Iowa State Fair!

We road tripped to Des Moines this past weekend to visit Patrick's brother and sister-in-law, Jonathan & Candace, and to experience the world famous Iowa State Fair. We also met our brand new baby cousins, Graham and Micah for the first time. Such a fun weekend and Mila was an angel! She handled the car trip like a pro. Thank goodness for cartoons on the iPad. See our pictures and videos below!

Mila and Max (Jonathan and Candace's nephew who turned 2 at the end of July)!

Delicious dinner and Mila ate her first corn on the cob and exclaimed "SO GOOD."

Running in the sprinklers - don't end, Summer.

 

Ice cream followed by....

Joint bath...which Mila clearly did not enjoy.

Farmer's Market!

Mila went on her first train ride at the Farmer's Market! I made the mistake of telling her it was "Thomas the Train" and she was NOT happy when this ride ended :)

Mila did not like these people, but...WELCOME TO THE FAIR!

Our group! Too bad we didn't get a picture of all the food we ate. Holy Moly.

Yes, we bought an inflatable Dora at the fair and yes, it was worth every penny. She carried her everywhere!

Mila got to go on her first ride! She LOVED it. Thanks, Aunt Candace!

Small cookies compared to the slide though!

Great memories.

Mila + Uncle Jonathan

 

After the Fair fun we got to meet sweet babies, Graham and Micah!

Then this happened. 

And don't worry, Dora made the trip home :)

When life gives you lemons...or m&m's

Grandma and Grandpa K Visit!

Patrick's parents came for a visit all the way from Florida this July! It was a blast catching up and they even babysat for a weekend while Patrick and I went to St. Louis for a little anniversary get away. 

We fit in a little KC zoo visit while Grandma and Grandpa K visited other family in Nebraska and Iowa. Mila didn't quite know what to think of Buddha. 

Mila got a new dress from Grandma and she ADORES it and requests to wear it every morning. 

Anniversary dinner on 'The Hill' in St. Louis

22 Months

 Mila is officially 22 months old! She will be 2 in less than 2 months..I'm in shock. She's so darn cute there are just too many things to remember about her at this age but here are some standouts:

• Mila talks a ton! She is putting 3, 4, even 5 words together. It came so quickly! She went from "Mama," "Daddy," "Jayhawk," to..."Daddy drinking a beer," and "No like it."
• Mila is really good with please and thank you. She says both words in context, unprompted....most of the time :)
• Mila still LOVES the Wiggles. Probably listen to their CD 8+ times a day and dance around our living room. She also has a fondness for the Macarena. As if The Wiggles weren't annoying enough :) 

• Mila loves to sing and dance. She will ask me to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Row Row Row your Boat over and over and she has started to sing along with me..too cute!
• Mila is an eater. She LOVES food. Maybe more than the Wiggles.
• She likes swimming, playing at the park, swinging, sidewalk chalk (draw a picture, draw a picture!) and watching movies is her new thing - I think she picked this up at daycare.
• Mila is obsessed with her "dudes" as we lovingly call them (see below). We have fun setting them up for when she gets home and giving them all names of course. The other night we came home from a little swim play date and Patrick had set up an army of "dudes" for her. She was thrilled!

• Mila loves people. She is quick to warm up to anyone and everyone and is getting better with kids her age (sharing and such - well, we take it day by day). Mila is spicy (as I always lovingly refer to her) but I wouldn't have it any other way! She keeps us on our toes but brings such joy and laughter to every day.

Here are some pictures from adventures lately.

We went to the St. John's Fiesta in June. Mila danced a lot. 

With Auntie 'Lessa'

Mila and Ansel..too cute 2 days apart

lunch date with good friends, Heidi & Uncle Erod

with Penny the puppy

Mila finally met baby Kaden (about 1 month old)

although her facial expression does not reflect it in this picture, Mila is obsessed with her "dancing bear" leotard. This used to be mine when I was little!

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July! We had fun introducing Mila to her first fireworks (last year we were at the lake in Iowa celebrating our anniversary). We had a BBQ with Mila's cousins on the 3rd, Ruby and Tyson, and a few friends. Mila liked the fireworks for the most part but was pretty distracted by the buffet :) A few of the big booms did startle her but I think it was just bed time by that point. All of the cousins are so cute together! They are starting to really interact and talk to each other, and steal each other's snacks and toys of course.

We spent the actual 4th at the pool and in our backyard enjoying beautiful weather.  Patrick and my brother, Patrick, built us this AMAZING play structure a couple weeks ago. Our backyard is the best. We spend a lot of time out here and this is the one of the best parts of our new house (and living back in Kansas in general). We are blessed.

21 Month Old Adventures

We went to a Lawrence street fair and ran into Mila's cousins, Winona & Geneva

Future musician?

Ice Cream

Royal's Game!