Fun in the Sun

After the birthday/graduation celebrations, we headed down to Destin for the week with Jeff's family. The weather was gorgeous, and it was so nice to kick back and relax for a while. It was also lots of fun to introduce Kaitlyn to the beach and to the pool. I really thought it would take her a while to warm up to the feel of the sand and the water, but she surprised us by instantly loving it all.

We started out with the pool. It wasn't crowded at all, so there was plenty of room to pull her around in her floatie. She enjoyed hanging out in it, but her favorite was when Daddy held her up and let her glide along the surface of the water on her belly. What fun!


Since the pool was such a positive experience, we decided to try the beach. She was pretty fascinated and perplexed with the waves. She just let them wash over her legs. Then she discovered the sand, which to her was even better than the water. She had a blast crawling in it, scooping it up and letting it run through her fingers. But she also learned that sand has its drawbacks. Hopefully she'll remember that it's not a good idea to rub your eyes after playing in the sand!


Here are some pictures that we took one evening at the beach.

Kaitlyn and Mommy

Kaitlyn laughing

With Mimi and Papa Greg

Birthdays, Graduation and More!

As evidenced by my lack of blogging, we've been very busy for the past several weeks! Last week, we hit three big milestones in the Krinks family--Kaitlyn's 1st birthday, Noah's 1st birthday, and Andrew's graduation from Lipscomb University. We celebrated all three occasions with a massive party on Saturday, and then we left for Destin the next morning. We needed some serious beach time to recuperate from the weekend madness!

Since Kaitlyn and Noah are only 4 days apart, we had a joint birthday party for them. I got two small cakes for the babies, and a big cake for the adults. I was eager to see what Kaitlyn would do with her cake. True to form, Kaitlyn was content to carefully test the icing with her fingers. Noah, on the other hand, enjoyed the cake with gusto!

Several minutes later, we cut the cake and fed her a small piece...and this was her reaction :)


Then she decided to "share" the yucky cake with Mommy. Unfortunately, I don't like chocolate cake any more than Kaitlyn does. Like mother, like daughter!

Noah clearly did not have the same aversion to chocolate cake that Kaitlyn had! His parents were smart to strip him down first!!

This celebration was extra-special because Kaitlyn's great-grandparents (Gigi and Bobby) were able to spend a couple of days with us as they made their annual trek from Florida to New York. We took the opportunity to get a picture of four generations of family.

Earlier in the day, we watched Andrew walk across the stage at Lipscomb to receive his well-deserved college diploma. Congratulations, Andrew! Here are a few pictures we took after the ceremony.

Andrew with Grandma and Bob

Mom, Dad, Andrew and Lindsey

Jeff, Andrew and Jess

I still have lots of vacation pictures to share. More posts to come in the next few days!!

Good Habits

Today, Kaitlyn got a lesson in proper brushing technique from Dr. Krinks, aka Papa Greg. She loves having her teeth and gums brushed. Whenever I start singing the Toothbrush Song (a song I made up), she starts smiling and opens her mouth wide.

But she's only content to let someone else brush her teeth for a short time. Then she wants to take over and do it herself. This is one good habit that we hope to keep for a long time!

Mommy's Little Helper

Well "helper" may not be the best word to describe Kaitlyn these days...more like "I want to do everything that Mommy is doing." So as I'm taking clothes out of the dryer, I feel little hands pulling up on my leg so that she can get in on the action. Actually this is a task that is well-suited to her. It involves pulling out clothing items one by one! Unfortunately, they usually end up in the dog bed.

And then it was time to use the Swivel Sweeper on the floors. Because it has a motor, she's wary of it while it's running. She follows me around as I vacuum, but she stays at a safe distance. As soon as I turn it off, she rushes over to investigate. Here, she's pushing and pulling it, just as she saw Mommy do.

This isn't helping--it's just good old-fashioned curiosity. Apparently the yuckier the object, the more appealing it is. After snapping the picture, I managed to pull her away...again...before she opened the lid. She definitely keeps me on my toes!

A visit from Mimi and Papa Greg

Mimi and Papa Greg have been staying with us for the past few days. Kaitlyn has been loving the extra attention (and I've been loving the extra help while Jeff is out of town!) It was rainy and cold for the first couple of days of their trip, so we went to the mall to let Kaitlyn get some of her energy out in the kid's play area. Who has time to pose for a picture when you can crawl through a tree tunnel or bounce on a ladybug?

Mimi left this morning to go visit Jess, Adam and Noah in Memphis, while Papa Greg headed down to Georgia for the Master's golf tournament. Hopefully he can teach Kaitlyn to play golf someday...she's already very interested in his clubs.

Kaitlyn's First Easter

Here are a few pictures from the day.

The Krinks Family

Gran and Papa Bell came up to spend the day with us.

Kaitlyn modeling her Easter dress and shoes. The weather
was a little chilly, so we added a sweater.

The Easter Bunny stopped at our house before church. Kaitlyn is
carefully examining all of the basket's contents.

A Lesson in Physics

The Law of Entropy: the tendency of nature to go from order to disorder. As you can see, we have lots of entropy at our house these days. And it always involves Kaitlyn. Maybe she just wants to be a physicist like mom!

Order: Books neatly arranged on a shelf

Disorder: Books rearranged by Kaitlyn

Order: Clothes neatly stored away in drawers

Disorder: Clothes in their new location

What I find really amusing is that she does this every single day! She never tires of emptying drawers and pulling books off of shelves. But it's a great way to keep her occupied for a while :)

Curiosity

A baby's unquenchable curiosity is a wonder to behold. From the moment Kaitlyn gets up, she's on a mission to explore every nook and cranny of our house. Even the most mundane household objects must be examined multiple times. And the items that always stay behind closed doors are apparently the most intriguing of all. For example, Kaitlyn will be happily playing in the kitchen with her toys, but if I open the refrigerator, watch out! She will drop everything and race over to the open door, hoping that it stays open just long enough to wedge her body in and start grabbing at whatever she can get her little hands on. It's really quite amusing to watch.

Here are some pictures that I've taken over the last few days that show Kaitlyn exploring our house. As you can see, she has mastered the art of pulling up on any and all objects. And I'm happy to report that she can also sit back down now :)

Investigating the contents of the closet in the guest bedroom

Checking out the new magnets I got at the consignment sale

Wishing she could get outside to play with Kasha

Trying to write her own blog entry???

What a Difference a Week Makes!

A few days ago, Kaitlyn was swinging outside on the sunny playground. Then a snow storm swept through the area and dumped 4 inches of snow on us. Gotta love March weather!

Here's Kaitlyn all bundled up and ready to go outside.

We could only stay outside for a few minutes because it was so cold. She was pretty intrigued by all the white stuff around her. We briefly took off a mitten and let her touch the snow. I think she gave it mixed reviews.

Laughter

Who knew watching Kasha run up and down the steps to our deck would make Kaitlyn laugh so much? She couldn't stop! Here's just a few seconds of our fun. We think Kasha enjoyed it too.