Craft Time

Within the last month, Kahlen and I have been doing "craft time" every week. She has really really enjoyed this, and tells me nearly every morning, "I want to do a craft time." Mostly I'm using a book called "Kitchen Table Play and Learn" to come up with new things to do. The book is laid out in units, with each one being a different theme. Some of my girlfriends and I are doing a kit rotation where we each put together a kit with all the supplies needed for a unit, and trading them so we don't have to do the prep work every week. It's been working really well so far!
Anyway, here are a few pictures of Kahlen and her crafts, including a video of her trying to figure out scissors.

"Me like a little brother"

Okay, trying to get caught up. Here's a sweet video of Kahlen from March. She had been asking me about my bible study and I told her that when I read the Bible and pray it was like talking to God. So, while mommy was sitting on the couch reading her Bible, Kahlen was sitting on her blanket reading hers. She prayed on nearly every page for a little brother, I just caught the end of it on video. She's figured out since then that she doesn't have to have a little brother to be a big sister, she could have a little sister too, and that doesn't change her big sister status. She's getting excited, but I still think she has no idea what the whole concept means. She does know that she'll be getting presents from Abuela and GranClaude when the baby comes and that mommy's present is a new baby.

Cookie Monster and God Sees

Kahlen has really had leaps of growth in her cognition recently. It's hard sometimes for me to see because I'm around her all the time, but Grandpa Larry commented on it this week, and he sees her every week! Her new thing is to tell me "I want..." like "I want M&Ms right now, mommy" or "I want to watch a DVD". But along with that, she's also becoming more observant of the world around her.

Yesterday we were on our way to discipleship team, and Tim and I were talking; Tim said something about God being happy with our actions, and Kahlen's sweet little voice pops up from the back seat, "Make God happy?" Then she wanted to know if God was at our house and if we could go home. We told her that God was at our house, but we couldn't see him. He could see us, however. She then wanted to know if God could see the stars and if God was in the sky seeing us. Overall, it was a very precious theological conversation to be having with my two-year-old. It's times like that when I appreciate God's special equipping of parents to be able to answer the questions when they come up. I don't think I would have known what to say if I had stopped to think about it, I just said whatever was on my heart.

On another, less serious, topic, she was eating cookies with frosting yesterday and then told me she had cookie monster hands. I told her to just lick it all off, teaching her to be just like her mom :) Here's some pictures of her doing just that, enjoy!

Gotta love warm weather in February

Today was another beautiful day in the state of Colorado. Kahlen and I went for a walk, then she did NOT want to go inside, so we played out back for a long time. We decided to have a picnic, so here are a couple of pictures from our "adventures." She made "soup" with rocks, grass, and juice and fed some to her animals.

"I be right back" & Little Baby

Kahlen just grabbed her "purse" and her blanket, and told me "I be right back". She then told me she was going to work, proceeded to go upstairs to her room for a few minutes, then came back down and said "all done workin' " It was pretty funny! I asked her what she did at work, and she told me that she got bananas and apples and katsup (kep-up). THEN she went "shopping" in the kitchen and brought back a picture. She was very proud of herself.

I love watching my little girl grow in her cognitive, imaginative, and reasoning skills, it's truly a miracle!

Another amazing miracle is feeling the little baby move around in my tummy. I feel baby every day now, mostly just as a pressure here or there, but it's definitely baby. At my next appointment, we're going to try and hear the heartbeat via doppler, so exciting!

Kahlen's Birthday Party

So, I managed not to get any pictures from Christmas because I forgot my camera. BUT I did get some good ones at Kahlen's birthday party, which was on Saturday.

She had a great time, and was a little overwhelmed by all the adults trying to talk at her at once. Her favorite present was the balloons from Grandpa Larry, she now drags them all over the house with her. Of course, she also likes the books that her aunts got her.

In classic Kahlen fashion, she wanted to eat her cake with a fork and not with her fingers because it was too sticky. She eventually got over it in order to shovel faster before someone decided she wasn't allowed to have this much goodness.

For Christmas, we got a video camera from my mom, so there'll be more videos from now on (probably).

Now, I'm just trying to figure out what to do with all these toys and their hundreds (ok, dozens) of pieces...

Here's her birthday video

Playing in the Snow

On Friday, Kahlen and I played in the snow. She thought it was the best thing ever! She cleared off snow from a lawn chair, made a pile to sit in, and made snow angels. Ever since then, she wants go to play more in the snow, but it's mostly melted now.

She does have a new distraction, though, so it's okay. We put up our Christmas tree yesterday, and she thought it was pretty funny to have a tree in the house. The first thing she said when she saw it was "Tree inside Kahlen's house!" I haven't put any presents under it yet for fear of what she'll do to them (and because I haven't gotten around to wrapping any yet).

Her other new favorite thing to do is pull up my shirt and tell me that I have a baby in my tummy and it's going to get bigger bigger. Thanks, baby, I already feel huge :)