She's Off!

More Dancing

We had parents watch night at Sienna's dance studio last week. She was so excited to have Mom, Dad and Kensi watch her dance. The class showed us how they stretched, tumbled, followed the leader and most importantly the dances they are working on for the recital.

Vacation Bliss

This year, February in Minnesota was miserable. I have never seen such cold weather. While the temps were setting record lows, we were so lucky to have 2 vacations planned that made the month go quick. Our first one was the annual trip to WI Dells with the Eids. Everyone had a blast getting away and playing in the water. It took Kensi awhile to realize that she loved being a water baby, but she got there. And then she was game for it all. She might have gone down more slides than Sienna.

"Hands up Mom!"

Like every other little girl, they are obsessed with the movie Frozen. Lucky for us it was on pay per view at the hotel!

And this game. The weekend was not complete until each family got to bring home a ball.

2 weeks after the Dells, the real vacation came. 5 nights, 6 days in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. 4 adults, no children and SUN!! It was everything we could ask for...after we got over a little scare. I came down with a weird bug Friday night before we were supposed to leave (flying out Sunday) Luckily it was only a 24 hour thing and by Sunday morning I was ready to go. Big sigh of relief as we stepped onto the air plane. Less than 5 hours later we landed and felt the sun warming our faces. 

The week was filled with laziness. Every morning we'd claim our beds and chairs by the pool and take a walk on the beach. The rest of the day was filled with food, drinks, games, laughter, and of course naps. The resort was beautiful and beaches were endless.

Beds by the pools...and a lovely pedicure.

Success with the self timer.

Beautiful beaches.

Yes, the parrots are real. They even nibbled on our hair a few times.

Lots of Catan time! And dirty monkies. Best drink EVER.

It might or might not have taken a few tries to make this. And maybe one that had the wrong year too.

I am still reliving all of it as I sit inside not wanting to leave the house in this bitter cold. Come on spring, you can do it!

3 1/2 years

Sienna,
You are growing up so fast and are learning so much at school. You love to soak up every ounce of it. Right after Christmas you moved up to the next room: Pre-2. You were so proud of the accomplishment and already talk about moving onto Pre-K. I am amazed by all you are learning. You can write your name quite well all on your own. One weekend, the only thing you did was practice writing your name over and over until you got it. You claim you had your first boyfriend, Jackson, who would kiss you everyday. You tend to make up stories, so I have no idea if that was true or not. He's now moved up to the next class so we will never know!

A couple versions of your name writing.

You love doing anything with art and crafts. Markers, crayons, colored pencils, water colors, dobbers, stickers, scissors, or glue are all you want to play with. At school the coloring station is your favorite and where I always find you when I pick you up. We have stacks and stacks of art projects. You can't get enough. When you aren't doing art, you are usually signing and dancing. The Frozen soundtrack is your current obsession and you love to say, "Mom, watch me. I can shake my butt." Then you'll turn around and give us a booty shake. Your imagination is growing bigger. You and I had our first round of playing barbies the other night. We took them to the hair salon, home for a sleepover, and for a ride in the car (which was a picnic basket). Playing pretend family or princesses is also occurring more and more. You love to be the Mom and boss everyone around. I am always the "sweetie" and Kensi gets to be the baby.

Coloring as usual.

You are very articulate but there are still some words that you say that crack me up:
Pasketti for spaghetti
Alona for Leona
Mall-Ameriga for Mall of America
Fruit Cottontail for fruit cocktail

You have always been our cautious child. You like to feel out a situation with Mom or Dad until you are comfortable with it, although many times you surprise me with your confidence. You have a definite fear of heights and would prefer to have 2 feet on the ground instead of climbing.

Big girl, proud on the dentist chair. Don't be fooled by the sweet, confident smile, you were terrified when it came to the actual exam.

You have such a big personality which swings from the sweetest, move lovable kid to some pretty high drama crying. :) Very typical for your age. You and I have very similar personalities which sometimes leads to major clashing. I assume this will continue for the rest of our lives. But no matter what happens you are always full of lots of hugs, kisses, and I love yous. You crack your Dad and I up everyday with your ideas and expressions. We love to hear what will come out of your mouth next!

Still Famous

Remember years ago when I posted that my Mom and I were famous at the rec center? Over the past couple years, they built an all new ginormous rec center that was completed last summer. It's so big that until recently I hadn't even been on all of the levels. A few weeks ago a coworker came up to me and told me he thought there was a picture of me on the third floor where the track is. Sure enough I went up there and as I rounded the final corner of the track there's a HUGE poster of my Mom and I. Same one as before but it looks like they reversed it. This picture doesn't do the size of it justice. That wall spans 2 stories to give you some perspective. Pretty cool! 

First Birthday

Planning a birthday party for a 1 year old is challenging. We tried to do everything keeping Kensi in mind since it's supposed to be all about her. She gets overwhelmed with too many people, so the party was kept small to close family. Since she's such a Mama's girl I wasn't sure how she was going to do, but she proved to be a party girl. Loved all the attention (as long as no one got too close). She even attempted to open her gifts. Lucky for her she's got a great older sister and cousin to help her out. We made all her favorite foods - meatball subs, french fries, and a fruit salad. I have never seen her be so quiet while eating and eat so much food. Success!

She was not having the head band.

Much happier with her favorite.

This girl was all about the cake. She asked all day when it was cake time and as soon as dinner was done she ran around cheering for cake.

Such good buddies.

Again not having the hat. Apparently she doesn't like things on her head.

Grammy with the older girls and hats.

Grandma Deb & Nana in their hats.

Even the Grandpas wore hats. Kids can make anyone do anything.

And finally it was cake time. She dug into the frosting right away.

Mmmmmmmmmm

Frosting all over the face and arms. This was right before she started the actual cake smash, which flew cake crumbs all over the kitchen. Conner loved being on cleanup duty.

My loves.

I had to make one special decoration. Thanks to pinterest, I made a poster of pictures from Kensi's first year and arrange them in the shape of a 1!

1 year

Kensi,
1 year old!! Time goes so fast. It's so hard to believe that a year ago I was holding this tiny little baby in my arms on the coldest day of the year. You've changed so much in 1 year and add such joy to our family. You will always be my little baby, even though you've long lost the littleness and squirm away when I try to hold you like one.

Always moving - you would not sit still for this months pictures

After your early crawling at 7 months, I thought for sure you would be walking by now. But nope. You don't show much interest and would much prefer the turbo crawl. You are starting to stand without holding onto to anything but end up dropping to your knees instead of trying a step. I know as soon as you want to do it you'll be going and won't look back. We had to finally put up the baby gate on the stairs. I was in the laundry room folding clothes while your Dad was doing something near the TV. I came out and asked, "Where's Kensi?" I could hear you but didn't see you. Without missing a beat, Sienna replied, "I think she's upstairs." Like it was no big deal and happened everyday. Sure enough I looked and you were on the landing halfway up, so proud of yourself. Full of big smiles for me. Now anytime you hear the gate open you make a beeline for it and are very mad when we don't let you up.

Your big smiles

You learned to sign for milk and sort of do eat. You put your whole hand up to your mouth for eat. Close enough. You got your 8th tooth this month and those 4 molars are working on coming though. You'll have a mouthful soon! You decided fruits are now your favorite food, especially strawberries. You'd live off those if we let you.

You took your first big spill this month. You were sitting backwards on your riding car. When you scooted, it tipped over and you smashed into the corner of the toy box...hard. It looked painful and oh did you scream. And then your nose bled. Not a ton but enough to make a Mom worry. Poor thing. The only thing to comfort you was your froggy. You love to rub his soft fuzz against your face. It puts you to sleep and this did the same. After a quick nap you were back to my giggly girl. Left a good mark on your nose though.

Mark on the nose

You have the cutest curls in the back of your hair. I hope they stay!

We got official Drs measurements! No surprise that you are still off the charts for height.
Weight: 22 lbs 67%
Height; 31.5 inches 98%
Head: 19 inches 99%

Happy Birthday Kensi!! We love you so much.