Things That Make You Go Hmmmm...

For a year now, we have been watching a couple of children every other Sunday night while their mom works the night shift. The little girl has a condition called Apert's Syndrome. As a result, she had to have surgery on her head. So, her older brother is staying with us for a few days. Tonight he had a project he needed to do for school. I had just sat down in my chair and was munching on a snack of Cheetos (I know, really healthy), when he said he needed some white paint. I put the Cheetos in my chair and left to get the paint. When I came back to sit in my chair, this was what I found:

I guess the saying goes, "Like mother, like daughter!"

In Him,

The Hutchins

KC or Kaycee

Today, Stephen came home after being away for five days on a missions trip to Joplin, MO with some other members of the church. He got home right as we were headed home, so we thought we would bring home some lunch. We both missed him terribly! So we also got the idea to go downstairs and watch football with him while we ate our lunch. While we were watching football, Stephen noticed that the MLS (soccer) game he had recorded was on. We decided to watch that because one of the teams was our team, formerly the KC Wizards and now Sporting KC. A little ways into it, KC scored a nicely played goal. Stephen and I cheered, "Yea KC!" Jesstine smiled and looked up. She said, "Dats like Kaycee the kangaroo." Kaycee the kangaroo is the mascot for her preschool class. We both chuckled at her cuteness! What a great way to welcome her daddy home! (Disclaimer: I typed this on my iPod touch, so take that into account if you spot any errors like mispelled words or missed capitalizations.) In Him, The Hutchins

Budding Artist

Several months ago, Jesstine started to talk about how she wanted to be Dumpty for Halloween. I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to make that possible. As the time is getting closer, I have purchased some supplies here and there. I am not a sewing person nor do I have a sewing machine. So, I thought I would paint yellow stripes on a white pillowcase. Jesstine and I went to pick up some paint the other day at a craft store. She decided SHE needed to paint too. So, we picked up a Disney Princess paint book and some watercolors. I think I may have an artist on my hands!

Here is yesterday's painted picture (one of 4 that she did that day!!!).

 Today's is MUCH more refined! It is obvious that she tried to make certain parts certain colors even! I was shocked when I looked down and saw this!

Now, if only I could get her interested in coloring! She will spend a few seconds coloring and then she is done! It has been mentioned to me by her Sunday School teacher. You put a paint brush in her hands or a puzzle in front of her and she will go to town! Not with crayons though!

In Him,

The Hutchins

What Did She Say?!

I am single parenting it for about five days this week while Stephen is in Joplin on a missions trip with some church folks. Tonight is the first night of this. After nap today, Jesstine was playing happily back in our bedroom (introducing Emmitt's Dumpty to her Dumpty). Out of the blue, she comes up to me and she says, "I've got some good news and I've got some bad news, Woody. The good news is I found your hat! Oh, boy Slink, where'd you find it? THAT'S the bad news!" (For those of you who don't know, this is a conversation between Woody and Slinky Dog in Toy Story 2.) I laughed quite a bit at hearing my little three year-old recite an entire conversation from a movie! She is CERTAINLY her Mommy and Daddy's daughter! Oh, and I just want to add that it has been MONTHS since she last watched that movie. I found some CD's at Target that have 4 songs and a story on them. They are anything from the Disney Princess stories to Toy Story. Toy Story 2 happens to be one of them she hears often in the car. So, my guess is that is where she picked it up!

In Him,

The Hutchins

Dinner with a 3 year-old

Dinner with Jesstine is always interesting. We never know if she is going to eat what I fix or not. Tonight was no exception. Here are a couple of noteworthy moments:

Tonight we were having Hamburger Helper for dinner (not one of her favorites). She usually picks at it and only eats a bite after being forced. She asked what it was and I told her it was Hamburger Helper. Later she mentioned how she had finished her "handy helpers!" After a little while into dinner she started saying that she wanted some cake. I said, "You mean a brownie like last night, it's kinda like cake." She emphatically said, "YEAH!" When she had finished all of her dinner (minus the hamburger from her "handy helpers"), I got her a brownie bite. I have it to her and she said, "That's not cake, that's a BROWNIE!" (Aunt Jenni, her comment reminded us a little of "Hey, where's my cookie?!"

There is never a dull moment with this girl! Despite being home today from church so that she didn't pass any of her snotsies or sneezes on to anyone else, she has had us rolling with laughter quite a bit today!

God is Good!

In Him,
The Hutchins

State Fair Slide

Okay, so here is the video of Jesstine on the slide. You can't really hear her scream because of all of the noise around me, but you may turn up your speakers just in case. It does capture her joy when she gets off and wants to go again though. Also, sorry it is sideways. I haven't figured out how to get it oriented correctly!

In Him,

The Hutchins

State Fair

It's that time of the year again. State Fair time that is. (I just looked back at last year's post and noticed that I started it out the same way! Here's to predictability over originality!) We like to try and go one time each year. Let's be honest, we go mainly to see the butter sculpture and to eat fair food that is TERRIBLE for us! Well, and an added bonus is to go so Jesstine can have fun too! This year when we told her we were going, she just kept talking about what rides she would ride. She gets that from her amusement park junkie parents! Needless to say, she was NOT disappointed! She also kept talking about getting popcorn at the fair. This is a new thing. We have not ever purchased popcorn for her at the fair. She just LOVES popcorn! That was about all she ate most of the day. Well, that and Cheetos. Of course I FINALLY remembered to bring the camera only to discover that the camera card was not in it. A camera with no built in memory is not really useful without a camera card. So, once again, you are stuck with grainy cellphone pictures!

 Here Jesstine is on her way to the fair. Yes, she is wearing a sweat suit. It was unseasonably cool this year at the fair! It was actually perfect weather comfort wise!

If you look back to last year's fair post HERE, you will notice that Jesstine had her first pony ride. In sticking with tradition (and because it is super close to the entrance) we chose to begin our fair experience with a pony ride. (This time we had to promise her she could have popcorn as soon as she was done.) This year's pony was named Chippewah.

I handed the camera to Stephen and he was able to get all three of us (Emmitt included) in this one!

 A little while later, we were walking around trying to decide what fair food to partake in. We stumbled upon this interesting smoker. Yes, you read right. This is a smoker shaped like a revolver.

 Here is the photographic proof of the Cheetos reference. When we first came in, there was a Frito Lay truck with a table set up next to it. You could spin the wheel and what ever kind of chips it stopped on, you got to pick up a bag of off of the table. Jesstine had her heart set on Cheetos the moment she laid eyes on the table. So, although I spun and it landed on Classic Lays, she was delighted when the man said she could choose some Cheetos! (We are in no way affiliated with Frito Lay company! We just really enjoy their chips!)

 After the Cheetos mess was cleaned up, Jesstine spotted the big yellow slide. She saw it last year, but we weren't sure that she could handle it. So, we took a chance this year. Daddy was gracious enough to go with her (although looking back, I am sure he would tell you it was his favorite part of the trip this year). So, here they are standing in line for the tickets.

 Here they are walking up the many steps to the top (one of the many reasons we thought Jesstine needed some help on this ride).

THIS is the part that will stick in our memories for a LONG time! At this point Jesstine was screaming. Not just any scream, but a guttural scream like she was scared out of her mind! It turns out it was a scream of sheer joy and excitement. It reminded me a lot of when my mom goes on water park slides!

At this point it was apparent that she was okay by the huge smile on her face!

She immediately jumped up and started asking to go again! This pleased us both to no end! She got to ride one more time and was just as animated then! I got that on video. I will preview it and see if it is worth posting.

 Stephen and I decided that this must have been the stuffed toy that the people in charge of the carnival games managed to get the best bargain on. They were EVERYWHERE. Surprisingly (or not surprisingly depending upon how you look at it), we didn't see any people carrying one around. Anyone for a Rastafarian banana?

 Another tradition is the pig races. Yes, it is just what it says it is. Pigs racing. They make it pretty entertaining though! I looked over and was just so thrilled to see this, I couldn't resist a picture! Much cuter than racing pigs!

 So we decided to let Jesstine ride ONE midway ride. This was the one that she chose. She was adimant that she wanted a PINK car (her favorite color if you didn't already know). When we walked over there, there were other kids already riding in the pink cars and she started to cry! They were riding in HER car! I told her that they were everyone's cars and that she would get a turn as soon as they were done. She quickly claimed the pink car for herself. Afterward I told her the car was actually pink and red. She tried to convince me she needed a do-over in a pink ONLY car.

And the last part of our photographic fair journey is the Texas travel exhibit. It was kind of neat and we wore the appropriate clothing for the occasion (unknowingly of course), our Dallas Cowboys sweatshirts. You wouldn't know by THIS picture though! I had a great laugh later because A) for a few moments I was back to my pre-pregnancy (by pre-pregnancy, I mean all THREE) shape! B) Here Stephen and I are on the beach in our bathing suits (and I have apparently dyed my hair brown) and Jesstine is in her sweatsuit! LOL! It was free though! It beats a fair photo button any day! 

Check back soon. I will preview the "Slide scream" video and if it is worthy, I will post it sometime soon.)

In Him,

The Hutchins

Home..er..Backyard Improvements!

We have started some improvements to our backyard. For a while now, we have wanted to pour concrete under the deck and all the way to the other retaining wall. With our house being a view out basement, we have had problems with bugs getting in the basement windows where the grass is growing up close to the house. It hasn't been as much of a problem under the deck, because we had rock put under the deck when we lanscaped the front of the house. Well, there just wasn't enough so we were constantly fighting weeds and the weed barrier we put down was coming through the thin layer of rock. We have worked for a few years to try and match that rock, but have not found anything that would be cost effective. So, we decided to take all of the rock out (that we could) and put it in the front. Then buy new rock to put along the back. We also decided to use some real edging instead of just the brick that we had put there to begin with. So, here are the before and after pictures.

Before- Under the deck.

Before- Beyond the deck. 

 After- Under the deck. (Jesstine is already breaking it in)

 After- Beyond the deck.

Our next order of business is to skin the deck. We are going to have someone come in and basically replace all of the warped, cracked, rotted, and dilapidated boards, leaving the existing support structures! So stay tuned for more to come!

In Him,

The Hutchins

Popcorn

It is fun to pick out similarities in yourself and your child. Or even your spouse in your child! Perhaps even more fun is picking out similarities with other family members. This could be anything from physical features to even mannerisms or likes and dislikes. Well, we have found an endearing similarity between Jesstine and Papa. She LOVES popcorn! A few weeks ago, I took her to Pump It Up because she got a free pass for reaching her summer reading goal. She got popcorn as a snack afterwards and tore through the entire bag before we got home! This last week we went to the zoo. We got a coupon for free popcorn with our membership pack this year. So, we used it while we were there. She ate an ENTIRE small box of popcorn on her own! Last night, we took Jesstine bowling for the first time (forgot to take the camera and my phone battery was dying, so no pictures, sorry!). When we got home, we enjoyed some popcorn and Looney Tunes. So, Papa Hutchins, this post is dedicated to you! It seems as though you have passed on your love of popcorn to a sweet little girl!

In Him,

The Hutchins

Another First

Well, another first occurred in a week of firsts this week! Jesstine has been going to the pool since she was very young. I started putting a swim vest on her shortly before she turned two and she has been pretty independent in the water ever since. This summer we made it a point to have a swim "playdate" at least once a week with Jesstine's best buddy, Kylie. Well, Kylie got a sore spot on her leg from her swim vest. So this week she has had to go sans swimvest. It was only last week that we really discovered that the girls could really "swim" without a vest. We had only ever tried it in the shallow end where they could touch. Well, with Kylie being without a swimvest, we took the girls to the deep end and they jumped in, swam to us, and then swam to the wall! It was astonishing to me! I had thought for quite some time that Jesstine may be ready, but I just wasn't brave enough to try it! She still needs a considerable amount of help, but she is at least MOSTLY doing it by herself! She can swim about 5-10 feet without me holding her! I am so proud of my girl! She is growing up SO fast! Just in time for us to have another, and hopefully our last, baby to watch grow up! Oh, and don't worry! I still plan on using a vest MOST of the time we are in the deep water. It is just fantastic to me that she CAN go without one!

In Him,

The Hutchins

First Day of Preschool

Today was the fist day of preschool for Jesstine! It was bittersweet to see our little girl go to school for the first time! Yet it felt good because she was so excited and I know that she is going to enjoy it!

 So, here she is. Ready for her first day of school! Pigtails, CHECK! Cupcake backpack, CHECK! Dora shoes, CHECK!

 The backpack is really SO large for her, but was a great price and we were able to get her name put on it. She refused to allow us to carry it.

 On our way to school in the van! (FYI, I was stopped at a stoplight as this photo was taken!)

 Daddy even got to come with us and was a HUGE help this morning! Here he is getting Jesstine out of the van for the walk to her classroom!

 Are we ready?

 Here we go!

 At this point she was pointing out all of the other cute backpacks that others were carrying. She also had to note all of the little girls who were ALSO wearing Dora shoes!

 Almost to the front doors!

 Photo op with Mommy!

 We couldn't get her to take a picture without saying, "cheese" so I tickled her. The result was that I looked silly!

 The long walk to her classroom at the end of the hallway. Closer to the playground that way though!

 Hanging up her backpack on her hook. Mommy had too much in her hands and accidentally got a picture of her name tag in the process!

 This was actually a harder process than one would expect. She has always been able to easily identify her name...until she was put next to a boy in her class named, "Jesse!" She found her hook RIGHT away though!

 After a quick pause to say hello to her teacher, she walked right in and barely looked back.

 And after a few steps, she saw more kids and did her typical bouncing self. I caught her jumping in to her classroom!

It also didn't take long after Kylie got there for the girls to find each other and play!

Here's to hoping this is a great first year of school for Jesstine! I realize that at this age it is just a social thing and really more for moms and dads to get a break during the day. I still think it is a good decision for Jesstine to go. We will see if it plays out as I hope!!!

In Him,

The Hutchins