Potty Training

Our goal of no diapers after March 09 is not looking so good. Kaylei just isn't interested in telling us that she needs to go potty. We have let her run around without a diaper on several occasions only to eventually find a wet puddle somewhere. Yesterday, she did it again! Only this time, it was a bit different. I heard Troy asking Kaylei if she had pooped. She grinned and said Uh Huh and then showed him her poop which she was holding in her hand. Troy thought it was hilarious and decided she should come show me her prize! I, however, did not find it funny at all and was quite disgusted that Troy let her continue holding her poop! YUCKKKKK!! Good thing for our readers that I acted too quickly to let Troy take a picture of the evidence. Trust me, you didn't want pictures to go with this post!

Welcoming 2009

This is how the Hinck's welcomed in the new year!

Miss Kaylei was too exhausted from playing chase earlier in the day to stay up so here she is sleeping away 2008. If you look close enough you will notice she is in her toddler bed now.

The parents, however, filled up on junk and sugar while playing a grueling game of Stratego that Troy got from Santa. Alice won 2 games in 2008, but Troy remands undefeated in 2009 (needless to say, we only played one game after the ball dropped).


One of our first resolutions is to post more blogs! So here we are at midnight thirty posting our first blog for the year. Our goal is to have more posts than last year! We'd like to aim for once every 1-2 months but some months may be too uneventful to blog about. Alice has the usual resolution of losing weight but according to statistics, she must make it a measurable goal with achievable steps so she will aim for 5-10 pounds weight loss before her 10 year high school reunion this summer. She is also going to incorporate more hands-on learning in her classroom.

Troy says New Year resolutions are pointless. (I think this comes with the follow-through issues he has) Something about people setting goals but never finishing them. He claims he hasn't made a resolution since he was 12. I think we should pester him to set a "goal" not a resolution to achieve something this next year. (I was thinking a permanent job, but we'll see if he accepts my challenge.)

Well, here's to 2009!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years'

Merry Christmas Everyone! We hope you all had the opportunity to share this wonderful holiday with your family and close friends. We decided to stay in Shelley this year and have family over to our home. This is a BIG first for us as we have travelled every holiday for the past 8 years! My mom, dad, brother Michael, Grandpa Cook, Aunt, and Grandma Brinton shared Christmas with us. We opened presents by the tree and then with the help of my mom and aunt, we made an excellent dinner. We were blessed with a great family holiday this year! My sister and her family couldn't make it out from North Carolina but hopefully we'll see them sometime this year.

As for 2008, it has been a year of progress and big changes for us. I finished my teaching certification and accepted a teaching job in SE Idaho. Troy is currently searching for a fulfilling job in wildlife. He is strongly considering other states. Kaylei is learning new things everyday and growing inches overnight it seems! She learned her second word in sign, eat! It's totally appropriate with her constantly wanting in the cupboards and she has recently figured out how to open the refridgerator door. We now have to baby proof the fridge and chest freezer. Kaylei is also discovering her sense of style. Her favorite outfit is actually nothing at all! She prefers to be "naky" and she will tell you! She also prefers "pretty pants" which are pull-ups or "poopsies" or panties (not sure how that word came to be) over diapers. And again, she will tell you what she wants to wear. Below are some pictures which depict this new taste of fashion! We wish you all a prosperous and loving 2009!

We moved and are as settled as we can get

When you have a baby that likes to put everything on her head, sometimes you just have to join in! Meet the Hinck Diaperheads!

It's been a few months since I have posted. A lot has changed! We moved to Shelley Idaho and I am teaching at Hillcrest High School in Idaho Falls. Troy is currently staying at home (he says he hates it, but I think he enjoys being with Kaylei) waiting for his new job to start, which should be at the end of this month. In the meantime, he's been preparing for a job interview as a Conservation Officer (long name for fish cop). He finds out in October if he passed the interview. If he does, then he has to do a physical and physcological test in November. If he passes these, then he gets a job offer, YEY!! Hopefully he makes it, he hasn't really thought about alternatives, he feels confident but of course anything could happen.

I am not particularly enjoying my work, but it's not so terrible that I will quit at any moment. I have some difficult classes but I'm determined to not let them get to me. I am learning some skills and getting to know my students and a lot of their parents :) I thought calling home would be awful, but it's really not so bad. We'll see how well it works this next week when the students come back to class.

Kaylei is doing well. She is super smart. According to our baby milestones book, she should have about 8 words. She has probably over 100, I promise I'm not exgarating! She points to things and asks what's that and then copies our words and remembers many of them. She knows her body parts, and loves to point out many of these on her parents, which could be embarassing depending on where we are! She's slimmed up a lot, we had to put her back in size 3 diapers and 12 month shorts, pants are 18 months because she's so tall but we have to get the ones with the adjustable waist in them and then put on a belt. She also has enough hair for pig tails!




These pictures were taken last night. It's the first night in like 3 weeks that mommy has had time and energy to play with Kaylei, and we sure did have a good time!

Kaylei had the opportunity to go to the Eastern Idaho State Fair and went to the petting zoo. She loved the bunnies and the goats. Her grandpa also had a great time helping her feed the animals and keeping her out of the poop! She also loved the cows and watched them on the milking machine. After the fair, she started telling us what cows and goats and sheep would say. Cows say moo, sheep say baaa, and goats say goat!
Kaylei initiated our house within hours of being there. We were deciding where to put everything and she found the open box of fruit loops in the lower cupboard and was helping herself to a snack, when Ooops she shook the box upside down and the ENTIRE box was on the floor before I could stop it. I just stood there and laughed, what else was I to do!We are still working on potty training. She did really well the first weeks we were here, but as soon as I went back to work, she quit! We're still hoping by the time she's 2!

New Pictures

I just dumped about 70 pictures from my camera. Here are some of the latest pictures of our family.

Kaylei spent the afternoon in the garden. What a dirty face!

Kaylei is enjoying a cheese cracker. Check out the cheese mustache!
Little Kaylei is working on her car with daddy's toys.


Kaylei likes to climb into our cupboards.


Look, she finally has enough hair for a ponytail!!

So Much to Do

So we are moving in less than a week and there is just so much to do. Last week our car started making a horrible noise when we went over bumps. We had to adjust the sway bar. Last weekend, our 4Runner's transmission was slipping in overdrive. We just found out that it's an electrical problem and it won't be fixed until Saturday or Monday (BTW, we are leaving Tuesday morning). And to top it all off, Kaylei has had a fever for 2 days now and the doc isn't real sure what it's from. Oh and we still have over half the house to pack, who needs sleep, right?

It's been Awhile!

Life has been going by in a flash these past few months. I received my teaching certificate from Lewis-Clark State College and accepted a teaching job in Idaho Falls. We will be moving the beginning of August and starting a new chapter in our life. This is a bitter-sweet move for us as we had just made a home in Lewiston and we are now moving on, hopefully for the better. Here are some great pictures of the family (mostly of Kaylei) from the past few months. Our little sunshine is growing up so fast! She's started walking and her vocabulary is constantly growing. My favorite word of hers has to be button. She only pronounces "but"!

Kaylei and her daddy

Here's my little climber.This is the face Kaylei gives if you ask her where her nose is or refer to the nose at any point. Let's hope she quits this before she's 16!