Mall and Museum

Our beautiful Kylie Kristen!

My friend, Rachel, has a little hobby business as a photographer...
She took these first two pictures of Kylie when we were at her house for a baby shower.
As you can see, she is super talented! :)

My sweet, little Kylie Girl is in the oh-so fun process of dropping her morning nap. It's been quite an adventure...Sometimes she needs it, sometimes she doesn't, and sometimes she whines and whines like she wants the nap only to spend 45 minutes chatting away in her crib. When we are home in the morning, she is more likely to get whiney, but when we go out and do something in the morning she fights the tiredness and happily plays and plays. So I have been trying to get out a few times a week to help her along in this process.

Last week, we spent one such morning at the mall with Kristen and Halle. We walked around, ate lunch in the food court, and played on the coin-operated machines and indoor play area. Kylie seriously loved it! She is starting to notice when she is around other kids, and she is loving it! I love watching her play and interact with other toddlers!

Kylie loved driving the bus.

Halle and Kylie driving together.

Here she is playing with the puzzle in the mall's play area.
She's concentrating...

We also went to the brand-new Children's Museum with some friends one day. Kylie loved it there too, but she is just a little too young to use most of the stations correctly. She mostly wanted to climb into and onto everything. But she did really well with some of the ball stations and the rice table station. It was super cute to watch her play and have fun!

There were a lot of golf ball activities at the Children's Museum.
Here she is watching the golf balls spiral into the tunnel.

She was so proud of her find...There were only like a trillion golf balls in the place! :)

Posing for a quick picture with me!

Kylie figured out how to put the balls in the holes...

Playing with giant magnets.

Watching the big kids play at the rice table.
She observed for awhile, but eventually she played too.

Playing with Halle at the rice table.

This was a car building station.
She never caught on to this one, but she enjoyed watching for about 30 seconds!

Here's hoping the weather will soon be warm enough that we can get outside and play each morning! :)

Words

My future gymnast loves to hang out upside down!

Bean turned 17 months old on April 19th!

The past few weeks have been big ones in the story of Kylie. She is FINALLY saying a few words! YAY! I've been told I'll eventually lose track, but I wanted to keep a record of the first ones! Here is what she says...

"Dada" (Jon's favorite)

"Mama" (My favorite!)

"Dog" (Sounds like "doh")

"Woof Woof" (For, What's a doggie say?)

"Oh Oh" (For, What's a monkey say?)
"Neigh" (For, What does a horse say?)

"No No" (Usually after I have told her no)

"Door" (Whenever she opens or closes a door)

"Ella" (For Ella Griffith--Sounds like "Ewwa")

"Ya Ya" (For Jacob)

"Eese" (Cheese)

She is also pretty good at communicating her wants/needs through sign language. She does 4 signs...They are: "More," "Milk," "All Done," and "Help."

Picture Post

Here are a few random pictures of Kylie this month...

Smiley Kylie about to go for a walk with her stroller.

Kylie definitely got her daddy's curls!

I had to document them just in case she loses them...

Kylie and Jacob (the little guy I babysit) love to "talk" and play together.

I found them hanging out like this one morning! :)

Happy Easter!

HAPPY EASTER 2012!

Kylie in her Easter dress.

This year was Kylie's second Easter, but her first in Minnesota! And I must say, it was a wonderful, celebration-filled Easter weekend. We started the fun on Friday evening...

Since we were headed up to Hudson on Saturday to spend the holiday with the Barlows, my family decided to have the King gathering on Friday. My mom and dad, Mia and Brady, John, Rochelle and Emmit, Grandma King and my cousin, Lauren, were all able to make it, along with Kylie and me. Unfortunately, Jon B. was on call and wasn't able to join us. We enjoyed a pizza and an Easter egg hunt. Kylie hunted with my dad because we big kids had our own eggs to find. And anyone who knows us, knows that we delight in a little friendly competition. Last year, Mia won so I was determined to take the crown this year. We were each supposed to collect 6 eggs with our names on them, and the first one to do so would get bragging rights until the next year. Well, I was on a roll...I had 4 or 5 eggs when everyone else had only 2 or 3. I easily finished first with all 6 of my eggs collected...Or so I thought. I was happy with my win, and had moved on to helping Kylie find her eggs when I heard my brother say, "I found an Emily." So, obviously I blamed my mom for writing my name on 7 eggs. But I agreed to check my bag to make sure. Annnnd, there in the middle of the pile, was an "Emmit." Oops, my bad! But I think I was still the second place finisher (after Brady), even with the switch. So I went back to helping Kylie find her eggs. Then I heard it again, this time from my sister, "Here's another Emily." Oh no, I thought...And sure enough, there was another "Emmit" in my bag. So I switched the eggs, and looked through the others to confirm that they were all mine. Luckily, they were, but by that time I had finished third to last. The only ones to finish after me were Emmit (probably because I had two of his eggs...and he is 21 months old), and Kylie (who can't walk). Oh well...there is always next year...BUT I think we should go with initials, and not names, on the eggs next year. Emily and Emmit look too much alike! :)

Kylie and Emmit eating supper before the hunt.

Kylie hunting with Grandpa King!

Digging in her Easter egg bag...

Emmit and Kylie posing for pictures!!

Saturday morning, after Jon arrived home from his call shift, Kylie dug into her Easter basket, and Jon participated in his own personal Easter egg hunt that Kylie and I set up for him. Kylie was once again spoiled rotten by the Easter Bunny with clothes, shoes, toys, books and stuffed animals.

Getting really excited to dig into her Easter basket from the Easter Bunny!

We made it to Hudson by 11am, and immediately ate a delicious brunch! We had a large group that included Jon's mom and dad, Grandma and Grandpa Barlow, Tony, Ingrid, Elias and Espen, and a big chunk of Ingrid's family...Her parents, grandparents, brother, sister-in-law and twin nieces were all there! The only one missing was Greg! :( After brunch, we dug into Easter baskets and then headed outside for a little kid Easter egg hunt. This one was much less competitive, but equally as fun. The kids really enjoyed themselves, and Kylie even figured out what to do by the time she had collected her 10th or 11th egg. She would crawl to an egg on the ground, pick it up, and put it in her basket...It was really cute.

This is Espen opening his Easter basket.

Here is Elias out hunting for eggs.

Kylie hunted for eggs with daddy.

All the kids who hunted posing with their baskets.
Kylie, Elias, and Elias' cousins on the other side: Amaya and Liana

Kylie loving her eggs!

Sunday was another festive day, with church in morning and a wonderful Easter feast for lunch! We watched the Twins and then the Masters as we let our food digest, and then left for home early in the evening. The time always goes so fast, but we loved every minute of our Easter weekend! At times like these we realize how blessed we are to have such amazing, loving families! And we are thankful for them. But even more than that, we realize that we are blessed to have a Savior that died for our sins so that we can live eternally with Him!