My 2 1/2 Year Old

For the most part, Kinsey only has two sides. She is either the sweetest, cutest, nicest, funniest little girl in the world or she's a nightmare full of tantrums and yelling. The last couple days have been the latter, so I apologize for anything I may say in this post. 

Kinsey knows her colors. She can count to 10 all by herself when she actually focuses. Sometimes she gets lazy and says "1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10." She really likes jumping to six! She also sings out her ABCs. It's not all correct but it's close, and I'm pretty darn proud of her considering I never taught her that. Kinsey sings a few other songs too like "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and I just love hearing her bust out a song. It's not very often, but when she does it's adorable.  

She loves playing outside and finding new "toys"

 If you pay attention to any of the pictures I post or any of the pictures in this post, you will notice a theme. Kinsey is almost always wearing pajamas. She was in a very long pajama phase once she started dressing herself (probably because before that I was too lazy to get her dressed for the day) but I think we are FINALLY past that.  

 Now she has a few favorite outfits she likes to wear. She changes her clothes three or four times a day and likes putting her pajamas back on for nap time. Kinsey hates when I tell her what to wear and usually makes it a point NOT to wear what I want her to. She also MUST remove her clothes immediately if a drop of water spills onto them. 

 This results in her hanging out "nakie" as she calls it. Even in December. Outside. At least it was a warm year. 

Right before she tripped.

 She loves being independent. I can't tell you how many times she has put her pants on backwards or the heels of her socks on top of her feet. But she does it all herself, and that is a HUGE help. I love telling her to get dressed or put her shoes on so we can go somewhere. 

Ward Christmas Party

Her independence actually led to her being potty trained. One day after bath she picked out her clothes and had undies with them. I asked if she wanted to wear them and she said yes. And that was it. She was potty trained! Potty being the operative word. She was also very constipated. The doctor gave us some medicine to help which caused her to poo like ten times a day. It was horrible. Once we got the dosage figured out she started going poo in the big potty and now she's a pro. It's so AMAZING having a kid who is potty trained!!

Cleaning up for me!

 Kinsey has had her share of sickness this year and has been a trooper. A couple times she has had no energy and, as sad as it was, it was kind of nice just being able to watch her fall asleep in my arms.

Sick Kinsey

 The twins got a wagon for their birthday, and if you ask Kinsey she will tell you it's hers. She liked being pulled at the beginning, but now SHE does the pulling. 

 We've been practicing our faces, and I LOVE it. Can you guess what face she's making? 

Happy (what?), angry, surprised, happy.

 Kinsey did the funniest thing the other week. She grabbed this Wii nunchuk, put it up to her ear, and said "Text time Debbie Walker" (a combination of text and FaceTime). Apparently she pays attention when I give Siri orders. She's been doing it ever since and almost sent my dad I text when she told Siri "text Daddy." 

 Kinsey has been enjoying her backpack. I get a kick out of her wearing it around the house. She is a little person and it's so hard to imagine how much younger she seemed a year ago. 

Ready for school, Mom!

 The other day she gathered all the play food and made a picnic. I love when she's so cute like this!! 

 Cute things Kinsey says:

-Gosh darnit 

-Lost all my clothes (when I did laundry and she couldn't find the outfit she was looking for)
-Where's Shay Shay? Where's Scarlett? (Every time they crawl out of sight)
-I love you more
-Good job Mommy (When I use the big potty)

Before and After: Kitchen Reveal

The kitchen was by far the biggest project we took on during our renovation. We didn't keep ANYTHING from the pre-reno days--windows, cabinets, doors, baseboards, light fixtures, etc. It's not the biggest area, but I think we were able to maximize the kitchen space and improve the flow of the entire house. I'm in love with the end result!

We changed the layout a little.

We replaced the wall with an island to create an open concept. 

No more hideous cabinets!

The view from the living room.

Ta da!!!

Here's a look at the in-between of our renovation:

To start off, Eric and his dad removed all the kitchen appliances and the cabinets. I tackled the nasty wallpaper while these guys were hard at work. 

 Thanks to some handy dandy YouTube videos, Eric learned how to remove the wall separating the kitchen and living room. I was very impressed!! He also took down the soffits (it's pretty much wasted space the upper cabinets were hanging from) because it's a dated look and we need all the cabinet space we can get. This actually ended up being harder than taking down the wall, and Eric had the privilege of being rained on by insulation. 

The soffit is the thing in the top left corner. 

 I continued to take down wallpaper. It was a very tedious process that I didn't finish until the day before I needed to. 

 As much as we LOVED this linoleum, it had to go.  

This was another huge, back-breaking project (for the guys). There was actually an extra layer of linoleum and an extra subfloor beneath the first two layers. Then there were millions of staples that needed to be removed so the new hardwood could lay completely flat in the kitchen. 

The staples were about every two to four inches! 

 We got rid of the gross drywall, put new insulation in, and patched it back up. All the while Eric poked holes for the ceiling lights (one light in the kitchen and one light in the dining room was not going to cut it) and Eric and our friend did all new electrical.  

Our new doors were installed (new windows were installed throughout the house months before). 

 New hardwood floors were put in to create a cohesive space between the kitchen and living room. 

 Then I picked the stain so all the flooring would match. We went with the darkest stain we could that wouldn't lose the grains from our original oak floors. 

 Finally, we were to the point where we could start putting things IN the house. The baseboards and window/door casings were installed. The walls, ceiling, and trim were painted. And the cabinets were installed. All that was left was the granite and finishing touches. 

 You have no idea how good it felt to see it all come together. I shopped for months for different items for the kitchen (appliances, backsplash, light fixtures, hardware) and I was finally able to confirm all my choices looked good together. What a relief! 

 Here are a few of our favorite parts:

This sink is so deep and has NO divider! I love it. I can put dishes in it all day long and still have room to rinse off more. 

 We made space for a pantry. In our five+ years of marriage Eric and I have NEVER had a pantry. It's amazing. 

 This island has four deep drawers that fit our pots and pans and much more. I haven't even filled them all, which is pretty amazing. 

 It was a long wait for me to see my new kitchen, but well worth it. We're really happy with how everything turned out and feel pretty much like renovation pros now. 

1 Year Milestones

SHAYLA

-Weight: 13.4 lbs (.05%)

-Height: 26.75 inches (.84%)

-Head Circumference: 16.4 inches (.84%)

-Teeth: 2 bottom teeth

-Likes: Putting on necklaces, opening doors and drawers, CLIMBING in drawers and up anything she can, drinking water, table food, baths

-Dislikes: Anyone but Mommy after waking up

-Understands tones of voices -- I jokingly called her a bad girl one day and she started crying 

-Can climb down the couch, bed, and stairs -- I never taught her how or showed her, she just started doing it

-Will take steps if she's in the mood -- you can't force her to practice

-Tries to draw with crayons on paper because she sees Kinsey do it

-Switches sides every 3 seconds when nursing

-Probably prefers Grandma Walker over Daddy

Climbing inside is more fun than pushing this toy.

What movie should we watch tonight?

Climbed to the top all by herself. 

SCARLETT

-Weight: 12.21 lbs (off the charts)

-Height: 26.15 inches (.14%)

-Head Circumference: 16.5 inches (1.37%)

-Teeth: 2 bottom teeth

-Likes: Giving kisses, placing items in and out of boxes, dancing, music, practicing walking, table food, touch and feel books

-Dislikes: Strangers, crowds staring at her (like at a 1st birthday party)

-Takes direction well -- I can point and ask her to give me a toy or tell her to put a toy in a basket and she will do it

-Practices her balance on the stairs (apparently she likes a challenge)

-Mimics you if you shake your head or blink your eyes

-Great napper!

-Has a soft spot for Daddy -- she crawls right to him when he comes home from work

First pigtails for this doll. 

Placing toys in the basket. 

Getting lots of attention at Costco for being so darn adorable. 

Shayla is my quirky, specific, and moody baby. Scarlett is my easy-to-please, overly sensitive baby. Add some sickness into the mix and we have a ball! Add a sick Kinsey into the mix and it's like I have triplets. They both love their big sister very much and tend to follow her around the house to see what she's up to. 

We're all a fan of mac and cheese around here.

Some days Kinsey is the sweetest big sister ever. 

 They both have such strong, individual personalities. I like a good matching outfit for my girls, but we tend to coordinate their clothes and not put them in the same thing because they are two very different people. 

This is probably about the cutest thing in the world. 

They both love going outside to play. It will be so much easier when they can run around on their own.

Celebrating their birthday week by going out to eat. 

 All the Walker cousins were together the week before the girls turned 1. We had a little photo shoot for all these cuties. 

Don't mess with Scarlett too close to bedtime. 

This past year has been so amazing and exhausting with my three beautiful girls. I can't wait to see what the next year has in store for these little ones.

We've Had A (1st) Birthday!!

My babies turned 1 year old on Saturday!! I can't believe it. I still think of them as 6 months old because they are just clingy little monsters and are tiny, but more on that in a different post. This is about their balloon birthday party! 

Like I did with Kinsey, Scarlett and Shayla's first birthday party was for family (and my BFF, Julie). I wasn't sure what to do for a winter party, but eventually came up with a balloon theme. I made a banner in girly colors that just happen to work perfectly for Valentine's Day too, minus the happy birthday part.

Happy 1st Birthday!

As usual, I used some ideas from Pinterest. We've been taking monthly pictures since the babies came home from the hospital and decided to hang it up for the party. They are still very small, but it's amazing to see how much they've grown in the past year. 

I also found this idea on Pinterest. It was hard picking out the pictures because there are so many cute twin pics of my beautiful angels!!

Now time for the birthday girls! Despite Scarlett waking up at 4:30 that morning, she was a pretty happy girl...until the guests arrived. 

This poor girl was very overwhelmed by all the people around and was ultra-sensitive (she bawled when her great-grandma sat next to her). 

Shayla was a little on the tired side too. She didn't smile too much and wanted to stick close to her mommy and daddy in the beginning.

But once she had food in her, she warmed up quite a bit.

We had a waffle bar for the food and the girls enjoyed their very first waffle!

I took a shot at cupcake decorating. I think they turned out pretty good for my first try, but it only lasted on half the cupcakes because the frosting started getting too melty. 

While eating, our entertainment arrived! That's right, I hired a balloon artist. Eric thought I was crazy when I told him about it, but this guy was awesome and a lot of fun for the kids. We will definitely hire a balloon artist for future parties.

He made Christian a Thomas the Train balloon and Grant an adorable car. They looked amazing. 

Kinsey got a Mickey Mouse, which she decided she didn't want once it was complete. 

Shayla likes to be a big girl at the table.

He made Shayla a crown because she's a princess. 

And Princess Scarlett got a crown too. 

And then Kinsey was upset she didn't have a crown, so she got one too...

even though she refused to put it on correctly. 

Christian, Kinsey, and Grant all got a sword and had a blast sword fighting. 

Christian looks hardcore right here. 

Then we headed outside in beautiful high 60 degree weather so Kinsey and Christian could race balloons. 

Kinsey in the lead!

Up next, the girls opened their presents. Our families sure do spoil these babies, and we don't mind! They had tons of presents which Eric and I opened because Scarlett and Shayla were about ready for their nap.

They even had some cute cards to "read." 

We saved the cupcakes for last because I knew these girls would get messy. I admit, I never even considered the possibility my babies WOULDN'T like the cupcakes. Kinsey devoured hers when she turned 1, so I figured all kids were like that. 

It started out okay with the exception of Scarlett wanting to go to sleep. 

And then Shayla choked on her frosting and refused to touch the cupcake again. Poor girl. I'm not even sure how that is possible. Maybe it was too sweet for her?

Nice action shot of Shayla. It's so sad. 

This picture is classic. Both babies crying about eating cake. Who does that? 

And then Scarlett was starting to dig in and enjoy herself. 

And then she noticed everyone staring at her and started crying all over again. 

It's a pretty accurate depiction of life with twins! Even with two overly emotional one year olds, the party was a blast. We are so grateful for everyone who attended and everyone who was there in spirit! Happy birthday to the cutest one year old twins!!