December Fun

Our December has been filled with lots of fun!  At the beginning of December we got to move to "the new yellow house" as Kinsley calls it.  We spent most of the time before Christmas trying to get things put away and organized, and are still working on it.
Right before Christmas we got a good snow and Kinsley loved going out to play in it.  Right now her favorite thing is making snow angels.  We also got to go sledding with our Coralville neighbors.   Kinsley has now decided she's done with the snow and wants summer to come so she can wear a tank top.
Our Christmas was an enjoyable time as always.  We spent Christmas morning at home, Christmas day with the Owens, and then time with the Bensons.  We even got to have Kinsley's cousins come visit our house and have a fun day at the Children's Museum.
Now we are having a quiet start to the New Year and enjoying our last few days off before returning to work and daycare at the end of the week.

Loved Santa this year!  Told him she wanted "AnAmericanGirlDoll"

First lunch in the new house

Marching in the snow

 

Sledding fun (we upgraded from the deer sled)

Snow angel

Christmas Eve

An American Girl Doll!!

Kinsley and McKenna

IPad with Ellie

Fun at the ICM

Writing

Kinsley has been getting more into drawing, coloring and writing.  She is really interested in learning how to write her "K" and is scribble writing to write other things too.  Mommy is so proud!

Working on her "K"

Writing everyone in her family's names

We Love ICM!

On Wednesday Kinsley and I got to spend the morning at the Iowa Children's Museum.  She gets to go every week with her daycare so she was excited to show me all the new things they've added since we went this summer.  After a great time at the Museum we finished with lunch and her favorite Mommy/Kinsley place- Panchero's!

Drive-up at the bank

New cow in the farm

Dress up in the theater

Drumming in the Music room

Boo at the Zoo

Today we got to go to Boo at the Zoo.  We were ready for chilly temperatures, but it really wasn't bad with the sun shining.  Kinsley was super excited to get candy AND see the animals.  She also got to ride her first real pony named Henry.  Other highlights of the day were seeing giraffes, riding the train, and getting candy from someone in an Ernie costume.   Kinsley is now really looking forward to the rest of Halloween week with carving pumpkins, more Trick or Treating, and hopefully a visit from the Great Pumpkin!

Princess Fiona

Riding Henry

Fall Fun

We've been staying busy doing our regular things this Fall.  Kinsley is still enjoying her time outside before it gets too cold.   We've also been doing gymnastics once a week; Kinsley has been so proud as she masters new things- especially walking the balance beam by herself.  Lately we've been getting ready for holidays to approach.  Kinsley has her costume ready for Halloween and we got pumpkins this past weekend.  We've also heard a few mentions of Santa Claus too.
In other excitment we are hoping to be homeowners at the beginning of December!  We have an accepted offer on a house, just have to smoothly get through all the paperwork parts now.  And then with the move taken care of we will be ready to welcome baby boy in February!

Jumping in leaves

 



I can do it myself!

Little Deer

Pumpkin Patch

We got some good ones

Three!

Kinsley turned 3 on August 31- but has had many celebrations over the past weeks.    The weekend before her birthday Grandma and Grandpa Benson visited and brought her some new bike accessories.  We celebrated at home for her birthday- with her getting a dollhouse and van that's she's been asking for for quite awhile.   She also got to celebrate with her daycare friends with cupcakes and a trip to the Children's Museum.  The weekend after her birthday we celebrated with the Owens side of the family and she was super excited to have a Belle princess cake.  Kinsley is a very lucky 3 year old!

Omaha Zoo

This week we took a short family vacation to go to the Omaha Zoo.  Kinsley was very excited to see the animals and stay at a hotel to go swimming.  Our memorable story from the trip was when we saw the lions.  A female lion came right up to the window when Michael was taking our picture.  After he took the picture he told us to turn around- and when we did the lion pounced up on the window.  The rest of the day Kinsley kept asking if the windows were made of strong glass! 

Tiger

Right before we got pounced

Big Gorilla!

Brushing the goats

Giraffes

Jellyfish

Museum

Over the weekend we went to the Putnam Museum to do something fun and beat the heat.  Kinsley was very excited that they had dinosaurs- but she wasn't so sure about them once we got there.  She liked looking at all the things they had, and playing in the exhibits that were hands-on.  Luckily the heat has broken and we're enjoying our outside time again!

Wigwam

Pioneer girl

Of course she found the baby

Yay for cooler weather!

Flower Girl

Kinsley got to be the flower girl for her Aunt Stephie's wedding this weekend.  She was so excited and had soo much fun!  She did great walking down the aisle and had a blast dancing at the reception.   Her other favorites of the weekend were sleeping and swimming at the hotel.  

Phone Dump

Just some random pictures from my phone...

 Matching nightgowns

 Playing in the rain

Kinsley's new wagon

Summertime

Summer is officially here and we are enjoying every minute!  Last weekend we took Kinsley to Blues and BBQ in North Liberty.  They had a petting zoo and some fun kid rides.  By the end Kinsley even braved the slide by herself. 
This weekend we had fun doing our normal things around home- riding bikes, playing babies, etc.  Tonight we did go fishing at the Res.- Kinsley was excited to see 2 blue gill and 1 catfish.  She even touched one of the blue gill.
Tomorrow is our first official day at home for vacation.  I'm hoping to think of enough fun things to keep her busy, but I know it won't be long before she's missing her friends at daycare.

 Soo brave!

 Shaved ice

Just being cute