In Pursuit of Family Bonding

I am a girl who loves tradition and this is the season I try hardest to lay the foundation for family experiences that we can enjoy year after year. That being said, I have fond memories of trekking to the Venetutti Pumpkin Patch every year growing up. That involved a quest for the perfect pumpkin which is amongst hundreds growing in the vast field. I yearn for Kinsley to have the same kind of family outing that she can look back on. This was NOT the year I want to duplicate.

PUMPKIN PATCH TAKE ONE: The flyer for "Castle Rock's Best and Only Pumpkin Patch" was nothing more than a few pumpkins placed on some hay bales.
TAKE TWO: Check out the picture below of Kinsley between rows of perfectly placed pumpkins. Need I say more?
TAKE THREE: Scratch the patch and we bought some from the store for carving. Kinsley couldn't have been less interested until I gave her a sharpie and let her go to town.

I will only call Halloween a success when she has thorns in her socks from a day at a REAL patch.

Cheerios and Crayons

After an awesome trip to visit my sister in Georgia, I want to share some wisdom on flying with an 18 month old on your lap for a 3 hour plane ride.

DO: bring chocolate covered marshmallows on a stick, a dozen lollipops, have cookies to give to the nice man sharing an arm rest, search for all babies and dogs in the SkyMall magazine, decorate the nice man's arm with sticky miniture frogs, sing eency weency spider soft enough not to further disturb the lady in front whose feet are shuffled when child gets stuck under the seat, turn on the overhead fan when child messes diaper before landing when seatbelt sign is on.

DON'T: bring playdough unless you want to help the flight crew scrape it off the floor, allow child to shred a box of wet wipes in order to buy 5 more minutes.....you will need those upon landing to immediately change diaper.

overall, great trip....long flight!! here are some pics of us at octoberfest, atlanta aquarium and the leftovers from my bag-of-tricks we used the plane.

our newest tradition??

Up until this point we have had a special bedtime routine. Not that I no longer adore rocking Kinsley and going through our traditions, I'm just amused at how things have gone this week. For example during prayer: when I begin with "dear god,...." she immediately pipes in with repeated AMENS. I try talking over her insistent plea for closure by continuing on but voices just get louder and louder until I realize we are having a prayer battle. Our bedtime song has also changed and doesn't enlist a typical warm fuzzy feeling. When I now try to sing the usual "Moon" song Kinsley vehemently shakes her head and repeats no, no, no. The only song she will agree to? "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter. I can't help but laugh at the fact that I am "soothing" my baby with negativity. I only hope she isn't as impressionable at this age as all the books say :).

Gym Class

A good friend and I decided we would sign our kiddos up for a gym class together. It has definitely become a highlight each week and Kinsley has enjoyed it tremendously. It has been fun to see her learning the concepts of taking turns and taking risks.....not always easy for a one year old!

long golden locks

Although Kinsley and I both are battling through cases of strep throat it didn't stop her from looking like a cutie pie. If you look closely at the pics you can see her 1st ever ponytail. I've waited 17 months for this!

Prayers

This is a different kind of post, as it is more of a prayer request than an update. my brother-in-law, lane, is in the army and will be deployed to iraq next week. while we have known for quite some time that this was on the horizon it still leaves a numbing feeling now that it is here. sarah and lane flew home last weekend for final goodbyes and though the time was short it was incredibly treasured.....we even had a mini-christmas since he will be gone for the holidays. please pray for lane's safety while away and for sarah to adjust to his absence with comfort and peace.

Frisco and football

Simply for the sake of an update, here are a few recent pics of us in the mountains and at an Air Force Academy game.