Kyndal's Blog

New blog site...

2010-06-02T14:56:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone! I have been working hard at creating a new blog site so that I can post about Kyndal, the new baby, and whatever else we want :) So there will be no more posts here on kyndalaune.blogspot.com. I actually integrated all of her old journals from babyaune.com onto the new site. However, your email subscriptions are not going to be working from where you subscribed to this site. I am trying to get that functionality working on the new site so be sure to visit it frequently to see the new posts.

So come on over to http://www.followtheaunes.com

Be sure to catch up on all of the recent blog posts that I have put out there. If you look to the right you can click a link "Baby Boy Pregnancy" and see some blogs that I have written over the last several weeks. Make sure you read the following posts about Kyndal.... Summer fun has just begun, Pre-k here we come, Our little tumbler, and Mother's Day. Be sure to leave us a comment while you are there.

Rusty Jackson Aune

2010-05-06T16:51:00.002-05:00

Ha, better keep reading before you assume anything!

So one day while picking up Kyndal from school, her teacher said that Kyndal told her we decided on a name for the baby. She said it was Rusty.... well Rusty is the wrench from the Disney morning show "Handy Manny" that she loves so much. Now Kyndal is not one to ever lie or tell stories(she often tells on herself), but she did tell her teachers we were having a baby before we were ever pregnant. She informed them of the sex (a girl) before we found out it was a boy. And now she is sharing her wish list of names! Something about having this baby has made her imagination go a little crazy.

When talking about names again, she said she likes Jackson. In case you don't know, Jackson is Hannah Montana's brother. She then once again informed her teachers that the name was going to be Jackson! She then decided to combine the two. Our friend Teresa has endearingly when along with Kyndal's imaginative mind and they both call him Rusty, now Rusty Jackson!

I guess they are both nice enough names, just really not our favorite. But if Bret, Kyndal and I can't agree on one, I suppose we have a back up plan and he shall not go nameless!

Time to brag

2010-05-06T16:35:00.002-05:00

Of course I do blog because I love my child and want to leave her a book of written memories. But part of blogging is bragging about your child, I mean don't we all think our own child just hangs the moon? What makes you feel really good as a mother is when OTHER people compliment your child, or give you a good report, right?

So onto the bragging...
Kyndal got her first "report card" a couple of weeks ago. It is really two assessments that show how she has improved over several months. Well between the two reports there was no improvement.... why because she had mastered all of the skills when she was first assessed! They mark how they do on tasks like listening to direction, standing in line, sharing with others... etc... and then they mark all of the letters, numbers, shapes, and colors that they recognize. Everything was checked on both assessments!

All About My Mother

2010-05-06T15:54:00.002-05:00

Kyndal brought home a little survey today where she filled in the blanks ... it is all about me!!!

My mother is 5 years old. (She didn't answer the next two, I didn't conveniently leave them blank!)
My mother is ____ tall.
My mother weighs ____.
My favorite thing to do with my mother is pet the kitty.
What does your mother do all day? shop
What does your mother say a lot? lets go walk
My mothers favorite food is Spaghetti
My mothers favorite tv show is Ellen
Does your mother sing in the car? yes
Can your mother dance? yes
Where does your mother work? at Daddy's work
How much do you love your mother? a bunch

Daddy, does our house float?

2010-05-04T14:37:00.003-05:00

So this is the question that Kyndal asked on Sunday. I was regretting watching Evan Almighty with her on Thursday evening, but how could I have known the events of Saturday and Sunday? It is also ironic that I brought the group bible study the previous Sunday and the subject that I chose was storms and we studied much about the great flood.

It is surreal what has happened to middle Tennessee this past weekend! Many of you probably don't even know the devastation that has hit the areas surrounding us, as it has not been spoken about much in the national media. We were very blessed to all have been out of the area on Saturday when the first round and flooding hit, and also very blessed to have gotten back to our house safely before the second round hit on Sunday.

Flooding caused only by rain has caused our rivers to crest higher than they have in 80 years. Beloved landmarks through the city have been destroyed. Homes have been destroyed and people do not have flood insurance. Lives have been lost. I encourage you to read this blog post, which I think says so much: http://www.section303.com/we-are-nashville-4366

I was all set to present a new study this Sunday about God's promise from Genesis chapter 9, but we canceled our group meeting due to the weather. More importantly we were going to study 2 Peter 3:1-17, and I encourage you to read it too and to please keep the people of this area in your prayers!

"But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness" 2 Peter 3:13

Separation Anxiety

2010-05-04T14:25:00.003-05:00

It hard to believe that my daughter at 3 1/2 would be going through a bought of separation anxiety. I don't think she has ever experienced this before.

Bret and I decided to use a business trip as a chance to have a get-away just the two of us. His conference was in San Francisco and although we have been there before we decided to extend the trip and a few days in Napa Valley and then enjoy some parts of San Francisco that we missed before and visit part that we loved again.

Kyndal had an opportunity to spend time with two sets of her grandparents. We missed her terribly and she missed us. I think she did okay without us, but it has been a bit hard to get everything in our house back to normal. She has not wanted either of us to leave her side. She is okay if one of us is around, but if we both need to leave there has been a few tears and fussing. I think she is getting better now as the last time to drop her off at school she didn't shed a tear. Then Mommy left again for a girls weekend. It will be the last time leaving her for a while, until I have to go into the hospital to have this baby. I do pray that she continues to be excited to have her baby brother and doesn't have any issues with the newest addition and the split of Mommy and Daddy's time.

Of course no post is complete with-out a picture of our baby girl.

Some more April pics

2010-05-04T14:08:00.004-05:00

April

2010-05-04T08:13:00.008-05:00

We continued our Easter celebrations with a few more Easter egg hunts and coloring eggs. We spent some time with Nana and Papa on Saturday for the neighborhood hunt and Sunday we went to church after a quick peak at the Easter basket. Mommy coordinated collecting candy and eggs and the hunt for the three services we had at LifePoint preschool. Since I had to be there all three hours, Kyndal had a total of 6 hunts this year!

To be honest when we went to bed Saturday night I could barely choke out the words that the Easter bunny was going to bring her a basket. There are so many activities that these children have around Easter that do not reinforce the true meaning of Easter and the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and how he died on the cross to save us, that I just had issues with the Easter Bunny. I am thrilled that through our teaching, her school, and church Kyndal could tell you the story of Easter in more detail than I thought a 3 year old could. I am not sure if I will talk about the Easter Bunny for future Easters, maybe it is time for some new traditions. I think because Kyndal has such a greater understanding of all things, I am just getting more cautious about what we tell her and what she learns as truth.

Enjoy the pics....

Neighborhood Hunt

A little Egg Toss with Daddy. Daddy got hit with the Egg, LOL... Mommy was just helping :)

Egg Coloring

This one is for Baby Brother

Flipflops in my Easter Basket? So Silly!

Church Hunt

Easter Celebration at School

2010-04-02T15:56:00.005-05:00

Kyndal had another Easter celebration at school yesterday. We decided to make Easter Bunny Cupcakes for the kiddos. Kyndal helped me make these.

I came to see her Easter Egg Hunt at school. The class made their own buckets out of milk cartons and I think they are adorable!

At the end of the day the kids participated in a balloon launch to celebrate our resurrected Christ. Kyndal is the one in the middle with the pink balloon (of course). They said their Bible Verse "Jesus is Alive" as they released their balloon. I can't tell you enough what a great job the school did at explaining what Easter is about. Kyndal told me many details about what she learned at chapel that day.... she even told me about the disciples and that is certainly not a word I knew at 3.

Spring Break

2010-04-01T20:42:00.003-05:00

Last week Kyndal was on Spring Break.... we had a few nice warm days and a few rainy cold days but we still mananged to have several activities. It was nice to spend a whole week with her!
We made a trip to the zoo on a nicer day. She was excited to see the Lorakeets again even though she was scared of them last time. She did great until one landed on her head. Wish I had a picture of me with one on my head trying to get the one on Kyndal's head off, LOL!

We met some friends at the bounce place, look how excited she was that her friends were coming.

We also went to Chick-fil-a after the bounce place and got to have a behind the scenes look! We love our Chick-fil-a.

Saturday we went on her first egg hunt of the season, the Town Of Smyrna. It was CRAZY there and Kyndal was a little overwhelmed. She managed to get quite a bit of candy, but had more enjoyment of hunting pine cones so she can make a "Pine Cone Craft". This girl is all into her crafts. She also got to visit the firetruck while we were there.

Sunday we were off to church and I tried to get a picture of her in her new outfit, made just for her. It was a lot colder on Sunday and she really wouldn't stand for a pic though :(

A great day for golf

2010-03-19T15:31:00.003-05:00

Today has been a gorgeous day!!! We spent a lot of time outside this morning and Kyndal thought it was a good day for golf.

She is wearing her golf gloves (aka winter mittens), LOL!

She sometimes approaches the game a little more like Happy Gillmore, in fact she likes to call it hockey.

Happy St. Patricks Day

2010-03-19T15:26:00.003-05:00

We wore our green, cooked Irish Pie for dinner, and even had Shamrock doughnuts for dessert.

Here is a few pics of Kyndal, she got the first shirt dirty so she found one that had green dots. She was all about the green!

February Zoo Trip

2010-03-19T15:13:00.003-05:00

I plan on doing a catch up post soon, but didn't want to get any further behind.
In February we had a very rare beautiful Saturday and weather was good enough to be ourside. We had extra zoo passes so we invited our small group. It was fun... we so love the zoo and this will be the first of many trips this year.

Our small group Mama's and kiddos minus a few kiddos.

This little owl was a nice addition to our normal exhibits; he is not normally on exhibit... they brought him out for this day.

Growing up

2009-11-10T21:46:00.005-06:00

So it has been a long while since my last post! We have had Summer vacation and tons of fall and halloween festivities since my last post. Once I get out of this busy season I will be blogging about all of that, but for now I am jumping ahead for a post. Last week I was cleaning out the car and Kyndal was drawing on the driveway with sidewalk chalk all by herself. She called me over and said look Mommy, I drew a person and a cup. Sure enough I could actually make out a person with a body, legs, arms, a head, and eyes....and the cup looked like a cup. So I got a picture of Kyndal's first drawing. Not pictured but also drawn was a rainbow, but drawing rainbows is not new for us.

Daddy’s b-day cake

2009-09-14T22:01:00.001-05:00

Well Daddy’s birthday isn’t until the 21st, but I made a cake for him that we could share with our small group last night. I was ready for a new cake challenge and I wanted to do something cute for him. Since we are going to the beach next week, I decided to make him a beach cake. I had to do this cake quickly since we had such a busy day yesterday. I made this quicker than any other cake! I really wish I had time to make a palm tree and surfboard. Here it is… his beach cake…

Water and waves with a dolphin

Beach complete with sandcastle, sand dollar, towel, drink and umbrella. I borrowed Strawberry shortcake’s umbrella :)

Birthday day with Mommy and Daddy at the zoo

2009-09-14T21:47:00.001-05:00

Kyndal went to school on September 1st and Daddy got off early so that we could pick her up and do something fun with her just the 3 of us. She decided on the zoo. We had so much fun since the zoo was not busy at all. I got to take a lot of pictures of the animals. We left the zoo and Kyndal had a quick nap in the car then we at at one of her favorite places… Chick-fil-a. It was family night so she got her hands painted (instead of her face) and got to see baby cow. She came home and had a few more presents to open. It was a full day.

Our little peanut

2009-09-14T21:29:00.001-05:00

Kyndal had her 3 year well check-up last week. Everything is great with her. She is still 26 pounds and is in 5th percentile for height and 10th percentile for weight. She is our little peanut and although she is 3 now and growing older I am still enjoying her being little.

Family

2009-09-14T21:24:00.001-05:00

Kyndal had 3 sets of Grandparents at her party and her Aunt Tami, Aunt Katherine, and cousin Courtney. We took the opportunity to take pictures of Kyndal with each set of Grandparents and a group shot of all of the family.

Birthday Girl

2009-09-14T21:13:00.001-05:00

All dolled up in her tu-tu and new shirt!

Jayce and Kyndal

Blowing out the birthday candles

Pretty Girl

Lots of present opening

Look, another purse

Loves her new barbie guitar!

Party Fun

2009-09-14T21:03:00.001-05:00

We got a Strawberry Shortcake bounce house for the party. The kids (both little and big) had a blast bouncing in the bounce house and playing on the swingset.

Love this one, someone’s foot and someone’s hair in the pic, LOL!

Jayce made sure we got our money’s worth from the bounce house.

One of my favorite pics of the day, she is having such a good time and it is typical of Kyndal talking with her hands to someone.

A “Berry” Special Birthday Party

2009-09-10T20:43:00.003-05:00

Kyndal picked the theme for her birthday party this year. She started off wanting a Belle party, from Beauty and the Beast. She changed her mind and Strawberry Shortcake stuck until about a week before the party and she asked for Belle again, LOL! She was very happy about her Strawberry Shortcake party. It is a fun theme to work with, however not as easy to find stuff out there for favors and the cake as the Disney stuff is. Ebay and the Dollar store were great sources for me though. Kyndal was very specific about her cake and wanted to have Strawberry Shortcake, pupcake and custard all on her cake. Finding a pupcake AND custard was hard, but I did it :)
Here are some details from the party…

Favor boxes to look like Strawberries

Prizes

Kyndal’s name banner

Scratch off prize tickets

Party blow-outs

Flowers Kyndal picked out for the party

This tray had Strawberry shortcake rolls on the top, Gingersnaps on the middle and Blueberry muffins on the bottom.

Candy triffle, Strawberry whoppers, Strawberry candy, and Hershey kisses

Some cupcakes

Strawberry twizzlers

Strawberry Jelly Sandwiches

Made out own fruit arrangement, chocolate dipped strawberries, chocolate dipped strawberry marshmallows, and pineapple, and cantaloupe.

Balloons

Summer Fun

2009-09-09T14:40:00.003-05:00

Well this summer seemed to just fly by! We sure did have a busy one with Kyndal's dance class, our small group, attending a new church awaiting our old one to get finished with upgrades. Kyndal adjusted very well to the changes with the church, she just says we have 2 churches and I guess that is just about right. We kept busy with friends and family. We went swimming at the YMCA, Kyndal is a lot more comfortable in the water this year. We went to the splash pad, attended free summer movies, made several trips to the zoo, went to the park with our small group and mini golf. I thought I had a lot more pictures, but since I don't the next posts will be about Kyndal's birthday party!

Party plans are in full swing

2009-08-28T12:24:00.002-05:00

Well actually the planning is over, now is the time for execution! I can't believe that my baby girl will be 3 on Tuesday. I know she is going to enjoy this birthday so much more this year. She picked the theme herself and she has been asking me for weeks if today is her party. I can't tell you how much I enjoy planning a party for my precious little girl. She is blessed enough to have all of her grandparent there (we are going to miss her Great-grandparents though who can't make the trip) and so many friends to celebrate with. I can't wait until tomorrow when we are all going to have a "Berry" fabulous birthday celebration!

Kyndal’s Birthday is coming up soon

2009-08-14T15:45:00.003-05:00

Invites are out and preparations are in full swing… our little girl is going to be 3 very soon. I will post her invite on here as soon as I make another one for us. All of our family is of course invited, please don’t feel left out if you didn’t get an invite. We sent them to those who we thought would be able to make it, and those who usually can’t we didn’t only because I hand made each of her invitations so I needed to shorten the list so I wouldn’t get carpel tunnel :) It is Saturday August 29th at 4:00 pm and the theme is Strawberry Shortcake.

If you are wondering what to get for the little princess who is about to turn 3, I will give you some ideas to help you out. Of course please don’t feel like you have to buy her anything and if you still feel like you want to…. know that she would be thrilled with something as simple as stickers (especially if they were the sparkly kind) or even tattoos.

Here is the list….

Dress up stuff… princess dresses of every kind since she has none.

Barbies, she has been waiting to turn three for these!

Nightgowns, she is outgrowing all of her PJ’s and she only has one nightgown but it is her favorite thing to sleep in.

She loves to sing …. she has asked for a guitar.

And really anything girly. We have made her wish lists at Target and Babies R Us to maybe help out a little. We are not trying to be greedy, we just get asked so many times by different people for suggestions we thought we would make it easier this year.

Also, one more request from Mommy and Daddy, we are getting her a Melissa and Doug puppet theater for her birthday so she will need some more Melissa and Doug puppets. We have placed some on each of her wish lists. We are getting her the cheerleader puppet.

Her Lists:

Toys-r-us wish list

Target Wish List

and just for kicks… I was browsing some Barbie stuff looking for things to add to her list and I came across this…

Barbie and the Rockers

It is one of the Barbies that I had as a little girl. Barbie and the Rockers, in fact I think we still have it somewhere. I think it was the very last Barbie I ever got and I even remember the store we got it at in Florida, Ames. I can’t believe it has come back as a vintage Barbie. Go check out the Barbies in the stores, since it is Barbies 50th anniversary they are bringing back Barbies from many generations. You may be able to find one from your childhood. Barbie and the Rockers Barbie was made in 1986, I was 10 years old.

School is back in

2009-08-14T15:12:00.003-05:00

Kyndal started back to school yesterday. It seems as if our summer has just flown by. I have not been real good about blogging because Kyndal and my business have keep me extremely busy. It has been rather hard keeping up with things for the business that has been busier than any previous summer and keeping Kyndal occupied. I hope to have a blog post of pictures with some summer highlights soon. Kyndal has stayed busy (and Mommy too) with her summer dance class, meeting new friends, socializing with old friends, attending a new church, going to the zoo, swimming at the YMCA and many other things!

She will be going to school Tuesday and Thursday like she did last year from 9-2. She already knows one of her teachers… Abby’s Mommy, a friend of ours from church. She also know several kids in her class from last year and an old friend from her Kindermusic class from when she was little that we have gotten back in touch with through dance class and church. Her name is Anna Kate and I am sure you will hear more about her since Kyndal loves her new little friend Anna Kate.

For now here is a picture from yesterday on our way to school.

and one from last year on her first day of school

If your happy in your nose

2009-08-09T22:53:00.001-05:00

Kyndal was singing tonight….

“If your happy in your nose, clap your hands”

I said Kyndal it is supposed to be “If your happy and you know it, clap your hands” . She said no Mommy, those are not the words that my teacher says…. she taught us “If your happy in your nose, clap your hands”. Can’t really argue with an almost 3 year old, well I can I just wont win.

Kyndal reads the bible

2009-07-29T15:45:00.002-05:00

Here is a video of Kyndal reading her bible. She thought it was a funny story I guess. Listen closely, with the echo it is a little hard to understand. She starts in Genesis if that helps at all. Enjoy!

Kyndal starts dance class

2009-07-10T21:57:00.004-05:00

This week Kyndal started her dance class. It is a tap/ballet/tumbling class that goes 2 nights a week for 4 weeks. She was so excited to start. The first night was a little rough because some of the girls in the class were not happy to be there and Kyndal was greatly concerned with the little girls who where crying. She did great though but was upset that they didn't get to use the tap shoes that night. The second night she was much happier because they used the tap shoes too. Her friend Kira is in the class with her and she is quickly making new friends too.

Dollywood

2009-07-10T21:36:00.001-05:00

We took an extra day in East Tennessee and decided to use our season passes and go to Dollywood again. It was Kid Fest at Dollywood and we were greeted by Larry and Bob. Kyndal didn't want to see them at first but then I took her over there and she shook Larry's hand. When we were taking the picture, Bob reached out and touched her and Kyndal freaked out. Although rain was in the forecast, it never rained while we were there. It was an unusually cool day for July, so it was perfect. We also took Kyndal to see a live version of "Llama llama Red Pajama"... it was very cute. She had a blast with her Nana and Papaw Kennedy and Mommy and Daddy.

4th of July... family, food, fishing and fun!

2009-07-10T20:25:00.003-05:00

We spent the 4th of July in Kingston with Bret's family, it is our annual tradition. My Mom and Dad came out too. We enjoyed visiting with family, eating a ton of food (the desserts were yummy). We went fishing like we always do and got Kyndal her very own pole this time, a Barbie one. She was so excited to go fishing. She can actually cast her pole and reel it in by herself. She was excited when she caught her first fish, but the excitement quickly turned to a freak out when the fish started flopping around. I am amazed I got a picture of her with it. She really didn't want to have much to do with any of the fish. I finally got her to touch one of the fish and almost kiss one. My grandpa used to have me kiss the fish that I caught and throw them back in.. LOL! We so look forward to our 4th of July trip each year and we had the best weather while we were there. Enjoy the pics.

Loved her hair like this, but those darn bows just would not stay in her hair!

Small Group 4th of July fun

2009-07-10T16:25:00.003-05:00

Half of our small group couldn't make it last Thursday because they were away for the holiday, so we decided to take our much smaller small group to the park for a picnic. Here are some cute shots of the kids and my melted 4th of July cupcake cake. The one I actually made on the 4th turned out much better :)

More dance practice

2009-07-10T13:32:00.004-05:00

Kyndal got her tap shoes the week before class and had to try them on. She also wanted to wear a ballerina outfit that her Aunt Shelly got her a while ago to do some more practice moves before she started class (the outfit is a little small now). I think she is going to be quite the performer, what do you think?

After observing Kyndal I can pretty much guess that she is not going to like the structure of ballet, she is a little more free form that that. I was the same way as a kid, loved jazz but no so hot on ballet.

LifePoint Church

2009-07-10T11:13:00.004-05:00

July 1st we became new members of LifePoint Church. I finally had to explain to Kyndal that we would not be going to "her church" for a little bit while it was being fixed up. I told her we would be going to the church at her school for a while. She was very cute and tried to explain this to her Daddy when we at dinner that night at the Sonic on our way to the membership class. Every time we go past the church which is normally several times a day, she asks if it is fixed yet. We took her in there on Tuesday while I was taking some pictures of the progress, so she got to see the construction first hand. If you haven't read the full story it can be found on my blog here. http://kristinnoel.blogspot.com/2009/06/unity.html

Here she is with her Daddy at the Sonic.

Here is a picture of our new church (The main campus)

Future Photographer?

2009-07-10T11:06:00.003-05:00

Kyndal decided to set up all of her animals for a portrait. Then she wanted one with them. Then she recomposed the set-up in a different location and wanted Mommy in the pic. Could she be following in her Mommy's footsteps?

Two cute things that Kyndal said today

2009-07-02T14:32:00.002-05:00

She had her pretend phone in the back seat and she told me she was talking to Teresa. She said "Can you talk louder".... "hang on let me put you on speakerphone"! LOL!

The second thing maybe not as cute but we were in the parking lot at the store and I said Kyndal give me your hand. She wasn't paying attention but when a car started to back out I said very sternly "HAND". She said "Calm down". I responded with don't tell me to calm down and she said "But Mommy you just need to calm down" ... at that point all I could do was giggle.

Wonder where she hears those phrases?

Dance Class

2009-07-01T16:03:00.003-05:00

Kyndal is starting dance class on Monday for their 4 week, 8 class summer program. I wasn't sure if I was going to start her in class, until she started doing these dances and shouting out to me or Bret to "watch me." I am not sure where she gets her moves and they sort of look more interpretive than ballet. Anyhow, she will be doing a combo tab/ballet/tumbling class. We picked her up a leotard last night and she wanted to where it when she got home. Once she had it on she started to perform. After seeing how into it she was, I am getting excited! Here is a video of her last night

Road Trip - Little Rock

2009-06-25T11:28:00.004-05:00

We stopped in Little Rock on the way to OK and back from TX. On our return trip we made it to a AA baseball game (the ballpark was behind the hotel). The Arkansas Travelers had an awesome little ballpark that we loved. We even got free flip flops, it was fun!

LOL, another pic of me!

Road Trip - Texas

2009-06-25T11:11:00.005-05:00

We continued our Road Trip by going onto Texas for Kyndal's Aunt Katherine's graduation. Bret's Dad went into the hospital unexpectedly while we were there and unfortunately they both missed the graduation. He is fine, thanks for all of the prayers and thoughts. Kyndal and I did make it to lunch with the family and to Katherine's graduation though, so here are some pictures.

Cousin Justin and Kyndal
Justin
Kyndal
Look, I am actually in a picture with cousin Rachel
Kyndal's gift for Katherine.
Congratulations
The Graduate

Road Trip - Oklahoma

2009-06-23T16:24:00.003-05:00

We went down to Texas to see Bret's sister's graduate High School and we decided that since we were going all that way we would go to Oklahoma to see his Brother and Sister in law, sister, and our nephew Bo. We went to see the Oklahoma City Memorial while we where there. Here are a few pics. The rest are posted on facebook.... if you are not on there you should be because I post a whole lot more pics there :)

Zoo with the girls

2009-06-23T15:19:00.005-05:00

At the end of May Courtney my niece came to spend a few days with us. Maegan and Courtney made friends quickly and she came over for a sleep over too. I took all of the girls to the zoo. We only went to one side of the zoo and then we toured the historic home and went to the playground. The tour of the house was nice, I have never done that before in all of our previous visits to the zoo. I liked hearing the history of the land and the families that owned it before it became the Nashville Zoo. Here are some pictures of the girls.

Last annual Stonebrook Memorial day picnic

2009-06-22T14:28:00.003-05:00

We had a blast on memorial day as what we now know was the very last annual Stonebrook Memorial Day picnic. It was a parred down version of picnics of the past... however we had great time in fellowship with our church family. We played games, ate, and roasted marshmallows for Smores on a tiny little fire! Our friends Kim, Joe and Lola even joined us. Here are just two pics one of Kyndal looking so grown up and one of Jayce, Kyndal's friend and our little buddy holding his "Doctor Kit" that we made in SS that morning.

If you want to hear more about why this is the last Stonebrook Memorial Day Picnic... please read this post from my blog http://kristinnoel.blogspot.com/2009/06/unity.html

Oh, one more picture of a bonfire from a past picnic...

Sleep Over

2009-06-16T15:26:00.003-05:00

We kept our friends little girl overnight in May .... so it was Kyndal's first sleep over!

Mother's Day weekend

2009-06-10T21:28:00.005-05:00

We went to see Nana and Papa "Ta-connaha" (McConaha) for Mother' Day weekend and Nana's birthday. Kyndal loves Madison, Mom and Dad's dog, and she is just about the only dog that she isn't at least a little bit scared of... in fact she often tries to ride her like a horse. She also loves "Hannah Montana" or Montana their cat too, although they are quite the buddies like Kyndal and Madison are. We had fun hanging out with the family, playing with 3D sidewalk chalk, and celebrating Nana's b-day.

Fun at Dollywood

2009-06-08T21:19:00.002-05:00

So I am very behind on blogging... hopefully I will catch up sooner or later.

We went on an anniversary trip to Asheville back in April and Kyndal stayed with her Nana and Papaw "Kenneny" aka Kennedy.. LOL! We got season passes to Dollywood so we will be back again. Here are some pictures of our Dollywood fun.

Video's of Kyndal's Tumbling Class

2009-05-19T20:20:00.002-05:00

Tumbling Videos

Warm-up

Tumbling

Getting her medal

Kyndal's Tumbling Class

2009-05-14T16:39:00.002-05:00

Bret and I got to watch Kyndal's tumbling class for the first time this week. She goes during school so we don't usually get to see it, but she does come home and show us some things. Since the last week of school is next week it will also be her last tumbling class, Ms. Jamie gave out medals to the kids. We were amazed by how much they do in the tumbling class. Her teacher is awesome and it was a blast to watch! She has only been going since January, we are definitely signing her up next year! Here is a little video montage. I will be posting some videos too.

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Bowling Birthday Party

2009-04-22T10:33:00.004-05:00

Kyndal's little friend Kira turned 3 on Easter Sunday and they had a princess bowling birthday party on the 11th to celebrate. This was Kyndal's first time bowling and she loved it! She as actually able to carry the ball although she doesn't have a whole lot of power getting it down the lane. She used the metal guide for a while and then she wanted to roll it down the lane without it. We had one stuck ball at one point. I am sure we will take her bowling again. It was such a fun birthday party.

Showing off her shoes..

Drying her hands... LOL!
Cute!!
The birthday princess, Kira!
This is my good friend Angel, Kira's Mommy, with her older daughter Danielle. Danielle often babysits for Kyndal, and she is the best babysitter EVER! Aren't they a cute mother/daugther!

Easter Sunday

2009-04-13T10:35:00.003-05:00

We had a full day yesterday as we celebrated our Risen Lord. We tried not to talk about the Easter Bunny with Kyndal, we want her to know we are celebrating Jesus during this holiday. We did leave a basket out for her to find Sunday Morning. We got up bright and early to make it to church by 8:15 for a yummy breakfast. We were teaching during the worship hour and we took the kids into praise and worship to enjoy the music like we normally do. We got back to make bookmarks, make a tomb and stone craft, read our story, and learn more about Easter with our Resurrection Eggs. We sent a treat bag with each child and sent home the Easter Basket cupcake of which the handle snapped in half sometime during the night and they looked pretty silly at this point, but they loved them anyway.

We came home to make a nice Easter Lunch, we hid eggs outside two times for Kyndal to find, we talked to Family and Friends and we ate plenty of candy, then we rested up. It was a wonderful Easter, we love that we can share it's meaning with Kyndal and she can get something more out of it than candy and Easter eggs and baskets.

Getting Ready for Easter

2009-04-11T21:40:00.004-05:00

After a birthday party today we came home to color eggs, make some cupcakes for our class in the morning, and get Kyndal's Easter Basket ready. We are trying to get things ready so that we can be at church in the morning at 8:15 for breakfast, but I managed to squeeze in a blog post. Here are a few pics...

Heading to the party...(I will blog on that later) Kyndal is sporting her new Gymboree outfit and the jacket that her Nana bought for her.Coloring Eggs.
Decorating them with stickers... "um, which one will I choose"
Easter Basket Cupcakes... Kyndal helped make the cupcakes.

Kyndal's Easter Basket.

And as is tradition, Daddy surprised Kyndal with a Bunny in her bed waiting for her at bedtime. I can't wait to get mine too... Te He He!

Quite a Day in Tennessee

2009-04-11T07:48:00.002-05:00

WOW, yesterday was just unbelievable! The started okay with some cleaning at the church and then we were going to get ready for our MOMS Club Easter Egg Hunt that I had moved from outside to inside our sanctuary because of the rain. We got home and prepared lunch and the rain kicked up, we watched it hail outside. I called my neighbor who has left me a message asking about the egg hunt, she said if the weather got bad they wouldn't be there. At that point I turned on the TV and watched the severe weather coverage. I didn't realized quite the severity. We watched for a while and Bret called us, while he was on the phone he heard over the intercom that they were to go to their "Safe Place". We continued watching and then saw this video....

840 is just a few miles from our house. At that point we moved to the bedroom away from all of the windows and closer to our safe place, the toilet closet in our bathroom. I then heard some people calling in from the Blackman community stating that they spotted tornadoes. That community is also just a few miles from our house. We made our way into the bathroom, listening to the TV and internet coverage . At some point we moved into the little toilet closet and kept in contact with our friends Kim and Joe who were watching the weather since our satellite went out. We were praying that the LORD would keep us safe as well as our friends and family. We still had internet and power. It was quite scary and we must have gotten some pretty heavy rain during that last storm line because I could hear the heavy rain from where we were. It finally passed and the sun started shining, WOW! Once or satellite came back up we watched the coverage and realized how blessed we are that a tornado didn't hit our neighborhood. There has been many destroyed homes in Murfreesboro and two confirmed deaths as well as a number of injuries. It is still emotional for me to think about the destruction. Videos and pictures are still coming in to the news station of different tornadoes, there were so many.

Easter Egg Hunt #2 - Stonebrook Church

2009-04-06T19:20:00.004-05:00

Palm Sunday after our service we had an Easter Egg Hunt for the kids at church. We had a hunt, cupcakes, and prizes. Kyndal picked out a Belle Polly Pocket and she loves it. I have probably changed the dress from the pink to the yellow several dozen times, just what I wanted... LOL! She got to wear the Easter Dress that her Nana bought her last year to the hunt... lucky girl... two Easter dresses!

Picking "Flowers" aka Dandelions
"Here is a flower for you Mommy"
Checking out her goodies with her friend Jayce... she is a bit sweet on him!

Easter Egg Hunt #1

2009-04-06T19:06:00.002-05:00

Yes, I am numbering these because she has FOUR Easter Egg Hunts this year! This one was put on by our Subdivision Home Owners Association. Kyndal was timid at first and didn't want to pick up eggs. One of the other children helped her out by putting one in her basket and then she got into it! She got a little prize and picked out an Elmo kite, we can't wait to fly it! Maybe that will happen after the snow stops, the temperature warms and we have a little wind instead of the major wind storms we have been having!

Video of Kyndal counting

2009-03-26T10:57:00.001-05:00

Email subscribers go to the blog to view the video!

Zoo day

2009-03-24T21:43:00.002-05:00

We went to the Zoo with our MOMS Club friends on Monday. It was a beautiful day! Kyndal was suffering from some allergies because I forgot to give her some medicine before we left. We had a blast, riding the carousel, seeing the animals, having lunch, and playing on the playground.

Happy St. Patricks Day

2009-03-17T17:08:00.004-05:00

A video from Kyndal

Tea Party

2009-03-17T15:33:00.003-05:00

Yesterday we went to a tea party at the Chatterbox in Smyrna. Kyndal got all dressed up, complete with her "fancy" jewelry that her Nana McConaha bought her when she was born. The pictures of the jewelry was before we painted her nails for the occasion. We also need to polish up the silver a bit, but didn't have any silver cleaner. Kyndal had a lovely time with all of her girlfriends. We had tea and pasta salad and sandwiches. She loved going to a real tea party.

Pictures from yesterday

2009-03-11T08:58:00.004-05:00

Well, our facebook friends are getting first looks at all of the pictures lately. So if you are not on Facebook, it is time to get with the times!! Don't you know everyone is doing it......

Here are some pictures of our little girl from yesterday.

Pipsqueak update

2009-03-04T13:39:00.004-06:00

So I guess I have been a bad blogger lately, me a bad blogger, who would have thought? We have had a lot of irons in the fire lately and don't see it slacking any time soon. Anyway, I thought I would give a quick update on our precious little girl.

She turned 2 1/2 on Sunday. I measured her yesterday to mark her height on the growth chart and she was 34 inches tall and she only weighs 24.5 lbs. I checked it on the growth chart on the internet and that makes her in the 10th percentile for height and less than 5th for weight, so we do in fact have a little pipsqueak. Her intelligence however is much bigger than her physical size and actual age. She has a memory that I cannot believe. She remembers who bought her certain things, who said what, it is amazing! She loves to sing, dance, and all things girly. She will talk your ear off once she warms up to you. She is a little sensitive though at times. She also loves, loves, loves to do crafts! Well, I just thought I would post about our little girl and share a couple of pictures that I took several weeks ago. Enjoy!

Build A Bear

2009-02-23T08:04:00.004-06:00

On Valentines Day we took Kyndal to Build A Bear. We got out of the house early to avoid the rush and were among the first few in the store. I could have bet money that Kyndal would choose a pink bear

She chose a heart and used the foot petal to help stuff the bear.

She picked out the clothes and we dressed her bear. Of course a pink shirt and pink panties, then silver shoes and a matching silver purse. She coordinated her well without any input from us... we offered input but she had her own agenda.

Then it was time to choose the name.... we also tried to help with this task..... however little miss independent insisted on naming her bear Kyndal.

We shopped the mall, ate lunch and Kyndal and Daddy went on a carousel ride.

Happy Valentines Day!

2009-02-15T07:55:00.004-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day from Kyndal! We had a fun day yesterday, more of that later. Here is Kyndal's card to all of you. Sorry that some of you didn't get it in the mail this time, we were crunched for time.

Mom's and Dad's say the darndest things!

2009-02-11T15:17:00.002-06:00

So I have decided that I am going to start writing down some things that we have actually said out loud to Kyndal. There have been some doozies lately. These are things that after you had said them you think I can't believe that I actually had to say that. I can't remember them most of the time which is why I am going to start writing them down..... so the one from last night was...

"Don't lick the cat"

I will post a whole list when I have more, it should be funny! Life is an adventure with a two year old.

Picture Update

2009-02-03T21:40:00.005-06:00

It has been a while since I blogged... Here is what Kyndal has been up to.

Joy riding with her girlfriends.

Helping Mommy in the kitchen.

Playing in the snow (yeah right, I meant snow flurries)

Torturing her new "daughters", the kitties Holly and Junie.

Family fun at Chick-fil-a

2009-01-15T11:52:00.002-06:00

We went to family night at Chick-fil-a on Tuesday. Kyndal had a blast, they had somebody name conductor Jack there to sing songs and entertain the kids. Kyndal danced and did some hand motions to some of the songs. She also loved baby cow who she hugged and gave high fives to. She got her face painted and got a balloon creation, a pink flower that she could put on her wrist.

I didn't bring my camera, I wish I got a picture of her with the cow. But I did get some of her face and balloon once we got home.

Little Kicks Tumbling

2009-01-14T16:35:00.002-06:00

Kyndal started tumbling class yesterday. They offer it at her school and they take her out of class one day a week during class playtime to go to tumbling. Sometimes Kyndal is a little shy when trying new things at first and it takes her a while to warm up, apparently this was not so with tumbling. Her teacher emailed me and this is what she wrote:

"I just wanted to let you know that Kyndal did a SUPER job in class today. I know that you said she was a little shy, but she jumped right in a took off. She was ready to go!!!!!"

She came home and told us all about it and left her daddy a voicemail at work. She told us that she jumped like Alvin and the Chimpmunks (which means on a trampoline), she said that she put her head on the cheese and showed us how she did a somersault. We had no idea what that meant, but come to find out they call the incline mat "Mr. Cheese", LOL! She said she crawled through the tunnel and showed us all sorts of things. She loves it!!

Newspaper

2009-01-12T21:56:00.003-06:00

Here is the newspaper article that featured Kyndal's picture.
Better late than never, right? I know it isn't Christmas time anymore, but I thought some of you might like to see it.

Christmas

2009-01-01T22:05:00.003-06:00

We are sad Christmas is over, it was so much fun this year. It was very special to teach Kyndal why we celebrate Christmas. She can tell you why, although of course she doesn't know what it all means quite yet. She one day will, but for now she knows it is to Celebrate Jesus' Birthday. Here is a slideshow of some Christmas pictures. First Christmas morning at home, then at Nana and Papa McConaha's and then off to Nana and Papaw Kennedy's. I also threw in some pictures at the end of some of our holiday decor. I am sad to see it all come down.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Email subscribers go to the blog to see the slideshow.

Also here is my favorite picture of the Holiday. It really expresses her joy, she was opening her Handy Manny toy in this picture. I think it was her favorite toy, even better than the little red car.

Our Rock Star.... featured in the local newspaper

2008-12-24T21:33:00.002-06:00

Today we went to see Santa again at the mall. Kyndal sat in his lap and once again told him that she wanted a Little Red Car. We didn't get any pictures, we wanted to have it just be a visit with Santa. When we got home later today our Neighbor Jennifer gave us a call and asked if we got the Smyrna AM in the mail today. I hadn't checked the mail, but she said that Kyndal was on page 4. The Santa visit to our Stonewood Subdivision earlier this month made it to the paper and a picture of Kyndal on his lap was featured in the article. I will scan it and post it for those who don't get the Smyrna am, but for those who do take a look at page 4 and don't throw the paper away please save us a copy. I am sure there are several sets of grandparents who would like to have one.

Kyndal's first production.... our little black sheep

2008-12-23T21:08:00.003-06:00

Last Thursday was the Christmas program at Kyndal's preschool. Our little girl was part of the Nativity scene, playing a role of a sheep. Our friend Katie was playing Mary. It was really the sweetest Christmas program evah! I cried when the children sang, cried when Mary came out, and cried when our little sheep came out. I guess I cried the whole time! Kyndal did quite well in the program. She didn't crawl out as planned (and like she practiced for a month), but considering she had only a 5 minute nap that day I can't blame her. She did sit and cross her little legs and I could see her sing and do hand motions along with the rest of the Children who were singing. The sang Happy Birthday Jesus, and Kyndal did at church last Sunday too. Here are a few pictures. I will have video eventually, but right now it is on our video camera tape.

Here are the rest of the kids (ones not in the nativity). They were the choir.

Here is our sheep, front and center.

Christmas fun

2008-12-22T22:40:00.003-06:00

We were invited to our friend's house Samantha, Josh and Lilly Kate's for a little Christmas gathering for the girls. The girls decorated cookies and had a little book exchange. Everyone was going away before or on Christmas (except us), so it was nice for them to get together to celebrate. Here is a little slide show of the fun!

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Holiday Cheer

2008-12-22T22:23:00.003-06:00

Here is Kyndal in one of her Christmassy outfits.

Ho Ho Ho

Cheese face again.

Opryland Visit

2008-12-22T22:17:00.004-06:00

Here are some pictures from our Opryland Hotel/Opry Mills ~~torture~~ visit.

I am actually in these pictures... Thanks Daddy.

At the hotel... Look a tree bigger than ours.

Mommy and Kyndal rode on the train.

We rode the carousel at the mall too.

Cheese face.

A more serious one.

Kyndal's Christmas Wish List

2008-12-15T21:00:00.001-06:00

Enjoy the video.

For email subscribers, click on the link to get to the blog post to view the video.

Making a Gingerbread House

2008-12-15T20:55:00.002-06:00

We made a gingerbread house on Saturday. It was lots of fun and good to eat too!

Breakfast with Santa

2008-12-14T13:55:00.003-06:00

Yesterday morning we went to have breakfast with Santa in the common area in our subdivision. They had hot chocolate, donuts, cupcakes, juice and a big bon-fire to keep us warm. Santa arrived shortly after we got there and all the kids sat in his lap and he knew what they wanted for Christmas even before they asked. Kyndal has seen Santa in the various malls several times by now, but wanted no part in sitting in his lap. You may remember our Santa Visit last year. We didn't want to repeat it, so we have not pushed her into sitting in his lap. Yesterday, however, she wanted to sit in his lap. It may have been because her little friend Lauren sat in his lap first. Here are a few pictures, I think it is neat because there is still a little snow left on the ground in these pictures.

Snow

2008-12-12T14:53:00.004-06:00

It felt like Christmas time last night. We watched the snow fall and baked some cookies. This morning we had a pretty good covering. I had to bribe Kyndal to go out in it. I told her we would play with playdough if she went outside with me and let me take some pitures.

Here are a few pics and a video.

This is what Kyndal does when I tell her to smile for the camera.

Our finished Christmas Tree - One of them

2008-12-04T16:34:00.005-06:00

Here are some pictures of the new Christmas tree. I picked up a few more things today to make it complete. I love our little Angel on top of the tree. We bought it last year after Christmas on clearance, I thought it would be too small for this tree, but I really love it. I am also posting pictures of some of my favorite ornaments.
Love our new Photo Ornament of Kyndal, it is one of the new products at Kristin Aune Photography.
This is one of our wedding ornaments. It is kind of hard to see here because it was quite far up on the tree, it is beautiful though.
A wedding photo ornament. My favorite picture of us during our wedding reception.
I love this angel.
Kyndal admiring the tree.
Self portrait. How do you like this Mom and Dad, a picture of me. I saw this from the picture of the Kyndal ornament and thought it was cool. I like how you can see the whole house behind me. I guess it is a makeshift fisheye lens!!

Tree Trimming

2008-12-04T12:57:00.003-06:00

We are almost finished decorating for Christmas. With a much larger house, there was a whole lot of decorations to buy this year. We now have two Christmas trees decorated in our house. I was pretty certain we would need a larger Christmas tree here in the new house, so I began searching. The one from the old house was a slim-line 7.5 foot tree. With our soaring ceilings I was sure it wasn't big enough. Bret did not understand this... we have a perfectly good tree. So I put it up in the living room and he immediately understood the need for a bigger one. We put the old one in the foyer, I got it decorated last weekend. Last night we decorated the new one in the livingroom with all of our family ornaments. Kyndal helped and here are a few pictures of Kyndal's decorating job. Notice the conglomeration of balls on on the bottom all in the same section.

It was interesting trying to get the angel on the new 9 foot tree. We tried using Kyndal's stepstool... We tried my step ladder... We ended up getting the 6 foot ladder out to finish the job.

Haircut

2008-12-04T12:52:00.003-06:00

I forgot one thing. Kyndal's Nana Kennedy gave her another haircut while they were here on Thanksgiving. Nothing drastic, but she did taper the sides. It looks so cute, thanks Nana. I will post a picture shortly.

Thanksgiving

2008-12-04T12:39:00.003-06:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in our new house. Kyndal's Nana and Papa Mcconaha and her Nana and Papaw Kennedy were here, as well as our friends Joe, Kim and Lola. I guess I am starting to get used to cooking the whole Thanksgiving meal, because it certainly went a whole lot smoother this year. Not that it has ever been bad, just more stressful. This year the Turkey was done on time and everything else came together great. I didn't have to buy two Turkeys either like I did a couple of years back because I forgot to put one in the fridge one evening and it was left out all night... LOL!

The table all set...

The kids table

Getting ready to eat. Here are all of our guests.

I do need to make one observation about this photo. Do you notice everyone looking at the camera while I am taking the picture. Okay... all but one. This is why there are no pictures of you on the family wall, at least you don't have your arms over your face in this one, LOL! I love you and will eventually get a picture of your face unobstructed, it is a new goal of mine.

Mommy's new blog

2008-12-03T15:13:00.002-06:00

Mommy started a new blog ... go check it out at kristinnoel.blogspot.com

Kyndal talks with her hands

2008-11-25T21:47:00.001-06:00

Apparently Kyndal has seen me talking on the phone one too many times. *Hangs head in shame* I actually talk with my hands on the phone, Huh, why, I dunno? I probably do it in person too, but I only notice while I am on the phone and I think I must look like a total idiot. Anyway, Kyndal has picked this up. It is pretty cute when she does it.

Kyndal's Christmas Program

2008-11-25T21:29:00.002-06:00

Last Thursday I was thrilled to get a little slip of paper when I dropped Kyndal off that said she was chosen to be a sheep in the Christmas program. I got teary eyed. Another first, her first Christmas program. Her first role! I can't wait to see it. They have also been practicing songs that they will sing. I was surprised on Sunday when Kyndal just started singing "God our Father". It is really amazing what she is learning and I am so happy that she has her Mother's Day Out Program, a Christian program. We have to decide whether Kyndal is going to be a black sheep or a white sheep. We have the black clothes already for the black sheep role, but she sometimes says she wants to be a white sheep.

p.s. Katie our friend from our MOMS Club, who is 3, is going to be Mary in the Christmas program! I really can't wait to see it.

Questions for Kyndal

2008-11-25T21:15:00.001-06:00

Here is a cute video of Kyndal.... I ask her several times what her Doctor's name is because I love the way she says Dr. Rosser and I am impressed that she knows his name.

Thanksgiving Banquet

2008-11-25T20:50:00.004-06:00

Today we got to go to Kyndal's school and enjoy a Thanksgiving banquet with her and the rest of the kids, parents, and teachers. Kyndal was a little sleepy because it was getting close to naptime, but it was fun! I love all of these little first's we are having, First School Function!! Here are some pics.

Here is our girl before school today.

With each of her teachers.

Mrs. Mandy

Mrs. Margi

Meltdown

2008-11-23T07:50:00.003-06:00

Most of you know how 2 year olds are, they can have a meltdown at the tiniest little thing. Kyndal had a phase before she was two and would throw a fit when I didn't put the panties that she wanted to wear on. She would want pink carebears or something of the sort, and if those happened to be dirty it was meltdown time. We had a time or two with outfits too. That was a short phase, but she does still occasionally have a meltdown.

Seriously there is not a whole lot you can do when these do occur, especially when you don't know what triggered it. So I was watching Larry the Cable Guy on Jay Leno the other night and he was talking about his 2 year old's fits. He had a whole series of pictures documenting these fits. He said what do you do when they happen, you laugh point and take a picture. It was quite funny. Wow, if all of us parents could find it this amusing. So when Kyndal threw a fit one night when we were headed out the door (not sure why), I snapped this picture. I am sure I didn't get quite as much enjoyment as Larry the Cable Guys does.

Fall Projects

2008-11-23T07:36:00.003-06:00

Thinks have been quite busy for us and Kyndal was sick for a while, just a virus, but it seems everyone has gotten one lately. Things are calmer now, so I am back to blogging again.

We did some fall projects recently. We had a craft day and service project here at our house. We made cards for the troops and collected items to send to Iraq. Kyndal's Aunt Dee is in Iraq. She was home for a little over a week because her brother passed away, but she had to go home on Saturday. I am sure these packages will have perfect timing because she should be getting them shortly after she gets back there. We do ask for continued prayers. We ended up collecting a lot of great things for the boxes and I stuffed three boxes full to send, thanks to my MOMS Club. Here is a picture of everything on my stairs before being boxed up.

The kids also made some special Thanksgiving cards to send to the troops and a craft to take home with them. Here is Kyndal's pine cone turkey.

America's Sweetheart

2008-11-09T19:31:00.003-06:00

I know you will agree that she is America's Sweetheart. Now if you can tell me where she got this phrase from you will win a 3x3 mini accordion album with either Kyndal's pictures or pictures of your child(you will email them to you and I will create your album) Just place a comment to the blog or send me an email, the first to get it right wins.

Kyndal and Lola Dancing with the stars

2008-11-09T19:29:00.003-06:00

Lola came over last week while Kim and Joe went out to dinner to celebrate their anniversary. The girls had a blast, here they are dancing to dancing with the stars.

Email subscribers go to the blog to see the video.

Stylin' with a Ponytail

2008-11-07T22:03:00.003-06:00

These are from Wednesday. I decided to fix Kyndal's hair in a single ponytail. As I was doing it she said "Like Lola" (her little friend that sometimes wears a ponytail). I said yes like Lola. She was patient as I tried to get all of the whispy hairs to cooperate. It still needs to get a little bit longer on the sides in order to stay put, but I thought she looked too cute. She loved it too. Doesn't she look grown up!

p.s. As you can tell, she has no interest in my camera unless she is saying "I wanna see Kyndal" (she likes to see the pictures on the screen in the back).

Pumpkin Farm

2008-11-05T21:09:00.002-06:00

Yes, I know things are all out of order on this blog. I am trying to catch up along with not getting behind on new things. Here are the pictures of two of our pumpkin farm trips that I promised in a little photo montage:

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

A day in History

2008-11-04T22:04:00.002-06:00

This day will be a day in History for Kyndal and everyone else. I told Kyndal this morning that Mommy and Daddy were going to vote, she said "Kyndal vote too". I told her yes we will all vote. We got our "I voted" stickers and wized through the polling station in about a half hour. Tonight I asked her who we voted for and she could tell you! I already knew that this election would be written in her baby book as the first Presidential election in her life time. I now sit here with some very mixed emotions. I know this is a historic moment since the first African American president will soon be taking office, however I am fearful since the viewpoints of this newly elected President vary vastly from mine. I do know that God has a plan, although who knows when if ever it will be revealed to us. I go an email today from Bret that came from his Uncle Mike and I thought I would share it here:

Top 10 Predictions No Matter Who Wins the Election

1. The Bible will still have all the answers.

2. Prayer will still work.

3. The Holy Spirit will still move.

4. God will still inhabit the praises of His people.

5. There will still be God-anointed preaching.

6. There will still be singing of praise to God.

7. God will still pour out blessings upon His people.

8. There will still be room at the Cross.

9. Jesus will still love you.

10. Jesus will still save the lost when they come to Him.

God approves this message!

ISN'T IT GREAT TO KNOW WHO IS REALLY IN CHARGE

Halloween Night

2008-11-04T21:59:00.003-06:00

A very tired Kyndal talks about her evening - Halloween night...

visit the blog to see the video http://kyndalaune.blogspot.com

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

2008-11-04T21:37:00.002-06:00

Here is our cutie

2008-10-31T22:56:00.002-05:00

I loved her little Halloween outfit. I think I loved it just as much as her Halloween costume. She loved the kitty kat on her shirt.

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T12:13:00.003-05:00

Hi everyone, Happy Halloween. Kyndal looks so cute today in her orange kitty kat shirt. I will try to take a picture after she gets up from her nap. We are gearing up for activities today and I should be decorating cakes or getting our Trunk-Or-Treat trunk decorations ready right now, but I wanted to take a breather for a moment.

After Kyndal's nap we will head over to our friend Stephanie's house for a Halloween party and then we will go to the church to decorate our trunk and set up my photo booth at the church.

Here are the church events in case anyone missed my blog about it.

Are you looking for a safe alternative to traditional Trick-Or-Treating this year. We are having a Trunk-or-treat event at my church where you trick-or-treat from trunk to truck each one decorated with a different theme. There will be lots of other stuff (see below) and we are decorating and handing out candy from our trunk too.

Trunk-or-Treat
At
Stonebrook Church
5100 Almaville Road, Smyrna, TN

OCT. 31st
Halloween Night

6:30 - 8:30

Kids come as you are or wear a costume

We will be having Hayrides (the land at our church is perfect for this)
Cakewalk (I will have some goodies in the cake walk)
Moonwalk
Games
and of course
Trunks with Candy!

What we have been up to....

2008-10-25T22:55:00.006-05:00

Yes I have been MIA over here on Kyndal's blog. If you visit my blog you know I have been super busy and that is why I haven't been blogging over here. I thought I would catch everyone up and promise more pictures later.

We have visited our favorite pumpkin farm 4 times in the last several weeks, Walden Farm. Kyndal loves it and we do too. I have a ton of pictures from all of our trips, but will only share two for now. One of Kyndal on the giant pumpkin and Kyndal having a blast in the giant corn box.

Today we went to lowes for the Kid's projects that they do on Saturday's. We helped Kyndal build a Mr. Potato head like pumpkin that has interchangable eyes, nose and mouth. Kyndal loved her little apron and the hammer that they let her borrow. Kyndal would not take the apron off all day and we even shopped at Target with her wearing it.

camera phone photos

We had planned on kicking off Halloween today by dressing Kyndal up in her bee costume and visiting a park here in Smyrna that had trick-or-treating and a lot of other activities. Well after Kyndal got up from her nap she wanted the Lowes apron on and when I asked her if she wanted to put on her Bee Costume she said no she wanted to wear that. Well she almost went trick-or-treating as a Lowe's employee, however we decided to bribe her with a sucker. We told her if she put on her Bee costume she could trick-or-treat and get some suckers. She happily put it on and she loved it too! She was so cute trick-or-treating and would actually say trick-or-treat as she went around. Well that is all for now, more to come! We have several more Halloween activities coming up this week. It sure is fun this year!

p.s. If you haven't been keeping up with my blog, read this post. For all of the grandparents, aunts and uncles.... If you want to help out with a good cause and get a cute collage of Kyndal, it will sure make you smile too!

A Bee

2008-10-09T21:01:00.002-05:00

The poll has closed and it tied between A Bee and Dorothy. Kyndal's puppy being Toto really got some of you (me too), but several mentioned that we have time for all of those other things as she gets older and we should dress her cute now, so she is going to be a Bee. We got her costume and it is so cute and she loves it too. Can't wait to share pictures of her in it. Also, her Aunt Shelley bought her a princess dress and wand for her birthday, she loves it and gets to be a princess too! Thanks Aunt Shelley.

Charleston - The Beach

2008-10-09T14:30:00.004-05:00

We actually stayed on Folley Beach, SC. It is a super cute beach bum island where we found some very cool restaurants with-in walking distance of our condo.

We spent some time getting Kyndal used to the sand and water. She never got used to the water. She didn't even like it when we stood in the waves. She did however get used to the sand and liked picking up seashells.

We went down with all of our sand castle gear and Kyndal built her first sand castle.

This is the view from the pier.The weather got quite a bit cooler and windy the last few days we were there. We took a drive one afternoon and wanted to see where everyone on the island went surfing.

Kyndal didn't get to see it because she fell asleep in the car (the one and only day with-out a nap). We thought the dunes and fence and reeds were beautiful.
Kyndal did get to see the lighthouse earlier in the week because we had a local photographer take our family photos with the lighthouse in the background. We haven't seen the photos yet, but I will be sure to share when I get them. I didn't have time to take photos of Kyndal at this spot when we were there for our portraits, because Kyndal had to pee-pee and refused to go in the sand. We had to trek back to the car for her to use her little potty. The day she napped in the car, I made my way back out there to take some pictures of the lighthouse while Daddy and a napping Kyndal waited for me in the car.

We actually got to see 4 lighthouses on our trip. The two pretty ones were featured on this blog. We also saw a sqwatty one that I didn't take pictures of and some new modern triangular one that I thought was very ugly. It was the replacement for this lighthouse. This one used to be on and island but the island is now been washed away and they had to reinforce the land that this lighthouse sits on to keep it standing. It is pretty cool that it is completely surrounded by water!

This post wraps up the blogging on our vacation. We were glad we got to visit some new places, it has been a while since we have done that. It was nice for Kyndal to see so many new things on our trip. I would certainly go back to Charleston, we have a dozen more things we could have done while we were there!

Charleston - The Water

2008-10-09T13:42:00.005-05:00

We took a boat ride around the harbor in Charleston. Kyndal loves to go on boat rides! It was a windy day, but it was beautiful.

This is Bret and Kyndal looking ahead at Fort Sumter.

Some closer views of Fort Sumter

Here is the Steel Cable Bridge in Charleston. I am so happy that we didn't have to drive over it! I loved taking pictures of it from the boat, but don't want to be on it. I drove over a very similar one in Savannah. I did the driving because frankly I would rather do the driving then have someone else drive me over. My whole body kind of freezes up when driving over a bridge. Bret was telling me "a little faster."... "no really GO FASTER". He said when you are only driving 25 mph it takes a whole lot longer to go over. Thankfully there weren't too many cars around or I would have gotten run over!
The piece of land that this one area is sitting on is 1 acre is size, that will give you an idea of how big this bridge is.

Here is the USS Yorktown, Bret really wanted to see this and Fort Sumter. We didn't tour either one, but got narration from our captain and a pretty good look from the boat. Now to be honest I just had to call Bret to get the name of this carrier, History or heck even current events are really not my thing!Here is the aquarium in Charleston. We did go to the Aquarium, it was listed as a must do in Charleston. We however weren't all that impressed, I guess the Chattanooga and Gatlinburg Aquarium's have us spoiled. It was very neat to see the sea turtles though, something that our aquarium's don't have.
Here Kyndal is checking out the hands on tank.

Charleston, SC - The City

2008-10-04T21:55:00.000-05:00

After Tybee Island we left for Charleston. We stayed on Folley Beach, about 15 minutes from Charleston. After a night on Folly we hit Charleston. We started with a carriage ride through the city. Kyndal was so excited that she got to "ride the horsey"!

There were a ton of Churches in Charleston. Every one was beautiful.

It really was a beautiful city, much beyond my expectations. The carriage ride was our favorite part of the whole trip. The houses were beautiful. We loved hearing the stories of the city. We didn't take very many pictures because we were enjoying the ride.
There were all of these little ladies who were making sweet grass baskets all around the city and at this wonderful market place in the city. The baskets were beautiful. I bought a little one for Kyndal to put her shells in and a little bit larger one for myself. I would love to have one of the really big ones, but there were a little more than I wanted to pay for a basket. Of course if I was going to buy a basket that expensive, I would much rather have one of the handmade sweet grass baskets then one of those other name brand baskets that people collect. (And yes, as pointed out by Bret as I read him this post, the previous statement was made because I don't know how to spell the name of those popular baskets.)

Here are Daddy, Kyndal and Slim. (The slowest horse who had the longest route)

On a later day on our trip we made a trip to rainbow row. It is a row of old houses, that used to be warehouses, stores and homes that are painted a rainbow of pastel colors.
Of course Kyndal had to take a rest against the pink house!
She was happy to find another pink house and wanted to sit on the stoop.