4 years old!

There she is – our four year old!  Its amazing how much she has grown.  Her arm now is as long as her whole body was when she was born!  She had a great day – we went swimming at an indoor pool for a good hour.  She loved floating on her back in the water – which had a definite current – and then pulling herself back along the wall.  We went for a wagon ride and then had pizza for dinner. 

We had a party for her the night before with all the fixin’s – balloons, cake with frosting, candles, party hats and, oh yeah, presents.  She chose white cake with pink frosting.  She won’t tell me what she wished for when she blew out the candles.  She got lots of cards and phone calls and felt very special all day.

The next day, it snowed!  It was the perfect way (to Myla) to wrap up a birthday weekend.  She got to make footprints, a snow penguin and a snow ball.  She really had fun this year in the first snow.  Then we had to go to the doctor.  Official stats for 4 years old – 35 1/2 inches tall (almost three feet) and 26 pounds 10 ounces.  (I tell you what, some days I think Kinsley is already at 26 pounds.)

I admit, I got emotional on her birthday.  She is so smart and sweet and fun.  Its hard to imagine that just one fraction the other way… But here she is.  Four years old.  And very excited to be so.  I can’t wait to see what this year will bring for her.

Eight months

Kinsley has passed the eight month mark and there is no shortage of smiles and joy from this girl.  She’s very happy – most of the time – and loves to sit and talk to you.  She’s very into bouncing up and down right now and has discovered the “b” sound.  Or maybe it’s the “p” sound.  She also throws around the “m” sound and sometimes gets pretty close to mama even though I don’t think that’s really what she’s saying.  Kinsley also loves to have round toys set on her head so she can grab them off; she loves to look at pictures and sometimes talk to them; she loves to scream and screech when you’re not paying enough attention to her.  More than anything though, this girl loves to be with the action – in the kitchen while we’re making dinner, in the family room with Myla dancing, even going out to the mailbox – she wants to be there.  She's also sprouted two teeth in that little mouth and has a great time running her tongue over them.  I think she's even getting some more in there, judging by the fussiness we've encountered sometimes.


We are so smitten with these girls.  They make our days so much brighter.  We’ve been spoiled!

Buried

Where’s Myla?







Oh, there she is! And Kinsley too! Of course, Myla had a big hand in the pillow fortress since Kinsley mostly just sits there, unless she gets gutsy and throws a toy behind her and then tries to retrieve it but ends up on her tummy or her back and that’s no good. She seems more interested in trying to stand by herself than crawling. She can almost get up right if her legs push and her arms pull in unison.   Sometimes she gets really ambitious and spreads her legs really wide to get a toy that’s just that a touch too far away.  She’ll conquer that.

I don’t think there is anything Myla can’t do. She loves to help with everything which requires a lot of creative thinking on our part to include her as much as we can. She helped me take the back panel off an old LCD TV I’m fixing even though her job was mostly pretending to take out the machine bolts and then put them back in….She has an amazing imagination. I love hanging out with my girls during the week for a couple days! We go to the pet store, a.k.a mini-zoo, and the play park and other stores sometimes. But we also play at home.  Myla helped me plant an acorn in a pot so we can grow a tree someday, if it takes.

Kinsley and Myla giggle and talk together everywhere we are. It’s so sweet, they seem to love each other a lot.

My New Favorite Halloween Decoration

Glenwood Springs

Last weekend, we took a couple of days off and took the girls on a little family vacation to Glenwood Springs.

Myla didn’t really understand what was going on until we got there, she just knew that we were in the car for a long time.  Of course, duck had to come with us.  Kinsley… well, lets just say Kinsley didn’t notice.

First stop when we got there – the swimming park.  Inside the hotel.  There was a big and small waterslide, a rain tree and a water basketball hoop.  Myla was in heaven.  We went swimming all three days.  On the last day, she went down the big waterslide with her daddy and loved it so much, they did it again, and again, and again, and…

Kinsley got in on the waterslide action too but had a better time just sitting and watching and babysitting the duck while Myla swam.  She kicked some and we swam around the pool for a bit chasing Johnny.

The next day we went up the gondola to Iron Mountain and visited the sights.  Myla and Johnny went on the alpine slide and even went pretty fast, I’m told.

Kinsley and I made record time in the human maze – 8 minutes! – and we had lunch with an amazing view of the valley.

We did a little hike that afternoon up to Doc Holliday’s grave marker.  Myla did a good job keeping our pockets full of “secret buried treasure” on the way up. 

We had a really great time, but the girls were glad to be back in their own beds.  We made lots of great memories and enjoyed being able to just play.  Thanks Glenwood Springs!