Snow Day!

Illinois has experienced a winter wonderland for the past week.  I'm not sure if we got any snow last year so I was excited for Kinley to play in the snow for the first time!

She, on the other hand, was not so excited.

My nieces & nephew had a snow day from school so I packed up her new snowsuit and other snow gear to take to Sue's for a fun play day.  She wasn't really sure what to think and didn't seem to like the cold white stuff:

Poor Delaney was just trying to play and Kinley wasn't having it:

She took a break on the front porch to watch the action...

I will always think of Randy on "A Christmas Story" when a child is dressed like a marshmallow in a snowsuit - SO funny.

She had to try again in the snow...same reaction:

 

I think I see a little smile in this picture (even if it is fake), ha!

I think Kinley had a successful first snow day even if she didn't think it was that great...

I'm sure she will learn to love it next year and try to drag her sister out in it with her.  And before I know it, we'll have her ice skating on the lake!

More Christmas & Birthdays

We made the trip up to Rock Island to celebrate Christmas with my dad's family on January 5.  We also celebrate my Grandma & sister's birthdays that weekend, too!

I was a terrible photographer that day and didn't get many pictures of anything besides Kinley...imagine that.  Even though I take tons of pictures, I still feel annoying when I ask everyone to pose for pictures.  My cousin Kari also blogs and feels the same way but we both agreed that we are so happy when we actually have lots of pictures of everyone! (I'll try harder next time).

Kinley entertained us while we waited to eat.  She is SUCH a cheeseball & I love it!

Ryan & Kari's son, Tyler, got a hold of my camera at some point so I had lots of beautiful self portraits!  I think he's following in mommy's footsteps.

My brother, Andy, & Alicia (recently engaged!) and Cora.

Do we have a future gymnast in the making?  Kinley practicing her bridge on the table...maybe we need to start working on manners? Oops!

Here's big sister practicing on cousin Jake!  He's only 4 months younger than Kinley but is still a peanut so she thought she was big stuff playing with him.

Hhmmm...I'll take that bottle!  She was super sweet but laid on him a few times, ha!

Here's G-ma & G-pa opening their gifts. 

This post has been all over the place so I'm just going to wrap it up.  I love getting together with our family from up North but it's never long enough!  We had a great extended Christmas season and feel so blessed that we can make time to get together with everyone in our huge family.

Kylie's 13th Birthday!

We celebrated my niece Kylie's 13th birthday the weekend before Christmas.  I'm not sure how 2 of our nieces can be teenagers already! 

 

Kylie was born the year that Scott & I started dating (1999).  I still remember him walking up to me in the hall at high school saying "Kylie Marie."  I was just as "blond" then and totally didn't get it for a minute but then I realized what he was talking about and couldn't wait to meet her!

 

Kylie has grown into a super sweet, organized, beautiful, athletic 13 year old and we couldn't be more proud of her!  She is such a great babysitter and cousin to Kinley - we are VERY lucky to have her around!

 

Anyway, enough bragging, onto the party!  Sue threw a Mexican fiesta themed party and we had a blast celebrating!

 

Our 2 sweet K girls:

 

Delaney & Kinley being crazy girls

Sue's mom, Sharon, and Kinley chowing on chips & salsa.

It's totally normal for everyone to gather in the kitchen at parties, right?

 

A sassy little 1 year old didn't want to be stopped for a picture with Abby & Laney.

This same sassy 1 year old loves playing with Christmas decor...

What, I'm not supposed to play with this??

The girls at the party gathering for present time!

 

Kylie got some great b-day gifts!

Dance Moms!  (I was a little jealous) :)

 

Kylie must have been really good this year because she got an iPhone 5 from mom & dad!  Lucky!!

She has been begging for an iPhone so this was major!

 

Posing with her chocolate cheesecake, yum!

And we couldn't forget the sombrero!

 

And what post is complete without some nakey baby pictures!  Kinley has reached the stage where she doesn't want her diaper or clothes changed so it's usually done in stages.  Example #1:

And #2 - trying to wrestle away her jammies.  Crazy girls!

 

We had so much fun celebrating but everyone needs to stop growing up!  I want to keep them little forever!

 

We hope you had an awesome birthday, KyKy!

Girls day in STL!

We took a trip to St. Louis to do a little pre-Christmas shopping with my mom, sister, aunt, cousin, and grandma on Veterans' Day. (and Kinley!)

 

We arrived around 10:00, bought some Christmas decor at HomeGoods and Michaels, and grabbed some lunch to fuel our shop-a-thon.  We lunched at Nadoz Cafe - good food but a little pricy.  Here's K 'playing' with her turkey & cheese sandwich and devouring her fruit.

 

After lunch we hit the galleria.  A few highlights include:

 

Shopping at Nordstrom for the perfect pair of Tory Burch flats for mommy & Aunt Beth (in our dreams)!  But how cute would they be in Kinley size?!

 Trying on Toms for our "shopaholic-in-training" but they were too big still. :(

Kinley's 1st Disney Store experience!  (Even though I look terrible in the pic below, I'm taking one for the team b/c the important person looks adorable!)

 

Kinley discovered the princess mirror and had fun dancing and making faces at herself...

She tried on her first princess crown...

and thought it looked better on her than Aunt B...sorry!  ;)

  After a loooong day (8 hours) of shopping we hit Bare Escentuals to freshen our make-up before dinner.  (Really, we just like playing with make-up).   Our little diva loved trying on lip glosses and standing at the counter like a big girl!

Mom & her girls (minus Cora)

 

Our shopping crew - 4 generations of Conboy girls!  I'm so thankful that my grandma is still in good health and was able to shop with us the whole time and to have such close family.  What great memories were made!

I'm thinking (crossing my fingers) that this will become an annual tradition for us!

Maille's Confirmation & Cheer

 We went up to Aurora to watch our niece Maille cheer and to celebrate her confirmation on the 1st weekend in November .  She's a freshman this year (how is this even possible?!?!) and cheers on the varsity squad.  (Proud auntie right here!)

 

We arrived Saturday morning, grabbed some Chick-fil-a on the way, and got all bundled up for the game!  Of course, I took a million pictures so enjoy a few of them...

Kinley snuggled with daddy.

Showing off her new hat & coat from Grandma (can we say spoiled)?  But you know I love it. :)

 

Our nephew Rian is the ball boy so he gets to hang out on the sideline with the team!  I think that's about as cool as it gets as a junior high kid.

 

The cheerleaders performed a fun routine at halftime:

Maille is such a great tumbler as well: 

Montini barely pulled out a win with one of the most intense last 5 minutes I've ever seen!  That means they get to move on in the playoffs and maybe play SHG from Springfield soon??

 

After the game we snapped a cousin pic!  I've watched these kids grow up before my eyes and am so proud of the amazing "big kids" they're becoming. I'm sure I'm one of "those people" that brags about her nieces & nephews way too much but I don't care. :) They all have very big spots in my heart.

And don't even get me started on this one...those eyes, that grin...melt me into a puddle!

 

Enough sap...Sunday morning we woke up and enjoyed, coffee, donuts, and smoothies!  Can you guess who ate a whole donut and drank most of my smoothie??

I did a little early Christmas shopping at the outlet mall near their house that morning and found some major bargains!

 

That afternoon we helped get ready for Maille's confirmation party.  (She got confirmed Saturday morning but we couldn't make it up in time).

 

I didn't get many pictures from the party but did get a couple of the kids playing downstairs.  Kinley plays great when I'm not there but the 2nd I walk in and she realizes that I'm not holding her, this happens:

Kinley loved playing with the firetruck!

Maille's cousin Claire LOVED playing with "Kimley" - too bad I didn't get a good shot of them together!

Hhhhmmm...not too sure about something.

We hit the road early but snapped a quick pic with Maille before we left.

 We love you, MayMay!