Scarves and sunglasses!

Kenley has randomly adopted this scarf of my mom's, and she totally loves it and always wants to wear it around the house. She also scrounged up her sunglasses from last 4th of July (which we had to hold her arms down, physically restraining her, in order to get ONE picture of her in them), and now she loves those too. She thinks she is really cool that she has her own sunglasses. Imagine how much cooler she'd think they are if she could figure out to wear them outside when it's sunny! I don't know where she found the pair of glasses in the last few pictures... somewhere at my mom's... yikes...

Learning to draw

Here are some pictures and a video of Kenley experimenting with her crayons the other day.


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Dress Up Time!

Here are some pics of Kenley wearing the dress-up stuff that she got for Christmas. She is very feminine and loves to prance all around in her fancy clothes. She especially loves purses, although her favorite is a red Coach wristlet! (Her daddy is getting nervous about her nice taste in purses at the tender age of 1!)

How did we get so lucky? This little girl is such a joy and a blessing to us. She is so funny, and I am loving this age. I am savoring each moment I have with her as we count down the days until her baby brother joins us.

She has figured out how to draw with pens, and she is very serious about it. She always looks like she's writing her memoirs or making notes on a crime scene or something. Yesterday I went and got her crayons and a notepad so we can phase out the pens. Crayons already? Seriously? My little girl is growing up! She also has a great memory. Yesterday she found a pen and brought it over to me, all excited. I told her she needed to go find paper because she couldn't draw on the couch. She got all thoughtful for a minute and then toddled away, dug through one of her toyboxes, and triumphantly produced a realtor's calendar from its depths. She ripped off a month and started coloring away. So brilliant. :)

Kenley loves her Taco Bell bean burritos!


Kenley is in a funny phase right now with her baby dolls. She loves to walk around all day saying, "Baby, baby, baby, baby." She loves pushing them in her doll stroller and feeding them pretend bottles. When she sees a baby on TV or in a book she gets all excited and wants to give them her blanket, sippy cup, or pacifier. I was attempting to read an issue of Parents magazine this month, but it wasn't working out because she was so insistent on feeding each and every baby featured in the magazine from her sippy cup. I think she'll be a great big sister!

What a difference a year makes!

This is Kenley on the couch at Dad and Joanie's, last Christmas and this Christmas. We are amazed at how much she has changed in a year! She is getting so big, and learning so many new things. It's fun to watch her figure out the world around her.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas was great this year! After a little bit of practice, Kenley really enjoyed opening her presents and playing with her new toys!

Happy Halloween!

Okay, I know these are really late, but hopefully worth waiting for! Kenley was a duck and a witch for Halloween. We had two different Trunk-or-Treat events, plus Halloween itself, so she got to wear both costumes. We also had her portraits taken, and I'm illegally posting the pictures for your enjoyment!






Kenley is pouting after her Daddy took away a treat!

A Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Last week we went to Bates Nut Farm with Kenley to play with the pumpkins and farm animals. She had such a great time, and these are some of our favorite pictures so far!



Kenley loves animals and she kept just gasping in amazement at the sad little goats and chickens in the fenced pens.


She had a little trouble walking around in the pumpkin patch!

Kenley's first birthday and BIG family news!

We had such a great week celebrating Kenley's birthday! She was spoiled by all of her grandparents and friends. Everybody was so generous, but her mommy and daddy had the best present of all - Kenley is going to be a big sister this spring!

Kenley breaks the news to the family!
Wearing her birthday tiara and examining her presents.
More serious present-opening...
Taking some pictures with her best friend Carli Combs, who came down from the Bay Area just for Kenley's party!
Kenley was very careful with eating her cake. She did not want to get the frosting on her fingers, but once she got started, she loved her special treat!
Opening presents from the Hampton grandparents! She thought she was sooo big opening them all by herself!

A trip to Utah!

Kenley was lucky enough to take a weekend daddy-daughter trip to Utah. Mommy was lucky enough to have a weekend to herself at home! :) James and Kenley went up to see Uncle Ian before he was deployed to Iraq. They had so much fun visiting with the Hamptons, and they also got to visit with the Hunts, some of our friends who now live in Utah. Kenley loved playing with her cousin Connor and all the dogs! She was so happy to see her Grandpa and Grandma and the rest of her Utah family!

Kenley and Connor playing in the tunnels
Discussing the finer points of literature

So excited to have a cousin to play with!