3 1/2 Going on 30!

In some ways Kinsey is the most mature three-year-old I know, and in other ways she's just a regular little girl full of mood swings. She wants to grow up so fast! Kinsey is happy we are having two babies because she says one is for her and one is for me. She's excited to fall in love with Prince Charming, get married, and have babies. 

It's no wonder this girl is obsessed with baby dolls right now. She brushes their teeth, gives them baths, puts them to bed, feeds them...the works! Kinsey has been wanting to dress Shayla lately, despite Shayla wanting the same, so the effort ends in tears on both ends. The other night I asked Eric if he brushed Scarlett's teeth yet and Kinsey piped in, "I brushed Scarlett's teeth!" Well, okay then. She makes my life easier when she's in her helpful moods. I especially love putting food on the table and asking her to pass it out to her sisters so I can finish getting meals ready. 

 Kinsey is currently in ballet, gymnastics, and preschool. When I try to figure out if she likes ballet or gymnastics better she responds, "I like preschool." She just loves to learn, which is why I felt it would be best to put her in preschool mid-year so she isn't so bored at home. She also loves play dough, coloring with markers, YouTube, and Barbies. 

 Kinsey's personality hasn't changed much over the years. She's still extremely independent but needs lots of love. She has been a bit more sensitive lately--when I tell her not to do something (and I'm not even yelling!) she will break into tears. She's pretty good at sharing, but there are instances every day when she takes toys from her sisters. It's to be expected! 

Overall, Kinsey is a big helper and calls herself the Little Mommy! She loves bossing her sisters around and taking care of them. Some days she only wants to play with one of them, so yes, she does have her favorites! But it changes from day to day. We love these girls so much and are grateful they have each other for the rest of their lives. 

Scarlett and Shayla's Painting Party

We celebrated my baby girls' 2nd birthday the other week. I can't believe how big they are getting! 

Scarlett

Shayla

 I tend to go a little overboard with birthday parties, so I tried to give me and my pregnant self a break this time around and keep it pretty simple. We had mini cupcakes, of course (they are my favorite for kid birthday parties). 

 This year was another family party because the twins have their sisters and haven't really made other friends. Maybe one day they'll get out of their comfort zone! All the kids painted pictures with their own personal paint and foam paper. Scarlett and Shayla loved painting for the first time, so it was a success!  

 Next on the agenda was presents! 

 Kinsey went to the store with me and picked out slap bracelets for her sisters. She was very proud of them. Scarlett liked them too. 

 Scarlett and Shayla had fun opening presents this year and were well-practiced since their birthday is pretty close after Christmas. 

 This bouncy horse was a big hit for all the kids. Who doesn't want to bounce all the time? I thought of Scarlett when I picked it out because she's a little jumping bean. Of course Shayla loves it too! 

 The girls both received a "pet" from their great-grandma. They love having a dog and cat that walk and talk. 

 And Grandma Walker bought them a bunch of Disney princess Barbies. Kinsey was in heaven and thinks they all belong to her! 

 After presents we ate cupcakes. 

 This year was completely opposite from their first birthday. There was no hesitation and no choking on frosting; the girls dug right in and devoured those cupcakes!! 

We love our little 2 year olds. Happy birthday girls! 

The Two Cutest Two-Year-Olds

Scarlett and Shayla turned 2 on February 7th. I can't believe they are so old! I feel like Kinsey was a lot "older" at this age. Maybe because she already had two little sisters by the time her second birthday came around? Either way, it's been an exciting couple months as these girls started chatting up a storm. They repeat everything now and communicate pretty well. The best part is when they talk to each other. They repeat what the other says and even when I have no idea what they are saying, they seem to be on the same page. It's by far my favorite part of having twins. 

They learned how to hit a few months ago so it's been a struggle to keep them from hitting, kicking, pushing, and pulling each other's hair. Toys are also a big issue. If one girl looks happy with a toy, one of her sisters will try to steal it EVERY TIME (Kinsey included). 

They are also a lot cuter in many ways. Whenever Eric goes to work in the morning, the girls demand kisses and hugs by holding out their arms to him. At the end of each prayer, they yell out "Amen!" and spread their arms wide open. Sometimes they will hide from Daddy when he gets home by covering their eyes, other times they follow Kinsey and hide behind the island to surprise him. They've been very attached to him lately and say "Where's Daddy?" right when they wake up and a million times after. They respond with "Why?" to so many things, yet they don't understand reason when I answer. It's a bit repetitive! 

SCARLETT

Scarlett flipped a switch on me a few months ago. She used to be so angelic and cuddly and expressed such innocence in her eyes. Now when she looks at you there is a spark of mischief there. Her new love for climbing is definitely making my job more difficult. She has ZERO reaction to discipline. If you yell, she laughs. If you put her in time out, she laughs. Distraction is the best method for her. 

 Scarlett has SO much energy. Lately she runs around in circles over and over and over again. This girl LOVES attention. She is such a stinker and constantly doing whatever you tell her not to just to get a rise out of you. She is currently obsessed with the song Rock-a-bye Baby. She yells "No!" when I try to sing most any other song and requests it over and over again. 

 She tries so hard to talk like Shayla, but Scarlett just isn't quite as articulate. A lot of what she says I just pretend to understand, but "Snack!" is a pretty obvious one. This girl wants to eat ALL the time. A year ago she was my skinny little thing, now she weighs two pounds more than Shayla and the weight is obvious when you pick her up. 

Scarlett has skill at asking for something RIGHT when I sit down, five times in a row. And by asking I mean screaming for it. She is very demanding. If she doesn't like her food, she throws it, mainly because she thinks it's funny. She also thinks it's hilarious pouring her water everywhere. At least she enjoys wiping it up with a paper towel. What a twisted sense of humor! 

SHAYLA

Shayla is definitely my little cuddle bug currently. This girl always has to sit on my lap, which attracts her sisters to my lap as well, creating problems because there's only one of me. She would be content being held all day long just because someone is holding her. She still a major Grandma fan, and it doesn't matter which one! She just loves her Grandmas! 

She's a little hoarder. On a daily basis she must be carrying her baby doll (which is her obsession), a blanket for the baby, a cell phone, a notebook, and occasionally a purse or backpack full of stuff. Then she gets frustrated when her sisters get up the stairs so much faster because she is holding all this stuff and refuses to part with any of it! At nap time and bed time Shayla is very particular about which baby she sleeps with. If you get it wrong she says, "Other baby!" 

 One fun fact about my Shay Shay is she is a professional pick-pocketer. Her obsession with carrying cell phones (it used to have to be a real one but she's relaxed a little and is okay with toy ones now) led her to reach in people's pockets until she found one. Most of the time people don't even realize what she does until they see her running around with their cell phone. She's a sneaky little thing. 

 Shayla is a bit more sensitive than Scarlett. When she gets pushed or hit she cries immediately and runs to me. Her favorite song right now is "I'm a Little Teapot," but she's been attempting lyrics to other songs too. She's more open to new songs so she rarely screams at me when I sing like Scarlett does. 

These two are hilarious and challenging, but some days they just play with each other and I don't have to do anything! Those are good days when I can be really productive :) They are very interested in babies and I know they will love the new babies when they join our family!

Christmas Festivities

We had a busy Christmas this year because Holly (Eric's sister) and her family came to town. That meant all the Walker grandkids were together again! We started off Christmas week with Santa visiting and then the kids acting out the nativity scene. Scarlett and Shayla were adorable shepherds.  

All the kids played their roles as good as can be expected for ages 6 months to 4 years old. 

Christian was Joseph and Kinsey was Mary. Kinsey was the cutest Mary because she took her job very seriously. She did not take her eyes off baby Jesus aka Kate. 

Then we all had pizza for dinner. I love that the kids are old enough to be at their own table. It makes my job a lot easier and they are just so dang cute!

The next night we all went up to Salt Lake City to see the lights at Temple Square. My girls had never been to the SLC Temple before so it was a first time for us! It's a fun tradition to do when you live in Utah, just very cold! 

We spent Christmas Eve at my Mom's house eating treats, opening presents, singing songs, and watching the nativity. My girls are obsessed with the piano so I love how they sat on the bench when Grandma Fullmer was playing a song. 

The next morning the five of us had our own Christmas together at our home. We went small this year because, why spend a ton when your kids don't know the difference, but they still got tired of presents before we got to the end! 

My Scarlett showing off the goods from her stocking. 

I love Shayla's "excited" face. She loves chocolate. 

Kinsey was happy to find gold coins in her stocking, too! 

The girls giving Daddy his present. 

After giving the kids a break, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Walker's house for brunch and more presents. 

Everyone was a little spoiled this year!! 

Walker cousins! 

Shayla and Scarlett are going to have so much fun riding their tricycles in the Spring. 

There were so many presents we didn't even get to the stockings until we went home, took naps, then came back again for dinner! It's convenient living two streets away.  

It's great being back in Utah and spending the holidays with family. We're grateful to be so close to many of them! Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! 

Santa Came to Town

We didn't do the typical picture with Santa at the mall this year. Grandma Walker arranged for him to come to us so we could have a picture with all the Walker cousins! Most of the kids were intrigued from the get-go. 

Phil was chosen to be Rudolph for singing time. He did a great job! 

 Kinsey was enthusiastic about her one-on-one picture with Santa. She's never been afraid to sit on his lap...until the group picture later on. It must be her 3-year-old moodiness. 

 This sums up Scarlett's thoughts about sitting on Santa's lap. Good thing Daddy was there to help out. 

 And then we have Shayla. This girl cracks me up. She's so ticked about the thought of sitting on Santa. 

 This is the "best" group shot we got with just our kids. Right when we placed Scarlett and Shayla on Santa's lap they slid off. They wanted nothing to do with him. Kinsey also refused to sit on his lap. Apparently crying has a snowball effect with our kids. 

 This is the picture of our twins after we traumatized them by trying to get a picture with Santa.

 But if they aren't touching him then everything is okay!! 

Thanks for the Santa experience, Grandma Walker!! 

Pumpkins, Carving, and Costumes

Halloween is starting to become my favorite holiday. For starters, Kinsey is obsessed with it so I love seeing Halloween through her eyes. Then there are so many pumpkin patches and farms to go to in October that are either free or super cheap. That's a bonus with three toddlers! 

My sister and her family were in town, so on the first of the month we headed out to Jaker's Pumpkin Patch in Springville. The kids loved seeing the small animal farm, including a giant pig that could eat all of them in one bite. 

Wendy with two of her favorite nieces! 

Getting a picture with my three girls looking at the camera is getting harder and harder these days. But they make up for it with their cuteness! 

Obviously my family is really good at making girls. It's difficult to get a shot of all five smiling, but this is as good as it gets. 

Kinsey, Savannah, Amora, Shayla, and Scarlett on the hay mountain.

The best part of this pumpkin patch is the giant corn pit. The girls love it. We stayed in the pit until closing time. 

Kinsey burying Amora. 

I don't remember the name of this pumpkin patch, but it is close to our house. We took Scarlett and Shayla one day when Kinsey was at a birthday party. They have ridiculously expensive pumpkins but great photo ops. Scarlett is our little pumpkin this year. She reacted to pumpkins a lot like Kinsey did at her age--wanting to sit on all of them. 

Shayla didn't care about the pumpkins too much, she just really wanted to climb that mountain. And she did. To the very top. All by herself. 

They loved the tractor races. Their legs are too short to pedal but Eric and I pushed them around and they had a lot of fun. 

Eric moved his head from pumpkin to pumpkin and Scarlett would find him and give him kisses. 

This next place was pretty cool. It's a big farm in Spanish Fork that we went to with Grandma Walker. They had a small corn maze, lots of animals, a pumpkin farm, bounce houses, and a few booths of activities. Scarlett was obsessed with looking at the animals. She loves them so much. 

Enjoying the turkeys. 

All of the girls had their first pony ride during this trip! Kinsey and Shayla were champions. I even let go of Shayla a bit and she just enjoyed bouncing along. Scarlett, on the other hand, did not like riding the horse. 

 She preferred to pet it instead. 

 We took Kinsey out to the pumpkin patch area so she could pick out her pumpkin. She immediately chose a green one and wouldn't even consider getting an orange pumpkin. Silly girl. She sure knows what she wants. 

 The girls had a good time, but honestly, I think their favorite part was the popcorn we bought them. They sure love their snacks!

 The next fun October activity we did was carve pumpkins! Here is the traditional "pumpkin gut" picture. 

 Eric, Kinsey, and I carved while Scarlett and Shayla colored on paper and pumpkins. Shayla carried her pumpkin into the house and kept calling it her "baby." 

 Kinsey cleaned out her pumpkin all by herself, which she loved because she's an independent little thing. 

 Then I gave her a marker to draw a face on so I could carve it out. She did really well. I had to be a little creative to make it look like eyes, a nose, and a mouth, but overall it was Kinsey's vision. 

 Her finished product! 

 Kinsey also enjoyed lifting the tops of the pumpkins so Eric could light the candles. She loves having special jobs to do. 

 Our family of pumpkins! 

Left to right, top to bottom: Kinsey, Eric, Cindy, Scarlett, Shayla

 Next on the list of fun was our ward Halloween party. The girls got all cute in their costumes and we headed to the church for dinner and treats. Kinsey wouldn't stay still long enough to get a good picture. She was either dancing, jumping, or running around. 

Shayla=Snow White, Kinsey=Tinkerbell, Scarlett=Rapunzel 

I sure love these little girls!! Not that I'm biased or anything, but they were the cutest kids at the party!