Always a reason to dance!

If you ever wonder what we do during the day and into the night...here's a sneak peek. We dance!! I took the first clip of video right after Kayna was doing a really cute "shoulder dance" where she kept shrugging her shoulders. As you can see, she became a little camera shy :) She's now into "jump-dancing"...its a pretty good workout!

Thanks aunt Mez for the Penn State shirt, I love it! -Kayna

7 Trees and Counting...

Well, the beavers have been hard at work and we have been suffering the consequences. They have downed 5 trees and damaged 2! Our landscape has offically been alterd from these large rodents. After 6 people from the Town of Matthews came out to assess the DAMage they returned a week later with a backhoe to dig out the dam. Since then, we have witnessed more "eager-beaver" work as they have begun to repair their home. We're hoping that we don't have to take even more drastic measures.....although I would call a backhoe pretty drastic!

The tree stump at the bottom right corner in the picture below is the first downed tree by the beavers. This tree broke our fence and fell way into our yard.

Kayna on the lookout! It was 9am so she was still in her PJ's

who needs baby einstein anyways?

Kayna is not too much into sitting still these days so she has not really gotten into TV watching. This has proven to be a double-edged sword. It would be great if she had a favorite program that we could pop into a DVD player for long trips in the car, and also for those dreaded no-nap days. But I will say that I am thankful for the little bundle of energy that loves to explore EVERYTHING - especially the outdoors - regardless of the time of day.
For one, she's helping me overcome my fear of insects. We were outside 2 weeks ago when she came upon a caterpillar. Without reserve she picked it up. Surprisingly, she handled the creature with such care. A few minutes later, as we walked up the driveway, we came upon another caterpillar. Instead of being black and smooth, this one was white and fuzzy. I reminded Kayna to be gentle with the caterpillar before she went in for the grab. Kayna gently patted the creature two times and then, before I knew it, she had smashed it into the concrete....with her bare hand!! How do you communicate to a 16 month old that she just killed a caterpillar? Who knows? But I don't think she's scarred for life after I told her that the caterpillar went "bye bye" and that it was "no more". Another positive thing that has come out of not watching TV is that she's become an avid reader. Here is a clip that Chris captured this week of Kayna reading a newsletter from the church. Let me know if you have the translation :)