First Snow

Last weekend we had our first snow here in Des Moines. It wasn't much, and it didn't last long, but it was just enough to be a lot of fun for Miss Quinn Marie.

First she got all bundled up. It was the first time wearing her new snow suit!

Daddy helped her make a snowman. Of course it was named "baby."

Then they had a snowball fight! 

And what day in the snow is complete without making snow angels?

When the fun in the snow was done, Mommy had hot chocolate waiting for everyone. 

It was Quinn's first taste of hot chocolate and we think it was a hit! 

Two and a HALF!

Quinn turned 2 1/2 this week, so I thought it was time for an update. This little girl is constantly keeping us on our toes and continually making us laugh.

Babies are the big thing now. She loves to play pretend with them and is such a good "mommy." And if she doesn't have a proper baby around? No worries. A stuffed animal, washcloth, wipes container or even a fork will gladly stand in as a sweet little baby for Quinn to take care of. 

She's also always on to new things when it comes to learning. She can identify all her letters and tell you what most of them are for. (aka A is for Annabel, B is for balloons, C is for cat.) She also can count to 20 and is great at identifying her numbers 1 - 10. Another thing she's learning is that we have more than just first names. She's constantly asking what someone's name is, their last name and of course, their full name. 

She likes watching movies when she's allowed, especially the Mickey Mouse show on Disney. And while she's cuddled up watching a show she has to have all of her "stuff." "Stuff" consists of 3 - 4 blankets and 5 - 6 stuffed animals. :)

She's also a very good listener and is understanding the difference between consequences and rewards. Luckily her rewards have been outweighing the consequences these days. The reward for us? One happy, awesome, smart little 2 1/2 year old! 

Bowling with Quinn

A few years ago we started heading to the bowling alley during our holidays with the Coffmans. It's a chance for us to get away from the distractions at home and just spend time together. Why bowling? Well, mainly because it's indoors and fun even if you're terrible. It also helps that Papa Dave is a fantastic bowler, so it's fun for him to show us all the ropes. 

This year was the first year Quinn was able to join us which was a little exhausting, but a lot of fun and quite entertaining. Here she is with Aunt Dani and Daddy before things got rolling (pun intended). :) 

We had popcorn, lemonade and even cake pops to keep her entertained when it wasn't her turn. And that distraction was needed because if we would have let her she would have run up and down the lanes and all over the bowling alley. (In fact, she actually did run halfway down the lane once. Luckily Jay was there to catch her -- that girl is quick!)

When it was time for her to bowl, she had either Mommy or Daddy there to help her. It might have been slow, but her ball only got stuck once! (We learned to give the ball a hefty push along with her and she learned not to kick the ball. :)

Here are a few photos, but even though you need to view it sideways, I think the video at the end sums it up the best!

Quinn's New Home

I'm sure many of you have been losing sleep the past month & a half wondering "where is Quinn living?" and "what exactly does her new house look like?" Well, for those of you out of the Des Moines area, I've finally taken some photos of our humble abode to share with you all. 

Here is her room. The paint color, beads & circus valance all came with the room. I failed to photograph the large flower-power mural on the west side of the room. Needless to say, it's a little girl's heaven and I can't wait to repaint it. 

On to guest room #1. We're waiting to paint this until we find out if God will grant Quinn a little brother or sister, so for the time being "play ball!"

This is guest room #2. All of Quinn's grandparents are happy to have  queen bed to sleep in when they visit. I'm waiting til later to determine the decor for this room (because at this point everything I'm in love with is yellow and green, and well, that could be very boring to have a whole house in those colors.)

Here's Quinn's bathroom. I love the beadboard on the walls and plan to paint it a charcoal gray someday. In the meantime, I'm loving all that white AND the fact that we have two full baths now!

Here's our bedroom. It's huge. The little alcove to the right has a nook with a big chair and TV (for when Quinn wakes up in the morning while we're getting ready for work.) Not pictured is our office, bathroom and my closet. 

Here's our entry way/top of the stairs. This is where Quinn says, "Mommy will you carry me because my hands are full?"...even if she's only holding one tiny thing. I'll take any chance to squeeze that little girl though, so I gladly appease.

This is a view of our formal living room. It's right to the left of our entryway. 

The living room leads right into the dining room which is oddly reminiscent of our Monroe Court dining room. Kind of fun! (Don't let this sad picture of Millie fool you -- she loves the new place!)

Here's our kitchen view from the hallway off the entry. Tons of room to cook with Quinn!

Our family room is set off the kitchen. We love the tall ceilings and coziness of the space. Quinn loves that there's tons of cabinets to store all her toys. Down the hall from our kitchen is the mudroom & laundry room. 

Downstairs we have our rec room which has the treadmill (not pictured to the left), Quinn's toys and of course, the skee ball machine. We plan to finish the rest of the basement with a fifth bedroom, bathroom and wine cellar down the line. Luckily there will still be plenty of storage too!

So there you go. You can now rest at ease knowing a little more about where Miss Quinn Marie spends her time these days. Plenty of room to grow and plenty of memories to create!

Big Girl Bed

I think Quinn likes her new big girl bed. She's been going to sleep great in it (knock on wood) and even has been putting her babies to sleep in "my big girl bed" during the day. She needs a little help to get on and off it, but that's part of the fun too. And while I loved seeing her sleep in her crib, I also adore checking on her in the bed. She looks so small and sweet!

Settling into the New Casa

Today marks one week that we've been in Clive residents and I would say Miss Quinn Marie is adjusting quite well.

We're cooking in the kitchen (which is also my awesome new trick to get her to eat what Jay & I eat).

She also loves to play in her "new neighborhood" aka the Rose Petal Cottage house that Eric & Papa put together for her. We somehow manage to fit in there with her. 

She also digs our new deck and was hanging out while Daddy did yard work the other night. 

She has a few more steps to get her stroller, baby dolls and "things" up, but all she has to say is "I NEED HELP" or "my hands are FULL" and she manages to get around pretty well. 

Quinn had a great two years at Monroe Court, but I already know we'll have countless more good memories on 137th Street! Cheers!

A lot of "firsts"

It's been a BIG week for Quinn Marie! On Tuesday Grandma Nan came to visit and she got to stay home and play with Grandma all day Wednesday. Then Thursday was the day we said goodbye to Monroe Court and moved into our new house!

Quinn had been so excited about the moving trucks, and her new room, with new toys and a big girl bed, BIG kitchen and a BIIIG bathtub like GG's! The first night in the new house was also the first night Quinn didn't sleep in her crib. (The movers couldn't put the crib back together for liability purposes so she slept on her little mattress on the floor -- like a champ I might add!)

Then Friday Papa, GG and Eric came to help us keep getting settled in. While Quinn was at school we set up her big girl double bed to go with her big girl room. She did awesome sleeping in her big bed and looked so sweet!

And for the last "firsts" of the weekend...first trip to the West Des Moines ER and first sprained elbow. Friday when we picked Q up from daycare she ran to us and hit her arm. She complained about it all night and barely used it, but could still move it so we didn't think it was a break. This morning she woke up (in her big girl bed) crying and asking for ice. She wouldn't move her arm at all so we decided to head to Urgent Care (which was closed) so we went to the ER instead. An hour and a half and two x-rays later our little champ left with a bandage and a note to see an orthopedic doc later in the week.

The bandage and ibu really helped a lot because she had a great day playing with Uncle Eric in her Rose Petal Cottage house from Aunt Kim and even gave us her take on the 2012 election. (video to come once our Internet is hooked up!)

So what's our girl doing after all that activity? Sleeping soundly in her new, brightly colored room!

C is for Cupboard

This evening Quinn was hiding in the cupboard where her babies sleep, aka where I store them to keep them off the ground. It was pretty cute.

Also tonight we were reading an alphabet book and I found out she knows the first letter of all her classmates' names. She would point to the H and say "that's for Hendricks" or "T is for Troy!" So fun!

And lastly, she is now mimicking things Daddy does. The cute: putting in her contacts. Awwe! The not so cute: spitting. Oh dear!!

Kansas Fun

Jay had a golf weekend last weekend, so Quinn and I hit the road for a visit to Kansas. She got to break in her new DVD player from Papa and GG. Also, popcorn has become a roadtrip staple for Quinn. Whatever works right?

Our first night in Topeka, we got to experience one of my favorite things about growing up in Topeka: ice cream trucks. Unfortunately they are out-lawed in the Des Moines metro area, but luckily Quinn still gets to experience the fun in Kansas. 

Another novelty about visiting Kansas are all the Jayhawks we get to see. Quinn points them out everywhere she sees them. We even stopped at the Kansas Sampler to pick up some new goods for her including this new Jayhawk stuffed animal  and Jayhawk band-aids. (This girl is obsessed with band-aids!)

And a trip to Topeka wouldn't be complete without baking with GG! 

Look closely and you will see that Quinn's face is covered in brownie batter. Yum!

Georgie Porgie

Quinn loves to recite her books and one of her favorite nursery rhymes is Georgie Porgie. I'm pretty sure I could listen to her "read" all day long. 

The Lion Playground

We've been getting good use at our area playgrounds this summer. Last Saturday we took a walk to Lions Park aka the "Lion Playground." Quinn gets more and more daring every day. This time she saw some boys playing on the monkey bars, so of course that meant she had to do it too. 

Now that she's a little older, she can play with the other kids. Here's a photo of Quinn on the teeter-totter with her new friend, Kathryn. Kathryn was about 4 and the two had a ton of fun bouncing on the teeter-totter, climbing the rock wall and going down the slide together. (Kathryn even helped Quinn up the wall and "caught" her coming down the slide. It was so cute!)

Here's our happy girl in her "Jake-hawk" t-shirt. This is definitely one of her faves. (If only she knew what it said on the back!)

And a trip to Lions Park isn't complete without a visit to the Lion!

Q-U-I-N-N

Quinn is in the "Sophomore" room at daycare now. And since she's such a big girl, I thought it was time to teach her how to spell her name.

Quinn is Two!

QUINN MARIE AT 2:

Milestones:   She can count to 13 and say her ABC's (although sometimes Y & Z get left off)


Favorite cuddly things:   Big Bunny and Pink Blankie


Favorite food:   Macaroni & Cheese


Favorite songs to sing:  "Bringing Home a Baby Bumble Bee," "I had a Tiny Turtle," "Jesus Loves the Little Children" and "You are my Sunshine"


Favorite toy:   Baby Doll


Favorite place:   Secret Playground


Favorite movie:   Tangled, followed closely by Lion King 


Favorite book:   Curious George

Secret Playground

There's a playground down the street that Quinn absolutely loves going to. We used to go in her wagon or stroller, but now she's got her new mode of transportation.

She is such a dare-devil and has no fear as she runs around the playground and now, climbs up ladders.

I'm not sure who has more fun, Quinn or us!