She cracks me up!

Kinsey talks so much that there is no filter from what she thinks to what she says. It keeps me laughing all day long. I just wanted to share a couple things she's said the last two days.

During Sunday School Kinsey was sitting with Tim (she's decided she doesn't do Nursery these days) and then when to sit with Bupbup to get some candy from his pocket. With Kinsey not on his lap Tim leans over and put his head in his hands. Kinsey watched Tim for a bit from Bupbup's lap, then got down, walked over to Tim and yelled "WAKE UP!" In the middle of Sunday school. Everyone was killing themselves laughing at Tim.

Recently when Kinsey is playing with Kamry or Danyca and she really wants them to pay attention or do something she'll use their middle names "Pamry Dawn" and "Danyca Rose". But I didn't think she actually knew that was their middle names (and I'm not sure where she figured out their middle names anyways). Anywho, yesterday Kinsey and I were at the church by ourselves. We were the only ones left there after cleaning up from a RS quilting day. She couldn't find me in the church and I could hear her calling "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy Rose! Mommy Rose!" So when I saw her I said "Did you just call me Mommy Rose?" And she replied, "Your name Mommy Dawn?" I told her it wasn't and then she said "What your name Mommy?" I said it was Ashlee Ann and now her favorite game is to ask what everyone's full names are.

And then today...I was cleaning up Kinsey's bookshelf in her room and she has some shapes flash cards that the box was wrecked. So I asked Kinsey to go to the kitchen and get a zip lock bag to put the flash cards in. She plays with my zip lock bags all the time and knows what they are.... or so I thought. She goes to the kitchen and comes back with a dish cloth. So I send her back to get a bag. She comes back again, but this time with a napkin. I said "No Kinsey. I said go get a little baggie like you put your sandwiches in." And Kinsey sighed and said, "For crying out loud Mommy." I was laughing so hard that I made her repeat it cuz I couldn't believe that she even knew that phrase let alone how to use it properly. (Her daddy says "For crying out loud" all the time.)

Snowy Days

I'm so glad that the snow wasn't here last weekend when we had to drive to Portland. But I'm totally welcoming it now. I'm loving BC snow. Probably cuz I don't have to drive anywhere. And Tim no longer has a 45 minute drive to work (one way). So bad roads don't make a difference to us (Tim walks to work.)

Winter here is much different than in Southern Alberta. Winter meant SO COLD there. Here it just means a ton of snow. Much better!
Kinsey and I went out to shovel our driveway yesterday and I could find our snow shovel. I texted Tim and he informed me that we don't own one. Goes to show you that in Southern Alberta you just wait for the chinook to roll so that you don't have to shovel or plow. I told my dad yesterday that I didn't have a snow shovel and that I was just gonna wait for the chinook. He laughed and said I better find a snow plow for Tim's quad or a snowblower. haha

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I did some blog catch-up.
So go check out these posts too: Mr & Mrs Pavan,
Smile! =), and Pickled Beets.
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Mr. & Mrs. Pavan!

So my baby sister is married! I just can't believe it. Is she really old enough? I guess so. :) Last week was crazy busy for me doing the last minute stuff for Britnee's wedding. Her wedding was on Saturday but it was in Portland so that meant a drive was involved too. Before we could go I had to finish up the slideshow and the "musical dating story". Plus Britnee had asked Tim and I to sing at the reception so that meant a few (or many) practice runs. Then there was the packing. Had a ton of stuff to take out to Portland. And now that Britnee is endowed that really gives us a big problem when it comes to a babysitter at the temple. We had no one to watch our little ones while we were at Britnee and Alan's sealing. Thank goodness for Facebook cuz a friend of a friend of a friend knew a YW that would come to the temple and watch our kids.

Kinsey was helping Daddy practice his guitar for our song for the wedding.

Anywho, we headed to Portland at 4pm when Tim got off work. We drove straight through. Kinsey is a fantastic traveller and I'm so glad. She's REALLY into Princesses right now, so add a dvd player with Cinderella, Belle, Jasmine, and Ariel and you're set. Oh and you must bring along all of your princess barbies too. :)
Friday Tim and I wanted to go to the Portland Temple for a session. And as we're getting ready to go I realize I have forgotten my recommend at home. Lovely! Well after a few phone calls to the temple and back home to my Branch President I was able to go. So we got to do a session and we even got to be the witness couple. That celestial room is soooooo beautiful! It was breathtaking!

Saturday morning was so busy. Rush rush rush! But the worst part was Jennifer realized in the middle of the night that we all had forgotten Jayda's flower girl dress back here in Canada! So Dad and Jenn zipped out early to go and buy Jayda a new one for the wedding. And it was beautiful! We all made it to the temple on time and even without my recommend I was able to go in. Phew! Kinsey cried the ENTIRE time with the babysitter while we were in the temple. I had warned the babysitter that this would happen. She's got some bad separation anxiety right now. Won't even stay with people that she knows really well like Mama or her Aunties. (And we won't even discuss Nursery.) Has to have either me or Tim all the time. But Auntie B only gets married once and Tim and I weren't gonna miss it. So Kinsey just had to cry. (Sounds bad I know)

The new Mrs. Pavan looked stunning! Alan was one lucky groom. (I may be a bit bias) Of course it rained. Luckily it just misted for the picture taking part, but still....it was WET! But we knew it would be. At least it was warm and the leaves and greenery were so beautiful for the photos.
The reception was so much fun too. Lots of laughs and a few happy tears too. Yummy food and fun dancing. Then the new Mr and Mrs had to leave. They had a flight to catch to New York to catch their cruise to the Bahamas.

We had a fantastic time at the wedding. Way too much fun! Sunday we did the drive home. 9 hrs and 20 mins from the hotel so not too bad. We had to make a few stops along the side of the road to "pee on the rocks" as my newly potty trained little girl doesn't have a very big bladder. (Gas station bathrooms are nasty so I was okay with her peeing on rocks instead.) But we made it home!

CONGRATULATIONS BRITNEE & ALAN!

PS Sorry I have no pics of the Bride and Groom. I was in the wedding party and Tim was busy chasing Kinsey. I'll have to track some pics down.

Smile! =)

Kinsey has this fantastic smile these days. She cracks me up!

Pickled Beets

My mom makes THE best pickled beets. So she came over to my house after work one day and taught Kimmy and I how to make them. Kinsey and Kamry liked helping out too. We did 25lbs and Kimmy and I split that. Then my dad came home with 25lbs more and asked us to do them for him too. Pickled beets are loved in my family. So the next morning Kimmy and I did the other 25lbs for Dad. My house smelled terrible for a few days. It was a lovely mixture of beets, vinegar, and paint (as I painted my hallway earlier that day too).
Kimmy said she opened one of her jars and the top ones weren't quite pickled yet. So I haven't tried them. Pretty soon I hope.

Trick or Treat!

The Church had a pumpkin carving contest for the community. It was so much fun getting together with everyone to carve. Kinsey didn't like putting her hand in her little pumpkin. She was happier with a spoon.
Very hard at work.
I asked Kinsey to "smile ice" next to her Cinderella pumpkin and this is what I got.
Mommy & Kinsey with our masterpiece!
She LOVED her Cinderella pumpkin.
Daddy did the Charlie Brown pumpkin.
Tadaaaaa!
And here's my little Princess Cinderella trick or treating!Walking around Galloway with her Daddy. Kinsey found her favorite buddies out trick or treating.

Kimmy and I stayed home to hand out candy so Brendan and Tim took Kamry and Kinsey out. I'm told Kinsey was all business. Had it down to an art. Knock knock, "Trick or Treat", they'd put candy in her bag, then fill Kamry's, then Kinsey would put her bag out again and say "More Candy?" and she'd get more. Then it was on to the next door. :)

Loved dressing up my Princess. She sat and let me curl all of her hair. And she loved the make-up and sparkles. She makes me smile!

Potty Magic!

Kinsey has totally rocked this potty training thing! For months now she has been using the potty here and there. I wasn't trying to potty train her, just get her used to the toilet. So she would always pee before baths or before putting a fresh diaper on before bed and times like that. I wasn't ready for the potty training thing when we lived in a holiday trailer. But we're feeling pretty settled in our new house so Kinsey and I went to town and bought some special panties. She was excited.

We started with pull-ups and candies. This did not work! I think the pull-ups just felt like diapers to her and candy isn't really a prize for Kinsey (she gets to have treats anyways). So we stopped for a few days. Then we started brand new with panties and Princess stickers. Amazing! We only had 3 days of accidents (which is pretty amazing cuz Kinsey drinks so much and she also poops 5-7 times a day). And by day 4 she was fantastic all day. And she's never had any accidents at night. The first few days she woke up early (for us) cuz she said she had to pee, but no she sleeps her normal schedule and still no accidents. She's really got this figured out! I'm so proud of her. Princess stickers were the best. She loved them!

Then it was time to leave our house. I was nervous. But on day 6 we headed to Kalispell for a day of shopping. No accidents all day! Awesome eh? Like I said...Kinsey has totally rocked this potty training thing.

She gets the "reading in the bathroom" thing from her daddy. The princess dress over top of her mis-matched pajamas is just a bonus.
And sometimes when you fall asleep on the drive home from Kalispell it's very hard to stay awake and pee on the potty before getting into bed.
She had to have a little rest while peeing. Mommy held her head up. Her potty chart is full of Princess stickers. And now we're making up spots on the chart to put the stickers. She loves it. I honestly would've thought that candy would have worked better than stickers. But not for this princess loving little girl.

So I'm a bit worried about her trick or treating with no potty nearby. I hope she does well. She's so good at home now and it's only been a week and a half. I remind her lots to go, but every now and again I walk by the bathroom and see her with her pants to her ankles doing the shuffle walk to the potty all by herself. We have a lot of leftover diapers and pull-ups. Guess I'll just put them in storage with the outgrown clothes. :)

Life at Our House

Painting, unpacking, painting, cleaning, and more painting. The paint fumes in this house are insane. But it's much better than what the house smelled like when we bought it. We're getting lots done. We're finished painting in the entrance, living room, dining room, and kitchen. It's been a lot of work. And I'm actually getting stuff put away and finding a "home spot" for them. It's really starting to look and feel like home.

We had some helpers come over for a painting party.
And Kinsey was so excited when Mommy finally gave her a paintbrush!

There was so much paint on the floor. :)
And we're exhausted. But loving our new home.

Now I'm off to scrub the floors and stuff a turkey. Happy Thanksgiving!

Getting Settled!

Well we're getting settled. Got a TON to do still, but it's coming along. Still working on cleaning, unpacking, and painting. Some days the house looks like a complete disaster! But we're loving it. I was surprised how quickly Kinsey is adjusting. It was only the first 2 nights that she asked to go and sleep in "Kinsey trailer" and then we got her room set up and she loves her new bed. Anyone that comes to visit she asks "You see Kinsey room?" And she's loving that we found all her toys again...it's like Christmas. haha

We went to the parade for the Jaffray Fall Fair! Kinsey got way too much candy. We didn't stay for long cuz it was freezing and we had to go to town that day and pick out carpet for our new house.
Way too happy to have her Dora couch back. Felt like "home" I suppose and she fell right asleep.Kinsey can't get enough of her new big corner bathtub. She loves it. I have a very hard time getting her out. I keep asking her if she's done and she replies, "My still swimming Mommy!"She was very helpful when I was trying to put all her clothes away. And occasionally I find her hiding in there with the stuff all pulled out of the bottom shelf.We love the island. I want a bigger one (one day) but for now we love love love having an island. And Kinsey loves eating her breakfast up there while watching cartoons. (Just like at Auntie Jenn's house.)Having cousins near by is THE BEST! And we're working on the potty thing. It's coming. Some days are much better than others. :)And we got to go to "Jayda and Parker School" and join them for the Terry Fox Run.
So the house is getting put together. We're so happy. Took us a week and a half before we got our satellite tv to work. Too many trees around here to get a good signal. But we finally found a clear shot and it's wonderful to have tv again (just in time to watch Grey's the other day). And last night we finally got internet. Wohoo! I'm painting the living room and kitchen today. I'm so excited.

To me it doesn't quite feel like "home" just yet, but I'm sure that'll just take a bit. Cuz living in Jaffray really feels like home to me!

Moving In!

The other day when we went to my mom's house to get our trailer and move it to our new house, I realized that I didn't take one single picture of our "house" for the past 5 months (which is so not me). We parked up by the barn and even had our own driveway.

This is how close we were to Mama & Bupbup's house. Kinsey loved living so close to them. And Tim and I feel so blessed that they let us stay with them for so long.

So we just got possession of our new house. We have a lot of work there that we need to do. Mostly cosmetic - so that's good. I figured the easiest way to show you our house is to go room by room (when we get each room done). We started with the living room.

Our very first project was get rid of all the window coverings and old carpet. Kinsey thought this was fun!

Kimmy & Kamry came up and helped us clean, clean, and more clean. And then helped us put away all our kitchen stuff.

Tim and Brendan ripped out the carpet in the hallway and bedrooms.

And the living room!

New carpet in! Ahhh! I love it and it makes the house smell so good.

Now to get all our furniture moved in and then I'll work on painting and more cleaning and organizing. Sounds fun!