Kaylin's 1st Haircut

Okay, TECHNICALLY, it was not her first HAIR cut. Although thankfully she has never been buzzed like her sister, Dan and I HAVE trimmed her bangs a few times. But on Thursday, October 5th, her hair finally reached a long-enough, strangly-enough, too thin-and-wispy-to-stay-combed-enough length to get an all-over REAL haircut. The "pain" (for me) was lessened as I was able to take her to my hair-stylist friend Marty. And since she works out of her home, it was nice for Ethan and Krystin (and therefore me)to be able to play.


Before.......


....and After


All ready to begin. You can be sure Ms. Bunny was being held in her lap under that cape. And while Kaylin was never thrilled with sitting there, she sat nice and still the whole time. (Which was no small miracle!)


The first cut. Yes, I saved a piece of her hair for the scrapbook.


The much-needed bangs trim. (isn't she precious?!)


Being styled. This phase was short. Kaylin was never happy about getting her haircut, but at least she wasn't squealy or crying. However, by the time we got to the styling phase, she was ready to be done. (can you tell by the look on her face?)


Ta-dah! The finished look…..and glad to be done!

The Berry Ranch

On Monday, October 16th, Ethan's preschool (all 3 morning classes) took a field trip to the Berry Ranch. Ethan said it would be OK if the girls and I went along, so we did! The Berry Ranch is a local family mini-farm that lets you pick your own berries and pumpkins (Obviously, we were there for the pumpkins). But they also have a few animals to look at and a little garden produce stand. You will have to wait for the group picture until I get it from another preschool mom. I had to change my camera batteries JUST as the kiddos were saying "pumpkin patch" :( It was a fun time, even though it was a bit chilly and wet from a rain the night before.


Kaylin feeding the sheep pellet food.


Ethan and Kaylin taking off in the Hay Bale maze. It was fun to see all the preschoolers and a few younger sibs running around. (but as this is already going to be a long post, I'll spare you the pictures of all the other kids running through the maze)


Ethan and his friend "leading" Mrs. Lindemood (their teacher) out of the maze. (I think Mrs. Lindemood and I gave a few helpful "hints"!)


Turkeys.... and I don't mean the 3 boys. Ethan started walking on the log and these other 2 boys (Zachary and Jonathan) started following him. They and 2 others are who Ethan mentions the most from his preschool class.


See! Me and Krystin were at the Berry Ranch, too! (I know I should probably say "I and Krystin”, but "I were" didn't sound right. Sorry, Mama. "I" will probably never get that rule...) :)


This is for all you back home who have never seen pigs before :) :) :)


The Hay Rack Ride. There were actually 3 wagons in tow and we rode on the middle one. This is how we got to and from the pumpkin patch about 3-5 minutes away. (tractor time)


On the way to the pumpkin patch


Ethan found his pumpkin almost right away. I am not sure if he just wanted to be done, or if this one just called to him....I was actually relieved it wasn't huge, but a bit disappointed it is too small to carve. (at least for my carving/hacking capabilites) Oh well. I think I will at least dig the seeds out to roast and then let Ethan and Kaylin paint their own pumpkin. Kaylin did not see any pumpkins that lived up to her expectations around Ethan's, so she kept looking.... At this point I worried she might want to hunt the whole field, but she only looked about 2 more minutes until finding hers. Neither Ethan or Kaylin seemed too picky and didn't really comment on why they chose the pumpkin they did.


Off in search of Kaylin's pumpkin. Look at all those pumpkins! And probably only a 1/4 of the field is in view here!


Kaylin "picking" her pumpkin. It was almost identical to Ethan's. Surprise, Surprise.


Pumpkin patch kids.
Kaylin really DID have a good time, but she did not want to sit still for a picture (again: surprise surprise) and is therefore sticking out her tongue to make a weird face.

Things are "rolling right along" back here at our house. The long trip and 3 weeks of vacation to see both sides of family was wonderful, but it is nice to be back and settled into our routines.... although it's a bit different now that Ethan is in preschool (see post farther down).......This picture: Ethan and Kaylin were doing sommersaults (sp?) and "tri-pod" stances. Guess who thought she had to do what big brother and sister were doing?! :) As for our trip back to Iowa, maybe someday I'll post a few pics. But currently I'm still trying to sort through all 7 DISKS of them myself! :) (Hey! I wasn't the only one taking pics and video - I have a snap-happy mother and sis-in-law, also!) For now, the next 3 posts of what the kids have been up to the last couple weeks will have to suffice. Enjoy. (And Trey, if you ask nice, I am sure I could dig up some more "box" photos for the next post!)

Kaylin in September

Kaylin is getting older and starting to do more and more things on her own.


Here is Kaylin "butting" garlic bread, as she calls it :)


Kaylin is getting to be quite the big girl. Here she just put on her shirt all by herself......


.....See?! :)

A typical Krystin Trail in September

Let's see. Shall we start in the living room with the doll box???


.....Yes. Now, where could Krystin have gone?....


...looks like she went this way......


Ahh. There she is. The condiments in the door are her favorite to pull out. Whenever I open the fridge, she can hear it a mile away and makes a mad dash to get there before I shut the door. No kidding. She can MOVE! In this instance, however, I believe she was distracted by one of her favorite foods - yogurt. You may also notice a few letter magnets on the floor. Usually there are at least 10. Mama must have recently picked them up in this photo.


Working our way around the kitchen (having just missed another fun stop of the kitchen towels/Bibs drawer) we find Krystin pulling out the "tupperware". (word being used loosely to mean anything plastic)


And the final stop for this posting is the pots and pans cupboard. (although, I must mention that the CD tower in the bonus room is a big hit... but we are learning the word "no" on that one) As I am getting ready to finalize this post, I can't help but try and remember, "How long did this phase last with the other two?!" :)

PRESCHOOL

Friday, September 8


Ethan getting ready to leave the house on his FIRST DAY of PRESCHOOL! Can you believe it? I hardly can. He goes on MWF mornings from 9-11:30. The first day was rough, but from Monday the 11th on he has been a real trooper and is enjoying himself. Mom is adjusting as well :)


Calling Grandma Collingwood after lunch to tell her how his first day of preschool was. He liked snack time (a girl brought cupcakes for her birthday) and craft time (make an apple magnet out of torn red construction paper)



Moday, Sept 25th


Our local firemen came to Ethan's preschool class to teach a little bit about fire safety. While this is Ethan's actual room, there are 3 classes worth of children crammed in for the show. It was also nice because I was able to bring Kaylin and Krystin (sitting beside me, so not in this picture) to watch, too. I wanted to make sure Kaylin got to see the firemen in their gear just in case WE would ever have a fire (Lord willing, we won't ever have to use what we learned today!) And if you are curious - if the kids ever are trapped in a room because of fire in the house, they are to drop to their hands and knees, NOT to hide, and yell "I'm here - come get me!"


"Fireman Trevor" demonstrating the gear. He told the kids to not be scared if they see someone like him trying to help them in a fire. He also demonstrated how is voice sounded funny in his air mask and then let the kids all come up and touch him.


Mrs. Lindemood's MWF a.m. 4 yr olds class. (Minus one girl. Yep, count them: 9 boys and only 3 girls) The tall girl in red goes to our church and is in Ethan's S.S. class.


The HIGHLIGHT of Ethan's day! :) I think this beats our garden hose!


At the end, the firemen demonstrated the "cannon". Not only was the powerful water neat, we also got to see a rainbow! (Ethan is in the blue jacket standing by the fireman in his blue with white letters coat.) (Note Kaylin in the bottom left hand corner and Krystin in stroller on left hand side.)


Ethan at home with his fireman hat


Kaylin trying on Ethan's hat..... afterall, she DID get to see the firemen, too!