangements - bare with me:) -

kennedie also worked in some baking lessons with nanny before we had to say goodbye.

they made some super yummy banana muffins as well as some carrot muffins - per daddy's request.

kennedie loves helping mommy make muffins at home, so she jumped right in! 

her first job is always to put the baking cups into the muffin pan & she does a great job :)

she also got to help stir the muffin mix & nanny even let her help scoop the mix into the baking cups.

 

once bakes, kennedie preferred the banana muffins to the carrot :) but they were both delicious 

too bad i didn't take a picture of the final product - it was a mountain of muffins!

i also wanted to include a picture of my baby girl's super curly hair in the florida heat & humidity! 

it was so pretty :)

look at all those curls :)

spring break 2012

as promised...more about our spring break vacation.

thank goodness for nanny & poppy - they have a retirement/vaction home where not only do we get to stay for free, but we also get to spend precious time with family -  :) the fact that it is tampa florida is icing on the cake - can you say warm, sunny, beaches? apart from loving spending time with nanny & poppy, kennedie's favorite part of florida are its beautiful beaches!

ever miss independent,  she happily totes all of her things to & from the beach - including, but not limited to, a beach chair & back pack full of sand toys! and might i add gets quite fussy if you do not let her carry her own things! 

during this trip, we made it to indian rocks beach - which is just 10 minutes down the road & to st pete's beach - about 25 minutes away :) we love easy access! kennedie loves everything about the beach - sand & water alike. the minute her toes hit the sand, she can't resist getting her fingers into it!

once settled, she hurriedly unzipped her backpack and began digging, scooping, filling & dumping - what was she doing..."sandcastle" of course! she also likes finding seashells. because of three recent birthday celebrations - she also created a birthday cake on the beach by filling a cup and proceeding to place broken bits of seashells & 2 random feathers (to mommy's horror) atop the 'cake'.

next she typically moves on to digging & throwing mud into the oncoming waves, then running to and away from them. as she becomes acclimated to water temperature, she decided it was ok for daddy to take her swimming - leaving mommy to read peacefully on the beach, getting up to take the occasional photo :) 

(experienced bloggers - please enlighten me on how to arrange photos so they do not take up the entire page! i can only move them left, right & center but can't get more than one in a row?!)

and of course, no beach trip would be complete without burying our sweet girl & in turn, she gets to bury daddy :) again, mommy is all too happy to watch the events unfold & resume her role as family photographer!

more beach fun was had at st pete's beach the next day...it was a tad on the windy side, so we pretty much had the beach to ourselves :)

ready for the beach!

hair blowing in the breeze :) love her beach hair!

love this shot :)

contemplating going for a swim

drawing in the sand

we had a wonderful break and are easing our way back into the reality of daily life. school for mommy, daddy & kennedie all week. we have her 2 year appointment on tuesday and mommy is a bit apprehensive about what the doctor has to say about our petite girl - in my observations she hasn't gained more than 1-3 lbs in her second year, but we'll see what the scale has to say. 

mommy is also very happy to announce that kennedie now has enough hair to hold a clip in :) she even allowed a pretty flower clip, green light of course, to be in her hair for most of the photos we took down in florida. for those who aren't familiar with the term green light let me explain - kennedie's term for the color green is green light - we think this is from our daily car rides that take us through the only 2 stop lights in gypsum and waiting patiently for the light to turn green. that being said, green is our little lady's favorite color :) and one of the colors she has down pat! she still confuses red, blue & purple, but is pretty consistent with yellow, orange & pink.

other accomplishments in the 'academic' world - she knows her letters, some letter sounds, and counts to 14 - surprised us with this one over the break!

we'll update after her appointment...my lofty goal is to blog twice a week - we'll see how that goes ;)

here we go...

to all of the mom's out there with the super-cute, modern, impressive, updated blogs - i commend you! it has taken me 2 years to mutter up the courage to begin a blog & yet i'm not sure i even comprehend the attention & maintenance it takes to keep up! but we'll give it a go --

warning - i have completely no idea what i'm doing..

kennedie turned two exactly 1 week and 1 day ago - crazy! her first two years have been so fullfilling - accomplishing so much in so little time, i am in awe of my toddler! she is intelligent, outspoken though shy at times, funny & beautiful :)

lucky girl - she got to celebrate her 2nd birthday three times! we had a party with friends and family at home the weekend before her birthday. the theme was ladybugs - thank you pinterest for all of the wonderful ideas - and it was a huge success! she was quite the skillful present unwrapper - note the use of her feet to hold the gift as she unwraps :)

the second celebration was minor in comparison but included a special breakfast of colorful, delicious sprinkle pancakes made by mommy! after work & school we were off to denver to prepare for the third and final celebration. the next morning we boarded a plane for our spring break vacation / kennedie's 2nd birthday celebration with nanny & poppy in tampa, fl. 

once there, we had a special birthday dinner - complete with dora cupcakes & dinnerware - and followed it up with a trip to sea world the next day!!

more on the rest of our super beach vacation next time :)