Gone Fishing!

Kailtyn and Jeff had fun going through some of Jeff's old fishing stuff late this summer. That led them to a marathon lure-making session, which then led them to go digging for worms, which eventually led up to Kaitlyn's first fishing experience and catching her first fish. And the best part - it all took place right across the street from our house!

Making lures

Getting ready to dig for worms in her Princess gloves. LOL!

Fishing with Jeff and the neighbor's granddaughters

This is actually her second fish; I missed her first catch. On average, they waited about two minutes after casting before catching a fish - it was awesome!

Indoor Snow!

When its too cold and blustery to go out and play in the snow, the next best thing is to bring the snow indoors!

Kelsey trying to grab her snow out of the cup.

Still investigating the slippery, cold stuff...

Snowcones, anyone?

Fun at the Park

We were loving the warm stretch of weather we had in mid-November. We even took a trip to the park! My girls! .... and no, I don't think Kaitlyn will ever outgrow the baby swings! ;)

The park is so much more fun now that I can crawl!

Home Sweet Home

October was a very busy month for Kaitlyn but she still managed to have lots of creative playtime at home! Pretending to be a polar bear with slippers on hands and feet.

Snugglin' with all her Build A Bear friends after she dressed them all up cute!

Taking her stuffed friend Trick or Treating at all of her doll houses

All ready for tea!

Trick or Treat Street

Also on the Saturday before Halloween, we took the girls to Trick or Treat Street at Aman Park. It was a wonderfully mild even and we had a fantastic time trick or treating from building to building. This time Kaitlyn sported her Princess costume and Kelsey a ladybug. The Halloween fun continues ...

Zeeland PumpkinFest Parade

Despite some cooler temps and the threat of showers, we made our annual trip to the Zeeland PumpkinFest Parade in early October to kick off the 'Halloween' season.

The parade was 'too much' for Kelsey and she cashed out in Jeff's arms.

Sisters!

Daily I am amazed at the sweet bond between my two little princesses. Kelsey is usually up first and if we head out into the living room before Kaitlyn wakes up, it is as if she is lost without her, scanning the room for her playmate. More recently, she even will crawl towards Kaitlyn's bedroom to get her before Kaitlyn wakes up! And then when Kelsey and I go in Kaitlyn's room to say Good Morning, Kelsey squeals in delight; Kaitlyn' isn't a morning person so she isn't always squealing in delight, but eager to see her sister nonetheless! Enjoy these pictures of my sweet girls together in September.

Gotta love the matching shirts!

Tag-Teaming against Daddy!

The Zoo

We took advantage of the cooler temps and met some good friends for a stroll at the zoo. This was actually Kelsey's first trip to a zoo and she did well. The pleuthera of bees resulted in our trip being cut short as Kaitlyn is literally paranoid of them but we had a fun time none the less.

Our Zoo scavenger hunt kept Kaitlyn busy; usually she gets bored just looking for animals.

Labor Day

We kicked off Labor Day by catching the first episode of the new Cat in the Hat cartoon on PBS. Cute. Next we headed fora family trip to Crazy Bounce. It was hard to believe that last year Kaitlyn wouldn't think of going down any of the big blowup slides at this fun attraction. This year with a little prodding, she first tackled the slides on Daddy's lap but before long she was going down all by herself. I think she was asking to go back again before we even made it home. We ran into some good friends while we were there and we all headed to Wendy's for lunch afterwards. Fun!

All Aboard!

We had a 'choo choo - riffic' playdate with Miss Jamie, Josh and Brianna in early September. We have a ride-on battery powered train built for toddlers, but it proved to be sturdy enough for Josh to ride on and the highlight of the playdate. The kids pretended it was an alphabet train and found animals whose name started with the correct letters and put them on the train. Then we all took a 'trip' on the train to our picnic spot for lunch. Josh had fun playing with our train table and building his own train track while Kaitlyn enjoying putting together the number train puzzle. We ended the playdate by making our own candy trains. Yummy! Thanks so much for a great playdate friends!

Footloose and 'Paci-free'!

I honestly can't believe that its only been one year since my biggest little girl gave up her beloved pink paci. God definitely had a hand in it, as I was trying to plan out the perfect time to take it away and had even stocked up on prizes from the 'Paci Fairy', when low and behold the paci fell out of her stroller on a walk one night and got run over in the street. I don't think Kaitlyn will ever forget the red convertible that rocked her world. I can remember Jeff frantically trying to weld the old paci together and Kaitlyn wailing that it was 'dirty' and that she didn't want it. We even bought her two new pacis that night, but she was super picky by that point and only wanted her one pink paci. On August 24 of 2009, Kaitlyn and I read countless stories in our sleeping bags on the living room floor. We watched hours of Nick Jr and snuggled until finally, much to her surprise, she was able to fall asleep without paci - around 1:30am. There were no tears or no tantrums from then on; I was so remarkably impressed with how my Peanut handled losing something she held so dear. And now 12 months later, the thought of Kaitlyn putting a pacifier in her mouth almost boggles my mind! Congratulations on being one year paci-free Kaitlyn! We are SO proud of you! And thank you Lord for your hand in this tremendous feat! Of course we had to celebrate this monumental anniversary! One finger = One Year!

Our paci cupcakes

We setup a party in the party room. Kailtyn thought these cups looked like they had pacis on them - they are actually engagement rings .... but she doesn't need to know that!

Playing 'Toss the Paci'

Playing 'Pin the Paci on the Baby'

How you've grown up in just one year, KK-Bear! Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you!