All things October/Halloween

Annual pumpkin patch trip~


Getting ready for Boo-da Fest~
Little Mermaid and Wolverine


Trick-or-treating with the neighborhood buds~


















Dress up day in Kinley's dance class~






Playdate- pumpkin patch and park~


Kinley and McKinsey

All things Fall ball

Tyler just finished up another round of t-ball. We signed up for Fall ball with the impression that it was very laid back and focused more on instruction. It seemed like a great way to just keep it fresh while waiting for the next Spring session to start. Boy, were we duped! Fall ball was very intense. It consisted of 2 evening practices and 2 games each week. Yes, 4 days of t-ball each week for the most part. It was a very hard schedule, especially with us barely adjusting to the new school routine. And the league switched all non-competitive teams to competitive, which meant that they kept score and counted outs, etc. You should have seen the look on Tyler's face the first time he got tagged out before making it to first base. :-( He complained half of the time about going to practices or games because he was just tired and wanted a break. I really did feel bad that we put so much on his plate and silently wanted him to quit several times because it was so time consuming for all of us. However, with that said, he did a lot better than he did during the Spring. He had a fantastic coach! For a volunteer position, I still can't believe how much time and effort Coach Brad put into teaching the kids and how much he seemed to care about them. He would pull all of the kids off the field, in the middle of a game, for group hugs and words of encouragement. Seriously. With our experience so far, I've never seen another coach on any other team do anything like that. It was special and apparently worked for our team... they were undefeated! (8-0). And with it all over now, Tyler acts like he can't wait for the next Spring session to start. ?? We'll see how our schedule is holding up then....

Go Blue Ninjas! Go #8!!





















Old pre-k buddy, Chase, on Tyler's base~

Kinley is 2 1/2 years old

Kinley is 2 1/2. She had her 30 month well-check today and it's amazing how non-stressful these appointments have become since we've decided to skip the vaccinations. I know our pediatrician isn't happy about this, but Kinley sure is. :-) She weighs 30.4lbs (67th percentile) and is 35 1/2 inches tall (38th percentile). For comparison purposes, Tyler weighed 29lbs (25-50th percentile) and was 37 1/4 inches tall (75-90th percentile) at his 30 month well-check.

Kinley has been up to a lot lately. We're managing a pretty busy schedule since Tyler started school. She takes her combination dance class and absolutely loves it. I mean, seriously loves it. I'm really impressed at how well she does and how coordinated she is! Sure, she's only 2 1/2, but there's something very natural about her and dance. She loves practicing her dance moves at home and putting on a show for anyone that will watch. I joke about how we treat her like a puppy that does tricks because I always ask her to show me her best arabesque when we're around people because she's so dang cute while doing it! And I love that she's making her very own little friends from dance class. We've been hitting up story time/crafts at the library more and she enjoys that as well. We are doing MOPS again this year. This is the class we tried last year at the Church and it just didn't work out because she hated being there and away from me for two hours. Fast forward to this year and she's like a new kid. She loves going to "her school" and being with friends. It's only twice a month for two hours, but it's a great opportunity for us to get out and enjoy a little break.

It's so funny because sometimes she rambles on with so much to say and you can't understand a word of it and then she'll talk in complete and clear sentences other times. I love those silly toddler words that she mixes up: bunny (funny), bork (fork), wook (look), wittle (little), wike (like), baf (bath), and mook (milk). I just noticed the other day that she says 'opit' for open it, which is exactly what Tyler used to say when he was little. Ahh... memories. And she says that her name is Tinney Barrett. That's my favorite. :-)

She is crazy obsessed with The Little Mermaid and Cinderella. Thank you Disney Land! And talk about timing... with Disney's recent release of both of these movies in new high def, both characters are everywhere and we get to hear about it constantly... "My mermaid" or "I wuv Cinnarella." It's going to make Christmas shopping pretty dang easy this year!

She's resistant to potty training. I offer and she has no desire. What can you do?? She's still sleeping in the bed with me and that arrangement continues to work for us... for now. She has a strong opinion about what she wants to wear, loves having her toe nails painted and anything sparkly. Definitely my girlie-girl.

Kinley's 1st dance performance

Kinley had her first dance performance at the local business expo. I thought it was going to be a legit dance performance on a stage or something, but they were basically there as cute advertising for the dance studio. With that said, I was very surprised that Kinley jumped into the middle of a crowd of people standing around her and did her performance since some other little ones weren't as eager. I hadn't really seen Kinley do any dancing up to this point because we have to sit in the waiting room during dance class so I was just a little bit excited and very proud. :-)