Miss Personality

I've been saving a few photos, videos and stories about Kinsley to use in a miscellaneous post but I now have enough to devote an entire post to our Little Miss Personality. Kinsley has definitely started to find her own voice, likes and dislikes and quite a sense of humor.  She's learning new things and words daily. Here is a little glimpse into her world:

ROMP AND ROLL CLASS

We're taking a "Romp and Roll" class at our athletic club. She was shy at first but has totally opened up to trying new things. In fact, she decided to have a dance solo in the last class during the musical interlude of "Wheels on the Bus." She was a big hit!

Who knew putting a tennis ball in a cardboard tube would be so exciting?!?

EASTER EGG HUNT

Last Saturday, our church was having an Easter Eggstravaganza for the kids. We started with the Teddy Bear Band in the sanctuary, followed by a yummy pancake breakfast, and we wrapped things up with an Easter egg hunt. We actually started "practicing" (really just playing with eggs) about a month ago. Turns out we started too soon and peaked with our egg hunting abilities about two weeks too soon.  She used to run around the house screaming "dhere id issss!!" (there it is) every time she found an egg but we got to the egg hunt last Saturday and she was soooo over the eggs!  Oh well!

These eggs have stuff in them!!

Found an egg in the microwave.

Holy moly! I hit the mother-load!!

Kinsley's friend Ellasen came with us!!

Rebecca, Ella, Kins and me

Color time after the egg hunt

NEW WORD:

Yesterday Kinsley and I went swimming (indoors - due to the SNOW!) with our friends Melissa and Alexandra. Kinsley loves the water and playing at the pool. In fact, she woke up this morning and the first thing she asked for was the beach. Poor thing. We live in Minnesota and there is snow on the ground. I'm guessing the beach's not happening any time soon.
Any who, she was walking along the edge of the pool while I was holding her hand from in the pool. Her left foot slipped and she bonked right on her little lady parts. Poor thing grabbed herself (yes, TMI) and immediately said "ooh, ooh, ow, bagina." Melissa and I burst into laughter. How cute is it that my little 20 month old knows what her "bagina" is?!? We had not spent a lot of time talking about her "bagina" but have probably mentioned it 3-4 times when she asked about it. Guess she was listening.  Regarding her injury? She was fine... no tears, back to splashing within seconds.

MANNERS:

We have been practicing please and thank you for a while now and she seems to get the gist, although there is still a little bit of confusion. At the park the other day, she told the pole thank you after using it to help her climb up on the equipment. She also tells herself thank you when she has helped "herself" do something. Check out the video below. Three things happen in this video: 1) She tells herself thank you multiple times, 2)She bonks herself in the head and says "bonk, bonk" which is what I've been saying to her since she was tiny when she bumped her head, and 3) she talks about how hot the fire place is because she had a little run in with the glass on the front of our friends' fire place and had a big blister to show for it.

April Happenings!

I'm a little behind on my blogging so I have to backtrack a little to March where I celebrated Texas Independence Day in Minnesota! (Yeah, I'm that crazy proud Texan BUT I'm not the only one!) My friend Anne hosted the party complete with Texas flag party favors, guac, Tito's vodka, yellow roses.. you get the picture.  So fun! :) Anne and her husband just matched ortho here at Mayo.  So excited to be able to spend at least one more year with them before we finish up here.

And don't forget the PECAN PIE! Mmmmmm!

Had to add this for my sister, Victoria! TCU love all the way from the frozen tundra!

My time with Brooke and Rachele has come to an end with the return of their "real" nanny Rebecca from Florida!  So sad to say goodbye to these two amazing girls but so glad to have our friends Rebecca, Tim and little Ella back with us.  Kinsley and Ella are definitely going to be BFF's. Their little personalities are so similar. :)
My last week with the girls was their spring break.  We went out with a bang with a trip to the zoo (previous post) and a trip to the Mall of America. We had some fun time with Caleb in between. He's the new little man in our lives. I will be watching Caleb for the next 3 months while his "real" nanny is in Florida. He's a little angel and oh, so handsome.  Here are some pics from our adventures:

Caleb's "nursery"set up in our utility room.  He seems to like it!

Kinsley copying Rachele, Brooke and I when we all had our legs crossed.

Trip to the park with the whole crew.

Brooke and Kinsley at the park.

Rachele and Caleb at the park.

Kinsley being a total goof with Rachele and Brooke. I was outside with the dogs and Rachele decided Kinsley needed a little make over. I'm not so sure we'll repeat this hairdo! :)

Only picture I took at Mall of America.  Oops! Kinsley's FIRST trip to the American Girl Doll store. She was in heaven!

Brooke being silly with her new mask.

Kinsley and I already miss these girls!  They are so sweet, polite, and fun. I hope they never lose these qualities!  Thanks for all the fun girls!!

ARIZONA

Louie and I took our first (since Kinsley was born) trip without the babe. Louie had an ortho conference in Tucson, AZ at a Hilton tennis and golf resort so I tagged along. My mom, graciously, flew up to Rochester to look after her for us. She flew in on Monday and we spent a couple of days together practicing Kinsley's routine.  Louie flew out Tuesday evening for an all day meeting on Wednesday and then I flew out Wednesday evening. I thought I would be a basket-case leaving Kinsley on Wednesday but I actually did okay.  Couple of almost tears on my drive up to the Minneapolis airport but no sobbing. The worst part was when the first flight was actually pulling away from the gate. I got this almost claustrophobic feeling of "Oh my goodness! I'm going to be really far from her! I can't be there quickly if I need to." I almost yelled to stop the plane but refrained. :)

This is a great conference because Louie was done around 12:45 each day. We could eat lunch together and hangout the rest of the day and evening, although we actually didn't hang out a whole lot.  He played golf a couple of times and I managed to get extraordinarily sunburned by the pool.  I had big plans to go horseback riding but it was canceled due to high winds. Going to a conference with a bunch of our friends meant we were socializing constantly, which is right up my alley! I thoroughly enjoyed myself!! It was so strange to be on a schedule all of my own.  Work out this morning? Sure! Take a nap at 2? Sure!  Have a second pina colada while I lounge by the pool? Definitely!! Even on the plane ride... Exit row? You betcha! (Said with thick MN accent!) Overall, we had a great time. Drank a little too much, got a little too much sun, slept in a little too late,  and had a lot of fun! 

Kinsley did great too!  She and my mom went to storytime at the library, play time at the RAC and Apache Mall, a couple trips to the grocery store and really spent some much needed time bonding.  Kinsley has asked for Mimi several times since she left on Tuesday.  She mistook me for Mimi one morning when I went in to pick her up. It was really sweet. Thanks so much Mom!  You're amazing and so giving!! Love you!

View from our balcony.

Pool view. Awesome!

The girlies hanging out while the boys played golf.

Louie and I out to eat with the other Rochester residents.

Peter and Laura working on their 26oz steaks!! Straight from the Flintstones!!

Sweet Kylie! Emily and Jon are in Florida with Sari, Rob, and Witten, so it was really great to spend a little extra time in AZ with Emily and Kylie. She's so precious! (Emily too!! :))

That's my wrist where I was wearing a hair rubberband.  The burn was awful! Pretty much the whole front side of my body was that color of red and has since peeled like crazy! I didn't mean to. :( Louie was a little disappointed in me. I guess my TX brain and my MN skin did not agree on how much time to be in the sun.  I had sunscreen on too! Oh well.

Well, I think that's everything so far this month and we're not even halfway through April yet! Louie, Kinsley and I are headed to Texas at the end of April for a wedding in Houston.  I can't wait! This is also when we will find out about fellowship.  Keep us in your prayers on April 30th!