Mermaid Tails and Bubble Hats

Weeeeee!!! Hold on, folks. It's a blog post. Finally.

Been a little busy around here. Halloween festivities. Laundry. Birthday parties. Bible study. Planning trips. Planning meals. Laundry. Shopping lists. Shopping. Scheduling appointments. Attending appointments. Exercising. Laundry. Play dates. Cleaning. Blogging. Photo sessions. Editing photo sessions. Groceries. And the list goes on. It's no wonder that pesky lightbulb that's been dark for two months just finally got changed. Oops. Priorities, people. Babes over bulbs.

So back to the cleaning thing that's a mainstay on my to-do list. At least I have some eager helpers...

Poor Katelyn, doesn't she look like a sad Cinderella sweeping the floors for her mean old mom? Waaah-waah! I promise she actually likes to help!!

The Little Mermaid has been the talk lately in our house. And Katelyn has yet to see the movie, but we've read the book a billion times... (Dad of the Year here!)

Katelyn is really into mermaids, in fact, she might just turn into one on Halloween. She's had some funny commentary lately too: "When I grow up, I'm going to be a mermaid. But how am I going to get my tail? And how do I make my legs go away to make room for my tail?" and how about this one, "I'm going to go to college... to learn all about being a mermaid.":)

A few more Katelyn zingers as of late:

{Referring to a classmate named Walker} "Is my friend from school named Walker or Runner?" {busts into laughter at her own wit}

{At Costco as I'm pushing her in the cart} "Do you want a kiss, Mommy?" {Sure! Smooch} "We're married!! {shouting} We're married, Mom!! Woo-hooo!"... Free samples and entertainment at Costco :)

{We stopped at Burger King for a burger. This one had sesame seeds on the bun, something new to Katelyn.} "Oh yay! Sprinkles!"

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I don't know, guys. Are these two sisters? I mean their hair color is different and their eye color is too. But the whole tongue-reaching-up-to (into?!?! eek!) the-nose-thing? It kinda seals the sister deal...

Daddy Dearest is always loved on by these girls. Dancing, hide-and-go-seek, duck-duck-goose, tag, you name it, they play it. And the giggles. Oh, the giggles!!

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Kendall's into hats. Any kind really. Bubble hats even. 

Thankfully, her Halloween costume includes a hat. And she's broken it in by trying it on almost daily since October 1 :) We're all excited for Halloween. More to come on what we've done to celebrate it and a recap of trick-or-treat night next time - stay tuned!

Fall Fun with the Ridnour Fam

Fall and family just go together, don't they? And fun. It goes with everything. :)

 We enjoyed a visit from my family over the weekend and it was great fun. Michael traveled to Bloomington, Indiana, to speak on an alumni panel for Kelly School of Business, so my parents had plans to come up to MN to help me out (always a welcome gift!) Ryan wanted to make a fall visit too and his schedule allowed for it last weekend, so he joined my parents. 

Then, Mitch looked into flights to Minnesota and found one on the cheap for Saturday through Tuesday, so he booked it. Before we knew it, we had a nice little fall Rid-union going on! 

I'll let the pictures do most of the talking, but in addition to our visitors getting to see Katelyn's preschool, we also played in the leaves, watched the ISU football game at Buffalo Wild Wings, played games, snuggled with the littles, went to a pumpkin patch, carved a giant pumpkin, and went to Mall of America for rides. Whew. 

Kendall spent much of the weekend saying "Papa." And even since, she's been walking around the house saying it - I think she's wondering where he is :)

These girls love these guys. And vice versa. Makes my heart swell!

On Sunday, Gramma, Papa, and Ryan had to go back home - you know, that whole work thing for a couple of them. But Uncle Mitch stayed for a couple more days and we had lots of fun with him. First up, a pumpkin patch visit!

Here's a little flashback for you...

October 2012 (2 month-old Kendall bundled up in the carrier)

October 2013 - what a difference a year makes! (Mitch's favorite coat :)

Kendall and Katelyn both loved the corn pool.

Then, off to pick our pumpkins!

We gave Katelyn two guidelines for her pumpkin: it should be round and it should be orange. Wouldn't you know she'd find a white one on the outskirts of the patch to claim as her own! ;)

On Monday, with Uncle Mitch as the project manager, we carved the large pumpkin. Katelyn designed the face and she and Kendall both did a great job sorting the seeds from the "guts." At one point, Kendall was walking around with a handful of pumpkin innards and plopped it on the seat of Katelyn's Power Wheels. Katelyn shouted, "Oh no, Kendall put her gut in my Jeep!!" Made us laugh!

Kendall carrying around the "gut" ;-)

Monday ended with some photos of our jack-o-lantern, bedtime stories with Uncle Mitch, and a bowl of roasted pumpkin seeds. 

Tuesday afternoon, we had plans to drop Mitchell off at the airport and make it back to Plymouth for dance class. Welp, about 15 minutes into the drive to Bloomington, we realized it wasn't likely we'd make it back in time for dance based on rush hour traffic (there were 5 raindrops that fell and that pretty much slowed traffic to a crawl!) But what better way to make up for missed dance class than a couple hours at Nickelodeon Universe at Mall of America?! Perfect end to a great weekend. 

Mitch and Kate rode the carousel, Kendall and I joined them for the train ride, and then we all rode the ferris wheel. Ballerina outfit and all...

A fun-filled weekend with wonderful people and fond memories galore. This is what life is all about.

14 Months Old

Our sweet little Kendall is 14 months old this week! Words to describe her at this age are: playful, curious, excitable, lovable, and busy!

I think Kendall's verbal development is on the verge of an explosion. But for now she still sticks to the basics like "dada," "mama," and "papa" but has recently added "hot" and "dahh" (for dog). She knows that a nod of the head means yes and shake means no. And she's been signing regularly for "more," "please," and "eat." When she gets really excited about something, she speaks in tongues! She erupts with all kinds of vocal tones, "words," and pitches for several seconds straight - it's pretty fun to watch and hear :)

Things Kendall cannot get enough of are babies (real, dolls, or pictures), airplanes, and dogs and cats (real or pictures). The sight of each of these results in her speaking in tongues, so you can imagine how much speaking she did at Babies R Us and the pet store the other day! We checked out a book about cats from the library the other day and she will page through it until she finds her favorite page - one where the cat is eating from a dish - and she'll squeal with excitement while signing "eat" over and over again. 

She can sit and play with her dolls independently for long stretches of time. She feeds them, rocks them, pushes them in the stroller, and covers them with blankets for naps. Sometimes I peek in on her in the playroom and she's just standing there rocking a baby looking out the window. Hmm, seems oddly familiar to me... She's got the biggest heart for babies -- and she's just a baby herself :)

Kendie (our top nickname for her) has become quite attached to some of her favorite items. She has to bring three things in her crib with her for naps and nighttime: her baby doll and two stuffed animals (a bunny and a monkey). Katelyn was never attached to a "lovey" except for her paci if that counts, so it's new to me that Kendall sleeps with comfort items. She's a great sleeper and is usually down for the night by 7 or 7:30 and sleeps until 6 when she wakes up to eat and then goes back to bed until about 7:30 am. 

She's still just the sweetest little thing - she loves to run full speed and just wrap her arms around legs for a standing hug. She also blows kisses and gives hugs and high fives generously. Lately, she's been pushing boundaries to see if they're still in place day after day. Her favorite is to stand on the toddler chairs in the playroom and look at me with an "I'm doing something I shouldn't and it makes me feel adventurous" grin!  

Her most daring feat (so far!) happened a couple weeks ago. We had just arrived home from Target and Katelyn ran to the backyard to play. I brought Kendall and an armful of grocery bags into the house via the door that goes from the garage to the house. I quickly ran back out to grab the final bag from the trunk and upon arriving back at the door (we're talking 10 seconds max), realize it's been LOCKED. All other doors are also LOCKED. My baby is LOCKED in. And we are LOCKED out. Nooo! Noooooooo! By the grace of God, my cell phone was in the car (not in my diaper bag like it usually is, which was locked in the house... with the baby.) I called Michael in a panic while I planted myself in front of an open window and summoned Kendall to me through the screen. That open window was also a blessing. After Coach Michael gave some clearcut instructions to this panicked, unable to think straight mama, the adrenaline pumping through my veins allowed me to tear through the screen, hoist the window up with Superman-strength, and shake and shimmy my big bottom through it to finally reach Kendall. Not a pretty sight, I'm certain, but the reunion sure was. My mind was racing and I had visions of her doing all the "off limits" things to hear heart's content: climbing stairs (and falling), splashing in the toilets, eating an entire bag of candy corn, ingesting cleaning products, and lighting matches - ha! Thankfully, the whole ordeal was only about 4 minutes, but it was a L-O-N-G 4 minutes.

She made up for all of it with this...

And she has since signed a contract agreeing to give me more snuggles in lieu of any more lockouts. :)

Kendall, you are such a ray of sunshine! Thank you for sharing all the smiles, laughs, and love  - oh, the love! - with us. You're a beautiful blessing - pure and simple.