We're already in the 20's???

Twenty months, that is! This past Friday, Kinsley exited the teens and entered the 20's. Now, she is less than 4 months away from turning 2 years old! Goodness. That seemed so far away, not too long ago. Now it's right around the corner!

Speaking of corners, it seems as though we have rounded another corner with miss Kinsley lately. Over the past two weeks or so, she has really started talking with more words that are discernible. Don't get me wrong, there is still A LOT that we cannot understand, but she is trying to say (and is successfully saying) more words than ever!

Right now, she LOVES: swinging outside on her new swing (that daddy impressively hung from a big tree), shoes, showing you her elbows ("eh-bows"), coloring, Dora The Explorer ("D-d-d-d-da!"), Special Agent Oso ("Ohh-sohh!"), coming to school with mommy and waving at everyone on the way in and out, giving Hunter dog treats, kicking the soccer ball, throwing the tennis ball, helping mommy empty the dishwasher and "fold" clothes, anything that makes her laugh (especially being tickled and playing "I'm gonna get you!"), dancing (twirling or stomping her foot like she's at a hoe-down), running around naked-as-a-jaybird before and after bath time, bubble baths, her "Marley" book, her baby doll, her blanket, her "la-la" lamb, and getting into anything that she's not supposed to...oh, and still LOVES her paci's. She might love them too much. She wants nothing to do with her training potty. But she hates getting her diaper changed, so I have tried explaining to her that this is the only solution to that problem, to no avail. She strongly dislikes sitting on both the big potty and her princess potty. Oh well.

Her favorite foods are still avocado (she can eat an entire avocado in one sitting!), grilled cheese, chicken nuggets, any kind of fruit, oven-roasted broccoli, green beans, french fries, white cheddar cheese puffs, and yogurt. And, surprisingly, she's still not crazy about sweets. Go figure?

Right now, we are busy preparing for Aunt Kelly's and (soon-to-be) Uncle David's wedding this weekend! Pretty much all of the family will be in town, and some of them are staying with us. Philip, Kinsley, and I are all in the wedding. In fact, all of Kinsley's cousins are also in the wedding, which should be so cute to see! The flower girl dresses are absolutely precious! But we are having a little trouble with the "basket-carrying-and-rose-petal-dropping" tasks of a flower girl...Kinsley doesn't understand that she should drop the rose petals as she walks. We are practicing with silk fall leaves at our house, and when given the basket of leaves, she immediately turns it upside down, emptying it completely, exclaiming "uh-oh!" and then sits on the ground to put all of the leaves back in the basket. Hmmm, it should be interesting on Saturday, that's for sure! If she decides that she does not want to walk down the aisle, then mommy worked very hard on transforming our old Radio Flyer red wagon into something fit for a wedding.

And to top off everything, right after this wedding weekend, we are hosting Philip's family at our house for Thanksgiving! Menu? Um, no, I don't have a menu yet. Maybe I should put that together...and soon.....

It's gonna be a busy two weeks leading to the month of December, which I am sure will also be a blur!

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Here's some photos of Halloween night and a few from the past couple of weeks!

Family shot on our way to trick-or-treat!

So funny - I turned around and saw this: Kinsley trying to crawl out of her car, while daddy is pushing the car backwards.

And two faces that look so much alike, it's scary...

Family shot with the grandma's!

Kinsley and her May-May

Kinsley and her BeeBe

Group shot after trick-or-treating with our neighbors!

Family photo - after!

Daddy carving the pumpkin - before!

The spread - after!

It was a fun Halloween weekend, our first one with a trick-or-treater of our own.

******

Brushing her teeth each night like a big girl!

Check out her new "WeeSqueek" Glitter Boots! Seriously. I know.

Having fun at bath time! And look at all that HAIR!!!

Swinging from the trees with daddy!

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And finally, Kinsley is ready for her first "gig" as a Flower Girl!

Red wagon - before!

After!

Looking forward to a beautiful wedding this weekend!

~Congratulations Kelly & David!~

Happy Halloween 2011!

Rounding out the month of October, we had a great time this weekend with Halloween and football (Go Dawgs - we beat FL!) festivities in full swing! I can't wait to add some photos of Kinsley with her grandparents tomorrow (since tomorrow is actually Halloween), but today we got to dress-up our little Minnie Mouse and head out to our neighborhood's Fall Festival. We had the perfect little pink sparkly polka-dot (2T!!!) dress, the little white bloomers, and the black Mary Janes...but no mouse ears. So mommy got creative...turning a pair of black cat ears from the dollar section at Target into faux Minnie Mouse ears with a little black felt, a pink bow, and some hot glue.

Before...

After!

Total cost = $1.84.

And boy am I glad I didn't spend $25 on the ears I found online, since they ended up here most of the time...

So, we met up with our neighbors and Kinsley's friend Eloise (dressed as a little lamb) and the girls had a blast, running all over the place, and keeping us mom's and dad's running right along after them. Our little Minnie was full of herself...absolutely wearing herself out, and hitting the bed before 7:00 tonight! It may even be worth pointing out that I feel lucky that she is even wearing her Minnie Mouse costume. See, we have had this costume for over 2 months, thanks to her daddy's trip to the Disney store one day...but as of about 3 weeks ago, Kinsley has decided that her new "favorite" is no longer Minnie or Mickey, but Dora. DORA. Da-da-da-da-da-Dora.

Maybe next year's costume??? Nah, I am sure that she will have a new "favorite" by then.

So here are some photos from today, capturing the essence of our funny little toddler this Halloween at nearly 20 months old. Tomorrow we'll head out to a few houses and practice saying "trick or treat"...or as Kinsley says it, "tweeeet"...no trick, just tweeeet...which also gets confusing, as she typically runs right towards the laundry room on cue to get Hunter a "dog treat"...oh well, it should be a little less confusing next year.

The cold weather the past few nights turned our all-green backyard into this beautiful Fall color palette almost overnight!

Steppin' out to show us her new outfit...

Minnie WITH her ears on!

They're still on!

And now they are coming off...oh well...

Kisses from mommy...

Showing daddy one of her many funny faces!

Blowing kisses...

How happy is this little girl?

Nearly skipping...

Little girl, BIG street party...

Daddy and Kins.

Me, Lindsay, and our girls!

Philip, Jared, and their girls!

Kinsley and Eloise (and Pooh and Tigger)...

This is my absolute favorite photo of the day...this was right before we left the neighborhood party to head home...daddy ended up with the beloved mouse ears on his own head, and Kinsley was absolutely pooped.

It was a fun, action-packed day...and this photo says it all. :)

Pumpkins!

Last weekend, after months of training, Philip completed his FIRST TRIATHLON up at Lake Lanier! We were so proud of him and his buddy, Daniel!

So, with no more road races, no music class, and no tennis lined-up this past Saturday, we decided to take our lil' pumpkin to Bert's Farm, home to some of the biggest pumpkins we have ever seen! It was a beautiful, sunny, cool Fall day, and the place was packed with families! When we got there, I am not sure who was more excited, Kinsley or her daddy! We came home with a carload of pumpkins, one that is so heavy it takes two adult men to move it. What a great way to kick off our Columbus Day weekend, the month of October, and Kinsley turning 19-months on Tuesday!