Holiday Photos

Each year we have a new family picture taken.

The Shay Family, 2009!

Grandpa Keith

I have been blessed with the opportunity to grow up with so much of my family around me, especially all of my grandparents. Sadly, we lost our Grandpa Keith this past week. I had the unique opportunity to grow up with my Grandpa and Grandma Lininger living just down the gravel road from us and as a result they have always been a very important part of my life. I am thankful for many things...having them be an active part of all of my activities throughout my school years, seeing me graduate from high school and college, being present on my wedding day and them having the opportunity to spend time with both of my children. I will always treasure the memories that I have of my Grandpa.

Harvest '09

This past weekend we traveled down to the farm to celebrate Halloween and to spend some time with our family. Growing up the Tingley Halloween Fun Night was a family tradition for us and we never missed participating in the parade. For the past few years we have not been able to make it to the festivities, but we were excited this year to be able to participate. My sister and I put together a float for our kids and it was fun having Caden and Kinsie be a part of something that was a tradition for me growing up! Unfortunately, our camera was not cooperating and we did not get very good pictures.

Caden and Kinsie were also very excited to be able to spend some time outside on the farm during harvest. Caden loved riding in the combine and took in everything that he saw!

Trick or Treat!

Despite the blustery cold weather, Caden and Kinsie put on their costumes and set out in the neighborhood for some trick or treating!

Cowboy Caden and Cowgirl Kinsie

Getting ready to head out into the neighborhood!

After a trip around the neighboorhood the kids were both pretty cold and thought it would be fun to hand out candy to the trick-or-treaters that came to our door!

They decided to take one last trip out to a couple of our neighbor's houses.

Kinsie traded in her cowgirl hat for her stocking hat for this trip!

Halloween Cookies

On Thursday Caden, Kinsie and I made some Halloween sugar cookies. The kids had a lot of fun rolling out the dough and cutting out shapes with the Halloween cookie cutters.

After a while of rolling out dough and using the cookie cutters, Caden decided to do his own thing. I am not really sure what he was trying to do with this straw, but he was very serious about it!

Jack-O-Lanterns

We had a lot of fun again this year picking out and carving pumpkins! This year was especially fun for us because we were able to get all of our pumpkins from our family garden that was our Grandpa Bill's pride and joy. For the past several years my grandpa had tried to raise pumpkins in his garden for all of the great-grandchildren, but he never had much luck. But this year's crop was the largest ever! Caden and Kinsie thought it was so neat to pick and carve the pumpkins that Papa Bill had planted for them!

We purchased a book of pumpkin stencils this year and let Caden and Kinsie choose the patterns that they wanted to have carved into their pumpkins. Ofcourse Cass and I had to have some fun, too!

The finished products!

Caden's Jack-O-Lanterns

Kinsie's Jack-O-Lanterns

Scarecrows in the Garden

Last week Caden took a trip to the Botanical Gardens with his Grandma Kathi. While there, they visited the Scarecrows in the Garden exhibit that is being showcased throughout the month of October. All of the scarecrows were created out of various materials, with an emphasis on the use of recycled materials. Caden had a lot of fun exploring the gardens and checking out the scarecrows!

Caden's Birthday

Caden had a great 4th birthday yesterday! He had his favorite breakfast of cinnamon rolls to start the day and then was able to celebrate with his preschool friends at school. When he returned home from school he was surprised and excited to see the balloons that Kinsie had picked out for him. After opening the door he declared "Those are the best balloons in the whole world!". He had chosen a Spiderman theme to celebrate the big day, so he was excited to eat Spiderman macaroni and cheese for lunch! We then treated him to his favorite restaurant, the Iowa Machine Shed, for dinner and then capped off the celebrating with presents, cake and ice cream at home. Such a fun day!

Happy Birthday, Caden!

Today is Caden's 4th birthday!

Happy Birthday to our sweet, lovable, farm loving, tractor riding, cowboy boots and overalls wearing, picture painting, country music singing, cookie making, tape and glue creating, tool using, color blue preferring, ball playing, outdoor exploring, car washing, cottage cheese and hot dog eating (they are two of his favorites!), make believing, block constructing, book reading, little sister loving, Cyclone cheering, John Deere Gator driving, cow checking, family loving little boy!

4 Days Old
4 Years Old

Happy Birthday, Cass!

Cass celebrated his 32nd birthday yesterday! The kids were very excited to wish their daddy a happy birthday and to give him a birthday dinner last night. His favorite dessert is apple crisp and Caden thought he should have a candle in it to blow out when we sang the "Happy Birthday" song to him!

No Footies Please!

Since the day she was born Kinsie has had a mind of her own and this past Friday evening we were reminded of that yet again! We had gone to my parent's house on Friday and that evening while I was gone Cass was getting Kinsie dressed for bed when he discovered that she is not at all fond of footie pajamas! As soon as he tried to put them on her she started kicking and screaming and did not want them on. This was definitely a surprise as the last two winters she has worn them! Cass assumed she was just being her ornery self and went ahead and put them on her. She continued to kick her feet as if to shake the bottoms of her pajamas off and would only walk on her tippie toes! I wish that we had some video of this! In true Daddy fashion Cass debated on just cutting the feet out of her pj's, but decided to put her in some fleece pants instead. The next morning when I asked her about it she said "I no like feet in my pajamas!" Hoping it was just something with that particular pair of pajamas, the next night I tried to put another pair of footed pajamas on her and she again expressed her dislike of them to me! Since all of our warm pajamas were once Addie's I had to purchase some new, non-footed ones for Kinsie! She is very happy with them!

Flag Football

Caden is playing flag football this fall and had his first game this past Sunday afternoon. It is so much fun watching all of the three and four year-olds out on the football field! Caden is doing a great job and is having a lot of fun!

In position to take the snap.

Getting ready to snap the football to the quarterback.

Playing defense and running after his opponent carrying the ball.

Caden being congratulated by his coach and teammates after scoring a touchdown! I was so busy cheering for him that I didn't get a very good shot!

Congratulating the opposing team on a well-played game!