Kinley's new pose

We have been in Knoxville for a few days now, and its been busy! My friend Christy came down from Cincinnati to see us, and she taught Kinley a new trick.

This is now how she poses for pictures. She's still working on putting the hip out a little to show the attitude.

We got a chance to play with some old friends. Here are all the cuties lined up like angels - we won't tell you how long it took to get them all to look at the camera:)

I've told everyone for a while now that Kinley is a big girl, and she really believes it! I guess all the time in the weight room really has been paying off for her.

Ok, I'm kidding. She is too young to be in the weight room. She does her lifting out at the track!

Just Being Kinley

Here's a couple cute things from Kinley I thought y'all might want to see. I think they are really cute, but I am biased.

No, she's not going. She's heard us talk about Vegas and now when we ask where we're going she says, "We're going to Begas!" She is just like her dad.

Pumpkin Patch - Manhattan Style

There were signs for a Pumpkin Patch this weekend, so I thought we'd go check it out. I have to admit it was disappointing. There were a few pumpkins lining the sidewalks by some fruit stands, and then a bunch of arts and crafts tables. Some of the stuff was neat, but I was thinking it was going to be more to do with pumpkins. Anyway, we took a quick look and then let Kinley pick out a pumpkin.

This is it her little pumpkin! I thought for sure she'd go for a big one, but she immediately wanted a "cute little one."

Cook Out

We had a cook out the other night while Kyle's parents were in town. We had delicious steak, potatoes, beans, bread and can you tell...



Daddy helped Kinley roast her marshmallow, and you can see she fit it all (or most of it) in her little mouth.





We had a great time sitting in the cool night air around a camp fire just enjoying being around each other.

Kinley Getting Married

I know she's only 2, but she keeps telling me she wants to get married. She just watched Aladdin and then The Little Mermaid, and they get married. I'm pretty sure she likes the fluffy dress and all the frills, but one thing she's noticed they have is a vail.

It all started like this...

I have decided that Kinely is going to be an angel for Halloween and I will wear a headband with devil horns - yes, I do like to get dressed up. I found a package of horns attached to a red boa. She wanted to wear them in the store still on the package. I didn't care, so sure. Once I got them on her, she said, "Look Mom, now I'm married!" It took me a while to understand, but she meant she had on a tiara with a red boa vail. She does have a great imagination.

For days now, she has been asking me for a vail so she can be married. Yesterday I found a headband and some tulle to make all her dreams come true. This is the final product - of course once she had on the vail, she had to put on her dancing dress, dancing skirt, and dancing shoes.

You might think this outfit is complete, but like any blushing bride, she turns to me and says, "Mom, I need some flowers to get married." No joke! The saying goes that every girl has been planning her wedding since she was 5; well, I guess it will be 2 1/2 for Kinley:)

Chiefs Game

Today we got to go to the Kansas City Chiefs game against the Oakland Raiders. Now, I know some of you are thinking why - since we know how these teams are, but Tom was honored before the game as an Olympian, so we went. We actually had a great time. Our friends, the Janvrins, met us there and we got to do some pretty neat things...

Tom and Kinley on the sidelines before he was announced. If you look really close, you can see some of the Kansas City players warming up on the field. (The big guys in white pants and red jerseys)

A wrestler from Missouri that attended the University of Missouri, Tom and Christian Smith (800m ran for K-State) were the three Olympians out on the field. Here is Tom on the big screen when they were announcing him. I have to say he got the loudest cheers - might be because they said he was the first American decathlete to make 3 Olympic teams.

Oh, little bit fame - we got to see in person - American Idol David Cook sing the national anthem! Kinley did great with the "rockets red glare", but the "bombs bursting in air" was a little scary.

We finally made it to our seats, and Kinley had a great time going back and forth between Teresa and me. She did get into the game. She likes to clap with everyone and here she is yelling.

I love watching football and this was fun. I'm not going to go so far as to say this was a great game, but it was fun, and I'm thankful for the opportunities, like this one, that we have had.

Kinley at 2 1/2

I know its been a while, but its been pretty crazy. Kinley is officially 2 and a half. So, here are some things Kinley has been doing lately.

1. Kinley is potty trained! She still wears diapers at night, but the rest of the time she is great. Of course we have to do the tt potty dance and say how proud of her we are, but we don't mind. We are super proud of her!

2. Kinley dances all the time. She likes to put on tulle skirts and fancy shoes and dance around and around. She sings too. This is not one of her better talents - no surprise, I am her mom.

3. Kinley is counting all the way to 19. The only funny thing here is 15. Kinely says five teen. Makes sense, all the other numbers work that way. I think she stops at 19 because she doesn't know 20.

4. Kinley is still tall. We have just started to wear some pants. I pulled out some 3T I got on sale, and some of them look like she can't grow any more or they will be too short. None of them are too long - that's for sure.

Well, thats all I can think of for now. Really, we are so blessed with such an amazing little girl. She is everything we could have ever wanted - and more. Hopefully the next 2 1/2 years are just as fun as these have been. Kinley will be so excited because then she will be able to have gum - one thing she looks forward to.