Meet Kadence the 2.8 year old...

First Update on adding to our family: Missouri is slow...real slow...real real slow... So, we have everything done on our end just waiting to get some training started. So in the meantime we just enjoy this amazing life we are living and secretly keep our eye out for pregnant women ;)  Hahaha

So, Kadence...can you believe it- she is 2.8 years old- don't tell her because if you ask her she will tell you she is two and a half. I thought it would be fun for our family and friends that are out of town to get to know her more than through my abundance of pictures I post-lol

So you should first know that if you ask her what her name is- she will respond with her first, middle, and last name. She often also wants to know your name...which she also needs to know first, middle, and last of.

She is opinionated about all things food and fashion. For food she loves grapes, black olives, chicken strips, pasta, salsa, quesadillas, watermelon, fried rice (well actually any kind of rice), dried fruit, and ranch...the girl loves her ranch. She also likes all of the toddler foods: goldfish, graham crackers, fruit snacks (scooby or princess is her preference). As far as fashion goes- the girl needs a skirt, and things need to match...oh and did I mention there needs to be sparkles/glitter and more sparkle? I swear that girl leaves the house dressed better than me daily! She doesn't want to wear jeans usually, she wants soft pants or a dress/tutu/skirt. We went to Lowes the other day to look around and Andy and I were in Jeans/sweats and Kadence was in full on Easter attire. Everyone thought she was dressed up for halloween...nope this is my everyday! She also will not leave the house without a bow, she also has opinions on her hair styles and bows. She usually wants princess leila hair or braids. She also now asks for lipstick (chapstick) and an amulet (a piece of jewelry that princess sofia has)-but depending on the day I may or may not have a necklace that meets her specifications. She also LOVES nail polish and the more glitter the better!

Now with all that diva you may think that I have corrupted our child- but she has a LOT of tom-boy in her too! When we went to lowes the other day...she may have been dressed up but she wanted desperately to play on the tractor. She loves all things balls, trucks/cars, trains, batman, climbing trees, and starwars. She likes being scared and scaring others. She loves tag, chase, being dirty, and legos.

She still loves outdoors- she wants to eat, color, and spend as much time as possible outside. We don't mind AT ALL and so we spend many days and evenings outdoors. Almost nightly somewhere between 4-6 Kadence and Andy take a bike ride that lands them at a local park or playground. She loves our hamic and our little slide we have outdoors. Most of all she enjoys playing with sticks or in the new leaves that have fallen or in running from Jada.

Kadence is in school two days a week currently. She loves it! The things she loves most are art, music class, recess, balloons, and bubbles. She is so proud of the work she brings home and so we hang it all on the fridge.

She still loves bath time and that is where she plays with her shapes and letters. She can identify K, T, S, M, W, B, R, X and A. She has all of her shapes and colors under control.

She loves to play with stuffed animals, make believe play, and dress up...sometimes all three at the same time. The girl loves to play!

She also wants to be my chef! Daddy built her a step stool so she can reach the kitchen counters to help me cook. She enjoys adding salt and pepper, stirring things, and using measuring cups. She gets sad when we have leftovers or if I made dinner without her.

Kadence also loves to sing, read books, build things, climb, and try new things.  Her TV shows of preference are Mickey, Paw Patrol, Daniel Tiger, Princess Sofia, and Peppa Pig.

I am always amazed by her problem solving skills. For instance, last night Andy had thrown Jada's toy and it landed in our ficus tree. Andy and I started talking and not paying attention and Kadence went upstairs to the bathroom, got her step stool, brought it down and put it on the couch so she could reach the toy and get it down for Jada.

Kadence is pretty much potty trained except for bedtime and the occasional nap time.

So what does Kadence NOT like? being told no or not being able to do something on her own (she is very independent). Transitions especially from something she really likes are hard even with fair warning. For the most part all other meltdowns are adult faults (lack of sleep, loss of routine, hunger, or too much sugar-or the crash afterwards).

Overall Kadence is a sponge that picks up everything and remembers it (this can be good and bad-lol). She also is just overall a happy toddler. She loves to play, loves to laugh, loves to hang out with her friends, loves her family, and loves loves loves her Jada.

Our life is in a very fun stage! Every day that Andy and I are apart we are still sending each other messages about the funny things she says or does. We can't get enough of it!

We love our little toddler and enjoying this season of slowing down so that we get to enjoy all of this.

Till our next little ones join the nest...this nest is very special with a beautiful little girl in it and a family that truly with everything in us loves being a family :)

Advent-practical

So, here's the quick reasons for me "over-doing" Christmas: 1. Christmas has the history in my life of being painful. I lost my dad on December 23rd, the very next year I lost my grandpa the second week of December. December equalled pain...then fast forward a couple years and through doing ministry Christmas evolved to this beautiful means to serving others yet running yourself into the ground...and then 3 years ago Christmas became this anticipation, this excitement of this gift that was coming. To the best that my human mind could understand my emotions and preperation were very similar to what was going on in the Christmas story. But more importantly FINALLY, the Christmas joy had restored itself! So Christmas is still a "crazy" time of year with running a non-profit but I have found the joy of the season once again, and have been able to do everything in my power to savor this season every year now. So, excuse me why I fan girl over advent and Christmas...for me it's not about the hype as much as it is about the mass amounts of healing and wrestling I have done to get to where I am today.

So now for the practical side of things- this is now turning into the "how Kylie does it" post-
1. Print off a calendar for December (and then add in the random couple of days of November)
2. I highlight all of the days that Andy is off (he has a rotating schedule so it is important that I plan things I want him to be at when he can be there)
3. I put in all work commitments and then x off days that work absolutely can't take over (there seriously has to be a big X or I just plan up every free moment- the struggle is real)
4. I then put in all of the family commitment stuff (extended family stuff or my best guess)
5. I then get on KCParent or other blogs of fun things to do in Kansas City. We have some things that we LOVE to do so I make sure those are on the calendar too (some things usually involve anything free, going to crown center, a live nativity, looking for christmas lights, etc)
6. Then I put all mom and Kadence dates on the calendar (the Saturdays when Andy is sleeping all day from work)
7. Then I put on the calendar when we want to be intentional- who do we want to have over, what relationships do we want to focus on, when can we share a meal with people?
8. Then I get my white mocha, a little O holy Night on, the scripture of the Christmas story and Pinterest and fill in the gaps of things on my calendar. Some days we have a theme- like a rubber ducky christmas, or a Madagascar christmas (celebrating some of our friends that were missionaries over there). Some days we have a really cute craft that I selfishly want to give away as Christmas gifts (last year we made homemade wrapping paper and she loved it). I really give thoughts to any traditions I think are developmentally appropriate for us to start and spend time reflecting on past years and what I enjoyed or things I want to scrap from the list.

The key to successfully planning advent is figuring out what you would be doing already and how can you make it special? I'm making cookies anyway...how can I make this Christmas themed baking, get Kadence involved, listen to fun Christmas music, and who can I give them to that would make their day? It takes zero extra effort and if for some reason Kadence isn't feeling it on that particular day no biggie- I was going to be making cookies anyway. I'm all about taking really ordinary and mundane things and making them into sacred experiences.

9. I then make a list of special treats I want to make over the weeks to come and separate them out to fit in my grocery budget over the weeks
10. Make a list of books I want to check out from the library- a mixture of Christmas books about the Christmas story and other books that are just silly/rhyming stories.
11. Make a list of sensory activities or fun things to do when things get boring or when we have long weekends (the weekends Andy works all weekend)
12. Make a list of songs/videos to watch when it is just so cold I can't function or if my day didn't go the way I had planned or if everyone is just needing a veg night
13. Print out some basic coloring sheets if Christmas stuff so it's on hand

I know this may sound like a lot of work for 25 days but it really is like a hobby and I don't really tell people (even my husband) how much time I spend working on it prior too...it's just my happy place.

So it may or may not be October 18th and I may or may not have Christmas music on and be drinking a white mocha...no judgement :)