Kinsie Kay is SIX!

Posted in Family, Kinsie by klmatthews16

Our beautiful Kinsie Kay turned six last week! It is amazing to see the transformation a child can make in just one year. Kinsie has matured in so many ways, and her education and creativity has completely blossomed. It has been so fun watching her grow and change this year. We love watching her busy little mind at work. She is constantly wanting to learn more about the world around her (just like her dad!) Her creativity is something truly amazing, and we love seeing the creative ideas that she comes up with on a daily basis. I can’t wait to continue to watch her grow and blossom and see what amazing things she accomplishes!

Here are some stats about our big six year old!

Favorite color: still pink!
Favorite TV shows: T.O.T.S., Puppy Dog Pals…although she really hasn’t been into TV much. She would rather draw, write, or do some other type of imaginative play!
Favorite movie: All of the Toy Story movies
Favorite animal: still hippos and dolphins
When she grows up, she wants to be an art teacher. She has always wanted to be a teacher like her mama, but lately with her love of art, she discovered that she could combine 2 of her loves…teaching and art!
Her learning has completely exploded. She often surprises us with the knowledge that she acquires without us even knowing it. She is a complete sponge and soaks up everything around her. Her reading is improving every day. Since she was born, we have always read books before bedtime. This summer, we wanted to get her ready for school so we started having her read to us at bedtime. Between doing this, and practicing reading at school (and reading every sign and label everywhere she goes), her fluency has really improved. She also has been doing a lot of writing at school. I LOVE seeing the writing she brings home!
Recently, her school did NWEA testing, which is a computerized test that measures individual student growth throughout the year. Kinsie scored in the 92nd percentile in math, and the 99th percentile for Reading! We were SO proud of our girl! As lovers of learning ourselves, we could not be happier that our children are loving to learn as much as we do!
Kinsie is absolutely rocking Kindergarten. She loves everything about it! She is very shy at school and would never dream of doing anything to get in trouble. I have no problem with this of course, but I do remind her to loosen up a bit and have fun at school too. Recently she received a “Citizen Shout-out” from her teacher for always being a good listener and being ready to learn. Her name was read on the school intercom and she received a certificate and special button!
Kinsie has definitely found a good stride living here in Arkansas, but she is definitely ready to move back to Indiana. She loves her school and her friends, but her family means more to her than anything else. She misses her grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles every day and can’t wait to be closer to them again. I have no doubt that she will handle the move like a champ. She is really good at making friends, so I think she will do great starting a new school next fall!
She is currently in gymnastics only. Brax has started a Ninja class, so it’s been kind of nice having them each in only one activity. She moved up to the Level 1 class this year, which is a bit tougher but she still loves it.
Since Kinsie is so busy with Kindergarten, the residency life hasn’t affected her as much as it did in the past. However, when Ryan has a string of evening shifts, it is really rough on her. When this happens, Ryan’s shift starts when she is in school, and he doesn’t get home until after the kids are in bed, so Kinsie goes days without seeing him. We’ve gotten through them by Ryan waking up early to see her before school (even when he doesn’t get home until 2am), and him having lunch with her at school.
She’s still an outdoorsy girl! But with the extreme heat we’ve had the last few months, we haven’t been able to spend near as much time outside as we’d like. Whenever the heat chills out a little bit though, we make sure we spend that time outside. It is therapeutic for all of us!
Kinsie and Brax are ultimately still best friends. Sometimes they can’t stand the sight of each other and cannot get along for the life of them, and other times they are the best of friends and make each other laugh the way nobody else can! Even though he can be a typical annoying little brother, she adores him!

We are so proud of the little lady she is becoming. She has such a strong personality, and is very strong-willed and passionate, which we are hoping will get her far in life!

Happy 6th birthday, Kinsie Kay! We love you more than life itself!

21Sep2018

Kinsie Kay is FIVE!

Posted in Family, Kinsie by klmatthews16

I cannot believe my daughter has been with us for half a decade. She is no longer a toddler, but a little girl. She is stubborn and passionate, but she can also be very shy and nurturing. She has developed her own opinion and attitude that she loves to test out in all situations. She takes her role of big sister very seriously, and fiercely protects her brother. Ironically, she is also the one to push his buttons and beat him up more often than necessary! She has more energy than she knows what to do with (thanks a lot, Grandma Bev!), and wears us all out. If any of you have ever read the children’s book Olivia, THAT is Kinsie. We always joke with her with the famous quote from that book…”You know, you really wear me out. But I love you anyway!” She has gotten much taller this year, and has legs for days! I’m sure she’ll be passing me up in no time!

This year has been harder on her than we expected with living away from the home and family she’s ever known, but from that she has learned a lot of life lessons that I think have helped her mature. She definitely struggles with residency and everything that goes with it. She doesn’t like her daddy being away as much as he is, and she hates that she isn’t with all our family in Indiana. This breaks my heart when she gets sad about it, so we are working with her on finding ways to focus on the positive aspects of our situation. Keeping busy is crucial for her busy little mind, so lots of activities help keep her from getting sad. She does have lots of friends here between church, school, and the other residents’ kids, which helps her as well. She still loves Facetime sessions, and seeing pictures and videos of our family, and she enjoys counting down how many sleeps until the next time she gets to see them. She really has handled the changes very well for a little girl, and we have all bonded over the changes. Overall she is such a happy, bouncy, energetic, smart little girl who just loves life!

Here are some current stats about our Kinsie Kay:

Favorite color: still pink!
Favorite TV shows: Paw Patrol, Peppa Pig, Fancy Nancy and Vampirina
Favorite movie: The Greatest Showman
She is very well-rounded. She loves unicorns, princesses, mermaids, and dressing up in tutus, but she also loves dinosaurs, bugs, wrestling and getting dirty.
She LOVES drawing, arts, and crafts. She enjoys art on all kinds of media- paper, sidewalk chalk, the iPad, you name it. Every day she comes home from school with about 8 more pictures that she drew for us. This does not surprise me at all considering Ryan and I have always both loved art. Give her some paper and crayons, she’ll stay busy for hours. Throw in some scissors and tape, she’ll come up with all kinds of crazy creations!
She wants to be a teacher when she grows up. She used to also want to be a doctor, but now that she sees how often her daddy works, she doesn’t want to be a doctor anymore. Funny, but a little sad! Maybe once residency is over and Ryan’s hours decrease, she’ll want to be a doctor again!
She loves the outdoors. She loves fishing, hiking, running, climbing, swimming, finding critters, and more.
She absolutely loves animals. Visiting different zoos is one of her favorite hobbies. Her favorite animals are still hippos and dolphins. She recently got to meet Fiona the baby hippo from the Cincinnati Zoo and they became instant best friends!
Lately we’ve been teaching her a few sight words every day, and she loves helping me read her books before bed. She has actually done better with this beginning stage of reading than I expected, and she is surprising her teacher with her new skills. She’s become a pro at writing her letters, and knows how to spell certain words on her own. Her newest obsession is taking the words she knows and creating sentences.
She still loves reading books, and works hard at memorizing some of them so she can recite them to Brax. Soon she’ll be actually reading some on her own!
She has always loved water, but lately she has become quite the little fish. She has become much more comfortable in the water and has been practicing swimming underwater. I think she’ll be a pro by the end of next summer!
She has a great imagination. She has always been so great at playing independently and coming up with very unique ways of playing.
She is currently playing T-ball and taking ballet classes. She still loves soccer, but agreed to take a break in order to try T-ball. So far she loves it!
She has never stayed too much of a mama’s girl, or a daddy’s girl…she’s both! She loves helping me around the house with chores and cooking, and she loves when I teach her new things. She loves using her daddy as her own personal jungle gym, and doing science experiments and sports with him.

She and I are very different in many ways, but can also be very similar. She thrives on social interaction, which is very different than me. She can be very hard on herself, which is just like me. Every day I learn something new about her and raising her stretches my limits and tests my patience every day, but I am working very hard to raise her into a God-fearing, respectful young lady. Even though she is stubborn (just like her dad), we are trying to teach her to use her drive and passion in positive ways. Pray for us!

Here is a video I made to capture our little girl’s silly and spunky personality. Enjoy!

Happy 5th birthday, my beautiful firstborn. You will always be so special to me!

21Sep2017

Kinsie Kay is FOUR!

Posted in Kinsie by klmatthews16

My beautiful, crazy, spunky, sweet and sassy girl is four years old today! I’ve become closer with her over the past few months since I’ve spent so much time with her, and every day I discover more about her and how amazing of a little girl she is. She is so smart and loves to learn. She loves to read, and even when one of us can’t read to her at the moment, she’ll either read what she had already memorized from that book, or just make it up. She loves to use her imagination, and is teaching Brax to love it too. She could talk all day…and often does. When she gets home from school, she will tell me every detail and every dialogue of her entire day. Then when Ryan gets home from work, she will go through the whole story with him. I love discovering the way her mind works and seeing her little personality blossom more and more each day. She has become my little sidekick and my helper in our new life in Arkansas. Brax is her best friend and he wants to do everything she does. Even though she can be very rough with her brother, she is very protective of him and would do anything for him. She challenges me every day and makes me a stronger person and a better mom. Her sense of adventure forces me out of my comfort zone. She made me a mom, and I will always be grateful to her for that.

Kinsie has changed and matured so much throughout the last year. Here are some updated stats on my four year old girl…

She has always been a bit verbally advanced, and continues to be so. She talks like an adult. I often forget how young she is when we have conversations.
She has a special relationship with both Ryan and I. She will have spurts of being a “mommy’s girl” or a “daddy’s girl,” but overall, she doesn’t discriminate.
She’s a total outdoors girl. She would probably sleep outside if she could. I have a hard time getting her back inside even when she has sweat dripping down her face and mosquito bites all over her legs.
Her favorite animals are hippos and dolphins.
Her favorite color is still pink.
Her favorite TV show is Paw Patrol.
She loves everything Disney. She has always loved Mickey and his crew, but recently we’ve been watching all the Disney classics together. Right now some of her faves include Dumbo, Beauty and the Beast and Toy Story.
She loves to learn new things and thrives on positive reinforcement. However, she is very hard on herself (just like her mother). She expects to do things perfectly when trying them for the first time and gets frustrated with herself when she can’t.
She can spell various words such as Kinsie, Brax, zoo, dog and cat.
She can add small amounts together.
She’s getting pretty good at drawing. You can actually tell what she is trying to draw.
She wants to be a teacher and a doctor when she grows up.
She still loves soccer and gymnastics. She is playing soccer in a program in our town, and we plan to enroll her in a gymnastics class in the winter.
She loves meeting new friends, but is horrible at remembering their names.
She loves school. She participates, listens very well, and is a great helper. Her teacher said she is always happy and bouncy!
She has been my saving grace throughout the move. She has stayed positive and open minded about all the changes. Even though she misses our families, she has handled the transition so well and has loved the opportunity to explore a new place!

Happy 4th birthday, my sweet girl. The world is a better, brighter, and more exciting place with you in it!

26Mar2017

Kinsie Kay is THREE and a HALF!

Posted in Kinsie by klmatthews16

How did this happen? It feels like she JUST turned three…then suddenly I blinked and she is halfway to FOUR! We have noticed a huge difference in her lately…she is so grown up! All of the sudden she isn’t a toddler anymore, but a little girl. Every day, we continue to be blown away by our daughter. She is such an amazing little girl and she is SO much fun to be around. She has a tender, sweet, gentle side, yet she is spunky, sassy and crazy. I love every part of her and I love getting to see her change and grow each day.

Here is a glimpse of my girl at three and a half…

She LOVES to learn. She can recognize all of her numbers and letters, and loves learning how to write them.
She can spell and write her name.
She can do very simple addition.
She LOVES to read. We read a ridiculous amount of books each day, and her teachers at school say that all she does at school is read. She memorizes a lot of her favorite books, so then she can “read” them to Brax.
She is currently playing soccer and doing a gymnastics class.
Favorite animal: hippos
Favorite color: pink
Favorite movies: Moana and Trolls
Favorite books: Dr. Seuss books
Favorite food: protein bars and pickles
Her favorite people to hang out with are her cousins and her brother.

Happy half birthday, my beautiful girl!

9Oct2016

Kinsie-saurus’s Dino Party

Posted in Family, Kinsie by klmatthews16

As you already know, Kinsie loves dinosaurs. This started around this time last year when we took her to the Children’s Museum for the first time and she loved the dinosaur exhibit. Ever since then, her love for dinosaurs has only grown. This year, when I asked her what kind of birthday party she wanted, without hesitation, she said she wanted a dinosaur party at the lake. So that’s what we did! We invited family and very close friends and the party was a huge success!

Grandma Bev helped make most of the food, Ryan carved the dinosaur watermelon, and Aunt Renata made the awesome dinosaur cookies! We ordered the cake from Shug’s Cakes.

“Kinsiesaurus” shirt made by Aunt Megan!

Some of the entertainment for the kids included digging for dino fossils in the sandbox, and the bounce house. We also had a dinosaur pinata that was a big hit! Dean ended up busting out the candy from the pinata!

Kinsie said her favorite part of the party was opening her presents. She got some awesome stuff! Ryan had to build new shelves in her room just so we could fit all her new toys in the house!

Our girl was pretty pumped about her dinosaur cake. When it was time for cake, the spot that we had set up was right in the sun, and I didn’t want to be in full sun for the pictures…so we moved the whole set up to the shade. Ryan (my brother-in-law) and Nate untied the banners from the tree and held them up over our new set up so we could have them in the cake pictures! World’s Best Uncles!

It was an awesome day! Kinsie had so much fun with the people she loves. Brax had a great time too in his little dinosaur hoodie! We are so appreciative to everyone to helped out and came to celebrate our girl’s birthday. We jammed out to her birthday mix CD the whole way home!

22Sep2016

Kinsie is THREE!

Posted in Family, Kinsie by klmatthews16

I am in complete disbelief that my first baby is three years old! She is turning into one of the most amazing little people that I’ve ever known…and I know I may be a bit bias, but I’ve heard other people say it too! She is smart, goofy, wild, observant, curious…I could go on and on. Sometimes as I carry on conversations with her, I forget that she is just a toddler. The way her mind works amazes me and I learn and grow with her every day.

Here are some updates on my girl at three years old…

Kinsie is going to preschool 3 full days a week.
She is FINALLY potty trained! We started the process last December, and after a few months of little progress and lots of power struggles, I took a break. After Brax was born, she saw that he was a baby and he wore diapers, and she didn’t want to wear diapers anymore. Hallelujah!
She is currently playing soccer for Westside United, and we plan to start her back up in gymnastics later this fall.
Favorite color: pink
Favorite animals: Hippos and dolphins
Favorite books: Dino Soccer and Pinkalicious
Favorite movies: Rio, Finding Nemo, and The Land Before Time
Favorite food: PB&J, pickles, mac and cheese
Favorite songs: Ring of Fire – Johnny Cash, Shut Up and Dance with Me – Walk the Moon, Can’t Stop this Feeling – Justin Timberlake, All Star – Smash Mouth, and Happy – Pharrell
Favorite TV Show: Paw Patrol, Spongebob Squarepants
Other loves: dinosaurs, swimming, fishing, playing with her cousins
She knows all her colors and shapes
She can count to 20 on her own, and higher with help
She is getting much better at learning her individual letters.
She is a beast at doing puzzles.
She has an unbelievable vocabulary.
She absolutely adores her baby brother.

Birthday Adventures

Ryan was in Cincinnati for a month-long rotation from the end of August to the end of September. He has had very few days off, so most of our interaction with him has been via FaceTime. The kids and I lived with my parents during this time, which was such a blessing, but Kinsie really missed her daddy. On the morning of Kinsie’s birthday, she woke up and was a little bummed that we weren’t going to the lake for her dinosaur birthday party that day (another post for another day), and she was especially bummed that her daddy wasn’t home and that I couldn’t stay with her at preschool for her birthday. I truly believe it was a God thing that Ryan actually had Kinsie’s birthday off, so he drove home for the day, and I took a half day off work. We surprised her and picked her up early from school. I walked in first and she was happy to see me, then Ryan walked in behind me and she beamed and ran straight into her daddy’s arms! We took her to the park for a little while, but it was pretty hot out, so we left and went back to my parents’ house to swim. My mom watched Briggs that afternoon, so Kinsie was in her happy place swimming with her cousin, mommy and daddy. Brax was with Aunt Renata for the day, so it was nice to just have some quality Kinsie time. Later, we took Kinsie to Pizza King for dinner (her request). After dinner, we went to Orange Leaf. Our girl had a wonderful birthday!

Birthday muffins for breakfast!

Park and swimming fun

Pizza King and Orange Leaf. Brax was having fun too! 🙂

Happy third birthday my beautiful girl!

4Apr2016

Full of Laughs at 2 and a Half

Posted in Kinsie by klmatthews16

My little girl had her 2.5 birthday not too long ago! Yes, my family somewhat celebrates 1/2 birthdays. We don’t go all out, but we acknowledge the day and sometimes have a small treat and present. My mom always celebrated our 1/2 birthdays, so my sister and I have tried to keep up the tradition with our kids. Kinsie’s half birthday falls on the same day as her Papa Tim’s real birthday, so we usually try to do some kind of little celebration for the two. This year, we all got together at Aunt Megan’s and Uncle Tim’s new house and had dinner and ice cream cake. Kinsie had a BLAST chasing their pup Ali around, and getting to see some aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins.

Whenever I do a development blog update on my girl every 1/2 year, I am amazed to look back and see how much has changed in the last 6 months. Her development has just exploded in every way. She is no longer a baby, and sometimes doesn’t even act like a toddler…but an actual little girl. She is spunky, sassy, stubborn, sweet and silly. She completely exhausts me, especially right now while I have little energy to start with, but I can’t even imagine my life without her sweet little smile!

Updates on Kinsie Kay at 2.5 years:

Kinsie is officially out of the crib and sleeping in a toddler bed. She is doing great, other than falling out here and there (and not even waking up in the process)!

She has been pacifier-free since last October.
She is still potty training. The process is taking longer than I expected, but I know that she’s slowly making progress. She definitely KNOWS when she needs to go, she is just too stubborn sometimes to stop what she’s doing to go sit on the potty. She does great at home, but has a harder time other places where she is usually playing more or with other kids.

She is in a major “mama’s girl” phase. This is unusual for her, because she’s usually very independent, and will happily go with anyone she feels comfortable with. She must sense the fact that the baby is coming soon, which makes me a little nervous for when he actually gets here. She still loves her daddy time, and loves playing with and climbing all over him when he’s home!
She has pretty much given up naps. The only time she’ll nap now is if she rides in the car in the late afternoon, then she passes out.
She has an unbelievable imagination. I love watching her when she plays by herself… she comes up with the most creative games and dialogue between her toys!

She speaks in full sentences that are (usually) grammatically correct.
She can count up to 20.
She knows all of the main colors and shapes.
We are trying to teach her the individual letters of the alphabet. She knows some of them, but usually she doesn’t have the attention span to sit long enough to actually learn them. Just lately she has had more interest in letters, asking what letter a word starts with, or asking for a word that starts with a specific letter.
Favorite colors right now: green and pink
Favorite animal: hippopotamus
Favorite foods: pickles, yogurt, and any kind of “snacks” (just like Uncle Ry Ry)
Favorite movies: The Good Dinosaur, The Land Before Time, Lilo and Stitch
Favorite song: The Olaf “Summer” song
Favorite books: Biscuit the dog books, “Gallop,” and “Waddle” by Rufus Butler Seder, and anything that incorporates Spanish
Her two biggest obsessions are Olaf and dinosaurs.
Currently in gymnastics class, and will start up soccer again this weekend.

She is officially signed up for preschool starting in the fall.
She loves “tattoos.” She is always wanting them on her hands and arms, and if we gave her as many as she wanted, she would have tattoo sleeves.
Other things she enjoys: Stamps, play-dough, playing outside, jumping, playing with her cousins, climbing on daddy, reading books

This girl brings us more joy than I ever thought was possible. I can’t even begin to fathom the added joy that will come when our little boy gets here in May. I pray that Kinsie adjusts well and will be the best big sister ever!